𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨, 𝙈𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨, 𝘼𝙥𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙮𝙥𝙨𝙚 ─ 𝘉𝘺𝘭𝘦𝘳

Chapter 4 - Joyce

-- #3RDPERSON

"I hate you." Will whispered, his cheeks soaked as tears streamed down them, his hands balled into fists as he looked up at Mike.

For a moment Will saw a flash of pain spread across Mike's face, the light in his eyes seemingly going dimmer.

"I don't care." He whispered back, making direct eye contact with Will as he spoke.

"I heard yelling, what's going on?" Joyce's voice came from the door as she walked in.

"I don't want to be in here anymore, I'm done." Will turned around to face her, her eyes widening as she saw the tears that were on her sons cheeks.

"Wh-.. Yeah, yeah that's fine. Mike, you can go now sweetheart. Will, come here." Joyce told them both.

Will watched as Mike walked past them both, seemingly not even caring that him and Will's friendship had basically just ended. Mike walked down the stairs and soon disappeared from Will's sight, only making him cry even harder.

"Baby, what happened?" Joyce whispered, her heart breaking as the sight of her son.

"We- We argued and he-" Will tried to explain but he could barely form a proper sentence because of how hard he was crying.

She gently wrapped her arm around her son and brought him over to her bedroom where she knew nobody would disturb them. She gently sat him down on her bed as she shut the door behind them both.

"Sweetheart, what happened?" She spoke softly, pulling him into a hug.

"I don't think me and Mike are friends anymore." Will sobbed, his voice breaking as he spoke. Joyce's eyes widened as she heard what he said.

"No, no, I don't think he would just throw away 13 years of friendship because of some silly argument." Joyce sighed, although she didn't exactly believe what she was saying.

"No, we aren't friends anymore and it's all my fault!" He bawled.

Joyce genuinely didn't know what to say to him so she just held him. She held him and let him cry until he couldn't anymore, speaking softly to him in hopes of calming him down.

"It's okay, just breathe. I've got you, you're okay." She whispered, giving her son's forehead a gentle kiss.

After another five minutes of Will crying until he literally couldn't breathe, he finally managed to calm down. He pulled away from the hug and Joyce got him some tissues to wipe any tears from his face away.

"Okay, do you want to talk about what happened?" Joyce asked him, gently taking his hand into her own.

"We- We had a fight this morning. But not like a silly fight, like, punching fight." Will sniffled, looking nervous.

"Wh-.. I thought you two were best friends? Why were you fighting?" She frowned, obviously confused.

"I saw him and El cuddling and it- it made me upset." He told her, his voice growing quiet.

"Oh.." She realised, sighing softly. She already knew about Will's crush on Mike, he had told her a few weeks ago.

"Okay, uh.. Just tell me everything that has happened today. Start to finish." She sighed, and Will nodded.

"This morning I went down stairs to get breakfast when I saw Mike and El cussed. Mike saw me get upset and started getting angry at me so I, uhm.. I threw a cup of water in his face and walked away.." Will mumbled, now quite embarrassed at his little outburst. Joyce chuckled slightly, making Will blush immensely.

"Stop, it's not funny!" He whined, only becoming more embarrassed.

"Sorry, sorry, go on." She laughed, composing herself and letting her son carry on.

"He followed me upstairs and started yelling at me but I just ignored him because I didn't want to argue with him again. He got mad at me and threw my sketchbook across the room and it ripped so I got upset and he started mocking me.." Will told Joyce who nodded softly, urging for him to carry on.

"He kept mocking me and calling me a baby and stuff so I slapped him." He admitted, looking down at his hands.

"Wh- Will!" Joyce gasped, not expecting Will to have started it all.

Will stayed silent, continuing to look down at his hands in shame. Joyce saw this and sighed, gently rubbing her thumb along the back of Will's hand.

"It's okay, I'm not mad. Just tell me what else happened." She gave him a gentle smile.

"Uh, he shoved me so I shoved him back harder, he pushed me again so I pushed him again.. Then he punched me. And I punched him back harder. His face started bleeding and he started yelling at me and left." Will told her, knowing his mother would be angry.

"Will, you can't just start fights like that.. You're not a violent boy, what's going on?" She frowned.

"Nothing, I was just upset and he wouldn't stop teasing me." Will shrugged, obviously uncomfortable.

"Listen, I'm not mad at you, okay? If he deserved a punch then you didn't do anything wrong. I'm not saying to go round punching anybody who annoys you but I'm not mad. You defended yourself. I can't be mad at that." Joyce gave him a soft smile.

"..You promise you aren't mad?" Will asked, still frowning slightly.

"I promise." She nodded.

"Now, I want to know what happened in your room. Why were you crying so much and why do you not think you and Mike are friends?" Joyce sighed.

"When you sent us both up to our room he found this picture that I was making and he ripped it up which upset me.. and I started crying. He got super mad at me and was yelling at me and then I yelled back and we were arguing for a while.. Then he started mocking me. Again." Will told her.

"And- And I told him I hate him." He sniffled, feeling the tears welling in his eyes.

"Wh-.. What did he say?" She frowned.

"He told me he doesn't care." He whispered, his voice shaking.

Joyce sighed and pulled him back into a hug, Will immediately bursting into tears. She let him cry into her chest, gently holding him as he cried. She tried her best to comfort him, although she wasn't sure things would still be okay between the two boys.

{Word Count: 1062}