- 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗋𝖽 𝗐𝗁𝖾𝖾𝗅 -

10 | storms brew

The next day was long and tiring and consisted of two hours of physical education. Mrs Knox, usually a pain in all their asses, was now a giant of terror to behold as she watched maliciously as all twenty-nine of her students were forced around the wide field. Jogging was no longer an option for everybody beneath the dull rays of the sun as fear of their horse-faced coach grew within their hearts.

To put it quite simply, Will would describe her as a heavy overweight woman with a mere shadow as her husband. He had only seen him once, but Mr Knox was a shy slim man with a love for flowery clothing and sandals. He was also a great deal nicer than his wife. The brunette wondered if the two had children. If so, he could imagine their children to look like Hagrid the groundskeeper from Harry Potter.

"Run! Sprint! And don't you dare stop until a rain starts to pour!" Mrs Knox cackled like a old witch on a broomstick as she hustled the girls faster, shoving the slim and curvy teenagers into one another. Like Dominos, they collided and fell to the grassy floor, unshed tears forming in their eyes. The only one that had had managed to avoid Mrs Knox and her heavy flat palms was Max with her slender athletic figure from all her skateboarding. She sprinted like a cheetah, feet beating against the dirt in quick, steady succession. Left, right, left, right, the ginger was like a well-oiled machine in her movements with no hesitancy or pause to her motion. Will barely managed to avoid Mrs Knox himself on the left turn but managed to duck down and jump over one of the hurdles. They were dark green and plastic and blended with the field perfectly.

"Shit!" Will cursed as his sneakers caught on a clump of dirt and nearly fell. God, he wanted to die already. Even though there was barely much sun, he still felt as if dying would be a much better option than having to sprint breathlessly for his life. Max turned back and smirked at his red face. He cursed and avoided her amusement, circling around her and kicking up dirt behind him in the process.

He ran and ran for what seemed like hours before the Coach finally blew her whistle and called them back inside to the cool shelter of the Gym. Will blew a sigh of relief and slowed his pace down to a jog, his aching muscles relaxing pleasurably. He met up with Max by the back door and together, they made their way into the air-conditioned Gym. The smell of sweat lingered in the Boys Shower room long after the cleaners had sprayed it with sharp lemony air freshener and Will swallowed down his pride and stripped, cheeks burning as he caught a glimpse of somebody's toned stomach and rippling ebony abs.

That blush remained firmly on his cheeks even after he ran back home in the light heat of Hawkins. Rarely did the suns warmth stay and by the time he made it to the door, it was already starting to drizzle...

"Will! Wait up!" His fists clenched, hackles raised. Mike, God Damnit. Wheeler was like an annoying insect.

His dark crow curls were damp and stuck to his slim neck like wry vines upon an ivory tower. Will looked into his stormy eyes and failed to recognize the glint within those dark gems. The feelings and emotions that he could usually see from a mile away were tucked back into the recesses of his being, eluding and entrancing Will all at once.

"I need to see El." He huffed, pushing the door open from behind Will rudely and chucking his sneakers at the grey rack by their umbrellas. The brunette teen could only gawk at his behavior. This was the rude ass that he had fallen for. The one that hadn't even said a word of thanks when he needed help for science with his mother in tow for christ's sake. But feelings just weren't on Wills schedule for today. Pushing away all those ludicrous ditzy thoughts in a box, he emptied out his backpack in the safety of his bedroom and started getting to work on his Algebra homework, the hardest assignment to tackle.

As the slow patter of rain rose to a crescendo, shouts accompanied the symphony of rain, causing Will to look up from his studying. His neck hurt, it felt sore and stiff. His clock read 4.58 P.M. with glowing yellow numbers and he grinned with accomplishment at the realization that he was just one assignment away from completing his set record timing. Finally, something in his life was going according to plan.

Yet the shouts downstairs weren't, so with a stiff neck and aching back muscles, the brunette slipped on a hoodie and made his way to Els bedroom where the shouts swelled in octave to his sensitive ears.

"I do love you! That's all i'm saying! I dont force you to do things, i just try to make you happy! But that's never enough huh?!"

"I need you to push me, Mike! I can't stand it when you baby me and refuse to take me out to sports games at 11 or to see a drive-in movie at midnight on new year's eve! It was hard enough getting you to let me go to parties and now we can't go to the spring concert?! As a couple?!"

"El, come on. You're being unreasonable. I want you to be safe!"

"And i wish you'd just let me take a risk! Just once! Instead of sneak-kissing me, does all the fun end there?"

There was a pregnant silence as Will stood outside the door, picturing a red-faced El and a standing furious Mike towering above her, eyes shining and lips speaking faster than his brain was working.

"Fun. That's all it is to you? Being in a relationship takes work too El, it's all games and fun and risking late sneak-outs to places we want to go. That's just selfish. You of all people should know what it means to be selfish and what having fun all the time means."

"I've never been able to have fun." He heard the emotion in Els voice, steadily building like lava in a old crackling volcano. "I've never been able to have my own clothing, my own style, my own time because i've had to share with the younger children in the orphanage and learned to bite the bullet for years. To think that i trusted you..." A heavy pause rang throughout the Byers residence.

"To think i ever loved you feels like i've just made a mistake. The worst one ever in my life. Get over yourself Wheeler, i'm breaking up with you."

He heard the doorknob jiggle as the lock was turned and all Will could do was hopelessly dash back to his room, to grab a random comic and ease open the yellowed colorful pages. To pretend that he hadn't heard a thing.

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