LONELY TOGETHER - max mayfield (EDITING)

5. "-Pretty, and totally tubular."

THE NEXT morning, James had come into Jax's room and sighed angrily. He started rummaging around, waking up his son.

"What are you doing?" Jaxon croaked out, rubbing his eyes.

"I need some money, alright? Hand it over, all that you got." James stood over him, looking down. His eyes seemed to be frantic and his tone was frustrated.

"I only got seven bucks, and I need i-"

"You want another black eye!? You think you're tough for having that, don't you?" He grabbed Jax by his shirt, tugging him up.

"N-no- I'll get it." He rolled out of bed and pulled open a drawer. There was a $5 bill and 8 quarters in a plastic bag.

James ripped it out of his hand and almost let out a smile, looking at the bag in his hands. "Need a ride anywhere today?"

"Yeah, yeah. The junkyard. Tonight. Is that okay?" Jax asked, opening his other drawers for an outfit.

"Yeah, sure. If you find anything worthy bring it home, alright?" James pat his shoulder before exiting the room.

The boy stared blankly at his doorway, listening to his father's footsteps down the stairs and the slamming of their front door. Sighing, Jax slumped onto his bed, holding a pair of jeans and a dark brown flannel in his hands. He wondered how much longer this would go on for.

Sometimes Jaxon wished the police would catch James and totally forget he had a son, leaving Jax to operate the house himself.

Of course, he had no way of paying rent, or getting grocery money (since Lucas had continued to mow old man Humphrey's lawn) but Jaxon dreamed of a life where he cleaned up his messy house, had the sun shining inside every morning, and danced to 'The Smiths' before school while eating his breakfast.

That was his ideal life.

Unlike this, where every night he would look at the moon from his window and pray -- to the best of his ability -- that something would change. That he could be truly happy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I said medium well!" Lucas called out, hopping off his bike with Max on the back. Them, Jax, Dustin and Steve Harrington (for some reason) were all at the junkyard to give Max proof Lucas's story was legit. After Mike had excluded her once again, Max had decided she had enough with the boy's stupid games, and told them to 'have a good life.'

Jaxon tossed his bike on the ground and walked over. He had waited for James to arrive, but with no surprise, he never showed up. Jax had got tired of waiting and just biked there instead.

Steve wanted to start right away, so he ordered Max and Jax to go find some scraps of metal. Lucas and Dustin, however, were hiding behind a car arguing.

"So, all of this shit is real?" Max asked Jax, crouching down and looking at some pieces of junk, trying to find some good parts to take.

"Yeah. Its okay if you don't believe us. I mean- I wouldn't if you told me about a girl with superpowers and the government." Jax said as he tossed her some metal to place beside the bus.

"Hey! Dickheads! Why is the only people helping me is Grazer and this random girl? We lose light in 40 minutes lets go! Lets go I said! Steve exclaimed, with Dustin and Lucas following behind him.

About an hour later, they were all still at the junkyard, waiting for any sight of dart. Jax was on top of the bus, keeping look out with the binoculars. After Dustin had gave Max attitude, she decided to go up top and sit with him.