december 1st, 1990

victoria's point of view

i was walking to school with dustin on the cold morning of december, we had the first class together and he lived close to my house so we decided to walk together

'is that true, dustin? have you really never been on a roller coaster before?'

he laughed,'it is true! i mean it, victoria'

we laughed once again before we finally could see the school around the corner

as we both fell silent, dustin spoke up again,'do you want to sit with me and my friends at lunch? you know, lucas, mike, and will?'

'what about that el girl?'

'oh, she moved away.. so what do you say, vic?' dustin asked me hopefully

well, i could use some new friends

'sure! i would love to meet your friends!'

dustin smiled,'great, now we have exactly eight minutes to get to class.. run!'

as the bell rang for lunch, i put my math books away and headed out of the classroom

i noticed someone as i was walking through the halls that I thought I wouldn't see in a million years

it was fucking richie tozier

oh well

i decided to ignore him as i saw dustin come up to me and we headed to the cafeteria together

on the way there, dustin talked about his friends and how they were all single

'jeez, dusty, why is everything about dating these days?'

'i'm telling you, vic, all i'm saying is you are so going to fall in love with one of them!'

we laughed as the conversation continued,'oh yeah? which one am i going to fall in love with?!' I said dramatically

'i bet it'll be will; he's a nice guy, nothing like that richie guy you used to date..' the conversation went dry as he said that, but was quickly revived after we finally made it to the cafeteria and met up with his friends

as he introduced me to them, one particular boy caught my eye

dustin introduced him last,'and vic, this is mike wheeler'

we locked eyes for a couple seconds as he mumbled and whispered with a smile'hi'

'hey' i said and smiled back

it got silent but then we all found a table to sit at, there were two empty seats to sit at, which was fine

i sat in between dustin and will, and mike sat straight across from me next to will and lucas

a conversation quickly sparked about some arcade they went to a few years back and how it closed down last summer

i tried to keep up, but since i never even knew there was an arcade in this town, it was hard

mike could see that i was struggling, so he tried to change the subject,'so, vic, what do you do on the weekends, since you can obviously tell we play at the arcade' and he laughed a little bit at the end

i smiled and began to talk,'well usually in the summer i go down to the barrens and swim, but it's cold out so i guess I would just go to the diner or watch a movie at the theater'

lucas laughed and put on a goofy voice,'OoOo how romanticcc' he said, dragging out the c

i laughed at it, and could see that mike didn't and low key shot a death glare at lucas

after a few more minutes of everyone talking to each other will asked me what my schedule was so we could see if any of us had the same classes

'sure, let me get it out of my backpack; one sec'

once i got it out of my backpack, mike told me we had last period, which was history, together

'great! see you then wheeler!' i said as everyone got up to get to there next class since the bell had just rung

i had physical education, so I headed there to change into my pe clothes

i walked into the class and sat down in the back at one of the empty seats

i was the first one there so i just sat and waited until more people came in and the lesson would start

as all the seats were being filled up, no one sat next to me

but then, a few minutes before the bell rang and the class officially started, mike came in

he smiled once he saw me, and i don't think i've ever seen a bigger smile on someone ever

he winked at me, too and I signalled for him to come over and sit next to me

he walked over and sat his things down

we were the only two people at the table, since all the tables in the history classroom were made for two people

'so, we meet again, miss harrington' mike smiled

'we sure do' i said with an airy laugh

the bell rang, but the teacher never ended up coming right on time

'i guess mr dettner doesn't care about influencing the future children of america with knowledge of what happened a million years ago, vic. we have been robbed!'

