waves; byler

( i.) dreaming

michael wheeler hated william byers. and not for no reason. they used to be best friends. now they aren't, and mike didn't understand why.

the change between middle school and high school was gradual, but the difference between then and now is ever-apparent. will was on vacation when mike met jane, but the next thing william knew was that jane moved into the byers' house with her father and sisters. will didn't even know this girl, but soon, the days mike came over were few and far between, and they weren't for will. mike soon became obsessed with the idea of popularity and girlfriends and being perfect. oh, how the tables have turned. will started to understand why he was jealous that mike wanted girlfriends instead of best friends.

will byers was gay.

he told two of his sisters, who were the same age as him. sara and jane seemed to understand. slowly and surely, it was will's turn in the sun. jane, sara, and will became inseparable. will found out he could run like hell and joined the track team. sara was cheerleading captain and jane was the best dancer on the drill team at hawkins high. everything mike ever wanted got handed to will. and so, mike came to hate his best friend.

william byers had a golden life. he and his sisters had major prestige at their school. will and his boyfriend were seated at the popular table. sara and jane sat next to them. jane was no longer dating mike, because she realized that she didn't need a boyfriend. jane's older sister kali was an outcast at hawkins high, and jane and sara (as much as they loved her) didn't want to be lonely and sad and end up moving to pittsburgh. on the other side of the cafeteria sat a party of four.

"shut the fuck up, asshole!" giggled maxine mayfield, playfully shoving mike wheeler. lucas sinclair and dustin henderson sat next to the two, talking about some update on a random videogame nobody else would've heard of. mike is on his phone, showing max memes that are about gingers sucking. they're partners in crime, best friends. everyone thinks they're dating, especially considering they're both bisexual and they always hang out together. they used to hate each other, as a matter of fact. max wanted to be friends with jane so bad, and eventually made her realize that mike wasn't her source of happiness. mike resented her for that, but when it came down to it, he took all the friends he could get. lucas and max used to date, but lucas finally broke it off after realizing that pining after the same girl wasn't it for him. it was mutual, especially considering that middle school relationships don't last forever. it was junior and senior year now for all of them.

max, jane, sara, and will were all juniors. lucas, dustin, and mike were seniors. lucas played baseball, and that gave him a little bit of street cred, but mike was doomed to be frogface, and dustin was more interested in science than sports. will, much to his dismay, was one of the most intelligent students in his grade. he was taking the senior class for honors english, even though he was a junior, and by the end of senior year, he was likely to have enough credits to skip math for all eight required semesters in college.

mike truly missed the olden days, when things were so much simpler. he didn't have to worry about girls and boys and sexuality and friends. he could just be himself around people who cared about him. there was a lot of stigmatized bullshit around not being in relationships, even if you're as sexually active as a cactus. it wasn't super fair, but that was high school. even the theatre kids were getting more action than him, he thought to himself as his eyes drifted to the table where lily buckley was making out with jack smith. he rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to max.

      "we should go skating at xtra xtreme on friday," max spoke.

      "i don't skate, max."

      "but you could. great way to get a date," the copper-haired girl winked. mike let his eyes roll with a sigh, and rested his chin on the palm of his right hand. he put his earbuds in and started listening to some cavetown. max giggled at the sight of the boy acting all sad, and started playing some conan gray in her own headphones. conan gray made her cry sometimes, but at this point, she had no tears left. the two losers subconsciously glanced over to the popular table.

     will's boyfriend, peyton derrick, was holding will's hand and convincing him to come to the basketball game friday night. jane and sara agreed with peyton, considering that jane was going to be doing the halftime show and sara was going to be on the sidelines, yelling like a storm. will finally gave in and kissed peyton. mike looked away abruptly, but not before will realized that the boy was staring at the couple.

     after the lunch bell rang, will walked up to mike.

     "why were you staring at us?" will inquired.

     "i wasn't."

     "bullshit. don't you think peyton's cute?" will pressed.

     "no," mike replied cooly.

     "you think he's ugly?" will exclaimed.

      "no! no, not at all," mike replied.

     "so you do have a crush on him. noted." will walked off and mike let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding in. max walked up to him and slung an arm around his shoulder.

     "screw boys," max said as she rolled her eyes. the pair walked off, arms around each other's shoulders.