Just Friends - Byler

VIII

Will was sitting alone in the basement drawing while Mike and El were probably making out in his bedroom for the fifth time that day. 'Friends, yeah right.' Will rolled his eyes as he finished the last details of his drawing. It was of him and there were disgusting slimy vines all around him. Each one he drew was getting closer and closer to him, almost touching him. He made sure to draw every detail from his nightmare, down to the dust particles. 'Was it a nightmare?' He couldn't really remember the full night and whether it was an episode or not. It couldn't be, the mind flayers dead.

He left his drawing on the table in the basement and went upstairs to see if anyone was in the kitchen or living room. When no one was there, he remembered that Nancy went out to eat with friends and Mrs. Wheeler, Holly, and his mom went to go shopping for groceries. After making a quick lunch Will decided to call Dustin to see what he was up to, Dustin's mom picked up and told Will that he was at the arcade with Lucas and Max. Will brushed out his hair and put on a jacket and sneakers. He decided to walk to the arcade for two reasons, he didn't have a bike and it would give him time to settle his negative thoughts hopefully. When Will got to the arcade he could see three bikes parked in the bike rack, those possibly being Dustin, Lucas, and Max's bikes.

The arcade was cold and gave Will an uneasy feeling in his stomach but he brushed off all those feelings when he heard Dustin shouting, "stupid game!" as he got killed by a ghost in pacman. "Hey it's my turn now!" Lucas fought as Dustin started playing again. Will walked up to the party and tapped Max on the shoulder causing her to swiftly turn around to face him. "Oh my God!" Max jokingly put her hand on her heart in shock. "Hey Will." She hugged Will tightly and shoved Lucas's shoulder so he could turn around too. "Welcome back man!" Lucas hugged Will. "God damn ghosts!" Dustin shouted before collecting himself and turning around to give Will a hug too. "So what've you been up to?" Max asked. "Is there anyone I need to beat up?" Will laughed bitterly and swallowed before simply saying "nope." The words came out dry and his throat felt scratchy after, 'there is someone, but they don't need to know that.' He didn't really want Max to beat up Mike at all, he was just being dramatic he reminded himself for the fifth time that day.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Dustin asked Will, noticing something was actually wrong. Will gave a convincing smile and replied with, "nothing, 'm okay." They all stayed at the arcade for a while before most of them had to head home for dinner or whatever they needed to do now, it was only Dustin and Will now. "Hey dude, I can tell something's really wrong." Dustin interrupted the silence. "I said nothing, I'm fine." Dustin didn't take that as an answer and kept pestering Will till he gave a valid answer to his question.

"Fine I'll tell you! It's stupid though, just to let you know." Will mumbled the last bit. He sighed as Dustin leaned in to hear Wills mumbling better. "It's about Mike." Dustin groaned, "come on dude, really? Is he ignoring you again?"
Will slowly nodded, this felt stupid. He ignored me once and I got over it, partially. So that means I'll be fine, I'm always fine. Well that's a lie I'm not always fine sometimes- "Will, you mkay?" Dustin moved his hand in a waving motion at Wills face to grab his attention again. "Yeah, I think I'm gonna head back now though. Bye Dustin, see you later."

"Ok yeah, bye Will!" Dustin yelled from his seat as Will walked out of the arcade soon to be met by Troy, stupid Troy Harrington. It's like he never gives up on Will, he just loves to torment him at any chance he gets. "Well, well, well." Troy starts as he walks closer to Will. "look who's back." Troy smirks menacingly at Will.

A/N:
Sorry for the slow updates/my laziness. I'll try my best to update as quickly as can. Also, I don't really like this chapter it's kind of just here because I felt like I needed to update this book.

Time written: April 26, 2022 12:21 a.m
Word count: 766