"The case still remains unsolved, years later." the voice came through the headphones connected to the radio, static like and low. "We're continuing to look into the Chicago Tylenol Murderer daily."

"What do you have to say to the families and loved ones of the children and civilians that were killed due to taking a simple Tylenol?" a woman's voice rung, clearly a reporter. Theo could picture the scene, flashing lights and mics held to the officers faces.

"We hope to develop justice soon. That's all." the original voice spoke again before their was a fit of questions, all yelling over the other. Theo sat at one of the chairs in the AV room, holding just one side of the headphones to one of her ears, not wanting both to overpower her hearing. She looked back when the door opened.

Mike snuck in, locking the door back and dropping his backpack on the floor of the painfully small room. The AV room was much bigger in Middle School, shockingly nearly the size of a janitors closet now. He met Theos eye, taking a look at the headphone shoved to her right ear, and her hand on the volume. "Another one?"

"It's been four years and they still haven't figured it out." she ranted, flipping the radio off and dropping the headphones in her lap. "The police are a joke."

"Yeah, and yesterday it was three years, and the other was a whole decade." he grabbed the other stool and pulled it to sit next to her. "Why do you listen to unsolved mysteries if all you do is get angry?"

"How else am I suppose to plan for your unsolved murder in our near future?" Theo teased with a smile, raising her eyebrows in his direction, tapping on the side of her head. "Priorities, Michael."

"Priorities." he mocked her with a grin, leaning over to meet her in a kiss. Mikes favorite thing about Theo was the way she kissed him. It was never a little peak, it wasn't her style. She always kissed him as if he was going off to war, or like she'd never do it again. He sometimes worried she did that because she'd call it off one of these days, wanting their final kiss to be a good one.

They pulled back with a loud lip smack, she rose an eyebrow at his shirt. "How fitting. Satanic cults are the next unsolved murders on my list."

Mike rolled his eyes. "You say that every time."

"Because I like seeing how annoyed you get." her hands were on either side of his neck with a grin, his went to her knees. She wore her jeans that had holes in the knees and were cuffed low on her calves, revealing the fishnets she wore underneath. She was wearing them the first day they met, only those were black jeans rather then the light washed ones she had now. Her shirt was black today, the first day they talked it was navy with a black flannel around her waist. Mike always found it funny how she dressed so similar to his Hellfire friends, yet stayed far away from them.

He knew, deep down, she'd fit in perfectly if she let her shitty friends go. Or, maybe she wouldn't.

"Are you going to the pep rally?" he asked her, reaching his hands up to wrap around her wrist, connected to her hands that were still holding the sides of his neck. "Or are you gonna hid out in here and listen to another round of unsolved murders?"

She hummed sarcastically. "As tempting as that last one sounded-"

He gave her a little chuckle, making her smile. "-I should probably go so no one wonders where I am."

"Probably so." Mike agreed, he kept his tone low, like she had. The AV room was small, meaning their voices echoed a lot more then usual. If they spoke too loud, a passing student could over hear them. "I'll see you at lunch?"

Theo gave him a forced smile, leaning in and kissing him one more time. Once again, she did it like it was their last. Mike feared it was once again, but tried to push that feeling aside like always. "You're staying after school for your meeting?"

"Yeah, a couple hours." he nodded his head up at her. "Why? Are you staying?"

"I'm suppose to be in detention with Mr.Corder." she leaned over and grabbed her bag, pulling it up on her shoulder after flipping her hair out of the way. "But, he always falls asleep so I figured you could make an excuse, like you've got explosive diarrhea, and come see me for a little bit."

Mike had to laugh at her words. "Romantic."

"That's my middle name." she gave him a dramatic bow with a fake gasp. "Pleasure doing business with you. As always."

"Pleasures all mine." he gave her a tip of his fake hat, catching a smile before she slipped out of the door as quickly as she could.

"I was wondering where you were." Locke smiled at Theo as she moved through some people to get to him in the bleachers. "You're about to be in love with me."

"Oh? Am I your type now? I wasn't aware." she joked, only he'd knew what she was talking about though. Locke gave her a joking glare as she smiled. "Why am I about to be in love with you?"

"I might have worked my magic and got you out of detention after school." he sent her a side grin, his dimples on full display. "I had to pull the 'shes my house keeper' card, though."

"Ah, my favorite card." she dropped her bag at her feet and fixed her hair. "My little teachers pet didn't come to play, did he?"

