Chapter Text
In a town as small as Hawkins, Indiana, it was easy to know everyone and know everything about everyone. Will Byers thought that was a complete lie, not everyone knew everything about everyone. It was impossible to, especially if you kept your mouth closed and didn’t talk about what people could never know about. Will had experience with this, he kept many secrets. He kept his secrets, about himself and his dad, he kept Max’s secrets that she had trusted him with, and he kept his step sister, Jane’s, secrets. He kept many things from the people of Hawkins. Frankly because they didn’t need to know about their secrets.
A big secret Will kept was about what he did every weekend. Five years ago, when Will Byers was eleven years old, his mother and father had finalized their divorce. They had joint custody over Will and his older brother Jonathan, although, Jonathan was older than Will, he had less time to spend with Lonnie. Will had horrible, horrible memories of Lonnie. Memories he didn't think about. Memories he didn’t want to think about. It was easier to deal with When Jonathan was in the picture, but two years ago Jonathan had graduated High School and went off to NYU on a full scholarship. Will, his mother, and their step father and sister had been so proud of Jonathan when the news had broken. Jonathan did deserve to go off to his dream college, he deserved to move on from the small, sleepy town of Hawkins Indiana. Now every weekend was spent with Lonnie Byers, and Will was all alone. He was all alone and afraid, and he didn’t tell anyone. He didn’t tell his mother, he didn’t tell Jane, or his step father, despite him being Chief of Police in Hawkins, it felt as if not even he could help Will now.
Besides, two more years and he would be off in college like Jonathan. He wouldn’t have to deal with Lonnie and always being afraid. He hoped. God, he just hoped that one day he would be out of his dad’s house for good and never be afraid of him again. Though, he wondered if he would always be afraid of him.
The summer ended and the air got cooler, signaling a start to the Fall. School was starting up again, and everything would be normal. He would have lunch with his friends, he would get to spend more time with them in classes, he would have homework to occupy himself at Lonnie’s, and maybe, just maybe Will could end this year with straight A’s, if he stayed focused enough.
However, on the first day of school, in first period, staying focused was going to be difficult for Will Byers.
As an English Credit he decided to take Creative Writing. Normal english wasn’t something Will enjoyed, the standardized lesson plans were never fun, and Will liked poetry, expressing himself through poems was one of the things he did best. The class was a long walk, but Will always got to school early, he made sure of it every day. Will sat at an empty desk, organizing his backpack before class. He wasn’t the only student in the room, by now most of the class had filled up. He zipped his backpack once the bell rang, placing it on the ground beside him. He glanced over the seat next to him, seeing it was empty.
The teacher in the front of the class had a kind face. Her eyes were cheery and bright, her hair was blonde, and she wore yellow clothes. She clapped her hands together, and stood in front of the class. "Hello everyone, it's wonderful to have you all in here! I'm Mrs. Jones, and as I'm sure you all know, this is Creative Writing One. I'm very passionate about reading and writing, I love books and poetry, and so, every morning we will begin with a fifteen minute writing. You don't need to finish anything, but you can continue it when you're happy with it. Now usually every Friday, a few volunteers may read their work, but today, any of you can share out if you'd like. I'll pass around the syllabus, and I want those back by the end of the week.” She went on. Mrs. Jones turned away before looking back at the class, “And unless you absolutely need them, I don’t want to see a phone out in here. Alright, get to work!” She said. She walked over to her desk, beginning a timer. Mrs. Jones seemed wonderful, she was sweet, but she did have a habit of talking a lot. Will wondered if he would get any work done in this class. Just as his pencil hit his paper, the door swung open. Will looked up, seeing someone he’s never seen in his life.He was tall, incredibly tall, surpassing Will’s 5’5 by a long shot. He had bags under his eyes, pretty much the ugliest sweater Will has ever seen, and blue jeans. Mrs. Jones stood up. “I was wondering when you would show up!” She paused the timer, “Pencils down, only briefly. This is our new student, Michael Wheeler.”
“It’s just Mike.” The new kid, Mike had informed them all.
“Well, just Mike, why don’t you take a free seat.” Mrs. Jones said. Mike scanned the classroom, his eyes landing on Will, in his own little corner. Something about his expression changed. It was no longer like he didn’t want to be in school, he looked intrigued. The more Will stared, the more he noticed about Mike. His hair was curly, it covered his ears. His eyes were brown. And as he got even closer, Will noticed the splash of freckles, the high cheek bones, and Will felt like some kind of weird stalker. He ducked his head and began writing again as Mike sat down next to him.
“What’s the teacher’s name?” He asked quietly. Will looked up, flustered. He had almost forgotten what her name was, since Mike began talking to him.
