[HIATUS] Malls and Arcades | Max Mayfield

Chapter Three

「 "My life's a mess, but you're in it" (Irreplacable You, leo.). 」
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Talia regretted it. She regretted what she had said so badly. She wished she hadn't pushed him so hard. She wished she had just accepted it and waited. She wished she could take back every word she said. It became obvious fast how wrong she was the next day.

Lindy's car wasn't waiting for her that morning, so she walked. That was pretty normal for her, but it still didn't feel right. Next was that Haydn wasn't there when she got there. He usually got there before her, but today he didn't. So, she waited on the steps.

It took her until the bell rang to realize that he had gone inside without her.

She headed to homeroom like usual, but it didn't feel the same without Haydn talking her ear off. She went to her seat with the new addition of her saddened feelings and Max's conversation.

She couldn't focus on much of what Max was saying. Luckily, the redhead didn't notice. And she didn't need much of a reply to continue with her one-sided rant.

Talia just thought the whole period. She thought about what she said the day before. She thought about what she would say when she saw Haydn again. She thought about the exact way she would apologize.

And then maybe they could still go trick-or-treating together like they always do.

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Talia enjoyed walking Max to her classes. It distracted her from the fact that she couldn't find Haydn. And she got to know more about the girl she enjoyed hanging out with. They had already planned to go trick-or-treating with each other because she was sure Haydn didn't want to go with her.

Now all they had to do was get home, and Talia thought that she should at least walk Max to her locker.

But they just had to be interrupted.

Talia was leaning on the locker beside Max's while the girl in question packed whatever she needed in her bag. Talia happened to be talking about if the chicken or the egg came first, a very important topic when it happened.

It was one of the creeps from yesterday. Talia still didn't know his name.

"Hi Talia, Max. I'm - I'm Dustin." The boy introduced himself and the first thought that came to Talia's mind was how he knew her name. She didn't think they shared any classes.

Before Talia could ask, Max was greeting him back. "Yeah, we know. The stalker."

Dustin quickly became defensive at her very true statement. "Wha - what? I wasn't stalking you guys. I - I was just concerned because you're new and all."

"I'm not new," Talia corrected. "I've been here since sixth grade."

"Oh, uh! Right! I knew that. I was just worried that you still hadn't settled in! You - you've been acting differently." Dustin said. "There's a lot of bullies here, so I was just wondering how you two were handling yourselves and how I could help." That was pretty thoughtful, Talia thought to herself.