••••• "Don't don't you want me? / You know I can't believe it when you say that you don't need me" •••••
"This might be the stupidest thing I've ever gotten myself involved in, but I'm in."
In which Steve Harrington and Kimberly Henderson go from be...
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"Max!" Kim called after the younger ginger girl. "Hey, Max!"
Max took off her head phones and groaned as she turned around, thinking Ms. Kelly, the guidance counselor, was trying to talk to her again. When she saw that it was just Kim, she felt a little better. The two girls had always been close, but since Billy and Hopper had died they had formed a mutual understanding of one another. Both of them felt like they could tell each other anything and the other would just get it and not judge them. Max felt like she could just be honest with Kim about how she was feeling and Kim wouldn't roll her eyes and tell her to "move on".
"You doing okay today?" the older of the two asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Max replied shortly. "Why wouldn't I be."
"Just wondering," Kim held her hands up in surrender. "Trying to be nice."
The other nice thing about being friends with Kim was that Max could snap at her and she wasn't overly sensitive about it. Max always felt bad after the fact, but her occasional rudeness never fazed Kim; she knew Max didn't really mean it.
"You're heading to the pep rally, right?" Kim asked.
Max scoffed. "I don't think I have much of a choice. If a teacher caught you in the hall they'd probably give you detention for lack of school spirit," she said mockingly.
"Come on," Kim grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the gym. "Let's just get this over with."
They filed into the packed gym, finding two open spots on the bleachers next to Mike and Dustin. They watched the cheerleaders and the band, clapping politely as they finished their impressive routine.
Kim looked towards the band, a small smile spreading across her face when she saw Robin and Vickie standing next to each other and talking. Her eyes scanned the gym again, looking for her best friend. She found Nancy by the doors, her camera out and snapping pictures for the school newspaper. Both girls waved at each other, wishing they could be in the stands laughing together.
"And let's hear it for your Tigers!" the announcer exclaimed as the varsity basketball boys jogged in.
Max rolled her eyes when Lucas ran in.
Kim sighed and pressed her lips together. She thought that Max should do whatever she felt was best, but Kim also knew that Lucas made her really happy. She thought that the break up was just another way for Max to push away all of the people who cared about her the most.
"Good morning, Hawkins High!" Jason Carver, the team captain, yelled into the mic at the center of the gym. "First off, I'd like to thank each and every one of you; without your support, we wouldn't be here."
He droned on and on about the team and how they had won for the people who had died in the "mall fire". He was trying to make his speech way too deep and dramatic. To Kim, he just sounded like one of the parents in Charlie Brown. Wah Waah wah.
