El feels like she doesn't belong anywhere, and that everybody, including Mike, looks at her like she is a monster. He tries to figure out why she's been lying to him about being bullied, and then the two of them quickly get to the heart of their issues. Mike goes to El's room in Season 4, Episode 3, 'Chapter Three: The Monster and the Superhero,' the morning after their trip to the roller rink. However, every one of their problems finally comes to the surface after El hits Angela with the roller skate. Overall, though, it seems like they're still in love and excited to be together, even to the point that they make Will a third wheel and practically ignore him during their trip to the roller rink. At that point, their relationship has a few unresolved issues, like the fact that Mike has written 'from' instead of 'love' on the note attached to the flowers he brought for her, as well as the issue of El lying to Mike about her new life. When Mike first gets to Lenora Hills in Season 4, Episode 2, 'Chapter Two: Vecna's Curse,' he and El happily reunite in the airport. Now, though, as Mike tells Will in Season 4, Episode 4, 'Chapter Four: Dear Billy,' their most recent fight might just be one that they 'can't come back from.' It's also not clear whether Mike actually wants to come back from this fight, even after he spends the rest of Volume 1 trying to find Eleven. The show has always seemed to put the two of them at its center, even when the other couples separate. They've been separated in the past by danger and distance, as well as a temporary breakup during Season 3 when Mike was pulling away from El because Hopper had threatened him.

Mike and Eleven have been Stranger Things' most solid couple since Season 1.

Now, it seems that Stranger Things' main couple has finally hit an obstacle that they won't be able to overcome. After Angela makes a comment mocking Hopper's apparent death, El hits her in the face with a roller skate, which leads to a huge fight between El and Mike. Everything comes to a head at the roller rink when Angela and her friends show up and publicly humiliate Eleven. It turns out that El has been lying to Mike and pretending that her life in Lenora Hills is much better than it actually is. When Mike actually does come to visit, things of course do not go as planned. El is just counting down the days until Mike will come visit for Spring Break and all will be right with the world again. After losing both her superpowers and her father, Eleven is stuck starting over at a new school in Lenora Hills, California, where a mean girl named Angela bullies her. Stranger Things Season 4, Volume 1 does not make things easy for Eleven - and that's even before she ends up in Brenner's secret bunker. The following contains spoilers for Stranger Things Season 4, Volume 1, now streaming on Netflix.

Pieces of Lies by Angela Richardson