Lady in Red [Max Mayfield]

[3]

Class goes by slowly. First everyone talks about what they did over spring break. All I did was move so I told them that my friends and I biked around town, got ice cream everyday, and went to the quarry. That wasn't a complete lie, we do it every spring break. Just not this one. Probably never again.

As the lesson drags on, our teacher starts talking about group projects, and Max visibly slouches down in her chair. But it looks as if an idea sparks her mind and she raises her hand quickly.

"Yes, Maxine?" Mrs. Choopie asks

Max looks like she's trying to ignore that she called her Maxine again and says "This may sound wild, but can we work with kids in other periods, that are still in your class?"

Mrs. Choopie looks her up and down, but it doesn't look like she's declining, "I suppose. You're not presenting this to the class so I guess that'll be alright. Who do you have in mind?"

Max smiles. "A few people" she says. She turns to me "Hey so I know we're not really friends, but Mike would be mad if I didn't invite you. Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Will are all in her class. You can work with us. Isn't that great? We can all work together. All we're missing is El-".

"What?" I ask "Who's El?"

Max's face turns from a smile, to a fearful look and she stares at her desk. I knew she wouldn't play nice for long, but I was glad she was trying. Maybe Max didn't hate me. I didn't push anymore about whoever El is. I try to talk to Max about the group project again, but she acts like she can't hear me. An idea pops into my head as the bell rings, and I decide to bring it up at lunch.

I go through the rest of my classes slowly. Very slowly. I hope the rest of the year isn't like this. Second period I have language arts. It was probably the most boring class ever. Then I had this weird class called money management. It was supposed to help manage money, I guess. Fourth period was chemistry, which I actually quite enjoyed. In the middle of fourth period, the bell rings and I know it's time for my lunch shift. I grab my lunchbox and follow all the kids in the hallway to the cafeteria. I scan the cafeteria for Mike and his friends. I'm kind of hoping Dustin forgot he invited me. But right as my eyes landed on their table Dustin looks directly at me and shouts "Hey Alex!! Alex! over here!!"

If I declined, I would feel bad. so I make my way over to the table with all of those dorky boys. Dustin smiles at me and pulls out a chair. I actually smile at the gesture. He's really nice. I don't know why i'm judging him.

"Guys! I'm going to the arcade after school. Who wants to play Dragons Liar? Whooop whooop" Dustin says, grinning. Oh. That's why I'm judging him.

"Sorry Dustin, I can't" Mike says "gonna show Alex around town!"

Lucas scoffs "Oh yeah how would El feel about tha-"

"Lucas!" all the boys say in unison. I give them all a confused look and Dustin flashes me a guilty grin.

"Mike I don't need you to show me around. I'm good." I say

Mike groans "Listen. My mom is gonna pay me fifty bucks to show you around. You can have ten if you go."

"Twenty" I protest

"Ten" Mike fights back

"Twenty-five" I say, purposefully pushing Mikes buttons. Hopefully it'll earn me the extra cash.

"Fifteen" mike says.

"deal" I reply, holding out my hand. Without hesitating, Mike spits on his hand and almost touches mine. I pull away and scream, "Ew Mike what the hell, dude?"

That makes Will laugh, then Lucas, then Dustin, and finally Mike. Maybe these guys weren't so bad. I hear sneakers squeak across the floor until they stop at our table. Max slams her tray down next to Lucas. "The food here is shit" she tells Lucas.

"Tell me about it" Lucas replies, wrapping his arm around her. Damnit. They must be dating. I need to find a way to ask Mike about it. Wait shit. Mike. Mike Hanlon. My god damn (maybe) boyfriend for crying out loud?

I look at everyone and put my hands on the table. "Hey, uh guys? I don't know if max already asked but about the group project in Mrs. Choopie's class, we're all working together, right?" everyone nods in agreement. "Great cause uh, maybe you all could come over to my house this weekend and we can work on it?" I'm scared out of my mind that they might all reject me. But they all nod and smile in agreement. A feeling of relief washes over me.

Max looks at me, as if she's actually interested. That's a first. "Hey, Alex. What were your friends from your old town like?" she asks.

I smile and begin to tell them about all the adventures we went on (leaving out the part about pennywise the clown nearly killing all of us) I told them about the quarry, my best friend, Bev, the funniest person in our group, Richie (who actually looked a lot like Mike if I really thought about it), and our sleepovers. For some reason, they were shocked that I was allowed to have sleepovers with boys.

"Girls and boys can have sleepovers together?" Lucas asks.

"Well I guess it sounds weird but none of us are attracted to eachother like that. Actually that's a lie" I say, laughing "This is gonna get confusing. So, Bev and Bill are dating but Ben is in love with Bev and just wants her to be happy and Stanley is in love with Bill, and just wants him to be happy too. Eddie and Richie are dating but didn't tell eachother that they've been in love with one another for FOUR YEARS." everyone looks at me in utter shock. I guess when you think about it, everything was so confusing.

"Wait, Richie and Eddie are gay?" Will asks

"Uh yeah. Why? Do you have a problem with it?" I ask, with a sassy tone in my voice.

Will widens his eyes a bit "No! No. I just- I nevermind." my gaydar started beeping louder than ever. BEEDO BEEDO. No, I'm just kidding. He was clearly into guys, but I wasn't going to interrogate him.

"So what about you?" Dustin asks

"What?" I reply

"Do you have a boyfriend? Or girlfriend! No discrimination" he says with a grin.

"Um. Well I guess. I didn't tell you guys about him but his names Mike Hanlon. We never really made it official but" I say quietly

"So you guys were fuck buddies?" Mike asks with a questioning look.

"Mike what the hell?" Max yells "Shut the fuck up for once. She didn't say that. They just weren't friends but weren't dating. It makes sense." she smiles at me a bit and gestures me to go on.

I feel a bit flustered but continue anyways "No. We weren't. We never even, you know. I only kissed him once. It was more of a flirty friendship, I think?"

"You think?" Will asks

"Well I never really asked. He didn't tell me he liked me until the day before I left" I say. Telling them all this made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

"What a dickhead" Max says, a little too loud.

"What?" I ask

"Well he could've told you the whole summer, when you guys were flirting, but no! He had to tell you right before you leave. Did he think he had a chance with that? That's stupid" she finishes saying.

"Max calm down" Lucas says, putting his hands on her shoulders "sorry, she gets like that sometimes. Anger management issues" he laughs nervously as if he thinks Max is going to say something else, but she doesn't.

The bell rings and we all start to grab our things. "Well I think your friend group sounds pretty cool." Dustin tells me "hopefully I'll get to meet them one day."

I nod but deep down, I really don't want them meeting. They're so different.

They cant meet. I wont let them.