Will Byers
The government was really eager to cover up the fact that hundreds of Soviets had infiltrated the United States and almost opened a portal to an evil dimension under Indiana, so they offered us a sweet deal. All of us kids would get full rides to Yale, except for Jonathan, who had his heart set on NYU, and Mom got a job as an analyst for the Department of Defense.
It was the first time I could ever remember not having to worry about money, but I was still miserable. It turned out that I wasn't much more popular in my new school than I had been in Hawkins. I guess I'm not really good at hiding my secrets, or one of my secrets anyway. It didn't help that my 'step-sister' (as far as anyone in McClean knew, Jane L. Hopper's mother had died when she was a little girl and her father had remarried to my Mom before his own tragic death in a fire) was the weird girl who dressed like Punky Brewster and acted like a Martian inhabiting an Earth-girl's body and trying to blend in with the natives.
She came into my room the evening after a particularly unpleasant encounter with Brad McDaniel and his gang.
"Will, what is a…faggot?"
"Shhh…" I didn't want my Mom or Jonathan to overhear.
"Ok," El whispered, "what's a faggot?"
"It's just a name people call each other."
"A bad name?"
"Yeah, look. Don't worry about it, ok?"
"Worry about what?" Mom walked in the room, and I knew I was totally fucked. Jane Louisa Hopper was still firmly convinced that "friends don't lie," and wasn't quite clear on the distinction between friends and friends' moms. Mom had the whole story in under two minutes, and freaked out.
"I'm going to call the school and tell them that if they don't do something about this, I'll…."
"No, mom. That'll only make it worse."
"Will…"
I could tell she wasn't going to let this go, which made me mad; and when I'm mad I don't always think straight.
"Besides, they're right anyway." I muttered, not as softly as I should have.
"They're not."
I could feel tears welling up in my eyes when I looked up. "No, I mean…they're right. Dad was right…"
Before I could finish the sentence, Mom cut me off with a hug, a very tight hug. Ordinarily, I would have been irritated at her overprotectiveness, but I was just relieved that she wasn't mad at me. I broke down sobbing, and Mom just held me for a few minutes, like she had when I was a little kid – back when the worst things I had to worry about were Dad and the bullies at school.
El finally broke the silence.
"What's a faggot?"
"It's not a nice word," Mom replied.
I decided it would be best to just explain. "It means…you know how you feel about Mike."
"Yes."
"Well, guys are supposed to feel that way about girls, but I feel that way about boys."
"Which boys?"
"Huh."
"Which boys?"
"Uh…Ralph Macchio." I was worried that El had somehow figured out about my feelings for Mike – before the Demogorgon got me. The last thing I needed was to bring jealousy into the mix, and it wasn't technically a lie. I mean, he is cute, and I'd gotten over my crush on Mike when he started going out with El.
"Wait."
El ran into her room and came back a few minutes later with one of those girly magazines Max had given her, opened to Ralph's big brown eyes. To her this was no big deal, just another chance to gossip about cute boys like she had with Max.
"Look, El, I'm kind of tired. Can we just go to bed?"
I turned the light off and tried to make myself go to sleep, but I could hear Mom and Jonathan arguing. Jonathan's voice was exasperated. "He doesn't need to see a doctor, Mom. There's nothing wrong with him."
"Jonathan!"
"He's just different. We always knew he was different."
"Different people get hurt, Jonathan. I could protect him from those…things but I can't protect him from…"
"They're just bullies, Mom."
"It's bullies now, Jonathan, but before long it'll be police, and, and street toughs and God knows what sort of diseases he'll catch."
Before she could say anything else I pulled the pillow over my head, muffling the sound of their voices so that I couldn't make out the words.