·˚ [bring me the sun] ! ˊ

ˢᵗᵃˡᵏᵉʳˢ!

isa dashes to the wire gate, throwing her backpack to the floor as the boys are already crowding around it. they appear to be staring through at 'madmax' on a skateboard, as the new girl expertly ducks and weaves between school bollards. this kid has far surpassed isa's expectations, but she's still wary. very, very wary.

"oh, guys, come on, we're not stalkers," ; she insists, but her complaints aren't acknowledged.

"there's no way that's madmax," ; mike suggests as the boys watch max like an animal at a zoo.

"yeah, girls don't play video games," ; will shrugs.

isabella harrington gives will byers the dirtiest of dirty looks, raising her eyebrows. will shakes his head, feeling slightly nervous as his friends glare at him.

"i'm joking, i'm obviously different. anyway, even if other girls did play video games, you can't get 750,000 points on dig dug, it's impossible," ; isa mumbles, easing up, and leaving will to his own insensitive comments.

"but her name is max!" ; lucas complains, pointing at the girl, who is now crouching on the skateboard and performing a few tricks.

"so what?" ; mike and isa grumble together.

they spoke at the same time - those two had a habit of it. isa reaches out a knuckle, and they fist-bump, their routine ritual for every time they did something 'best friend-y'.

"so, how many maxes do you know?" ; lucas questions.

"well, there's max- max C, who's in my biology class, and he... doesn't... seem like the type to... uh, yeah, never mind," ; isa stops speaking, turning to mike, hoping he has some material to prove lucas wrong.

"i don't know. we don't know," ; mike concedes.

"zero! that's how many. think about it - she shows up at school the day after someone with her name breaks our score. i mean, are you kidding me?" ; lucas continues, getting the attention of dustin, who is still somewhat sulking about not being on top anymore.

"i guess she's gotta be madmax, then," ; dustin offers, throwing up his hands as max picks up her skateboard and takes out a piece of paper.

"plus, she skateboards, so she's pretty awesome," ; he shrugs.

"awesome? you haven't even spoken a word to her," ; isa grumbles.

"i don't have to - i mean, look at her!" ; to create his point, dustin gestures to where max used to be standing. ah, she's gone, and so is her skateboard.

"shit, i've lost the target!"

isa spots the redhead heading up the stairs with a piece of paper in one hand, skateboard in the other. max rests the board against her leg for a moment, while she takes out a pen and begins to scribble on it. when satisfied, she tosses the scrap into the trash can nearby, and heads through the door to class.