mike pulled up to harrison elementary, and said goodbye to his little sister holly, as she hopped out of the car, her plaid dress getting a smudge of dirt from the side of the car on it. she didn't seem to notice, as she waved goodbye to mike, and skipped up into the school, the little button pins on her backpack glimmering in the newly-risen sun. he pulled out of the bus loop, and began his ride to school, which was nearly over— there were only ten weeks left.
as he pulled into the senior lot of hawkins high, he saw a large poster for the spring formal. he felt his heart throbbing as he remembered that eleven had broken her promise, and so had he. the "snow-ball" had long since happened. and he didn't save her in time for them to attend together. he hung his head, and opened his car door, the brisk morning air hitting his face. michael wheeler was unintentionally a heartthrob. and he didn't even know. as he walked into the school with his black backpack strung over one shoulder, he heard two girls giggling, and looking at him. he figured they were just laughing at him.
in reality, those two girls were best friends, and they both thought he was the cutest boy in the whole school. they didn't understand why he was always so closed off and quiet, and whenever they tried talking to him, he would look shocked. the girls wondered who had hurt him, because they could assume he wasn't always this way, he had four best friends, their names were dustin, lucas, will, and max. the girls wondered if he and max were a thing, the way she looked at him, you would think they were.
mike went to his locker, which was in the c building. he was greeted by his newest friend, max. she was shorter than he was, yet remarkably, she was the most intimidating of the group. "so, are we going to the football game later tonight?" she asked. how could he forget? it was friday, and they five of them had all made plans to hang out, as it was the final day before mike would start his internship at hawkins laboratories, where there was a scholarship up in the air. he usually walked around the woods they had found eleven in on fridays, in hopes that she would just show up. he realized how ridiculous it was, like she would just show up and say: "mike! i'm back and deeply in love with you! let's run away and have ten kids". it was unrealistic. but couldn't he dream?
"earth to michael wheeler." max had said, laughing as she tucked a strand of her short-cropped red hair behind her ear. mike was such a nice guy, and she assumed at one point in his life he was happy, but she had moved into town too late to see that. when she moved in, she had been welcomed to the group by dustin, the cutest kid ever. he was just so adorable, everyone wanted to be his friend. he took pity on max, she guessed, because the first day she was at school, she was greeted by a comic book, and an invitation to a campaign to play dungeons and dragons later that week. she automatically accepted, because she loved dungeons and dragons, and the comic he had given he was the newest x-men one. when she had met the rest of the boys, they were all nice, and then there was mike. he was too cute for his own good, and too oblivious to notice that half of the girls at school had crushes on him. she had too, at one point, but she knew that he was attached to a girl who she guessed had moved, judging by how often he used the term "when she was here..."
"sorry, i got distracted." said mike, smiling when she said "earth to michael wheeler", she never called him by his full name. he thought eleven and max would make good friends. "yeah, you guys can count on me being there." he promised.
