𝐂𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 (𝐀 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝟒 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲)

Chapter 02~ A Fresh Start

April 18th, 1986

~ While Will may not have gotten the best night's sleep, Mike, all the way back in Hawkins, had had an decent one. Even though he had "lost" his best friend and his girlfriend almost a year ago, he had learned to cope with the sadness, with the help of family and friends, which resulted in him getting closer with the remaining kids left in the party. With Dustin being gone on adventures with the Scoops Troop most of the time, Mike ended up spending his days with Max and Lucas. Surprisingly, they were both pretty good company. The trio would usually spend their time hanging out at the Arcade or at the newly-renovated Starcourt Mall. While Mike and Lucas had been friends for around a decade, the relationship between Mike and Max was still a little shaky. They were both stubborn and sarcastic, which lead their strong personalities to clash sometimes. 

As much as Mike hated to admit it, he cared about Max. Last summer, he really got to see how hard her life was and how broken she'd become. When he saw Billy slap her (while being posessed by the Mind-Flayer of course) he felt the strong urge to protect her, to keep her safe. This was a strange and unknown feeling to him, because he and Max never really got along. After Max regained her conciousness (Billy had previously attacked them both), the first thing she did was make sure that Mike was okay. This was very confusing to Mike, because he had treated her quite badly when they had first met. Nevertheless, for El's sake, they had managed to be civil with each other, and had stayed like this for the past few months. But still, Mike felt bad. He had never really "accepted" Max into the party.

So, while he was getting ready to start the new day, Mike came to the conclusion that he and Max needed a fresh start.

*~*

The lanky boy quickly stuffed his breakfast down, in a hurry to go hang out at the arcade with his friends. He knew that he would have to apologize to Max there, because it was her favourite place in the world. Mike would have to choose his words carefully, because Max could take anything the wrong way. He hopped on his bike and made his way to the establishment. 

When he arrived, he could see Lucas and Max already playing video games, laughing together. For some reason Mike felt uncomfortable seeing the pair acting so "flirty". He quickly tried to push that feeling away.

Mike made his way to the game that his friends were playing. It turned out to be Dig Dug, Max's favourite game. The group of friends greeted each other and began to play the various games in the building. As time went on, Mike could feel himself subconsiously moving closer to Max. She sensed this and said: "what Wheeler, are you afraid that i'll beat you at Pac-Man again?" Startled, Mike retorted "Yeah right, I could beat you any day."

"Is that a challenge, Wheeler?" she answered mockingly.

"Yeah, I guess it is Mayfield" he sneered playfully.

The pair began to play their first rounds of the game, then seconds, then thirds... Until Lucas, who was playing Donkey Kong a few feet away from them, announced that he had the go to the bathroom. Mike figured that this was the perfect time to initiate his apology plan.

When Max had finally beat one of the levels, Mike cautiously asked her "um... Can we talk?"

Max looked up at him, and noticed his nervous expression. 

"Sure, what's up Wheeler" she responded, confused. 

"Can we talk... In there?" Mike stuttered, pointing to the back room of the arcade.

"Fine but seriously, what's wrong?" Max answered, getting a little stressed out at the tall boy's sudden personality change.

"Max, just please follow me" Mike pleaded, getting a little impatient with the girl's questions.

The duo headed into the back room. It was very interesting, with old video games and movie posters everywhere. This was Keith, one of the arcade employees' "hideaway".

Mike took a deep breath. "I... I just really want to apologize for the way that I've been treating you during these past few years" he mustered, embarassed.

Max went quiet, Mike had finally come to his senses. "Oh... Um, yeah, it's fine Mike, you were afraid of loosing El to me, that's understandable, you don't need to apologize".

Mike was shocked at Max's accepting answer, but he knew that it wasn't right. "No Max, I was wrong. I am such a jerk to you sometimes and I don't know why, I think there's something wrong with me I just- stop" Max cut in, quickly placing her hand on his. Shocked, the pale boy's face began to turn a rosy shade of pink. 

"I understand what you've been through, I've been traumatized too. Acting that way, rude and selfish, like you don't care, is your... our way of covering up the fact that deep down, you're hurting inside. Trust me, I've used those emotions before. You don't have to be my friend, if that's not what El wants. This is your relationship, your way of coping, I have no buisness being in it."

"No" Mike said in a serious tone.

"I'm sorry?" Max uttered.

"No" Mike repeated. "El wouldn't want this. I don't want this." He sighed.

 "I... I want to be friends".

There was an akward silence, Max was staring at the ground and Mike was anxiously playing with his fingers. 

"I was thinking... Could we put all of this arguing and drama behind us? Could we have a... a fresh start?" Mike said softly. 

Max looked up, and studied the young boy. His freckley face was molded into a sincere expression, his eyes pleading for an answer. 

The readhead couldn't help but smile at what was happening right now. Mike, one of the most annoying people in the world, was trying to be sweet and friendly with her. The boy who had rejected her from their party was now urging her to forget all of their useless bickering, and become tolerant with each other. Even though Mike and Max didn't always get along, she knew that he was a good kid with good intentions. 

...

"Of course Wheeler, let's just forget the past and move forward" Max mustered out sweetly.

"So... Friends?" Mike asked hopefully.

"Friends" Max declared, holding out her hand for him to shake.

"Aw, come on, we can do better than that" Mike chuckled, holding out his arms for a hug.

"Ugh, fine Wheeler" Max laughed, wrapping her small arms around Mike's slender body.

Honestly, Mike wasn't going to lie, hugging Max was very comforting, a nice feeling. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and buried his face into Max's fiery red hair. She smelled like sweet strawberries. Mike loved it. His thoughts were soon interrupted by Lucas bursting out of the bathroom doors. He immediately saw the two teens hugging.

"No way, you guys are actually friends now?" Lucas exclaimed, obviously excited.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that" Max said, quickly letting go of Mike. He looked down into her beautiful cerulean eyes and smiled. She smiled back. 

*~*

The three friends soon went their seperate ways home. Mike was ecstatic. His plan had gone even better than he thought. The raven-haired boy giddily biked back home, knowing that he had just made a new friend that he should have made a long time ago...

Author's note:

Hi guys!! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! The next chapter will be focusing on Dustin and the Scoops Troop. Please feel free to comment or give feedback. Thanks! :)