WORD COUNT: 3083
HIGHEST WORD COUNT: 4556
Saturday, 24th May 1986,
The Wheelers' House,
09.25am,
THIRD PERSON:
Mike sat on his bed, thinking to himself. He had not gotten any sleep the night prior. Everyone went home after the incident with Will.
Mike sat in silence wishing he hadn't skipped Will. But he had one question which remained unanswered.
Why was he so upset?
He didn't really have any reason that Mike new of. Unless..no, he dismissed the thought.
Perhaps he just didn't want to kiss him? Mike thought to himself. Eventually, he gave up and flopped unto his bed.
"Urghhh.." He sighed into his pillow as he turned over, his words muffled.
"Mike!!!" The boy heard his sister call from outside his room.
Annoyed, he yelled a barely audible, "What!?"
"It's time for breakfast, dumbass." She yelled back. It seemed their relationship was back to how it was prior to their emotional chat.
Swearing under his breath, Mike rose to his feet, stumbling along the way as he hadn't slept for more than 15 hours.
He grabbed random clothes from his cupboard, placed it on his bed and exited his bedroom. He opened the door of the bathroom, entered and shut it behind him, a bit louder than he wanted to.
The bathroom was large and was clean, sparkling in fact.
A few minutes later, he walked out of the bathroom with his robe on. Got dressed in him bedrooms and made his way to the table. There were his parents and two sisters.
"Look who finally decided to show up." Ted sighed, rolling his eyes and taking a bite of his chicken breast.
Michael was already not too fond of his father but the little comments he always made about him and his behaviour just made everything that little bit lot worse. Besides, who has chicken for breakfast!?
Mike was already tired, pissed off and confused as it was and that comment just pissed him off even more. He walked to the table, grabbed his BOWL of cereal and stomped back up to his room.
"Ted! There was no need for that." The young boy heard his mother say before he slammed his door shut.
He carefully placed his food down his study table and climbed back into bed. He was so tired, he could barely keep his eyes open.
He slipped under his duvet and fell into a slumber.
05.35pm
It was around 05.35pm when he was woken up my his mother. She was sat beside him on his bed and was brushing through his hair with her fingers.
Mike sat up and rubbed his eyes. He looked to his left, saw his mother beside him and almost immediately, turned around and lay back down.
"If you're here to scold me about my behaviour or whatever, I don't wanna hear it!" He mumbled, slamming his head into his pillow.
"No, no." His mother corrected him. "I just wanted to ask if everything was okay. You've been really, I don't know how to describe it, off(?) recently."
A few moments of silence passed by before his mother spoke up again.
"You've been acting out, getting in trouble at school and just been getting really irritated very easily. I'm not sure if it's hormones or something but I wanted to make sure everything was okay." She sighed, removing her fingers from his hair and patting his shoulders.
The boy grumbled and threw his duvet over his head.
"Michael. I just want to help in any way I can." She sighed.
"You can help by getting out of my room and leaving me alone??" He said. He rolled his eyes and frowned.
"If that's what you really want." Karen sighed. She turned to stand up and was stopped by Mike.
He held unto her wrist, silently pleading for her not to leave.
"I'm sorry. It's not your fault. I'm just tired and I don't know." Mike sighed, letting go of his mother's hand and covering half of his face with his duvet.
Karen sat back down beside Mike and placed her hand on his head.
"Want to start by telling what's going on?" She asked gentily, trying not to force her son into telling her. They did not have the best relationship but she tried to help when she could.
"Well, I can't tell you everything but I kinda like someone and-" Mike started but was cut off by his mother.
"I thought you were dating that lovely Jane girl?" She asked, confused.
"We broke up. She likes girls. Well, I think she does." Mike sighed. "Oh, I don't think I was supposed to tell you that."
"Oh-Uhm. Well, I certainly didn't expect that." Karen said, her eyebrows raised. "Who is you like now?"
"Uhm, well. I can't tell you that, sorry.." Mike sighed.
"That's quite alright, don't fret." Karen laughed.
"Well, I've just been really easily irritated like you said and, well coming home makes a lot worse." The boy muttered, hiding underneath his grey duvet as if it were a shield. He feared for what his mother might think about what he said.
"I'm sorry you think that." She mumbled, scratching the back of her neck nervously. "Your father and I haven't been on the best of terms, have we? I'm sorry we didn't even take a moment to stop and think about how are recent arguments and quarrels affected you and your sisters."
"Well, it's not entirely your fault. In fact, its more dad than you. All his little comments infuriate me! He even made rude jokes about Will and his family just because they couldn't afford some things!" Mike whisper-yelled, his eyebrows furrowed and his face scrunched up with immense anger.
His mother simply sighed and rested her head on her sons' bed frame.
