𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 ~ 𝐛𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐫

52

One week later

"I hate exams." Lucas said as he and Darren sat down at the table that Mike, Will, El, and Dustin were already sitting at in the library.

"Same." Mike responded, "How do teachers even come up with these questions?"

"It doesn't help that spelling counts for history.. shit." Dustin cursed. Darren sighed.

"The last day of review.. and I've retained nothing." Darren responded.

"Same. How about you guys?" Lucas asked.

"I've got some stuff memorized, but some stuff just won't stick." Mike replied.

"Same here." Will added, "But I'm sure I'll get it over the weekend."

"I hope I get it over a weekend." Dustin responded. "By the way, have you guys seen Max around lately?"

"Not really.. we've talked on the phone a few times but that's it." Lucas said. Will looked at El, whose eyes were glued to the review guide she made.

"How about you, El?" Dustin asked. El shook her head.

"I've only seen her in class a few times." El responded with a frown.

"Jeez... I wonder what happened." Dustin said quietly before looking back at his book. El sighed.

"I need to use the bathroom." El said as she closed her book and stood up, quickly leaving the library. Mike and Will exchanged looks of worry.

"Thanks, Dustin." Lucas said suddenly. Dustin gave him a confused look.

"What? What did I do?" Dustin asked. Lucas shook his head as he looked back at his book, leaving Dustin confused.

El held herself as she walked through the halls of Hawkins High. She couldn't pretend like she didn't notice the stares. After prom, everyone treated her differently. They still liked her, but they seemed more scared of her than anything, which El didn't like. She never liked people being scared of her. She never liked to be seen as some sort of monster. She went into the bathroom, putting some water on her face before staring at herself in the mirror. Her nose was bleeding. Suddenly one of the stalls opened, and El looked over to see a very familiar face. Max. She quickly turned back to the sink, looking down a bit as she wiped her nose. She heard a sigh.

"Hey." Max said. El turned to her.

"Hi.." She responded, "Am I.. in your way?" Max smiled a bit as El moved from in front of the sink.

"No, just wanted to say hey because.. we haven't talked in a while." Max said.

"Oh." El responded. Max looked down a bit.

"I'm sorry.. for everything. For leaving the band, for not talking to anyone, and.. for hurting you." Max started, "I just wanted to say that." El nodded.

"You don't have to apologize.. but I appreciate it." El responded. "And you didn't hurt me... I'm pretty sure I did that myself." Max laughed a bit.

"Nah... I think I had some part in it." Max said. El laughed a bit before they just smiled at each other, and for just a second everything felt normal again. "Hey uh.. how have you been by the way? I asked Lucas and he had no clue." El sighed.

"I've been better.. everyone keeps looking at me like 'please don't hit me with something!' So that's exhausting." El responded. Max nodded.

"Yeah that's gotta suck.. well at least every teacher isn't looking at you like 'please don't leave your skateboard in front of my car'!" Max said. They both laughed.