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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟏
"ᴹⁱᵏᵉ ˢᵃⁱᵈ⁻"
━━━━━━━★━━━━━━━
Artie walked towards the school stairs outside, seeing Max there by herself. "What did I miss?" She asked the redhead girl.
"They told me to tell you-" Max looked away from the door and to Artie, "They're having a meeting at AV club...party members only." She looked down as she thought she was making friends but they still didn't want to tell her everything.
"Oh" Artie looked at the door that could lead her to the AV club room but then she looked back at Max. "I brought my skateboard. We can skate around before class starts."
Max furrowed her brows as she lifted her head up from looking at the floor. "Mike said-"
"I don't care what Mike said," Artie told her. She leaned on the opposite stair railing. "Now, are you going to make me skate by myself, or are you going to join me?"
Artie lifted her own skateboard up.
The brunette girl smiled once she saw the redhead in front of her forming her sad smile into a more happy one. Max jumped off the stairs and put part of her skateboard on the ground along with her foot going on it, "Race you"
"Hey!" Artie hurried to jump off the stairs too and skate after Max, "You cheater, you got a head start."
Max smiled at the girl beside her who caught up only after Max let herself slow down. Max's eyes were met with Artie's then down at Artie's skateboard with a smirk, "You're pretty rusty."
"You're pretty too but I'm not rusty!" Artie went to speed up her skateboard to go faster than Max around the school.
Max tried to hide her smile at the response she got from Artie. Though she didn't go out of her way to correct the girl that that wasn't what she meant.
They cheerfully laughed together as they rode the skateboard near each other. Sometimes racing and other times showing each other different tricks. After a while of skating, they had to go to class.
After class was over, Lucas walked up to Max. "Hey, Max. Have you seen Dustin or Artie? We're supposed to meet after class." He smiled at her while holding onto his backpack straps.
Upon hearing his voice, Max ignored him as she closed her locker. With her walking out of the school, Lucas followed her. "Hey, Max! Where are you going? We gotta look for Dart."
"Yeah, good luck with that," Max told him as she started walking a little faster.
"What is wrong with you?" Lucas looked at her before he ran over to her, "I don't understand."
That was when Max turned around at Lucas. "No! I don't understand! You guys act like you want me to be your friend but then you treat me like garbage!"
"That's not true!" Lucas shook his head, taking his hands off his backpack straps along with his smile.
"Yet, it is!" Max shouted back at him. "You go and hide in the AV Club, keeping secrets like we're in the second grade or something. You know, I thought you guys wanted me in your party."
"We do. But it's..." Lucas trailed off. "There are things we can't tell you, all right? For your own safety."
"My own safety?" Max scoffed at him, "Because it's dangerous? That's what Artie said but at least she was there for me. You guys all left me alone to go to AV Club. You guys left me out!"
Lucas now didn't know how much Max knew or what she knew. "What did Artie tell you?"
"She told me a story." Max shook her head. "Who's El? Did you keep secrets from her?"
"That was different. Trust me. Okay? That was just...just different." Lucas shook his head at thinking about how El became their friend.
Max looked away, "You know what? Forget it, okay? I don't wanna be in your stupid party anyway. I'm out. Have a nice life." With that she turned around and left. "You still stink by the way."
Lucas walked away too.
"Artie! Artie!" Lucas ran once he saw his brunette female friend. He stopped in front of her and started breathing hard for air. "I need your help."
Artie furrowed her brows and let her hands hang off her backpack straps. "Did someone die?"
"No, that's not what I meant." Lucas slightly shook his head. "Max left us, she doesn't want to be friends with us anymore."
"Oh" Artie nodded her head and she slowly rode on her skateboard. "Well gee, I wonder why?" She sarcastically spoke.
Lucas followed after her, "Mike said party members only."
"Don't blame the secret, Lucas." Artie glanced over at Lucas as she continued to skate. "I knew the secret last year and you guys treated me the same."
"What? That's not true. We welcomed you." Lucas told her, not remembering them ever being mean to her or El.
Artie laughed to herself. "Welcomed me? You guys would always leave me out but I got over it." She then skated faster away from Lucas who was calling after her.
