Me, Myself, and Her

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Mastermind

They arrived at the pool and hid behind a bunch of cars. Lucas pulled out his binoculars, the same ones from last year, and everybody took a turn to look at Billy up in his lifeguard chair.

When Annie got the binoculars, she took in how Billy was wearing a shirt, had a towel over his lap, had a visor on, and was eating something (assumedly ice) from an Icee cup. Then she passed the binoculars over to Max.

"I don't know, he looks pretty normal to me," Max said after a second of looking.

"Normal?" Lucas asked. "How many times have you seen him with a shirt on?"

Max removed the binoculars and shrugged. "I mean, it's a little weird," she said.

"More than a little," Mike interrupted. "He was in a tub with ice. The Mind Flayer likes it cold. Plus everything else."

"But he's lounging at the pool, which is like, the least Mind Flayer thing to do," Max argued.

Annie nodded. "She's got a point, that's not really a spot the Mind Flayer would choose to hang out." Max shot her a quick smile before Will spoke up.

"Not necessarily," he said. Everyone looked at him as he continued, the insider information being helpful. "The Mind Flayer likes to hide. He only used me when he needed me." Annie reached around behind Lucas to give Will a comforting rub on the shoulder. "It's like... like you're dormant. And then, when he needs you, you're activated."

Max nodded along and Annie turned her attention back to her. "Okay, so we just... wait until he gets activated."

But Mike was already shaking his head at this. "No. What if he hurts someone?"

"Or kills someone."

"Calm it down, guys," Annie said. Will glanced at her, then at Max, who had a pained expression on her face.

"Still, we can't take that chance," Mike said. "We need to find out if he's the host."

As soon as he was done talking, Mike pushed himself off the car and walked off. "Where are you going?" El called after him.

"I have an idea. Boys only!" he called back.

"Are you kidding me, Mike Wheeler?" Annie yelled as the boys followed after him.

"Just trust me on this one!" With that, the boys ran off.

Annie sighed and decided to sit on the curb rather than lean on the car that wasn't theirs. "This better not be some sort of misplaced payback for the other day," she grumbled when she sat down.

Max and El sat on either side of her. "I hope it's worth it. Whatever they're doing," Max said. The other two nodded and sat in silence. Max let out a sigh and moved her head to lean on Annie's shoulder.

She tried her best to stay calm but oh my gosh Max was leaning on her. These past few days have definitely been awesome for Annie and continued to feed into her crush on Max. Hanging out with her always made her so much happier.

And honestly, so did hanging out with El. Annie really wished that she could introduce El to Meghan and Holly. She thought they'd like her and take her in like they did Max. The thought of the five of them made Annie smile.

"What's making you smile?" El asked.

Annie carefully turned to look at the other girl and used her unoccupied shoulder to shrug. "Just thinking about how I wish I could introduce you to my friends from school, Meghan and Holly. They're pretty cool."