confused - byler

03 - Sort of Cool

Mike POV

The rest of the night is spent making out with meaningless and short conversations and watching the movie until Hopper comes to pick El up. Maybe Nancy would know how to help with my feelings.

I stroll up to her room, but when I get to her wide open door I see her and Jonathan on the bed making out.

"Gross!" I yell, covering my eyes.

"What are you doing Mike?!" she yells as Jonathan quickly gets off of her and she walks over to the door.

"I came to talk to you but looks like you're busy!" I yell, walking down the stairs.

"We we're just kissing. Same as you and El were doing on the couch downstairs!" Nancy yells back.

"Hey! What's going on up there?!" my mom yells from the kitchen.

"Nothing!" we yell in sync.

~~~~~~~~~

I walk to the cafeteria and get ready to sit down at an empty table like usual as I here a voice call my name. I turn around to see Cooper Baker. He's a bad kid who sort of bullies people, but he's supposedly super funny. He waves me over and I look behind me awkwardly to make sure he's talking to me.

"Hey, your name is Mike right?" Cooper asks, his friends surrounding him.

"Yeah. W-why did you call me over?" I ask hesitantly.

"Because we saw that you were gonna sit by yourself. Don't have friends?" he mocks.

"I-I have friends, they just don't have the same lunch period as me." I explain.

"Right. Wanna sit with us?" Cooper asks.

"Are you joking?" I ask which causes all of them to laugh.

"We were joking at first, but you seem sort of cool." Cooper says, gesturing to an empty seat next to him. I sit down hesitantly, but it ends up behind kind of fun. It's fun feeling popular.

"Do you wanna come over and get a beer at my house later? A few of the other guys are coming." Cooper says as we are leaving the lunch room.

"Sure. Sounds good. Can you give me a ride?" I ask awkwardly.

"Don't have your license?" he laughs.

"Nope." I say.

"Meet me in the parking lot after school." he says, walking away.

Holy shit. Cooper and his friends just invited me to hang out and drink with them. This is what I have been waiting for since Troy started bullying me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When we finally get to his house, we sit down on the couch and he throws me a big bottle of beer which I hesitate to open. As I open the top, I remember the first and only time I have ever had beer.

Three years ago at Will's house.

Will and I were home alone and Will found his moms stash of alcohol, so he opened a can of beer and he took a sip cautiously, coughing after he drank it. He handed it to me and I also took a drink, gagging at the awful taste which sent us both into a fit of laughter. We dumped the rest of the can out and hid it at the bottom of the trash can, but still pretended to be drunk for the rest of the night, giggling and running around.

I take a sip and try not to gag at the awful taste in my mouth.

"So, why don't you have your license?" Cooper asks, taking a big drink of beer.

"Well my mom doesn't really want me to get my license, plus I'd really rather just ride my bike with my friends." I say, cringing at how lame that must have sounded.

"Okay, but who are these 'friends'?" Cooper asks mockingly.

"Oh. Dustin Henderson and Will Byers." I say hesitantly. All of the sudden they break out into laughter which makes my heart sink a little.

"Henderson, isn't that guy a nerd?" he laughs.

"Uhh, sort of. But so am I." I say defensively.

"And Byers. That guy is a total freak." one his friends say.

"W - what do you mean?" I ask.

"Can you not tell? He's such a queer! He probably has a crush on you!" Cooper says. I feel my body start to shake in anger.

"Don't call him that." I say, raising my voice slightly.

"What, it's true. He has been queer since since like the third grade. I swear to god he used to stare at me in class." Cooper says as all his friends laugh.

"I'm serious, don't call him that." I say, standing up and slamming my beer on the table.

"Dude, what's your issue?!" Cooper asks, standing up with me.

"I told you not to call him that. He's my best friend and I don't like when you make fun of him." I say sternly.

"Yeah, your queer friend!" Cooper says, breaking out into laughter. All of the sudden I feel my fist tighten and before I can tell myself how bad of an idea this is, I swing my fist and punch Cooper directly in the nose which sends him stumbling backwards into the couch.

"What the fuck?!" he says, wiping the blood that's now pouring steadily out of his nose. He jumps up and punches me in the eye as hard as he can which causes me to fall on the floor and let out a groan of pain. I can feel the anger building up inside me as I quickly stumble up and begin to hit him repeatedly in the face as he does the same. By now we are on the floor hitting each other and rolling around, screaming at each other as the other guys just watch in amusement.

Finally one of the guys splits us up when the floor is covered in drops of blood and I run out the front door and sit on the curb in front of his neighbors house. I wipe the blood off of my nose and lips and begin to walk home, keeping my head down so nobody can see me.

Luckily when I get home, my parents are still at work, but Nancy is standing at the kitchen counter and immediately sees my cuts.

"Mike? What happened?" she asks, wrapping her arms around me.