girlfriends | elmax

XXII

Will left Mike's house at around 4pm, all the two really did all day was talk and play some atari in mike's basement. as for the kiss, the two had both been open and said that they wanted to be more than friends, so on that day Will and Mike became boyfriends. Over the next few weeks, the two boys spent a lot more time together, and while Will still managed to split his time fairly spend some time with the party, Mike didn't.

You see, because the four boys had a notorious rep for being some of the smartest guys in school, you would expect them to pass their classes with no sweat. For Mike, however, this wasn't the case. The freckled boy actually had to study really hard to match the other boys' grades, and recently, unbeknown to the party, they had been starting to slip. Since nobody really knew that Mike was having to put so much effort into his grades, he just decided it would be best if he spent a little more time studying and kept it to himself. A little extra studying soon turned into a lot of extra studying, and between studying and spending time with Will, Mike really didn't have any free time.

However, on this particular day he wasn't seeing his boyfriend and was all up to date with studying! Excitedly, the boy grabbed some spare quarters and biked down to Dustins house, where he and Lucas most likely were. Sure enough, the door was opened to a rather annoyed looking, curly haired boy, with the other teen stood looming behind him.

"Hey guys! Listen, I was wondering if you guys want to come down to the arcade, I have some quarters and we can go play some digdug and dragons lair like old times? we haven't hung out there in ages!" the boy asked excitedly.

"yeah we haven't, and who's fault is that?" Dustin snapped harshly, Mike's wide grin quickly disappearing.

"Sorry?" he questioned, eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah, you should be. You're ruining the party!"

"Look, I know I haven't been spending time with you guys recently but I haven't had any spare time! My- my grades are slipping, and I didn't want you guys to find out so I've been studying hard, but i'm here now!"

"It's a little to late, Mike. And you can just tell us if you don't want to be our friend anymore, I mean come on, you expect us to believe that garbage! Everyone knows that me, you, dustin, will, we don't have to study! We pass classes with straight A's easily, so that's hard to believe Mike." Lucas replied sadly.

"G- guys, come on! It's- it's the truth ok! Please, just forgive me and, and we can just go play some dragons lair! Please guys, I wouldn't ditch you, you- you know me better than that!" Mike stammered.

"Whatever, see you round Wheeler." Dustin sighted, and with that, he shut the door, leaving Mike stood helpless on the Henderson's porch.

When he arrived home, Mike was extremely disheartened, but most of all ashamed. He knew it was his fault that Dustin and Lucas were mad- no, mad was an understatement. The point being, he knew he was to blame. However, after a quick reassuring call from Will, Mike's mood was lifted, but maybe a little too much. Racing downstairs, the boy entered his living room to find his father reading a magazine and his mother watching some sort of game show on TV.

"Mom, dad, there's something I've been wanting to tell you for a while now.. and well, I think today is the day!" he exclaimed, his heart beating out of his chest. What if this is a mistake? he thought. Oh well, I'm too far in now, may as well just do it.

"That's great honey but make it fast, I'm about to prepare dinner." Karen said, eyes still on the television. Lord knows if Ted was even paying attention.

"Ok here goes. I- uh, I'm bisexual, which means I like girls.. and boys, romantically. And there's this boy- he makes me really happy, I really want you to meet him- well, you kind of have, but it's different now." he rambled nervously. This caught both of his parents attention, their heads snapping up to look at him. An agonising silence rung throughout the whole house as Mike waited for a response.

"A- are you sure honey? You could be just confused-" his mother replied.

"No, Mom. I'm not confused, it's just who I am."

"Well then it's probably just a phase."

"No, it's not, I've known for a while now."

"This- this can't - YOU can't be- this isn't you Michael." she stammered, as if looking for an excuse.

"It IS me Mom, that's why I'm telling you, because it's a big part of me that I thought you should know. I hope you can learn to accept me for who I am, because my boyfriend makes me happy an-"

"Go pack your things." Ted mumbled.

"What was that?"

"I said, go pack your things."

"Wha- why?" Mike questioned in a small voice.

"Your going away, to a conversion camp. Hopefully they can fix you."

"WHAT?! NO! Y- you can't send me away! I'm- I'm your son!"

"Well then get out, or I will drag you there myself. I won't have some queer in my house. Disgusting, it's disgusting." he announced.

"No Dad, you are, you're disgusting. And you know what? I will leave, I don't want to breathe the same air as someone like you." With that, Mike ran up the stairs, tears glistening in his eyes. Why didn't they accept him? It made no sense to him. As soon as he packed a few bags, he ran down the stars, and was about to leave until his father called him.

"MICHAEL!"

"WHAT?!"

"COME HERE!" Walking back into the living room, he glared at his father.

"We have talked, and we decided that if you stop seeing that boyfriend of yours, and promise to try and change for us, you can stay here."

"Are you serious?" Mike breathes in disbelief.

"Excuse me?"

"I said are you FUCKING SERIOUS?! I'm not going to give up the one good thing in my life and change myself for you just so I can stay in this.. in this.. this PRISON! FUCK YOU! I DON'T NEED YOU, I DON'T NEED EITHER OF YOU!" he screamed through his tears. Before his father could get in a word, he ran out room and towards the front door, smashing some things on the way out.