ɪ ᴄᴀʀᴇ. (ᴀ ᴍᴀᴅᴡʜᴇᴇʟᴇʀ ꜱᴛᴏʀʏ)

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 04~ ᴏᴍɪɴᴏᴜꜱ

The loud, annoying ringing of the school bell marked the beginning of the school day. Mike quickly made his way into Mr. Clarke's classroom. The boy was relieved to see his three best friends: Will, Dustin and Lucas, eagerly waiting for the lesson to start. His eyes darted to the back of the class, where he could see a certain readhead and El, chatting away like usual. The freckle-faced boy decided to sit near the teacher's desk, so he could pay better attention.

Unfortunately, this was a pretty uneventful class. 9th grade math was so boring, according to Mike.

As Mr. Clarke blabbered on about "how to solve X in an algebraic equation", the curly-haired boy couldn't help but let himself zone out. From the corner of his eye, he could see a pair of bright blue eyes. Max's blue eyes.

The lanky boy sighed, reminding himself to forget all about their strange encounter yesterday. He tried to go back to paying attention to the lesson, but he couldn't help but notice that something about Max was off. She seemed more quiet and solemn than her usual witty and extroverted self.

The readhead's curls fell over her face as she teetered in her seat, feeling lightheaded. Surprised, she quickly jerked her body right back up to her desk.

Max's behavior was quite unusual and peculiar. Her fellow classmates were starting to stare at her, giving her confused looks. 

Mr. Clark eventually noticed this.

"Maxine, do you need to go to the nurse's office?" the middle-aged man asked. 

Internally cringing at the name Maxine, the teen shook her head, eventually mumbling "I'm fine" in a quiet voice.

*~*

The rest of the day was a blur for Max. She gathered up all of her energy to finish her classes, occasionally getting asked if she was alright. Not wanting to bring more attention to herself, the readhead shrugged her fellow peers' comments off. She was surely fine, just a little tired.

At the end of the day, Lucas, Mike, El, Dustin, and Will quickly caught up to the girl, skateboarding into the parking lot. 

"Max!", "MAX" Lucas called, losing his breath.

Max swiftly hopped off her skateboard, turning towards her friends. 

Mike's breath caught in his throat.

"Max, your cheek!" The boy shuddered.

"Bad" El quietly agreed.

"W-what happened?" Will said softly.

"What? What do you mean?" Max asked, confused.

"Come here" Dustin said, leading her to a car window.

That was when she saw it. A large, sizeable entaglement of black veins, seemingly threaded into her skin.

Max gasped, pressing a hand to her face. The dark patch was rough, almost like the horrid weave of a spider's web.

"I-I need to get home" the panicked girl said, stumbling onto her skateboard.

"Wait, Max!" Mike yelled, but it was too late. The readhead was already speeding home.

*~*