Love Like That

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen: MADMAX

Third Person POV

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School had started back up and the group went back to their regular lives as if they didn't just face a monster from the upside down a while ago. Natalie had still ignored Steve, Nancy, Jonathan, the boys aka the party, and Chief Hopper. Ignoring Hopper wasn't that hard since he had moved out of the house basically. After he discovered that Eleven was alive, he made it his mission to keep her safe but with doing that, he kept it a secret from Natalie.

He slowly caught on to how broken the girl was after she found out that Eleven didn't make it through the battle at the middle school. That only added to the reason of shutting people out. Natalie felt it was easier to live life without worrying if someone close to her was going to die if she shut everyone out. Hopper called every day to check on the girl and would occasionally stop by but it wasn't as often as he should. The depressed girl didn't have to worry about her biological father much because he had met a girl during his latest trial. The girlfriend made him take her everywhere; meaning that Hopper was the last parental figure she had.

"What do you four clowns want?" Natalie groaned as she noticed the boys showing back up at her place of work again for the second day in a row.

"I need answers," Dustin pleaded with a pouty face as the rest of the party reached the counter where Natalie stood behind, resting her hands on the edge of the counter.

"Depends if I feel like answering," Natalie informed the young boy. While she wanted to avoid the younger boys as well as everyone else, she knew they would always find a way back into her life. She only interacted with them if it was in her place of work or if Joyce or Mrs. Henderson needed a babysitter.

"I'll tell Keith that you have a major crush on him if you don't answer," Dustin negotiated with the ash blonde teenagers who rolled her eyes at the comment.

"He's got a great offer," Mike agreed with Dustin as he winked towards the older female.

"I'll ban you four for life then," Natalie replied smoothly with a smirk as the other three boy's faces dropped in shock.

"No, you can't," Lucas chimed in after he shook of his facial expression.

"Uh, yes I can," Natalie reminded the boys by pointing at her name badge that had the title of manager underneath her name. "I make the rules here."

"Just tell us who's MadMax," Dustin begged, placing his hands down on the counter.

"I would assume it's someone with the name of either Mad or Max," Natalie guessed, shrugging her shoulders.

"So you know who it is!" Dustin cheered, clapping his hands together.

"No," Natalie shook her head. "I'm just guessing. I have no idea who plays what game here and what they leave as a nickname."

"But you work here," Dustin fought back.

"Okay, so," Natalie squinted her eyebrows in confusion. "I don't pay attention to what you little shits do while I'm working."

"Isn't that your job though?" Mike spoke up.

Natalie shrugged her shoulders. "You're no help," Dustin threw his hands up in frustration.

"Why do you losers care anyway?"Natalie asked confused.

"Someone named MadMax beat his high score," Will explained to Natalie.

"How bad?" Natalie questioned, knowing Dustin loved that game and was always at the top spot for a long time.

"751,300..." Will trailed off as Dustin glared at him for mentioning the new high score.