(2) Love You to Hell and Back (Max Mayfield / (Fem) You)

-Chapter 9: The Locker Room-

Max, El, Lucas, Mike, Will and I are hiding behind a car next to the community pool, watching Billy. Max is looking through binoculars, watching her step-brother closely. "I-I don't know. He looks pretty normal to me." She says, looking over at me. I reach out, asking her to give me the binoculars. She does and I look through it, looking at Billy. He is literally sitting on his lifeguard chair, casually looking around at the swimmers. He is wearing a long sleeved white shirt, red shorts but he is using a towel to cover his legs.

"Normal? How many times have you seen him with a shirt on?" Lucas asks, clearly confused. "I mean...it's a little weird." Max admits. I lower the binoculars, handing them back to Max. "More than a little. He was in a tub with ice. The Mind Flayer likes it cold. Plus everything else." Mike says, looking over at my girlfriend. I give Mike a look that warns him to not target Max and he backs off slightly. "But he's lounging at a pool, which is, like, the least Mind Flayer thing ever." Max mutters, looking at the others too. "Not necessarily." Will cuts in. "The Mind Flayer likes to hide. He only used me when he needed me. It's like- like you're dormant. And then, when he needs you, you're activated." Will explains. Max nods slightly, turning back to look at her stepbrother.

"Okay, so we just...wait until he gets activated." Max says, nodding, mostly to herself. "No. What if he hurts someone?" Mike asks. "Or kills someone." Will adds. "We can't take that chance. We need to find out if he's the host." Mike says, standing up and walking off. "Wait, Mike, What are you doing?" I ask, standing too. "Where are you going?" El asks. Mike turns back, walking backwards for a moment. "I have an idea. Boys only." He says, causing Will and Lucas to stand and follow. "Seriously?" Max asks, scoffing. The boys catch up to Mike and the raven haired boy speaks. "Just trust me on this one." He says, leaving.

We watch as the boys leave, Max using her binoculars. "They're going into the men's locker room." She says. I laugh. "You know what? Maybe I don't want to be part of that specific idea." I say. We wait for a while, chatting while Max watches for the return of the boys. Once they finally do, they explain the plan to us. "It's risky, but we need to pull it off." He says. We nod, getting to work. Lucas and Will go to the maintenance shed to find things to keep the door closed. El and Mike are going to the storage room to find anything we can use as a decoy. Max and I are supposed to wait in the parking lot, watching Billy. 

We sit together, behind the same car. "Do you...think it's him?" Max asks in a small voice. "Billy?" I ask. She nods, looking at me with her blue eyes. "I...don't know. It's definitely not out of the picture. I mean, he's been acting pretty weird." I tell her. "He was trying to be nice to me, even if it's fake. The Billy I know would try to get me out no matter who we're in front of." I add. She nods in response, a long faraway look in her eye. I lean over, hugging her. "Hey, it's gonna be okay. Whether it's him or not, we will find a way to figure it out without hurting him." I tell her. "If it is him....we got it out of will, we can get it out of him." I say. She smiles a little, nodding and I lean in, giving her a light kiss on the lips. We were hidden, so it didn't matter. Plus, screw them if they hate us.

After a moment, Max goes back to watching Billy and I pick up the walkie. "Mike, are you there?" I ask. I wait a beat before his voice rings through. "Yeah!" he says. "Where are you guys?" I ask. "I'm coming. Just...hold on a second." He replies. I turn back to Max, watching her worried face as she mutters to herself. "God, I hope it's not you.....I really hope it's not you."

_______

The boys and El soon return after putting it in a hidden place in the locker room. They come back here to wait until it's a bit later when most people have gone, so that Max, El and I can go into the boys locker room without weird looks. I check my watch. "The pool's gonna close in an hour." I say. Everyone nods as we sit in a circle. "Do you want to go over the plan ag-" Will tries before the rest of us cut in. "No." We say. We sit in silence again and I lean my head onto Max's shoulder, in return, she leans her head on my head.

