a d d i c t ➳ mgc

➳ o n e

"Jace, stop it." Maxine Rose ran up the single flight of stairs in her and her brother's shared house.

"You ruined my party last night," her brother smirked to himself as he came up the stairs after her, "so in return, I'll ruin you."

"Jace, you're scaring me," Maxine whimpered as she backed into a corner of the hallway. She slowly inched toward her bedroom, hoping to be safe behind a locked door.

"'You're scaring me,'" Jace mocked in a high pitched voice. "You're a big girl now, Max. You should be able to handle yourself. Or are you too scared because mom isn't here to protect you?"

Max fumed. "Don't you--you can't--just don't mention mom. It wasn't my fault. It doesn't need to be brought up, okay?"

Jace raised his arm into the air and swung it back, as if getting ready to hit someone. Max flinched back. She raised her arms to cover her face and cowered backward. "You--you thought I was going to hit you?" Jace asked, widening his brown eyes.

"You just looked so mad and I thought that you might--" Max staggered backward and watched as her brother raked his fingers through his unruly hair.

"Max can you just leave for a bit?" Jace's eyes began to glaze over. "Just take your stupid cigarettes and go somewhere please. I need the house for a bit. Some time to think."

Maxine nervously bit on her lip. "Okay." She stepped backward into her bedroom and hastily put on a pair of slip on shoes. Max grabbed her favourite sweatshirt before heading downstairs. She grabbed a pack of cigarettes and a purple mini lighter from in the living room. "See you later," she mumbled to Jace, who replied with a nod.

Max jogged down the sidewalk, sliding her hoodie over her average length dirty blond hair, and watching the pattern her feet made as they moved. After only a few seconds, however, her running was cut short.

"Um, do you mind looking where you're going?" The person that Maxine had run into addressed the small girl. He was much taller than Max's average 5'4" height, and had dyed his hair a vibrant blue. His arms were crossed as he stared down at Max.

"Sorry about that. Do you, like, live around here? I've never seen you before." Max nervously began a conversation with the smurf-headed boy. She had few to no friends, and the people who she did talk to were definitely not close to her.

"Yeah, I live right over there," the boy pointed to a house near Max's. "But please do enlighten me, why were you running, but not looking where you were going?"

Maxine hesitated. She wasn't sure if she should be so open with a complete stranger, but she decided that friends were something that she needed. Keeping everything to herself would not make a good habit. "I'm actually just leaving my house for a short smoke. Would you like to join?"

"You don't look like you're old enough to even buy cigarettes And besides, its a really bad habit that will damage your lungs." He stated.

Max shrugged and walked around the boy. "Well, I'll be finding a place to go smoke."

"Wait!" Blue haired boy reached an arm out to stop Max. "Please don't smoke. I know that we don't know each other, but it's really not something good to be doing. It's like, addictive."

"Excuse me, you're kind of in my way," Maxine tried to go around the boy, but he refused to let her pass.

"Please don't go smoking. It's going to ruin your lungs, and you might, like, die."

"Dude, I don't know you," Max threw her arms up in the air in exasperation. She turned to go the other way down the sidewalk, re-passing her house.

"Michael, I'm Michael." He jogged around to the other side of Max, trying again to prevent her from exiting the neighbourhood.

"You an sit with me when I go for my smoke, okay? Just don't try and bother me. I'm not having a very good day," Maxine explained, avoiding eye contact with her newfound neighbour.

"Okay," Michael answered. Max smiled and turned around, heading her original route down the sidewalk, with a six foot blue haired boy close behind.

➳

722 words

and for the sake of the book
max: 15
mikey: 16
cal: 16
lukey: 15
ash: 17

they're either born in 2000, 1999, or 1998, but they don't look fetus, you feel?