Her Perfect Mistake // Max Mayfield

33. Changed

"Max, Bella!" Lucas said once he saw the two girls leaving the restroom. Bella wiped the wet trails on her face as she turned around.

"Hey." she said as Max rolled her eyes.

"Are you stalking us or something?" the Redhead said as she squeezed Bella's hand.

"Oh, no, I..." the boy trailed as he looked at Max and than at Bella, "I just wanted to give you two this."

Bella took the piece of paper and inspected it before she spoke.

"Is that a ticket to your game?" the girl questioned, making Max furrow her brows.

"Yeah." he smiled, giving one ticket to Max as well, "I know you never come to my games, but this one is kind of a big deal."

"I am sorry Lucas." the blonde girl started, "Tonight I have to meet up with Eddie to get my things."

"Your things?" he furrowed his brows, "Bella, what's wrong?"

"What do you mean what's wrong?" she bit back, feeling how his tone changed.

"We can all see something is wrong!" he started, looking at Max for support, "You broke up with Max! And you are dealing again! Clearly something is not okay!"

Bella's eyes trailed to her girlfriend as tears started begging to escape, "We are together. I don't know what you are talking about."

Max remained silent as she watched her girlfriend and her friend argue. She knew that Lucas was right, but she didn't have the heart to stand against Bella in that argument.

"B..." he sighed, "It's like... you are not here anymore. You've changed."

Bella's eyes widened at his words. Yes, she changed, but was that so bad? People change all the time, why is it different with her? Probably because she distanced herself from them, but she did it for their own sake. She didn't want to hurt them any further.

"Yeah, well, people change." Bella stated, "Don't pretend like you didn't too."

"What?" the African American boy exclaimed.

"Sinclair, the popular football player, part of Hawkins High Tigers." Annabelle scoffed, "Do I have to be the one to remind you that Eddie's campaign is tonight?"

"Bella, it's not even football! It's fucking basketball! You should know at least that much. Plus, you are fucking popular too!" Lucas bit back as Max lightly hit him, trying to subtly tell him to stop, "What, Max!? She is the one that broke up with you, she is the one that ran away, she is the one that stopped talking to us! That sounds selfish to me!"

"Selfish?" Bella sighed as she looked at the floor, "I forgot something in the restroom."

With that, the blonde girl gave Lucas back his ticket and started making her way to the bathrooms. With the corner of her eye she saw Max give the boy a death glare before she started following her.

"Don't." Bella stopped her, "I need some time alone."

Max nodded with a sigh, "I will see you tonight, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Look at what you did!" Max yelled at Lucas once she double checked that Bella was not there, "She just started opening up to me!"

"Max, she hurt you!" the boy scoffed, "She was selfish and left you! Why can't you see that?!"

"You are unbelievable, Sinclair." the girl facepalmed with a sigh, "She is hurting herself! She has so much shit going on, and the last thing she needs right now is you nagging her about it! She didn't break up with me because of selfishness, in fact, she is the least selfish person on this planet! She did it to protect me!"