Hometown| Mike Wheeler

CHAPTER THIRTY

Max counts to three on her fingers as Lucas brings out the board, and we creep up behind him.

Once we hit three, we all blow into our noisemakers, surprising Dustin more than expected.

He screams bloody murder, spinning around and spraying hairspray directly into Lucas' eyes, causing Lucas to scream as well.

I laugh hysterically as Lucas continues to scream, holding his hands to his eyes, trying to rub out the spray.

"H—Holy shit!" I snort between laughs.

"Are you okay?" Max asks, concerned, although she held back a smile, "Come on, you idiot."

After that we all greeted Dustin, before he excitedly pulled us—excluding Max and Lucas who were still aiding Lucas' eye—to his room, to show us his inventions.

"I call it...the 'Forever Clock,'" Dustin pulls out one of his many creations, "All right? Powered by wind. Very useful in the apocalypse," He hands it to Will who admires it in interest, "Then....I give you the Slammer," I furrow my eyebrows as he pulls out many random objects connected to a hammer. He presses a button and the hammer repeatedly moves up and down. He gives it to Ten who looks at it with raised eyebrows, "Pretty neat, huh?" He chuckles as Mike sighs in disinterest. I glare at him and he puts his hands up in surrender as Dustin grabs a duffel bag from his bed.

"What is it?" I question as we squat down, gathering on the floor in front of the bag.

"I would like you to meet..." He unzips the bag, a bunch of wires and other mechanical objects inside, "Cerebro."

We all stare in confusion, as Mike speaks up, "What exactly are we looking at here?"

"An unassembled one-of-a-kind battery-powered radio tower." Dustin grins, looking at us expectantly, waiting for us to be just as excited as him.

"So, it's a...a ham radio." Will compares, making Dustin's smile widen.

"The Cadillac of ham radios. This baby carries a crystal-clear connection over vast distances. I'm talking North Pole to South," Dustin boasts, then says something that leaves us stumped, "I can talk to my girlfriend whenever and wherever I choose."

Our mouths open in surprise as we all turn to each other with wide eyes.

"Girlfriend?" We all chorus in surprise.

Dustin grins widely, explaining all about his new partner, "We can talk to her if you want. Come on."

He hands the duffel bag to Mike, leading the way out of his room.

"Wait, so her name is Suzie?" Mike questions, as we all still try to wrap our head around it.

"Suzie with a 'z.' She's from Utah." Dustin specifies, leading us out of his house.

"Girls go to science camp?" Will questions from behind me, and I turn to him with a scowl.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I ask incredulously.

"I—I didnt mean, like—"

"Suzie does. She's a genius." Dustin cuts him off.

I give a small look, before refocusing back on Dustin.

"Is she cute?" Mike asks.

"Think Phoebe Cates, only hotter." Dustin claims, causing Mike and I to share a skeptical look.

"Whats going on?" Max asks from her spot next to Lucas at the kitchen sink.

"Going to talk to Dustin's girlfriend." Will informs her as we continue to file out of the house.

We soon find ourselves following Dustin up a steep hill.

Panting and sweating, Lucas finally asks, "Aren't we high enough?"

"Cerebro works best at a hundred meters." Dustin simply answers.

"You know, im pretty sure people in Utah have telephones." Max sneers, tugging along a heavy case.

"Yeah, but Susie's Mormon." Dustin states.

"Oh, shit. She doesn't have electricity?" Lucas inquires.

"Thats the Amish." Max corrects.

"What are Mormons?" Will and Ten ask at the same time, causing Will to smile.

"Super religious white people. They have electricity and cars and stuff, but since im not Mormon, her parents would never approve," Dustin clarifies, "Its all a bit...Shakespearean."

"Shakespearean?" Max repeats.

Dustin continues to compare he and Susie's relationship to Romeo and Juliet, as I see Mike check his watch.

"Hey, guys," Mike shouts so the people at the front of the group could hear, "This is fun and all but, uh...I have to go home."

"We're almost there." Dustin points to the top of the hill.

"Sorry, man. Curfew." Mike nods, before turning around to make his way back down the hill.

Dustin looks down at his wrist, checking his watch, "Curfew at 4:00?"

"He's lying." I tell Dustin with a sigh as we all watch Mike become further away.

"Its been like this all summer." Will confirms.

"He's going to see Isabel." Max adds with a roll of her eyes.

"Yeah," Lucas then laughs, "Guess what he calls her."

"What?" Dustin half-grins.

"Izzy," Lucas and Dustin both look back at me, "Seems kinda familiar."

"Will you guys stop." I groan, shoving the two boys forward, yet it doesn't stop the blush that comes onto my face.

omg i haven't updated in so long, so im sorry about that and im sorry that this chapter wasn't more exciting, it was more of a filler-type. hopefully my writers block is over and ill update some-what more regularly?