'damn right' i said as we both laughed together

then, the teacher came in with richie by his side;

wait, richie? why would richie be here?

hm, it doesn't matter, mike is here to keep me company

the teacher brought richie up to the front of the class and explained that richie would be in our class from now on

i leaned over and whispered to mike,'who knew that he would be in the advanced history class' and giggled a little bit

'didn't you used to date that guy?' mike asked me

'yeah, long story short, we were young so it wasn't serious, it was just messy'

'oh' he said and laughed a little bit

the teacher started to explain some random subject that everyone knew no one would ever need in their life, and since he was so loud and in his own world, we could easily talk to each other

mike and i stroke up a conversation, and a few minutes later mike asked me,'do you want to go to the diner after school? i mean it is friday so it's technically the weekend and you said you went to the diner on weekends, and i wouldn't want you to go all alone'

he held his breath as he waited for my response,'i would love to, mike'

he smiled and breathed out with a sigh of relief

the bell rang as me and mike were packing up our stuff

'so, vic, do you want to walk to the diner together right now, or should we have dinner there tonight at five?'

'well, mike, if we do it for dinner then won't that be considered a date?'

'well, uh, if you want-' he cleared his throat as we walked out to the hall together

'see you at five, kiddo' i told him as we both smiled and he walked the other way and i went home

as i came out of the bathroom in my robe after i took a shower, i ran into steve

'why are you so peppy, vic?'

'i'm going on a date!'

'with who? not richie, are you?'

'of course not, stevio! a guy from my history class called mike!'

steve thought for a second,'isn't he friends with dustin?'

'yes!' i smiled as i said that

'well have fun, vic, and stay safe!'

i ran back to my room and put on some music

i was so excited for some reason, it was unlike any time i'd ever gone on a date with richie

i walked over to my closet and looked through it

after going through my entire wardrobe a couple of times, i finally decided to wear a pair of acid wash jeans and a red t-shirt

then, i put on my deodorant and sprayed on some of my perfume and went over to my small vanity to put on some makeup

i checked the clock and realised that I had about twenty minutes before i had to go to the diner

i put on some mascara and a little bit of blush, followed along with some glittery lip gloss to top it all off

the twenty minutes had soon passed and i was about to go to the diner when there was a knock on the door

'i'll get it! i yelled to steve that was across the house and probably couldn't hear me nor the knock on the door

i walked over to the front door, and opened it

there stood mike

'hey' i breathed out

he looked really nice,

his curly hair looked better than before and he was wearing a black and white striped shirt along with a pair of jeans

he had flowers in his hands and passed them to me,'these are for you, apple'

i smiled,'these are gorgeous, mike! thank you so much!'

richie never got me flowers, what a gentleman mike is

'shall we go?' mike asked

i smiled and nodded,'we shall'

'should i order for the both of us, apple?'

i nodded

the waitress came around and asked for our order,'um yes, we'll have the strawberry milkshake with two straws and extra whipped cream please; and also rainbow sprinkles on top'

'is that all?' the lady asked

we both nodded as she took our dessert menus

as the lady left, i giggled and asked mike,'whats with the nickname, mike?'

'well, you're the apple of my eye, so y'know i figured' he looked down and smiled, a small blush creeping up upon his cheeks

'awh, that's so cute! i guess i'll call you giggles!' i said as we both burst out laughing

'why that?' he said, still laughing his head off, and people were beginning to stare at us

'because, no one has ever made me giggle and laugh as much as you have' i said and smiled at him

'i like hanging out with you, apple'

'me too, giggles'

we both blushed as the waitress came back with our milkshake

'that was one of the best milkshakes i've ever had!' i said as we walked home together

'thank you so much for paying, mike; you really didn't have to' i added

'it was me that invited you on this wonderful date, so i'm obviously obligated to pay; and even if it was you that invited me, i still would've paid'

'you're sweet, giggles, but this is my house now' i said as we both stopped in front of my front door

i could see that steve's car wasn't there, he was probably out with friends, it was after all friday

'so i guess this is the part where we say goodbye' i said to mike

we both stood there, across from each other on my porch

the only light around us was the dim street lights that have had shinier days

everything fell silent as we leaned in together

and as our faces were literally two inches apart, mike whispered,

'so i guess this is the part where we kiss'