𝙗𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 - byler

13

james was a bit nervous to go back to school. he tried texting mike and troy during their suspension, but no one replied. he just really wanted to talk to troy. he felt like he and troy never got actual closure from when they were "dating." troy liked to call it "messing around" instead which hurt james but he just kept it in.

he just stood at the bus stop with a few other kids from various grades. he looked at his phone to check the time and realized the bus should have been here five minutes ago. the bus would either be a few minutes early or super late so he decided to take a seat on the curb.

he thought about why he even starting bullying people like will in the first place. he would just follow whatever troy did and did not really question his actions until recently. he tried not to think about will and how embarrassing it is to bully him for something he himself has in common with will. he didn't even know if will was actually gay.

-

"hey, what's up?" troy just nodded at james with his eyes glued to his phone. "you didn't answer my texts."

"okay."

"so, did you get your phone taken away when you were at home or...?"

"nope."

james stood there awkwardly next to troy's locker with his hands in his pockets.

"hey guys," mike waved as he walked up to them. troy closed his locker and stomped away quickly. "what's up with him?"

"i don't know to be honest. what's that?" james pointed to the gift in mike's hand.

"oh, um, this?" mike raised the gift for will. "it's... i don't know. my sister is making me hold this for her for right now." he tried to put the gift in his backpack. jane and her friends walked by them and mike was about to wave but she avoided eye contact with him. mike's nose scrunched up in confusion. "why the fuck is everyone acting so weird?"

-

after the first few periods, all the students get break time of about 10 minutes. mike was dreading for the bell to ring, releasing everyone to break. he managed to avoid his sister before classes started but he was anxious she would find him during break to force him to apologize and give the gift to will.

the bell rang and all the students rushed out of their seats. "wait, you guys have homework!" the teacher shouted but to no avail. she was tuned out to everyone's chatter. mike rushed out along with the other students and was now pushing through the busy hallway with no idea on where he was going. he accidentally bumped into someone.

"mike! i've been looking for you. come on," nancy grabbed his arm and walked through the hallway. "where's this kid?"

"who?"

"do not play dumb with me right now. where is he?"

"how the fuck am i supposed to know?"

nancy pulled him to the side of the hallway next to some lockers. "you're gonna do this now or later so just get it over with."

mike rolled his eyes and led nancy to will's locker. the hallways weren't so crowded anymore and mike came to a halt when he saw will.

"what are you waiting for?"

mike trudged over to will.

"wait, what are we doing in advanced art today?" max gripped the straps of her backpack.

"oh, we're just continuing the project we started..." will's voice trailed off while he looked at whatever max was looking at behind him.

nancy was a few lockers down, trying not to seem like she was trying to eavesdrop.

"hey, um," mike took something in a plastic bag out of his backpack.

"what the fuck," max muttered with an amused face.

"i got you this," mike handed will the bag.

"w-what is that?"

"um, i want to say," mike hesitated for a moment, "i'm sorry." he sounded unsure of what he was saying so his apology sounded more like a question.

will grabbed the bag and took whatever was in it out. "so, this is your apology?"

mike slowly nodded, not sure where will was going with this.

will laughed for a second, "so, is this supposed to make everything you guys did just disappear? do you want a 'it's okay, it's all good?'" mike felt a lump in his throat. "why are you so quiet? usually, you have so much to say."

nancy shook her head in disappointment at mike's pathetic attempt at apologizing. she contemplated whether or not she should pull mike away to prevent him from further embarrassing himself but she decided that he deserved it.

max leaned against the lockers and bit her lip to stop herself from laughing.

"i-i mean," mike was stumbling over his words, "y-you could at least thank me." 

max gasped, "the audacity."

"well, thanks for being a total jackass and helping me realize i deserve way better," will shoved the gift into mike's chest and purposely bumped shoulders with him as he walked away.

"nice job, wheeler." max followed will.

mike looked over at nancy and sighed when he saw her disappointment.

-

mike was walking to lunch when he saw jane and one of her friends headed towards the cafeteria. he caught up to them, "hey, jane." he went to put his arm around her shoulders but she pushed him off. "what the fuck?"

"i've decided to dump your ass."

"what? why?"

"you lied to me and you beat the crap out of someone!"

shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

-

after trying to lie to jane, mike just gave up and walked away, accepting the fact that he no longer had a girlfriend. he was now trying to look for a place to sit. he did not see troy or james anywhere so he decided to sit with some other players on his soccer team. a few of them acknowledged him while the others were engaged in conversation.

as he was eating, his eyes scanned the cafeteria, looking for will. he saw will sitting with his friends.

"what about you, lucas?"

"i don't want to join your hell club, dustin."

"whatever, but if you change your mind..." dustin motioned towards the hellfire club's table before picking up his tray and heading over there.

"i don't know. the club sounds kinda fun."

"then why don't you go follow dustin, will?" max crossed her arms.

"i'm not gonna go without you guys."

"holy shit, this pizza is so good," lucas moaned.

max glared at him, "every time you do that, i lose my appetite."

"they look angry," lucas said while looking over at the cafeteria doors.

max and will looked over there to see troy and james walking in looking pissed.

"oh, boy."