animal / mileven au.

five.

CHAPTER FIVE;
LET ME HEAR YOU.

despite being top of her class, el kind of hated school. not the schoolwork itself, for her it was pretty simple, but she hated the early mornings, the cranky teachers, and, most of all, the snobby students that surrounded her.

she had grown pretty used to people staring at her since the day she walked into school holding hands with daniel watson. of course, this monday wasn't any different. she felt a few eyes follow her as she strides to her locker to get her books for her first lesson of the day. the brunette only shook her head, ignoring the judgmental stares.

upon approaching her locker, she entered the memorized combination. her brows furrowed when a small, unevenly folded note fell to her feet. curious, she quickly picked the slip of paper up to read it.

"a/v closet for study hall."

el couldn't fight the smirk that swept across her lips, immediately recognizing the messy handwriting before even reading the unsigned note. they normally only met in the a/v closet on tuesday's and thursday's, but she wasn't complaining about the sudden change in plans.

she casually folded the note back up, tucking it behind her economics textbook in the back of her locker.

"morning," an exasperated yet familiar voice groaned. el glanced over her shoulder to find her red-haired best friend approaching with a grim expression, hiding herself in a large sweatshirt and jeans.

while max never obsessed over her looks, she was definitely dressed down today. "uh, hi? bad morning?"

she scoffed. "bad life," she replied, crossing her arms and harshly leaning her bad against the wall of lockers.

"i take it your talk with lucas didn't go well yesterday?" el presumed, scanning her locker for her english folder.

"he came to my house with flowers," she began. el nodded, not yet seeing the issue. "and then he had the audacity to tell me that he isn't mad at me! me, el! as if i did anything! ugh, i swear we're done for real this time."

knowing better, el didn't dare let her amused eyes flicker to the raging ginger. lucas and max were consistently-inconsistent. they could never keep apart for long. "okay, but that still doesn't explain the," she gestured to her appearance, "..new look?"

max glared, "i slept in."

"because?" the brunette pressed, knowingly.

this elicited a huff from the newly single teenager, "because i was up late last night putting all his shit i have in a box and crying."

"you do this everything, max, but you never give it back," she reminded, closing her locker after retrieving her folder.

the two friends began walking down the hall, still holding up their conversation, "this time is different. i'm done. this was the last straw, i swear it. it's time i move on."

el shrugged with a small giggle. "okay, yes. i support you in whatever you decide."

the ginger nodded decidedly before her icy orbs flickered to the other end of the hall where dustin and mike lingered. "so, did you talk to mike?"

el's eyes widen at the volume of her voice. "keep it down, would you?" she urgently warned, earning herself a laugh. "and no, we haven't. why do you ask?"

max shrugged. "i don't know. i guess i still don't completely get how this thing works. i mean, it's weird. i've never even seen you two talk and now i know that you two do a lot more than talk. i guess i'm just curious," she explained, thankfully in a quieter tone this time.