A life less ordinary ||~~Elax/Elmax~~||

Super fun school time part 2

A/N A massive shout out to @mother_of_skittles for the amazing cover she made for this book, and by made I mean painted...ikr! tysm 💜

"Guys, have you seen El, she usually meets me by now?" Max asked the gang. El was never late and she had a bad feeling.

"No, try the library, she's always in there, she probably forgot about the time is all" Mike reasoned.

Max made her way to the library, ensuring she wasn't spotted by any teachers as she was planning to skip the next lesson. Along the way she passed Amber and her cronies, and as she did so they burst out laughing and Max couldn't help but think they were laughing at her, "stupid bitches" she muttered. She snuck in the library just before the librarian shut it to go for her lunch, hiding underneath one of the large desks and silently thanking the librarian for being so slack. When she was sure the coast was clear, she crawled out and stood still, listening for any noise. She closed her eyes when she heard it, a soft, almost imperceptible sob from the far corner. Walking softly, she rounded the final shelves in the far corner and saw El sitting on the floor, back against the wall, surrounded by torn up pages from her notes.

"El, please, don't cry" said Max, crouching down and holding her tight. She realised in that moment how much she hated seeing El upset, her own heart felt empty, like it was mirroring El's mood. When El was happy, she was happy, when El was sad, she felt a huge need to fix whatever was wrong.

"Please don't let them get to you, they're just jealous is all" Max continued. She heard El scoff, telling Max everything she needed to know. "Look at me" she said, lifting El's face gently, "they're jealous because you're beautiful, and kind, and funny, and because you choose to hang around us nerds rather than fawn pathetically over them. They make themselves feel good by bullying you...by hurting you" Max said sadly. El held her gaze for a few seconds but then looked down, frowning, tears still falling, and she shook her head telling Max that she didn't believe her. Max closed her eyes tight and felt her anger rise.

A few minutes later, when El had calmed down, she told Max everything they'd said to her, explaining the reason she was upset. "I...I don't understand what they meant...I'm sorry" El said, Max picking up on the shame in her voice.

"Go to Castle Byers, I'll catch up with you later, ok?" Max instructed her. As she opened her mouth to protest, Max cut her off, "El, just go, please, take the afternoon, relax, nothing bad will happen to you, I promise." El gave her a sad smile and nodded, packing up the remains of her stuff.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Dustin raced around the corner to find the rest of the guys by Mike's locker, "guys, guys" he said breathlessly, "Max...fighting...come on!"

They all watched as Dustin ran back the way he came and raced after him towards the cafeteria, as they got closer they could hear shouting and chanting, and as they burst through the big double doors they saw tables had been shoved to one side, trays of food spilt on the floor, and in the middle of the large crowd Max was trying to fight with at least three girls. She had clearly had the upper hand at one point because the three girls were all sporting ripped clothes and various injuries to their faces, but she was now tiring, being held back by two of the girls and the third was about to punch her.

"Hey!" shouted Lucas, jumping in between them, arms outstretched keeping them apart. Dustin and Will grabbed Max and pulled her away from the girls, dragging her out of the exit doors just as some teachers rushed in to break it up.

"Max, what the hell?" challenged Dustin.

Max leaned against a wall still breathing hard, "it's nothing" she stated.

"But..." started Mike.

"I said it's nothing!" said Max angrily, pushing off the wall and walking away.

"Shall we go after her?" Will asked the gang.

"Nah, man, let her calm down first" said Lucas, "anyway, we can go ask El, Max always tells her everything."

"Well, where is El?" asked Dustin, "she and Max are always together" he stated, shrugging his shoulders and looking around to highlight her absence.

"Something doesn't add up" said Mike, "El always calms Max down, something's happened" he concluded.

"Come on, Mike, that's a bit dramatic don't you think?" said Lucas.

"No, I think Mike's right" said Will, "they have every class together today, and you know Max never leaves El by herself at school."

They stood there in a rough square, all looking at each other. Sighing, Mike said "ok, Dustin, Lucas, go find Max, me and Will will find El. We'll meet up after school at the usual place, ok?" They all nodded and broke into the two groups.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*

"So where do you think she went?"

"Well, she's skipped school, doesn't want to get caught or seen..."

"...Castle Byers" they said in tandem.

20 minutes later, Mike and Will spied castle Byers and approached slowly, the calm surroundings of the wood broken by the bickering pair of Lucas and Dustin coming in the opposite direction.

"Wha..." said Dustin.

Lucas laughed, "guess we had the same conversation."

Mike shook his head in amusement at how similarly they all thought, "come on, let's see if we were all right."

Will did the honors, it was his 'castle' after all, and swept aside the thin fabric that served as a door of sorts. They all looked at each other, Mike and Lucas rolling their eyes, and the silence eventually broken by an "awwwwww" from Dustin.

Max looked up and shot daggers at Dustin, holding her finger to her mouth she made a 'shhhhhhh' noise and looked back down to the sleeping form of her best friend. Carefully clambering outside and stretching her legs that had been folded for too long, Max said "she's exhausted."

"Well duuuuh" said Lucas rudely, earning a whack from the normally passive Will.

"Guys" she said, not in the mood for their stupid quarrels, "how are we going to help El at school? She's having a shitty time and hates it right now...not good" she concluded.

They sat cross-legged in a circle, each contemplating ways they could help, each thought crazier than the last. "Man, I've gotta stop reading so many comics, every idea I have is just ridiculous" sighed Dustin.

"Well she is basically an X-man" countered Lucas.

"Yeah, I think I missed the edition where the X-men were being bullied at high-school" replied Dustin sarcastically, Lucas responding with a sarcastic smile of his own.

Mike sighed loudly, "guys, come on, admit it, we can't do a damn thing, we're not exactly popular ourselves." They all looked at each other and nodded frustratingly.

"Max, we've just gotta keep doing what we're doing now, supporting her" said Will kindly, "but no more fighting, ok?"

Max nodded reluctantly, still angry at what El had told her about Amber. "Ok, no fighting" she agreed, vowing to get her own back any other way possible.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*