Strawberries and Cigarettes // Max Mayfield x girl OC

Chapter One: The Hellfire Club

Chris sat at the kitchen table, eating her toaster strudel and helping Holly play with her Lite Brite.

"What does hellfire mean?" Holly asked her, looking down at Chris' shirt.

"First off, don't let dad hear you say that, or he'll yell at you to watch your language," Chris joked. "Secondly, I think it's a reference to the X-Men, but I don't know for sure. It's what we call our club at school where we play Dungeons and Dragons."

Holly had recently turned six, and Chris was still having a hard time with the fact that her baby sister was no longer a baby. She had started kindergarten and was quickly learning and excelling.

"Your shirts look really cool!" Holly complimented her older sister.

"Thanks, munchkin," Chris beamed. "Now, close your eyes I have a surprise message I want to write you!"

Using the Lite Brite pegs, Chris spelled out 'I love you' in the glowing plastic before telling Holly to open her eyes and look. Holly giggled and hugged her sister to which Chris responded by kissing Holly on the forehead and getting up to greet Nancy, who had just come downstairs.

"Is Mike not down here yet?" Nancy asked, sounding exasperated.

"Uhh... no, I don't think so," Chris shrugged.

She hadn't realized how late it was until she glanced at the clock and saw that it was 8:05 AM. Usually, Nancy drove all three of them to school at 8:10.

Nancy ran upstairs to yell at Mike while Chris ran to put her shoes on.

"Michael, Christina," Their mom addressed them as soon as Mike came downstairs, "I know your D&D club is tonight—"

"Hellfire," Mike corrected.

"Why don't you call it the high school dropout club?" Ted Wheeler said, probably as an attempt at a joke, except no one found it very funny.

Joining Hellfire in no way whatsoever encouraged Chris to drop out of school, so she didn't understand why her dad was so adamantly against the club. Then again, he was typically against anything Chris ever did.

"I want you two home no later than nine tonight, okay?" Karen continued, following Mike around the kitchen as he tried to quickly make breakfast.

"I'll try," Mike snipped back.

Chris knew better than to argue with her mom about something like this, so she opted to stay quiet and let Mike be the one to get in trouble.

"No, no trying," Mrs. Wheeler continued to persist. "You need to go to bed early."

"Why?"

Chris knew that Mike was on thin ice, and if he wasn't careful, he was going to lose his California privileges. Now, obviously, Chris didn't want that to happen, but she also didn't want to intervene in the argument because, if she was being perfectly candid, it was rather amusing.

"It's a six-thirty flight, Michael," Mr. Wheeler joined into the conversation as well.

"Yeah, I know, but–"

"No buts," Mrs. Wheeler stated, the tone of her voice making it clear she was done debating. "Nine or no California."

"And no 'sweetie pie'," Ted tried to joke again.

Finally, Chris found it was the right time to butt in.

"Now, since I don't have a flight tomorrow, can I stay out later than nine?" She asked, mainly to tease Mike.

"Go to school," Mrs. Wheeler changed the subject, not wanting to give Chris an answer because, honestly, she didn't have a good one.

"I'm not hearing a no..." Chris smirked.