Chapter Text
“Lunch?” Will’s mom asks him, checking another item off her list.
“I got it, Mom,” Will chuckles. “I’ve got everything. I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me.”
“Jane?” their mom asks.
“Listen to Will, we’ll be fine. I promise.”
“I know. It’s just,” Joyce's voice falters, “I just worry about you guys. It’s not every day that my babies are going off to school in a new town, not knowing anyone—”
Will cuts her off. “We have each other, right?” He looks at his sister, trying to sound more confident than he feels.
“Yeah, we have two classes together plus lunch. We’ll see each other plenty.”
“Okay,” Joyce says with a small smile. “Now hurry along before you’re late.”
Will and his sister scramble out the door at exactly 7:28, just in time to bike to school with ten minutes to spare. Fog covers the landscape, and the smell of rain fills his nostrils, clouds blocking the rising sun. Will squints into the gray, wishing he could see farther than a few houses ahead. New town, new school, and he can’t see more than ten feet in front of him. Figures.
“Do you think we’ll make any friends today?” his sister asks, wobbling as she pedals beside him, her voice a bit quieter than before. “I mean, I know we told Mom we’d be fine, but... I’m a little scared.”
“Don’t be, we’ll make friends,” Will reassures her. “And if not, you can always talk to me. I’m here for you.”
He means it, but the words stick in his throat a little. What if she makes friends, but he doesn’t? What if it’s just like before, only worse, because now everything’s unfamiliar?
“Thanks,” she says, voice a little lighter.
As they arrive, they hear the bustle of teens hanging around before school—laughter, shouted names. Will’s stomach twists; everyone seems like they know exactly where they’re supposed to be. Of course, everyone already knows everyone. That’s what you get in a tiny town. Will spots a group of guys standing around talking. He’s about to go up to them when the warning bell goes off.
Of course. Perfect timing.
They enter the school together, amongst the many other teens who were standing around outside.
“Okay, I’ll see you third period. I love you,” Will tells Jane.
“I love you too, see you later,” she calls as she walks away, waving at him as she heads toward her first class.
The second she disappears into the crowd, Will takes his schedule out of his backpack to check where he needs to go. He has Spanish first in Room 1302. He figures he’ll ask someone for directions.
He turns and sees one of the guys he was going to go up to a few minutes ago— perfect. Okay, here goes nothing. Just ask. The worst he can do is ignore you. Or laugh. Or be a total jerk.
Will taps him on the shoulder and says, “Hey, sorry to bother you, but do you know where Mrs. López’s class is? Room 1302?”
“You’re all good, dude, that’s actually where I’m heading right now! You can walk with me, I’ll show you where to go.”
You’re all good. The words hit Will like a tiny wave of relief. Okay, so maybe people here aren’t all awful.
They walk a few feet before he says, “I’m Lucas, by the way. Is it your first day?”
“Yeah,” Will replies, shoulders relaxing. “I just moved here from California.” At least the first person he’s talked to isn’t a total jerk. That has to be a good sign, right? One normal person out of… however many people go here.
“Yo, that’s sick, dude! My girlfriend used to live there. What part did you live in?”
“Lenora. It’s a small town in southern California.”
“Nice!” he replies, pushing open the classroom door. “Well, here’s class. There’s not really any empty seats near me, or else I’d have you sit with me. I’ll see you later, okay?” He begins to walk away, but then he turns back and starts again, “Wait, do you have a cell phone?”
Will turns, a smile forming on his face, “Yeah, I do.”
“Okay, here, put in your number,” Lucas says as he hands Will a scratched-up, red flip phone. “Oh, and I never got your name.”
“It’s Will,” he supplies as he types in his number. Once he’s done, he hands the phone back to Lucas.
“Okay, Will, I’ll text you later.”
As Lucas turns away, Will glances down at his empty hands. First day, first class, and I already have someone’s number. Maybe this place won’t be as bad as I thought.
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A few hours later, Will is halfway to English class when he gets rammed into by a dark-haired boy, hard enough to knock the breath out of him.
“Shit, sorry,” the boy mutters, already crouching down to pick up his books. When he straightens back up and takes out his headphones, Will is able to get a better look at the person standing in front of him. He’s maybe 4 inches taller, with deep chocolate eyes and a freckle-covered face. Up close, his freckles scatter across his nose like someone flicked paint there. It makes it hard for Will to look anywhere else. Will notices that he’s wearing a Panic! at the Disco band tee, the black faded to a soft gray from too many washes.
A voice snaps him out of his thoughts, “I’m Mike. Mike Wheeler.”
Will just stares at him in awe, trying to shake off the feeling of butterflies in his stomach. His palms feel weirdly sweaty.
“I’m Will,” he manages to get out, “Will Byers.”
“Cool…” Mike says, studying him for a second longer than seems necessary. “Well, see you around.”
“See you...” Will mutters as Mike walks away.
What just happened? His heart is still hammering like he just sprinted down the hallway, but not because of the collision. No, he was fine at first. It was only once he saw Mike’s eyes that everything sort of… short-circuited.
He swallows, trying to steady his breathing. It’s your first day, he reminds himself. You’re just nervous. That’s all this is.
He doesn’t really believe it.
Before he has the chance to think about it more, Jane comes up from behind.
“Boo!” she shouts.
