Will
4 boys stood cramped in a small office, an oak desk with a sign saying Principle on it was being leaned on expectantly by a tall man with sturdy glasses resting just below the crook of his nose. The four boys were all wearing PE kit, but were not sweating, well not all of them. Will Byers stood with his hands glued furiously at his sides, wiping his clammy palms on his jeans every few minutes, his eyes refusing to make any contact with any thing but the floor, his knees trembling.
"So, what you are implying is that Troy Harrington hurt and mocked Will Byers in an 'inappropriate way' with out his consent?"
"Yes."
"Will Byers, the new student who has just joined Hawkins Elementary this day?"
"Yes."
"Will Byers is this boy here?"
"Yes."
"And you expect me to believe you?"
"Yes- wait what?"
"Mr Wheeler, accusing a student of harassment of this sort is a serious accusation to make, do you realise that?"
"Yes! Yes, yes I do! That's why we've come to you, because this is serious!"
"Now Mr Wheeler, I do understand that you and Troy are not on the best of terms, so trying to get back at him in this manner his highly immature and inappropriate."
"It's not like that, it happened!"
"And your proof is...?"
The whole room went silent. Three heads turned to Will who was standing in the corner. He had been listening intently to each word of the argument between his new Headmaster and Mike Wheeler, just as Lucas and Dustin had been too, though Will stood on the opposite side to all of them.
Wills eyes looked up around the room of expectant stares, quickly looking back down to the floor after so.
"Will," Mike broke the silence, "tell them- tell them what happened." His tone was soft but urging. Will gulped slowly, but remained silent. He could hear Dustin and Lucas sigh softly from the other side of the room, the creek of the principles chair as he leaned back on it filling the once again quite room.
"Will..." Mike urged him but Will would not reply.
Will could feel his lip shaking slightly so pushed his head down further to hide it.
"Then that settles it-"
"No! Just let me talk to him." Mike cut through the teachers voice, not turning his gaze away from Will.
He swallowed nervously.
"Will, cmon..."
No answer.
"Please, let me help you."
No answer.
Mike waited, Dustin and Lucas waited, Principle Redlands waited, but their waiting was put to an end as Will didn't answer, yet again.
"Well then, I can't do anything for you boys, unless that is Mr Byers decides to tell us..." Mike looked away from Will, disappointment in his eyes as the room remained silent the man continued, "Okay, now you are dismissed- oh and Micheal? If I hear of any more false accusations towards Mr Harrington, there will be consequences."
The 4 boys left, Mike waking ahead towards the bathrooms, pulling Will with him. Dustin and Lucas stood awkwardly in the hall, both of them fearing what was to come for their new aquatint, for why he stayed silent in such a situation.
But it was only what he was taught to do.
•••
"Will." Mike stood in front of the smaller boy, blocking the door from him. 5th period had already started, but did Mike appear to care? No.
Will wished he did, but he also wished he didn't, cause if Mike didn't care he wouldn't be stood cowardly in front of him, whilst he waited for him to explain.
"Will, please tell me why," he reached out to push Wills chin up, Will only stepping backwards, "why did you stay silent? Why- why would you lie? Why won't you let me help you?"
Mikes voice broke in his last question, not in ageing but in pain. Will could feel how hurt he was.
That's all I ever do. Hurt people, break people.
"Will please, speak to me."
"Why."
The word slipped out his mouth.
"What?"
"Why do you care?"
Mike looked taken aback before furrowing his eyebrows.
"Because that's what friends do... they care about each other, and we're friends so I care about you."
Will looked up into Mikes eyes, his face pale. Mike could see the bags under his eyes in the light that was shining from the window above the stalls, Will hadn't slept properly for days.
"Will, did Troy do anything else... did he, did he say anything?"
Wills eyes immediately moved to wall behind Mike, deciding that was a better place to be looking at.
Mike looked at Will sadly.
"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to..."
Will shook his head slightly. No he didn't want to tell Mike, for he would most likely be disgusted by Will.
"Okay..."
The boys fell into silence.
"A smile looks good on you, by the way." Mike said complementary before realising what had just come out his mouth and blushing madly. "I-I mean, uh, like today in-in class, you smiled."
Mike swallowed, "a smile is nice to see on you."
Will looked up at Mike, pulse going 100mph, Mike looked into his eyes and gave a small smile. Will smiled back, the previous events forgotten, "thanks I guess..."
Mike reached and grabbed Wills hand in his own, "I'll always be there for you, okay?"
"And I will get Troy for this Will, I promise."
Wills gut wrenched, he couldn't do it. He couldn't. Not after what just happened. No, Will Byers could not accept this promise.
"Don't make promises you can't keep."
"W-what?" Mikes face contorted into a frown.
"Please, it's just..."
"You can't handle being let down huh?" Will looked at Mike and immediately knew this was not going to end well.
"You know what Will, you can't handle being let down when you just let 3 people down in that office. You let me down back there."
Wills stomach flipped and he felt nauseous, this was it again, he'd ruined it again.
"We could've gotten rid of Troy. He hurt you, and you wouldn't say nothing, nothing! All the times he's hurt me, and you won't get rid of him."
Mike shook his head just as the bell rang, indicating the first day back at Hawkins Elementary had ended. With the bell still ringing he walked out of the room, leaving William Byers with stinging eyes and shaking hands to watch helplessly as he goes.
Will couldn't handle it, the pressure, the pain. He had done it again, like he always does, cause he's a terrible person, what Troy did he deserved. He deserved to have such crude words thrown at him, such profanity thrown at his body. He's a freak. He's a freak that nobody will ever truly care about.
Once silence had fell over the bell, and all that could be heard from the hall was the rushing footsteps and excitable yells of students, Will ran into the nearest stall and vomited all of what he didn't eat that lunchtime. That lunchtime he sat with Micheal Wheeler, a bit he would spend his time with no more.
Drying his face on the way out of the stall, he stared at himself in the mirror.
Freak.
•••
A/N so I legit just wrote this in the car so it's really terrible and thank you for all of your comments noting on how evil I am for leaving you on a cliff hanger ;) next chapter I'll probs write about what happened in the locker rooms and that will be just a filler chapter. You can skip it as it may be a bit triggering but I don't really enjoy writing such things so it'll be in the least. Thanks for 1k reads and 100 votes bbys
Chow
