It was right before school started and Mike and Ben came up to Stan, which was at his locker.
"Hey Stan, why'd you leave so abruptly yesterday? Beverly said it was a personal thing but you're normally open with us," Ben said.
"This one is a bit more personal than normal."
"Oh we get it, just know we are here for you. The whole group is," Mike told Stan. He nodded in response right as the five minute bell rang.
"We should get to class. Don't wanna be late," Stan said as he closed his locker, "I'll see you guys later."
Stan left the two dumbfounded, looking at each other. They left to get to their English class in time. Richie made it to the classroom at the last minute.
"Hey guys," he whispered to Mike & Ben, "how's your morning been?"
"Alright," Ben said.
"Different," Mike told him.
"Okay class. Bring out your Animal Farm books and flip to page 56," the teacher said. The entire class took out their books and flipped to the page. Then the teacher spoke up after, "Richie, can you please read until the end of page 60?"
Richie nodded and started reading aloud. He got to the end of the page and the teacher looked towards someone else, "okay, Amanda, can you read until page 65?" She nodded and read it then two more people read pages until page 75.
The teacher spoke up one more time, "the bell is about to ring so for homework, it's reading until page 85."
After she said that, the bell rang. The class rushed out of the room and everyone made their way to the next class. The next two class periods went by and the lunch bell rang. Richie went to his locker and dropped off his backpack. He then started making his way towards the lunch room and saw Stan at his locker. He went over to him and put his hand on the one side of Stan.
"Hey Stanny", Richie joked.
"What do you want?"
"To see you. You ran away yesterday after we played Twister. Why'd you leave?"
"I-I don't have to tell you anything," he said flustered.
"Oh please. Your secret will come out at some point. I don't know when, but soon."
Stan shook his head and closed his locker, "I'm going to the cafeteria. Stop being so weird."
Stan then walked away from Richie. Leaving him alone and confused. He just shrugged and walked to the cafeteria after his crush. He ended up getting his food and sitting down with the group.
"Why are burgers always on the menu," Beverly sighed.
"It's probably considered the easiest thing for them to make," Eddie pointed out, "they should try and get more of a variety though. It's not very healthy."
"E-Eddie, you s-should f-f-focus more on s-schoolwork compared t-to cafeteria food."
"Yeah but still. Variety would be nice."
"It could be a lot worse," Mike pointed out, "we could have the same thing everyday."
"That's true," Ben agreed, "imagine having burgers everyday."
"I-I w-would r-r-rather be h-homeschooled over b-burgers everyday," Bill said shaking his head.
Stan shook his head quickly, "I would rather die than eat burgers daily. Such a waste of resources."
"It really is a waste," Beverly said, "but I don't think it's worth dying over."
Stan shrugged in response and finished his food, "I'm not sure if we were planning on hanging out after school but I'd rather just hang out by myself."
"We weren't going to hang out but Christmas and Hanukkah are coming up in a few weeks," Ben pointed out, "we should plan a party or at least a hang out over winter break."
"A party sounds fun," Eddie said, "I'm not sure if my mom would allow me to go but I'll figure it out. I might just say we're studying."
"Where would we even have a party," Beverly asked.
"W-We can d-do i-i-it at m-my house."
"Sounds like a good plan Billy boy," Richie said.
"It's only three weeks too so we got time to plan," Mike added.
"Oh! We should do a white elephant gift exchange," Beverly exclaimed.
"That sounds like fun," Stan spoke up.
"How does that work," Eddie asked.
"W-We all g-g-get random g-gifts, p-put them i-i-in a p-pile, and h-have u-us choose a g-gift one b-by one," Bill explained.
"Yeah, it's not that difficult actually," Richie told him, "it'll be fun."
"Y-Yeah. J-Just bring o-o-one gift t-though. W-We don't n-n-need to b-bring multiple."
"Sounds good," Beverly said as the bell rang, "well, I'll see you guys later."
The entire group left the cafeteria and finished off their school day. The final bell rang and all the students ran to their lockers. Stan grabbed everything he needed and ran out of the school; as the rest of the group stayed around to talk about the day.
