𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫!

007

sunday

SATURDAY was pretty uneventful, max had gone home and so had the rest of the party, no doubt the boys were in slight trouble with their parents. anais had unpacked more of her shit saturday night, and went for a ride on the nighthawk but still the feeling of boredom poured at her.

maybe she wasn't the biggest fan of hawkins, but the people weren't all that bad. she thought back to friday and how much fun she had, you know, besides almost breaking mike's nose which she felt slight remorse for.

that sunday when anais woke up in her bed, she laid there staring at the ceiling for a bit and wondering what her friends back home were up to. she wanted to talk to them, but didn't have the heart to call.

she glanced over at the clock on the nightstand and groaned, it was 2pm. the time difference wasn't even an excuse, she had slept until 2pm. it was moments like these were life was so sluggish and exhausting for no reason.

anais got up and stretched tired limbs before slipping on fuzzy socks and walking downstairs for a glass of water. the sunlight poured into the kitchen from the window by the sink and made her squint her eyes.

•••

"where did you head off to last night?" mrs wheeler asked as mike walked into the kitchen. she had just come back from the grocery store and was beginning to wash a head of lettuce.

"oh uh, well we went for a walk and then crashed at dustin's." he lied.

"maxine too?" she asked, slightly glancing over at her son who raided the fridge.

mike nodded.

mrs wheeler hummed and turned off the sink, placing the lettuce on to a red chopping board and grabbing a knife. "that poor girl, i wonder how her family's doing."

mike didn't say much to this, just nodded in acknowledgement of what his mom said.

"speaking of family," she began to chop the lettuce, "i hear there's a new one who moved into the jackson's old house over on warren street. there's a girl about your age. does she go to your school?"

this caught mike's attention. "yeah, her name is anais. we have biology together."

mrs wheeler smiled. "we should invite her and her parents over for dinner tonight, be neighborly."

mike was he hesitant with his sentence as he closed the fridge, panda pop in hand. "oh- it's just her."

mrs wheeler's smile noticeably fell. "a 15 year old girl? all alone in that house by herself?" she put the knife down and placed a hand on her hip. "michael wheeler you call that young lady and invite her over for dinner right now!"

"but mom!" mike groaned, "it's gonna be weird if i invite her!"

"why would it be weird, michael?"

he couldn't really answer that question. "i.. i don't know her that well! what would we talk about?"

mrs wheeler went back to chopping the lettuce. "school, sports, music. whatever it is you kids like these days."

he rolled his eyes.

"i saw that! now go call her."

mike groaned and moved out of the kitchen and over to the wall where the phone sat. he hesitantly reached for it. he dialed the jackson's older number. it rung three times before it picked up.

"hello?" the voice asked, mike froze. of course anais picked up, who did he expect to?

"hi."

"..mike? how did you get my number?"