History

Down on the Farm

Will was born on April 19, 1999, to Clint and Adeline Belmont, farmers who owned and operated a large tract of land in the arable countryside on the outskirts of Lakewood. Farms like the Belmonts’ had once been a dime a dozen in the area, flourishing in the postwar economy, but by the end of the century, there were only a handful of farms left as Lakewood was cemented as an exurb of New Orleans rather than an agricultural hub.

While other farmers cashed out while the getting was good, Clint Belmont had the misfortune of purchasing his plot too late, having acquired his land before the town could develop it, six years before Will was born. Consequently, money was always tight in the Belmont household. Will’s biggest luxury as a boy was a sheepdog named Dash the Belmonts adopted when Will was two. They were boon companions throughout Will’s childhood.

To supplement the family’s income, Adeline took a job as an au pair for Brooke Maddox and Jake Fitzgerald, the scions of prominent local families. Brooke and Jake spent long summers on the Belmont farm, becoming friends with Will despite the gulf of difference in their backgrounds. Brooke, generally a girls’ girl, formed a sisterly bond with the boys. Jake and Will became particularly close, becoming partners in crime. Their birthdays were only two days apart, and their mother inaugurated a tradition of throwing joint birthday parties for them, cementing their brotherly bond.

Working on the farm gave Will a leg up over other boys his age, at least physically. Athletic and outgoing, he joined a Peewee basketball league with Jake, and developed a passion for the sport, soon realizing that, while he might lack in book smarts, he more than compensated on the court.

Dash the sheepdog died when Will was 12, drowning in a pool of standing water on the farm. Will was inconsolable at the loss of his old friend. The dog’s absence only brought home what a harsh place the farm had become over the years, and Will found it harder than ever to ignore his father’s harsh temper and uncompromising expectations. It crystalized in his mind that the family farm wasn’t home anymore, and he had no future there.

The Big Time

By the time Will started high school, he was convinced that his ticket out of Lakewood lay, not in academic, but in sports. He figured that if he could prove himself on the basketball court, he could snag an athletic scholarship and leave his hometown behind him. If he couldn’t…the Belmonts’ financial situation had only worsened over the years. Without a scholarship, Will feared he’d be trapped.

Will and Jake tried out for the Lakewood Lancer basketball team and both secured spots. Will was so impressive that he snagged the point guard position, bumping last season’s point guard, Tyler O’Neil, to backup. Tyler bristled at the demotion and quit the team in a huff.

Tyler may have been put out by Will, but his nominal girlfriend wasn’t. Nina Patterson, GW High’s Queen Bee, took an instant interest in Will, and began inviting him and Jake to parties, which miffed Brooke considerably, as she’d been vying for a spot in Nina’s circle herself, to no avail.

During this time, Will began dating Emma Duval, a pretty but unassuming girl who couldn’t have been farther from Nina in terms of temperament. Will was attracted to Emma’s unpretentious nature and couldn’t believe his good luck, which could only mean it was about to run out.

Deal with the Devil

In February 2015, the Lancers suffered a narrow loss that Will blamed on himself. In the locker room, he vented to Jake, for the first time admitting that he’d staked all his hopes on a basketball scholarship, and his fears that if he couldn’t get one, he’d have no ticket out of Lakewood.

Jake, raised in privilege, was clueless about the practical realities of Will’s situation but at least could understand that his best bro needed money and needed it fast. He proposed a solution: a way for Will to take care of himself, regardless of how well the team played. He brought Will to Nina and Tyler, and pitched him to them was the fourth member of Lakewood Eyes.

Lakewood Eyes was an intelligence gathering operation that collected damaging secrets from Lakewood residents, converting them into currency for blackmail. Nina and Tyler had begun it a few months prior, and Jake had learned about it when he was dating Nina following her breakup with Tyler at Christmastime. Since November, the operation had made thousands.

Nina was skeptical, but offered to bring Will in if he could provide collateral: something she could use to ensure he wouldn’t stab her in the back. She challenged him to have sex with Emma before her 16th birthday, a little over a month out. Will had his reservations, but was blinded with thoughts of the money to be made and rationalized that he and Emma were doing so well it was only a matter of time before they took that step anyway.

Will treated Emma to a lavish Valentine’s Day date, losing his virginity and taking hers…all the while making sure the whole thing was captured for posterity on his laptop’s webcam. This done, he was formally inducted into Lakewood Eyes, and began earning his own share of the group’s ill-gotten gains, with Emma none the wiser.

Decision Time

On October 17, 2015, Will was hanging out with the rest of the in-crowd at the Wren Lake Overlook when Emma recognized the car of her childhood best friend Audrey Jensen pulling up at the opposite side of the summit. Audrey, unaware she was being watched, began making out with another girl. Emma’s shocked reaction drew the notice of the others, who responded with scandalized glee.

Nina took a venomous pleasure in this bit of gossip, whipping out her phone and recording the girls’ intimate moment. Emma, offended on her old friend’s behalf, told Nina to delete the video. Nina promised to “take it off her phone”, and honored this exact words defense by deleting it from her phone, after uploading it to YouTube the next day, where it rapidly went locally viral.¹

Appearance

Will was a tall young man with a hardy, muscled figure. Not as lean as Jake nor as broad as Zach, his figure was toned from years of work on his family farm. He was fairly complected, with short blond hair and green eyes.

Personality

Will was hard-working and ambitious, a combination of traits that didn’t always serve him well, leading him into trouble. Chafing under his father’s violent temper his whole life trained Will in the art of stifling his anger, which could consequently become explosive.

Development

Will was the only main character from Scream the TV Series‘ first season not to appear in the 2015 Season 1 AU.

Unlike recurring characters Lorraine Brock and Howard Jensen, who were claimed but never appeared in a post, Will went through the entire game without being taken, to the point that his conspicuous absence began to be referred to by characters in-universe, indicating something may be made of it at some point.

The forum went defunct long before Will’s absence could be addressed and, given the canonical Will’s death in the first season, he never appeared in a subsequent forum. When the Season 1 AU became the foundation for the first volume of The Story so Far in 2019, Will’s protracted absence was formally adapted into the SRU, which presented its own equivalent of Will’s abduction, rescue, and subsequent violent death.

Gallery

1. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 2 ↩︎