part 10. Mike

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[the next day]

"Mom, are you finally done taking photos?" I say annoyed

"Just one more, if you would stand still we could've finished this 10 minutes ago." My mom responds

Nancy walks into the room, backpack in hand.

"Steve is picking us up today, hurry up and get in the car." She says, halfway out the door

"I'm riding my bike, gonna meet Lucas and Dustin on the way," I say, grabbing my stuff

Steve pulls up as I'm leaving.

"Hey kid," Steve says, "Uh... nice costume."

"Thanks."

I'd rather not engage in conversation with him.

I meet Dustin and Lucas at the corner and am immediately bombarded with questions from Dustin. And they're all about Will...

After answering countless questions with the same answer of "everything's okay." we're finally pulling up to school.

Lucas, who's been quiet the entire time, starts to sing the 'Ghostbusters' theme song, ultimately lifting the mood.

We pull up and park the bikes just as Will is getting out of Johnathan's car. He joins in on the humming. Good, he isn't mad at me. I hope.

"Guys..." Dustin says as we start walking into class, "Why isn't anyone else wearing costumes..?"

Fuck.

[after class]

The in-class bullying due to our costumes has finally subsided when break starts. Will and I are walking out of class when we see Lucas and Dustin by the new girl's locker. They both seem to really like her, and they keep fighting over her too. Imagine fighting over a girl. Couldn't be me.

"You know would be funny," Will starts, "We should sneak up behind them and scare them. Show "mad max" that they aren't all that cool."

It's honestly a really good idea.

We're slyly walking up behind me when I hear their conversation.

"Yeah...I was- well. We were wondering if you wanted to join us for Halloween tonight?" Lucas says

What?? We, as in the four of us, we're supposed to hang out tonight.

"We know the best spots in town for full-sized chocolate bars. Plus, we figured that you didn't have anyone to trick or treat with." Dustin adds

"Not that you don't have any friends or anything..." Lucas assures

Max is still leaning on her locker as they go on and on.

Will looks at me, his face in an expression I cannot read.

"Wasn't tonight supposed to be just us?" He whispers in my ear

Suddenly, I don't feel like pranking them. We back off and talk about what we should do.

When Max finally walks away, we go up to them.

"What the hell man? You're making decisions for the party without even consulting us?" I say

Lucas and Dustin are taken aback.

"What do you mean 'for the party'?? Can we not have other friends?" Lucas questions sarcastically

"That's not what I meant" I state, I can tell Lucas isn't happy right now

Is Will going to say something or...?

"We were just telling her where we were planning on going tonight... she doesn't have many friends around here." Dustin objects

"You could've asked us first..." Will adds

"Yeah, we don't even know her." I continue

"Why would we have asked you? You guys do stuff without me or Dustin me all of the time. We don't need your permission." Lucas states

Huh?

"What do you mean?" Will asks

"You guys are always hanging out without us, and it's not even that. You're always making plans and stuff...it's fine but you can't get mad at us for not always doing what you want."

Oh.

I didn't think about it like that. It's not that I like Lucas or Dustin less than Will, just in a different way. Because we're closer...

"I didn't think you guys cared about it that much." I say in hopes of this not becoming a big fight

"Why wouldn't we care? Look, it's not that you guys can't make decisions or plan for the group but then why not let us?" Lucas adds

Will. Please say something

"Oh...I didn't know we were doing that. I'm really sorry you guys. I don't really have a problem with her coming...I just don't know her. That's all." Will finally answers

What?? This is not what we planned on saying.

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