𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐋 | 𝐌𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐋𝐎𝐍

[4] off to a rocky start

Arizona closed the door to her house, the biggest smile adorning her face. But, all good things must come to an end, and this was true for Arizona because Henry was standing in her house with a look that only meant trouble.

"What the fuck were you doing with him," Henry barked. Arizona's eyes widened as she realized Henry must've saw the two of them together, and probably saw the hug she gave Mike before they parted ways.

"U-um, I just-" she stuttered, trying to grasp at some sort of answer.

"What? Are you suddenly friends with homeschool now?" Henry seethed, walking across the room and grabbing Arizona's arm, tightly. No response left her mouth, seeing as she was too afraid of the situation escalating anymore.

Henry noticed her fear, and his eyes, as well as his grip softened.

"S-sorry Ari, didn't mean to get that rough. It's just you don't need someone like him around you. You don't deserve him," Henry rambled. Arizona slowly nodded, not trusting her words.

"He'll get whats coming to him, and hopefully soon," the boy smirked. Arizona feared for Mike's safety, and hoped Henry was all bark and no bite.

"Hey, your mom isn't home, want to hang out with the boys?"

"S-sure, let's go," Arizona replied, just going with the flow so she didn't set Henry off again.

-

Over the next few days, Arizona spent a lot of time at the Bowers' residence, and today was no exception. As she headed over there, she kept an eye out for Mike. She hadn't seen them since their exchange in front of her home, and worry ran through her mind once she remembered Henry's comment. Arizona pushed that aside when she reached her best friend's house. Today was weird because Henry was nowhere to be found, and the worry she shoved down deep inside instantly resurfaced.

"Where's Henry?" the worried soul asked. Victor and Belch just gave each other a mischievous glance.

"He said he had a surprise for you, so we need to go meet him," Belch shrugged. Arizona's anxiety levels slightly rose at his answer, but she smiled and followed the boys to the car. As they drove, Arizona ran through every possible thing Henry could surprise her with, both good and bad. But she couldn't plan for reality.

When they parked near the kissing bridge, Arizona didn't see Henry at all. Then, Victor lightly grabbed her arm and led her through the woods and into a huge clearing near the quarry. Her heart broke at the sight. Henry and Belch had knocked Mike's delivery bike over, the parcels of meat spilling into the water. They kicked Mike everywhere, spatting names like "fucker" and "pussy" at him. And worst of all, they were forcing his head into his the meat. Arizona felt tears fill her eyes as she struggled against Victor's grip, but he held on. He shook his head as a way of saying that she wasn't allowed to save him.

"You wanna fuck around with my best friend, huh? Well guess what, she doesn't need someone of your kind hanging around her, she doesn't like you. She never will, you fucker," Henry spat, and Mike just glanced at Arizona as she stood there, helpless. Mike didn't deserve this treatment, he was too good for this world. Mike only wanted the best for people, and did his best to make Arizona smile. Seeing him being treated like he was less than nothing broke her heart, because that boy deserved nothing but the best in life, and she wanted to run to him and tell her that. But all she could do was watch as the boy who did nothing but make her smile get viciously attacked. Arizona watched in horror as Mike fought to stand up, causing Henry and Belch to kick him back down. Henry pressed Mike into the gravel below, and Arizona let out a choked sob and fought against Victor's grip as Henry raised a rock into the air, ready to strike her true source of happiness in the head. That is, until a rock hit Henry in the head, giving him a taste of his own medicine.

Arizona glanced up, and noticed that Bill, Eddie, Richie, Ben, Beverly, and Stan all stood there, looking like they were ready for a fight.

"Nice throw," Stan noted, slightly shocked.

"Thanks," Beverly replied. The rock she threw caused Henry to fall backwards and release Mike, and the boy instantly made his way towards the group of friends who had saved him. Arizona let out a laugh of relief as the boy she lo-liked, as a friend, escaped. Victor released the girl in order to help Henry up and she made a mad dash towards Mike, until she was called back.

"Ari, what the fuck are you doing," Henry bellowed, and her eyes widened. The group instantly focused their attention on the startled teenager, as did Mike. He pleaded for her to leave Henry, just this once and go to him. But for some reason, she couldn't. Her eyes told the boy she was sorry, and she slowly made her way back to her best friend.

"Good choice," Belch said, causing Henry to smack him on the arm before returning his attention to the group in front of him.

"You losers are trying too hard. She'll do you, ya just gotta ask nicely. Like I did." Henry joked, before making an obscene gesture.

"Hen!" Arizona scolded, and Henry shot her a glare in response. All of a sudden, Ben screamed, startling everyone. He sounded mad, which was enough for the losers to get ready for battle.

Arizona didn't want to be a part of whatever was about to go down so she stepped to the side. Once Ben threw the rock that nailed Henry in the head, she was glad she did.

"What the fuck," Henry muttered, before Beverly threw a rock as well.

"Rock war!" Richie shouted before being hit in the head with a rock.

Arizona watched, terrified as rocks flew threw the air at rapid rates. Her heart rate quickened, and she rung her hands together in an attempt to calm down, wishing she had Mike beside her. When she looked at him, he wouldn't look back at her, and she knew she made the wrong choice.

She began pacing and trying to distract herself from the violence happening right beside her, wishing she was anywhere else. Luckily, Victor noticed her demeanor and yelled for Henry to stop. When he looked at his best friend of 8 years, he immediately stopped throwing rocks.

The group picked up that Henry was done and ceased fire. They watched as Henry held his arm, signaling for Arizona to go to him. She did, and immediately he wrapped his arm around her, trying to calm her down. The group watched this unfold, and felt bad for the girl.

"The only reason you losers won is because Ari is here, otherwise you'd all be dead meat right now," Henry fumed, wishing he didn't put the terrified girl in the middle of all of this. But the losers started this, so this gave him just another reason to hate them. They put his best friend in danger.

Arizona looked at the group on the rocks, her eyes mainly going to Mike's.

She mouthed "Go," and Mike knew she was trying to make sure he was safe, because that's just what Arizona did. A moment later, all of the losers took off, except Richie who flipped Henry off and yelled, "Go blow your dad, you mullet-wearing asshole!"

Arizona waited until they left before saying, "Hen what the fuck were you thinking?"

He just looked down at the ground, Victor and Belch doing the same. She just sighed, knowing she wouldn't hear the answer she knew she would hear. She knew it was all because of her, and the fact that Mike made her the happiest she's ever been. Henry got jealous easily, so she should have known something like this could happen.

"Whatever, let's just go. You guys need to get cleaned up," She muttered, walking back in the direction they came.

-

word count: 1367

sorry that this chapter kind of sucked, but if you noticed arizona's little moment of thinking about how she felt about mike, you're cool