2001.

It was a Saturday, it had been a while and Sue had enrolled him into school on friday. So next week he was gonna have his first ever day of school. Today, Lucas was supposed to be hanging out with his friends.

But Lucas decided to bring Will with him. They were both downstairs at the door. They put on their shoes and said bye to the two adults in the house.

After that, they left the house and began walking in an entirely different direction from last time they went outside. They went behind the house instead of to the right or left.

"Before we get there, i'm gonna tell you about my friends. They're all nice so you don't have to worry about them being rude to you." Lucas spoke, they began to go inside the woods.

Will hated the woods. He was terrified of them. It was Lonnie's fault. Entirely Lonnies fault. But before he could even remember why he hated them, Lucas began to talk again.

"So Dustin. Dustin is a huge nerd, he likes that science stuff and he has a.. turtle.. i think. He's nice, he loves those star wars movies." Lucas cut him out of his thoughts, wrapping an arm around his shoulder as they stepped on twigs and leaves.

Will nodded slightly, not understanding the last part. He hadn't seen star wars. "And Jane. She prefers to be called El. She's cool, she always has snacks and stuff. She has questionable movie taste, but she is a comic nerd, like Dustin."

Will furrowed his eyebrows, "El?" He didn't understand how someone got El from Jane. Will understand his own name shortening, but Jane to El? "Why El?"

Lucas pushed a branch away from Wills face before it could hit him, "Her middle name is Elenor. She likes it more than Jane but she didn't like the full name so she shortened it to El."

"Oh." Will nodded slowly, it made more sense that way. They kept walking, trees being the only thing Will saw. He noticed that Lucas kept looking at the trees, specifically the trees that had white arrows on them.

"Max, she is kind of.. sarcastic and sassy. She is a tiny bit annoying when you meet her but you'll get used to it. She's pretty and she likes some type of music she won't let me listen to."

Will listened, still paying attention to where he was walking. He thought that was it but Lucas began to talk again.

"And then we have Mike. Mike isn't much of a people person, he doesn't like many people but i'm sure he'd like you. He'd just be a bit uhm.. I don't know the word for it." Lucas shrugged as they continued to walk some more.

‧˚꒰ saturday, 11:57 am !! ꒱༘⋆

After maybe five minutes, they got to where they were gonna hang out with Lucas's friends. It was an abandoned school...? The paint was cracked and peeling.

"It's not as scary as it looks on the inside. We fixed it up. I guess." Lucas shrugged and they went over to a window that was slightly open. Lucas pushed it open and helped Will up inside.

Will reached his hand out the window and helped Lucas inside. Once they were both inside, Lucas pushed the window back the way it was, leaving at least a two inch gap.

They heard laughing and talking above them. "Cmon, I swear it's so cool. You'll love it." Lucas grabbed Wills hand and they went up the stairs that were just outside the doorway.

Will looked around the place, it didn't look better on the inside. The downstairs area anyway. When they got upstairs, they went to a room that had a cover in the middle of the doorway.

That's where all the laughter was coming from. The second they entered the room, they saw four people in the room. Two were sitting on couches and the other two were reading comics.

They looked over at the two standing at the doorway, silencing themselves. Will started at them with a slightly nervous face.

"Who's that?" The redhead asked, looking at Will with a comic book in her hands. Will looked at her and turned to Lucas.

"Guys this is Will my brother, Will these are my friends." Lucas quickly introduced them and motioned for them to get up and introduce themselves to him.

The redhead put down her comic and stood up first, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm Max. Nice to meet you, Will," she said, extending a hand.

The boy next to her, a boy with a white red and blue hat on, stood up next. "I'm Dustin," he said with a shy smile. "Welcome to the hangout spot."

On the second beanbag, a girl with dark brown curls gave a small wave. "I'm El," she said softly, not getting up but offering a friendly smile.

The last person, a boy with slightly curled black hair, stood up and studied Will just for a second and extended his arm out for Will's to shake. "Mike." he said, his voice calming and warm.

Will shook Mikes hand, feeling a little more at ease as each of them introduced themselves. He nodded, managing a small smile.

Lucas nudged him playfully. "See, they don't bite," he said with a chuckle. "Come on, make yourself at home."

As Will settled onto one of the bean bags, El handed him a comic book. "Here, check this out. It's one of my favorites," she said, giving him a smile.

Will took the comic hesitantly, feeling a bit of acceptance from the group. He glanced at Lucas, who gave him an encouraging nod.

Will looked down at the comic in his hands and opened it up, he looked at the first few words and stared at them trying to figure out what they meant separately and put together.

Will looked up over at Lucas who was talking with Dustin while eating a bag of chips. Will looked to the side and saw Mike's head turn to some other direction the second Will looked up.

Will looked back down at the comic and just stared at it, flipping through the pages every once in a while and admiring at the drawings.

‧˚꒰ saturday, 12:23 pm !! ꒱༘⋆

Mike had been staring at Will ever since Lucas came here with him. He had been caught staring at him only twice.

Mike watched as the brunette sat cross crossed on the bean bag, flipping through the pages of the comic. Mike noticed that Will wasn't even reading the comic, more so looking at the images.

He didn't understand why Will didn't read it, maybe he had already read it? Maybe he doesn't like it? Or he's just bored..?

But after a while of staring at Will, Mike began to pay attention to what Lucas and Dustin were talking about.

Mike glanced at Will again and saw Max looking at him. Max turned to Mike and scrunched her face up, Mike rolled his eyes and turned back to Lucas.

Less than a few seconds later, without warning, Max grabbed Mike by the arm and pulled him out of the hangout room and to the stairs.

"What the hell? Let me go." Mike pulled his arm back and wiped it off as if Max had gotten him dirty.

Max crossed her arms and waited for him to finish. "Don't be dramatic, Wheeler." She muttered.

Mike looked over at her and furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you want? I was in the middle of a important conversation-" Mike began,

"Yeah yeah, I don't care about your nerd stuff. When did Lucas have a brother? Because he's literally said nothing about Will." Max uncrossed her arms, letting them fall to her sides, putting her hands in her pockets.

Mike shrugged, "I don't know, he's never said anything before and I've never seen Will until today." Mike replied, looking back at the room.

Max looked at Will who was occupied with the comic, "And he's.. white?" Max spoke slowly, as if it was a question.

"Maybe he's albino or something?" Mike looked back at him as well,

"No. He'd be like, completely white then. Hair and everything." Max turned back to Mike, "Should we ask Lucas about him?"

"Ask him when Will isn't in the room, not now." Mike replied, Max nodded and they went back into the room and went back to what they were previously doing.

As they settled back in, Max couldn't help but steal glances at Will, curiosity gnawing at him. El noticed and nudged her playfully. "Quit staring, you'll make him uncomfortable," she whispered.

Max shrugged. "I'm just trying to figure him out."

Meanwhile, Will was fidgeting with the comic book, flipping through the pages without much comprehension.

He glanced up at the others, trying to follow their conversation but feeling lost in the sea of unfamiliar words and references.

Lucas noticed Will's discomfort and walked over. "Hey, Will, you okay?" he asked quietly, sitting down cross cross next to him.

Will nodded, his response brief and lacking enthusiasm. Lucas sensed his brother's discomfort and leaned over, trying to engage him.

"That's a good one, do you like it?" Lucas asked, peering at the comic Will was reading.

Will glanced at the comic in his hands, then back at Lucas, unsure how to respond. He tilted his head slightly, trying to gauge what his brother wanted to hear.

"Sure," he finally replied, his voice lacking the conviction of someone truly enjoying the comic. He couldn't even understand it, if he couldn't understand it, how could he like it?