Stranger Things: Rebuilding
Chapter 11 of my Stranger Things story, enjoy.
Reviews
Boris Yeltsin: Thanks, yeah, he's dealing with so much right now.
Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Stranger Things or its characters.
Glimmer of Hope
Finally leaving the classroom as it was finally lunch for the day, Mike took a moment to compose himself. Despite his efforts to appear calm and relaxed for his friends, he couldn't recall ever feeling so stressed.
'I had that one brief moment of hope when Troy and James left, even after they were revealed to be part of the gang, I had hope that life at school would get easier.' He reflected sadly. 'But now...now my issues at home seem to have followed me here, I can't stop thinking about it and it's just making it hard to concentrate.'
He tired to pull himself out of this mindset however, hoping that he could get over this. He didn't want it to affect his grades or that would give his dad yet another thing to be on his back about.
"Oh, Mr. Wheeler, just a moment."
Mike started and turned around to see who had spoken to him.
"Mrs. Grant?" He queried, curious.
He couldn't understand what the school music teacher wanted with him, but he decided to listen anyway.
"Can I help you?" He asked politely.
Mrs. Grant smiled and was about to speak up, but then paused, noting his expression, the look in his eyes.
"Are you okay, you look a little out of it and, sorry. Just concerned-"
He bit his lip, sighing. "I um...yeah, I'm okay, just really tired."
She looked at him worriedly but to his relief she didn't push on the subject.
Instead she gestured to the poster on the bulletin board behind her that she had just pinned up.
"I've just started putting posters up, but I thought I should let you know." She explained. "We have a vacancy in the school choir."
Mike bit his lip, looking at the small poster that had been pinned up, advertising that very thing.
"Um, oh, cool." He replied, confused.
Seeing he was confused Mrs. Grant explained. "I was wondering if you wanted to audition, to join the choir?"
Now Mike was even more startled, he certainly hadn't been expecting that.
He stammered, still trying to process what was said. "I, um, you...I don't think I…"
Mrs. Grant smiled gently and shook her head. "Please, Michael, there's no need to be modest. I've overheard you singing a few times and you're really good."
Mike felt his face heat up at that and knew he was certainly blushing. This was absolutely not what he thought would happen and he recalled the times she had been talking about. He had simply been bored and sang to himself to pass time as he read or worked on his own in the AV lab when the others were busy and unable to join him. He hadn't thought of himself as being any good, but hearing the school music teacher say that he was made him feel embarrassed, yet also touched.
"I'm um...you're sure." He asked anxiously.
She nodded. "Yes, of course. That's why I'm offering you this chance."
Mike bit his lip, unsure. "Um...can I think about it and get back to you?"
"Of course, like I said, it's for auditions, I just need to to know by next Friday." Mrs. Grant told him cheerfully.
Mike nodded and they went their separate ways, Mike still amazed by the offer.
When school ended for the day, the Party exited the building, chatting amongst themselves, to any outsiders they all seemed happy and without any real troubles. But that of course was not the case.
'I still don't know if I should accept...I mean, I know how dad would react if he found out.' Mike reflected. 'As for mom, I...I don't even know how she'd react…'
He also noted that he hadn't even considered the reaction of his friends, or his older sister Nancy.
He considered, but realized he at least knew what they'd do at least. 'They'd tease me, no doubt about that, but from a good place, they'd support me anyway.'
Thinking that gave him a little bit of hope. He wasn't the only one lost in thought however, Max also was oddly quiet.
Max couldn't shake the odd way she was feeling. 'What is wrong with me, I swear it's like I'm..urgh, no, I cannot accept that, that's not me...right?'
She looked around to make sure none of the others could notice her turmoil, only to have those very same feelings well up again, when her gaze landed on Lucas.
'Urgh, stop it.' She thought angrily to herself.
She considered for a moment and decided she needed to talk this out to get it out of her system. But to do that, she needed to talk to someone and she had only one person she could do that with.
"Say, El…" She asked suddenly, startling the other girl. "Oh sorry."
El smiled. "It's cool, don't worry. So, what's up?"
Max glanced at the boys and did her best to put on her usual smirk. "Wanna go hang out, have some 'girl time' together."
Even her tone was joking but she hoped it would give her a chance to ask El's help. The boys rolled their eyes but smiled.
El smiled too and nodded. "Yeah, sure."
With that the two girls walked away together, leaving the boys to head off for one of their houses. Now Max just hoped she could talk to El and work out this issue that was bothering her. She just hoped she would be able to actually tell her. El meanwhile was trying to focus on spending time with Max, hoping that it would help distract her from the thoughts of the dream that had still been filling her mind.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.
As a little side note, the idea of Mike being a good singer (I am aware of the little season 3 scene) is actually from Finn Wolfhard himself, being the lead singer of a registered indie band and a pretty damn good singer ;)