— ❝ i'm walking on sunshine, woah ❞ ~Walking on sunshine, Katrina & the Waves
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on the first day of the new school year, michael wheeler was sat in his car outside of jane hopper's house, blasting music and tapping his foot along to the gentle beat. he checked his watch with a sigh. 8:23. it wasn't unlike jane to be late, but mike had at least hoped that she'd make an effort to be on time for their first day of school. he continued tapping his foot, trying to ignore the nerves building up inside of him.
mike had never been one to enjoy change, and even though he knew he'd settle into the routine of school soon enough, he still found himself worrying about going back after summer break. it had almost felt as though the days full of sunshine and smiles spent lazing around in the heat would never end, but here he was.
as mike sat waiting for his girlfriend, he found his mind drifting to a place he most certainly didn't approve of. he was thinking of maxine mayfield. he was thinking of her witty remarks and fiery red hair that he hadn't seen in months. he was thinking of how she'd spent the entire summer without once crossing paths with him, and how he hadn't been surprised, but secretly a little disappointed. but that was something he hadn't yet admitted even to himself, let alone anyone else.
before he could get too lost in his thoughts of the girl he supposedly despised, jane opened the passenger side of his car with a wide smile on her face, throwing her backpack into the backseat before jumping into the seat. "hey!" she said, slightly out of breath, "sorry i'm late, i totally slept through my alarm." she admitted, an apologetic look on her face.
mike smiled. "no worries," he said, glancing back to her house, "no will today?" he asked.
jane shook her head "he rode with dustin and lucas this morning, I think he misses them" she told him with a smile. lucas had been gone for most of the summer, and mike himself had missed him quite a bit. but they'd grown more and more distant over the past few years, with the feud between mike and max driving the two boys apart. lucas didn't like the way mike treated max, and mike honestly couldn't blame him. he was well aware of how much of a dick he could be, but he and max had barely exchanged a nice word in three years, and he didn't plan on changing that anytime soon.
he and jane drove to school peacefully, her bobbing her head happily to walking on sunshine. her curls bounced as she hummed along to the cheerful tune and she chartered to mike about the day ahead of them. her attitude toward the first day couldn't be more different to his. she was excited to see all her friends, especially max. the girls had been best friends for over two years now, despite their rough start, and jane missed her after not seeing her all summer. it seemed silly to her, considering they were both in hawkins the entire time, but she understood. almost everyone at the school was aware of mike and max's ongoing feud at this point.
mike pulled into the parking lot of hawkins high, immediately spotting dustin, will, lucas and max standing by the bike rack and parking nearby. jane jumped out and smiled widely as she saw max, grabbing her bag and running over to her, the two girls hugging tightly.
mike strayed back only slightly, suppressing the nerves that threatened to fill him. he couldn't help but stare at max. each summer she came back looking even more mature, and mike marvelled at how she'd somehow managed to become so tan despite probably having spent most of the break indoors. the freckles spattered across her face were even more pronounced than they had been when he last saw her, and a sweet smile graced her face as she talked with jane.
he was snapped out of thinking about max for the second time that morning by will waving him over with a smile, and he walked toward them, trying to shake off what he'd been feeling. he smiled at his friends as he approached them. "hey guys," he said, trying not to look over to see if max was looking at him despite knowing she probably wasn't. they all greeted him happily, and he did his best to pay attention to their meaningless conversation about what they'd done over the summer until the bell rang, signalling the beginning of the school day.
they all walked their seperate ways to homeroom, mike glancing at max as she walked away with will to their homeroom and trying not to think too much about her as he hurried toward his own classroom, worried he'd be late.
they weren't even ten minutes into the new school year, and mike could already tell it'd be an interesting one.
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chapter two here we go, still not interesting as it's just setting up the story. but your girl needs a foundation to build from, ya know? anyway sorry this is bad but hopefully it's established the current relationship between mike and max a bit better. over and out.
