𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐌𝐞 ; 𝘉𝘺𝘭𝘦𝘳 ✓

𝟖.

Hawkins High | Fri 8:07 AM
Troy Walsh

When Troy walked into the school, there was already a crowd of people standing near the small piece of paper with names on it.

Today was the day that Troy would see if he made the football team or not, and he was feeling confident that he's been doing pretty good the last few days.

Troy pushed through the crowd and finally got to the names. He browses through the paper and he sees 'Lucas Sinclair' and 'Michael Wheeler' but no 'Anthony Walsh', meaning he didn't make the team.

Troy stormed away angrily, thinking that he was much better than half the people on the list. He needed to blow off some steam so he went to go look for his favorite human punching bag, Will Byers.

When he turned the corner, he looked down the hallway to Will's locker and saw that he wasn't there. He walked closer and waited for a couple of minutes, assuming that he was just running late.

The first bell rang and still no Will, so Troy went to go look for the next best thing. Luckily, Dustin was still at his locker. Troy approached him and when he got a little closer, Dustin looked over at him with a confused expression on his face.

"What do you want Troy?" Dustin asked in an irritated tone.

"Since the fairy isn't here, you're gonna have to take over for him toothless."

Dustin slammed his locker shut and turned his body towards Troy. "Hit me." he said in a low tone.

Troy felt somewhat intimidated by Dustin, not being sure why he'd asked to get hurt. Troy tried to push him but Dustin barely moved an inch, reminding Troy of the reason why he always messed with Will instead.

Dustin pushed Troy back harder, causing him to almost tumble over and fall to the ground. Troy felt weak in the moment and continued to try to swing at Dustin to gain some type of strength, but he missed every. single. punch.

Ever since Troy started bullying him and Will, Dustin had been taking boxing classes and has gotten somewhat good at it. People like to make fun of Dustin and call him 'chubby', but in reality there was not fat on his arms and legs, only muscle.

Eventually Dustin got tired of dodging and started to throw some blows at Troy, which all landed, causing Troy to end up on the floor with Dustin on top of him.

Troy squirmed underneath the boy but wasn't able to escape the wrath of Dustin Henderson. He didn't even notice that there was a crowd around them until Dustin was pulled off of him with the help of 3 students and a teacher.

Troy laid lifeless on the ground, feeling excruciating pain every time he moved just a little. He felt wetness on his face and assumed they were tears, but when he went to wipe there was red liquid covering his fingers. The sight caused his eyes to roll back and for him to go unconscious.

***

Troy woke up to the smell of vanilla that wafted around the nurse's office. He groaned from the sharp pain on his left cheek and slowly sat up. The nurse got up from her desk and went to the small mini fridge that sat underneath some shelves.

She grabbed a scoop and took out a bag of ice. She scooped the ice into a plastic bag and tied it at the top. After she was done putting everything away, she handed the ice pack to Troy. He took it and held it against his cheek.