ᴘᴀᴘᴇʀʙᴏʏ {} 𝗠𝗮𝘅 𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝚡 𝗠𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗢𝗖

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄: Who you gonna call?

Max Mayfield woke up early in the morning, unable to sleep. She slowly sat up, running her slender fingers through her ginger locks. She slid the blanket she used to sleep with off of her, slowly sitting up from her cool, comfy pillow. Max slowly rose from the bed, walking to her closet and sliding off a slightly baggy white t-shirt. She reached into her closet, grasping a yellow t-shirt and sliding it on.

She rolled her eyes at the sound of rock music blasting from the living room, sliding off a pair of shorts she wore to sleep and exchanging it for a pair of jeans. She slid on some socks as well, slipping on a pair of her favorite green vans as well. To defend against the cool breeze, she put on a primarily black jacket with a white zipper, a red zipper for the pockets and with a red stripe going down the arm sleeves. To top it all off, she put a yellow watch on her right wrist.

Billy watched as his sister exited her room, ready for school with her backpack over her shoulder and with her skateboard tucked neatly in her armpit.

Billy took the cigarette out of his mouth, "You got everything? Cause I'm not driving back if you forget to bring your shit."

Max nodded her head, "Yeah. I've got everything," She simply said. She couldn't bother to deal with Billy's attitude today, she had more important.. things on her mind.

She couldn't sleep much, and part of it had to deal with a trip to the arcade that happened yesterday. Billy, thankfully, hadn't thought anything out of the blue and picked her up like usual. She hadn't really expected anything to happen; she had hoped to clear her head about her situation with the move to Hawkins from California at the arcade. Her mind drifted to a certain popular boy in her grade as she thought about the arcade.

Nathan just seemed to be everything a girl could dream; seemed to be perfect. But Max knew that would be have to be wrong; that appearances aren't always what they seem. It was the same when she first met Billy Hargrove, her step-brother. Deep down, she knew there was something amiss about the boy from Hawkins and yet she couldn't keep her mind off him in that moment. As she replayed the memory in her head, the way Nathan's thumb gently caressed her knuckles and his head tilted and his face inched closer to hers, she didn't know how to feel.

Nathan had played it off like nothing after Billy had unknowingly interrupted him, or he had tried to play it off; he had tried to play it off as all he was doing was just leaning against the Dig Dug machine. She knew that was bullshit. He was going to kiss her, she wasn't an idiot. She could see the signs, feel the signs.

Max breathed in while she gathered her remaining things, she hoped things wouldn't be awkward at school with her new 'friend'. She hoped he wouldn't bring it up; that what occurred yesterday was just two classmates, the tomboy new girl from California and the Prince of Hawkins, blossoming into a new and exciting friendship... but she couldn't help but feel that they were blossoming into something more.

She wasn't good at these types of stuff, especially after Billy came along. She was only good at one thing; pushing away. So hopefully, she'd be equally as good at pushing forward.

She ignored the comments Billy made about Hawkins as they walked outside and to the back of the house where Billy's car was parked. It was always the same: how he had despised Hawkins, how ugly or annoying he thought of the high school girls, or how it was her fault they were here. But, recently, Billy's mind drifted to speak about the Harrington brothers after meeting them.  She preferred to keep quiet and let him rant about them, about him; she would be safe from Billy's wrath. 

Sooner rather than later they had arrived at the outside the two schools parking lot, with Billy pulling into an open parking spot.

She opened the car door, looking to spot the familiar boy some distance away in the parking lot. He exited from a teenager's car with, presumably, the driver of said car walking alongside him, his arm slung around the younger kid's shoulder. They begun unloading the bicycle that was in the backseat. Nathan had walked the bike toward a bike rack at the front of the middle school as the teenager veered away toward the high school. Nathan then walked inside the building.