Silent Secrets ||A Byler Story||

Chapter sixteen

School the next day was uneventful.

At least until lunch.

"Relax, alright?"  Mike tries to calm Will down as they walked to lunch.

"Do I have to sit with you guys?"  Will asks quietly. 

"Will relax, please."  Mike begs.

"Sorry."  Will apologizes.

They walk into the lunch room together and sit down at the table the party was at.  Lucas scoffs.

"Why does he always have to sit over here?"  He says annoyed.

"Don't be rude Lucas."  Jane snaps.

"I'm just saying the truth!"  He defends himself, "I mean he just showed up out of no where."

Lucas continues to argue with the party.  Guilt settled at the pit of Wills stomach.  He grabbed his backpack and walked out of the cafeteria without saying anything.  He made his way to the bathroom.

"Look what you did Lucas!"  Mike shouts at him.

"It's not my fault he's a freak!"  Lucas yells back.

"You're a freak!"  Dustin yells sarcastically.

"Why do you think we're all friends Lucas?"  Max says sharply.

"He's probably just a faggot anyway!"  Lucas shouts.

The rest was a blur.  Mikes fist connected with Lucas's face before anyone knew what was happening. 

Everyone in the group was silent as the two boys stare at each other.  Suddenly they went from best friends to enemies in the matter of seconds.  They glare at each other with hatred until Mike shakes his head at him and grabs his backpack and runs after Will.

He found Will on the bathroom floor shaking.  Mike shut the bathroom door behind him and locked it.  There was glass around the floor, one of the mirrors was broken and Wills hand was bleeding.  There was glass in his hair and blood on his face and clothes.

"Will!"  Mike runs over to him and shakes him.

The smaller boy doesn't say anything, just shakes his head.

"Will, Will talk to me."  Mike pleaded, "give me your hand, Will you're bleeding."

"Go away Mike."  He whispers.

"What?"

"Go away!"  Will cries.  "Go away!"  Tears where streaming down his face and he refused to look Mike in the eye.

"Will calm down, talk to me please."  Mike whispers.

"Please leave Mike."  Will whispers.  "Please."  He cries harder.

"Tell me what's wrong Will."  Mike demands.

"It's my fault."  Will cries and starts shaking more.

"Is this about Lucas?"  Mike grew furious. 

"It's not just about Lucas!  It's all my fault."  Will cries.

Mike pulls Will into a hug and Will doesn't protest.  Things had been kind of awkward since last night but in that moment they knew that it would be okay.

"Mike."  Will sobs into his arm. 

"You're okay Will."  Mike says softly.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize.  You're okay."  Mike hugs him tighter.

The bell rings and Will pulls away from Mike and wipes his face off.

"We've got to go, we'll be late." 

The two boys stand up and Mike shakes his head.

"Will you're bleeding.  There's no way I'm letting you go to class like that."  Mike folds his arms across his chest.

"Mike this is nothing."  Will protests.

"I'll bring you to the nurses office."  Mike hands him his backpack.

"They'll send me home.  I don't want to go home early, it'll only be me and my father there."  Will shivers.

"Then we at least have to get you cleaned up.  Come here."  Will walks over to Mike and Mike turns the sink on.

Mike grabs Wills hand and hold it under the water.  Will flinches slightly as the warm water hits his skin.

"It burns."  Will complains.

"I have to make sure it doesn't get infected Will."

"It's not that big of a deal."  Will whispers.

It was weird for Will to have someone who cared so much when he got hurt.  Of course his mother and Jonathan cared, but they never took the time to clean his cuts or take care of what Lonnie had done to him.  There was no point in trying to keep up with it.  But with Mike it was different.  Mike cared about everything.  Mike cared about him.

"To you it's not that big of a deal.  You broke the mirror?"  Mike looks at him and asks.  Will stares at the mirror dumbfounded.

"I don't remember."

"You don't remember if you broke the mirror?"  Mike asks him as he puts a paper towel over Wills hand.  Will shakes his head.

"I have to get the glass out of your hair, come here."  Mike pulls him closer and picks the glass out of Wills hair.  Will blushes at the contact but tried to push it away.

"I think I've got it all."  Mike say's quietly as he runs his hand through Wills hair.  He looks down at Will, who was still blushing.  Mike smirks.

"You're blushing."  He points out.

"No I'm not."  Will lies.

Mike pulls Wills head up quickly and kisses him passionately.  Will was taken by surprise but almost immediately kisses him back gently.  Mike deepens the kiss, causing Wills heart to turn upside down.

A few seconds later they both break away from each other for air.  Will was a blushing mess, so was Mike but Will was blushing way more.

"Are you okay?"  Mike asks him.  Will nods slowly.

"Uh Mike?"  Will asks quietly while picking at his fingers.  He felt Mikes gaze on him and it made him nervous.

"Yes?"  Mike asks him in confusion.

Will looks down at the ground, "what are we?"  He asks in a low voice.

"Um friends?"

***

Word Count: 925
Date Published: 12/5/22