"He did not." he gave her a little point of his finger. "I take my payment in free FoYo at Bennys."

Bennys, the frozen yogurt shop Theo worked at for a few hours on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. Her friends came in a lot, she snagged them free cups sometimes, if it was a mellow day. But, she much prefer Mike to come in to keep her company on slow days.

"Deal." she nodded her head. "Even though you're leaving me all week. What am I suppose to do without you?"

"Hang out with the boys and Hailey?" Locke suggested, nodding to the boys that were running out of the door with the rest of the basketball team, and Hailey on the cheer squad. Theo gave him a look, he had to laugh. "Believe me, i'm not gonna have much fun in California without you, either. The heat is so bad for my hair."

California. Mike was leaving her for California, too. She'd really be alone then, but she had to be happy for him, in some way. He was going to see El, maybe to win her back after nearly a year apart. If he was getting his girl back this Spring break, she needed to get her boy back. Her eyes shifted to the team, sighing as she saw Chad smiling at the crowd. Her heart rate speed up, staring at him as his blonde curls bounced as he ran.

Jason's voice pulled her out of her trance.

"Good morning, Hawkins high!" Jason took the mic as he waved out to the crowd. "First off...hey. First off, I'd like to thank each and every one of you. Without your support, we wouldn't be here. Give yourselves a big hand!"

The cheer squad smiled as the crowd cheered, Theo tapped her fingers on her palm for a second before she shifted her eyes to the crowd, searching for Mike. He met her eye, she stood lower then he had. They held eye contact a moment, he read her mind and saw how much she hated being here the second she found him. She saw it on his face too, he was worse at hiding it then she was. That's why they were so good at doing what they did, neither of them did much of anything, meaning it was okay to kiss when they felt lonely and didn't have to go out for bowling or drive in movies.

They just liked doing absolutely nothing together.

"Of course I have to give a special shout-out to the best and the prettiest fans of all time, the Tiger Cheer Squad!" Jason went on, pointing at the girls as the crowd cheered. They cheered for the girls, Theo gave Hailey a little wave as she cartwheeled and waved up at her and Locke.

"Chrissy...Chrissy, I love you, baby." he smiled to the girl as she blew him a little kiss. Theo shifted her eyes back to Chad, seeing him waving at Hailey. She knew they knew each other due to how often the cheer squad was with the athletes. It still bothered her with how Hailey didn't seem bothered by her 'best friend' getting her heart broken by that guy. Locke gagged loudly each time they passed each other in the hallway.
"You know... I think I can speak for all of us when I say it's been a rough year for Hawkins. So much loss. And sometimes I wonder "How much loss can one community take?" In dark days like this, we need something to believe in. So, last night, when we were down by ten points at half to Christian Academy, I looked at my team, and I said, "Think of Jack." "Think of Melissa." "Think of Heather." "Think of Billy." "Think about our heroic police chief, Jim Hopper." "Think about each and every one of our friends who perished in that fire." What did they die for? For us to lose to some...some crap school? No! For us to return home with our heads hung low in defeat? No! Lets win this game! Let's win this game for them, and that's exactly what we did!"

"Oh, fuck me." Theo laughed in disbelief. "He pulled the death card, Locke."

"He pulled the death card." he confirmed with a tight lipped inhale.

"We embarrassed those candy-assess in their own house, and now tonight, tonight, we're gonna bring home the championship trophy!" Jason yelled out, hyping the stands and his team. The Pep Ralley consisted of that the rest of the time, ending with students leaving the bleachers and the team and squad spreading out. Locke was in a rush to grab his algebra book before lunch, hurrying out and yanking on his collar.

As Theo got off the bleachers, it happened to be just as Chad was headed to his bag. He didn't pay her any mind, like she wasn't there. Theo cleared her throat as he leaned down and grabbed his bag. "Um, good luck, tonight."

He then saw her, and it was impossible to not see the dread in his eyes. He gave her a tight lipped smile, if you could even call it that. "Right, thanks."

There was a whole other level type of pain of being obsessed with someone who genuinely hated you. And not in a enemies to lovers type of way, the type that is idolized and romanticized in books and movies. It wasn't like that, it was complete hatred and humiliation. Theo knew Chad wanted absolutely nothing to do with her, she was old news and used out to him now. Yet, she still strives for his love and attention. Maybe that made her desperate, pathetic, embarrassing. She felt it all for herself, she wouldn't blame you if you thought the same way.

