max woke up, her breathing quick. she had an oversized t-shirt on, and it looked more like a nightgown than her dad's old shirt. she raced to go get ready, throwing on a pair of blue jeans and a collared maroon sweatshirt. she pulled on her black high-topped converse, and grabbed another box of the posters she and he boys had made.
she strapped the box to the back of her beaten-up bicycle, and rode up to hawkins high, stopping at every tree on the way that didn't have a "have you seen this boy" poster on it.
max had to write out all the words on the poster, and lucas took the poster up to the post office, with dustin and will to photocopy it.
all four of them had two large boxes, each.
mike had been missing for exactly thirteen days, and about three days ago, mrs. wheeler had lost it. she had given up hope he was coming home, and holly had to stay at max's house, where max, her father, and her brother would take care of her. her mom was on a business trip right now, but she'd be home in another week. max hoped mike would be back by then. holly was staying at max's house, because max had always been the go-to babysitter for her, and holly saw max as her big sister.
hearing a snicker behind her, max felt her already cold hands tremble, and she squeezed the stapler she had in her hand to ease the tension. "well then, is the loser's girlfriend out looking for him?" taunted troy, the bully of hawkins. "where's your sidekick— did he wander off? his IQ's always been low." she said in reply, trying not to let on the fact that she was intimidated. troy had asked her out when she first moved to hawkins, and she agreed, in hopes that it would up her street cred, having a boyfriend. he tried to kiss her on their first date, and she hit him. he went on to learn that she was friends with dustin, will, lucas, and mike, and well, things didn't work out. since then, he'd been out to get her.
"where's yours? did he run away with the other gays?" the boy retorted, she felt her face get red. will had came out to her last year, and she promised she would keep it a secret, because he wasn't ready to tell the guys yet. "what did you just say to me?" she asked, dropping the stapler and the stack of papers in her arm, stomping over to him. "i don't want to fight you, max." he said, his face softening a bit. "i wouldn't worry about it." she replied, punching him in the nose. he fell back in shock, and lied on the ground, holding his nose. "you bitch!" he screamed, but she was long gone, pedaling away on her beat-up bike, leaving the posters and stapler in the dust.
