A Prize: A Michael Afton X Reader

Chapter 20: Summer Hurricanes

POV: 2nd
Before you knew it, it was already summer and, to your surprise, Mike actually managed to convince your cousins to let you stay with them for the summer. Honestly Hurricane sounded like a dull place from how Mike described it, minus literal disappearances, but you had not been out of the school in so long that any place sounded better.
This was your chance to, not only have fun, but complete your current overarching goal that has lasted nearly all of the school year. Confessing your feelings and secure Mike's heart. For some reason you had gotten the worst luck and every chance you tried you were blocked. But now, finally out of this prison of a school, you were confident that you can show off your inner colors and win them over.
Despite being sent clothes ever so often from your father, you literally only owned two shirts and a pair of shorts. It's been so long since you've been able to wear a real outfit, outside of your uniform, that you have to buy some at Hurricane as soon as possible. At least that's another thing to look forward to, freedom of expression through clothing.
The gates of the school creaked open with a mighty hiss like a long forgotten serpent. You and Mike were the last to leave the cursed place. You stared at the patches of greenery outside of the school, greenery that you normally only got to see when you were walked to work, with a set of new eyes. For the next 104 days, you were a free man.
You stood side by side with Mike waiting for your cousins to pick you both up. Apparently, Mr. Afton decided that it would be more convenient to give them $10, instead of driving here himself to pick up Mike. In fact, he was so "busy" that he basically told your cousins to let him sleep over for one night. However to your dismay, they refused. All of this, you were told secondhand from your father who had basically acted as your relay as your cousins never wanted to directly talk to you. COWARDS...
As you stood there in the heat, a part of your mind wondered. It wished to graze just the fingertips of his hands, not a full handholding just a partial. But you refrained from doing any strange motions as your cousins car drove up to the school's gate. The window creek down slowly and methodically as the face of your male cousin stared back at you, "Throw your suitcases into the trunk, you'll be sitting in the back, if it wasn't already obvious." He stared for a moment longer before rolling the windows up, slowly eyeing your every movement around his car.
The two of you quickly throw your bags and suitcases into the trunk before sitting down on the melting backseats. You would never get used to hot boiling weather of early June. Instead of thinking of Mike, all you could think of was how hot you were. Utah was a cruel state, it was freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer, but the idea of having proper air conditioning sounded heavenly. It has been so long since you felt proper air conditioning, but right now you settle. Heat has a way of making you miss even the creakiest of old metal fans.
Eventually your eyes drift over to Mike. Despite being in a car, it seemed he was scared to rock the boat. There was a lot of resentment coming from the people in the front of the car that was silent, but deadly. Personally you found the situation funny, at least for once you weren't the center of disagreement. But of course, not all good things could last forever.
In between the long silence, your female cousin, the one you're actually related to, spoke up, "Of all the kids in Hurricane, you had to become friends with HIM. Do you have any idea what this young man did to his own brother?" Mike shriveled up in his chair and you nearly hissed, "It was an accident, what he did was an accident. And you know it's an accident too! So unless you have some hard cold facts that he had done what he did on purpose, I think it's in your best interest to leave him alone." She nearly hissed back, "You don't know what you're talking about, I saw it with my own eyes. I WAS THERE. But if you want some hard cold facts I'll tell you this, one things for certain, HE is not allowed anywhere inside of my house."
This caused your male cousin to laugh, "For once, I agree with the brat, dear. What Michael did was an accident, what THEY did was not. Although there's no evidence for it, we all know you did it, you little shit! Dose he even know what you did? Compared to Michael, you are a legitimate monster and Hurricane already has enough of those. I barely wanted to invite you over to my house so I will make one thing perfectly clear, you will not talk back to my wife like that again. I already told the school that I'm ready to send you back." Bold words from a bunch of cowards...
You took a deep breath and shut your mouth, folding your arms. You didn't really pay attention to the conversation after that, your cousins quickly got into an argument over defending family. Eventually their words became nothing, but background noise. The only parts of interest was your cousins conspiracy of Michael's father being a murderer and killing his own wife. At the end of the day, as long as the attention is off of you, it doesn't matter too much. It was going to be a long summer.