“Mrs. Jones.” Will told him, keeping his tone equally quiet. “We’re supposed to write something and share it out within fifteen minutes, but I’m more of an artist than a writer.” He said shyly, looking back down. Why had he told him that? Will usually didn’t tell people about his art, they just knew.
“Well, writing is a form of art. You just need practice like every other skill in life.” Mike assured him. He seemed to stay quiet for a beat, before he spoke up again. “What’s your name?”
“Will. Um- Will Byers.” Will answered, giving a nervous smile before ducking his head back down. When he wished for new friends, he did not mean talking to someone he didn’t know about basically nothing. Will suddenly wished he could take back his own wish of new friends, and maybe replace it with something else. Like getting a new pair of shoes, or getting his license finally, He did not know it involved a new kid with a cute face, a cute voice, and a nice personality.
“Well Will Byers, I better start working.” Mike said. And that was all he said, for the rest of the class period. Granted, Will didn’t strike up a conversation, but he was intimidated. He was intimidated by Max when she had been new, and Max had become one of his best friends. Arguably his closest. Though Mike was cute, and it made talking to him difficult. Especially when Will knew they would never work. With Will’s. well, lack of being out, and Mike’s most likely to be straight, Will had no chance with him anyways.
Lunch rolled around after fourth period, and Will found his usual table. Will sat down, taking his sacked lunch his mother had made for him this morning. Jane sat down next to him, copying him in taking out her own lunch. The briefly checked it.
“Huh, breakfast sandwich, sausage, eggs, and bacon sandwiched between two waffles.” Will noted.
“Crustless peanut butter and jelly.” Jane looked over at Will. The both rolled up their paper bags and switched lunches, before breaking out into giggles.
“Hey wonder twins.” a familiar female voice greeted. Will looked up, seeing Max. He smiled up at her.
“Maxie.” Will grinned as she plopped down beside Will, before giving him a judgmental look.
“Not my name.” She huffed.
“And Jane isn’t my twin sister, but I’m not correcting you.” Will shrugged, taking a small bite of his sandwich.
To his right, Jane shrugged. “We might as well be. We’re step siblings and we look almost identical.” She pointed out.
Will shrugged. “Maybe if i curled my hair to match your natural locks, I could finally be as beautiful as Jane Eleanor Hopper.” Will smiled, leaning against Jane. She laughed before shoving him gently.
“Don’t full name me, William.” Jane teased.
“Is it bully Will Byers day? I’m sure there are many people who would love to join in on this special day.” Will rolled his eyes with a smile. He loved Jane and Max, and it was obvious to him Jane and Max loved each other. Or at least liked each other in that sense. Will knew how Max felt, and he’s known Jane long enough to sense when she was interested in someone romantically. At this point, Will didn’t understand how the two girls could be so oblivious.
The next person to join the table was Dustin, a long time best friend of Will’s, well, one of two. He sat down with a school bought lunch, the tray making a clattering noise as he sat across from Max. “It's bully Will Byers day already? I thought that didn’t come for another week.” Dustin teased. Will rolled his eyes with a grin on his face.
“Oh, haven’t you heard?” Max smirked, crossing her arms.
“Oh great, we’re using that meme on a daily occurrence now.” Dustin rolled his eyes.
“It is the fourth day in a row if you count all the texts.” Jane nodded.
Will gawked at Jane for a second before dissolving into a knowing smile. “You keep score?”
Jane simply shrugged, ignoring the look he was giving. “To pass the time.” she answered simply.
Suddenly, Lucas came back into view, only this time he wasn’t alone. In fact, he had someone walking next to him. Wearing the sweater Will was met with this morning and-
It was him.
“Guys, hey, this is Mike, he’s new, and I’ve decided he’s cool and one of us.” Lucas patted Mike on the back, who awkwardly waved at the four already seated. He locked eyes with Will, before sitting down across from Jane and breaking eye contact from Will.
Jane glanced over at Will, a coy smile on her lips. She nodded him closer, wanting to tell him something. Will obliged, leaning in to hear better. “You know, Mike looks kind of cute.” she whispered. Unbeknownst to the step siblings, both of them looked over at Mike at the same time, Will, flushed with embarrassment, and Jane, still had that smile on her face. Mike shot the both a grin and a wink, Will turning away. Will glanced over at Max who was staring so hard she could burn holes into Mike’s head. Will gently elbowed her to get her out of whatever jealous-rage trance she was in, and it seemed to have worked.
Will pulled himself back into conversation.
“We are so cool enough to recruit people!” Lucas argued with Dustin.