"I heard there will be a party after." Theo attempted to keep the conversation going, forcing a smile that seemed more like a flinch.

"I'm not going." he looked to the door. "I have to go."

"Yeah, okay. I-" she started, but he was already leaving, not even giving her the time or decency to let her finish her goodbye. She exhaled as he left. "-do too."

What made her mad wasn't that she was stuck on him. It sucked, but Theo liked to have something take up her mind. And it was fun thinking about Chad, about the fact that she actually had him once. And if it started to make her upset because she remembered she no longer had him, she'd run to Mike. It was fun, that part. What pissed her off was that she wouldn't take that type of attitude from anyone else, she'd mouth off and demand respect rather then simply letting someone walk away when she was mid sentence.

Yet, she always let Chad get away with things she was never okay with. Even when she said it.

Theo made it to the cafeteria not long after, relived to see Locke had already gotten there and was sat with Hailey and Thomas, the remaining of their group having a different lunch. They always sat with Jason and his friends, because Jason liked them, and wherever Jason went, Chad went. Meaning Theo saw him each day at lunch, once pressed under his arm, but not on the complete opposite end of the table.

Jason was standing up, talking to Eddie, who was stood on the table. Mikes table. She met his eye, giving a tiny smile that, if anyone saw, looked like she'd been giving it to the cheerleader behind his table. Mike grinned back, watching her, despite her breaking their eye contact and heading for the table. Jason was headed back too, making Eddie take his eyes off him.

"Ah, the one and only." Eddie's voice rung behind her as Theo kept walking. "Theodora Waters, everybody!"

He'd already been yelling all of lunch, his loud voice echoing. Theo sighed as she paused, her back still turned. Locke laid his head down on the table and shook his head. Theo turned on her heels, Mike rose his eyebrows as he watched the two. It was often they'd get like this, it was pretty entertaining. Theo inhaled. "Something I could help you with, Eddie?"

Her tone was filled with annoyance and passive aggressiveness. As it usually was when speaking to, literally, anyone.

"Just one little thing." he hopped off the table, she'd walked close enough so he landed right infront of her. There was about three inches between the two, Mike sat up more with a cheeky grin. Theo tilted her head up as Eddie send her a grin. "Assuming it'd be okay if I spoke to you? Do I need permission to do that sort of thing?"

She was hiding a grin, making it seem sarcastic despite it being genuine. Mike knew it, he assumed Eddie somewhat did too. Theo hummed with a little head tilt. "One time acceptance for my biggest fan."

"Oh, i'm melting." he put his hand on his heart. Locke was giving the most panicked face from the table, already getting Theo out of detention once. Eddie rose his hand and gave Theos flannel, that she put on the way from the gym from how cold it was, a small tug. Jason stood up when he did so, ready to go back over there. "Just curios where you go this bad boy. Looks like we shop at similar places, i've for one in blue."

Hers was black.

Mike saw a change in her face slightly, shaking her head. "Doubt it."

"Of course. Silly me." Eddie laughed as he waved his hand, passing her head slightly. "Course not. Because you, Theodora Waters, could never be, dare I say...trailer trash."

Her hidden smile changed completely, her jaw clinched and right hand ball in into a fist. Mike looked between the two, no longer amused. Eddie smiled down at her again. "Right?"

Theo let her fist go as she stood up a little more. "I love how obsessed you are with my life, Eddie. If you weren't so old, considering you've repeated senior year multiple times now, I might be a little flustered."

"Obsessions and observations are two very different things." Eddie called as she walked away, Locke moved so she could get sat as soon as possible.

"I'm starting to see why you get held back so much." she turned to walk backwards, giving him a pursed lip look. "It's okay, Eddie. I get big words that start with an O are a hard to understand with such a low IQ."

"Must be why you have have two in your name." Eddie went on, always getting the last word with her, even if his final come back wasn't as good as hers. And, she let him. Theo didn't hate Eddie, and Eddie didn't hate her. She hated that he knew her without genuinely knowing her, she hated that they were similar in many ways. He hated that she wouldn't accept it.

Mike looked over his shoulder as she sat down next to Locke, he saw him start to talk her ear off about ignoring him and avoiding more detention. Theo rolled her eyes at him, already in a pissed off mood from Chad, and now Eddie. Mike knew she'd really want to spend time with him after such a shitty day.

Yet, she didn't stay for detention, so he never saw her.

