Keep it between us | byler

Chapter 21

"Please don't call my parents!" Mike pleaded.
"Mr. Wheeler can't you hear the sirens outside? Troy Walsh is being hospitalized because of you and you don't want me to call your parents?" Mike was silent.

"Ok.. Mr. Thomas, the principal started with a sigh. What did Mr. Walsh do that got you so worked up?" Mike continued his silence.

"Mr. Wheeler?"

"I can't say." Mike murmured.

He let out yet another sigh. "Does it have anything to do with Will Byers?"

Mike's face suddenly perked up. "H-how do you know?" "I saw you fighting at his locker with graffiti all over it." Mr. Thomas replied.

"It's just not fair that they call him all those names and say these disgusting things about him and nothing happens!" Mike cried out.

"Hey, I understand that you don't want to see your friend get hurt but you can't just go around lunging at people like that. You could have killed him Michael." He replied.

"But it's not just that. They've been terrorizing him since forever. And he's not just my friend. We're..." Mike hesitated. "We're together. And everybody hates us for it. But they bully Will about it more and it's just not fair. I'm so sick of it! And you all keep letting them get away with it!"

"Oh... Uhm." He was at a loss for words. "Hey, how about we talk about this later and get you cleaned up,  yeah?" Mr. Thomas said uneasily.
Mike scoffed at his principal's obvious uncomfortableness. "K." He simply replied.

Mike was escorted back into the main office and saw Will again. Only this time he was talking to someone. Police Chief Hopper? Was he here for Mike? Mike sure didn't want to find out so he quickly slipped into the nurses office to get the blood off of his skin and his bruised knuckles wrapped up.

He also got a tshirt from the lost and found because his shirt too was covered in Troy's blood. Damn... how much damage did I do? Mike thought to himself as he discreetly went back into the principal's office. Chief Hopper was there with Mr. Thomas this time. Shit. He's gonna arrest me. "Michael Wheeler... take a seat." The chief started. "A-are you gonna arrest me?" Mike asked, trembling.

"Arrest you? No, I'm just here to tell you that The Walsh's aren't pressing charges. But just because they aren't doesn't mean you're off the hook. What you did was bad Wheeler. Like, really bad. Mr. Thomas here was filling me in on what happened and I just want to tell you that I understand that you were feeling a certain way but you seriously can't just go attacking people."

"NO! Mike started to yell, startling everyone. See that's where you're wrong. You don't understand. You don't understand anything. Not how I'm feeling and not how Will is feeling. We haven't done anything to anybody yet everyone is attacking us. They're targeting Will but he's not gonna do anything about it and obviously neither are you guys. You left me no choice but to take matters into my own hands so I don't wanna hear anything about you understanding what either of us have to go through." Mike let out a breath that apparently he'd been holding in for a while.

"Look, kid... I'm sorry. I really am. How about you just let me take you home for the day?" Hopper tried.

"I don't wanna go home." Mike asked, tears forming in his eyes again. "Where's Will? I'm staying the night there."

"Kid, I know that you know that your parents are looking for you. You gotta go home."

Mike sighed and headed toward the door in defeat.

...

Mike found himself at the familiar porch of his home. He dreaded every moment he inched his hand closed to the doorknob. God he just wanted to be at Will's. Why was that all he thought about now? Ever since they go together it's been like Mike found a new side of himself. It was so much happier but dependent. Really dependent. Mike shrugged it off again as he opened the door. Before he knew it, he was engulfed in a hug by his mother.