The Freak & The Cheerleader

Community Pool

We both go and change into our swim suits and then meet back at two pool chairs. we place our towels down and head to the pool stairs. we climb right in and start swimming around, we scope out cute people, talk about the annoying kids who keep splashing everyone, joke about fake drowning so that the lifeguards have to save us, all sorts of things.

I hear two voices I recognize so I turn around. I turn to see Max Mayfield and Eleven. I wave to them and they stop in their tracks to take a double take. I swim over to the stairs and exit the pool to walk over to them, Chrissy follows me.

"woah. Y/N?" Max stares at me in shock.

"hi there" I laugh.

"I thought you were in California" Eleven tilts her head confused.

"I was but my parents made me come back to finish high school here." I explain to her.

"welcome back to Hawkins then" Max smiles.

"shouldn't you two be in school?" I question them.

"yes. max said it was okay to come here though" she looks at max.

"oh come on let us live, don't tell on us." max looks at me.

"I won't. your secret is safe with me. Chrissy and I are ditching too." I inform them.

I look at Eleven who is fidgeting with her thumbs, she looks nervous. like extremely nervous for some reason. I look at max and point to Eleven, she shrugs not knowing what is wrong.

"El you okay?" I ask.

"oh yea." she smiles ever so slightly.

"your definitely not.." Chrissy says.

"its just, Mike has been distant." she explains.

"maybe he is busy with schoolwork" Chrissy shrugs.

"he has been hanging out with his dnd group lately" I tell her.

"oh. am I not important to him?" she saddens.

"Eleven, he is just hanging out with friends. that doesn't mean your not important." max says.

"exactly, its just like you hanging out with max." I explain.

"oh, ok." her eyes brighten up a bit.

We all go sit at some pool chairs and chat a bit longer, Eleven tells us about this Angela girl who wasn't the nicest to her and how she hit Angela with a roller skate causing her to bleed. ouch. she also talks about how Mike hasn't said he loves her yet which she is clearly upset about. Max talks about how her life has been, it doesn't seem the greatest honestly. ever since Billy died she hasn't been the same which is upsetting. they didn't get along well but she still hurts over his death, it haunts her to this day still. poor girl.

"well if you ever need anything, please. don't hesitate to talk to me" I tell both Eleven and Max.

"thank you." they say in unison.

"you guys wanna swim with us?" Chrissy asks them.

"sure!" they both smile.

Both of them run to the changing rooms to get into their bathing suits. They enter the pool using the stairs and start swimming around. we all laugh and are smiling endlessly. I missed this so much honestly. coming to the pool instead of going to school today was by far the best thing I could have done.

"you girls wanna play truth or dare?" Max asks.

"what's that?" Eleven is confused.

I quickly explain the game to her on how its played. she doesn't get it at first so I had to explain it again which is fine. she understood it the second time so we start the game after everyone agrees to play the game.

"hmm. Chrissy truth or dare?" Max asks.

"Truth" she smiles.

"did you actually love Jason when you were dating him?" she questions.

"yea. unfortunately he wasn't the greatest boyfriend." she bites her cheek.

"Eleven, truth or dare." Chrissy smiles.

"truth" she stares at Chrissy.

"is it true.. you like cheering?" Eleven shrugs not knowing what to ask.

"of course!" she does a little cheer dance and laughs.

"Y/N, truth or dare" she leans against the pool side.

"dare" I giggle.

Chrissy: "I dare you.. to tell us who you like"

Y/N: "I don't like anyone in that type of way"

Max: "really?"

Y/N: "yes really"

they all stare at me not sure whether to believe me or not. Chrissy reads me carefully and then looks back at everyone else. they all share a few glances before we continue the game.

Y/N: "Max, truth or dare."

Max: "dare"

Y/N: "I dare you.. to push someone into the water"

Max: "bet"

Max climbs out of the pool and scans around for her potential victim. She spots a young boy who is laying in a sun chair. Max sneaks over behind him and counts to three on her fingers. once she reaches three she pushes the chair forward and the young boy lands into the pool. the lifeguard comes over and yells at her then tells our party to leave the pool, we do as were told.

Max: "worth it!"

Chrissy: "totally!"

Y/N: "what now?"

Eleven: "I want waffles"

Max: "you always want waffles"

Y/N: "she still eats waffles all the time?"

Max: "yes. she won't stop"

we all look at each other and laugh, you got to love Eleven. We all depart and start heading back to our houses as its 5pm now. I didn't realize we stayed at the pool for that long. I guess time flies when your with your friends and having fun. I walk home and enter the house to see everyone at the dinner table.

"Welcome back home, where were you?" Mother asks.

"I went and hung out with Chrissy, Max, and Eleven after school." I sit down.

"at the pool?" she questions me.

"what?" I stare at her.

"I know you went to the pool and skipped" she darkens her gaze.

"how?" I reply.

"I have my ways. you should have been in school." she puts her plate away.

"It was just one day, calm down. its not that serious." I roll my eyes.

"excuse me young lady? do NOT talk back to me." she raises her voice.

"tell me what did I do wrong? huh?" I stand up from my chair.

"you are no child of mine. my children are perfect, you were a mistake." She screams at me.

"wow." I stare at her in shock with a tear coming down my face.

"go to your room." she demands.

"whatever." I rush into my room and lock the door. I slide onto the floor against my door in tears.

I left Hawkins for this reason. Dad officially left last year so I don't have to worry about him but now its my mother I have to worry about. at least its not both anymore. I just wanna be a teenager and have fun, were not supposed to be perfect. mistakes help us learn and ditching school and having fun with friends was everything to me. It made me forget about everything, even if it was only for awhile. I lay down on the floor and cry myself to sleep.