Unexpected Ways | Madwheeler

Chapter 2.

The end of the day had finally approached and as always Max set out to speedily make her way towards the high school building. "Mayfield!" a voice called out. Max decided to ignore it, fearing that she'd be late for Billy. "Hey, Mayfield!" The same voice. Max ground her teeth and spun sharply around, only to find herself nose to nose with Mike Wheeler. The boy jumped back and started to turn red, noticing their intimacy. "What do you want Wheeler?" Max spat, tapping her foot impatiently, if she was late one more time... Mike bit his lip trying to figure out how to approach the girl and the situation. "Umm... I was just wondering whether... you're —" the stumbling boy was cut off by his worst enemy, after Max of course, his Maths teacher. "It's nice to see you talking to Maxine, Mr Wheeler." Miss Roberts began. Both kids almost immediately turned a shade darker. Mike smiled hopelessly at his teacher, not knowing how to respond. "She's a great mathematician, you could perhaps learn a thing or two from her, especially for the upcoming exam." Miss Roberts had a way with words and Mike definitely wasn't a fan. Neither was Max, as she visibly shrunk at the word "mathematician" and shot a look at Mike, he would definitely use that as a new insult.

But she could see that Mike had the same look of embarrassment plastered on his face and felt something soften inside her. "Well I'll leave you to it." Miss Roberts said, breaking the staring match between the two kids. They both smiled politely as their teacher brushed past them. Mike let out a small sigh, "that test is going to be the end of me." Max bit back a laugh. "Jeez, Wheeler don't be so dramatic." Mike rolled his eyes "easy for you to say, Mathematician Mayfield" a comment that caused Max to flip him off "I knew that was gonna stick" she mumbled. Mike smirked at her, until his smile dropped quickly "besides..." he continued "my dad said that he'd stop my allowance and that I won't be able to go out if I don't improve my grades" Max looked up at him. "But you're like a science guy, how could you not get Maths? The two basically go hand in hand." Mike smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah well... it's the new stuff I'm struggling with." He admitted quietly. Max hummed, a smile creeping up on her face. "Well why don't you get Lucas or Will to help? They're helping your girlfriend." Mike's eyes widened at the mention of El. "Can't." He replied flatly. "And why is that? Afraid you'd get distracted by Jane's luscious curls?" Max sang, placing a hand on her chest. Mike swallowed quickly, cursing under his breath — much to Max's glee. She knew just which buttons to push, or so she thought. "Not because I'll distracted" Mike explained "but because they're a few classes behind, meaning they haven't covered all the content yet." Max mouthed a small "oh" and nodded.

An awkward wave of silence passed between the two until Max spoke up again. "I... I can help you" she began hesitantly. This caught Mike's attention and he stared blankly at her. "I need to get out the house anyways and since the arcade is being renovated I've actually been studying, so..." she trailed off waiting on Mike for an answer. The mention of Max's house sent off a reminder in Mike's head of his original purpose. "Oh yeah... sure that's... that'd be great," he confirmed. The pair nodded curtly at each other, before Max skated away, she was late for Billy but it was worth it. Since she was of course doing a good deed.