𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐭

ii. HELLFIRE CLUB.

AT lunch hour, Charles was sitting and reading a book off at one of the tables, he had his headphones on like usual when he felt someone sit beside him so he quickly took off his headphones and looked to his side, finding a Sophomore sitting beside him.

"Hi." He's surprised by the sight of Poppy Morgenstern. They haven't talked in forever. Last time was probably when Charles was still in eighth grade. "Hi cool cat." She smirks a bit and he smiled wider. "How--how have you been?" Somehow seeing someone familiar brought Charles' spirits up a bit.

Got rid of the bad thoughts. Maybe it will be the same if he sees Will. "As long as you're into band. Or science. Or parties," the two look over to see Eddie Munson walking on his Hellfire Club's lunch table. "Or a game where you toss balls into a laundry basket!" He shouted and Charles just sighs, rolling his eyes.

Eddie Munson always behaved this way. "Do you want something, freak?" Jason calls out to him and Eddie raised his hands, making weird noises which caused the Hellfire club to laugh. Charles glanced up and down as Eddie turned around and walked back towards his friends. He quickly shook his head, his face red as he looks at Poppy. "So... my question?" He reminds her and she looks at him, raising her brows. "Oh, yeah." She chuckles awkwardly.

"I--I've been okay... You? I heard... about your mom. And the chief." She tilts his head a bit forward and for a moment, Charles almost gives in and tells her everything, wants to confide in someone and cry in their arms while they comfort him. But he just glanced away. "Oh... you know. Doing okay, the first couple of weeks were tough... but I--I'm fine, really." He looks at her, nodding his head quickly.

"You know you could talk to me, right?" She nudged her shoulder to his and he quickly looks at her. "Yeah..." He forces a smile and she just smiles back. "Well, I better get back to my friends, they start to malfunction without me sometimes." She says and he chuckled. "See you around, Poppy." He says and she nods, smiling. "See ya around, cool cat."

After she walked away, Charles sighed and got up, thinking of just waiting outside Ms. Kelley's office until 2 as he walked towards the exit, stuffing his book into his backpack. "Charles! Hey! Charlie! Charles!" He stopped and turned around to see Dustin and Mike jogging towards him so he stood and crossed his arms, waiting for the two to get to him.

"Hey, quick question," Mike raised a hand and Charles glanced between them. "Okay?" He says as Mike hits Dustin's arm to signal him to ask and the curly haired boy smiled widely at Charles. "I never ask much from you, Charles," he starts and the Dumont shrugs. "I'd beg to differ..." He merely tells him.

"But," Dustin raised his hands, pointing at him, "I wanted to know if you'd sub for Lucas tonight? It's the championship game and there's also a Hellfire club campaign that is not to miss! I swear Eddie's campaigns, are epic, he's like a D&D god," Dustin gushed over the Munson who Charles was now staring at before he glanced back at Dustin and Mike.

"And you'll love it! Plus it's been a while, you never joined Hellfire with us..." Dustin frowns and Charles laughed. "Are you two fucking dense?" He asked then reached up, smacking the side of Mike's head but would never touch Dustin. "Just because I'm going with you to California doesn't mean we're all buddy-buddy now. I'd never play D&D for anyone else but Will. It's fucked up you guys blew him off all summer last year then are all up on Eddie's ass this year. What does he have that Will doesn't?" He asked and Mike immediately looked at Dustin who instantly looked back at him.

Mike is rubbing the side of his face as he looks at Charles. "We're really sorry about last summer, we really are, right Dust--" "no. This isn't even Dustin's fault either, he was MIA. But you were there and you chose to blatantly ignore Will. And suddenly you're all about D&D again? And I know why." Charles jabs his finger against Mike's shoulder harshly. "Because your girlfriend isn't around and you're all alone and bored, so you finally bother with D&D even though you said it was for kids." He tells him.

"Charles, I--" "whatever. You're a dick for asking anyway when you know my answer." He put on his headphones and walked away as Dustin sighs. "Mike, can you promise me something?" He looks at the other who looks at him. "What?" He asked, sounding annoyed. "Make sure Charles eats when you're in California..." He says before walking away.

"Wait, why wouldn't he? Dustin?"

Outside Ms. Kelley's office, Charles waited as he stared up at the ceiling when he noticed Lucas walk up to him so he quickly took off his headphones. "Hey." He stood up straight and Lucas leans on the wall beside him. "Hey." He says and Charles glanced away. "Waiting for Max?" He asked and Lucas nods.

"Lucas?" He looks at the other who looks back at him. "I--I'm not sure what's going on with you and Max, but... you two were good together and you shouldn't give up on her." He smiles faintly at him and Lucas just smiles back, glancing away. "Thanks... but I don't think she wants anything to do with me." He replied back.

"If it were me and Will, I would never give up. And I think it's the same with you guys." He glanced and Lucas just nods, smiling as he looks down then the door opened. Charles just sent a quick reassuring look to Lucas who follows after Max, calling out her name.

"Charles, hi." Ms. Kelley greets the boy walking into her office. "Hi." He says and she gestured to the door so he gently shuts it behind him before walking over to sit down in front of her desk. She smiles brightly at the boy who just adjusted uncomfortably in his chair.

"So... how have you been doing?"

authors note charles being a lumax shipper, he's just like me fr fr 🤞
+ i'm gonna try and stick to updating at 9 am (est) every morning, but knowing me, i won't be able to do that on the weekends lmao