Hometown| Mike Wheeler

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

"Yeah, if you guys keep whining about it. Let's go!" Mike ushers, leading the way inside.

"'If you guys keep whining about it.' Nyeh-nyeh-nyeh," Lucas mocks like a child, and I send an odd look his way. He flashes me a smile as Mike pushes him inside, "Let me guess. You were busy."

Lucas puckers his lips, imitating a kiss, causing my stomach to turn a bit. Mike has a girlfriend, I need to get over it.

"Oh, yeah, real mature, Lucas." Mike sarcastically responds.

"'Oh, Izzy, I wish we could make out forever and never hang out with any of our friends.'" Lucas imitates, causing Will to stifle his laugh.

"What do you mean 'our friends?' You guys don't even like her!" Mike exclaims, turning to all of us with his arms in the air, "I mean, come on. Why not? You don't have any reasons."

"She called Dustin's turtle ugly." Lucas says.

"It was a joke." Mike defends.

"He cried about it for three days." Max shrugs.

"She accused Lucas of cheating on Max with me." I mumble just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Mike quickly spins around, frowning, "Well...you guys are pretty close."

Anger bubbles up inside of me, "What the hell, Mike?"

Max furrows her eyebrows slightly, I could tell she was a little angry.

"Okay, guys. Let's just drop it, alright?" Lucas swings his arm onto Maxes shoulder, "Nobody could ever replace my girlfriend."

"Yeah," Mike nods, and I don't notice the glance he gives me, "Me too."

We rush down the escalator, shoving through people and apologizing until we finally get to the bottom.

Mike bumps into a group of girls, "Watch it!"

"Yeah!" A familiar voice joins in. I look over to see Erica, Lucas' sister, sitting on the side of the fountain with her group of other 10 year old girls, "Watch it, nerd!"

"Isn't it past your bedtime?" Lucas remarks.

"Isn't it time you died?" Erica retorts.

"Psycho."

"Butthead!"

"Mall rat!"

"Fart face!"

Max and I share a look, as Lucas blows a raspberry to his sister.

Max then rolls her eyes, grabbing Lucas' arm and tugging him away, as I laugh.

I enter the ice cream store, Scoops Ahoy, with the rest of the crew, and Mike immediately starts ringing the bell as we step up to the cash register where Steve's co-worker, Robin, was standing.

I like Robin. She was funny, pretty, and always seemed un-interested. She was really cool, and I think she liked me as well. Sometimes when I went to Scoops with Lucas, Will, or Max, we would have a conversation.

The ringing of the bell started to piss me off, so I ripped it away from Mike.

Robin sighed, exclaiming, "Hey, dingus, your children are here!"

The sliding window behind Robin opens, and Steve looks at us exasperatingly, "Again? Seriously?"

He lets us sneak through the back of the parlor, since the back hallway of Scoops Ahoy connected to the Movie theater, meaning we could get in for free.

"I swear, if anybody hears about this—" Steve starts.

"We're dead!" We all chorus, repeating what Steve had said to us basically every time he ever let us through.

We sneak into the theater room, finding our seats. Will takes out the drinks and snacks he brought from his backpack, as the movie begins.

Not even a minute into the movie, the projector shuts off, leaving us in the dark.

Everyone in the crowd starts to voice their complaints, this lasting only a few minutes, though, because it soon turns back on.

Everybody starts to clap and cheer, which was annoying because I couldn't hear the movie.

Will's elbow accidentally pokes me in the face, and I look over to see his face was full of fear, and his hand rested on the back of his neck.

"Hey, Will," I whisper, and he seems to jump back to reality, letting out a light gasp, "You okay, buddy?"

"Oh. Yeah." Will tells me with a small smile.

"You sure?" Mike intervenes.

Will turns his head to Mike, "Of course."

I pat Will's shoulder as we settle back into the movie.