Chapter Text
High school kids were evil. They fed off the misery of the weaker kids. Will was one of those unfortunate kids to fall victim to those spawns of satan.
.................
The drive from Lenora, California, to Hawkins, Indiana, wasn’t too long; it was just annoying. A whole day of nonstop driving, because for some random reason, Joyce thought they were above staying at a motel somewhere in between and making it into a two-day trip. Will and Jonathan were driving their mom's green 1976 Ford Pinto. Switching spots every 2 hours or so. Joyce and Jane were a couple of hours ahead, having left earlier than them, driving a U-Haul, which carried most of the things all four of them owned. Well, anything that wasn't shoved into oblivion in this puke green car that is.
Moving to a town in the middle of nowhere was not on Will's “senior summer” bucket list. Going to parties, hanging out with friends, and… cliff jumping? Were. But his Junior year had other plans that entirely screwed over all his ideals. Instead of doing all that, he was moving 20 hours away to this new town where he knew no one, starting his senior year at a brand new school.
They were on the final hour or so of the drive. Will was staring out the window. The view was just corn fields, pumpkin patches, and trees for miles.
Jonathan broke what had been a 3-hour silence, “It’s going to be quieter here.” He said, glancing over at Will shortly, his eyebrows pinching together slightly, then returning his gaze to the road before him.
Will didn’t answer. He just kept watching the stupid cornfields buzz by. He didn’t care about it being quiet. He just wanted somewhere where no one would know him. Moving was a desperate try to rebrand. After what had been his Junior year, that's all he desperately wanted.
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Moving into their new house on Mirkwood wasn’t hard. They traveled light. They didn’t have much to bring anyway.
The first few days of being there were about exploring the new town where they now resided. Joyce and Jonathan were out looking for jobs almost immediately, while Jane and Will drove around as much as possible, taking in the new sights.
But peace doesn’t last long because the day Will dreaded finally came—the first day of senior year.
Joyce had no problem barging into his room at 6 a.m. to wake him up for school. “Will, honey, it's time to get up for school; you have to be there by 7:30.” Then she proceeded one room over to do the same to Jane.
Will groaned. He was comfortable in his bed, but he begrudgingly kicked off the sheets and swung his legs over the side of it. He stretched, yawned, and then stood up. He threw on a pair of khakis, a plain white t-shirt, and a yellow flannel over it. He then walked over to the mirror and fixed his hair.
Will went out into the kitchen, where his mom and Jane were already eating breakfast. He poured himself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the table with them.
“You excited for your first day of senior year, you two?” Joyce asked both of them, seeming too cheerful for 6 a.m. on a Monday.
Jane responded with an excited expression. “Yes! I’m very excited. I found out that there's a cheer team, and they perform at sports games and stuff. I’m going to try out for it after school today.”
“You’ve never cheered before.” Will said mid-chew, a bland expression on his face.
“So? I could be good at it.” She shrugged.
Joyce watches the interaction, then repeats her question after they are done. “What about you, Will? Are you excited about school?”
“I guess.”
“You guess? Do you have any extra things you might want to do? Like a sport-”
“I don't play sports,” He cuts her off, “but maybe I'll join a club or something.”
They finished breakfast shortly after and headed out the door at around seven. Will hops into the driver's seat of the poor excuse for a car Joyce had found a few days ago for Will and Jane to use. Jane slides into the passenger seat, immediately pulling down the visor and flipping open the mirror to do her makeup.
After pulling out of the driveway, Will clicked on the radio and dialed a few different stations before finding one playing a song he liked.
The whole ride consisted of Jane telling him to drive “smoother” so she doesn't keep messing up her makeup, which results in eye rolls from Will.
He pulls into the Hawkins High parking lot to see that everyone was early, taking all the spots close to the school. So he had to park on the opposite side of the lot, which was a frustrating distance from the front doors. Great start to the day.
Jane hops out of the car, slamming the door probably a little too hard.
“Jeez, chill on the door. This car could fall into nuts and bolts at any second.” Will snarked.
The two of them make their way to the school's front entrance. Slimly avoiding the kids barreling through the parking lot in their cars and bikes.
The start of the day was easy. Will made his way through classes without much interaction. Expect the usual start of the year icebreakers, the teachers would force onto the unwilling kids. He got a few stares, but he knew that was probably because he was a new kid at a school where everyone had been together their whole lives. So a new face was a rarity.
Will and Jane met back up at lunchtime, sitting at the unoccupied end of a table where a loud group of kids was seated.
“I’m telling you! We can’t do campaigns without getting more people to join! Half of our party graduated last year. How are we supposed to play with three people?” One of them complained, gesturing their hands wildly as they spoke.
Will glanced down the table at this group. There were four kids. Sitting on one side of the table was a dark-haired boy with chocolate skin, and a redhead girl with a dusting of orange freckles on her face, sitting adjacent to him. Across from those two was another boy with curly brown hair and a baseball hat that said “thinking cap”. As he talked, he slumped his head down on the table in frustration, revealing the other boy sitting beside him.
This boy had longer, midnight black hair, completed with a fringe that ended just above his eyebrows. His hair was messy, but the type of messy where it looks intentional, like he fixed it to look that way in an “effortless” way. He had pale skin, with cheeks that were almost hollow with how defined they were. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt with a t-shirt layered over it. He was decorated with a few necklaces and a ring on almost every finger, accustomed to chipped black nail polish. Will couldn’t help but stare, nearly caught in a trance by this boy. But not long after, Jane snapped him out of his frozen gaze when she had to repeat herself.
