𝐹𝑜𝓇𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 | 𝐵𝓎𝓁𝑒𝓇 🎀

9 -- Tragedy

Will's pov

Walking in that doorway to school the next day was difficult without Mike. The doctors told me that my bandages were overheating my gash in my side when I wore clothes, so we had to cut the bottom half of some of my shirts off, but it didn't show my skin, because my bandages acted like an undershirt. I was very self-conscious walking in alone, until I saw him. Mike rushed over to me, Dustin and Lucas trailing behind. He kissed my lips quickly as we walked off to our first class.

"Hey, Will." The other two greeted awkwardly.

I sat in a seat in a back row next to Mike. Mike was busy getting books and stuff out of his bag, when I felt it. A sharp pain in my head. It was so unbearable.

"Mike... MIKE...." The pain grew greater as Mike saw me, sitting up.

"Oh, my god! Will!" He said worriedly.

"AHH!!" I yelled holding my head. The whole class looked at me with worried eyes. I lost my balance and slipped out of my chair. With amazing reflex, Mike caught me and lifted me to my feet.

Mike's pov

I grabbed him and pulled him to his feet, standing up.

"Will!? Will, answer me!" I yelled.

His eyes were lost. He stared at me with dying eyes. His eyes fluttered, and he stood up for himself. He blinked and finally spoke.

"I'm okay... I'm... *confused pant*... okay...?" He gripped his gash from the outside the bandages. He yelped in pain. He felt weak and fell onto me. The drugs were wearing off.

"Dustin grab the pills and the water canister from his bag!" I yelled urgently.

Mr. Clarke rushed over and grabbed the pills and such from Dustin and came over to Will and me. Will swallowed the meds in my arms. I helped him to his seat once he said he'd be okay. The class slowly stopped paying attention to him.

"Are you sure you don't need the nurse?" Mr. Clarke said, distraught. Will nodded.

As the class started and proceeded. I held Will's hand the hold time.

That night, after I kissed Will goodbye and drove home with my mom, I went straight to my room. I just needed to relax. I lay out on my bed atop my covers. I lay for hours thinking about everything. I love Will. But I dreaded the day Troy got back. I just needed to protect him this time. If anything happens to him, I will never forgive myself.

The next morning, I woke up called Will to make sure he took his medication. It was raining, and it was supposed to get worse through the day. I thought nothing of it. Mom drove me to school. I took and umbrella out of mom's purse and rushed over to Jonathan's car. I pulled Will up underneath the umbrella and put my arm around his waist to keep him under cover. We waved goodbye to Jonathan and walked into the school out of the cover.

Will's pov

Most of the day was boring, to be honest. We had a couple of academic classes and we had PE. It was kind of awkward for the boys to change in front of us, But I paid no attention. During our last period of the day, Social Studies, our principal came into the doorway.

"Michael Wheeler? May I please speak to you out here, please."

Mike stood up and glanced over at me as if saying, be ready, or something. He strolled to the door, with every eye on him like a suspenseful movie, waiting for a jump scare. The class continued like normal without him, though the air seemed distracted. This lasted for about five minutes, and I got worried because I thought I heard a sob. The principal appeared in the doorway again, without Mike, and spoke in a very distraught but urgent voice, trying to keep his cool in front of his students.

"-clears throat- William Byers, could you please come out here for assistance..." He disappeared into the hallway.

I immediately stood up and strolled over, but I heard a sob, so my walk was fast than normal. And every eye was on me. I rounded the doorway to see the principal. He was awkwardly patting Mike's shoulder, while he... Cried into the wall. I rushed over, assessing Mike with my hands and yelled at the principal, which I would usually have gotten scolded for, but this was different.

"What happened!?" I bellowed, in a shaky voice.

"I'm afraid it's bad news..." He said pulling me to the side. I acted rushed because it pained me to see Mike so upset, and even more when I was kept from comforting him. He whispered in my ear.

"I'm sad to say that... Jane Hopper has passed on..." He said. My heart sank to the depths of hell. (Don't get mad, Millie is my mf queen)

Eleven.

My voice became a shaky yet forced serious tone.

"I'll take him. Please just let me call my brother, he'll drive us home." The principal nodded like he'd heard it all before.

"I've already informed your mothers, and Jonathan is on the way. Front entrance please." He said pointing in one direction down the hallway, then returning to our Social Studies room, he disappeared.

As soon as he was gone, I practically smothered Mike in my arms. He had to bend down because he was taller than me, but he wrapped his arms right under mine, and sobbed into my shoulder / neck area. I felt his crying slow to a sniffle, so I pulled him out of my chest and asked him gently,

"Ready?"

"Okay... can we just lay down later?" He asked, sniffling a bit as he spoke. I nodded. And that's exactly what we did.

We lay out on the bed with the door shut as Jonathan watched TV in the other room. He had his arms wrapped around me and held me close to the point where my body was completely on top of him, legs drooping over either side of his waist. He played with my hair and we just talked. I could tell he was trying to avoid the subject, but I knew this wouldn't work and would make this worse when it caught up to him. I used my arms to arch my back and sit up. (My shirt was raised up a little, so you could see the skin above my bandages) He sat up and moved into me, so his legs were out, and I sat crisscross around him. He touched my face with one of his hands.

"Thank you, Will." He said while gently kissing my lips. This is love.