This is for you Chrissy

Are You Ok In There?

MAX's POV:

I am so tired of Lucas trying to fix "us". I dumped him ages ago, it was for the best. 

I don't want tickets to your stupid game, I think as my head throbs in pain. I've been getting these headaches for days now. Let me tell you, they are a huge pain in the ass, and all I've wanted since I saw the stupid school counselor is to take Tylenol, but then Lucas had to come along and distract me.

I rolled my eyes as I turned away from him and headed past the gross couples making out against the lockers, past the boys harassing girls, past all of the stupid bullshit that was Hawkins High, directly to the bathroom.

I dumped my backpack onto the sink, Kate Bush playing faintly from my headphones, anxiously rummaging for it until I found it. The bottle of Tylenol, which though it provided little relief, made the day slightly more tolerable. Which was a win in my book.

Almost immediately after taking the Tylenol, I heard something splash into water behind me, followed by pained coughs. I switch off my Walkman. That was a sound I knew all too well. The sound of vomit.

"Is everything ok?" I call out. My head still hurts, but I don't think the Tylenol will kick in for a while.

"Y-yeah," a voice that unmistakably belongs to none other than Chrissy Cunningham stutters, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" I respond skeptically.

"I'm fine, j-just please go away," she stammers. I can tell for a fact that she's lying.

I pause for a moment, and then go to knock on the stall, but it's when I don't get a reply that I start to really worry.

"Chrissy? Hello?" The lights flicker a bit in the bathroom, a rush of panic floods my brain. Could this really be happening?

I hear her whimpering behind the door. Something happened. Maybe I scared her, Jesus, why do I have to mess everything up?

Within  a few seconds it goes quiet and the door swings open.

"Are you dumb? I thought I told you to leave!" She snaps. 

CHRISSY POV:

I'm still shaking from my hallucination, or whatever it was in the stall, there's still a gross acidic taste that vaguely resembles my lunch in the back of my mouth. And to top it off, this girl, Max I think her name was, is standing in front of me. 

"Chrissy, look, I know we aren't friends or anything, but I can tell something is wrong. Do you wanna talk about it?" She looks genuinely concerned. This is why I didn't want her in here: questions. About how I was doing, about what I was doing. It's hard enough talking to the counselor as it is, I don't need to do it outside of her office too. But right now I can't even think straight. My mind is racing, it feels like my heart is going to explode in my chest. My feet don't feel stable on the ground, I stumble as I go to wash my hands. I catch myself on the rim of the sink.

"I— it's just... do you ever feel like you're losing your mind?" I ask. I know it's a stupid question, but just the smallest part of me longs for an answer. For a real, genuine answer. Not a vague "what?" from Jason as we lie on the couch late at night.

"The real question is 'did I have one in the first place,'" the girl responds. I chuckle at the creativity, "that's a good one."

"Why do you want to know?" Max inquires.

"I kind of feel like that right now." Tears form at the rims of my eyes. I wish this girl hadn't walked in, but at the same time, I'm glad she stayed. I sit down to slump against the wall. Max sits down across from me. 

"I— I heard someone trying to bust down the door. And they were yelling, saying terrible things, but not new things. Something I had heard before and I- but I- it was so scary, Max." The tears were now falling down my face. Just now I realize what I just did, "sorry, it must be so weird for someone you've only interacted with once to dump this all on you." I try to get up but she stops me, lightly grabbing my wrist.

"What you saw sounds terrifying, if I were in your shoes I'd probably dump this on the nearest person who asked too," she reassured me. I smiled a real, genuine smile. Something that happens less and less often nowadays.

Of all the things to happen to me this year, this is definitely what I least expected.

Suddenly the school bell rang, interrupting our conversation.

"Chrissy," Max asserted, "we have to go to class now, but we are meeting up after school, ok? This conversation isn't over."

I nodded and got up, knowing that I was either going to give Max the true story and risk being exposed to everyone including Jason, or lie my way out of this. The problem is, I couldn't lie up a whole story if the whole world depended on it.