Hell on Earth

Chapter Sixty Five - Something Strange

Cynthia was standing by her locker and putting her books into her bag. She was so glad that it was time to go home. At this point, all of her classes were just repetitive. Everyone was starting to get into the 'it's almost Christmas break' swing of things.

"Hey," Max's voice came from the side.

"Hey Max," Cynthia looked at her. "I'll be out in the car in a minute. My teacher was being kind of bitchy about not cheating on the midterms, so I had to hear that lecture for way too long."

"Um actually, that's what I came to talk to you about," Max said. "My mom is picking me up, so I don't need a ride."

"Okay," Cynthia said. "Am I still picking you up for school tomorrow?"

"No," Max said. "My mom and I figured something else out, so I don't need a ride to school anymore."

"Okay," Cynthia said. "Just know that if you ever need a ride, I'm just a phone call away."

"Thanks," Max said as she walked away.

Cynthia started to chew on the inside of her lip. She didn't know why, but her entire gut just felt off about that conversation. She just had a bad feeling.

"Hey, are we ready?" Robin said as she appeared by Cynthia's side.

"Yes," Cynthia said. "Let's go."

"Thanks for dropping me off at work today," Robin said as they walked out the door to Cynthia's car. "Usually I would have Steve do it, but as we know..."

"Steve is down for the count with the worse stomach flu ever," Cynthia finished. "Are you going to check up on him tonight?"

"Yeah," Robin nodded. "I'm glad my mom is driving me over there to check on him."

"I'll take over tomorrow's shift," Cynthia said. "With luck, he should be over it in the next day or two."

"Thank goodness," Robin said. "I love Steve, but if I have to deal with another bucket of his vomit, I'm going to vomit myself, and I'll be totally useless in helping him."

"It'll get better," Cynthia said. "Hopefully."

"You're sometimes real shit at making everything seem like it will be okay, Cynthia," Robin said.

"It's a gift," Cynthia shrugged.

They got to the car. The boys were sitting on the hood waiting for her. Lucas looked sad, and Dustin was saying something to him.

"What's wrong, Lucas?" Cynthia asked as she walked up to him.

"Nothing," Lucas tried to brush her off.

"Max broke up with him," Dustin said as he hopped off the hood of the car.

Lucas punched Dustin in the arm, "Not cool, dude."

"What?" Cynthia asked. "Why did she do that?"

"She just said that we were too different, and she just didn't feel the same way any more," Lucas pulled his lettermen jacket closer to his body. "But, I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay," Cynthia said as she unlocked the car. "We don't have to talk about it."

They all loaded into the car. The only sound was Cynthia's radio. It was a nice distraction from everything that was buzzing in her mind. The fact that Max had broke up with Lucas lined up a bit too perfectly with her saying she didn't need any more rides. Something was definitely off with Max. Cynthia drove up to the Family Video.

"Here is your stop," she said as she unlocked the door.

"You're a lifesaver," Robin smiled at her. "Thank you so much."