Strawberries and Cigarettes // Max Mayfield x girl OC

Chapter Seven: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab

The police drove Chris, Max, Dustin, and Lucas back to the Wheeler residence, where all their parents had banded together. Chris sat on the couch sandwiched between Max and Dustin, refusing to take her eyes off the floor. She saw her father's face as she walked into the house, and he looked pissed.

"What exactly were you all doing at the lake?" Powell asked them, not sounding entirely angry but also not sounding friendly.

The four kids looked at each other, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse as to why they were there.

"We were... uh..." Chris started, hoping an idea would come to her.

It didn't. Luckily, her girlfriend swooped in and was able to finish the lie for her.

"We were just going for a walk," Max answered.

"A walk?" Callahan questioned. "At nine p.m.?"

Chris shifted uncomfortably. She wanted nothing more than to hold Max's hand, but she didn't feel comfortable doing that in front of so many people.

"To the lake!" Dustin squeaked out, his voice an octave higher than normal.

"Yeah." Chris nodded in agreement. "I — we were bored of sitting at home, so we decided, 'hey, let's go to the lake and watch the stars or swim!' I had completely forgotten about all the, y'know... murders and everything..."

Chris allowed herself a quick glance up at her parents. Her mother looked concerned about her safety, but her father just looked annoyed that there were cops, four kids — five including Erica — and a boatload of parents in his house so late at night.

"Dusty!" Mrs. Henderson exclaimed. "Someone was just murdered there!"

"Yeah, like Chris said..." Dustin uttered, "we didn't realize that until we got there."

"That's why we didn't swim!" Lucas added on.

Chris nodded intently, hoping to any god that was out there that the cops would believe their lies.

"And Nancy," Mrs. Wheeler looked at Chris, "was she with you at this night swim?"

"No," Max answered, at the same time that Chris said, "Yes."

The two of them shared a look before Chris turned her eyes back to her confused mother.

"Well, yes and no," Chris clarified, speaking slowly. "She was there in the sense that she dropped us off, but then she left... I don't know where she went..."

Chris saw a flicker of fear pass through her mother's face. She, no doubt, was worried about Nancy not being with them.

"That's when you guys came!" Lucas cut in, deciding to wrap up their story before it got too long and complicated.

"Right!" Max agreed. "Then, they dared me to say what I said... about the killer."

Chris laughed awkwardly as they backed up Max's story. It obviously wasn't smart to say that she yelled it as a dare, but it was the best thing Max could come up with on the spot.

"You're lucky you didn't get shot." Mr. Wheeler rolled his eyes.

Chris fought the urge to sigh at her father. She figured that would only make the situation worse.

"Have you had any contact with Eddie?" Powell asked, bringing the conversation back to the "important" stuff.

"That psycho... freak killer?" Dustin exclaimed. "God, no."

All right, I guess we're playing it this way, Chris thought to herself, ready to add on to Dustin's lie about Eddie being a bad guy.

"Pish... I personally don't even like Eddie," Chris lied. "I mean, he kind of frightened me. And that club of his? It was... weird! I-I actually wanted out, but... y'know... I was scared of what Eddie would do if I tried."