dark red; max mayfield

II

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Benjamin rose bright and early the next day. Not wanting to be late to school. Instead of just throwing on something comfortable for the day, he wanted to look presentable for Max. God am I really going to dress up for today? He knew the answer to the question but still shook his head. He positioned himself in the front of his full body mirror and tried on multiple outfits.

Being stuck in his head he didn't hear the door open, and his brother entered the room. "Why is there a mess of clothes on the floor?" Benjamin jumped at the sudden presence of his brother. He turned to his brother, who was all ready for school and back to his closet.

"Listen, don't laugh, but I need help choosing an outfit for today." A smirk made its way onto Steve's face. "Who is my baby brother trying to impress at school? A girl maybe?' A laugh came from Steve as he made his way towards Benji's closet.

Soon enough Benjamin had a handful of clothes that Steve picked out. He put on the levi jeans first then put his vans on. After he put his pants on, Steve gave him a graphic tee with a loose flannel and jean jacket to put over everything.

After being content with his outfit, he grabbed his backpack and made his way downstairs. He grabbed his skateboard and made his way towards Steve's card where Steve was waiting for him. Once Benjamin was inside the car, Steve made the quick drive to Hawkins middle school.

It was still pretty early when Benjamin was dropped off at the front of the school. He decided to wait for Max to arrive. Sitting down on the curb he saw students go in and out of the front doors. None of them was Max. It was only 10 minutes until class was about to start so Benjamin got up and collected his skateboard.

"HEY HARRINGTON WAIT UP." Benjamin turned around to see Max getting out of the same car she got picked up in yesterday.

[Benjamin's pov]

I waited until she got close enough to the front door and held them open for her. She was still wearing the jacket I lent her yesterday. She started walking next to me and smiled. "Sorry if I was a little late, my idiot step-brother woke up late today." I gave her a smile as I stopped suddenly. "It's all good, once I put my things away, I'll lead you to the office if you want?"

"Yeah, that would be nice, thanks Benji." Benji, that sounded nice coming from her. I put my things inside my locker and grabbed my science notebook. Once I closed my locker, I made sure to put the lock back and started to lead Max to the office where she would get her books and class schedule.

After I leave Max in the office, I start walking towards my first period, science with Mr. Clarke. I open the door and sigh when I realize I wasn't late. I gave Mr. Clarke a polite smile, that he returned, and sat in my seat towards the back.

After the majority of the class was sat down, Mr. Clarke started his lesson on the human brain. I started to space out, having a lot of free time at home. I started to read ahead in the textbook. Something that Mr. Clarke loved when his students did.

I was dozing off in my seat when the door opened, interrupting Mr. Clarke's very interesting lesson. When Max entered the room, suddenly I was up and focused on whatever Mr. Clarke was saying. "Class, please welcome, all the way from sunny California, the latest passenger to join our curiosity voyage, Maxine."

She sent Mr. Clarke an awkward smile. "It's Max. No one calls me Maxine, it's just Max." He gives her a look and she goes to an empty seat. Luck for me, the only empty seat was the one right in front of me. She goes to sit in the empty desk and gives me a big smile. "Hey Benji."

My smile grows as her nickname for me comes out, "Hey MadMax." She laughs at the comment. From over her shoulder, I can see the party look our way. They probably found out that Max beat Dustin's high score. I give them the bird and continue to not pay any attention to Mr. Clarke's boring lesson.

[later]

After science class, I don't see Max until lunch time. During which we hang out by the baseball field. The entire time, the party was watching us from afar. They are morons. With a roll of my eyes, I grab Max by the arm and make her sit down with me. I'm pretty sure she was able to see the party like I did because she asked me for a piece of paper and a marker. "Please get your friends under control, Harrington." I laugh at the words written on the paper. They were acting like creeps, so it's only fair they get called out.

After the message was complete, we got up to go inside the cafeteria. She throws the note into the trash can and holds my hand to drag me inside. We wait by the door until we hear the familiar voice of Mike read out the message. I couldn't contain my laughter, so I found myself holding my stomach from laughter.

We walk towards the bleachers on the far end of the gym. No one was inside so we had the gym to ourselves. I find a seat near the bottom of the bleachers to sit on and pat the space next to me. Max took the hint and sat next to me. "You read comic books Mad Max?"

A small smile finds her pale face. "Yeah, I don't have many though, I only read the few that I have." I instantly pull out the two new comic books from my bag and give her one. They were the latest editions of Wonder Woman. Steve had seen them at some comic shop while he was coming back from the grocery store and bought them for me.

"These are the latest editions." The disbelief on her face said everything. "They must've cost so much, I don't want to ruin it by reading it." I shake my head gently. 'It's nothing, read it, if you enjoy it keep it. I can always get another one. Plus, I have like hundreds more comics at home."

The smile on her face was worth giving away a new comic book. Before we could continue our chat, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. "Here let me see your schedule. I'll take you to your next class." The smile didn't leave. Gosh I think I can fall in love with that expression. "Oh! we have English next, the teacher likes me so I can get him to seat you next to me."

I grab her hand and drag her out of the gym and back into the middle school hallways. Her laugh echoing the school hallways. We got to class and before I knew it the day was ending. 

The day ended and we found ourselves once again in the parking lot. Her stepbrother was already getting into the car, so she took that as the cue to go. I suddenly remembered that tomorrow was Halloween, and the party and I were going out trick-or-treating like usual. "Hey Max!" My voice boomed across the parking lot, getting the attention of both her and her stepbrother. I made a slight jog to her before Steve could honk at me and asked her about trick-or-treating.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go out tomorrow? The party and I always go out trick-or-treating together and since you're new to town, I thought we could show you the good spots?" Her face stayed neutral as she looked back at her stepbrother.

"Sure, where do you want to meet?" I look over her shoulders towards the man in the car and lean in to whisper. "I'll meet you at the arcade? I'll have my brother drive us to Mike's house. It's where we usually meet on Halloween."

She gave me a small smile before getting into the passenger side of the Camaro. Before I could walk away though, her stepbrother stepped out of the car and slammed the door.

"Hey shithead, what's your name?" In an instant I was in fight or flight mode, and I don't activate flight mode often. "Benjamin. Benjamin Harrington, you?" It's like he could tell I was getting intimidated by him. "Oh, another Harrington, I knew I recognized you. Don't try anything Harrington."

And with that him and Max were off.

Weird. Before I could do anything, Steve was already honking at me to hurry up.

Whatever tomorrow brings, I hope it's not demogorgons.