ᴘᴀᴘᴇʀʙᴏʏ {} 𝗠𝗮𝘅 𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝚡 𝗠𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗢𝗖

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄: At Odds

Max walked away from the so-called 'perfect' paperboy, a visible frown on her saddened face. 

She breathed in, trying to compose herself. There wasn't a moment that, deep down, she didn't want to come straight out and open up to Nathan as much as she opened up to the rest of the Party, minus Mike. It was just something engrained in her after her mother's divorce and new marriage to Neil Hargrove. Something that just forced her to push away when she so desperately wanted to push toward him.

She took in some deep breaths to calm her growing emotions, spotting Lucas approaching from a different side of the school

"Max, there you are! I couldn't find you guys at all! Are you heading to the bathroom?" Lucas gave her a wide smile.

Max nodded her head quickly, a fake smile on her face to hide her bubbling emotions,

"Yeah, yeah, I am..."

Lucas nodded and gestured her to follow him,

"Come, the bathroom is this way," he begun to walk forward, leading her through the school. Max followed the boy, choosing to remain quiet this time. She could've asked Lucas why she was excluded from the AV Club meeting after school, but the first time around got her into a petty argument with someone she really... really had grown used to in her own weird and unique way.

All of a sudden, Mike Wheeler had turned down the hallway while fast-walking, "Come on! Come on! Let's go!" He shouted to Max and Lucas as the pair walked adjacent to Mike.

"Hey, where's Nathan? Weren't you two were walking together?" Mike asked suddenly, and almost accusingly at Max, as the trio were nearing a bathroom. Max looked over defensively,

"We... split up. He'll be here soon."

'I hope.'

Mike barged into bathroom with Lucas and Max in tow, "Where's Dart?"

Dustin flinched slightly and took a breath in, hesitating, "I don't know. Not here."

"WHAT?!" Mike shouted and begun flinging each of the stalls open in an attempt to find Dart. Max swallowed in, gripping her board tightly. Lucas shoved his left hand into his pocket and looked at Mike and Dustin.

"He said this bathroom, right?" Max asked.

Dustin fake smiled, "Yep. Maybe Will has him?"

Will. Where the hell was he?  

"Where is Will?"

And why the hell did Nathan not show up yet?

Lucas glanced down at his walkie, raising it to his ear to hear faint static coming from it. He squinted his eyes at it before dropping it from his ear.

'It's probably nothing,' he figured.

"Someone call Nathan, get him here now!" Mike ordered to anyone in the party, excluding Max as she did not have a walkie.

Dustin looked at Lucas and shrugged at Mike's ego before raising the same walkie, speaking through it,

"Paperboy, this is Dustin, how copy? Over." Dustin spoke in military speech. For a few moments the group listened closely, Max especially. She took a deep breath when she heard no response, gnawing at her lower lip to cool down her nerves.

All of a sudden, static erupted from all of the radios in the room. It was primarily static but a few members were able to hear a familiar, yet faint voice ask if anyone could hear them. Max let out a sigh of relief that not even she knew she was holding in.