Daisies || Max Mayfield

28: Cerebro

I waited around Scoops until it closed at eleven. Steve was hanging out in the back a lot, messing with tallies on a board. Every time Steve came into the back room, Robin followed, laughing, and added a tally to you suck side.

Robin kept joking about getting murdered while closing the shop, so I had to wait around for Steve to do it too.

"So, Daisy, how's it going?" Robin asked, standing near me while Steve locked the freezer.

"Fine."

"You and Will are friends, right?"

I nodded.

She nodded as well, glancing back at Steve. "You two aren't dating, are you?"

"No, definitely not."

She nodded again, smiling. "Right, well I better get going now."

"Steve's driving you home."

"I know, I'm just saying I think the dingus should hurry up!" She shouted the last bit into the store, Steve rushing out the door and flicking off the lights.

"Sorry, I'm trying to be responsible for my job."

Robin rolled her eyes.

"Uhh, Daisy, are you going to Mike's tonight?" Steve asked. He tossed his car keys in the air, spinning them on his finger after catching them.

"No."

"Okay." He nodded, holding the door for us. "I need to be back here at eleven, so I'll drop you off somewhere before that, cool?"

"You should take a break from your social life, you know." Robin patted my shoulder. "Just stay at home one day this summer, that should be your goal."

Robin doesn't know we're homeless. Max and Mike are the only ones who know. Mike knows because I sleep in his basement every other night, and I told Max as soon as it happened.

"Yeah, she's very social," Steve added, unlocking his car. He smiled, glaring at me.
I leaned over the side of the car, on the passenger side with Robin.

"Try taking a break day for once." Robin smiled, waiting for Steve to unlock our doors.

He reached behind the seats and unlocked my door. I pulled it open, sliding in the backseat. Robin took the passenger seat, and Steve took off.

I slept in the back that night, laying out in the backseat. Steve reclined the passenger seat as far as it would go. We were sleeping in a parking lot near Max's house.

I went to Mike's, even though he wasn't there. That's usually what happened, and he didn't care when I did it. He spent all his time at Eleven's, so it wasn't like he was aware of anyone else's problems anyways.

I sat around and read comics. I'd listened to a few different tapes he had in the basement, playing them through the 8-track player on a bookshelf.

Around ten thirty, everyone started showing up. Mike and El came back to his house to grab the party supplies, and the sign he and Lucas had made. Max skateboarded there, leaving it in the basement when she called down the stairs for me. She'd come with Lucas, who had a canteen of water strapped to his waist. Will came last, being dropped off by Jonathan and Nancy on their way to work.

We rushed to Dustin's before he got home, hiding behind the staircase in his house. Claudia had left it unlocked for us so we could sneak in before they got back.

Soon enough, we heard the car pulling in. A door slammed shut, and Dustin was complaining about something. He walked in the house, stomping into his room and going silent.

"At least someone's happy I'm home." He whispered. Probably to Yurtle the Turtle.

"Now El," Mike whispered.

A clanky- sound filled the house, getting louder and more sporadic the more toys Eleven controlled. Max smirked next to me, leaning around the wall we were hiding behind.

"Hello?" Dustin's voice was much clearer as he left his room. His footsteps got closer.

"Stop," Mike said.

The sounds stopped, but Dustin didn't. Max led us around the wall, El wiping her nose.

Lucas made his way to the front, the noise-maker in his mouth, and sign in his hands. We all lined up behind him, Max counting down on her fingers. On one, I stuck the noise-maker in my mouth and blew as hard as I could.

Dustin screeched, whipping around and spraying Lucas in the face with something.

Lucas started shrieking, the sign falling to the ground.

"Holy shit!" Mike shouted.

"Shit!" Dustin stopped spraying.

"What was that shit?!" Max asked.

"Hairspray."

"Oh my god-"

Five minutes later, Max was dunking Lucas under the sink and Dustin was showing us his new inventions.

"Cerebro." Dustin finished. I had zoned out most of the time, trying to listen to Max in the other room. Lucas was screeching about his eyes, and Max was telling him not to ask about zits-

"Girlfriend?!" The three next to me asked.

"What?" I looked up.

"That's right, I have a girlfriend." Dustin grinned a toothless smile.

"Girlfriend?!" I repeated, shocked. "Who?"

"Suzie." Dustin grabbed the bag of metal off his floor and headed out of his room.

"Wait, so her name is Suzie?" Mike asked, following.

"Suzie with a Z. She's from Utah."

I followed the bickering group out of Dustin's house. Max and Lucas joined, staying with me in the back. We were all carrying a pile of stuff, Mike and Eleven only carrying each other's hands.

We had to walk since no one had their bikes. We did get to use an old wagon they had, so we didn't have to walk across town carrying bags of shit.

Dustin brought us to a massive hill, leaving the wagon because it was too heavy to carry uphill.

"Hotter than Phoebe Cates..." Dustin laughed.

I looked up. "Who?"

"Suzie, apparently, is hotter than Phoebe Cates," Lucas said.

"No way."

He frowned. "What?"

"I mean-" I scoffed. "Hotter than Phoebe Cates? Have you guys even seen Fast Times?"

Max laughed, snorting in the process. "Sorry?"

"Please, there is no one hotter than-"

Everyone stopped and stared at me.

"You think Phoebe Cates is hot?" Mike asked. "But you're a girl."

I froze.

"But have you seen Fast Times, Mike?" Dustin asked, laughing.

"Of course." He turned back to me, squinting in the sun. "But Daisy-"

"Has eyes, we know," Max said suddenly. "Come on, keep going."

Mike rolled his eyes, turning around. "Are we almost there?"

"No, Cerebro works best at the highest point," Dustin muttered.

Will glanced at me, waiting for me to reach him before he began walking again.

"Wow." He muttered.

I scoffed, wiping sweat off my forehead. I should've put my hair back before this.

We walked in silence until we got to the top, where Mike and El immediately left for El's curfew. Lucas drank all of his and Max's water. Dustin showed Will how to set up Cerebro, and I just sat on the ground nearby.