𝙴𝚕𝚢𝚜𝚒𝚊𝚗 ~ 𝙴𝚕𝚖𝚊𝚡

《𝟷𝟿》

August 26, 1985
7: 40 AM

After the little morning talk with Hopper and a lot of thinking, the chief's car came to a halt in front of the Hawkins High. El looked at all the kids and teenagers that were walking around, meeting with their friends again and suddenly, she felt so small. This whole building was giving her a certain kind of anxiety that made her unable to sit still. She looked back at Hopper with a little gulp, taking some time before reaching out to open the car door. The father tried to cheer her up with a little pat on the back.

~ "Don't worry, kid. You got this. Just stay close to Max, okay?" He advised, making her remember that she wanted to check if Max is okay. The dream she had earlier i the morning really didn't make her feel good. And she knew that it won't feel better until she sees Max where she promised she would be yesterday.

~ "Okay. I will." She nodded, making him smile at her.

~ "Have a good day. I'll pick you up at 3:15. On the dot, okay?" He made sure she knew.

~ "Yeah. Three-one-five I know. Bye, Hop." She finally pushed the door open, stepping outside and hearing Hopper answer her with a bye too before the car moved forward again and he was driving away. She watched after him until the car disappeared behind the school and was gone. When she looked around, she noticed that there were just three teens on the parking lot with her, talking in a group. They seemed older than she was and as it felt weird to just stand there, she started walking towards the school, her eyes searching for only one person. And eventually, they found her. The redhead was standing next to the entrance, leaning her back on the wall while her shoe was impatiently tapping up and down against the gravel. The brunette could feel a big, nervous knot in her stomach that refused to go away even after she took a deep breath to pick herself up a little. Her arms and legs were all itchy because of this nerve-wracking excitement she was currently feeling. The feeling of going into the unknown. Max didn't notice her yet, looking in the opposite direction from her. So, she decided to approach her, walking closer. As if Max somehow sensed her, she whipped her head in her direction as soon as El was close enough for the redhead to hear her steps. El could swear she saw the other's eyes glimmer at that moment. Max pushed herself away from the wall and quickly started walking to her, which wasn't far. She only had to take two or three steps to be able to pull El close to her and start squeezing her in a hug. She was just that excited.

~ "Oh my god, Ellie...I can't believe you're here. It's gonna be so much more bearable with you around." Max chuckled next to the other's ear, making her smile widely. Hearing Max's voice happy was all it took for the knot in El's stomach to untangle itself and send a sensation of warmth flowing through her veins.

~ "Hi...are you okay?" El asked the question she wanted to ask from the moment she woke up from her nightmare while hugging the girl back. Even though she was pretty sure Max was just fine. In fact, she seemed happier than any other days. And that was all that mattered to El. She wasn't going to confront her about the whole 'crush' thing. Not now. She figured that it would probably just make her best friend all awkward again. And she didn't want to be awkward now. This was supposed to be a good day.

~ "Yeah! I'm great. Why? Is something wrong?" The redhead pulled back, one of her palms resting on the other's shoulder. That was all El needed to know to smile at the other girl and shake her head no.

~ "No. Everything is good." It was. For real this time. Everything was good. She was normal. She was going to school like every other person would. And she liked the feeling. The redhead was not able to stop smiling either. She was happy for El. Happy that she was with her. Plus, the girl looked stunning on her first day. Not like she didn't look great all the time but...today, Max could feel her face heating just by looking at her. The way her honey-brown curls were swaying above her shoulders. The way her dimples showed when she as much as flashed a smile. The way she moved so gracefully without even intending to. Oh god, was the redhead flustered. She tried to not let that show though.

~ "Good...great. Do you want to go insi-" Max talked, but was cut off by sudden darkness. She felt someone's palms cover her eyes, sighing after.

~ "Benji...you don't even have to bother." Max laughed, feeling the hands move away.

~ "How do you always know it's me?" He complained.

~ "Because noone else ever does that." The redhead smirked at the boy.

~ "Damn. Thanks for not outing me though." He turned to El, holding his hand out for her to high-five since he knew the brunette saw him coming behind Max, but didn't say anything. El gave him a smile and high-fived with him before she saw another familiar person walk past them. It was Sam. Except she didn't even look at them, walking straight into the school with a sour face. When she disappeared in the building, El looked back to the other two, biting the inside of her cheek lightly. She felt that somehow, this is her fault.

~ "Hey, don't worry. She's just like that. She'll come around." Benji, who noticed El's face tried to reassure her, making her look up at him and nod slightly. The boy then looked over at Max.

~ "And...is...everything okay? I mean...she wasn't of the nicest yesterday..." He asked the redhead, meaning to ask if everything's okay between her and El because of what his sister said the day before.

~ "Oh...yeah. Yeah, everything's fine." Max answered, making the boy raise his eyebrows and tick with his eyes between her and El, wondering what happened after they left the basketball court. Max noticed his change of behaviour and chuckled lightly, shaking her head a little and beginning to walk towards the entrance.

~ "Come on. The classes start in 10 minutes." She reminded the two before seeing El follow her with a nod. Benji seemed hesitant though. He gave Max an apologetic smile and showed her a pack of cigarettes, which made the redhead roll her eyes in disgust.

~ "Ben...you really shouldn't...plus, you're just wasting money you could use for something else- but...do whatever you want." She decided to just shrug instead of lecturing him. He never listens to her anyway. The boy only chuckled before turning around and pulling one cigarette from the pack, lighting it.

~ "Come on, E. Let's just go." The redhead was glad that at least her best friend wasn't keen on any kind of drug. She liked Benji, but he never took her oponions seriously when it came to his cigarettes. Maybe Max was a little overreactive to this kind of thing, but she'd rather be overreactive than addicted. When the two entered the building, you could practically sense the tension an excitement the brunette was feeling while for Max, it was just another start of the school year. She found it cute though. For some odd reason, the redhead felt pride in being able to walk next to El and be seen with her by all these other, older teenagers that were visibly recognising they were freshmans since the two girls seemed kinda lost. As they walked through the halls, Max couldn't not notice that the brunette was looking around too much. Probably looking for someone.

~ "Do you see anyone from the party, Max?" She suddenly asked, turninng her head to look at the redhead now.

~ "Uhm...no, I don't. I'm sure we'll see them at lunch break though, don't worry. Can you show me your schedule real quick? Maybe we have some classes together today." Max got excited again while El started digging in her bag, getting out a piece of paper and giving it to the girl. Max took it and started reading through it, a big smile growing on her face.

~ "Good news. We have PE together. Now!" She cheered, giving the paper back to El and took her arm, starting to walk to where she assumed was the locker-room with her.

~ "PE? That's the...sports, right?" El wanted to make sure, walking with Max wherewer she was taking her while trying to remember the way.

~ "Yeah! It's so much fun. This is gonna be awesome. I hope we're gonna play dodgeball. It's the only way how you can beat the crap out of your enemy without getting detention." The girls laughed when Max said that, rushing to get to their first lesson on time.