This is from the perspective of a girl in Mike and Will's class. Pretend they still go to the same school.
Right around 7th grade I started gaining this massive crush on Will Byers. I'm not sure why, he was like the weirdest kid I've ever met. But for some reason, that made me like him more.
I would sit in class, chewing on my pencil eraser, observing the boy. He was always with his also nerdy friends: Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair and Dustin Henderson.
I was partners with Lucas for a huge project in history a few years prior. He was actually a sweetheart but for some reason, I couldn't pull my eyes away from Will. He was partners with Mike. Every time.
That same year I started talking to Mike after we got sat next to each other in English. I thought if I got close to him, maybe I would get close to Will too. But it's like Will was shut off to everyone but his friends. Dustin, Lucas and Mike were like his barrier, protectors if you will.
That's one thing I noticed after watching them for so long. They depended on each other. I think they might've been the most interesting friend group I've ever encountered. Then again I didn't know much about any of them. And it stayed that way, for a long time.
Until one day during class Will fell asleep. Will Byers never sleeps during class. I leaned in to Mike. "What's wrong with Will?" I asked. "Oh uh... he just had a rough night." Mike shrugged. There was obviously something he wasn't telling me.
"Is he okay?" I asked, yet again. "Will is okay. He had a rough night with his dad, alright? Will didn't grow up the same way we did. But he's okay. He has us, we have each other. Everything is fine." Mike said, almost as if he's trying to convince himself.
I didn't know what to think of that. Mike had a little outburst for some reason. That's when I knew something was going on with these boys. I didn't know what it was but the party, or so they called themselves, was as strange as ever.
I grew this passion for them. I felt overwhelmed seeing them all at the same time, a good type of overwhelmed. I'm not sure why but it almost got to the point where I was obsessed with them.
I thought about them every night before bed. Not because I liked them, well yeah I liked Will, but not the other boys. Just the thought of seeing them all together, it made me happy. I felt as if I never really saw as pure as a relationship as they had before.
I wanted something like that. But every night the same words came back to me. 'Will didn't grow up the same way we did.'
That stuck with me, for a long long time. That made me think, what really goes on in Will Byers life? I couldn't stop thinking about Will and his friends. I felt like a little fan girl.
I made sure not to let anyone find out. I knew all my friends would make fun of me for liking the weird kid. Everyone said that Will Byers was gay. I didn't mind if he was, but it would hurt a little bit, him not liking me back.
When he went missing, I almost felt a little broken. I thought 'what if he dies and I never got the chance to tell him how I felt.' Then it was announced that he did die and I felt like a complete idiot.
He was gone for a week until it was announced he wasn't actually dead. I'm not exactly sure how that works but I heard some elaborate bullshit lie. Everyone knew it wasn't true but who's to argue. No one even dared to ask Will what happened.
In that week he was gone, I found my love for the party disappearing. It was fading and it hurt a little. Mike, Dustin and Lucas weren't the same after Will disappeared. I think only a person as interested as me would have noticed.
It was so weird because just a few days ago I was thinking about these boys nonstop. Then that feeling I got thinking about them left. I had no interest for the boys anymore. I still payed attention to them, which is more than what most people could say. But I didn't love them the same way.
When Will came back to school, he kept his head low and stayed clear from everyone. Everyone stayed clear of him too, except for me. I didn't go out of my way to talk to him, although some days I wish I did, but I didn't avoid him like he was some disease.
I don't even think he noticed anyways. I'm not sure I would either. As 7th grade came to an end I found a great group of friends. Not as cool as the party but they were pretty amazing. I slowly started to forget about those boys, just like everyone else.
That is until my freshman year. If it wasn't for Dustin Henderson, they would've stayed, shoved in the back of my mind for eternity. My first day of school, I sat at a table right next to his.
Mike sat their as well. Eddie Munson, the freak I've heard so much about, invited them to some club. He was obnoxiously loud about it too, so it was hard to ignore.
