𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑, elmax [ discontinued ]

ch. 13

idk if y'all are seeing it, but wattpad is making everything i'm writing in italic bold (as you might see here).
it's really annoying, but idk how to get rid of it, so please bear with it.

Detention, day two.
The principal had told El to go to his office for some "information about the detention".

El was running a little late. She had completely forgotten about the detention. She was already on her way home, thinking about Beverly and the long conversation they had had the day before, when she remembered where she was going, and where she was really supposed to be.

She turned around, running as fast as she could, slightly panicking. She didn't want to get in anymore trouble with the principal.

She made it back to school, down the hallways and stopped by principal's door, trying to catch her breath.
When her breathing was even, she took the courage to slowly open up the door.

"You're late, Ms Brenner." El heard as she stepped in the office, quietly closing the door behind her. She felt the rage she would always feel, when someone called her by her last name. Brenner. She hated it, but couldn't blame them. It was her last name after all.
"Yeah, I- I'm sorry..."

She turned away from the door and noticed Max sitting in a chair, next to an empty one, in front of the principal's desk. Max didn't turn around to face El, she just kept her eye's on her own fidgeting hands in her lap.
El nervously took the seat next to her.

The principal inhaled and clapped his hands together, before he went:
"You two are gonna have to clean and tidy the janitors closet."

El turned her head toward the other girl, to see her reaction - Max did the same, causing the two to face each other, for the first time in days.

Max quickly broke the eye contact, looking back at the principal.
"T-together?" she stammered.
She clearly wasn't a fan of the idea of having to be around El for two hours, in a relatively small space.
Neither was Eleven.

"Yes," the principal furrowed his brows, "is there a problem?"

Both girls sat in silence, looking down.

"Great," he exclaimed, pushing out his chair to stand up, "off we go."

The tension was awkward as the girls went down the hallway side by side, the principal walking behind them keeping a strict eye on them.
Max made sure to walk a good three feet from El, El not daring to near her.

The principal stopped by a door with a little sign saying "Janitor", as well as a handwritten paper note saying "DO NOT CLOSE DOOR!"

He opened the door and let the girls step into a very small, messy and dusty room.
El didn't like small spaces, and she just now remembered how claustrophobic Max was as well.

"Well, there's plenty of work to get done here, so you better get started," the principal breathed out, looking around the room. He quickly pointed to the note on the door and went:
"Remember to keep the door open! It'll lock from the inside if it closes."
Both the girl's nodded hesitantly in reply.

"Good luck, I'll be back in a few hours," he said, before walking back down the hall, leaving the two girls alone.

Neither of them said anything for about half an hour, the tension between them only growing more uncomfortable.

El was dusting off some shelves, while Max sorted out buckets and cleaners on the opposite wall.
The room was practically just a closet, and the space was narrow, which caused the girls occasionally bumping into each other. A little mumbled "sorry" from either of the girls, every now and then, were the only communication between them.

The silence was finally broken after Eleven glanced over at the door, which to her shock was closed.
She quickly turned around, looking at Max, who was still faced towards the shelves in front of her.
"M-Max, did you close the door?"

Max turned around with wide eyes, her red hair flying around her face.
She walked fast towards the door, aggressively turning the door knob in an attempt to open the door.
It was locked.

"I thought you were holding it open!" she pouted, still uselessly trying to open up the door.

"Why w-would I do that?" El shook her head, her voice slightly trembling.

"Because I thought I told you to," the redhead replied with a mutter, finally turning around.
El rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"You didn't. Cause you know what? You haven't spoken to me at all, for nearly 40 minutes!"

Max scoffed.
"Says the one who completely ignored me for weeks!"

El went silent. She simply didn't know what to say.

Max went back to her shelf.
"Yeah, that's what I thought."

finally updating jeez, i'm so sorry.
tysm for 7k reads! it all went so quickly uwu you deserve better than my dumb ass.

also, rereading the first chapters of this book made me realize how bad my writing/english was just a few months back, (not that it's perfect now whatsoever) and it's making me happy that i've gotten better, but yet it bugs me how bad the book is.
idk, mixed feelings™️