The king and the peasant -BYLER

Character development?

Day 4

Paying attention was never a hard thing for Will especially when it came to studying and teachers because when no one would pay attention to you it would help you be attentive to other more important things. But unfortunately today was not one of those days.

"William!" Will snapped out of his daydream, Mrs. Fritch slapped her ruler in the palm of her hand repeatedly.

"Hi" He said giving a short nervous laugh.

"It is your turn to read a paragraph" She gave him a menacing look. Will swallow a hot white welt in his throat, he looked at his thick chapter book in front of him knowing that he didn't know which fucking paragraph to read.

"I wasn't listening" He stammered, fidgeting with his fingers.

"As expected" Mrs. Fritch said. "Jane sweetie would you like you read William's paragraph" Jane gave a picture perfect, teachers pet smile as she read what Will was supposed to read. Not only did Will realize that he was 5 pages behind but that he never zoned out in class. He just couldn't stop thinking about him and Mike yesterday. He was awake all night thinking about how he could've said his words differently, Mike looked hurt, really hurt. But he had also hurt lots of people. That's what made him so bipolar. He was the devil in disguise. Will just didn't understand why Mike chose him, all the attention he was getting, it seemed a bit off. But Mike was also a bit off.

Jane finished reading, small applauses followed after. She gave a humble smile as Mrs. Fritch gave her a standing ovation for doing something as simple as reading.

"Well done Ms. Jane!" She smiled. She smiled. Jane gave her a a smile back, but also giving Will a side eye to which he ignored. This was the one class he had with the infamous Jane and he was glad, he couldn't stand her to spend another hour of his day in the same room with her. Will saw as people referred to her as the dumb brunette, some even went as far to call her Mike's slut. And when these names were referred to her face, all Jane did was blush or act stupid. Will wondered if that was ever tiring, acting like you have no brain.

The bell rang, finally all he had to get through was lunch, then chem. Both fairly easy things to get through, you weren't Will. But he was, and he was himself, he would have to see Mike and boy was that going to be awkward. Mike wasn't even a friend, but Will still cared about his feelings. That concerned him so much, he couldn't stop thinking about a piece of shit that he met 4 days ago.

"Hey man you don't look too good..." Lucas asked Mike as he sat down at their usual table. He was right, Mike wasn't doing good. No matter how hard he tried, Will's words weren't disappearing from his brain. The words, the way he said it was burned into him. Toxic masculinity. Mike always hated that word. He wasn't an idiot, he knew Will called him a pervert, a person who didn't give a fuck about boundaries. He wasn't like that and it made him mad, mad that Will thought that.

"We are 2 different people, sometimes you just need to let it go" Mike felt his heart in his stomach. That was the moment he realized this wasn't worth it. The dare, his friends entertainment none of it was worth the heartache, the humiliation. Will was just so naïve. No matter how matter times he told himself that he was making progress he wasn't, Will would never let him in. So of course Mike wasn't looking too good, he didn't feel good either. Will had stabbed him in the heart and he was trying to heal.

"I'm fine... just tired. Look I don't think we should fuck with Will anymore" Mike said. Lucas turned to him surprised.

"I stopped caring a long time ago, but I trust you man on whatever you're thinking" Lucas patted him on the back. "Just don't tell anyone especially dustin cause he'll freak.