| As Will and Max walked down the narrow hallway, Will turned his head to the side, looking over at his new friend as she spoke to him. Nodding his head in agreement, he shrugged his shoulders minutely. “I don’t think that matters to them, unfortunately.” He began, sighing slightly, even as he could feel more stares glaring daggers into him. It seemed even him making a new friend was something that others would look down on him for.
The bullying had been relentless since his return from the Upside Down, and his mom and even Jonathan were getting to be more and more worried about that fact. Being called Zombie Boy was just the beginning of it. “After I came back, it just got worse. I’m used to it at this point.” He muttered quietly to her, even as they continued walking down the heavily crowded halls of Hawkins Middle School. The more that Will saw people staring at him, however, the more closed off he seemed to get, as if the anxiety and the stares from the onlookers were finally starting to get to him slightly.
No matter how much he said that it didn’t bother him, the truth would almost always show eventually.
Seeing them approach one of the large stacks of lockers, Will stopped beside Max, knowing almost immediately that it was her’s, before he began to look around. Even though the hallways were bustling with students, Will couldn’t spot Lucas, Dustin, or Mike anywhere, no matter how hard he looked. It seemed either his three best friends were already at lunch, waiting on him, or they had been held up at one of their own classes. Either way, he would eventually run into them, and introduce Max to the three of them.
At the most part, Max already knew Dustin and Lucas, he had already heard them gush about her the moment they had met up, but Mike was a whole different story. He hadn’t heard anything from his other best friend about meeting Max already, and he hadn’t heard it from the red haired girl either, which begged the question: How would Mike take to meeting Max, especially after El had sacrificed herself in order to save him and his friends from the threat of the Demogorgon?
He was almost terrified to find out. Will and Mike were the two people in their group that were hard to open up the most, between the four of them. Maybe the fact that she had already become his friend so quickly would help Mike do just that, however.
Listening to what Max was saying, he looked back at her in surprise. “You were bullied too?” He asked her, his voice showing some sort of disbelief. To know that Max had been bullied in her other school was shocking to him, especially since she showed that she could fend for herself. He guessed that she had to, in order to deal with the bullying she had been put through previously. “Why would they do that to you? You seem like someone that others would get along with.” He finished, tilting his head slightly to the side.
Listening as she continued talking to him, he stared down at the floor, even though everything that she said was true, he couldn’t help but feel at a lost cause with that. He was the shy person of his group, he didn’t normally talk to many people, besides Mike, Lucas, and Dustin. The fact that he had become such quick friends with Max in such a short amount of time, had baffled him to no end. “I don’t know, I’m not like that, I guess? I just keep quiet, and hope it eventually passes. It didn’t get to be this bad until I came back anyway.” He finished, talking in what seemed to be a whisper.
He didn’t like to talk about his time away, especially with someone as new as Max, who didn’t even know about the Upside Down. It was different when he spoke about it with those that knew what he was talking about, and why he had vanished into thin air. The current excuse had been that he had been kidnapped by someone. That the person had broken into his house, and taken him before he was found a week later. But that was so far from the truth, and it showed from the jumpiness that he exhibited whenever he heard the sound of a creak, or the snap of a breaking twig from within the woods.
What he had dealt with in the Upside Down, would forever affect him, no matter how hard he tried to pretend what had happened, wasn’t real.
“Of course! I can introduce you to them. You already know Dustin and Lucas.” He began, even as Max finally shut her locker and they began to make their way to his own. Reaching it, Will quickly unlocked it before placing his books and notebooks inside, before shutting his own door. “Mike will be there too. They’re probably at lunch already waiting for me, so we’ll have a table ready for us.” He said, a smile seeming to take up his face as he thought about hanging out with his friends, even if it was for a short amount of time.
With that being said, he led her to the cafeteria, where they grabbed their lunch before making their way over to the table where Mike, Dustin, and Lucas were sitting at. Seeing them approach, Mike’s gaze landed on Max immediately, before flicking his gaze over at Will. “Mike, this is Max. Max, Mike.” He introduced quietly, trying to alleviate the awkwardness of the situation. He could understand trying to make new friends, especially at a brand new school. He just hoped everyone would get along. |