"Can I let you in on a small secret?" She asked, shutting her eyes.
"Uhm, sure?" Mike said, slightly confused. What did his mother mean by secret? Did she mean something about her and Ted or what's been making them argue so often?
"Well, your dad and I have been discussing divorce, well, since it seems it's the direction our relationship is going." Karen mumbled, barely getting the words out.
"Wait, seriously!? Mike question. "Does that mean you have to leave or something??"
"No,no,no. We will all still be living under the same roof, your dad and I just don't have to keep pretending we love each other. Although, I suggested we do pretend we love each other in front of Holly since she is still young but he refused." Karen sighed, scratching her neck again.
Mike just stared at her, his eyes a reflection of several emotions, too many to count.
"Well, anyway, this isn't about me. What's wrong, Mike?" His mother asked, her hand on his head, brushing through his hair once again.
"Well, I like a certain someone but I'm friends with them so if I tell them and they don't feel the same, our friendship will be ruined." Mike muttered, covering his face with his hands.
"Well, who is it?" Karen questioned.
"I can't tell you." Mike sighed.
"Mike, it would help me figure out the best way for you to tell them how you feel about them if I knew who it was. Well, unless it's someone I do not know." His mother said, almost pleading.
A few minutes of silence passed by and Karen decided to start guessing.
"Is it Will?" She asked, almost certain.
"How did you know??" Mike questioned, puzzled as he sat up.
"I didn't." She laughed in response, "You've just proven me right."
"Oh." Her son sighed in embarrassment, sinking under his duvet.
"Well, I guess I've always had some sort of feelings in the back of my head that you two were a bit close." Karen smiled.
"Will is a lovely boy. Hm, he's quite shy too, isn't he? I don't think he'd want you to do a public confession." She said, tapping her chin in thought.
"I know that." Mike grumbled, his face red.
"He likes drawing, right?" She questioned. "Oh, and that game! Dungeons and Donkeys, was it?"
"Dragons." Mike sighed, correcting her. "Dungeons and Dragons. Just call it D&D though."
"Ah, yes. Do you think he'd like something Dungeons and, no, D&D themed?" Karen asked.
"Maybe. I don't know." Mike sighed.
"Well, I'll leave you to think about it." His mother smiled, rising to her feet.
She walked to the door, turned to wave goodbye to her son and left his room.
MIKE'S POV:
What mom said got me thinking. Would the chances of him and I dating increase if my confession to him was somehow D&D themed? I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to it, but I guess I can ask the others since somehow they already know I like Will.
Or better yet, could I ask them if they know how Will feels about me?
"Is he interested in being just friends or...more?"
No, how can I ask something like that?? I guess I'll just have to find out for myself when I ask him.
Whatever, I'm so bored. I don't want to stay inside all day, my room is so stuffy. I got and stretched. I grabbed my duvet and folded so my bed looked less messy.
I was about to leave my room when I thought of something. I grabbed a spare notebook I had on my table and a pencil, eraser and pen. I thought that maybe I could write down ideas, if that's what you want to call it, for ways I could tell Will about my feeling for him. I don't want it to be stupid and corny. Something special, that we would both like. I put the notebook and stationery in my bag. It was nice bag, different to the one I wore to school. It was a shoulder bag which was a slightly unsaturated swamp green colour. Will got it for me ages ago but I never used it because back then, I was too obsessed with El. It was and still is my favourite bag.
I sighed, left my room and headed downstairs. Dad was still there eating chicken as usual. I think he was going to make another stupid comment about me finally coming back downstairs but mom hushed him.
"I'm going out." I said blandly.
"Where to?" Dad asked, putting his chicken down.
"None of your business." I scoffed, heading into the kitchen. I took a packet of biscuits from the cupboard. I left the kitchen and was about to head out of the house when I stopped.
I turned around to see dad holding unto my wrist tightly to stop me.
"Not so fast." He said.
I tried to shake him off but it was no use, he was a lot bigger and stronger than me.
"What." I asked.
"You can't just leave without telling his where you're going." He stated.
"I don't have to tell you shit." I said angrily as I pulled my wrist out of his grasp. "Besides, all the other times, years ago, I wouldn't tell you where I was and you wouldn't care so why does have to change all of a sudden?"
With nothing to say, Dad just grit his teeth and sat back down at the table.
I rolled my eyes and walked out. I don't even know where I'm going, I'll decide as I go.
I took my bike from the garage and headed out.
.
.
.
At first, I was going to go to Will's house but I remembered how I made him cry so I decided it was best not to show up there unannounced for a while. Then I decided to go Lucas' house but he was too busy to hang out since he was helping his mom and dad repaint their house. I checked Dustins' house but he was still sleeping. I was thinking about going to Max's house but we don't really have anything to talk about so I just decided to stroll around. I ended walking for about 30 minutes until I got to a small lake I hadn't been to before.
