- 𝗍𝗈 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗆𝗈𝗈𝗇 -

-4-

"Hi, my names Mike."

"And mines Lucas."

Two boys as different as night and day, smiled down at her as if she was some lucky rainbow-shitting unicorn. "Hi." she said flatly, hoping it would be a polite way to say fuck off. Because if seeing the boy she nearly skated into at her school was bad, think about seating next to him for the next two years of your teenage life. Her stomach churned.

"So, you're new here." Mike said, his white perfect teeth shining under the light. On her left, Lucas gave her a matching radiant smile. "I guess i am." she said, irritated with the statements and questions. God, if her dad were here, he would tell her to keep her chin up and keep looking ahead. He would tell her to be more relaxed, but vigilant, because you never knew who could be trusted, especially when you're in a new town. As much as she hated how he abandoned her sometimes or forgot about her visiting him for the weekend, she loved when he gave her advice. She always felt like he was giving a part of his soul to her, and she loved how special she felt whenever he did give her advice.

Other times, she wanted him to notice her instead of ignore her. To give her a hug and tell her that he loved her just like he did when she was seven. Max, as much as she tried to bottle it up, wanted the love and admiration she had never gotten from her parents. She never knew if her dad was proud of her when she was like him or not, so she had to look out for his smiles and winks. Because those fast looks, were like grains of gold to her.

Grains of gold that kept slipping through her fingers.

Gosh, she missed her dad so much. Maybe even more than the stupid hot heat she always used to complain about. Here, you could wear sweaters all year long and never sweat. A permanent twenty-one degrees celcius all day and night.

As she sat there, in the gloomy classroom surrounded by twenty other students, she realised just how homesick she was for her dad, her old friends, and the old school she used to go to. All of them, and all the ice-cream parlours and skateparks would be gone forever, living only in her memory.

Bicycle boy smiled at her, and mouthed one word.

"Hi."

________

" She's amazing, right? So so awesome too." Dustin said dreamily as he ate his peanut-butter sandwich. "Like she would ever date someone who's mom still packs their lunch." Lucas joked and laughed when Dustin's sunny tan face twisted into a frown.

"Hey!"

"Boys, calm down. I'm sure she'll like you two instantly once she gets to know you." Elle added in, glancing at the back of the cafeteria, where Max sat alone near the lunch doors. The redheads eyes seemed to be on constant alert, darting back and forth as she ate her food.

Mike, noticing his girlfriends attention lingering on the lonely-looking new girl, turned his attention to her as well. She looked pretty wary, her big blue eyes glaring at people, her shoulders hunched inwards as her large blue denim jacket covered her entire upper body. This was the girl that was skating so calmly and effortlessly hours ago, so peaceful on her way to school, and had handled the near-crash perfectly.

"Do you think she feels lonely?" Elle wondered aloud, her brown eyes still fixed on Max. "I feel like we should go talk to her." Dustin and Lucas shrugged carelessly, "fine with me." Will chirped from beside Elle and chuckled when the brunette hugged him happily to her. Ever since Hopper had died, Elle had been staying with the Byers, Will and Jonathan as the best brothers ever, and Joyce as the only mother figure Elle had ever had in her life. The telekinetic girl with powers beyond comprehension was now as normal as everyone else in Hawkins. With no monsters to battle from inter dimensiona worlds, she could finally rest and have a normal teenage life, spending it with the people she loved.

And knowing how helpless and scary it was to be dropped into a new world where everything was different and the people were strangers, Elle wanted to reach out to Max. She knew how loneliness felt firsthand. And Elle didn't want that for Max, she wanted the redhead to feel welcomed in Hawkins, like she belonged already.

"Stay here." Elle whispered to Mike, before carrying her plastic green tray filled with food, and casually walked over to Max's table. The redhead spotted her coming her way, but didn't comment until Elle set down her tray and slid into the seat opposite her.

Mike watched the two girls carefully, looking out to see if the girl he met this morning was still there. As the girls talked, he noticed that her fists stopped clenching and her face relaxed slowly. Her eyes stopped darting around the room, and instead settled on her hands in her lap. Elle, bless her, was smiling and talking animatedly as if she had never had a better day, not noticing how much the anxious girl had softened up to her.

He couldn't hear what they were talking about, just that Max looked over towards him a couple of times before responding to Elle. Blushing, he looked away. Whatever was going on between the two girls, that was between them.

Yet, a part of him wanted to know what the redhead was talking about, and if it involved him. He wanted to know what she thought of him.

He wanted to forget how amazingly she smelled. He wanted to shake off that feeling of excitement whenever he looked at her. He wanted to ask her how her day was. All these feelings...

But all he did was look away.

________