011 ~ A Mileven Fanfic

Chapter the Tenth

Will's POV

It was March 26th. By now most of us had gotten our letters, either of rejection or denial. Currently, Max had gotten into her college while Lucas, Mike, and El had all been denied. My odds weren't looking too hot.

I sat on my bed with Max, clutching her hands, to see if she would go to Providence alone or not. My letter is due to come today and judging from the data I've collected over this past year, the mailman will be here in 4 minutes to deliver my future.

"So..." Max starts. I stare at her for a second before I burst into a monotone scream.

"Okay, I get that." She responds. She rests her head on my shoulder and we wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. And wa-

Suddenly the dog is barking and Max and I are racing to the door, falling over the furniture and slipping on the way. We throw open the door just as our mailman is placing the letter in the box.

"Hi yeah, we'll take that thanks." Max says in a collected voice, trying to tame her hair as she smiles like everything is calm. She snatches it and we run back inside, ripping open the envelope on the way. I yank it out and read the word "congratulations" and immediately start to cry. Max quickly registers the tears as happy tears and starts to jump, screaming like the just watched someone be decapitated.

"PROVIDENCE, YOU LIL FUCKER ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?" She yells and my mom rushes in.

"Will, honey, what- did you, did you actually...." She asks, bewildered.

"I GOT IN." I scream, dancing in my living room.

"OH MY LORD I HAVE TO CALL JONATHAN!" She yells, hugging me tightly before running to phone my brother.

Within the next ten minutes, everyone in the group has been called and they're all convening here. Max informed literally everyone she knew while I just ran around my kitchen screaming. This continued until El showed up and bombarded me as soon as she entered the door, later followed by Lucas then Mike then Dustin.

We all smiled and cried and laughed and just reveled in the sheer happiness of this moment. Once again, a snapshot of a time when we're all feeling happy and relieved and light, as if we could just fly away into the sun. That is, until Lucas said, "Guys I'm so proud of you. You got into your dream school, you'll be living your best life and doing awesome. I just- you guys are awesome," to which Max awed for a very long time. "And then here we have like the rejects club." Lucas continued, laughing along with Mike and El who all group hugged.

"About that guys," Dustin started. "I got my letter 3 days ago. Guess you have one more person to add to your group."

The group froze and silence fell over the room like a blanket, threatening to strangle each teen.

"Dustin...." Mike started.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Max asked, patting his shoulder.

"Well I knew Will would be getting his letter soon and probably be getting in so I didn't want him to feel bad about celebrating after I was rejected."

There's a pause before I begin to rant.

"Dustin, you selfless son of a bitch, I hate you, you know that? Never hide something like from us to make me feel better, I will personally see to it that you get strangled in your sleep. Or better yet, I'll just feel worse and that'll be my revenge." I say and Dustin chuckles.

"Sorry team, won't happen again." He says with a smile on his face and we all slowly go back to simultaneously celebrating me and being comforting to him.

Max decides to sleepover and the rest of the group eventually leaves, all biding me goodbyes and congratulations. Max and I then retire to my roof, a popular spot for us ever since she discovered we could climb on top in 10th grade.

I lay down on the cold, dark shingles and Max follows, resting her head on my stomach.

"Do you ever feel like your future is hurtling towards you too fast and it's gonna hit you before you're ready?" She asks as we both gaze at the cold night sky.

"Take each day one at a time. M, you've always thought too far ahead into the future and sometimes, you just need to understand that we're alive and the future is a part of that. When it comes, it won't be the future, it will simply be us and I'll be right there to bear it with you."

And then Max bursts into tears.

"Will, we're never going to live here again, we'll never have classes together and I can't sleepover at El's every night and we can't make fun of Mike and El and I'll never go on another adventure with Lucas. I mean, Dustin, Mike and I won't have dinner together every Tuesday like we've done for the last three years. Will, everything is changing and I can't change it back and I just want it all to stop and I just want to freeze time in my childhood and never take it for granted," she rambles, her voice becoming garbled by the tears.

"Will....I've looked forward to this moment my entire life but I don't want it to change. I don't want anything to change."

"M, I'm not going to say nothing's changing because that's a lie but I will say, change is heartbreaking but in the end, a good thing. I like to think of us as having hundreds of little hearts inside of us, each one from a different chapter of our lives. And sometimes in order to get a new heart, you need one of those hearts broken. This next heart will be the biggest and best one yet and yeah, it's gonna hurt but it's gonna get better. Turning a chapter is hard but that means you get to start a new one, filled with a different adventure and different experiences. And Max, I promise you this: you will love it."

Max turns her head and hugs me, her salty tears dried on her face. She turns back and focuses on the sky before her eyes begin to flutter close. I watch her, her face etched with a face of concentration I've never seen in another person, as she focuses on the sky without even looking at it, doing nothing but holding the very universe together.

filler chapter guys, v sorry. also sorry for not updating in like 20 years, that was my bad, i take full responsibility.

also can i just say, thank you to all of the people who've private messaged me about this story, im just some lame-o gal and yall are all commenting and dming and i cant express how much each one one means to me (i read every single comment you guys, yall are awesome (and hella funny)). i love all of yall, you guys are my best bitches so thank you very much.