Salt To The Wound (A Stranger Things Story)

Season 5-Chapter 25: Over and Out (Max's POV

It was graduation day, the last day of school, the last day of the group being together, the last day of them being kids, the last chapter of this life, and the beginning of a new one.

Max was valedictorian and she made sure that she looked the best that she could today. She looked in the mirror, hoping to see Lucas there, but he didn't show up this time. She shrugged it off and left the bathroom. The group was going to ride their bikes to school together, for the last time.

"Took you long enough," Will said and she rolled her eyes. "Uh it takes a lot of work to look this good," she said, getting on her bike. The group then left the house and started biking toward school, the last time that they'd be going to this school.

Today wasn't a day that they'd be doing work, it was a day of activities, and about four hours from now, they'd all be graduating, and Max had the perfect speech. She'd been practicing for weeks and had it perfected.

Max walked up to the stage and faced the entire senior class, but she wasn't scared, she knew exactly what she wanted to say and knew exactly how to say it. "Hello everyone, most of you already know who I am but some of you might not, I'm Max Mayfield. When I first walked into this school, I was so fuckinf scared, I thought that it was way too big for me to make it on time, or the seniors were way too scary, and I thought that I'd want it to be over fast as possible. There are people I knew when I first walked in that aren't in this room now, due to circumstances. There are people who I didn't know and now we are inseparable but that's just the tide of life. This town in itself has been through so much shit its unbelievable, the lives that were lost due to that is incomprehensible, a lot of you in here have lost someone close to you due to that, including myself, and many of you had to make sacrifices to continue to live on. We will all now walk out of this school, stronger than we ever were before because this is Hawkins motherfucking high am I right," she said and they agreed. "To conclude my speech, I'd like to say we are tigers, and we will always be one," she said and they cheered for her as she walked off the stage. She sat next to her friends and they congratulated her.

Everyone was trying to hold it together but that was bound to not work. "I didn't think I'd be the one to break first," Max said, wiping the tears from her cheek. "Don't cry, or I'm going to cry," Will said, and Max looked up. "It's crazy to think that we've been friends for three years plus and now we are going to be all over the globe," she said, not being able to hold back the years anymore. Soon after that, everyone else broke too. They all came in for a group hug. "We will always be together," Mike said and they agreed.

It was now time for all of them to go their separate ways. Each one at a different airport going to different places, scattered. They were on FaceTime. "My planes here, over and out," Dustin said, leaving the FaceTime call. " This is so goddamn bittersweet," El said and they nodded. "Oh, my plane arrived, over and out," El said, leaving the call. "It's just what, four years?" Max asked and they nodded. "Something like that," Will said and he looked up. "My plane landed, over and out," Will said, leaving the call. They didn't interact much because they were just trying to make sure they didn't cry. "Mine landed too, over and out," Troy said, leaving the call. "Well that leaves me and you," Max said and Mike nodded. "No just you, mine landed, over and out," Mike said leaving the call, Max then ended the call. "Over and out," she said to herself, then entering the plane.