𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑, elmax [ discontinued ]

ch. 9

continued from last chapter

El stood awkwardly next to Max' seat, not knowing if she should sit down.
Their eyes were still locked, Max eyes still gazing sadly into El's.
El wanted to say something, but she had no idea what to say.

Why do you care all of a sudden?
That sentence was still stuck in El's head.
El had never stopped caring about Max, she was just too scared to face her. Though she still did not know why.

"...They aren't good for you, either," El finally spoke up, nodding towards the cigarette in between Max' fingers.
Max simply shrugged in reply.

"Maybe not in the long term... but right now they are," Max said carelessly, breaking their eye contact, glancing around the yet empty field beneath them.

El squinted her eyes sceptically.
"How are they?"
But Max didn't respond, so El shook it off, supposing Max didn't know what she was actually talking about.
She finally gathered the bit of courage to take the seat next to Max.

A few silent minutes went by. There was no uncomfortable tension, though. The two girls just had a few, well needed, quiet minutes, in each other's company.

El saw Max open her mouth to say something, but both the girls flinched as they were interrupted by the voice of an angry soccer coach, from the bottom of the bleachers.
"What do you think you two are doing?!" he yelled at them, clearly aware of the cigarettes.

Max quickly threw the cigarette on the ground, and stuffed the rest of the pack into the pocket of her jacket, though she knew it was already too late.
The coach soon approached them at the top row of the seats, with a mad expression on his face.

"Don't you think I saw what you two were doing? Principal's office, now!"

Max stood up from her seat, pointing an arm at El.
"Sir, I swear she wasn't a part of thi-"

"I will not discuss this! Save your excuses for the principal," he spat at her, causing the poor girl to step half a step back.

El quickly got up, grabbing Max' wrist, not wanting her to start arguing with the coach.
"Of course," El exclaimed, turning around to drag Max down the stairway, "we'll go to the principal. We're very sorry for our behaviour."

They hurried down the grandstand, El's hand still around Max' cold wrist.
Eleven's plan was to just run out of school without the coach noticing, but unfortunately he made sure to follow them all the way to the office, clearly not trusting them.

El didn't realize her hand was still gripping Max' hand, until they were standing in front of the principal's door - the coach still walking behind them.
El turned red and felt the usual bubbly feeling inside her, as she quickly let go of the other girl's hand, hoping she wouldn't notice.

The girls left the principal's office with three days of detention. Cleaning detention, had the principal called it. Meaning that they both had to clean a bunch of areas around the school, for three days.

As soon as Max walked out the door, she headed towards the exit, without saying a word. She didn't even give El the slightest look. She just turned around and walked away.
Eleven decided not to follow her, even though she felt her heart break for a short moment. Not even half an hour ago, Max had tried to defend El when they were caught smoking. But now she seemed even angrier than before.

El glanced after her for a few seconds, before walking the opposite way, towards another exit. She walked slowly down the hallway, preparing herself to explain all that had just happened to her friends, who had probably already headed home without her by now.