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Trigger warning! Self Harm
***
Max hopped off her skateboard, holding tightly onto it. Her, Mike, and El waited for the boys. El was bouncing on her heels. Mike chuckled at her.
"You okay there?"
"We're in high school!"
"We sure are."
"This is gonna determine the rest of our lives!"
"Or it's just high school?"
El turned to her. "You don't wanna go?"
"Not really, no. Middle school was stupid enough, now I have to deal with three years of this."
"Four."
"Sorry?"
"There's four years of high school, Max"
"Nope!" She went to leave when Mike pulled her into a hug. "Don't worry, we won't let anything bad happen to you." She smiled at her brother. He pulled El into the hug and kissed both the girls on their heads. "You too, El. We need to protect our girls." Max pulled away from him and fake gagged. "Gross! Now I have to bleach my hair!"
"You love me."
"That I do."
"Would that take out the orange?"
***
She started to feel off during second period. Third period was even worse. It was art, the whole groups favorite class. She was painting a little girl who had blue eyes and red hair. The girl was hiding in a corner. Her skin was all different shades of blues and purples. There was a shadow of a tall man holding a bat in his right hand. The body of a much older woman laid on the floor in front of the smaller girl. Her face had been bashed in and she was stabbed in the chest. It was a horrifying painting for a girl her age. El was sitting next to her silently humming as she painted a beautiful galaxy. She looked over at Max's painting and frowned. "Max..."
"It's nothing!" She hid the painting.
"Are you okay?"
"DON'T ask me that!"
"I-"
Max looked around. The teacher came over and took the painting into her hands. max stood up, reaching for it. The older woman held it out of her reach, inspecting it. "Max, this- are you alright." She asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. Max screamed, slapping her arm. Her breathing got harder as everyone in the class stared at her. She sucked in a breath as she ran out of the room and into an empty one. She suck to the floor, crawling under the teachers desk. Max pulled her legs up and buried her head into her knees. The girl let out a sob as she rocked back and forth. She then laid on the floor, still holding her legs. You could hear her whispering things to herself like, ' you're so worthless, or 'no one loves you'. She was degrading herself in the worst way possible.
The girl sobbed as she sat up in a crisscross position. She pulled her bag close to her going through one of the pockets. Max rolled up her sleeve placing the blade onto it.
She stared at her now bleeding arm. It had the word 'worthless' carved into it with tiny scratches all around it. On her other arms was the word 'stupid' with identical scratches to the other. On her stomach was carved 'fat' and 'ugly'. She had more scratches too. The poor girl sobbed, sitting in her own blood. She leaned her head onto the desk, falling asleep.
***
Mike looked at his friends worriedly. They all looked at each other with the same face. El raised her hand, "could we-"
"Go."
//Author: I recommend listening to the song right about now, but you don't have to. It just adds more :)//
The five kids ran out of the class. They spilt up, Mike and Will going west, Dustin and Lucas going east, and El going north. It reminded the boys of when they were looking for Dart. El walked into an empty class room. "Goddamn it! Where are you?" As she was about to leave, she saw a strand of red hair peaking out from under the teachers desk. Gasping, she ran to it quickly. Her hand flew to her mouth once she saw the state the other girl was in. El crumbled to the floor with tears in her eyes. She shook the girl, trying to wake her up. "Max, wake up. Please get up! Shit, what am I gonna tell Mike?"
Max felt like she was floating. She could hear El crying and talking but she just didn't know what was going on. Everything was dark and scary and she just wanted to g- was that water?
The girl woke up with a jolt. She sat up quickly, seeing she was now in the middle of the room. El was sitting next next to her and rubbing her back. She looked around to see her four other friends, the art teacher, the school nurse, guidance counselor, and Hopper. Max looked at her now bandaged arms before looking back up at El.
"El I-"
"We're gonna get you help honey, I promise you we are."
They kept that promise, and now Max doesn't have to fake a smile or wear battle scars on her arms. She's getting better and that's all that matters to them.
