Unpredictably Strange

The Vanishing of Will Byers (Part 2)

I bike up the hill to meet the boys on our way to school. They all looked at me, shock written on their faces.

"What happened to you?!" Lucas exclaimed. I knew he must be talking about my black eye.

I just shrugged. They already knew. Changing the subject, though, I asked, "Where's Will? I'm usually the last one."

Mike answered me saying, "His mom called this morning. Apparently he came early."

That was so unlike him, but I shrugged it off and followed them down the path to Hawkins Middle. We pull up to the empty bike rack, and then I get nervous.

"Huh," Mike said. "That's weird. I don't see him."

"I'm telling you, his mom's right. He just went to class early again," Lucas said.

"Yeah," Dustin said, trying to sound confident. "He's always paranoid Gursky's gonna give another pop quiz.

"Yeah, but then where's his bike?" I asked. He could only shrug.

Our wary moods worsened as Troy approached us, calling out mockingly, "Step right up ladies and gentlemen! Step right up and get your tickets for the freak show."

I groan. I so did not need this today. Troy turns to his flunkie, James, and says, "Who do you think would make more money in a freak show? Midnight?" He shoves Lucas.

"Frogface?" shoving Mike.

"Toothless?" shoving Dustin.

"Or how 'bout the illegal?" now shoving me.

I just kept my mouth shut, even though I wanted to land a punch right square across his face.

James puts his hand to his chin, stroking an imaginary beard, pretending to decide who to choose. He finally stops his sweeping gaze on Dustin, and says, "I'd go wif Toofwess" mocking Dustin's lisp, making my fists clench and grit my teeth.

"I told you a million times, my teeth are coming in. It's called cleidocranial dysplasia," he says, trying to defend himself. Troy's friend however, ignores and continues to bully him.

"I told you a fousand fimes," he mocks, a taunting grin on his face.

"Do the arm thing," Troy demands.

Dustin hesitates, which causes James to shout, "Do it, freak!"

Dustin sighs, taking off his jacket, and cracks his elbows. The bullies pretend to get sick as they jeer and laugh, "It gets me every time!" They push past us, leaving us behind.

"Assholes," Lucas says under his breath as he watches them walk away.

Mike tries to cheer Dustin up saying, "I think it's kinda cool. It's like you have super powers or something. Like, Mr. Fantastic!"

"Yeah," Dustin starts, "except I can't fight evil with it."

I rub his arm to sympathize with him as we walk into school, still on the lookout for Will.

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I couldn't help but lose focus in Mr. Clarke's class today, I was too busy staring at the door, waiting for Will to walk in, but he never did.

The bell rang, bringing me back to the world of school, as Mr. Clarke shouts after his quickly moving class rushing out the door, "...difference between between an experiment and other forms of science investigation. This WILL be on the test, which will cover chapters 10 through 12. It will be multiple choice with an essay portion..."