Who Knew - Byler

28

The first day of school had officially finished. Jane had survived to it- somehow- and now Max, Lucas and her were going back home. The boy had sticked next to them all day long because he didn't really know what else to do. Mike and Will were being weirdly clingy with each other and Dustin had been off all day, leaving to go look for his girl at recess and zoning out in class because of her, leaving him with only one option: Max and Jane. He still didn't really know why Mike had broken up with her, but apparently HIS girlfriend was helping her get over him and had no more time to give him attention. In conclusion: Lucas was lonely as fuck.

As they walked down the road, Lucas with his bike in his hands and Max with her skateboard, he could only listen to the girls talk, not wanting or being able to interrupt their conversation.

"So, the first day wasn't that bad, was it?" Max asked.

"It was fine... i guess..." Jane replied. "But I feel like I know nothing... I have so much to learn and everyone is so much more advanced than me and it makes me feel bad."

"Don't worry, Jane. I can help you with that." Max replied, smiling. "Hey, how about we go to the mall today? To forget a little bit about school and all. We can get you some new clothes!"

"What is wrong with my clothes?" Jane asked.

"Nothing, they're just... not for a girl your age. Come on, it's gonna be fun. I can help you find your style." Max said, and she pouted playfully.

Jane smiled sweetly. "Okay. Let's go then." she said. "Am I allowed to go there though? Maybe dad will be mad at me..."

"Oh, don't worry about that. There are no rules today."

-

Dustin walked around his room anxiously. He was supposed to meet with Claire at the arcade in an hour and he was so nervous- he perfectly knew it wasn't a date, but he still was so nervous.

He put a new t-shirt on and looked at himself in the mirror, hoping this one would be the one. He sighed. It wasn't. Why did all his t-shirt's suddenly seem so childish? He took it off and threw it to the pile of rejected t-shirt's. He dropped himself to his bed with a loud sigh.

He eyed the clock in his night table and decided it was too late for him to ask Lucas or Mike to let him borrow one of their shirts. (Will didn't even cross his mind as a possibility because... well, let's say Dustin wouldn't really enjoy wearing those clothes.) He sighed in defeat and picked up a random t-shirt from the floor. It wasn't any better than the other ones but also wasn't any worse, so why not just wear that one?

He put it on and looked at himself in the mirror once again. Claire was gonna think he was childish as fuck, but what could he do? It was too late now.

He finished retouching his curly hair, which took him quite a long time, and then decided it was time to leave. As he walked outside, his mom stopped him.

"Dusty, where are you going?" she asked, sitting on the sofa with Tews in her arms as usual.

"Oh, just going to the arcade, mom. I'll be back in like, an hour or so," he said, and smiled innocently. Not that he was doing anything wrong, but if he told his mom he was gonna meet up with a girl she would start asking questions non stop and he would end up being late.

"Okay then, Dusty. Have fun!"

"Bye, mom!" Dustin replied, and then finally left. He hopped on his bike and cycled all the way to the arcade.

When he got there, he got off his bike and walked inside, looking around for Claire with a dumb smile on his face, only to see she wasn't there yet. Instead, who was there was Lucas.

Dustin walked up to him with an angry face on. "Lucas, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I was bored, so I called your mom and she said you were going to the arcade, so I decided to join you. Like the old times!" Lucas replied, smiling.

"Lucas, no, not today! Today I'm meeting with Claire! We were supposed to be alone so I can finally make my move on her!" Dustin explained, panicking.

"Oh, come on, Dustin. Have some mercy on me. My girlfriend is doing some charity work with Jane by helping her get over Mike or whatever and she has no time for me anymore. And Mike and Will have been weirdly clingy with each other lately so you're my only option! Please? I promise you won't even notice I'm here." Lucas begged, pouting like a child.

Dustin looked out the window and saw Claire approaching.

"No! Now, go! She's almost here!" Dustin replied, and Lucas sighed and left. He clearly wasn't welcome here.

——————————-

this chapter was so boring and short, i'm sorry for this absolute crap but i had like zero inspiration and kinda really wanted to show lucas being all alone and stuff bc it's important for the plot.

also yeah the first part of the chapter was inspired by season 3 with all the max going to the mall with jane and all but i already had it in my mind to have max help her get over mike even before it came out so :)

also many new readers when they read the part where dustin meets a girl comment "suzie?" and i'm sorry but no it's not suzie, i wrote those chapters long before season four came out and now i cant edit all the chapters where she appears and change her name to suzie bc when you edit a chapter you lose all the comments and i really don't want that.

your comments honestly make my day,, i can't reply to all of them but i read most of them and honestly 💖💗💓💞💝💖💗💕💘

also tysm for 26k reads, i cant believe this shit, my heart please :(((((

(sorry for this long author's note but there's a lot of stuff i wanted to say skdksk)