in the second class after lunch, mike was bouncing his leg while in his seat.
mrs. white wrote some problems on the whiteboard. "any volunteers-" she was cut off by the classroom phone ringing.
"i can answer it!" someone eagerly said.
"johnny, sit down!" she rushed over to the phone. "this is mrs. white. yes, he's here." she glances over in mike's direction.
mike's heart started beating rapidly.
shit, shit, shit.
mrs. white placed the telephone back. mike saw her walking towards him and he crossed his fingers and looked down.
mike looked up when he no longer heard the clicks of mrs. white's high heels. he saw her whispering to the student in front of him. the only words he could make out were "talk to you" and "grab your stuff."
mike let out a sigh of relief and ran a hand through his hair.
"so, any volunteers?" mrs. white put her hands on her hips and frowned. "or should i pull sticks?"
"since when do you pull sticks?" courtney asked.
"courtney is our first volunteer! come on up courtney. you get problem one."
mike couldn't help but snicker at jane's friend.
-
"holy shit. uh..." the guy with luxurious hair looked around the bathroom. he leaned down in front of will. "you awake?" he waved his hand in front of will's face. "do something, steve!" he said to himself. he picked will up and headed towards the nurse's office.
"don't tell me that's will by- oh my god!" the nurse was taken aback.
"i um- i found him like this in the bathroom. i swear to god i did not do any of this."
-
"i hope we didn't upset will. like, i know he can be sensitive sometimes and-"
"lucas, you and will are best friends. he knows you're just looking out for him and trying not to upset him."
lucas leaned against his locker and took a deep breath. "you're right."
-
"no, no, no. we are going to the hospital to make sure nothing's broken." joyce slightly put more pressure on the gas pedal.
will remembered bits of what happened but he tried his best to block those memories out. he just wanted to lie down and sleep. for how long? who knows?
will put his face in his hands and instantly regretted it. "ouch, shi- shoot."
-
"so," jonathan stabbed his spinach with his fork. "you get into a fight?"
joyce hit his shoulder, "jonathan."
he laughed, "what?"
joyce leaned over to jonathan and whispered something. his happy expression turned to a confused and angry one.
"who the fuck did that to you?"
"language! i want to give will time to tell me who did this. don't push him."
joyce and jonathan kept going back and forth.
will knew if he wanted to get over mike, the first step would be to speak up and have him face the consequences for what he's been doing to will. before will could even think about what he was going to say, his lips just started moving.
"troy walsh, james dante, and mike wheeler."
jonathan and joyce paused, looked at will, then at each other. joyce got up quickly to grab a notepad and a pen. "tell me their names again."
will gulped. "troy walsh."
"uh huh."
"james dante."
"okay."
"and uh, mike... wheeler."
-
will and joyce were sitting in the main office, waiting for the principal to call them in.
"don't hold back." joyce squeezed will's hand. "those assholes are gonna get what's coming to them. i'll make sure of it."
mrs. olson opened her office door. "well, come on in." she smiled widely.
"good morning. i hope everything's going well for you guys this morning." mrs. olson stared at joyce, trying not to look at will's beaten up face. she took a sip of her coffee.
"yeah, well... everything's been shit lately for my son, will byers," joyce stated.
mrs. olson. went wide eyed for a second. "that's, uh, some strong language usage." she folded her hands. "so, will-"
"-let me just get straight to the point. three boys from my son's grade, troy walsh, james dante, and mike wheeler, have been terrorizing my son for god knows how long. and- and- look at his face! there's no way you guys haven't known what's been going on." joyce leaned back in her chair.
"troy, james, mike," mrs. olson muttered. "will, tell me what happened. like, when did you... when did this happen?" she motioned to will's face. "tell me everything."
will felt a lump in his throat.
i'm so fucked once they find out i've told on them, but i've gotten this far. so...
will gnawed at his bottom lip for a little bit before speaking.
-
"ms. gonzalez! i gotta piss." a student blurted out while getting up to walk to the door.
half of the class giggled like elementary schoolers while the other half continued working.
ms. gonzalez looked up from the tests she was grading. "phrase that better or i'm not gonna let you go 'piss.'"
"ms. gonzalez, can i pretty please go to the bathroom?"
"i don't know, can you?"
the student groaned and opened the door to walk out.
"take a hall pass with you!"
the student grabbed a hall pass and rushed out.
the classroom phone rang and a student sitting next to it stood up and answered.
"goddamnit, wade. get your hands off that phone." ms. gonzalez hurried over to wade.
"it's for you." wade handed her the phone.
she rolled her eyes, "this is ms. gonzalez speaking. yeah. they're here but arrived a little late. uh huh, yeah." she looked towards the back of the classroom to make sure troy and james were still there. "okay, i'll send them right away." she hung up. "troy and james, make your way to the office right now." troy scoffed and started to pack up his stuff slowly while james felt all the blood drain from his body.
-
mr. darlington was pacing back and forth in front of the classroom, passionately explaining an answer to a student's question. he stopped in the middle of the whiteboard, facing the students. he put his hands in his pockets and stood up on his tippy toes for a second before placing his feet flat on the ground. "well, i hope that answers your question, devin."
the classroom phone rang. "i hope that isn't ms. wright calling to yell at me for 'borrowing' her white board markers." mr. darlington chuckled at his own joke even though no one laughed with him. he walked over to the phone and picked it up.
"darlington speaking. okay. he's here." mr. darlington sounded curious. "cool, he's on his way right now." he put back the phone. "huh, i wonder why they're making calls instead of bringing in slips to excuse students."
"i heard that they ran out of slips."
"you bring up a great point, stacey. that's probably what's going on. anyways, mike, pack your things. you're gonna start your journey to mrs. olson," he said the principal's name cautiously.
mike's blood ran cold as he grabbed his book to put in his backpack.
-
"okay, after hearing all sides of the story... i'm going to suspend you three," mrs. olson pointed towards mike, james, and troy, "for seven school days."
troy's mom gasped while mike's mom shook her head. neither of james' parents were able to make it.
"this is so unjustified! my son did nothing wrong and you can't prove he did anything," troy's mom angrily stated.
"ma'am, we have camera footage showing that troy, james, and mike go in the bathroom after will does and come out except for will. and when we zoom in, will appears to be fine and healthy. but later on when a student brings will out..."
"unbelievable. troy is such a good student and one of the best soccer players this goddamn school has ever had."
"that's arguable," mr. deleon, the vice principal, whispered.
"that's it. we're done. sweetie, we're leaving." mrs. walsh grabbed troy.
"mom, don't call me that!"
"you can't seriously keep denying that your son did this to my son." joyce turned her head around to look at mrs. walsh.
"good day." mrs. walsh flashed a fake smile. she headed out with her hand grasping troy's arm.
mike could feel his mom's glare.