“Shit!” Will yelps. Jane and another girl are suddenly beside him, giggling, “Don’t scare me like that.” His voice comes out higher than he wants it to. He hopes they didn’t notice.
“Sorry, it’s just too funny,” she laughs. “This is Max, by the way. She’s in my economics class and has English with us next period. Who was that guy you were talking to?”
“I’m not really sure,” Will replies. “He said his name was—”
“Mike,” Max cuts him off.
“Yeah,” Will says, interest piqued. “How’d you know that?”
“Besides the fact that he’s in two of my classes this year, I’ve known him since eighth grade. Though he doesn’t really like me that much, since I apparently ‘ruined the party’ by moving here and becoming friends with the guys he’s friends with— which wasn’t even my fault, since they came up to me first. Anyway, don’t listen to anything he says. He’s a total idiot.”
Will nods, but something in his chest tugs at that. Total idiot. The Mike he just met seemed… awkward, sure, but not mean. Still, he barely knows the guy. For all he knows, Max is right.
“Huh, noted. I mean, he didn’t really say anything. He just ran into me and said he’d see me around, which I guess makes sense considering how small the school is.” He shrugs, trying to seem like the whole thing is already forgotten.
It isn’t.
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The first time Will sees him again is when he enters math class, sixth block. He stops in his tracks when he sees him sitting in the back of the classroom, writing something in a notebook. For a second, all the noise in the room just… stops. It’s weird that he’s already working on something since class hasn’t even started yet. Unless he’s just writing for fun, which, now that he thinks about it, makes a lot more sense.
Will tears his eyes away and forces himself to move, heart beating faster than it has any reason to. He manages to pull himself out of his thoughts and sits down in the last empty seat, which just so happens to be diagonally in front of Mike. Great.
He’s starting to get settled, taking his math notebook out, when Mrs. Reid begins talking. “Alright, class, get out your notebooks and begin to solve the warm-up problem on the board. Today, we will be learning about logarithmic functions.”
Will starts to scribble the problem down in his notebook, but his handwriting is messier than usual. He keeps catching himself wanting to glance over his shoulder. He keeps his head down and pretends the numbers on the board are the most interesting thing he’s ever seen.
Will forces himself to finish the warm-up. He underlines his answer twice, just so he has an excuse to keep his hand moving.
“Alright,” Mrs. Reid says. “Pencils down. Eyes up here.”
Will does as he’s told, but his eyes don't stay up there. They flick behind him, just once, just long enough to see Mike looking straight ahead, lips pressed together in the kind of focus Will usually only has right before a test.
Will suddenly looks away, back to Mrs. Reid, who is going on about how logarithms are just another way of looking at exponents, sketching graphs on the board while half the class pretends to take notes.
He looks back again and catches Mike’s eye for a split second before turning back to the board. How is he ever gonna learn anything in this class with Mike sitting behind him?
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The rest of class, and honestly, the rest of the day, speeds by. Before he knows it, the bell rings, and it's time to go home. Will silently packs up his stuff and exits his economics class, looking for his sister in the hallway. He spots her waiting for him at the bike rack, casually chatting with the girl she was with earlier—was it Max?—and Lucas. Huh, it really is a small town.
“Jane!” he calls, heading toward the bike rack. All three of them turn at once.
Lucas raises an eyebrow, “Will?” Will closes the last few steps between them, backpack slung over one shoulder.
When he arrives at the bike rack, he greets, “Hey, good to see you again!” Then, a second later, he asks, “What are you doing talking to my sister?”
“This is my girlfriend, Max,” he says, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “I’m assuming Jane is your sister. We all had 8th period together, so we walked here from class. We were thinking about going to the diner together if you want to come. I’m also inviting our other friends as well.”
His brain stutters over the word friends. Their friends. People who actually want him around. People who, a few hours ago, didn’t even know he existed.
Before he can say anything about asking his mom, Jane pipes up, “I already called Mom, and she said it’s alright.”
Of course she did. Will exhales, some of the tightness in his chest easing.
“Okay, I guess we’re going to the diner,” Will says cheerfully. “Who’s coming with us?”
“Just our two friends Dustin and Mike.”
Will’s heart trips over the name before the rest of the sentence even registers. His fingers tighten around his backpack strap before he can stop them.
“Mike, as in Mike Wheeler?” He tries to sound casual, but it comes out a little too fast.
“You know him?”
“Mike bumped into him earlier—it was kind of funny, actually,” Max adds.
“Thank you for bringing back that great memory,” Will mutters, rolling his eyes. His face feels warm, and he hopes they blame it on the afternoon sun, not on the way his mind immediately replays Mike's gorgeous eyes.
“Wait, you know Will?” Lucas asks his girlfriend.
Max replies, “Yeah, I had English with him and Jane.”
“Okay, this is crazy,” Lucas says, laughing.
Will forces out a laugh too, but his thoughts are already spinning ahead to a vinyl booth at some small-town diner, sticky menus, the smell of fries, Jane talking to Max, Lucas joking with Dustin… and Mike, sitting across from him. Or next to him. Close enough that Will can’t pretend he doesn’t notice.
New town, new school, new friends, and Mike Wheeler.
He tightens his grip on his backpack strap, trying to ignore the way his stomach flips.
It’s fine, he tells himself. He’s just another guy.
He doesn’t really believe that, either.