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Max’s blank eyed gaze is fixed on her red scuffed sneakers, the melody Kate Bush blaring in her ears the only thing keeping her anchored to reality as she walks through the halls of Hawkins High, students all around her chattering or shoving each other against the lockers to make out gruesomely.
Then, suddenly, the song begins to distort and warp, before cutting off abruptly with a groan and metallic click. Max freezes mid-stride, slowly sliding her headphones off her ears to squint suspiciously at the tape player.
She reaches down to fumble with it for a moment before finally managing to hit the reset and play button again. The damned thing just lets out a pathetic, high pitched whine without turning back on.
“Piece of shit,” Max hisses irritably when she realizes the thing is just a useless dud. She’d bought it a few weeks ago after her old one broke, but it’s a more cheap and low quality player than her first one, which was very expensive. It was all she could afford since her mother always spends all their funds on her precious alcohol.
“Oi, Sinclair!”
Max flinches and looks up at the sudden holler, scowling when she notices it’s one of those basketball idiots, Lucas’ shitty friends. Speaking of Lucas, he’s currently happily grinning at the boy, holding out a hand to give him a friendly fist bump.
“What’s up, Patrick?” he asks, his eyes gleaming with genuine kindness. When ‘Patrick’ began to ramble, Lucas just leans casually against the locker, listening very intently to every word, nodding and occasionally chiming in with his dorky quips.
Then, his eyes land on her. Max stiffens, inhaling sharply when his pretty face suddenly softens into the usual kicked puppy expression, the one he always directed at her. He begins to study her up and down very intensely, eyebrows furrowing in concern.
Almost as if he’s looking for…injuries? Max’s face sours. Right. Since they haven’t talked in a few weeks, he doesn’t know Neil left. He’s still worried about her, even though she’s done with him, for good this time. Even though she shattered his heart into a million pieces and left him to put the pieces back together.
She glares at him, but he doesn’t look away. Why doesn’t he look away? Why can’t he just leave her alone? “Stalker,” she mutters, eye twitching in annoyance. And then, he has the audacity to laugh. Laughing as if she’s just told some stupid inside joke!—
…That’s exactly what she’s just done, isn’t it? Stupid Max, she scolds herself internally. Now he’s gonna think you’re leading him on, that you still love him.
But you do still love him, a tiny voice in her head whispers sadly. She ignores it, but it doesn’t matter, because her irritation ends up spiking anyway. God, she really could use a smoke right about now.
Come to think of it, what’s stopping her? She could just skip class, hide behind the bleachers and smoke some of the stash that she stores in the side pocket of her backpack
With her mind made up, Max spins around and begins walking towards the nearest exit, glaring at the kids who zoom through the halls with no regards for the people in their capacity, forcing her to dodge them.
She ignores Lucas’ sad, longing gaze, Patrick’s confused frown, and all the kids who she’s pretty sure are staring at her. Freak, they’re probably saying to each other. Your brother hated you so much that he decided he’d die just to escape, they’d taunt through cruel giggles.
And she’d just take it all, because she deserved it—she did kill Billy, after all. She pushed her friends away, because they’d die, too, if she got close to them. All she would ever do for them is ruin them. She wouldn’t wish herself on anyone, not even Wheeler.
“Fuck you!”
Speaking of the devil, Max mused. She’d only just pushed open the exit door and begun her stroll over to the bleachers when the voice rang out, sounding quite angry. As Wheeler usually was. Strange thing is, it also sounded almost…fearful, echoing from the wall behind the school.
And that was quite concerning, because Mike was never scared, not really. One of the only times she’d seen him truly scared was just before he punched her in the face on the way to kidnap El, and it’d knocked her out cold. But before the lights had gone out, she’d caught a blurry glimpse of his face as he charged towards the Mindflayer’s host.
His face had been bright with a desperation to protect those he cares for, but also flickering with terror for his own life, causing his face to contort in ugly ways while he contemplated what instinct to listen to, although she knew his body had automatically chosen the first option before his mind could comprehend he was moving, because that’s how Mike always been.
Always incredibly careless with his life, treating it like some sort of book, like he was the unbeatable hero and there was no way anything could ever happen to him, because that’s not what he’d written and therefore it couldn’t happen. It was naive and stupid, and it annoyed her to no end.
“Ooh, are you feeling feisty today, freak?” That…was Jason Carver’s voice. The tone dropped lower, more threatening. “That’s alright, I like that…makes it more fun.” Mike suddenly yelped, sounding pained. Multiple voices burst into cruel laughter, mocking the sound.
Oh, hell no, Max thought, face screwing as she tried to conceal her rage. Without hesitation, she marches her way towards the noise, fists clenched. She rounds the corner, ready to scream a bunch of curses and maybe even pummel a man, but the sight in front of her has her skidding to a halt, eyes wide with horror.