“We’re the nerds of Hawkins High, you might as well just set the kid up to have no friends instead.” Dustin crossed his arms.
“I would rather be friends with nerds instead of friends with no one.” Mike chimed in, obviously getting irritated with their bickering. That was something Will could easily relate too. He bit back a smile before turning to Max.
“So anyways,” he began, “What classes do you have?” Will asked. Max groaned taking her schedule out of her pocket and laying it on the table.
“first period is math, which should not be allowed, Mr. Kole is a fucking asshole already and starting off every morning with him is going to be my personal hell.” Max began. She listed off the rest of her classes, and the two had fourth and sixth together upon further inspection. Fourth period was Painting Studio, which Will had convinced Max to take, and their last period, sixth, was US history.
“Hold on, what teacher do you guys have for History?” Mike asked.
Max looked up at him and glared. “None of your fucking business.” she snapped, obviously not over his flirting with Jane.
“Max.” Will said quietly. she huffed, slouching a bit and muttering an apology. “Mr. Hawthorne.” he answered with a smile.
“Awesome, I have him for sixth too.” Mike grinned back. Will felt a heat rise to his cheeks and he looked away before the bell rang. Max grabbed Will’s hand.
“We have to go to art now.” she said pointedly.
“Max, I haven’t thrown away my trash.” Will sighed, standing up with her anyways. She was a few inches shorter than him, although she was still the most intimidating person on the planet.
“I have a few people you can throw it at.” she glanced at Mike.
“Max!” Will hissed.
“What, what? I’m joking, you know my humor. Ha ha ha.” she rolled her eyes.
“I’ll see you at home, Jane.” Will smiled gently to his sister. Max seemed to soften when she saw her, but looked back at Mike and her gaze hardened again.
“Yeah later.” Max huffed out. And before Jane could respond to either of them, Max was dragging Will to the nearest trash can and out of the cafeteria.
“You know, the way you acted today at lunch was really rude.” Will told Max. Usually, Painting Studio was his favorite classes to take. He had already taken one and two, so he was put back into Painting Studio One with Max, and a bunch of freshman. He liked painting, the colors in the canvas, the smell of fresh paint, clean brushes, the painted smocks, he loved everything about painting. He loved art, in fact, and was taking 3D design as well.
“I don’t trust him.” Max huffed, putting a bit of red paint on her canvas. “Did you see his sweater? He dresses like a hetero.” she sneered.
“So?” Will shrugged.
“So our squad is full of the only gays in this fucking school!” Max exclaimed.
“Keep your voice down, you lesbian.” Will whispered.
“Well, it’s true, even if we aren’t all out.” Max rolled her eyes.
“You mean none of us?” He asked.
“I have an impeccable gaydar, and Mike is either straight or a badly dressed bisexual.” Max informed him, splattering some blue onto her canvas. Will gently brushed dark green onto his own, and smiled a bit. “What? Why are you so smiley now?” Max asked.
Will looked over to her and shrugged. “Maybe he wasn’t winking at Jane.” he offered up.
“Will, he’s straight.” Max deadpanned.
“Or a badly dressed bisexual, we don’t know.” Will shrugged again, smiling to himself.
Max turned back to her painting, “Well he’s only spoken to you once. And it was about school.” she pointed out, obviously unhappy with what Will was saying.
“Twice, we have first period together.” Will replied.
Max scoffed, “Oh how sweet, starting and ending your day with someone you shouldn’t be putting so much faith in considering you just met him and barely know his name.” she said with a fake sugary tone that hid her bitterness.
“Look, let me have my pointless crush. It’s not going to get anywhere.” Will sighed.
“I’m not trying to act like a complete bitch to you. I’m trying to talk sense into you. I don’t want you getting hurt.” Max said gently. “You’re my best friend, and all three times I’ve seen you cry, it makes me vow not to let there be a fourth. I just care, really fiercely.”
“Very fiercely.” Will corrected. “I get it. You're my best friend too, and I promise I will be as distant as possible.” Will smiled.
Max shook her head before speaking again,“Don’t make a promise you won’t be able to keep. We all know they’re important to Jane, and so they’re important to me too.”
“You really like her, don’t you?” Will asked, tilting his head.
“I think I’m in love.” Max mumbled.
Will’s smile grew, “Max! You have to say something to her, that’s incredible!” he encouraged, keeping every fiber of his body from jumping up and down. He knew Jane felt the same way, and there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that it wasn’t true.
