𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 (𝐛𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐫)

𝟎𝟎𝟗

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟗

𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝?

7:34 am

1986, 20 March Thursday

Hawkins, Indiana

Wheeler's Residence

it's a thursday and mike has not gotten up his bed since the incident. he has been faking sick for 5 days straight. mike had been avoiding his friends and asking nancy or karen to cover for him. his parents or maybe just his mom, karen had officially gotten sick of her son's shit. she opened the curtains and the sun streamed into his room brightening the whole place up. it had been a while since mike experienced such bright light.

"mom leave me alone!" mike groaned and turned away from the shining light.

"mike you're going to school. i honestly don't know what's going on with you anymore." karen said while picking up the garbage scattered around mike's room.

"okay whatever." mike said groggily and stood up from his seat and looked for decent clothes to wear to school.

karen walked out of mike's room after she has picked up some of the mess scattered around mike's room. mike stood up and looked for decent clothes for the day.

8:06 am

1986, 20 August Thursday

Hawkins, Indiana

Hawkins High School

"holy shit mike?" eden said in shock.

mike ignored her and walked off to his locker.

"hey! don't ignore me!" she scoffed.

"where the fuck were you? do you know how worried el is? do you know how worried the rest of our group is?" she questioned while trying to catch up to him.

"ever stop to think how i'm feeling right now?" mike retorted.

eden was slightly taken aback by his response and stayed silent for a while. eden looked at mike with an empathetic look. for a second mike was about to let his tears drop but it was stopped by a familiar girl's voice, eleven.

mike turned around to face his girlfriend. he felt guilty while looking at her. he's done a big fucking mistake and deep down he knows he can't change it.

"mike oh my god i've missed you!" she hollered while running to him and burying her face in his chest.

"hey." mike simply replied.

eleven felt disappointed at his reply and stood back from her boyfriend. she could tell something was bothering him. she just couldn't point her finger onto it.

"alright something is definitely bothering you." eleven stated.

mike stayed silent and gave her a confused face.

"you didn't come to school for 3 days. you avoided us for five days without telling us anything. you're not contacting anyone. and the last time you contacted someone other than your family is troy and you two haven't hung out ever since you were 7."

mike looked at her not being able to process how he knew that he had contacted troy during his 5 day break. he then questioned her, "how'd you know that?"

"easy. will told m-"

"hey el!" a boy's voice who had mike so desperately hoped he wouldn't have to interact with sounded out, it was will. but will wasn't standing alone. no he was standing next to troy, hand in hand and so irritatingly close. will's cedar eyes then notice mike's staring eyes.

"w-why are you two so close together?" mike stammered.

mike turned to eden, she nodded indicating that the two were dating and that will was now off-limits. mike's face turned into confused and hurt. he looked at troy who was distracted by will standing before him.

that should be me holding your hand. mike thought. he was ashamed of his actions towards will at the party. he wondered if troy knew about the kiss between will and him. but clearly he didn't because at this point he would've probably be beaten up by troy again.

"wow uh congrats. so um how'd you two get together?" mike stammered in hurting curiosity.

"oh well we um started to talk after you left the party..." will started.

"and well we kind of just hit it off and well here we are." troy concluded.

"okay. well see you guys around school." mike muttered before walking off from the group.

"you're not gonna wait for the rest?" eleven questioned.

mike looked at her with guilt and nodded. he continued to walk away hoping that he could just somehow forget everything between him and will but he knew life can't just be how he wanted it. mike continued walking until he's at the bleachers in the gym, unexpected tears started falling, he completely broke down and decided that he was going to just stay there until the bell had rung.

8:33 am

1986, 20 August Thursday

Hawkins, Indiana

Hawkins High School's Gynasium

"hey. you good?" an unfamiliar voice echoed the almost empty gymnasium.

mike looked up and sees a girl standing before him.

"mike right?" she asked.

mike nodded and said, "you're kyla right?"

"yep that's me. the openly f*g of the school." she said emphasizing the slur. she paused for a moment and continued, "what are you doing here pouring you're eyes out for?"

mike shrugged and decided to ignore her question.

"alright mike. i know i don't know you well and i don't know what you're going through, but all i want to tell you is, sometimes you feel like giving up but you have to remember that you still have a lot of motherfuckers to prove wrong." she said before walking off to the gymnasium's door.

"oh and by the way you might want to get up and head to class we've got two minutes left." she added as she stepped out of the gymnasium.

mike stood up and had the words "sometimes you feel like giving up but you have to remember that you still have a lot of motherfuckers to prove wrong." repeating over and over in his head. she was right. he did have a lot of motherfuckers to prove wrong.

a/n

alright well here is the next chapter. also i hope the people in beirut are doing okay. by the way kyla isn't an important character just a side character who puts one of the main characters in the right direction. aight well im done talking cya in the next chapter i guess?