patrick kept his hand twisted up in between mays as they walked into the school building. he painted soft patterns on her skin, and kept her nerves at bay. henry walked on the right of his sister with vic and belch behind them. may kept her eyes down as they walked throughout the halls. she's couldn't believe three months had already passed, and she was back in the halls that she dreaded to return to.
"already hate it here," patrick whispered to may, squeezing her hand as he did so. may shyly smiled up at him as they walked up to the library doors. henry shuffled to a stop before twisting to his sister. he leaned down to mays height and gently put his hands on her shoulders.
"okay, either patrick or i will check up on you during lunch and you know where to meet us after school right?" henry spoke softly to her, making sure his voice was gentle along with his tone. he still felt bad for what had happened earlier that morning. may nodded her head, remember the parking spot belch parked in every single day. "okay, well, ill see you in a few hours then," henry hesitantly stood up straight and reached out to ruffle mays hair. patrick brought may's hand up to his lips and left a quick and tender kiss on her knuckles before walking off with the boys.
may didn't mind how the boys were so protective over her, but she never understood why they were, especially henry. she knew that she was his 'baby' sister but she wasn't that much younger than him. the two were Irish twins, barely 11 months apart. may wasn't a child anymore, but henry had always cradled and babied her nevertheless. she had a feeling that he alway would. his bad boy façade was just that to may-- a façade. a mask he would wear only at school.
may shuffled into the library and quickly found an empty table near the back. she set her backpack up on the table and pulled out her book.
a few minutes of silence had past until a group of four boys stumbled into the library. they were causing quite an instrumental-- talking loudly amongst themselves and trying their hardest to catch their breaths-- forcing may to shut her book. she gazed over her shoulder to see exactly what was happening.
"eddie i told you! bowers never comes in here," a boy with glasses sighed, leaning over to catch his breath again. he had his hand on his lower stomach but looked upward through his glasses at the shorter boy standing in front of him. mays ears perked up at the sound of her last name. she focused her eyes on the boy. he had grown out black curls, hiding the edge of his big thick glasses. he was at least 6 foot tall, and towered over his friends. "now, can we sit?"
"y-yeah, follow me," a skinny boy stuttered, leading him to a table. once the he began to walk toward the table that may was at, he quickly stopped in his footsteps. another boy with curly hair bumped into him, prompting a hushed apology from the other. may quickly shoved her eyes back down to the text of her book at his wondering eyes,
" let's s-sit here ac-actually," the boy muttered.
"make up your mind big bill," the boy with the glasses joked, shoving bill forward playfully. the boy rolled his eyes as he sat down at the table in front of mays. bill sat next to the boy with brown curly hair, then across the table sat the shorter boy and the boy with glasses.
"richie, what class do you have first period?" the boy sitting across from him asked. richie thought for a moment before grabbing a folded up piece of paper from his pocket.
"uh-- algebra with greenson," richie answered, pushing his glasses up from his nose. "you?"
may watched from a far, looking at the group. they intrigued her for some reason. the four boys seemed to fit perfectly together like a jigsaw puzzle. she had only been observing for a few moments but she saw one boy of a different archetype. the boy with the stutter was the quiet leader type, she noticed this as soon as he led the gaggle of boys into the library. the boy with the brown curly hair seemed outspoken in a hesitant way but he gave short and subtle smiles toward his friends. the shorter boy was softer, yet with a small amount of fire in his chest when he was with the right people. then there was the forth boy. he was your typical class clown type, loud and proud.
"I've got ap biology."
"jesus stan why are you so smart?" richie grumbled.
"bill and bev are in the class too, im not the only one," stan muttered rolling his eyes, "why are you so dumb?"
"im not dumb! im average," richie argued before smirking and nudging the boy next to him, "unless we're talkin about something a lil' different."
the boy next to him cringed, shoving richies arm. "gross."
"ah come on eds, lighten up a bit," richie laughed, turning his head to face mays table. "you know if you're lucky enough, someone might just show ya a good time," the joke left his lips as soon as he saw her. that was the first time he had noticed the girl.
his eyes went straight to hers, and he smiled softly when he noticed that they were already looking up at his. they were such a vibrant blue color. the color stunned him a little. may averted her eyes back to her book, leaning her chin onto her palm. richie noticed how graceful her movements were, and he found it hard to pull his eyes away from her.
"hey eds," richie spoke sideways to the boy on his left. "who's that?" richie asked, his eyes still on the girl. eddie sighed, putting his pencil and sketch book down. he looked over richies shoulder.
"who-- oh," eddie chuckled nervously. "uh rich, that may bowers," eddie muttered, shuttering at the name.
"bowers? like henry?"
"that's his younger sister rich."
"I didn't know he had a sister," richie blinked a few times, taking the new information in.
"you're lucky that you're even getting a good look at her," stan scoffed.
richie twisted his head toward the brunet. "whatcha mean?"
stan looked up from his class schedule to see not only richie staring at her, but bill and eddie too. he tucked the piece of paper away before beginning to speak. "henry is always around her, patrick too," he explained in a soft tone so may wouldn't be able to hear him talking about her, though he didn't know that may had been listening to the whole conversation. "they never let her out of their sight, not for long anyways."
"how d-do you know so muh-much about her?" bill inquired.
"I had history with her last year, and henry would come to pick her up after class every day."
"im going to go talk to her," richie declared. stan spin his head around quickly.
"did you know hear anything I just said?" stan muttered under his breath.
"yeah are you crazy? does bowers not mean anything to you?" eddie groaned, setting his head down on the table
richie rolled his eyes as he slumped back down into his seat. "look--she seems nothing like her brother. have you ever seen henry read a book?" richie laughed softly as he crossed his arms.
may frowned softly at his comment. henry read quite often, and he would read with may a lot as well. these boys knew nothing about her brother, but she didn't blame them for their lack of knowledge. henry was only a bully to them, nothing more.
"and talking isn't the best when it comes to may anyways."
richie twisted his head over to stan, "why not?" stan sighed deeply and was hesitant to answer him. "oh come on stan the man-- you know I don't need a chatterbox, I talk enough and thats--"
"richie," stan cut him off. "mays mute."