Locke opened his door when he heard the knock, not expecting to see Michael Wheeler on the other side.

Mikes face went red, his eyes widening. "Ugh, hey."

"Hey?" Locke was confused what he was doing here, they never even spoke. Locke was like Theo, never did the direct bullying, but stood back and watched it happen. "Um, are you saling something or...something?"

"I-" he was looking for some sort of excuse, not expecting to have to make one. "-Theo made me do her English paper."

"Oh, sorry." Locke cleared his throat. "Do you want me to give it to her or something?"

"Could I actually run it up to her? She said to hand it to her directly." Mike made the excuse, wanting to ask her to her face why she stood him up after school.

"She's not here." he looked at him in confusion.

Mike cleared his throat. "...when will she be?"

"Theo doesn't live here." Locke was beyond confused. First Mike Wheeler, how he had his address, and why he was doing Theo's english paper when she was a writer and always got A's on her papers. She often did his own for him because she just liked it.

Mike was confused in return, almost as much as Locke was. This was Theos house, she did live here. She gave him this address in October when he biked her home from the halloween party. She said it was her house. Mike realize he was staring in confusion for too long. "Oh...well, she gave me this address. I'll go. I'll go."

As he was walking away, Locke sighed. "I could give you her actual address. She uses this one sometimes for our mailbox."

Mike turned around.

He stared at the trailer park. He'd been here a few times. Once to bring Max something, or to go to Eddie's for meetings. Theo didn't live here. There was no way. Her family came from money, her Dad was a lawyer and her mom was a diner owner. They had money, Theo was a rich girl, Mike knew this. So, why was he standing infront of a trailer that was nearly falling apart?

The address Locke gave.

He started to feel like this was some sick joke they were playing, like Locke wasn't actually like Theo and was just as much a bully. Mike braced himself as he walked up to the door, the night air in Hawkins making this even more terrifying. He knocked his fist against the chipped door, not being able to help himself as he pealed a bit of paint. The closer he listened, the more he heard the tv and now footsteps.

Theo opened the door and looked like she'd rather die.

"Mike." her tone shot up multiple octaves. He was the last person she'd expect to see. He realized Eddie's trailer was right across from hers, that's what he'd gotten under her skin about today. He stared at her, feeling pissed that she'd lie to him. "What the fuck are you doing here? Go away."

"You lied." he glared at her. "Why'd you say you lived at Lockes house?"

She slammed the door in his face. Mike huffed in disbelief, knocking on the door again. If swung open as she stared at him. "Shhh, god, he's asleep."

"Then don't shut the door in my face when i'm literally trying to be mad at you." he argued with her, Theos shhhed him again. "What are you shhing?"

Theo rolled her eyes, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him inside. It was even smaller inside, but looked better then the outside had. The couch was red and they had a small tv, a little girl sat infront of it. Theo left Mike in the doorway as she walked back to the kitchen. It was connected to the living room, removing the cat that got into the sink when she'd been dealing with Mike. He looked at the little girl when she stared at him. He pursed his lips, giving her a wave as she did it back and went back to her show.

Mike walked to the kitchen as Theo put up the final glass she'd been in the process of drying. Her eyes looked up at him. "Give me two minutes and i'll explain everything."

She didn't give him a chance to answer, walking back to the living room. "Bed time."

"Noo." the little girl protested. "It's a break."

"I know, but we still need to get plenty of hours to sleep." Theo helped her stand up. "We're use to waking up earlier, so we need to stay on a schedule."

The little girl sighed as she followed Theo toward the room. Mike watched as Theo lifted her off the ground and threw her over her shoulder to make her feel better. The girl laughed as Theo shhed her and ticked her sides at the same time. Walking into the back room, Theo made sure to quietly put the little girl on the bed, carful to not wake the boy in the other bed across the room. She tucked her in, turning her cheap, and now dim, night light on and kissed her head.

Mike looked up when he saw Theo exit the room, looking back at the little girl. "I love you."

He heard a murmur from the little one, assuming she said she loved her back. Theos eyes were locked in his now, shutting the door. Mike leaned off the counter as she headed back his way, turning the tv off on her way. She didn't say anything in the process of shutting the final cabinets and picking up the few toys in the living room. She then grabbed a coke from the fridge and walked to the hallway. "Come on, it echos in here."

