𝗥𝗲𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀

the counselor's office

"Oh, um, hey Max" Asher awkwardly says as he sees Max leaving Miss Kelly's office. The two hadn't had a proper conversation with each other since their break up. The only time the two would speak to each other is when their in a group, but apart from that, Max and Asher would avoid each other at all costs. Well, Asher wouldn't avoid Max, but Max did everything possible to stay as far away from Asher as possible.

"What are you doing?" Max bluntly asks "Are you stalking me or something?"

"I have sessions with Miss Kelly every Friday" Asher says to Max, who nods her head.

"Yeah, I forgot about that" Max admits, looking down at her feet. She misses Asher, she really does; but she doesn't want to burden him with all of her problems, especially when he's got his own shit at home to worry about. It was better for her to keep her distance from him than drag him into her mess.

"So, how've you been?" Asher asks Max "I haven't seen you around in a while."

"Fine" Max says, going to walk away from him but Asher follows her.

"Whatcha been up too?" Asher asks Max, making the girl roll his eyes. Asher knew that Max didn't really want to talk to him anymore, but he just wanted to make sure that everything was okay. Well, as okay as it can be for Max.

"God, why are you asking me all of these question?" Max asks with a huff, turning around which makes Asher stop walking.

"Can I not catch up with you or something?" Asher asks with a small laugh "I just want to make sure you're okay, that's all."

"Last time I checked, that wasn't your job anymore" Max says with a scoff "And I told you, I'm fine."

"Look, just because you broke up with me, it doesn't mean that I stopped caring about you" Asher says to Max "We might not be together anymore but I still want you to be okay."

"Ash, I broke up with you because I don't want you in my life anymore" Max says to Asher, making his face drop. She knew it was a bit harsh for her to say that, but she needed to make sure that he focuses on himself rather than her. If he kept going the way he is, she wasn't sure if he'd even make it out of high school alive "Just stay away from me, okay?"

"You don't mean that" Asher says, shaking his head.

"I do" Max says before walking into the girl's toilets that are near her, making Asher make his way back to the counselors office.

"So, Ash, how's things been?" Miss Kelly asks Asher. It's been the same thing for all of freshmen and sophomore year now. Every Friday he goes and sees Miss Kelly who asks the same questions every single week. Claudia got him into seeing the counselor, knowing that what's going on at home takes a toll on Asher. The Hart boy has never been good at expressing his emotions, the only emotion he can really show is anger and he has a lot of it. Anger at his dad. Angry about the fact that Max broke up with him. Anger at most of the people in Hawkins. Anger at the world. But obviously, he doesn't want to speak about it to the school counselor; he'd rather just talk to Claudia about it, but since she wants him to get help from someone who knows what they're talking about, he shows up every Friday without fail. Not for himself but for Claudia.

"Same as always" Asher says with a shrug, just wanting to be out of there, especially after his conversation with Max. He never understood her at times. All he wants is to be there for her, to show her that in this shitty world there is still someone out there who loves her, but all she does is keep pushing him away. In the summer, Max let Asher be there for her, but as soon as school started, she just tried to act like he doesn't exist. He didn't understand Max. He didn't understand women.

"Then what's up with the sunglasses?" Miss Kelly asks, knowing that Asher never wears sunglasses, but instead he wears one of his many caps "You normally just wear the cap, not both."

"Thought it'd be a nice change" Asher says with a fake smile.

"Didn't you say in our last session that you hated sunglasses?" Miss Kelly says, remembering that Asher talked about seeing someone with green sunglasses and went on a four minute rant about how much he hates sunglasses. This is what he likes to talk about in his sessions. The unserious stuff.

"Yeah, but these are nice sunglasses. The ones Jared was wearing were shit" Asher tells her, lifting the sunglasses off of his ears for a bit as they were hurting, but what he didn't realise was that he had let Miss Kelly have a quick glimpse at the very noticeable bruise on his right eye.

"Has your dad been hitting you again?" Miss Kelly asks, making Asher realise that he fucked up, but takes them off anyways since Miss Kelly had already seen his black eye "Do you need me to contact the police?"

"Like they'd do shit anyways" Asher says with a scoff "Pretty much everyone in this town knows what my dad is like but the police haven't done shit about it for the past twelve years. Calling them about it is just pointless."

"But Ash, you need to get help" Miss Kelly says being very worried about Asher. She doesn't normally say this about most students, but she'd be surprised if Asher makes it past the age of twenty. The stuff he is going through and the way he is coping is not okay and she wants to help, Asher just won't let her.

"I do have help" Asher bluntly says "Dustin's mom helps me out."

"Asher, you need more help" Miss Kelly says as Asher looks at the clock.

"Can I go now, I'm going to be late for lunch?" Asher asks before grabbing his sunglasses, getting up, without waiting for a response, and walking out of the office. He didn't care about lunch, he didn't have the money for it, he just wanted to get out of there. It started becoming a bit too personal and Asher felt weird talking about it all, especially with a teacher. He'd rather keep it to himself anyways; he didn't need to bother other people about his problems. Everyone else had their own shit to deal with, he didn't need to worry anyone with his.

1122 Words