I saw the two boys stand up to follow Eddie, but there were only two of them. What happened to the other two? Who was the other person? Suddenly loud laughter came from the jock table and I turned to see Lucas Sinclair sitting down with a lunch tray.
Lucas Sinclair. I hoped he was still a sweetheart like he was in middle school. But where was the last person? My eyes searched the room until they landed on Will Byers. I only saw him for a split second, he was holding his tray of food and slipped out of the lunchroom as fast as possible.
"I heard Will has been eating in the bathroom ever since the zombie boy incident." Laura, one of my friends said. She must've saw me staring.
For some odd reason it hurt me to see those boys split up. We're they not friends anymore? They had such a special bond, why'd they throw it out the window? And more importantly, why did I care so much?
Freshman year went on and I started noticing things about Mike Wheeler and Will Byers. I wondered if the rumors were true. Did they like each other? But I stayed focused on my school work, only taking quick glances every now and then.
Like this one time a girl was flirting with Will and he totally rejected her. She rubbed her foot on his leg and he pulled it away so fast. That doesn't necessarily make someone gay just because he rejected one girl. I suppose I would feel uncomfortable as well.
But it wasn't just that moment. I had my suspicions about Will Byers for multiple reasons. When I was younger I was always staring at him. And he was always staring too, but not at me, at Mike.
And although Mike acted like he didn't notice, I quite often found him staring at Will too. I didn't think much of it back then, but now everything was falling into place. Will Byers and Mike Wheeler liked each other.
And I was sure of it. There was this one time I was partners with my friend and she asked to use the restroom. I started looking around the classroom and then I saw the two boys.
Will was leaned in whispering something in Mike's ear and Mike's hand was resting on Will's upper thigh. Then both of them burst out in laughter and threw themselves back in their chairs. That's when my friend walked in and we went to work again.
If there's anything I was sure of. It was that I wasn't the only one who knew as well. One time, I sat across this Dustin during art class. The table next to us had Mike and Will. Will was drawing and Mike watched, he was intrigued.
I took a quick glance at Dustin and he was looking at the two boys. He smiled, almost as if he knew something. Then he turned to look at me and stopped smiling. I don't think he wants me to know.
So maybe that's why it hurt so bad. I saw the best group of friends slowly fall apart. When I thought nothing could break them.
I saw two boys, who used to be so in love, drift away from each other. Why? Probably cause they were scared of what other people would say. That's what hurt the most. They couldn't love each other cause of other people. It's bullshit.
I slowly made my way through high school. At some point I stopped seeing Mike and Dustin sit together at lunch. They were all officially split up. Lucas with his basketball friends, Dustin with the dnd group and Mike sitting with a table full of boys who's moms also probably still dress them.
Will joined a table of girls and guys. They seemed to be nice, I was sort of friends with one of the girls. All I knew is that they all were very interested in art. I'm just glad Will isn't eating in the bathroom anymore.
Every now and then I'll look up and see Mike staring. I follow his eyes over to Will's table. Sometimes I walk in the hall and see Lucas. He gives a quick nod to Dustin before going back to his group of jocks.
I think the worst part of this whole story is that I had no idea what that group went through. It was only years after high school where the government was forced to explain everything to the city of Hawkins. I read the papers and watched the news.
I was nearly 22 years years old when I turned on the tv to see those all too familiar faces. I found out about everything. How Will went missing, how the rest of the boys found that girl, how the gate opened and then closed and then opened again, how they were all fighting a war and nobody in Hawkins knew it.
And it only made me wonder more. After all that, they just stopped talking? Why? I mean I get it, they want to move on from what happened, it was traumatizing. But you don't save the world with your friends and never talk to them again.
Or maybe you do. I wouldn't know I've never been put in that situation. And god I hope I never am.
I'm sorry this is kind of like really sad but a week from today and we get volume two!