Hometown| Mike Wheeler

CHAPTER EIGHT

"Lizzie, yeah maybe, if she wants. But those girls? Um, no, they're not. Not even close! Never will be," He points to his fingers, listing off reasons, "They're liars, traitors-"

"They were just trying to keep us safe!" Mike retorts, "El didn't mean to hurt you. It was an accident!"

"An accident?" Lucas scoffs.

"Alright, accident or not...admit it, it was a little awesome." Dustin shrugs.

"Awesome?" Lucas and I repeat.

"Yeah, she threw you in the air with her mind!" Dustin exclaims, a smile pulling at his lips.

"I could have been killed!" Lucas shouts.

"Which is exactly why we need them. They're weapons!" Mike bellows, "Do you seriously wanna fight the Demogorgon with a wrist rocket? That's like R2-D2 going to fight Darth Vader. We're no use to Will if we're dead."

"He has a point." I agree.

"So you're siding with him now?!" Lucas barks.

"What? No. I'm on nobody's side, Lucas. But if we want to find Will, we need the girls." I claim.

Lucas rolls his eyes, "Yeah, well, if you three wanna waste your time looking for traitors, go ahead, 'cause I'm not spending my time on them anymore. No way! I'm going to the gate. I'm gonna find Will."

He pushes past Dustin and Mike, and I spin around, "Hey! Lucas, wait."

He storms away, muttering, "Thanks so much for being there for me."

|

"This is weird without Lucas." Dustin expresses as we bike down the street.

"He should've shaken my hand." Mike declares.

"He's just jealous." Dustin shakes his head.

"What are you talking about?" Mike asks.

"Sometimes your total obliviousness just blows my mind," Dustin groans, "He's your best friend, right?"

"Yeah...I mean, I don't know." Mike shrugs.

"Its fine. I get it. I didn't get here until fourth grade. He had the advantage of living next door. But none of that matters. What matters is that he is your best friend. And then this girl shows up and starts living in your basement, and all you wanna do is pay attention to her." Dustin reasons.

"That's not true." Mike denies.

"Yes, it is. And you know it. And he knows it. But no one ever says anything until you both start punching and yelling at each other like goblins with intelligence scores of zero. Now everything's weird." Dustin explains.

"He's not my best friend." Mike states.

"Yeah, right." Dustin chuckles sarcastically.

"I mean, he is, but so are you. And so is Will." Mike sighs.

The boys begin to bicker about having more than one best friend, but I stay quiet, like I have this whole time. I felt bad about what I did to Lucas. I told him that if Mike ever picks El over him, I'd be there, but I'm not.

"Whoa." I gasp, stopping the boys so we could all look at the supermarket. The windows were smashed and there was police officers asking people questions.

"You don't think..." Dustin trails, referring to the girls.

"Uh, definitely." Mike answers, and we turn our bikes, riding down the street that the supermarket was on, and into the woods.