By your side. //Elmax

The one and only, Neil!

Max pov:
After school, I yanked my skateboard out of my backpack and rode past the group of boys while hearing Dustin call my name. I swung back around and stopped it right In front of his face, leaving him uneasy. "Uh, slow down there, carrots." He said giving me a big smile while holding back his laughter, but unfortunately Mike laughed for him. "Oh jeez, what do you guys want?" I said sarcastically while smiling. "Well...we were wondering if you wanted to play Dig Dug later?" Mike said, walking in front of the group. "Ah, I can't. I have to do the English project with Jane, sorry guys." I said disappointingly. The boys eyes filled with shock and tension, "uh..Jane?" Will asked shyly. "Yeah, what's wrong?" I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at the boys. "It's just that, well she's not the nicest person. She's the most popular girl in school...how did you become her partner?" Lucas asked with worry in his voice, but then I started bursting out laughing, causing the boys to anxiously laugh back with me. "She's the one who asked me to be her partner. Look, don't worry about me guys, I'm MadMax, come on now!" I said lightly swinging at Lucas's shoulder. Then, the boys brought me into a group hug and I heard Will whisper, "please, Max, be safe.." with tears in the brim of his eyes, I smiled weakly. Will Byers, my best friend. I wouldn't trade him for the world. "Goin' soft on me Byers?" I said smirking at Will, he chuckled and hugged me again. "Thank you," he said looking at me. "Hey!" I heard from behind me, and quickly turned around to see Jane, and then the boys slowly walk away. "I forgot to give you my address...so I wrote it down. See you later." She said before trotting back off to her blonde friend, Cayla. "Why are you talking to her?" I heard her say from the distance. I started to skate off and from behind me heard Jane say "don't worry, she's new, I'm just gonna make fun of her a bit, make her believe I care" and then she started laughing. Two can play at that game, Hopper. I thought.

As I opened the door to what I thought was an empty house, I shook when I heard "Maxine Mayfield!" And seen an angry grown man slam his body through the kitchen corridor holding a broken in half alcohol bottle. Neil, I thought in a panic. "U-uh..yeah..dad?" I said in fear as I slowly back up towards the stairs to head to my room. "Don't dad me, your mother told me what you said. You brat! I make money to feed you, and you repay me by saying I'm nobody?" He roared at me in pure anger. And then before I knew it I was against the wall. "You've done it now, Max. You've really done it now." And then the last thing I heard was a shatter, as I felt to the floor and saw the glass bottle broke in half with blood over it, and then there was nothing but darkness.

Will's POV:
As I was walking home, I heard yelling from a house near mine, and then glass shattering. I freaked out and ran home to tell my mom, and then she drove over to the house with me after about an hour. She slowly creaked open the door with a gun in her hands for safety. Then we saw it, I bursted out into tears as I slid across the floor to Max's unconscious body. "Oh god, Max.." I whimpered as tears streamed down my face. "Mom..who did this?" I asked, with knots filling into my throat. "Will, hunny, I have no idea." My mom said back, putting a hand on my shoulder for comfort. "Cmon, let's get to the hospital." She said, opening the door wide enough for me to carry Max to our car. I got in the back seat with Max in my arms, and slightly lifted her head up to put it onto a blanket in my lap. We rushed over to the hospital, and the nurses ran out to get her and take her into a room. After 2 hours of waiting alone, they said it may still be a while, so I called the party, and fell asleep while waiting for them to arrive.

"Will?" I woke up to a gentle tap on my shoulders. "Mm..huh?" I looked upwards to see a raven haired boy above me with a weak smile put on his face. "Mike!" I shouted excitedly and got up to hug him, and it all came back. Seeing the blood from Max's head, the shattered alcohol bottle, the screaming from the house, and I just let my body play out my emotions instead of my words. Max was my best friend, I could tell her anything, and she could tell me anything. We even like to hang out in my room on the weekends and she will play a song from her playlist and tell me to paint a picture of what I hear. It was our way of bonded with what we loved, and now that I've seen her in pain, it hurts me. Knowing that maybe I could have stopped it if I went in right when I heard the yelling, but I was too weak. What if it's my fault? I sat back down, tears streaming down my face.

"Will?" Mike says again, but calmer this time, sitting down beside me, and taking my hand in his. "I know you care about her, but it's gonna be okay, I promise.." Mike says again. "But..what if- well...what if she was hit so hard she doesn't remember me? Us? What if she doesn't remember any of us?" I felt my face burn and my throat got stuck on the pain pounding out of my heart. The thought of losing Max, the thought that maybe it was my fault, I couldn't live with myself if she wasn't the same MadMax we met 3 weeks ago. "Will...listen to me," his calming voice, his big brown eyes, they all drew me in. I lied my head onto his shoulder and he put his arm around my back. "I promise you, it's all gonna be okay, just, don't worry." He says, and gently closes his eyes, then we fall asleep, in the hospital room, waiting for my best friend to wake up.

Max Pov:
I slowly started to open my eyes when I heard "She's waking up! She's waking up!" In a familiar boys voice shouting. Then once I squinted my eyes to get it used to the light, Will hugged me tightly into his arms, "aaagh!" I unintentionally let out when he hugged me. My head was throbbing, and I didn't know where I was. Shit. Neil... "sorry!" Will yelped. "Where am I..?" I frowned. "Will looked at me and tears filled the brim of his eyes, and his face got extremely red with hurt. "Max...the hospital. What happened to you?" My eyes widened. Shit shit shit! What do I say!? I can't tell him about my dad- well- about Neil! He's gonna freak out what do I- "Max.." he said again, breaking me from my thoughts, only this time he sounds more serious. Lucas walked up from behind him. When we locked eyes I couldn't hold it in anymore, the tears streamed down my cheeks, and even though I tried talking, I couldn't get anything to come out. Breathe, Max. Just breathe. I felt my throat closing up, and my lungs starting to sting. I couldn't get any air in or out of my body before just sobbing.

Guys I'm so bad at writing :( I hope you enjoy though. I think I moved way to quickly with this story, but it would take me way too much time to start all over :( I know I totally put danger in too soon so hopefully it's not too bad