𝙗𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 - byler

12

will walked to his english class and arrived at the same time as the guy from the library did.

mr. darlington usually had the door propped open, but it was shut when they got there. they both tried the door handle at the same time and will quickly pulled his hand back.

"hi, will!" the person smiled.

"hi," will responded.

the person peered into the classroom through the window the door had, "i heard if the teacher is 15 minutes late, we can leave." he backed away from the door to stand next to will as other students tried opening the door.

"i thought that was just a rumor." they stared at each other for a few seconds before will broke eye contact, "also, uh i kinda forgot your name." will scratched the back of his neck.

"i'm felix and i probably should've introduced myself better last week," felix extended his arm out for a handshake. will just stood there. "come on, i don't bite." will rolled his eyes and scoffed. "what?"

"i hate it when people say that. like, being scared that someone's gonna bite me is not the first thing i think of when i met someone new."

"i mean the chances of a stranger biting you are low but never zero."

will laughed which made felix laugh too.

"excuse me, i'm trying to get to the door to unlock it," an older woman with short, white hair said while trying to get through the crowd of students surrounding the door.

-

will and felix walked over to the table will's friend were at in the cafeteria.

felix started to walk away backwards, "see you later, will."

"bye, felix."

max grinned, "are you replacing us now?"

will sat down across from max and lucas, ignoring max's sarcastic question.

"well, your best friends come back tomorrow." lucas gave max an annoyed look.

"if they mess with you again, i will literally beat the shit out of all three of them." max tried hiding her laugh. "what? i got muscles. i play basketball."

"yeah and they play football."

"actually they play soccer."

"yeah, whatever. anyways... felix?" max kinda wiggled her eyebrows.

will groaned, "no."

"what? he's way better than mike!"

"yeah, but look," will looked over his shoulder at felix, "he's with all the popular, sporty kids... and he's probably straight."

"so what? opposites attract, right?" lucas shrugged.

"what if lucas brought you over there to talk to him?"

"why me?" lucas said with his mouth full.

"because you play basketball and you're honestly kinda popular."

will intervened, "no guys, it's fine."

-

"this is so last minute," mike complained.

"i don't care! you're buying him something... something that says you feel remorse and regret about what you did," nancy said while pushing a shopping cart. mike slowly walked next to her. "you can walk around to look for something, you know? you don't have to follow me."

"it would've helped if you told me that earlier," mike threw his arms up and stormed off like a toddler.

"oh, grow up!" nancy shook her head.

mike walked to the dairy isle to cool down by the refrigerators. he tried to brainstorm things to buy for will. he thought about getting something for himself but just lying and telling his sister he'll give it to will. he threw that idea out the window because he decided that he was gonna make things right. he shouldn't have gotten that physical with will.

he went to the art section and picked the most expensive sketchbook he could find. "if it costs that much, that better mean it's good."

he went towards the front of the store where the cashiers were at and looked around for nancy for a good few minutes. he realized that he could just text her so that's what he did.

"be there in a sec," nancy replied to his text.

he decided to wait in a random line since all of them seemed to have around the same amount of people waiting.

about a minute later, nancy was next to mike. "you're also apologizing."

"what do you mean?"

"you're not gonna just... throw your gift at him and walk off. you're gonna use your words and apologize for being a jerk."

he rolled his eyes, "yeah, whatever."

"and i'm gonna be there to make sure," nancy continued to glare at him even though he avoided eye contact. "also, you're paying for the gift."

"i didn't bring any money."

"well, you're paying me back when we get home."

-

will was drawing at the desk in his room when his mom walked over to him and leaned over his shoulder. "you gonna be alright tomorrow?"

will continued to draw, "yep."

joyce kissed his head, "don't stay up too late. love you."

"love you, too."

joyce closed the door on her way out. will turned around to make sure she was gone and just sat there. he stopped drawing and set his pencil down. he wanted to not be scared about going to school tomorrow but he was terrified. they would obviously be out for blood since he got them in trouble. the bruises on his face were healing a bit. instead of looking black and blue, his bruises started to look more green. it wasn't exactly a pleasant sight, but he looked better than he did last week.

will's phone on the table buzzed. he picked it up and saw text notifications from lucas and max reminding him that they are there for him. he unlocked his phone and gave them short replies. he charged his phone, turned off the lights, and went to bed-- except he couldn't sleep. he just thought about what he would say to mike and his friends if they tried to give him any shit.

would they even come up to him? what if the suspension made them back off? what if they relentlessly targeted him even more? he had so many questions he couldn't stop thinking about.