WILL POV-

The pair calmly stepped into the room; all eyes turn to them confused why they suddenly rushed out earlier. Will remained tight-lipped, not wanting to tell the other characters anything unless it's urgent.

Max sat on El's desk whispering sweet nothings to her; finishing her work to make a beeline to El so they could spend what little time they had before lesson started together. The pair giggled bashfully turning red from their conversation.

Dustin and Will approached Mike and Lucas. The ravenette sat idle in his seat maintaining the same unchanging expression he always did.

"Where did you lot go?" Lucas questioned crossing his arms "Monster hunting?"

"Umm it was a UFO" Dustin spat "And we actually went to the snack bar"

"So where is the food then?" Mike finally spoke. He knew it was a lie as he saw them go in the complete opposite direction of the snack bar; it was clear Will and Dustin were hiding something.

"Oh umm..." Will muttered

"We ate it on the way" Dustin lied, thinking of the first idea that popped into his head.

"Whatever" Mike mumbled scrolling through his phone. Even in the comic he was always harsh to his friends despite caring for them. It was confusing to say the least and caused a lot of the angst in the story. Will tried to avoid Mike as much as possible but now he had an even bigger plan as he looked over at Max and El.

Will promised himself to support Max and El's relationship but he couldn't do that if Mike would always come in the way being a thorn in El's side trying to romance her. El showed no interest in the ravenette so far and nowadays seemed more interested in Max and also taking a liking to sowing clothes and fashion; some of which she planned to wear for camp. He smiled bright looking in their direction seeing how happy they were.

Mike looked up from his phone to see the brunette observing Max and El. A thought came into his mind, Did Will like Max? He looked back at his phone scoffing; so perhaps he wasn't gay. That meant he didn't need to interrogate the smaller boy about the pink note. It was probably just something Troy and James wrote thinking it was an insult.

"Okay settle down!" The teacher announced as soon as she entered the room; it wasn't unusual for her to start the lesson earlier than expected and finish pass the bell; yes, she was one of 'those' teachers. Mike sulked in his seat realising he hadn't had a chance to speak with El recently, they met briefly while shopping but that was for mere minutes; it made him somewhat sad, he did like her perhaps even to the point of having a crush on her.

Will sat in his seat, his leg bopping up and down as he took his books out his bag. He was relieved to finally tell someone all the craziness happening around him. He was glad Dustin listened instead of completely dismissing the idea before he finished explaining, but he shook his head allowing the lesson to begin.

---- 12:23 PM ----

After the bell rung, the teacher immediately left leaving the students to go for lunch. Will took a deep breath; it seemed as though time in the comic was faster than that in the real world. It wasn't a noticeable difference; just a few seconds but Will found the inconsistency strange.

Dustin immediately jumped from his desk excited for lunch; he didn't even like lessons seeming as though he only came to school for the meal options and it was understandable. This school was a private school with fresh food for only the richest of students. Will rolled his eyes, never being a fan of lunch time: perhaps it was the lacklustre food options in his public high school or the fact he had no one to spend his time with.

The curly haired boy rallied all his friends, nicknaming them 'the party' that now consisted of: him, Mike, Lucas and Max along with the newly added El and Will. The brunette sighed but decided to follow Dustin to the lunch room. Will scanned the area realising that in the one week he had been here he never brought lunch from the cafeteria, instead just buying food from the snack bar.

They walked over to the line to order, Will stayed beside Lucas joking as they walked side by side. He didn't know what food tasted good and the sheer number of options took him aback: his public school could never. Will decided to just buy the same as whatever Lucas did merrily chatting as they made their way over to the benches. The small boy sat with Dustin and Lucas on one side while Mike, El and Max sat on the other. Will dug into his food but felt eyes on him, each time he looked up, Mike passed glances at him making him uncomfortable not knowing the reason for this staring.

"Umm... I'm gonna go to the snack bar" Will chirped standing up from his seat; just wanting an excuse to get away from Mike's eyes

"I'll come with you!" Lucas softly smiled, secretly just wanting some alone time with the smaller boy, Will nodded as his smile grew.

Walking off through the doors; Mike followed them with his eyes due to Troy and James closely trailing behind the pair. They were up to no good and Mike suspected that, instantly jumping up from his seat, placing his tray on the table.

"Umm where are you going now?" Dustin questioned furrowing his brows

"To the snack bar!" Mike lied, wanting to leave this conversation before he lost sight of Troy and James

"Buy me a 3 Musketeer bar!" Dustin pleaded

"Fine!" Mike rolled his eyes charging toward the pair

Lucas and Will walked ahead, taking their time slowly stepping to their destination "So what do you want from the snack bar, Will?" Lucas questioned, tilting his head.

"Umm..." Will squinted his eyes "Chocolate milk" saying the first thought that came to mind. He only used the snack bar as an excuse to get away from Mike.

"Oh cool!" Lucas spoke bashfully, returning to quiet for a few minutes

"You remember how we were talking about passions the other day?" Lucas began breaking the silence, "I know what I want to do in the future!"

"Really? That's awesome! What is it?" Will enthusiastically gleamed

"Umm photography" Lucas awkwardly chuckled scratching the back of his neck

"Oooo! That's nice! My brother is a photographer!" The smaller boy related

"Your brother?" Lucas questioned, never aware of Will having a brother. In his eyes the only sibling Will had was El and she was adopted.

"Yeah! My broth..." Will caught himself forgetting he wasn't in the real world rather in this comic, he had no siblings in the comic except El, "...My cousin brother!" Will lied awkwardly smiling.

"Oh cool!" The athletic boy added "Umm... You know how you said you would help me with it?"

"Yeah?" Will chuckled; he knew the bare minimum about photography but could help with the basics.

"C-could you be my model perhaps?" Lucas stammered hoping his question didn't come off inappropriate or random.

"Oh..." Will was flattered but never really liked taking photos of himself "Why don't you ask Mike or Dust-"

"No!" Lucas cut off "I want you!"

"Oh...okay" Will awkwardly stretched his words. The thought that Lucas wanted to spend time with him spun in his head as he hid the blush on his face walking to the snack bar.

"I need to go to the bathroom!" Lucas complained seeing the water trickle from the fountain.

Will smiled "Go! I'll wait here for you!" urging the athletic boy to run off to the bathroom before he had an accident.

Will stood near the fountain taking out his phone scrolling through. A few minutes passed uneventful as Mike watched from afar seeing Troy and James just stand meters away menacingly. It wasn't clear what they were planning to do, if anything but the grins on their face made it seem as though they had some sort of sinister plan.

Suddenly the two boys began charging quicker than Mike could react; just seeing them rush pass Will, pushing him away. Chuckling, the two boys went to the other side of the courtyard seeing the small boy stumble, taking a step back trying to retain balance, but failing as he tripped over the rim of the fountain falling in. His phone thrown into the bushes a few meters away.

Will sat in the fountain submerged with water; confused by what happened; the water splashed over him drenching his whole body. The shock from the situation made him shiver unable to get up not helped by the fact he was dripping wet.

"WILL!" Lucas's eyes widened as he entered the courtyard running over; The ravenette did the same rushing over both standing at the foot of the fountain. Will sat inside he tried to move but kept tripping from the water hitting his face and the slippery surfaces.

Both boys extended a hand to help him up. Will looked at the faces of the two boys; both sincere; both breath taking. He didn't know which hand to take in his as the water droplets lightly danced around him. 

--------------------------

1583 Words

Stay Safe <3