Two ugly boys, one with curly hair and a baseball cap, the other with black, fancily styled hair, stood. They were snickering mockingly, pinning Mike against the brick wall with his arms spread out on either side of him so he couldn’t fight back. Their knees were pressing his thighs to ensure he couldn’t kick.
He’s completely helpless, and to make matters worse, their ringleader, Jason, cruel as ever, is gripping Mike by the hair. Mike, whose face is already horrifically bloodied and bruised, red colored drool dripping from his split lip. His chest is moving up and down rapidly, a clear sign that he’s panicking and likely struggling to breathe.
“Get off me,” Mike gasps out, trembling. She’d never seen him in this state, in so much pain that all he could do was beg, and it left her in complete and utter shock, her body not allowing her to do anything but watch the cruelty, even though even though her mind was screaming at her to help.
Jason scoffs, eyeing his other friends with amusement. “Did you hear that? We got this pathetic freak pleading with me! Hell, he might as well get on his knees and beg, am I right?” The piece of shit taunts. Another uproar of laughter from the black haired boy.
The boy with curly hair sneers in disgust, squeezing Mike’s wrist harder. Tears sprang into his brown eyes as he struggled against the restraint, grunting in pain. “You say that as if he wouldn’t give anything to do just that. Fucking faggot.” he spits in Mike’s face.
Mike flinches as the spit lands with a splat on his cheek, lip curling in disgust. He looks like he’s about to cry. Jason suddenly pulled away, looking horrified. “Gross, you’re right. He’s probably getting hard from me grabbing his hair, isn’t he?”
Mike doesn’t respond. Jason quickly reels back his fist, slamming it forward and into Mike’s gut. The boy keels over with a sharp sob, eyes clenched shut as the wind is knocked viciously from his lungs.
At the sound of his cry, Max finally manages to snap out of her shock. “Hey!” she yells, stepping into the alley. Everyone flinches, except for Mike—he’s too busy at the moment, drooping in their arms, groaning and whimpering as blood continues dripping from his nose and mouth.
“Get the hell away from him before I make you,” she demands, standing straighter to prepare for a fight. Jason eyes her, sizing her up. He opens his mouth, and she honestly expects him to send his dogs after her. Coward can’t fight his own fights. Said dogs seem more alert, almost eager for the order.
“Forget it. Let the freak go,” the blond replies instead, his eyes narrowing at her fierce glare. “I’m not gonna hit a girl.” the others seem to disagree, appearing disappointed that they can’t come sock her in the nose.
Max snorts, “Aw, how kind of you to protect women. Really, you’re such a gentleman!” she exclaims sarcastically, grinning widely at him. He looks very uncomfortable, shuffling foot to foot. It’s hilarious.
“Whatever. Chance, Andy, let’s go, move your asses!” he snaps, cuffing the black haired one in the back of the head and turning to leave. The black haired boy yelps, releasing his grip on Mike to rub his soft skull. Mike slumps further, and that’s when the one with the hat decides to release him to follow the other two as they make their leave.
Mike gasps, collapsing to his knees. Max slowly crouches down to plant a hand on his shoulder, pushing aside her disgust at the idea of touching this…thing. Even though she’s incredibly gentle when she touches him, honestly way more than she should’ve been, Mike still flinches.
“It’s just me, idiot,” she informs snottily, although her tone is softer than usual. “Max?” he questions, his voice raspy. She grimaces as he clears his throat, his tone rough from how much cussing and yelling he’d likely done when they’d first grabbed him, before she’d arrived.
Max nods, “Yep, that’s me,” she answers awkwardly, looking anywhere but his face. Mike just hums in acknowledgement, reaching up a hand to swipe at his bloody, crooked nose. She pretends not to notice the way his eyes get more misty when his fingers graze the damaged bone.
“Are you okay?” she blurts, squeezing his shoulder slightly. She cringes instantly, because what the shit kind of question is that?
She doesn’t know what to say. She’d always known the Party were big targets of bullying, but she’d never witnessed it. She hadn’t known it was this bad. Normally, all she dealt with from the boys in school were catcalls, and all she got from the girls were mean insults, maybe the occasional shove or trip.
She didn’t think their bullying included getting overpowered by multiple boys who are way older than them who then beat them to near unconsciousness while calling them degrading slurs. It’s fucking monstrous, the way these boys, nearly men, treat the alleged “freaks” in the school.
“Can…” Mike coughs, appearing embarrassed. How funny, she thinks. The Michael Wheeler showing any emotion towards her other than hatred. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. “Can you help me up, please?” he asks quietly.
“Aww,” Max coos, “how adorable, you’re trying to be polite since I just saved your sorry ass,” she smirks teasingly. “Fuck off, Maxine,” he hisses, glowering at her. He’s absolutely livid.
