He was a loser. He had always been one.
Nobody choose to become a loser, it is something that happens without your intentions and probably without any effort, but at the end of the story, that is what he was: a pathetic loser.
He didn't remember when that course had begun: one day he was a normal kid living his life, the next day people were laughing at him and avoiding him like he had some kind of disease.
Eventually he grew up and a part of him had stopped caring about what the others were saying to him, mostly because it was nothing that he didn't know already. He just knew that one day he was going to leave that place and never look back.
Mike Wheeler was seventeen and he was a complete loser. Why? It was a question he could no answer.
Mrs. Shady was reading a paragraph from some book, he didn't like English literature, it was boring and definitely not worth to pay any attention, but somehow he had always managed to get an A. His eyes were looking around the classroom, hoping to find something to focus on, so he could actually do something interesting, but of course the odds were against him. That classroom was just so empty and his classmates were even worse than listening to the teacher. Giving up, he took a piece of paper out of a book and after finding a pencil he began to draw some lines. Nothing too difficult, nothing too good, just something that will definitely keep him entertained while waiting for the bell to ring.
He could hear girls whispering to each other and boys talking quietly about whatever football game was coming in the next month, the teacher didn't care about the noise and just kept going with her book. It was kind of funny how people were physically there, but mentally they were miles and miles away.
Mike kept drawing on his paper, that was the only thing he could do and the only one he did during every class. He didn't have anyone to talk to, nor chat with, he was alone because, of course, who wanted to be friend with a loser? He had been one since 5th grad and that, had definitely changed his all social life.
He was more alone that anyone he had ever known. He should have been worried about that, but after a little while he got used to it and now, living in complete loneliness, wasn't as bad as it used to be.
When he heard the bell ring, twenty minutes later, he sighed in relief; quickly he packed all his stuff and rushed out the class. He was supposed to have lunch in the cafeteria, like everybody else, but walked past it and went straight to the library. That was where he had lunch: in a corner between a wall and a shelf full of old and smelly books. At first he had been scared that maybe the librarian would have been there, but she was never around and he was definitely grateful for that. Although he knew that if someone would see him he would end up in troubles, however he was invisible to everybody.
He had found that spot by accident the third day of his first year of high school and it had become his place ever since. He had tried to have lunch with everybody else and it ended up with everyone making fun of him. So that place, away from the rest of the world, was his safe island.
Mike sat down with his back against the yellow wall and his long legs stretched in front of him, he took his lunch out of his lunch box and quietly started to eat his ham and cheese sandwich. Life wasn't so bad, though, high school sucked and he really wanted to run away from that place pretty much every second of his days, but he only had a year left, after that he would just leave Hawkins, move to Boston and just start a new life in a place where nobody knew him.
Yes, he would probably miss his mother and his sisters, but he would get over it at some point. He was going to become an adult and just move from a life in a town that had kept him underwater all his life.
He looked at the watch on his wrist, lunch was almost done, few more hours and he was, finally, going to be free. He left the library walking slowly, he had math but even if he liked it, there was no way that he was going to get there first. He just kept wandering around, avoiding anything that could cause any trouble, he really didn't want to deal with anybody and most important he didn't want to be beaten up by those mouth-breathers who, instead of caring about their lives, cared more about destroying his. He had lost count of how many times he got hurt by those bullies, trying to hide cuts and bruises from his mom and repeating in his head that everything was going to end soon.
Mike was only a few steps away from his class when he stopped in front of the window that was facing the outside of his school. He just looked for a few seconds at the group of people sitting on the benches: the cool kids, why they were cool would always be a mystery to him. He glanced at them, they were all laughing with each other, joking and making fun of the others, it just didn't make any sense. He saw how a girl, with short and curly brown hair stood up on one of the benches and said something that made all laugh like pigs.
He shook his head and walked away repeating his own mantra all over again: one more year, Mike, just survive one more year.