dark red- max mayfield

ii. madmax

☆★☆★→ ←☆★☆★

THE NEXT day was the day before Halloween. Josh and Lucas rode their bikes over to Hawkins Middle, as they did every morning. The boys narrowly avoided a girl with bright red hair as she skateboarded past them into the school.

"Jesus." Josh said as he jumped back, pulling the straps of his backpack. "Who's that?"

"Don't know." shrugged Lucas absentmindedly. "I've never seen her before."

They continued in, heading to their respective lockers before meeting up with Dustin. None of the three knew where Mike or Will were.

"They're probably together, you know them." shrugged Dustin carelessly, hugging his textbook close to his chest. "Come on, we don't wanna be late for Mr. Clarke's class."

Mr. Clarke was by far Josh's favorite teacher at the school. He was the most understanding and clearly understood kids. He liked the boys in the party, since they were all members of the AV Club that he ran.

"Good morning, boys." beamed Mr. Clarke as they entered. He was sitting at his desk, looking through a notebook. "Excited for Halloween?"

"Very excited!" gushed Dustin happily. "We've already got our costumes ready."

"They do." corrected Josh, pointing at Lucas and Dustin. "I have a soccer game tomorrow."

"Oh, well, good luck!"

The boys walked to their desks— Dustin and Lucas sat towards the front, while Josh sat in the back. While he thought Mr. Clarke was an excellent teacher and his personal favorite at the school, he still wasn't a fan of science. While the rest of his friends would like to be working on labs and experiments, Josh longed to be playing sports.

Will came into class next, and he looked very upset, although when he saw his friends staring back at him, he masked it with a forced smile. Mike came in with a wide grin.

The bell rang, and Mr. Clarke wasted no time in reaching under his desk and pulling out a plastic brain, putting it on some form of display holder. "Meet the human brain!"

Josh tried to stifle a yawn for Mr. Clarke's sake, putting his hands over his mouth and looking down.

"I know. I know," smiled Mr. Clarke, almost sheepishly, "it doesn't look like much. A little gross even, right? But— consider this. There are a hundred billion cells inside of this miracle of evolution. All working as one! No, no, I did not misspeak. I did not stutter. A hundred billion!"

A girl at the back of the class popped the gum in her mouth and the door opened simultaneously, revealing the principal and a girl with bright red hair and blue eyes. She was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, and looked miserable at the idea of being there. She was the girl Carter had seen when he was walking in.