Chapter Text
"El! Come down now! We're going to be late!" Will hollered from the foot of the staircase.
It was their first day of senior year at Hawkins High and the last thing Will wanted was to walk into his first period class tardy.
Will sighed and checked his watch. They should've left 10 minutes ago. Now it was guaranteed that they'd be late. He groaned, busying himself on his phone, checking his messages. There is a whole string of texts from Dustin and Lucas on their group chat, the messages varying from 'dude when will you be here?' to 'bro I thought you were coming early.'
Will snapped his head back to the top of the staircase, where El descended, a sheepish look on her face as the person behind her makes an appearance. Will opened his mouth, ready to snap.
"Seriously, El?" He glanced between El and her girlfriend, Max.
"That's why you took forever? Because Max spent the night?" Will shot his sister and Max a dirty look.
"Whatever, let's just go!" Max said already opening the front door. Will silently fumed as he followed behind. They got into Will's beat up Toyota and made their drive to the school in five minutes when it should've been ten."Hey! Slow down! You're gonna get us a speeding ticket!" El complained.
Will scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Oh please. It's not like a speeding ticket would affect you girls in any way, shape or form." He tried to sound annoyed with the girls, since they were the reason the trio would be late, but affection bled into his tone.
He caught a smile from El, who sat in the passenger seat. Her eyes softened. "Sucks we don't have classes together."
Will nodded in agreement, parking into the student lot at the school. He unbuckled his belt and grabbed his backpack, opening up the passenger seat door and the back seat door for the two girls.
"I'll meet you at lunch. That's basically a class." Will teased.
"It is so not!" El replied. And Max grabbed her hand, urging her to the front door, where students were still piling in, despite the face that the bell had rung ten minutes ago.
Will smiled to himself as they walked off. Grabbing his own backpack and putting it on his shoulders. As he walked through the parking lot, his heart dropped to his stomach as he spotted a familiar navy blue motorcycle parked in one of the lots, barely in the lines even though the bike was significantly smaller than a car, allowing it to be parked perfectly inside the lines, if the driver so pleased.
The driver in question, was of course the one and only Mike Wheeler.
Sloppy, careless and harsh.
He parked the same way he left his friendship with Will at the end of freshman year.
No closure, no explanation and no empathy.
Will gritted his teeth and walked into the school, brushing off memories of the friendship he shared with Mike, the one he had held so close to his heart.
His friendship with Mike was the one he could always rely on.
His friendship with Mike was also the only one he'd ever wanted to ruin.
"You're late, Byers." A harsh voice calls.
Will snapped out of his thoughts, not realizing he'd wandered off into the right exact classroom he was supposed to be in for his first period.
Room 103, English, Mr. Hamel
But Will wasn't looking at Mr.Hamel when he entered the class, not even acknowledging the harsh way he'd addressed him, not even bringing his eyes onto the teacher, because his gaze had caught onto something, or someone else entirely.
Mike Wheeler.