The art of being fine || Stenbrough

November 5th

I take my pills and I'm happy all the time
Happy all the time
Happy all the time
I love my girl but she ain't worth the price
She ain't worth the price
No she ain't worth the price
-Weathers, happy pills

It was finally November 5th. It was a Friday. Stan got out of school and him, El, and Will walked home. They walked inside the house and in the living room was Mike Wheeler, Max, Lucas, Dustin, Steve, and Robin.

"Stan?!" Mike, Lucas, and Dustin all screamed. Will hadn't told them Stan was in Derry. "Surprise!" Will exclaimed. Will, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Stan shared a hug. "Wait who is he?" Max asked. "Oh, he used to live in Hawkins he was apart of the party but he left before El came." Dustin explained. El ran over to Max and gave her a huge hug.

Steve looked at Stan. "I'm Steve" he said. Stan smiled. "I'm Stan" he said back.

"We're gonna head time the mall" El said. "We have to wait for the others to get here." Will said. "Who are "the others"?" Lucas asked. "Stan's friends. They're actually pretty cool" Will said.

Soon enough all the losers except Mike showed up at the Byers household and everyone walked to the mall together.

They split up into groups. Robin and Steve went to the food court for ice cream. Will and Mike went to the food court just to chill and talk. Ben, Lucas, and Dustin went explore. Bev, Bill, Stan, El, and Max went to H&M. The girls went over to some crop tops and Stan would have gone with them if Bev wasn't there but she was so he just looked at some sunglasses.

Stan picked up a pair of glasses and put them on. He looked in the mirror and ruffled his hair. He took the sun glasses off and put them back on the wrack. Bill had been watching him—not in a creepy way—Bill stood behind a wrack of clothes behind Stan. He looked around and didn't see Beverly in sight so he made the fatal decision of walking up to Stan.

"Hey" Bill said and flashed a smile. Stan waved and gave a small smile back. "How are you?" Bill asked. "Fine" Stan said simply. Bill knew that was a lie since all week he hasn't been acting like himself. He has been smiling or talking to anyone except El.

Beverly walked out of a dressing room and narrowed her eyes at Bill and Stan. Stan caught her eyes. "Why don't you go back to your little girl friend and ignore like you always do?" Stan said sounding a lot meaner than he wanted to but frankly Bill deserved it. "Ok I definitely deserved that" Bill said and let out a dry laugh. Stan walked away to wherever El and max were.
"Why were you talking to him?" Beverly questioned. "Because I can. You're not the boss of me" Bill said and Beverly rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna head home. You guys are boring" Beverly said and walked out of the store. Bill just rolled his eyes at the firey haired girl.

Stan had gone over to where Max and El were looking at jeans. "So you two are pretty close huh?" Max asked the two. "Yeah he's a like a brother to me" El said and punched his shoulder lightly. "Did you tell her?" Stan asked El. "Tell me what?" Max asked. "Stan is going back to Hawkins with you guys" El said. "That's awesome dude" Max said.

Bill had tried to overhear but all he heard was "that's awesome dude". Bill sighed he didn't know what to do about his feelings for Stan.

They all went home. The Hawkins kids stay at the Byers house like one huge sleepover. Stan tried to keep smiling but sometimes it was hard for him.