𝐆𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 [elmax story]

Chapter 1: Math lesson

The clock ticked 07:30 AM. The phone's alarm banged like a hammer on Max's ears, making the sleepy girl snap her eyes open. The sun had risen, shining in the redhead's dorm.

It had passed only a month since Max applied in a few colleges to study. Business management was her goal, she liked it quite a lot and was good at dealing with a lot of things according to it. After waiting the whole summer for a response from the colleges, Columbia college in New York City opened her a door. It was a little far from her living place, Hawkins Indiana, but if the point was to achieve her goals Max was ready to take the risk.

August was the month of presentation between students and the university, but September had reached and the school had started.

Max's roommate, Victoria, was already dressing up, looking too excited for the first day in college. The two girls had gotten along too well for this short period. Victoria was a Spanish girl, but luckily by having an American mother she was great at speaking English, even though she was born and raised in Spain. Max never bothered the fact of having a roommate, she wanted to have many friends, which she never had in high school for unknown reasons. Maybe she was too shy to walk on someone and talk first, or maybe she was insecure due to the period of adolescence, she was confused herself.

"Max, are you getting up or not?" - Victoria softly chuckled, brushing her hazelnut long hair.

  "I only have four hours sleep, ugh."

"Why?"

  "I was so excited that the stress kept me awake the whole night." - the redhead ironically said as she was getting up slowly, stretching her arms.

"Aw, cariño. Fuck stress! This is our new life, cheer up." - Victoria walked to her friend, softly rubbing her shoulders. - "We're gonna make it, believe me."

Max's face lightened up. She knew she could count on her roommate, and not just a roommate, but a real friend.

After getting ready and grabbing their notebooks, Max and Victoria checked their schedules before going to their first lesson which was Maths. Students started entering the auditorium either in groups or alone, many different expressions of theirs noticeable in the air. The redhead and her friend found some empty seats in the first row from the window side, sitting on the fourth desk.

"Everyone seems stressed out, why?" - Victoria lightly whined.

"Math is boring!" - someone stated, one desk forward from the girls. - "Don't you think?" - the dark skinned boy continued.

"To be honest Math really gets boring sometimes." - Max agreed to his comment.

"I'm Lucas, by the way." - the boy introduced himself with a big smile, dimples showing on his cheeks.

"I'm Max, nice to meet you."

" I'm Victoria, but you can call me Vic."

  "Nice to meet you both, girls. How you feeling on your first day here?"

"I'm excited! It's cool and we shouldn't overstress or else we won't enjoy this period." - Vic commented.

"That's true, my mom always tells me to take things easy and always smile and enjoy my time. So that's what I do." - Lucas smiled even more.

"You have a cute smile and I'm happy you do that. It really fits you."

"Thank you!"

"Do you have friends here?" - Max asked, wanting to join in the conversation more.

"Yes, but they're both in the same field, for Art History and Visual Arts."

"That's a cool approach! I wish I was creative."

"Meh, that is a tiring thing to study in, I could never do it. I'm good here."

  "Where do you come from?" - Victoria kept going on with her questions.

  "I'm from Hawkins."

  "No way! Really?" - Max widened her eyes.

  "Yes, you're from there, too?"

  "Yes, I mean I moved from California to Hawkins when I was 13. I lived for some time there."

  "That's cool, but how come I haven't seen you there? Hawkins is a quite small place."

  "Yeah, well, I never really had friends during that time and I preferred staying more on my own."

  "Understandable. But I'm happy I see you here."

  "Same for me."

But their conversation couldn't last as the Maths professor entered the auditorium, starting to presentate himself and what the students were going to learn and do in this subject.