Mike followed her, passing the door she'd just shut. They made it the the room at the end of the small hallway, Theo opened the door so he could walk in. Mike looked around and immediately knew this was her room. She had her posters, of all the heavy metal bands she liked, on her walls and her clothes from today were on the floor. He saw her notebook, the one she wrote down all the unsolved mysterious on and all her theories and annoyance.

"Here." Theo handed him the coke when she shut her bedroom door, climbing into her bed and sitting near the head board. Mike stayed standing with the coke in his hand. She stared at him from a distance, biting the inside of her mouth. "Sorry I lied to you. I didn't think it would be a big deal."

Mike set the coke down, circling the bed to sit down infront of her. "I just don't get why you lied to me. That's where I brought you the night of the party."

"I didn't want you to think I was..." she trialed off, exhaling like she was ashamed to say it. "-trailer trash."

"Why would I think that?" he gave her a wild look, still very annoyed.

"Because that's what everyone says about people that live here." Theo shrugged in return.

"Who's everyone? Your piece of shit friends?" Mikes words came off more snappy then they were meant to be. "Do they even know?"

"No, they think I live in the house next to Locke." she said honestly, Mike knew she was telling the truth. "You hear what they say about Eddie living here..."

"But, I don't." Mike scooted closer to her with a shake of his head. "Do you really think i'm like them?"

Theos eyes grew wider in size. "No. No, not at all."

"Then why not tell me where you actually live?" Mike couldn't get behind why she associated him and her friends in the same category.

"Because you have your super nice house, with a sprinkler system, and all your siblings get their own room." Theo listed on, she waved her hands around as she said it. "I didn't know, like, what you thought about homes that didn't look like that."

"It's just a house." his words meant a lot more then he'd tell her. Just a house, not a home. "Theo, i'd never think differently just because you live here. I like it."

She laughed. "Now you're pushing it."

"No, i'm serious. I like it." he repeated, his voice getting a little higher. "I mean, you get to listen to your neighbors music every night, and you can get to school in five minutes. I don't know, sounds like a pretty cool thing to me."

If made her smile, her face pressing into her knees. Mike moved to sit beside her. "Was that your sister?"

"Yeah, Ellis." Theo nodded, leaning back against her headboard. He was right, they could hear her neighbors music. "My brother was already asleep, that's why I told you to be quiet."

"Your parents?" Mike questioned her again, following her action to lean his head on the headboard.

"It's just my Mom." she shook her head, the Dad story having double meaning now. He wasn't a lawyer, he wasn't even real. "She works nights at that 24 hour bar right outside of Hawkins. Usually days too, sleeps in between shifts or if someone covers one for her."

Mike could tell it bothered her to talk about, maybe because she felt bad for her mother, her maybe because it made her responsible for two kids that weren't hers. He didn't want to ask about her Dad, but she explained it to him anyways. "I didn't know my Dad, he took off before I was born. The twins Dad stuck around a while, but he-"

She stopped herself, Mike noticed she curled up a little more and tugged on her sweater. "-he left too. I wish he went sooner."

"An asshole?" he asked her.

"The worst." Theo agreed. "Last I heard, he was spending time over in county for dealing. I don't know, I don't care either."

Mike leaned over and dropped his head onto her shoulder, his arms went around her waist. "You could have told me. Friends don't lie."

"Are we friends?" Theo frowned her eyebrows, Mike sat up to stare at her. "I didn't know that."

Mike had to laugh. "Ugh, yeah, i'd consider us pretty good friends. All things considered."

"Okay." Theo laughed back. "I like that we are...friends. Even if it's secret."

"Secret friends are still friends." he laid his head back down, moving some to encourage her to do the same. Theo moved against her pillows to slouch more, letting Mike lay down and place his head against her collarbones. Her hand came up and rubbed his head, the other around his shoulders. She inhaled deeply. "Are you excited to try and win El back in California."

He was quiet. "I think so."

She was quiet, he needed to talk again. "Are you excited to try and win Chad back? I heard you guys are working together."

"I think so." she said back, mimicking his words. They were both silent after that. Theo inhaled, her hand froze in his hair. "I think i'm gonna miss you."

Mike shifted slightly. "I'm gonna miss you too."

Neither of them talked about what would happen if their plans succeeded and he really did get El back, and she really did get Chad back. They didn't admit to missing each other if that's what was going to happen, despite both of them knowing they genuinely would.

•

kylie speaks

just realizing they're ship name could be wheeleo and i haven't
stopped laughing