Max scoffed, “Well I was, but then Mike came in and swept her off her feet.” She spat. Max looked away from her painting. “Will, I’m serious. I want to tell her, because not being with her is starting to physically hurt me. That’s when you know it’s gone too far.” She paused, “But I can’t risk it. I can’t risk messing things up with her and I can’t risk anyone at home knowing.” Max tore her eyes away from Will, wiping under them, probably in an attempt to stop any tears.
“I know Maxie.” Will spoke softly, placing a hand on her shoulder, “I know you can’t say anything to them, but trust me. You can say something to her.”
Max looked up at him and shrugged. “You know I can’t.” She sniffled.
“You can try. When you’re ready.” Will offered. Max nodded.
“Yeah.” She whispered, clearing her throat. “When I’m ready.”
Fifth period came and went, and it was time for Will’s last class of the day, History. Will considered himself to be good at History, all it was is studying a few people who have already passed. It really wasn’t that much of anything. Will walked into his classroom, seeing Mike and Max already sitting at a table group. There were two other people he recognized as Heather and Evan, two twins who were the exact opposite of each other. Heather looking as annoyed as Max, and Evan looking anxious. Will took a free seat across from Max. He hadn’t even bothered looking at Mike yet, but he could feel his eyes burning into him. Will tried not to pay much attention to it. “What have a missed?” Will asked the group.
“Well,” Heather spoke first, sitting up straighter in her seat. “Old new kid has been battling the new new kid for dominance.” She explained.
“Shut up Heather.” Max snapped.
“You’re already fighting? Really you two? It’s been three minutes.” Will looked at both of them expectantly.
“Well, she started it.” Mike shrugged.
“I didn’t ask you.” Will said, using the tone of voice his mother used when she as frustrated, which was a rare occurrence they both shared. “Max, we talked about this. Just be nice to him.”
“I don’t like new people, so sue me.” She crossed her arms.
Will scowled, hearing the bell ring, meaning class had started. Mr. Hawthorne was his history teacher as a Sophomore as well, so he already knew everything that he was saying. Mr. Hawthorne was nice, Will figured out that surprisingly he wanted to be a math teacher, but they had given him history instead, but it worked out since he was a major history buff. Then, they were given icebreaker questions.
Mike glanced at the board. “Um, okay. I’m Mike, and if I was a vegetable I would be a tomato.” He shrugged.
“That’s a fruit.” Max crossed her arms.
“Well it’s been confused for a vegetable, which is why I’m choosing it.” Mike shot back. Well, that made absolutely no sense.
“You’re saying your a fruit being confused for a vegetable?” Heather asked, brushing some of her dark hair out of her eyes.
“Sometimes that’s what it feels like.” Mike shrugged. It still made no sense to Will.
“I’m Max.” Max said annoyed.
“You have to answer the question.” Evan pointed out. Max just glanced at the board, the question reading If you awoke one day as a flower, what flower would you choose to be?
“No, I’m good.” She shook her head.
Heather went next. “I’m Heather, and,” She shuffled a bit, taking her hand out of her pocket. She opened it to reveal a bracelet. “This is the most important thing I have on me.” She grinned.
“Why is it important?” Mike asked.
“Because a cute girl gave it to me.” Heather smirked, flipping a few of the beads to show a phone number. “She lives all the way in Illinois, I met her over summer.” Heather explained, putting it back in her pocket.
Evan just nodded, “Okay well, Hi, I’m Evan-”
“Hii Evan.” Heather replied sarcastically.
“Shut up. If I had one wish it would be ‘I wish I was an only child’.” Evan rolled his eyes, smiling at Heather.
“Keep on wishing, little bro.” Heather shrugged, unfazed by his comment.
Now it was Will’s turn. He glanced at the board, seeing his question. “I’m Will, and if I could own one item I don’t already have it would be,” He thought for a moment, “A new chalk set, since all my chalk is broken.”
“Street chalk?” Heather asked.
“Art chalk.” Will answered with a smile.
And it went on like that. All of them answering questions about themselves, friendly bickering from Evan and Heather, not-so-friendly bickering from Max and Mike, and Will trying to simmer Max down before she got out of hand. A rush of relief came when the bell rang, and he stood up in his seat, Max already leaving. Mike touched his shoulder, gaining attention immediately. “I got invited to a party. Someone named Troy is throwing it.” Mike said, “Can you tell the group? I’m not so fond of making announcements.” He smiled a bit.
His smile was beautiful, and Will could stare at Mike Wheeler smiling all day long. “Yeah, I’ll be sure too.” Will nodded. Mike walked away and his sentence fully processed. “Wait, Troy?” Will asked, but Mike was already gone. He got all his things packed up and left to meet Jane so they could drive home together. A Troy Harrington party was definitely going to screw up his Junior year. Will could feel it.