Meet the Hawkins ~ Stranger Things

Chapter 2

November 7th, 1983

Hawkins Indiana

Hawkins Middle School

James

The bell outside Hawkins Middle School rang, letting the students know that they had thirty minutes left until class started. James rode his bike to the metal bike rack, on the very end like usual. But something wasn't right. Will's bike wasn't on the rack like it usually was.

"That's weird." Mike said, putting the kickstand down on his bike. Lucas and Dustin followed suit and also looked around. "I don't see him."

Luke sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "I'm telling you, his mom's right." They all followed Mike towards the front doors of the school, passing by groups of other middle schoolers who ignored them. "He probably went to class early again."

"Yeah, he's always paranoid Gursky's gonna give him another pop quiz." Dusin added.

James and Mike shared a look, though. Joyce Byers called Mike's mom, asking if Will spent the night at his house, which didn't help James's paranoia. All James could do was think back on his father's words he told him that morning. If something had happened, Jasper wouldn't have come home, and since he came home last night, everything was alright. Right?

"Step right up, ladies and gentlemen." James tensed and turned around to see Troy Walsh and George Dante. Troy was the shorter of the two, but also the loudest. He wore a hoodie and shirt with the number thirty-two on it, ripped up jeans and dirty boots. George looked a little nicer, but not by much, since his nice, expensive clothes were always caked in mud. "Step right up and get your tickets for the freak show." Out of the two of them, Troy was smarter, but that was like saying one shit pile is smellier than the other, in the end, they were both piles of shit.

The boys lined up, next to one another, knowing that if they ran, they would get beaten up. A couple minutes of humiliation in private was better than becoming the laughingstock of the school.

"Who do you think would make more money in a freak show?" Troy continued before stepping in front of Lucas. "Midnight?" He punched Lucas in the shoulder. "Frogface?" He punched Mike. "Toothless?" He punched Dustin and then stepped right in front of James. "Or Helen Keller." Troy slapped James's left ear, instantly making it start to ache and burn as his hearing aid was squished further into his ear.

George brought his hand to his chin and squinted his eyes, looking at each boy before pointing at Dustin. "I'd got with toothleth." George gave himself a lisp to mock Dustin, making James ball up his fist into his pocket.

"I told you a million times, my teeth are coming in." Dustin said in a frustrated tone. "It's called cleidocranial dysplasia."

"'I thold you a million thimes.'" George mocked Dustin.

"Do the arm thing." Troy ordered Dustin. James was about to speak up, but Troy slapped James in his other ear, making the boy hiss in pain. "Shut it, freak!" James looked down and glared at the ground while he heard Dustin twist his arms and make them pop. Both George and Troy groaned in disgust. "God, gets me every time." Troy shoved himself past Lucas and Mike while George pushed through James and Dustin.

"Fucking assholes." James muttered as he rubbed his ears.

"I think it's kinda cool." Mike looked at James and Dustin. "It's like you have a superpower or something. Like Mr. Fantastic," Mike told Dustin before looking at James. "And you can turn off your hearing aids so you don't have to hear Gursky's voice."

James didn't say anything. He just stared at the ground and nodded at Mike's words, following after the paladin as they led the party into the school.