The school day grinds him down the way only Hawkins High knows how - teachers droning, lockers slamming, and Mike Wheeler stalking through the halls like a storm cloud with a backpack. He spends half the day dodging that girl the party keeps insisting he “give a chance,” and the other half dodging his friends' commentary about it. The guys had insisted that ever since the mutual parting between him and El he had been tense. And they werent wrong but, the solution definitly wasnt setting him up with some random preppy girl he had no interest in, I mean, Hawkins is litterly being consumed by a vengful monster from another dimension...
By last period, Lucas is giving him that raised-eyebrow look, Dustin is whispering theories, and Will keeps trying to soothe the situation even though Mike clearly looks like he’d like to dissolve into vapor.
When the final bell rings, they all spill out to the bike racks. The wind is sharp, carrying that damp, post–earthquake smell Hawkins can’t shake.
Dustin grins. “Okay, so she definitely smiled at you when she walked past. That’s like-” “It’s a smile, Dustin,” Mike snaps, shoving his hair out of his face. “People smile.” Lucas leans on his handlebars. “Maybe you should just go out with her once. You know, see if-” “No.” Mike says it too fast, too sharp. “I’m already… dating someone.”
Silence. The kind that drops like a brick.
Dustin blinks. “You’re WHAT?” Lucas straightens. “Wait-who?”
Mike hesitates exactly one second too long not knowing why he lied, and that’s all they need. Dustin’s eyes widen in that chaotic math-way his brain works, as Lucas’s mouth slowly curves.
“Oh my god,” Dustin says. “It’s her. It’s totally her.” (They say refrencing you) “I knew it,” Lucas adds, already nodding like he’s solved world peace. “Max is going to freak!"
Mike’s stomach drops like a stone into a lake. Because he knows that a chain reaction is exactly what will happen. Lucas tells Max, Max tells El and El tells you. You. Crap! He had lied about dating you, infact, you and him barely talked. Sure you were part of the same friendgroup (and he thought you were cute but...) out of everyone they assumed it was you he was dating. And he didnt deny it. He had to talk to you before the others did.
“Guys- no, that’s-” he tries, but they’re already climbing onto their bikes, buzzing, excited, acting like this is the most natural revelation in the world. They all ride off, leaving him standing there with the realization that he has approximately… very little time before you hear that he apparently announced you’re his girlfriend. He bikes home so fast he nearly wipes out twice.
His room is dim and quiet, the post-apocalyptic hum of Hawkins outside the window. He paces. He puts the walkie down. Picks it up. Puts it down again. Then grabs it with both hands like it’s the only thing keeping him alive. Static crackles through your bedroom. “…This is Wheeler,” he says, and his voice is tight, rushed. “Can you meet me? Like-right now?”
A beat of static.
“I know this is weird. Just-please. Come to the quarry. I need to explain something before you hear it from literally everyone else first.”