heaven- byler 🤍

3.

africa- toto

will sat alone at the table, picking at his ham and cheese sandwich. he had lost his appetite but his mother would get mad if he didn't eat anything. he sighed. he was about to throw his lunch in the bin when, distracting him from his misery, a group of children about his age approached his table.

"what's this kid doing? sitting at our table?" one with glasses said.

"shut up. he's not doing anything, is he?" another said.

another waved awkwardly at will. "mind if we sit here? my names stanley." he said. will nodded and stanley sat down, his friends following behind.

"you're kinda hot." the one with glasses spoke again. "are you straight?"

"beep beep, rich." the only girl in the group spoke. "i'm beverly, nice to meet you." she said, reaching a hand out to will.

"i'm will. nice to meet you guys too."

they all introduced themselves and made will feel welcome. there was a silence until will spoke. "why are you guys sitting with me? i mean, you hear the rumours about me and i'm kind of a loser.." his sentence trailed off.

"we didn't really have a choice, this is our table."

"shut it, trashmouth." stanley said.

"it's nothing, really. we all like making friends so why not come and hang out with you? also, you're not a loser! but anyway, we're the losers club, so it wouldn't matter much anyway." a boy called mike hanlon said, smiling softly at will. will returned the smile and looked away, not really knowing what else to say.

"hey, d-does anyone wanna ha-hang out later? my parents are out of t-town a-and we can have a s-sleepover?" bill asked, looking around at the rest of the losers. everyone said okay and ben told the group he'd provide snacks. ben, richie and beverly always bought snacks, even when they were told not to.

"that sounds cool! will, d'you wanna come?" bev asked, making sure will felt included.

"uh, sure. thanks."

"yes! i won't be third wheeling on my own again!" mike hanlon exclaimed. will chuckled, slightly confused. was he joking? what does he mean, third wheeling? nobody in the group could be dating, right?

interrupting the group from their laughter was the bell, telling everyone that lunch was over and that they needed to go to their form rooms.

"should we walk you to form, will?" eddie asked. will smiled and nodded.

"that would be great, thanks." he replied.

he couldn't wait for the sleepover.

***

will knocked on the door of bill's house, holding the piece of paper with bill's address on it. bill had slipped it in will's bag before he left, making sure that will knew exactly where to knock. after a few seconds of waiting, beverly answered the door, ben standing beside her. "will!" she squealed, pulling him into a massive bear hug. "hi!"

"hey, you okay?"

"yeah thanks, everyone's waiting for you. they're all here except richie and stan. make yourself welcome, bill's ordering kfc!" beverly's face lit up with excitement. will smiled warmly and walked into the house, saying hello to ben on the way. he saw bill talking into the phone, concentrating hard. eddie and mike were sitting on the sofa, talking about god-knows-what. will entered the room and said hi and eddie and mike stood to welcome him.

"hey, man! how are you?" mike asked.

"good, what about you?"

"never been better." mike chuckled, making will smile. he turned to face eddie just as the doorbell rang.

"i'll get it!" eddie said, excusing himself and rushing to the door. beverly and ben were scribbling things down on paper and giving the strips to bill, who was desperately trying to keep up with ben and bev's fast writing. will heard the door open and him and mike hanlon headed over to see who had arrived.

"rich!" eddie exclaimed.

"eds!" richie responded, kissing eddie on the cheek and smiling at mike and will. "you guys alright?"

"i'm just third wheeling, as usual. can't wait till stan gets here." mike said, his always-present smile still plastered onto his round face. richie scoffed and closed the door, heading to the living room. he shouted his order into the kitchen, already knowing that they were ordering food. he plopped onto the sofa and eddie followed.

eddie rested his head on richie's lap, looking up to his brown eyes, magnified by his glasses. "what you looking at?" richie teased.

"your eyes."

"aw. someone can't help himself." richie chuckled and pecked eddie's cheek.

"that makes two people." beverly said, walking in with a smirk plastered across her face. "i always knew you two were gay."

"we've been dating for a year and a half, isn't it obvious?" richie asked, raising his eyebrows at the girl.

"i meant before that, asshole." she said, giggling. the doorbell rang and mike walked over to answer it. he opened the door and saw stan standing there, a large bag in his hand.

"what's the bag for, uris?" mike asked.

"what do you think? pyjamas, obviously." he responded sarcastically. he closed the door and walked to the living room.

"stan the man!" richie exclaimed, jumping from his seat to greet his friend, patting him on the back. stanley cringed at the contact.

"ew, get off, richie."

richie backed off, hands in the air as if he were surrendering. bill approached the two, a smile on his face. "hi, stan." he said.

"hey, love." stan said back, pulling bill into a hug. bill smiled into stan's chest as the two shared a long embrace. finally pulling away, stan noticed will. "oh, hey will."

"hi." will said, a bit confused by all the kissing and hugging.

everyone sat in the rather large living room, eddie and richie not being able to help themselves as richie played with eddie's hair.
the group discussed what they should do, and ben came up with a game of spin the bottle. everyone agreed reluctantly and set up the game, hoping to get paired with someone they liked.

or in will and mike's case, someone who wouldn't make it painfully awkward.

benverly, stenbrough, reddie>>

1037 words