THE SECRET ; byler ✗

× Chapter 18: The Rumor ×

tw: bullying and homophobic slurs

School has started for the party. Mike and Will have played it safe, and no one suspects that they are secretly together. El and Max haven't played it safe but they couldn't care less about people finding out about them.

Mike and Will were happy not having anyone find out. Sure some people were suspicious but they played it cool.

But then the rumors started.

And as we all know, if rumors start in a high school it always gets twisted.

Mike and Will were oblivious to the rumors until one day..

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Will had reached the school first, so he went to his locker. He thought no one was in the hallway because he couldn't hear anything. But as he stepped into the locker hallway, everyone was staring at him and whispering. Will took a deep breath and walked on. Suddenly, he got shoved from behind and fell onto the floor. He got picked up from his shirt collar.

''Is it true then? Will Byers is actually gay?'' Will felt a shiver go down his spine. He knew this voice all too well. Troy Walsh shook poor Will so fast that his head shook back and forth so fats, he looked like a bobble head. Troy threw Will to the ground.

''W-what do you mean?'' Will asked, as he got up. ''You know exactly what I mean, freak.'' Troy got out his phone and showed Will the photo on his screen. Will fell silent. He was shaking. The picture was of him and Mike, behind the bleachers. Kissing. But they never did that. Someone must've used photo shop.

''T-that never happened,'' Will said, ''Oh but it did,'' Troy said, smirking. 'And do you want to know what happens to faggots like you?'' Troy asked Will as he grabbed his shirt collar again. Will knew all too well what happened. Will panicked and kick Troy where it would hurt.

Troy dropped Will because of the pain between his legs. Will took this opportunity to run the hell out of there. He dashed out of school and hurried over to the Wheeler household where his boyfriend was. Will knocked and rang the doorbell so many times, he thought it as going to break. ''I'm coming!'' came a voice. The door opened and Ms. Wheeler was standing there.

''Will! Have you come to see Mike?'' Karen asked him. ''Yes. Do you mind if I come in?'' Will asked. ''No, no. Please do come in!'' Karen stepped aside for Will to go in. Will thanked her and practically dashed upstairs to Mike's room.

Mike was on his phone and got so startled by Will bursting in that he made his phone fly up in the air. ''Will! Jesus Christ never do that again! I-'' Mike stopped mid-sentence when he saw Will's face. ''Will? Will, what's wrong?'' Mike asked gently. ''M-mike,'' Will couldn't say more. He burst into tears. Mike got up from his bed so fast that the blood went rushing up to his head, but he ignored it.

''Will? Tell me what's wrong,'' Mike said as he brought Will to the bed. Will couldn't stop crying. Mike wiped away the tears from Will's cheeks. ''It's okay. Take a deep breath. Breath in. Breath out,'' Will did as Mike told him. Will had slightly calmed down.

''Now, tell me what happened,'' Mike said. ''They know,'' was all that Will had said. Mike understood. ''How?'' Mike asked. ''We've been careful haven't we?'' Mike asked again. ''YEs. But its a picture of us by the bleachers. We never went there. Its been photoshopped.'' Will explained. Mike buried his face in his hands. Mike asked something but Will didn't know what he said because his face was in his face.

''What did you say?'' Will asked Mike. Mike lifted his face from his hands and turned to him. ''Did anyone give you a hard time about it?'' Mike asked. Will hesitated before answering, ''No,'' Mike didn't see that he hesitated. ''You would tell me if you were being bullied. Right?'' Mike asked. ''Yes. Yes, of course,'' Will lied. Mike smiled. ''I'll sort them out,'' Mike told him. Will raised an eye-brow.

''But your a stick,'' Will protested. ''How dare you!'' Mike said, acting like he was shocked. Will burst out laughing and so did Mike. They then were having a mock fight. The fight ended when they were both laying on the bed, smiling at eachother. ''Do we have to go to school?'' Will asked. ''Not if you don't really want to go, no,'' Mike answered him, smiling at his boyfriend. ''Then we're staying here,'' Will said firmly. Mike laugh kissed Will on the lips. Will kissed him back. They pulled away and stayed there, talking and laughing to eachother. They were totally oblivious to everything around them.

But I wish they weren't. Because if they were alot more observant then they would've been smart enough to realize that someone was at Mike window and took a picture and ran away.

( 834 words )

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