"Uh, Hey, Max, Y/N." Mike says. I hum in response, looking at the raven haired boy. "This morning, on the phone, Max said...no, called you her girlfriend." he says, raising an eyebrow. "Does that mean..." Lucas starts. I look at Max and smile. "We're official?" I ask. The boys nod. "Hm, what do you think, Y/N?" Max asks, looking at me. I just grin and peck her lips. "I think...we are. Max is my girlfriend." I say. The boys congratulate us, and I catch Mike glancing at El a few times. Oh yeah, they're broken up....

"They're very cute together, right?" El says, smiling at us. The boys nod, smiling too. I lean forward and take El's arm, pulling her to Max and I. "El is our child. Stay away from her." I say to the boys, wrapping an arm protectively around her as Max does the same with her arm too. El giggles, wriggling around in our arms. "I am not a child!" She exclaims. "You are to us!" I say, tickling her sides. She squirms and squeals, causing us all to laugh.

We let go of El and chat for a bit more before I check my watch. "It's time" I say. We all nod, sneaking around to the Men's locker room and sneaking inside. We set up the equipment, now that the locker room and sauna is empty. "Okay, go hide." Mike says, nodding to our spots as we take them. We all hid around a corner from the sauna room, out of sight of the hallway Billy will take. Mike sets a few more things up before joining us.

______________

We hear the door open and shut and the shower turn on. I nod at El and once the shower turns off, El closes her eyes, locking the front door from the outside. She makes some racket doing it, drawing his suspicion. "Pools closed." Billy says loudly. I poke El, signalling to make more noise from the door. She does, using her powers to push the lock around, causing more clanging to be heard. "Hey! You hear me?" Billy shouts before I hear footsteps. "Pools closed!" He shouts before a bang is heard. "Billy can't open the door." El mutters before opening her eyes. I turn to look at Mike and nod. He nods back, lifting a remote and pressing speak.

"Billy!"

"Who's there?" Billy asks loudly. Getting no reply except... "Billy!"

"Who's there?" Billy asks again, using the same sing-songy tone. Suddenly, laughter begins echoing throughout the rooms. I hear shower stalls get pulled open and flinch each time they do. "Billy!"

"Billy!"

"You think this is funny, huh?" I hear his voice say, soft from the distance but still audible due to the lack of sound. Laughter is heard again before the voice cuts in again. "Billy! Come and find me..." I hear Billy chuckle lightly. "I find you, it's your funeral...." He says. Mike looks at me and nods. I take a deep breath and step out from the hiding spot, sneaking to the door of the sauna area, opening it slightly.

"Come and get me. Come on!" At that, I slowly close the door, hoping Billy sees the movement of the door, but not me before sneaking back to the hiding place. Max hugs me lightly as we wait. Wait for the big scary lifeguard to enter the room we're in.

We hold our breaths as Billy enters, his figure walking into the room, eyes locking on the window of the Sauna room. "Got you." He says before a maniacal grin slowly grows on his face. He cackles, clapping wildly as he speeds up, approaching the room.

"Come and get me you piece of shit."

Billy speeds up, swinging the door to the sauna room open and walking inside. He immediately grabs the dummy by the throat, lifting it into the air before looking down at the walkie on the dummy. "Hey! Behind you." Mike says before Billy turns.

El's there, ready and waiting.

"Hi."

She uses her powers to throw Billy against the wall before Mike shouts. "Now!" He says. Mike turns the lights on as we all rush in. El closes the door quickly using her powers as I slide the metal rod into place at the door. Lucas puts the chain Will found around it and locks it into place.

Billy bands against the door as we all fall into place behind El. We all watch Billy as he does so. He slows his movements, looking at us before he speaks. Softer and quieter. "Max..." We all turn, looking at the redhead as she looks back at her brother. "Do it." She says. At that, Will goes and turns the heat higher, increasing the temperature before stepping back into place.

Word Count: 1624