Mike and Will walked through the front doors of Hawkins Middle School. They were met immediately by Lucas, Dustin, and Max, who all looked relieved to see them.

"Thank God you're here. We thought we were gonna have to finish our science project all on our own!" Dustin said.

"Yeah, we would have been screwed. All you two ever do is fight!" Max exclaimed, laughing.

BRIIIIIING!

Will jumped as the late bell rang.

"You sure you're okay?" Mike said in a low voice as the others noisily opened their lockers.

"Yeah, sorry. I'm fine. It's just… I don't know."

"You'll get used to it."

"Yeah." Will said, following the others into homeroom.

Mike had never been so tired in his life. He was surprised that he hadn't managed to make a total fool of himself yet. He had only made it through first and second period by snapping a rubber band against his wrist about every five seconds. He would probably have scars for the rest of his life, but anything was better than pissing off Mrs. Rishbell or getting detention… again.

Be that as it was, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to make it through science. Even though it was his favorite subject, they were currently memorizing the periodic table, which was probably the most boring topic ever. And, to make things worst, they had a substitute- an ancient woman named Mrs. Henderson.

"You still alive?" Dustin joked, turning around in his seat.

"What? Oh, yep, definitely." He said, jerking awake.

Mike turned to look out the window. He had a clear view of the track in the back of the school. The sky was dark and overcast.

Suddenly, a red flash of lightning in the distance caught Mike's eye. In the clouds, he thought he saw a dark, shadowy figure, almost like a spider. It was crawling towards the window, and the classroom was right in the line of-

"Mr. Wheeler!"

Mike snapped up, almost falling out of his desk in the process. "Wha- what?"

"I expect you to stay awake when I'm teaching! See me after class!" Mrs. Henderson said coldly.

Shit.

"Mike, what the hell?" Lucas whispered.

"Since when do you fall asleep during class?" Max hissed.

"Come on, man!" Dustin said.

Will looked at him apologetically.

Ten minutes later, the bell range, signaling the end of the period, and the beginning of lunch. Dustin, Lucas, Will, and Max all shot Mike glances that clearly said 'I'm glad I'm not you' as they left the classroom.

"Now Mr. Wheeler," Mrs. Henderson began, "Can you explain to me exactly why you thought that the middle of third period was a good time to take a nap?"

"Oh, um… I dunno…" Mike stuttered, "I was… tired?"

She scoffed. "Well, normally people who fall asleep are. But we can't have this happening again, can we?" she said, patronizingly.

Mike shook his head, waiting for the blow to fall.

"Detention, Mr. Wheeler. After school, tomorrow. You may go."

"So," Dustin began as Mike slid into a seat next to Will in the cafeteria, "how'd it go?"

"Detention. Tomorrow after school." he answered.

"That sucks, man." Lucas said, taking a bite of a ham and cheese sandwich.

"Well, you did fall asleep in class." Max said jokingly.

"You know you're in deep shit with your parents, right?" Dustin continued, stealing a fry from Lucas' tray, "they specifically said that they would kill you if you got any more detentions this year, right?"

"Yeah."

"Dustin, get your own damn fries!" Lucas said, as Dustin unsuccessfully tried to snag another one from Lucas' tray.

Mike sighed.

"Oh, come on Mike. Stop sulking. I got detention for tomorrow too, you know." Max said nonchalantly.

"What? From who?" Lucas spluttered.

"Mr. Bitsclap. Forgot to do my math homework again." she said, stealing a fry from Lucas.

"Jesus Christ, you guys! Do I need to eat on the roof?" he yelled, moving his fries up higher so Max and Dustin couldn't reach them.

As the three of them bickered, Will leaned over to Mike.

"Sorry about the detention, Mike." he said quietly.

"It's not your fault." Mike sighed.

"Well, it partially is."

Mike looked over at his friend, who looked genuinely worried.

"Don't worry about it. It's… not a big deal."

Will smiled.

Mike was glad that he wouldn't be all by himself in detention, but he still knew that his parents were going to be pissed at him when they found out that he had gotten his second detention in two months…