RENEGADE - Max Mayfield

MADMAX

❝ They're so pretty
It hurts. ❞

"Lucas. Lucas, you copy? I've got four quarters. What's your haul?" Dustin's voice boomed through the radio. "Take your puny haul and multiply it by five." Lucas replied mockingly. Lyra's face scrunched mirroring laughter. "How?" Dustin asked.
"While you were scrounging around like a homeless bum, I mowed Old Man Humphrey's lawn." Lucas answered. "Old Man Humphrey's got that kinda cash?" Dustin questioned, shocked by this new revelation. "Yeah he buys off Eddie all the time." Lyra chimed in. "Eddie sells to Humphrey?" Dustin asked naïvely. Both Lucas and Lyra burst into a fit of giggles. "Of course not dipshit he's like 80 or something." Lyra twirled her ebony locks around her fingers. "Shut up Lyra. Anyways how much have you got?" Dustin echoed. The girl grabbed the cash thrown across her kitchen table and quickly counted up the balance. "I've got like five dollars." She retorted. The line went silent for a minute. Lyra took this time to stuff all the cash into her coat pocket. When she returned to her talkie the bickering of Lucas and Dustin were the only noises present. "Just call Mike already." Lucas stated, annoyed. "You call Mike!" Dustin replied, childishly. "I have to go take a shower from doing real work, like a man. Over and out." The line went static. "Lyra why don't-"
"Nope, sorry Dustin you can call Mike." And with that she left Dustin by himself.

Lyra slung on her coat and turned off the lights in the main room of the trailer. "Ed I'm going to the arcade, I'll be back soon." She shouted to her older brother. All she heard was a low grunt before she left. Her rusted bike sat outside the trailer in all its decaying glory. Despite Eddie making quite a bit of money from his deals Lyra was still riding her busted bike. She kind of found it sentimental though, she held lots of memories with her bike, it was the same bike she learnt to ride on and that alone was a core memory for her. She peddled silently in the general direction of the arcade. The light on her bike was also faulty, surprise! So every few seconds she would become consumed with the dark night.

Upon arriving to the arcade she was met with the familiar faces of her party. She waved to them all and stowed her bike with theirs. "We're just waiting on Will." Mike mentioned. Lyra nodded locking her bike up. "Hey!" The boys screamed signalling that Will had arrived. He was in a deep discussion with his mom before he finally peeled himself out of the car. Lyra ran to the boy embracing him. Will was Lyra's closest friend in the group and she felt extremely protective over him especially because of what happened last year. "Let's go in." Will ushered.

They all gathered themselves around 'Dragons Lair' watching, very intently, Dustin play. "Oh, Jesus! I'm in uncharted territory here, guys." Dustin said nervously, not pulling his eyes away from the screen. The party began screaming directions at Dustin trying to ensure his victory was not cut short. "Down!" , "Right!" . "Okay. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!" The curly haired boy demanded, just as he did the prince on the screen was engulfed by the dragons flames. "No! No! No! I hate this overpriced bullshit!" Dustin screamed at the losing screen. "Son of a bitch! Piece of shit!" Lyra laughed as the boy began kicking the game. "Dustin it's just a game, chill out." She managed to call out in between her giggles. "You're not nimble enough. But you'll get there one day." Lucas stated, Cockily. "But until then Princess Daphne is still mine." A sly grin stayed plastered on Lucas' face. Dustin's and Lucas's dynamic was unlike any the girl had seen. They were best friends but were constantly at each others necks but neither of them took it too seriously. "Whatever. I'm still tops on Centipede and Dig Dug." Dustin bragged eyeing up Lucas. "You sure about that?" The party turned to face Keith who had just questioned Dustin. "Sure about what?" Dustin asked. Keith stared intently back at the party shovelling the toxic orange 'Cheetos puffs' into his mouth. Dustin ran from the party making a beeline to the games. "You're kidding me. No. No. No." His voice trailed off. Lyra and Will walked slowly behind the boys. "I don't understand their desire to be first, video games are not all that great." Will mentioned. Lyra put her arm around the boy, she was a lot taller than him because she was a pubescent teenager whereas he was just... a teenager. "Video games are so rad dude, they rot your brains and damage your eyeballs." The girl replied shoving her wide eyed face into Will's. The duo understood each other, although they'd never speak the words they both had something in common, something shameful.