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“Come on, you guys, let’s jump in!” Max shouted as she ran on the dock before she cannon balled into Lover’s Lake with a large splash. Lucas, Dustin and El jumped in after her, while Will remained behind with Mike, who suddenly seemed nervous.
“Are you going in?” Will asked, nudging Mike slightly.
“Huh?” Mike asked as Will shook him out of his thoughts.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, sorry just zoned out for a second. What did you ask?”
“I asked if you were going to go into the water.”
“Uh, y-yeah, I will,” Mike stuttered. “You go on in and I’ll be right behind you.”
Will grinned at him and ran along the dock and jumped in with the others. Mike slowly walked along the dock, trying to delay getting into the water as much as he could. He stood on the edge of the dock and looked down into the water.
“Come on, Mike!” Dustin shouted.
“Yeah, come on, the water feels great!” added El.
Mike grinned nervously at them and nodded. He gulped as he looked down at the water again. He took a deep breath before he shut his eyes and jumped in.
Mike froze when he grabbed onto the back of the fire truck. He could see the police officers pulling a body out of the water and onto the small raft that was sitting in the water. Mike recognized that red and yellow vest as soon as he saw it.
“It’s not Will. It can’t be here,” he said, trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince the others.
The officers brought the body closer to the edge of the quarry and it became clear right away who it was.
“It’s Will,” Lucas said, close to tears. “It’s really Will.”
No, no it can’t be Will. It can’t be. This wasn’t supposed to happen. We were supposed to find him and bring him home!
All of his thoughts vanished as he yelled at El and left his friends behind, not saying any words to them. He burst through his front door, hoping to avoid having to talk to anyone. Of course, he couldn’t be that lucky because his heard his mother calling his name and rushing to him.
“What’s wrong?” Karen demanded.
Mike didn’t say anything but burst into tears, holding out his arms. Karen pulled him into a hug as he sobbed.
Mike felt his chest tighten as he flashbacked to that night, the worst night of his life. He kicked to the surface of the lake, but felt it was an impossible task. He started to panic as he flailed his arms, but it was to no avail.
“Guys, something’s wrong,” Will cried. “He’s not coming up.”
“Maybe he’s just trying to see how long he can hold his breath before he comes up for air,” Dustin said with an amused chuckle.
“No, look!” Will exclaimed as he saw Mike flailing his arms as his head touched the surface. Water splashed all around him before Mike’s head disappeared underwater again. “I think he’s drowning!”
Suddenly, the water around Mike washed away and Mike flew out of the water before landing with a thud on the dock. Everyone whipped around to see El wiping blood away from her nose; she had used her powers to get Mike out of the water.
“Good work, El,” Will muttered as he swam over to the dock and pulled himself out of the water and plopped down next to Mike. Mike’s eyes were closed, but he was still breathing. Will lightly slapped Mike’s face.
“Mike?” Will shrieked. “Mike, wake up!”
Suddenly, Mike’s eyes opened and he breathed in a huge amount of air and started coughing. Will helped Mike sit up as the rest of The Party gathered on the dock, all of them looking worried.
“You’re okay, Mike, you’re okay,” Will cooed as he rubbed circles on Mike’s back and Mike took several deep breaths to calm himself down.
“Breathe, Mike, just breathe,” Max said quietly. Mike wordlessly nodded as he tried to get his breathing under control.
Finally, Mike took one last deep breath before he looked around at all of his friends, who were smiling nervously at him.
“You okay?” El demanded, squatting down next to Mike and looking at him directly in the eyes.
“I’ll be fine,” Mike whispered. “I just overdid it when I jumped in.”
“Mike, friends don’t lie.”
Mike closed his eyes and shook his head.
“I’ll be fine,” he repeated. “Really, El. I think I should just sit out for a little while.”
“We can just go back home, Mike,” Lucas suggested.
“No, no, I don’t want to ruin your guys’ good time. I’ll just go and sit by our bags and get some sun. You guys keep swimming.”
“Are you sure?” Dustin asked.
Mike nodded.
“You guys go ahead and go swim. I’ll be okay. I promise.”
“If you say so,” Max said uncertainly before she pulled Lucas and Dustin’s arms and jumped back into the water with them.
El stared at Mike for several seconds before she stood up again and calmly walked into the water with the others. Will remained by Mike’s side, unwilling to move.
“You can go too, Will. I don’t want you to have to miss out on swimming.”
Will shook his head. “I don’t want to go swimming,” he said. Mike raised his eyebrows. “Honestly, I don’t! I just want to make sure that you’re okay.”
Mike sighed as he stood up. He motioned for Will to follow him, and Will stood up, too. Mike led him back over to the trees where all of their bags were on the ground. Mike set out his beach towel, and did the same to Will’s. They sat down next to each other in silence for a few moments, watching the rest of The Party.
“So…what happened?” Will asked hesitantly.
“I had a really bad flashback as soon as I hit the water,” Mike said.
“What was it?”
“It was the night they found your body,” Mike whispered.
“Oh, Mike,” Will said, reaching over and grabbing onto one of Mike’s hands, which had started to shake. Mike immediately stopped shaking and felt his whole body relax at Will’s touch.
“I don’t know why, but every time I’ve gone swimming, I keep thinking about that night and it makes me want to never go swimming again.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
Mike sighed before replying.
“I didn’t want to ruin everyone’s good time,” Mike muttered. “I thought you guys would be mad if I didn’t go swimming with you.”
“Michael Wheeler, sometimes you are such an idiot,” Will chastised.
“Huh?”
“Mike, you of all people know that we don’t judge each other like that. If something bothers you like that, you don’t have to be ashamed to admit it. There’s nothing wrong with how you feel, Mike. Just like there’s nothing wrong with how I have to sleep with a nightlight or that El has dreams about Brenner coming back, or Dustin, Lucas and Max freaking out when they hear weird noises.”
“I know, Will. I’m sorry. It’s just…” Mike hesitated.
“You can tell me.”
“I just feel so pathetic whenever I freak out near water,” Mike groaned. “I know, I shouldn’t feel that way, but I’ve always felt like I have to be the strong one in The Party. I’m supposed to protect all of you; you guys shouldn’t have to protect me.”
“Mikey, please don’t talk about yourself like that,” Will begged. “It’s okay to break, Mikey. It doesn’t make you weak and it certainly doesn’t make you pathetic. I don’t ever want to hear you talk about yourself that way again, okay?”
Mike nodded.
“And for the record, you may feel like you have to protect us, but we feel like we have to protect you, too. And that’s okay, Mike. You’re our friend. You’re my best friend, Mike. We have to take care of each other.”
Will pulled Mike into a hug. His face flushed red slightly as he realized that both he and Mike were shirtless, but he brushed it off, knowing it was more important that he be an anchor for Mike. Will held onto Mike tightly as Mike started to cry lightly.
“You’re okay, Mike,” Will whispered. “There is nothing wrong with you and you have no reason at all to feel ashamed. And you can always talk to me about whatever is bothering you, okay?”
“Okay,” Mike said as he nodded. “I won’t hide anything from you anymore.”
“And promise me that you won’t talk badly about yourself, Mike. I know you think your feelings don’t matter or that everyone else’s are more important, but you are important, Mike. You matter to so many people. You’re the most important person in my life, Mikey, and I want you to always be okay.”
“I promise, Will,” Mike whispered back. “Thank you for being here with me.”
“I’ll always be here for you, Mikey, just like you’ve always been there for me.”