Love, Will || Byler

IV

꧁•⊹٭ᑕᕼᗩᑭTᗴᖇ ᖴOᑌᖇ ٭⊹•꧂

The next day at school, Will had to be sure of something. If James was standing against the tree behind him and Mike, would he have been able to send him an email?
Will arrived at school and parked his bike in his usual spot. Mike and Lucas arrived just moments after.
"Hey Will" said Lucas, parking his own bike next to Will's.
"Hey guys." he said, looking at Mike.
Mike parked his bike next to Lucas's.
"Hi, Will." he said, softly.
"Hey are you okay?" asked Will.
"Yeah I'm just absolutely exhausted. I didn't sleep very well last night."
"Mike if you can't sleep that means that someone was thinking about you." teased Lucas.
"That's bullshit Lucas. You know it's not true. Plus, who would even think about me at night anyway?" laughed Mike.
Will tried to not look into Mike's eyes. He was probably thinking about him but that had nothing to do with it. It was just a saying. Mike was right : what Lucas was saying was "bullshit".
"Hum, guys I just need to go somewhere before class." said Will.
"Where?" asked Mike.
"Just... somewhere." Will replied.
"Yeah but where?" Mike asked again, intrigued.
"A tree."
"What? Why would you want to go to a tree?"
"It's just... an important tree?" Will said, awkwardly.
God, he was just making a foul of himself of Mike again.
"Oh-kay. We'll come with you if you want." suggested Mike.
"Well yeah I mean... If you want to, I don't see why not."
"Cool." said Mike.
"You coming Lucas?" asked Will.
"Nah, I'm gonna wait for Max."
"Okay." said Will.
Lucas went into the school and Mike followed Will to the tree he was talking about.
"So... why's this tree so important to you?" he asked.
"It's not important to me. I just need to go and check something that's all."
"Okay. What do you need to check?" asked Mike.
"You'll see."
They arrived to the specific tree that was a few meters behind the bench they were sitting on the day just before.
"So I just need to see..." said Will, taking his phone. "If there's any signal."
If Marc, or James would've been able to send the email from the school, he would need to have signal. Will looked up at his phone.
"2 bars. I knew it."
"Knew what?" asked Mike.
"That there was signal here."
"Well, yeah. We sat here yesterday and there was signal. I don't understand what you-"
"Yes, I know that there was signal on the bench. But there's also signal at this tree."
"... I don't understand why you want to know if there's signal here. If you want to get reception just sit on the bench."
"I know but I needed to know if there was any signal at this place specifically. At this tree. I can't really explain why."
"Okay." said Mike, still confused.
At that moment they heard the bell ring.
"Got to get to class anyway." said Mike.
"What have we got now?" asked Will.
"History."
History. With James. Maybe Will could try and find out some more information about James. For the moment he only knew that James was new this year at Hawkins High School. He knew absolutely nothing else about him. He got into class and sat in his usual spot, next to Mike. Lucas and Dustin were sitting behind them and El and Max were on their right.
James was sitting on the left side of the classroom, on his own. Will tried to pay more attention to him, maybe try and find out if he could be Marc. James actually was kinda pretty, Will thought. He had chocolate brown hair and a few freckles. Gosh, Will loved freckles... Mike's would always be his favourites though. They were like twinkling stars.
In History class, the teacher was talking about how people were treated differently in older times because of their religion, the colour of their skin and many other things.
Deep down, Will knew he would be treated differently if people knew about him...
"So I want you to tell me if you think things have changed about this or not." said the teacher.
Various students put their hand up.
"Yes, Louis?"
"I think it's changed because now there aren't really any discriminations and stuff like that."
Will wanted to protest about Louis's stupid answer. How could anyone even consider saying that there aren't any discriminations when he's been bullied his entire for being gay, even though he hadn't told anyone.
Will rolled his eyes and noticed that James had shot his hand up.
The teacher called on other students and then...
"James."
"I don't think it has changed much. Obviously thing have kind of improved. But I... a friend of mine was treated really badly for being different and to me personally, I think that opinions about... stuff haven't changed much really." said James.
"Okay James, thanks for sharing." said the teacher.
James looked proud of his answer but went back to writing something on his notebook. Will tried to take a look at what James was doing. He was doodling something in the bottom right corner. Will smiled at the thought of James maybe being an artist too. At least they potentially had something in common.
Will thought about what James had answered about the differences. He'd started his sentence with the pronoun "I" but then changed it to "my friend". That obviously meant that he was actually talking about himself. James had said that his friend (so himself) had been treated badly for being different from others. This had to be it. James was saying that people were mean to him for being... gay? Maybe James really was Marc... He was nothing compared to Mike but... the more Will looked at James, the more he wanted to know every single thing about him.
The bell rang and Will shoved everything into his school bag. He saw James walk out the door. He rushed to catch him up, pushing through the other students that were trying to leave the classroom.
"Hey, Will! Where are you going?" asked Mike.
"Sorry, I-I've got to go somewhere. I'll meet you guys later."
Will got out the door. He looked to his right. James was at his locker at the other side of the hall. Will walked up to him, trying to act natural. He got there and James looked at him.
"Hi" said Will.
"Hum... Hi." James said back.
"We have history together."
"Do we? I'm sorry I can't really remember. I didn't pay attention."
"That's fine."
An awkward silence.
"So... Did you want to talk to me abut something in particular or...?"
"Oh. Yes, I mean- no. No. I just wanted to like I don't know... like- get to know you. You're new."
"Yeah, I know I'm new." he said, with a smile, showing his white teeth.
"Do you wanna eat with me and my friends maybe at lunch? Or just with me. Whatever you want." Will suggested.
He hoped that James would say he wanted to eat with Will, and Will only.
"Yeah that's cool. Its beats eating on my own."
"So you'll join us then?"
"Yeah, sure. Just tell me where you guys are gonna sit in the cafeteria and stuff and I'll eat with you."
"Cool." Will said, with a big smile. "See you there"
Will turned round and went back to find his friends. He felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Hey, man what were you doing?" asked Mike with a puzzled look on his face.
"Sorry I was just talking to James."
"James? The new kid?" asked Mike.
"Yeah."
"Why?" he asked, confused.
"Well I know what it's like to be the new kid and I guess I just wanted to make him feel welcome." Will lied.
He obviously wasn't going to say 'Oh because he's the other gay guy at this school and we've been emailing each other anonymously and I wanted to get closer to him.'
"Okay. I understand. You're always so nice to people Will." Mike complimented.
"Thanks." Will said, blushing a little "And by the way, James is eating with us at lunch. I thought I would be nice if we all had lunch together and then he could meet the party."
"Oh! That's- yeah sure. That was nice of you." Mike smiled awkwardly.
Will simply gave him an awkward smile back.