broken | Byler

drowned out | 1

This is like, my first time writing a fan-fiction, so I hope it's alright :) Please give feedback if you'd like to if you see something wrong, or something I should change! Thanks! - Leah

Will Byers sat at the lunch table, numb like always. He was watching Mike Wheeler, his so-called best friend, laugh with everyone at the table, while Will sat over in the corner, staring at the beige wall ahead of him.

Sometimes, it was nice, but most of the time, it wasn't. It was nice to be alone. But sometimes? Will needed Mike. He barely even spoke to Mike, since he was always with Jane, his girlfriend. Will has had 3 boyfriends, and they all hated him, so he's become numb to anything. Senseless. He was just, broken inside. He was used to it though. 

The only person at the table that genuinely understood Will, was Max. She was always there for him. She always made him laugh when not even his own brother could. Will wasn't even listening to anyone, everybody's voice was muffled like he was underwater.

"Will?" He faintly heard a voice call.

"Will?!" The voice got louder.

Will's POV

Once I heard my name being called, I flinched and glanced away from the beige wall, and away from my sickening thoughts, and back into reality. The person calling me was Max. Of course. Not that I'm complaining. Max actually cares about me.

"Huh?" 

Max scoffed, playfully. 

"You're always in your own... little world, Will." She pointed out, reaching her arm for my shoulder. Her hands were cold, and I could feel that through my fuzzy jacket I wore.

"Literally." 

I was talking about the upside-down. I was in my own world there, but that's beside me I guess.

"MAX!" I heard Jane call, drawing Max's attention away from me.

"Yeah?" She answered, "wha-" She started before everyone went underwater again. Drowning me in my own terrible thoughts again. 

I sat on the bench, leaned against a wall. I was fiddling with my fingers, as I watched them play and hang out. Then, a hand tapped me. I snapped out of my thoughts and glanced away from my friends, and at an oddly cute boy. He had brown, messy hair, freckles, and a dorky smile.

"Hi, I'm Eddie!" He smiled.

I furrowed my brows, in confusion.

"Oh- I'm Will." 

"We," He pointed to his table, chatting over there, "noticed you were kind of, alone? so we wanted to know if you wanted to sit with us?"

I glanced at them. They seemed, honestly, pretty nice.

"Sure. That sounds good." 

I got up, creaking the rusty metal tables when I did, and catching the attention of The Party. They slowly watched as I walked away with Eddie, was that his name? I tried not to look over at them, but I did.

"What are you doing?" Dustin mouthed to me.

I could have been nice, and said what I was doing, but I decided to ignore them. I raised my eyebrows and turned away. Did it feel... good to do that, and why did it feel so good? We reached the table and they all went silent. Uh oh. The Red-Haired girl got up and held out her hand.

"I'm Beverly Marsh. Nice to meet ya!" She grinned, "This is Ben, Bill, Stan, Trasmouth, or Richie, Mike, and Eddie, who you've probably already met."

She pointed to each one, and they all said a polite 'hello!'. It felt good to start over, to actually be cared for.

"I'm W-Will Byers." I stuttered.

I sat down, next to Beverly and Ben. Richie offered me part of his sandwich, and I took it. I was starving. We all cracked jokes and had a great time. Heck, I was smiling for the first time in 5 weeks. But of course, everything good comes to an end. The bell rang, and I didn't have English, 5th period, with any of them. Which sucked, but, oh well.

I walked out of the cafeteria, staring at the ground. I saw someone spin in front of me. I knew who it was, by the shoes they wore.

"Mike, go away." I barked, trying to lower my tone.

"Why'd you leave us at lunch?"

I questioned how someone was so stupid.

"Have you seen the way you guys talk to me?" I asked.

"no?"

"Exactly. You don't talk to me at ALL." 

I groaned and pushed past Mike, heading into the bathroom. I decided to skip the next two periods, Mike was in both of them. I glanced at myself in the mirror. I couldn't look at myself. I was ugly. I pushed past the stall door and sat down. I saw someone walk in, so I lifted up my legs onto the toilet seat to hide that I was there. Someone followed them in.

"Dustin, I don't get it! Why'd he just... leave? He said we didn't talk to him!" I heard a familiar voice shout. Mike.

"Well, we didn't talk to him. All you're focused on is your girlfriend when you really should've been focused on him." Dustin growled.

"I love her!" Mike roared.

"Well, If you even liked Will as a friend, you'd actually talk to him. Your girlfriend can wait. Now he's probably gonna skip class!" Dustin shrieked, making Mike storm out.

I decided to say something,

"Dustin?" I squeaked.

"Shit, Will?" He asked.

I slowly got off the toilet seat and pushed open the door.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but-" I started.

He shook his head and smiled.

"Mike messed up big time. But you're free to hang out with your other friends."

I thought for a moment.

"Maybe... we can all join together?" I asked.

He nodded and shot finger guns at me.

"Gotcha."

-Time Skip, 10 minutes later.-

I decided it'd be best to just exit school. So that's what I did. I walked down the narrow hallway, only stepping on the red tiles, for a challenge, and making my way to the front gates. It sort of felt.. nice to escape the real world.

I walked to school earlier, so I walked home. I stared at the concrete side-walks, counting each square until I got home. The cars drowned out the birds singing, the kids playing. Everything. After a good 5 minutes, I reached home.

That's when I regret ever coming home.

In the driveway, I saw a 1988 Honda CRX Si, or just a Honda. I knew, or had a thought, of who was here. Shakily, I walked up the driveway, and into my house. There, on the couch, sitting next to the brown-haired, soft mother, Joyce Byers. The only reason I wanted to die when I was 8. The only reason I felt terrible about myself.

Lonnie.

A/N; Plot Twistttttttt. Haha, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I know my writing probably isn't the best, but I tried. Also, please let me know if this story is moving too fast. If it is, I'll slow down. Thanks for reading chapter 1 of my snazzy book ;). I'll probably be updating every 1-2 days since I have some pre-written chapters! So look forward to that, if you even like the story so far, that is. Again, Thanks!