𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐰𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿.

xix. - we stand out like glitter!

THE HAWKINS CASE !

MADMAX
NINETEEN — WE STAND OUT LIKE GLITTER!

                                          "Meet the human brain. I know. I know, it doesn't look like much. A little gross even, right? But consider this. There are a hundred billion cells inside of this miracle of evolution. All working as one. No, no, I did not misspeak. I did not stutter. A hundred billion."

Lucy jumped in her seat as the sudden sound of the door opening hit her ears. The leg that she had been swinging under her desk came to a quick stop and her back straightened up as she watched a girl walk into the room. Long red hair, a red jacket, jeans, and her bag slung over her shoulder. She was slouching and didn't seem even a bit interested in anything that was going on.

"Ah, this must be our new student." Mr. Clarke said as the girl stopped to stand beside his desk. "Indeed. All yours." The principal nodded before stepping out of the classroom. Tucking her head down the new girl tried to make a getaway to an open desk to plop down and probably ignore the rest of the lesson. Mr. Clarke was quick to stop her.

"All right. Hold up. You don't get away that easy. Come on up. Don't be shy." He said and waved her back over to her spot besides his desk. "Dustin, drum roll." Dustin shut his textbook and began drumming his fingers along its hard cover as Mr. Clarke spoke. "Class, please welcome, all the way from sunny California, the latest passenger to join us on our curiosity voyage, Maxine." Mr. Clarke introduced. "It's Max." The new girl spoke up. "Sorry?" Mr. Clarke asked, turning to her. "Nobody calls me Maxine. It's Max." Mr. Clarke nodded to her. "Well, all aboard, Max."

The recognizable nickname had caught their attention. All of them leaning towards each other and sharing a few whispers. "Mad Max." Lucas whispered. Lucy's eyebrows furrowed. "From dig dug?" Lucas reminded her. She could only give him a shrug in response. The eyes of all five kids followed the girl as she went to sit down in her newly assigned seat.

Lucy had her face pressed up against the chainlink fence, her cheek starting to get indents of the pattern with how long it had been resting there. Her eyes were starting to droop with boredom from spying on Max for so long. It was starting to annoy her too at this point, why should she even care if she was Mad Max at this point? "There's no way that's Mad Max." Mike said. "Yeah. Girls don't play video games." Will said which earned him a slap on the back of his head from Lucy. "I'm a girl, you idiot. But even if she does play video games, how the hell did she get 750,000 points... and on Dig Dug of all games!" Lucy said propping her face on the fence once again.

"But her name is Max." Lucas pointed out to her. "Ok and?" Lucy said glancing over to him. "So, how many Maxes do you know?" Lucas asked her. "...None" Lucy grumbled, rolling her eyes and looking back into the courtyard of kids. "Exactly!" He shouted. "She shows up to school the day after someone with her same name breaks our top score. I mean, you kidding me?" Dustin added. "Exactly. So she's gotta be Mad Max. She's gotta be." Lucas agreed. "And plus she skateboards, so she's pretty awesome." Dustin said. "Awesome? You haven't even spoken a word to her." Mike scoffed at him. "I don't have to. I mean, look at her." Dusting said looking back out past the fence, only to realize he couldn't see the girl anymore. "Shit, I've lost the target." Dustin sighed. "Oh! There." Will said and leaned away from the fence, gesturing to their left.

They watched Max as she climbed the stairs up to the school, dropping a ball of paper into the trashcan before stepping inside. The second she had got into the building the boys were dashing off to see what she had thrown away, with Dustin practically throwing himself in head first to grab it. Lucy rolled her eyes and let out a defeated sigh before walking over to meet up with her friends all while giving a few awkward waves to the few girls who had noticed her friends and their shenanigans.

"Got it. There we go." Dustin said as he leaned out of the trash with the balled paper. Unrolling the piece of paper he held it out for his friends to see. Letting all of them take in the big letters scribbled onto it in marker. "Stop spying on me, creeps." They simultaneously read. "Well, shit." Dustin said. "Of course, she saw us. We stand out like fucking glitter here!" Lucy said throwing her hands up before letting them fall and slap against her legs.

"William Byers." The group all turned around after hearing the voice of their principal, even if he was only speaking to one of them. "Your mother's here." He informed him and Lucy could see the way his shoulders slouched. In relaxation or frustration, she couldn't tell but she hoped he was doing okay. Will turned back to his friends and said his goodbyes before heading off with the principal to meet his mom.

The rest of them quickly ran around the corner, where they could see Will's mom standing out by her car and soon Will as he made it out the school's front doors. "You guys think he's okay?" Dustin asked, breaking the silence. "He's always weird when he has to go in." Lucas said. "Yeah, I noticed that too." Lucy frowned as she spoke. "I don't know. He's quiet today." Mike said. "He's always quiet." Lucas pointed out. "I hope he's doing okay." Lucy sighed.

Shoving another carrot into her mouth Lucy leaned back into her beanbag, her fingers playing around with the antenna of her walkie-talkie. She was seriously starting to get bored of the constant static sound that the machine made.

Lucy had been doing this every day since she woke up from her coma. Trying to contact Eleven, to hear her voice again, to find out where she was. Lucy knew for a fact that she was alive. She's seen herself in her own head plenty of times to know that El was keeping watch on her. It honestly gave her a sense of relief knowing that she was at least living and that her fight with the Demogorgon didn't kill her. She was just hoping she was okay. All she had to do was find her girl.

"Hey El, it's me... again I mean who else would it be?" Lucy said her voice muffled by the carrot in her mouth. "It is day three-hundred and fifty-two. I hope at least. It's getting hard keeping count." Lucy stood up from her beanbag and made her way to her record collection that was sitting on the floor by her closet. She bent down and began shuffling through them, she really needed to kill this static.

"I know you're alive... and I'm pretty sure you know I know. If you could find some way to talk to me this whole process could be a whole lot easier... no pressure though." Lucy's features dropped at the sound of plain static. She frowned to herself, placing the walkie-talkie down on the floor. "Well... I guess I'm talking to the air again. That's fine." Lucy sighed and pulled a random record out from her stash, not even bothering to see which one she grabbed.

"Luc." Lucy's body stiffened at the sound of the voice, she quickly tossed the record in her hands onto her desk before diving to the floor to grab her walkie-talkie. "Hey, hey, hey... are you there?" She frantically spoke. "Yeah I'm here, what are you doing using this station? I've been trying to reach you all day. We were right. Max is Mad Max." Dustin said making Lucy groan. "Well that's great Dustin, but I'm busy." She told him before turning her radio off.

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 — 1368