𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 ( 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫 )

7 | s n a p p e d

mike wheeler was just laying there, on the cold floor, his elbows supporting his upper body weight, watching the girl - who just confessed one of her most compressed dark secret to him - stumble out of his sight. his mind was a mess, endorsing himself into a piece of internal civil war - the battle between his heart and his brain. wheeler was drowning himself in emotions and feelings he had never felt before, the repulsive sensations were bitter and strong but also sweet and delicate and not even mike believed that even could happen to anyone, yet it only happened to him.

he could go after her.

he should go after her.

but when he suddenly raised himself to his feet, the hall doors slammed shut, making it very obvious that someone had indeed just leave the locker filled hallway. but it was more than that to mike. this felt like a personal attack, dastardly offense and blow to his mind and body, feeling just as weak as when max left him stranded the first time. his knees went wobbly and his fingers went numb, the ravenhaired felt himself fall back onto the lockers, leaning against the familiar sharp shock of cold and hollow noise of the metal doors spreading across his clothed back.

mike looked down on himself, he was a walking - or more so leaning - definition of a fool lost in this idiotic game of desire and love. even his own clothes resembled how much of an absolute mess he looked, all disheveled and crinkled, not even his shoes looked as shiny and new like his heart when he entered this dance for the very first time last year. a shock hit of nostalgia smacked mike across the head, spreading pain like a migraine across his forehead as he recalled seeing el's face beam up as he clocked eyes with her when he was all alone on that table while watching a certain someone dance with one of his closest friends, dismissing that feeling of the twist of a stomach as the raven walked towards el, saying something along the lines of 'you're beautiful' or anything like that, mike had really rather forgotten the memory. only being able to distinguish that fiery redhead among all those dull, plain purples and blues.

"oh, for fucks sake, mike!" he yelled at himself, stomping up and down along side the lockers, "you could have said something! anything! why didn't you say anything!" mike suddenly ran up to a locker, colliding his knuckles harshly against the cool metal in an outburst of rage and sudden hatred for himself. "now look what you've done, you've let the only thing you love walk out with a shattered heart."

his forehead rested against his arm as he brought it up as the icy temperature of the locker was chilling up his forehead, he didn't notice or really care that his heavy breaths made clouds of condensation upon the metal as he focused so little on trying to get his steady breathing back and more on trying to get that girl back into his life. "oh fuck this," mike muttered to the reflection he caught glimpse of in the shiny locker, "she's not going to crawl back to you, you're gonna fight for her." he set as goal for himself as he suddenly pushed himself off the lockers with determination to find max.

he opened the hall doors, immersing himself back into the chaos that his fellow classmates were concocting up around the innocent teachers who were simply observing. the music felt even more louder to his sensitive ears as the silence of the corridor provided a worthy and painful contrast between the two surroundings. students were now dancing on tables and detaching balloons from the ceiling and then slapping them to make them float around the room.

but mike had no time or interest to participate in this odd sense of rioting against the regular dance rules, he ran quickly through the sea of students, some of them moved out of his way but others proved difficult when they didn't notice wheeler and continued dancing right in his path. the raven haired got more and seriously confused as he kept diving in the crowd, sometimes having to arch down to the floor so he could catch his breath so he wouldn't drown in the mayhem.

his head tossed and turned around on his shoulders, trying to look so desperately for the girl he was chasing, some students glared at him with a fatal death stare as he shoved past them by digging his hands onto their shoulders, fiercely pushing them out of his way. this wasn't like mike, he would awkwardly try and maneuver around or not even bother, mike wasn't acting like himself. he clasped a hand over his forehead to try and steady himself from being so suddenly dizzy that was beginning to make him feel nauseous, it was like being around max was his drug, his addiction, and right now, he needed his fix, he needed to feel normal again.

his vision was building up to be cloudy and rather blurry, but mike's eyes were now set on the open entrance that even teased him with the midnight starry sky. he heard someone call for him from behind, but it must of been a side conscience that just shrugged it off as they didn't recognize the voice as the redheads. mike ignored it, gliding his way through the students like butter on a hot frying pan.

"-ike! ah, hells bells! mike!" mike noticed the voice again, he didn't even try to look back or even try to yell at them to back off, it was when he felt like he stopped moving did he give that daring sideglance.

it was his date.

el was gripping onto his wrist, hard, either with her mind or actual physical contact, but mike's hands were already so numb he didn't know which, nor did he really care.

"where did you go, mike?" she asked, pulling him down to her eyeline by yanking on his wrist making him stumble towards her body and within a close proximity was avoiding her stare at all costs.

"um, i was outsi-" mike tried to speak, stuttering over the fact every second he's spending here, he could have been with max.

"you made me miss my dance! how could you do that to me? it was so embarrassing!" she whined on and on and on, god this was like every other day, el would always have something to complain about and wouldn't even ask about how mike was feeling, "you had one job, and you even failed at that. you're not even listening now! christ, you are the worst boyfriend ever!"

"wow! i'm the worst boyfriend ever? says the girl who i used to love and who used to love me back, the girl whom i was able to talk for hours to, hug and laugh with. but now i'm only seen as an accessory to be able to slide in to the more popular side of hawkins. you fucked me over so many times i've stopped counting last january, cause you make me feel dead inside every time you give me affection only in front of your friends to show us off. and it's always been about you! when was the last time you comforted me the last time i cried? oh yeah, i remember 'i'm sorry mike, i would love to come over but i'm at a sleepover right now and i got a face mask on and i don't want people seeing see look this gross - just try and get over it for me, please'. you're such a bitch." mike snapped, feeling breathless but powerful, like a large weight been taken off his shoulders.

"so what are you saying then?" el hissed, with no sound of regret or sympathy.

"i'm saying that i have had enough of you." mike turned on his heels, detaching himself from el's grip, excusing all the stares that burned holes into his head while walking away, "we're over."

"no! n-no, you can't!" el started to 'cry', falling into her knees reaching her arms out to mike. "mike, i s-still love you!"