There was a dark brown dock right before the lake stretched out. I walked to the very edge of it and was about to sit down when I noticed someone else. There was someone else sat at the dock. Although, it was getting quite dark, it wasn't dark enough for me not to be able to notice who it was. I moved closer to them and sure enough, it was them.
"Mary?" I asked to get her attention. She turned around, I'm not sure whether because it was to the sound of her name or because she was surprised someone else was there with her, but it definitely was her.
She waved nervously at me and mouthed something. I can't really read lips so I asked her, "What?"
She reached for something beside her. A book. The one she writes in. She opened it to a new page and wrote:
' You're Will's boyfriend, right? What're doing p
out here? '
"What!? W-Why would you think I'm his b-boyfriend???" I asked, my cheeks burning up.
She scribbled on her book again then showed it to me.
' Oh, sorry, was that assumptious of me? You two are really close, like, dating kind of close so I thought you were. '
"Well, we're not. Hold on, if you thought that, why would carve W + M into your table?" I asked, remembering how angry I was at her for doing that.
She wrote something down and scribbled for a few seconds after words.
' Will + Michael ' and next to it was a two stick figures holding hands, which I assumed were Will and I.
I covered my face with my hands and avoided eye contact with her. She tapped my shoulder and gave me a worried look.
"Nothing's wrong, don't worry." I assured her. "Wait, what're you doing here?"
She wrote in her book for a while then showed it to me.
' I used to go fishing with my dad at a small lake which looked like this before we came here : ) '
Above the writing was a small, child-like picture. It two stick figures, one noticeably bigger than the other, which I assumed was her dad.
Both of them has fishing poles and were sitting at a dock. It wasn't the best drawing but it hit me like a ton of bricks when I realised I've never done anything fun with my dad.
I pushed away the thought and looked to Mary.
"Do you still go fishing?" I asked, smiling. The question, for some reason, made her look uncomfortable.
She scribbled on her book again. It didn't look like she was writing so I assumed she was drawing again.
She showed her book again and what I saw was quite unsettling.
She drew a small grave which said
'Gregory Adams'
"Oh, shit. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." I said, apologetically. Now I feel even worse for how I behaved towards her the first time we met.
"It's okay. I'm slowly getting over it."
I looked around to see had spoke and when I realised it was only Mary and I on the dock and I looked to her, confused.
"Haha, yeah, I can speak I just would rather not most times." She smiled. Her voice was nice and rather angelic.
"Do you like drawing?" I asked, moving away from the subject of her late father.
She simply nodded, still smiling.
"Will likes drawing." I muttered subconsciously.
"Is all you think about Will?" She laughed, covering her mouth.
"Oh! Sorry." I said, ashamed. I guess he is always in my mind. If I'm being honest, Mary and Will are quite similar. They like drawing, they're both quite shy but still nice. No wonder they got along so easily, they understand each other. If Will were to date her, atleast I know why. I sighed and stood up.
"It's getting quite dark, I'm going to start heading home. Wanna come with?" I asked, holding my hand out to help her up.
She grabbed her book and put it into a bag she brought with her and took my hand. I pulled her up and we walked off the dock.
The walk home wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be. We talked for a bit. About different classes and teachers we had and about Will. She thinks Will is great person and mentioned how close we were again.
I walked her home and found my way back to my house at around 07.55pm.
I found mom walking about worriedly in the kitchen and Nancy sitting at the table, drinking tea. When mom saw me, she ran up to me and hugged me.
"What's up?" I asked, confused.
"Well, at first I assumed you were going to Will's house but I didn't get a call from Joyce saying you were there or you were spending the night or something so I got worried." She explained, taking breaths in between.
"I'm fine, don't worry. I made a new friend though." I smiled, remembering my conversation with Mary.
With that, I headed upstairs but not before patting Nancy's shoulder and giving Holly a hug. I took off my shoes and crawled into my bed.
Why did mom assume I was going to specifically Will's house? Maybe it was because I accidentally let her know I liked Will but maybe it's for another reason. When she sees me going out, does she always assume it's to Will's house? Are we really that close that everyone just assumes that??
I yawned, tired from the events of today and the questions I was coming up with, sighed and sunk into my duvet.
[A/N]:
Sorry this chapter wasn't that long, I know most of you prefer longer chapters. I finally have glasses😼
I really enjoyed writing this chapter though. I started reading this byler story called Team by carlyschnapp and their writing and the visualization is amazing, so it sort of made me want to improve the way I write.
I really think their story is worth checking out, they write long chapters so it takes longer chapters so it takes them longer to update but when they do, its always great : )
I hope you enjoyed reading, have a nice day/afternoon/night! <3