F. 4

"WON'T YOUR PARENTS come looking for you?" Will asked when they were on their third or fourth serving of pudding. They had finished taking the movie apart, scene by scene and actor by actor.

Like they always used to after a movie they liked.

It felt like old times, sitting in Mike's basement at night after watching some movie. It was like they had never stopped being friends at all; Mike guessed that's how it was with good friends.

Even after talking for about twenty minutes, he felt- no, knew- Will knew him better than all the guys on the football team combined.

"My mom and dad took my little sister on a trip, and Nancy is home from college and having this party. I doubt she'll even notice I'm gone," Mike laughed. Will joined in, his small laughter like tiny tingling of bells, this time pleasantly genuine.

God, Mike had missed Will.

"How about your mom? Jonathan?" Mike asked, but Will reacted weirdly. His whole face shifted into an expression of grief and pain for just a fraction of a second, then went back to normal, just a bit paler."Excuse me a second," Will called, already getting up and running out the room before Mike could even stand up. What the fuck?

Mike hurried after Will, chasing the sound of his echoing footsteps through the empty halls. Will's steps stopped, and three minutes later Mike found himself at the bathroom.

"Will? Is everything okay?" Mike asked, standing in the entrance to the room. From the last booth he heard a faint sound he couldn't identify...

"Will?" Mike asked again, alarmed when Will didn't respond, "I'm coming in!""No!" Will called, his voice weird, "It's fine, just- just a second!"

Mike debated whether to just disobey Will's request, the sounds persisting. Was he puking? sure sounded like it... Two minutes later he heard the water flushing, and Will came out of the stall. He went to the sink, washing his face and spraying some water in his mouth before coming towards Mike, an apologetic smile on his face.

"Sorry, bad pudding maybe?" Maybe Mike would've believed him, if it wasn't for his face. Although he had a carefully constructed smile on, Mike saw through it. He knew Will well enough to know that something was wrong. very wrong.

But he also knew Will well enough to know that asking again would only push the boy further away. Will didn't like to talk about the problems in his life, he never had. Besides, maybe it was just food poisoning. Maybe Mike was reading too much into it.

He decided not to interrogate further.

"Want to go get some water or something?" Mike asked, as Will's face was still extremely pale.

"No, I'm good, thanks," Will was peeling on the edge of the bloody tissue paper still wrapping his wrist, another mystery Mike would have figure out, "I think I'm gonna take a shower, try to get the bloodstains off my shirt." Will looked down at his t shirt, that was probably plain white once but was now a mix of dirt stains and smears of blood.

Mike nodded as Will started towards the locker room."I'll just be back in the classroom," he said. Will turned and smiled at him, and they went their separate directions.

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When Mike reached the classroom, he realized he didn't actually know what to do next.

He wasn't used to being alone even for a few minutes, there were always his sisters or Jane or the guys from the football team...

Somehow he wondered to the teacher's desk, to the locked drawer.

he aimlessly picked the lock, and was shocked when it opened. That's when he knew who's classroom it was: Click's. She was the only one to take so many things from her students.

The drawer was full of packs of gum, matches, crumpled up notes, even some ping pong balls (Mike had no idea how those got there). Mike stuffed a few of the things in his pockets, thinking they may be useful later.On the very bottom was a disc-man. Mike happily removed it from the drawer, turning it around in his hands.

He had wanted one for ages, a portable CD player was just about the coolest thing you could have.

His mom had hinted it might be in his presents for Christmas, but that wouldn't be for another month... He pressed play, and actual music burst out of the device.

Mike knew the song, he embarrassingly loved it, and he gingerly placed the device on the desk. It was the kind of song he would never admit to liking, but now that there was no one there...

He walked circles around the classroom, nodding with the music as he jumped on chairs and desks like an idiot.

"Lookin' in your eyes, I see a paradise, This world that I found Is too good to be true-" he sang, kind of feeling like he was in an MTV music video himself in the empty classroom.

As he got more confidant in the maze of desks, his voice got louder and his movements more dance- like.

"Standin' here beside you, Want so much to give you, This love in my heart That I'm feelin' for you!" he yelled with the singer, holding his arm to his mouth like a microphone and pushing his hair out of his face, standing on the desk.

"Let 'em say we're crazy I don't care 'bout that!" the second singer called from the CD, exactly the same time another voice joined from the classroom door, and Mike looked to see Will in the doorway, his hair wet and wearing a Nike sweater that was WAY too big.

Mike's cheeks turned red, but Will walked to him while shyly singing along, a goofy grin plastered on his face,"...Put your hand in my hand, Baby, don't ever look back!"

"Let the world around us, Just fall apart! Baby, we can make it If we're heart to heart," Will's voice turned louder as Mike held out his hand and helped him on the desk, and together they burst into the chorus.

"And we can build this dream together, Standing strong forever, Nothing's gonna stop us now- And if this world runs out of lovers, We'll still have each other, Nothing's gonna stop us-Nothing's gonna stop us now!"

they were terribly off rhythm, they were singing along to a theme from a musical neither of them should've known, the music coming out of a a stolen disc-man that probably belonged to someone who had finished school years ago, in an empty school on a Friday.

And neither of them had been this happy for a really long time.

[AUTHOR SAYS]

Okay this is such a Byler song I CAN'T if you don't know it look up "Nothing's gonna stop us now" by Starship it's so '80's and I can so see them lip syncing to it ughhh so sorry for this random part but I thought it was kinda cute:)

also side note there are missiles being shot into my country and im legit kinda terrified:(