“Will,” she said, snapping her fingers in his face, “did you hear me? I said cheer tryouts are today, so you have to wait after school until 5:00 to go home.”
“Right, yeah. Okay,” he said. Snapping his gaze back to Jane, who was staring at him with a raised eyebrow. She glanced at the group on the other end of the table, who were all still arguing over some party or something. But then the bell rang, and the cafeteria became a swarm of students who didn't want to be late for their next class.
Will and Jane stood up and cleared their trays before splitting off to their following classes.
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Before he knew it, the last bell of the day rang, signaling the end of the school day. The hallways were crowded with kids leaving classes. Each student was already drained from just the first day. The sound of the worn-out hinges on each locker creaking every time someone opened it, the sound of sneakers against the vinyl tile floors, and the voices of the kids making plans for that evening.
Will slipped out of the classroom and navigated through the crowded corridors, remembering he couldn't go home yet because Jane had cheer tryouts. So he went to the library to try to kill the 90 minutes by reading. There were a few other kids in there, some wandering the rows looking for books, others just sitting at the tables with their friends, getting told to be quiet by the cranky, probably has been there for 40+ years, librarian lady.
Will found an empty table in a quieter spot of the library. He dropped his bag down on the table and slumped into one of the chairs. He pulled out the book he was currently reading in his free time, which was one of those in the Star Wars saga, “ The Empire Strikes Back” . It was a fictitious escape from all his real-life problems.
He got so lost in reading that he didn't even realize an hour and a half had passed. He folded a corner on the page he left off on and put the book in his backpack, zipping it up and throwing it over one shoulder. He knew Jane’s tryouts were probably over by now, so he decided he’d just wait in the parking lot for her.
He made his way out of the library, the large doors slowly closing behind him, clicking shut. He walked down the hallway, which at this point was completely empty besides him, and made his way toward the front entrance.
As he was walking by a secondary corridor built off the main hallway, he caught the faint sound of music being played. It sounded like an acoustic guitar that was slightly out of tune. He decided to check it out, splitting from the main hallway and walking down that corridor until he was met with a door that had a small glass window in it.
He peeked through the window to see a music room. The room consisted of instruments of all kinds, scattered everywhere, large chalkboards with messily written chord progressions, 20-plus sheet music stands shoved in the corner, and a piano in the adjacent corner. Will shifted his gaze even further into the room (as much as he could see from the window) and caught the tuft of the effortlessly messy, but the type of messy that's on purpose, midnight black hair with the desperately needed-to-be-trimmed fringe. It was the boy from earlier, in the cafeteria. He was absent-mindedly plucking the strings of an acoustic guitar decorated with stickers. His head was downturned, eyes focused on the guitar strings as he played no specific melody.
Like before in the cafeteria, Will couldn't seem to tear his gaze away from this mysterious boy. He was just too– majestic? It is the only word Will could think of. It didn't even cross his mind that anyone passing by would think he looked like some unmoving creep staring through the window of the door.
Will watches intently as the boy mis-plucks a string, and it makes an off-key note. The boy stops playing for a second, and to Will's dismay, he lifts his head, and his gaze falls on the door immediately. Almost like he had an instinct that someone was watching him. They caught each others gaze for not even a full second before Will was quick to move out of the window, his heart thrumming, because he was just caught staring at this random boy like he was plotting him as his next victim or something.
He quickly walked away from the music room and reentered the main hallway, turning the corner out of view just as the sound of the door opening could be heard behind him. The boy was probably looking around to see who the creep was that was watching him.
Will kept walking, eventually making it out of the school, heading to his car that was parked on the other side of the lot. His heart was still pounding, mostly because he was caught staring, but a small part felt there was another reason he couldn't fully wrap his mind around.
When Will got to the car, Jane was already there, leaning against its hood with her arms crossed and an annoyed expression on her face.
“Dude, where the hell have you been? I said to meet me here at 5:00. It's now-” she checks her watch, “5:23! I've been waiting here for almost 30 minutes.”
“Sorry, sorry. I got caught up in my book and didn’t realize how much time had passed,” he said as they both got into the car, not even caring to mention his half-encounter with the mysterious boy, “and besides. 20 minutes is hardly even a long time.” he said, turning the keys in the ignition, praying that the car will start, and when it does he lets out a sigh of relief.
“Well, it's long when I just had an hour and a half long cheer tryout, and just want to get home,” she says, buckling her seatbelt as he pulls out of the parking spot.
“Oh yeah. How was that, by the way? You don't seem too enthusiastic about it.”
“Eh, it was okay, I guess. I don't think I'll make the team,” she shrugs, “I'm not very good, and I don't think I'm coordinated enough for it.”
“Well, with that state of mind, you definitely won't make the team,” Will laughs, which earns an eye roll from Jane. “I'm serious. Have an open mind. Who knows, they might've thought you were a perfect candidate.”
“Oh, please, I tripped like four times during one routine.”
“You have to start somewhere, right?”
“I guess so,” she sighs, turning her head to look out the window—her classic move to end a conversation.
Will gave a short laugh and shook his head. Then he clicked on the radio, which was still on the same channel as earlier, and the song, “ Should I Stay or Should I Go," by The Clash started playing through the speakers.
Darling, you got to let me know,
Will and Jane didn't talk the rest of the ride; the only sound that could be heard was the song playing.
Should I stay or should I go?
Will had survived his first day of senior year at this brand new school, in the middle of absolute nowhere.
If you say that you are mine,
One day down.
I'll be here till the end of time.
Only one hundred and seventy-nine left.
So you got to let me know,
Easy, right?
Should I stay or should I go?