Hold On ·Will Byers x Reader·

4

Will POV

Today was Friday, which meant Mike's campaign was in two days. I was excited and nervous at the same time.

I had decided to bike to school and try to clear my head before form last night's events. It was nice out, a gentle breeze brushed against my face, and I was pretty much calm. That is, until passed by a weird looking tree. I backpedaled to take a closer look at it. The tree had a hole hallowed into it, as if someone dug it out with a huge spoon and climbed through. It had this odd slimy gunk on it, though I dared not to touch it. I immediately thought back to last night and wondered if I wasn't just imagining those things. I shook away the thoughts and raced off pedaling fast until I was about two blocks away from the woods.

"Hey, Will!" Lucas called to me as I walked my bike up to school.

"Hey, Lucas," he had ridden his bike too, so we both took our bikes over to the rack and locked them up.

"So, you ready to lose at Dungeons and Dragons?" he smirked as we walked down the halls.

"Yeah, right! More like ready to fireball every single one of you guys to dust," I said confidently.

"Even y/n?"

His question caught me off guard and I bumped into someone at their locker and fell to the ground.

"Watch it freak!" the guy fussed as he slammed the locker and left.

"Someone's cranky this morning," I heard a voice say from behind us.

Lucas helped me up as we turned around to Dustin eating a cup of chocolate pudding.

"Really, Dustin? Come on, it's not even first period yet!" Lucas said.

"What?! That lunch lady Phyllis thinks she can hide these from me at lunch, so I just stole a few last week for my stash," he said that last part nodding in satisfaction.

Lucas rolled his eyes, and I chuckled. I stopped abruptly when I saw y/n walking down the hallway.

"Hey guys!"

"Hi, y/n," we all waved.

"Hey, um... so I don't really have a lot of friends, and I was wondering if maybe I could sit with you guys at lunch..." they asked with a worried expression on their face.

"Of course!" Dustin blurted.

Lucas shot him a look of concern, but then smiled and wiggled his eyebrows. Did Dustin like y/n? Of course not, we just met them. Right? And even if he did, why would I care? I don't like them, not like that. I mean I like them as a person I guess & they're pretty and all, but I don't like like them.

Right?

I was brought out of my thoughts Lucas snapping in my face.

"EARTH TO WILL!" he yelled.

"Hmm, what? I'm here, I'm here."

"Man, where are you this morning?" Lucas asked.

I stared blankly at the floor, not responding. He shook his head and turned around toward y/n.

"Well I have to get going. I'm kinda avoiding Troy this morning, so..." y/n said.

We all nodded at them as they turned to leave.

"Bye, y/n!" Dustin yelled down the hall.

I sighed and turned to walk towards my first period.

"What was that?" Lucas ran after me.

"What was what?"

"You know... the whole spacing out on everyone thing?"

I shrugged and kept walking. Lucas rolled his eyes and Dustin just shrugged to him. We all met Mike outside of first period. They told him what happened and Mike just nodded, glancing at me knowingly when they mentioned y/n. I just figured he did that because of last night.

We walked into class and sat in our assigned seats. Class was going to be boring today, I could feel it. Everyone looked dead, from the window with the blinds up, the sky shone grayish and was cloudy, like it was going to rain, and the teacher spoke in a monotone voice all period.

I zoned out again, only half paying attention to what she was saying. Pretending to take notes like everyone else, so I wouldn't get caught. But in reality I was in deep thought. I thought about the events of last night and for some reason I kept thinking about y/n. Why was I so worried about this random person? Why was I so drawn to them?

I decided that since they were going to be sitting with us at lunch, that I would wait on telling the guys. They all might think I'm crazy. I started thinking about the campaign tomorrow. All of a sudden I didn't really want to go. I didn't know why but the thought of me being around them with me being all weird didn't excite me. My head shot up when I heard someone come through the door. It was James, Troy's best friend. Apparently, he was a student assistant. He worked in the front office first period and help teachers out whenever they needed it.

I don't know how he managed to keep his job when all I ever saw him do was flirt with the seventh grade girls. Bringing me back to reality, someone tapped me on the shoulder; a girl telling me to pay attention because there was a stack of papers waiting to be passed back. I immediately shook him out of my head and decided to focus on class. I still had two more periods after this until lunch and, at this rate, I didn't think I was gonna last that long.

**Time Skip**

Y/N POV

After fifth period, I headed towards the cafeteria for lunch. I got in a line that was serving sloppy joes. It was pretty crowded in the huge cafeteria but I managed to find the guys at a table near a window.

"Hey guys," I said as I approached them.

"Hey y/n!" Dustin waved me over.

I took a seat next to him, right on the end. Lucas sat across from him and Will was next to him while Mike was across from me. No one said anything, just kept their heads down, eyes on their food. The silence was a bit awkward; this was only my second day knowing the boys, and I was already sitting with them at their lunch table. I was kind of confused as to why is was so awkward though, since Dustin had been so eager to let me join them.

"So why don't you have any friends?" someone said; it was Mike.

I looked up at him as Will seemingly kicked him under the table. I could see Lucas mentally face palming himself at the stupid question.

"Who said I didn't have friends?" I asked, a puzzled look across my face.

I do remember saying that to the guys this morning, but Mike wasn't even there.

As if reading my mind, Mike quickly responded to my rebuttal, "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. It's just that we're kinda known as the nerds or the losers," he air quoted with his hands. "I just assumed that you didn't have any other cool people to be hanging out with if you were here with us."

"Oh um... yeah, no," I shake my head. "Troy bullies a lot of people and pretty much scares away everyone. I usually just ditch lunch period and read."

"Cool," Will spoke up. "What do you like to read?"

"Uh, my favorite right now is Fire Starter, " I said.

The boys nodded in admiration.

"I've recently gotten into the horror genre. I really like Stephen King."

"We like comics," Dustin smiled, showing his barely-there teeth.

The other boys shot him a look, but I just smiled. I giggled at his attempt at being cute. The conversation started rolling between us, and we ended up talking about everything from Troy being a pain in the ass to Dustin's chocolate pudding obsession. Soon enough, lunch was over and it was time to bid our adieus.

I waved goodbye to them and headed off to sixth period which I shared with Dustin. I never really noticed him in there until now. I smiled as we laughed and joked all the way there. I think I really found some friends and a place to belong...

Or so I thought...