you are not alone → stranger things

xxiii. forgotten

Thursday afternoon
Mike's POV

The bell finally rang to end school, and I ran ahead of everyone out of the door, thoughts entirely consumed by El.

"Mike!" It was Lucas. He ran to catch up with me, glancing over his shoulder a few times. "We need to talk. It's about Max."

I rolled my eyes, not slowing down for him. "What about that aggravating idiot?"

He looked wounded. "She's not aggravating or an idiot. I just-"

"You like her, I know." I bit my tongue. I shouldn't be being so rude to Lucas, but I wanted to get home. I didn't care about Max.

"She likes you," he blurted. "I'm pretty sure."

I stopped abruptly and turned to him, my eyes wide with disbelief. "What? No. No way in hell."

Lucas avoided my eyes. "Yeah. She always acts like she needs to be by you, and, I don't know..."

I opened my mouth, a thousand curses rising to my mind, but Dustin and- speak of the devil- Max suddenly appeared beside us. "Guys, slow down," Max panted, brushing her hair out of her face.

"Yeah, we know you wanna get home to your true love-" Dustin began with a mischievous grin.

"Aw, come on, we aren't even dating-" I protested.

"You might as well be," Lucas said, smirking like the conversation we'd just been having hadn't happened.

"-but wait for us, man. We were going to look for Will later today, remember? We need a plan. Oh, and Max is coming."

I looked over at her, but she looked strangely shocked. "Mike, we need to talk," she said in a tone I had never heard before. Lucas gave me a look.

She pulled me aside. "What?" I asked, annoyed. Was I ever going to get home at this point?

"Listen, it's about Eleven-" she began urgently.

"How do you know her name?" I asked suspiciously.

She looked taken aback, but before she could answer a voice said, "Aw, Frogface, are you finally over that freak? Dating little Ronald McDonald now, are you?"

I turned to Troy, gritting my teeth. "Would you leave me alone for one day?"

He and James snickered. I saw behind them Dustin pointing them out to Lucas, looking alarmed. "Why should I?" Troy continued.

I opened my mouth to snap back at him, but Max beat me to it. "Get away, you little shit, or I'll tell them who I saw you following around at the mall last weekend," she growled.

Troy looked surprised and not at all happy. "What do you know?"

"I know that you have a massive crush on Jen-"

"Okay, stop, stop!" Troy's voice was squeaky with panic, and even James looked surprised now. He slouched away, muttering under his breath.

Dustin and Lucas rushed over. "What happened?" Lucas asked quickly.

I stared open-mouthed at Max. She was more confusing by the day.

***

I was reading to El in the basement when a loud "MIKE!" burst out of my supercomm out of nowhere. We both flinched. "Sorry," I murmured to her. "I'll be right back."

I picked up the supercomm. "What is it? Over."

It was Lucas' voice. "You missed the search," he said shortly. "Come to my house. Now. Over and out."

I swallowed, filled with dread. How had I forgotten?

"El, I need to go," I said quickly to her, grabbing my bag. She looked up at me in confusion. "I'll explain later, okay? Be back soon."

***

They were waiting for me in Lucas' front yard, grim-faced and pissed. Even Max was there.

"Guys, I'm so sorry," I stuttered, tripping over my words. I vaulted off my bike and raced to them, the grass crunching loudly under my feet. "I was reading to El, and I forgot to-"

"Forgot?" Dustin echoed, squinting at me. "You forgot that Will was missing? You forgot that this already happened and he nearly died? You forgot that he could be dead?"

"I know that, and I'm so sorry, I lost track of time-"

"Will is missing," Lucas said quietly. He stepped forward and pushed me, yelling, "And all you care about is your stupid crush!"

I heard Max gasp quietly. I looked at her, and her eyes were glimmering with tears. I didn't know why, and I didn't care.

"Guys-" I began weakly, already knowing what was going to happen next.

"Get off my lawn," Lucas nearly snarled, turning away from me. Dustin did the same, but Max lingered for a moment. I gave her a pleading look, but she turned slowly as well.

So I slowly walked back to my bike and rode away. They didn't look back at me once.

I wanted to stop right there in the street and lay there until a car passed and rolled me over. I didn't know what to do anymore.

My sleeve rolled up, and as I went to pull it down, I saw the scabbed-over marks I had made on myself before El had returned. I hovered over them for a moment, then made my decision. Pain on the outside distracted from pain on the inside. And that made the most sense to me.