' 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 '

mrs. tarwater. bill heard she was the strictest teacher in the whole high school, which kept the new boy's hopes down.

he placed his unneeded books in his locker, the combination tricky at first, but he finally got the hang of it. he slightly turned around, looking to see the boy from yesterday.

he seemed popular, or maybe that was just my mind playing tricks on me, telling me bill, he was a loser. we locked eyes for a moment, and bill saw light brown eyes in place of the ocean-like blue eyes he had imagined. only brown was better.

stan gave bill a small smile, and he almost gasped as he began walking towards him. "i'm gonna look like a freak." bill imagined himself saying out loud, his my notebook close to his chest.

"hey, i saw you yesterday. you move in?" he asked, a question so simple, but yet complex. how did he see me? he didn't look over, did he?

bill nodded, smiling at him, cursing his quiet qualities. stan nodded, leaning against the lockers. "so, are you quiet or just can't talk?" he asked, chuckling a little, but bill stayed serious, nodding.

before he could walk away or say more, bill scribbled down, "i'm sorry, i am unable to talk."

bill showed the note to him on my notebook, and stan's face flushed. "oh, sorry, i must sound like a jerk!" he laughed, and bill laughed as well, shaking his head, no.

him talking to bill was like having a normal conversation. he made bill normal.

"who do you have?" he asked, and it astonished bill he hadn't walked away from him now, bill was a boring person, or so he was told.

bill handed him my schedule paper, and he grabbed my pen from him, circling classes on the sheet of paper.

"there." he said, handing the paper back to bill. "you have three of four classes with me. the other one's soc, but you have that with bev, who's my best friend by the way, so i'll tell her to stay with you." he winked, getting up from leaning against the lockers, and bill smiled brightly at him, taking the schedule.

bill noticed at the top was his name, along with a little picture of a bird right by it. a little weird, but cute. very cute.

he looked back up at him, grabbed his bag, and they walked to class just in time.

the teacher had a mean expression on her face, but looked to have a kindhearted personality once you got to know her. she was slumped at her desk in the front of the room, and stan led bill to the back of the room, where only one desk sat.

bill looked around the room sadly, but turned back at him when he looked at some kid in the back row. "scram, kid." stan said, clapping his hands, only two times before the kid had moved.

so he was popular. so why did he wanna hang out with the new, silent kid?

"bill denbrough." bill heard from the front of the room, and gulped as everyone in the room turned to look at the one kid who was standing.

"nice of you to join our class. where are you from?" she asked me, and bill felt my face flush as his nails clawed into his desk. this is not happening.

"he can't talk miss. just the way he is." stan answered for bill, leaning his back against his chair neatly.

"oh, i'm sorry bill, well, please sit down. we'll start the lesson." the teacher spoke quickly, hushing me to my seat, and with that everyone already knew me as the silent kid.

that was my label.