Treat You Better~ Ryers

Chapter Two: Social Suicide

"No, I know this is what I wanna do. I'm done with you." Will ripped his arm from Mike's strong grip, giving him a death stare.

"I'm sorry. I love you, I really do. I thought she was you!"

Will nearly went ballistic because of that statement. "YOU THOUGHT SHE WAS ME?! You're insufferable! How did you think that girl was me?! We are absolutely nothing alike, you're just making excuses for yourself, you jerk!"

"Don't you dare call me that. Maybe you lacked something, did you ever think of that? You need to fix yourself."

Will slapped him across the face, the sound echoing through the empty parking lot. "As I said, don't fucking call me." Will stormed away.

It was about 15 minutes for him to fully make his way home, crickets chirping. He unlocked the door to his small home. Joyce was sipping coffee in a lounge chair, fluffy blanket draped over her long legs. She darted her warm gaze to her son, who was crying hard. "Oh, sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"I hate Jane! I hate her!"

Joyce was taken aback by her son's use of the word. He rarely said he hated anyone, not even jokingly. But it sure didn't seem like he was joking. "Don't say that. What happened?"

"She kissed my boyfriend! That bit-"

"What's going on? Why is Will home early?" Hopper asked, sipping his coffee loudly.

"Tell your daughter that I never wanna see her again! I hate her! And I hate Mike! And I hate love in general, I'm done!" Will stomped to his room, slamming the door shut behind him. The sheer force of the door slam was enough to rattle the light fixtures around it.

About 30 minutes later, Jane came home. Will was called to the living room but he didn't wanna go. He was too busy angrily drawing. Unfortunately, his dear mother was persistent in forcing her two kids to make up. He would give her what she wanted but took his sweet time walking into the living room. "Hi, Will..." Jane mumbled, sitting close to her father.

"Hi? Hi? Is that all you have to say after making out with my boyfriend?! Hi? Wow, you're completely unbelievable." Will snapped.

"Sweetie, just let her explain herself."

"Will, you had to see this coming." Jane looked at him sympathetically. "I mean, I am really pretty. I don't blame him! I'd do the same thing if I was in his shoes."

"Oh, fuck you. Conceited bitch."

"Language!" Hopper shouted after him.

"Whatever!"

Will stormed back to his room, not letting his sister finish explaining. Jane was pretty, but was that really an excuse for her to do something like that? He fell asleep angry, heartbroken, sad, and confused. His life was perfect less than 10 hours ago. What happened?

—THE NEXT DAY AT LUNCH-

Will waited in the lunch line for what seemed like hours. They were serving something that looked like Walmart mashed potatoes and chicken nuggets that were seemingly microwaved for 8 hours. When he finally got his food, he paid for it with the money on his student account and went into the cafeteria. Conversations about everything were blooming, like what happened at homecoming for instance. All eyes turned on him. Some people were whispering, some were silent.

Everyone seemingly knew what happened. Nobody gave anyone context; all everyone knew was Will slapped Mike. Someone was attempting to chew their carrots quietly, but their attempt failed. It was that silent. His table of friends stared at him. Mike avoided eye contact, Jane was glaring at him.

Will walked straight past them and sat down in the far back. At Richie's table. With everyone's gaze on him, he just ate his sandwich. After about 5 minutes of silence, people started to talk again. But Will knew deep inside what it was about. A tray clattered across from him and Richie plopped into his usual seat.

"Well, well, well. What's Will Byers doing here? Aren't you way too cool for me or something?" Richie sneered, starting to devour his lunch.

"Shut up, asshole. This is probably a one day thing. And don't talk to me like that."

"Really, are you okay? I heard what happened at homecoming."

"Of course you did," Will muttered mostly to himself. Will glared up at the other, frustration beginning to fizzle away as sadness started to take over. "I just wanna sit here for today."

"William! What are you doing?" Max's voice was behind him.

"Hey, man. Lay off him. You guys are being pretty shitty friends."

"Shut your mouth, Tozier. Nobody asked you. C'mon, we'll get you back with Mike."

"Nobody asked me? You come to a table knowing I'm here, I think I have the right to join in on this conversation, miss."

"You are so annoying! I swear, it's like you do this to make people stay away from you and your little group of weirdos."

"Max! I can't-" Will sighed, "I just can't. I wanna sit with Richie today." 

"And why is that? Do you not care for your social life? This is gonna make you look so bad!"

"After what happened, I don't care anymore. Just go, please."

Max huffed and strolled away, starting to type rapidly on her phone. Richie stared at him for a bit, in awe of what happened. But, no matter if he wanted to bring it up or not, Richie decided to offer him something. "Want my cookie?"

Will looked up at him. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "You don't have to."

Richie broke off half and put it on Will's tray, crumbles falling quickly from the chocolate chip treat. Will graciously accepted while scarfing down the cookie. "See, don't you feel a bit better?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Wanna hang out after lunch? Only if you want to."

"Sure," Will responded. What was there to lose? Richie seemed like a cool person to hang around.