She luckily takes that as a sign to back off, being the considerate friend that she is. “Jesus, alright,” she says defensively. “I wonder who pissed in your cereal this morning.” Mike slowly turns his head to look at her, disbelief clouding his features. “Are you fucking stupid? Do you not know when to leave things alone and take a damn hint? Fucking asshole.”
“Hey!” Max cuts him off, furious. “I just saved you and you’re insulting me? You’re such a dick!” Mike’s mouth drops open in offense. They both ignore the glob of blood that doing so causes to drip down his chin. “Says you!” He deflects, voice raising higher.
“Shut up, Mike, you’re the person who started it!” Max claims, a hundred percent confident that her words are true. Mike looks incredibly flabbergasted, pushing himself to his feet, wobbling slightly. “Holy shit, I knew you were an idiot, but not this much of one. It’s literally you who started it, not me!”
“That’s not true!”
“Oh, really? Aww, how adorable, you’re trying to be polite since I just saved your sorry ass? doesn’t that sound pretty fucking familiar to you?!”
“That was…I—you—It’s…”
“You’re so fucking dumb. You know I’m right, don’t you? You just don’t want to admit it! Jesus, you’re such a fucking bitc—OW!” he cuts himself off with a yell when she jabs his lopsided nose, face scrunching in fury.
“What is going on out here?”
Max gasps, seizing Mike by the wrist and shoving him behind a nearby dumpster. Principal Higgins must’ve heard the commotion and come to find who’s skipping. “Wait,” Mike whispers, tugging against her grip. “No! What the hell are you doing?” she hisses, but he doesn’t listen. He escapes her hold, sidestepping her attempt to yank him back and leaving their hiding place.
She glares at him. All because she decided to be a good human and rescue his skinny ass, he’s now going to snitch on both of them and get her stuck in detention for weeks. But then…his lip juts out in a pout, his eyes filling with tears as he begins to sniffle. Like a sad, lost fucking puppy.
Principal Higgins’ eyes lock on his target and he begins marching forward. Mike steps forward, head bowed in faux guilt. “I’m sorry, sir. Me and my friend were…attacked. We were trying to do some extra homework on the bleachers instead of going to lunch and some random assholes in masks just hopped out of their cars and started wailing on us!” he cries, lip trembling.
Max jumps in, nodding frantically. “Yep, and I don’t have any injuries because…” she trails off, swallowing. “Because I tried to protect her,” Mike finishes for her, subtly kicking her ankle. She snorts, eyes darting between his black eye, broken nose, and bloody mouth. “Yeah…pretty lame attempt,” she mutters.
Mike looks like he wants to punch her in the face. “Oh? And do I see any bruises on you? No, I don’t, which means my mission was successful. I took all the punches and you weren’t even touched once. Ergo, I protected you.”
Smirking, Max speaks up. “Ergo?”
“It’s Latin, Maxine.” Mike explains, deadpanned. That causes an actual laugh to slip from Max’s lips at his unique brand of idiocy. “Children, you need to go to the nurse—“
“Oh, yes, I’m aware, Michael. Ergo is actually Latin for hence. I just assumed you were too dumb to learn big boy words.” she explains simply, shrugging nonchalantly. The mischievous glint in her eyes gives her away.
Mike clenches his fists, smoke practically shooting out of his ears. But then he exhales, turns to the Principal, and pastes a smile on his face. He tries not to make the way his breath hitches when his lip stretches painfully noticeable. “Sorry, sir. I’ll go to the nurse’s office now.” he promises. “My friend here can escort me. Can’t you, Max?” he asks sweetly.
Max salutes, rolling her eyes. “Absolutely,” she responds enthusiastically, smiling at Principal Higgins. He looks between them, seemingly suspicious. Mike and Max glance at each other nervously, all previous hatred forgotten.
“…Alright then.” he relents. “But you must get to class as soon as your friend here is patched up, yes?”
“Well, no shi—ow!”
“Of course!” Max manages through gritted teeth, pinching Mike’s arm harder when he whines and moans dramatically. Principal Higgins watches them for a moment longer before sighing, “Okay, you may go.”
Max grabs Mike’s shoulders, once again ignoring his protests, steering him around Higgins and in the direction of the door. They look at each other, eyes narrowed. They both know neither one of them is going back to class after this.
“So…” Mike begins. She rolls her eyes instantly, but listens nonetheless. “Wanna go to the arcade after this?” That…was not the question she was expecting. She pauses for a second, thinking.
On one hand, Wheeler would be absolutely insufferable to hang out with, especially after getting the shit beaten out of him. On the other, she’d get to see his face when she absolutely destroys him in Dig Dug.
Max smirks, “You’re on, loser.”
He grins, “Awesome.”