With a sigh, Matthew watched from his open window as Steve Harrington quickly started to walk away from the house, only for Steve to stop when he felt something hit the back of his head.
After wincing to himself, Steve turned to pick up the thing that was thrown at him, only to stop when he saw that it was an old dictionary.
Then he looked up to see Matthew staring down at him with a blunt in hand.
With a scoff, Steve asked, "Did you really just throw a fucking book at me?" When Matthew only raised his eyebrows at the supposed king of the school, Steve asked him, "Why the hell did you throw a book at me?"
After letting out a puff of smoke, Matthew replied, "I've got a much better question for you, Harrington." After bringing the blunt up to his mouth and inhaling it for a couple of seconds before bringing the blunt away from his mouth, he asked, "What the fuck are you thinking coming around my sister's room and climbing up to her room like a fucking creep?"
With a tilt of his head, Steve said to him, "Speaking of your sister, I was wondering something. Do you know what your sister was doing today?"
With a wave of his free hand, Matthew asked him, "How the hell should I know? I spent the day with my brother and his two friends. Whatever she did is none of my fucking business, Harrington. But as her boyfriend, shouldn't you be knowing what she's doing instead of asking her pain in the ass of a little brother? Hmm?"
Steve only rolled his eyes at Matthew before he quickly ran over towards his car, where Carol Perkins and Tommy H were silently watching Matthew Wheeler continue to smoke his blunt without a care in the world.
* * *
With his headphones covering his ears and Talking Heads's Psycho Killers playing on his walkman, Matthew laid on his bed with his arms folded behind his head.
Ever since he met El— who was apparently known as Eleven by Mike and his friends— his life had turned into complete and utter shit.
As much as he hated to admit it, El running off was probably the best thing that ever happened to him.
Because as of this very moment, Matthew Wheeler was really, really calm and there was no way in hell that he was going to let anyone come in the way of him and his currently calm state.
It wasn't until he felt a sudden tugging on one of his arms that he opened one of his eyes to see Dustin Henderson and Mike Wheeler trying to drag him off of his bed.
With a sigh, he pulled his headphones off of his head and asked them, "What the fuck do you two want now?" When he heard nothing but the beat of Pulled Up starting to play on his walkman, he let out another sigh before he told them, "Either you spit out whatever the hell you have to say to me, or I'm kicking you little shits out of my room."
Mike and Dustin shared a look with each other before Mike told his brother, "We need you to come with us." When Matthew only raised an eyebrow at them, Mike said to him, "We're going to find Lucas, and then we're heading out to find Eleven. So, we need you to come with us."
As he went to close his eye yet again, Matthew said, "No."
In turn, Dustin said, "N-No?"
Matthew replied, "That's what I just said, isn't it, Henderson?" When Dustin didn't respond, Matthew said to him, "And to think that I thought that you were losing your hearing, just when you're trying to have your teeth actually grow in."
While Dustin's mouth fell open at Matthew's words, Mike asked him, "Why don't you want to come with us?"
Matthew said to him, "Oh, man, I don't know, Mike. Maybe it's because I don't want to waste whatever time is left of my suspension helping you fucking losers with making peace with your other loser friend and to find a girl that you had no business bringing to this house in the first place. You ever thought about that one, Mike?"
Mike told him, "Yeah, well, that girl I had no business bringing to this house in the first place actually likes you." When Matthew only sighed to himself, Mike said to him, "Oh, but poor Matthew Wheeler. God forbid someone finds out that behind his cold exterior that he's actually a fucking lonely piece of shit that actually cares about other people. Can't have that, can you? Because then everyone at your fucking school is gonna give you shit for pretending like you don't give a shit about anyone else for all these years."
With his jaw clenched, Matthew said to him, "You better watch your fucking mouth, Mike. I swear to God. 'Cause if you don't, I'm gonna kick your fucking ass."
After reaching under Matthew's pillow and pulling a notebook out from it, Mike showed a drawing of EM and asked his brother, "How do you think the people at your school will feel when they find out that you've been drawing them like some fucking freak? Huh? Like, what about this EM guy? How do you think he'll feel when he finds out about it? Probably won't feel too good about it, I bet."
With his eyes now open and narrowed, Matthew slowly turned to look over at his brother with a scowl on his face.
With his eyes wide as ever, Dustin took a step back from the bed with his hands raised, while he said, "Oh, shit."
It wasn't until Matthew was off of his bed that he quickly grabbed Mike by the shirt and pulled him closer to himself before he asked, "What the fuck did you just say to me?"
After gulping to himself, Mike said, "You heard me."
With an even tighter grip on the front of Mike's shirt, Matthew told him, "You ever tell anyone at school that I've been drawing them, then I swear to God, Mike, I will fucking tell Mom and Dad that you've been hiding El in our fucking basement for days now and haven't told them shit about it."
Mike asked him, "Won't that just be you snitching on yourself, if you do that?"
Matthew replied, "I can live with it. After all, I've only got three more years until I'm out of this shithole of a town and can do whatever the fuck I want with my life. You, however, are stuck here until you graduate and that won't be for another six fucking years. So, tell me something, Mike. Who has more to lose here? Me— someone that's due to graduate in three fucking years— or you, my pain in the ass of a little brother that's still in middle school and has been obsessing over some girl with a fucking shaved head for days now and has been hiding said girl in our basement? Hmm?"
In turn, Mike quietly said, "Me."
With a sigh, Matthew said, "Come again?"
Then Mike loudly said to him, "Me."
Matthew replied, "That's what I thought. Now get fucking lost and go bother someone else. I'm heading out."
After Matthew had practically thrown him on the floor of his room and went to walk past him, Mike asked him, "What? Where are you going?"
Matthew told him, "I'm heading out to get myself a new lighter. Mine's not working anymore."
Mike asked him, "But-But what about El?"
As Matthew walked out of the room, he replied, "What about her? She's a girl with superpowers. I'm sure she can handle herself just fine."
It was only then that Mike yelled, "God, Matt! Why do you have to be such a fucking douchebag?!" When Matthew came to an abrupt halt and stood in a tense posture, Mike told him, "For once in my life, I'm asking my big brother for help with something that matters to me, and you're just turning your back on me! Did-Did you even care about El at all or was that all just for show?! Did-Did you just pretend to be nice to her for your sake?! Was that it?!"
For a moment, everything was silent between them.
And during that moment, Matthew clenched both of his hands into his fists and squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to ignore the feeling of his anger starting to boil its way up to the surface.
It wasn't until he felt the strongest urge to turn around and repeatedly punch his brother in the face that he said through grit teeth, "Yeah, Mike. That's exactly it. I don't give a shit about her. So, just get lost and find someone else to harass with your fucking bullshit."
And despite the urge he felt to turn around to tell his brother that he was worried about El and that he hoped that she was okay and that he would like nothing more than to help him with finding her, he did nothing but keep walking over towards the staircase and headed down the stairs, leaving behind a pissed off Mike Wheeler standing in Matthew's room and a slightly scared Dustin Henderson from just how angry he'd seen the older Wheeler brother get with them.