Strange as IT Seems

Chapter 30: Better Times Upon Us

When school started again on Monday, Bill took his precious time getting there. He and Georgie rode their bikes and Mia attempted to walk with them but did fall behind a few times. It did impress Bill how well she was able to keep pace with them.

"Life on the farm," she had said when he asked it—that and running pretty much your whole life.

Things had been mended between the brothers, for the most part, Bill said he was sorry to his brother, but not his parents. Things were still a bit tense, and none of the older people spoke to each other, even with Georgie's attempts to talk to everyone. He was the light of the house and kept everyone's spirits up.

When they reach the schoolyard, Mia waves to them and leaves for the high school. The boys lock their bikes up before the younger Denbrough brother goes to find kids his own age, leaving the older one standing around, completely alone and directionless, stalling as long as possible of going into the high school.

He knows that sooner or later, his friends would be showing up to lock their bikes, some who wanted to see him and those who didn't. This left him undecided about where he should go. Eventually, Bill goes to sit on the steps of the school and pulls out his sketchbook. He ignores the number of times people's backpacks bump his shoulder or even his head and just sketches to kill time before class.

While not really drawing anything, his eyes wander to the bike rack every so often to see someone he recognized.

Someone did show up and it was someone he knew... well sort of.

Will Byers, the kid who'd hung out with him in front of his house puts his bike on the rack. When he sees Bill, he gives a smile and a quick wave of acknowledgement. Big Bill does the same and his smile grows bigger when Beverly appears.

Bev had had a pretty mediocre weekend. After what happened with Richie, she was still pretty upset about it, even after she met and established a new friendship with Jane, the chief's daughter. She, like Bill, had been dreading the return to school, but her foster parents didn't fall for the sickness routine.

As she's locking her bike, she looks up to see the kid from science class and the one who helped break up Eddie and Richie... the Byers kid... Will! He's ogling her a little bit. When she catches his eye, he looks away and his cheeks go red in embarrassment.

"Hey," she says, deciding to humour the guy, who seemed nice enough if a bit shy.

"Hey," he says, swallowing heavily. "Have a good weekend?"

"Not really. To be honest it was pretty crappy."

"Sorry to hear that," the Byers kid says. "Most weekends I end up reading comics and trying to find good movies to watch."

"Sounds like a pretty decent way to unwind," Beverly says, smiling. She can hear the anxiety in his voice while attempting to be casual. All boys were the same it seemed; can't talk to a girl, but still trying to do that exact thing. Trying to be smooth and sounding cool, unlike Richie who just shot off his mouth at any opportunity.

"I try," Will says.

Just then, Eddie shows up. He gives a nervous, but still angry glance at Beverly and doesn't acknowledge her presence after that. He fumbles with his bike lock, knowing that his former friend is still staring at him. He has to stop in the middle of the process to take a puff of the inhaler. Once it's done, he turns and heads into the school.

Both Bev and Will notice that the kid only wrapped his lock around his tire and not the rack.

Will could tell that there was some kind of tension between them. While he didn't know what it was or what happened, he knew those two guys had been friends before, but now... nothing. It wasn't his business, so he decided to remove himself from the awkwardness.