Semi-Charmed Life

December

Queen Elizabeth: Wait so I can shower at your house right

Max had been staring at her bedroom's hideous popcorn ceiling in contemplation for the last five minutes as her house sat in silence, so El's text was a welcome reprieve.

Bestie for the Restie <3: yeah

Bestie for the Restie <3: When r u done

Queen Elizabeth: Shift ends in 10 mins but I'm literally doing cleanup on aisle 3 so I might be longer

Queen Elizabeth: some kid puked all over the place

Bestie for the Restie <3: gross

Queen Elizabeth: ikr walmart doesn't pay me enough for this

Max texted her friend back to tell her to text when she was on her way before dropping her phone next to her again and sighing. College applications were going to be due soon and Max still didn't know what she wanted to do. The boys all had obvious plans: Dustin had been obsessed with biology his whole life and was always going on about some weird research he was conducting on plants he found in his yard, Lucas was very good at and super interested in math and physics, and Will had unearthed a passion for graphic design. Mike was the group's resident techie, always somewhere tinkering with electronics, along with having an aspiration to write. El had also been unsure for a time, but after talking to their band director she had decided to audition for a few music programs and keep studying history as a backup plan.

Max, however... she didn't particularly like school. Every day she went in and went out, but she was only there because she had to be. Not that she was a terrible student, but school just wasn't really her thing and each day she felt more sure that college wasn't going to be for her. The guidance counselor had suggested looking into possibly taking an apprenticeship in a trade, but even with that Max had no idea where to start. And she didn't know how she would bring it up to her mom and stepdad either; she knew they expected her to go, and had since the moment Billy had made it obvious he wasn't going to. Before he'd died, anyway.

"I'm not thinking about this," she mumbled to herself, turning on her side. Her best friend was coming over for a sleepover and Max was going to make sure they had a good time. She'd already laid out the bags of microwave popcorn on the counter so they could make them later, and there was a large bag of peanut M&Ms waiting for them as well. Tonight was going to be a girls' night.

It would have been a group night but the boys wanted to hang out and do whatever it was teenage boys did (Max was certain they were just going to spend the entire night playing on the old-ass PS2 in the Wheelers' basement and yelling at each other), so she and El had decided to get together as well. Her mom and stepdad were in the city overnight visiting her mom's sister, so Max's house was empty anyway. Maybe tonight she would get something out of El about the mysterious man she was keeping under wraps.

She was in the kitchen chugging a water bottle when the doorbell rang, and in her haste to let her friend in, Max almost spilled water all over herself.

"What's up?!" She exclaimed, greeting El on the doorstep.

El threw her arms in the air excitedly. "Girls' night!"

Max stepped back to let her in, El shutting the door behind her with a sigh.

"God, I hate customer service," El said, toeing her shoes off and slipping on the pair of slippers Max held out to her. "And Wal-Mart."

Max sipped her water. "Same. Fuck McDonald's."

"I mean, I like chicken nuggets."

Max rolled her eyes. "You'd be insane if you didn't."