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The Byers twins hit Lenora Hills High School like an earthquake.
The brunette siblings had arrived at the small Californian city the summer before their freshman year. No one knew much about them other than the fact that they were from a sleepy city in Indiana and lived with their single mother and an older brother who was in his senior year at the school.
The boy's name was Will. He kept to himself and never had much to say to anyone. The girl, Jane, was also quiet but was quick to offer anyone who crossed her path.
The kids at Lenora Hills had figured they would be easy targets, two losers who were so shy they wouldn't stand up for themselves. Surely, high school would swallow them both whole.
How wrong they were.
Nathan Hamel had learned that the hard way when he had attempted to rip one of Will's drawings in half. He had ended up on the floor writing in pain, a pencil jabbed into his shoulder blade. No one noticed Jane from two seats behind him, innocently wiping her nose with her sleeve.
And who could forget when Angela Grace had tripped Jane in the hallway, only to quickly find that she ought to be grateful Will Byers didn't say much to anyone. Because the tongue-lashing he had given her a few moments later had left her weeping, mascara running down her cheeks as she fled the school building. Her boyfriend, Jake Allen, had tried to attack Will in retaliation, but hadn't been able to lay a hand on him. No, his punches only made contact with his own face.
Jake had been escorted to the nurse with a black eye and fractured nose, both from his own hand.
These weren't the only incidents. Boys who bothered Will ended up with mysterious injuries. Girls who made fun of Jane would quickly learn that a confrontation with Will's silver tongue just wasn't worth it.
And of course when some students had complained to their teachers, they weren't believed. After all, how could quiet Will and sweet Jane ever even think of hurting a fly? How, with their big brown eyes and rosy cheeks?
The students at Lenora Hills High School had learned to stay away from the Byers twins. Which was fine with them, because they found they only needed one another.
OoOoOo
Jonathan groaned as El and Will climbed into his car, Will in the front and El in the back. The two of them wore such innocent expressions, which he knew only meant trouble. "What was it this time?" he asked in exasperation, starting the car.
El shrugged innocently, while Will snickered. "She made Gary Bennet piss himself," he answered his older brother, eyes sparkling with glee. The old him would have felt bad, would have resonated with the embarrassment. The new him knew the asshat deserved it. He sat back, looking out the window; they all did.
Jonathan sighed. "Mike did say that was her specialty," he muttered to himself. He caught the way El smirked to herself, even if it was gone the moment he blinked.
Because of his siblings, people avoided Jonathan like the plague at school. The only one who dared to go near him was Argyle. But that was fine by him; he had been an outsider all his life. He was just glad that Will and El had one another.
And if he had intercepted phone calls home from the school to his mother complaining about the two, well, that was his secret, wasn't it?