golden boy : stozier

twenty

"stanley! over here," bill called, stanley turning his head to the sound in the library. he wandered over, bill and mike sat down at a table already. stanley took the third seat next to mike, putting his backpack on the ground next to him.

"hey guys," stanley said, pulling his laptop out of his bag. he opened it, opening five word documents with it. mike looked at it, his mouth agape.

"how on earth do you survive?" mike asked, in awe. stanley smiled, shaking his head.

"before i knew you guys and richie i didn't really go out with people, so it was just me and my homework." stanley immediately began typing, trying to polish his rough draft for his extended essay. he knew what he wanted it to look like, he just wasn't sure how to get there. it had been toruring him all last block.

"brave." mike said, like always. stanley looked over to bill, who had his eyebrows furrowed at his biology worksheet.

"are you okay, bill?" stanley asked, feeling like he was really stepping out of his bounds as a friend. but he'd been weirded out by beverly leaning on him earlier, and now bill just looked so upset.

"yeah, it's j-juh... buh-beverly told me she didn't th-thuh-think i love her." bill replied, groaning as he leaned back in his chair. so the biology work hadn't been the problem.

"oh jesus," mike mused, like he was used to this, "what happened?"

"i don't know, it was at g-guh-greta's, she was drunk, sh-she got mad at me. and it's luh-like, i duh-don't want to be with her all the t-tih-time, you know? but she thinks that means i d-duh-duh-don't love her. it's so annoying." bill had his face his hands, still leaning back. stanley nodded, though bill couldn't see him.

"that's stupid. you can't do your own things?" mike asked, as upset as bill was. stanley watched the two of them with observational interest. maybe this was what being a teenage boy was supposed to be like, but it seemed tiring on the heart's behalf.

not that what stanley was doing was all the less tiring, he reminded himself, thinking about the bathroom at greta's party. oh god, he thought, am i being a teenage boy?

"no, and like i don't want to br-break up, but..." bill let out a big sigh, and looked at mike. "it's f-fuh-fine. back to electrolysis," he mumbled, grabbing his paper and getting back to it. mike shook his head.

"she shouldn't treat you like that," mike said, scooting his chair around the round table to look in on bill's paper. "oh, jesus bill. do you want help?"

bill looked at him with a desperate expression, "please." maybe biology worksheets were a secondary problem after all.

stanley had to tear his eyes away from them, back to his laptop. they were a strange duo to witness, if only because they were so... stanley didn't want to think normal, but it was the only word for it, wasn't it?

as if to distract him, beverly soon appeared, waving hi to stanley and sitting where mike had been, pulling a chair up. she hardly acknowledged bill, who was staring right at her. she was good at being petty. stanley thought it was an impressive skill.

"do you want me to help you with the math now or later?" stanley asked, holding the top screen of his laptop, ready to close it. beverly dug through her bag, pulling out a folder.

"is now okay?" she asked, and stanley nodded. "by the way, richie was held back for thirty minutes, he yelled at carson." she said, flippantly, and mike looked over. stanley furrowed his eyebrows.

"why?" stanley asked. he knew richie got in trouble, but richie would never tell him why.

"normal shit. carson was saying stupid shit, calling him gay and stuff, and richie kept telling him to shut up. carson pulled my hair, 'cause i sit in front of him, and richie slapped him and started yelling at him. it was kinda funny," beverly went on, and stanley only felt further confused. he couldn't imagine richie standing up for beverly, let alone hitting a guy for it. with enough build up, he guessed, richie could do anything.