MARLEY // Max Mayfield

Fashionably

Hawkins Middle, another day, another too cocky homophobe trying to get a rise out of Marley as she tossed a few pieces of trash in a waste bin by the back of the school. Pain shot across her face and her head directed to the floor, her gaze on the concrete, but she didn't retaliate, instead, opting to grasp at her backpack straps harder as she willed herself not to lose her temper. Blood seeped from her nose, crawling through a few cracks in her lips and ending at the edge of her mouth, pooling in a line of red. She licked it and spat to the side of her wiping at her nose nonchalantly.

"Are you done?" she looked back up from the ground, her eyes cold and worn, "Troy?"

"You think you can waltz back in here and start bossing everybody about?" He sneered, punching at her shoulder, "Think again fag."

"I thought again and unfortunately for you, I won't be taking your words into consideration," Marley smiled sweetly bending down so she was eye level, "You really do seem to be forgetting who I am."

Troy lunged forward, pressing his arm against her neck and pinning her against the wall, she stared down on him with a smirk, licking up a few more trickles of blood that fell to her lips and spitting to the side, "Fuck you."

"Be careful little boy, wouldn't want to...break your nose or," she leaned forward a grin on her face, "piss your pants," another fist flew across Marley's face but she didn't budge, her gaze unwavering, "is that all you got? No wonder you needed a knife to intimidate Mike and Dustin last year. Can't do anything with those noodle arms."

"Troy, let's just go man," James whispered, lightly slapping Troy's shoulder, "Dyke's not worth it."

"Yeah, Troy, I'm not worth it," she mocked. There was a silence between the three of them before, eventually, Troy gave and took a few steps back, revoking his arm from her neck. Marley only grinned and straightened out her shirt, wiggling her fingers as a farewell to the boy as he and James vacated the scene, "some thing's never change..."

With a firm click, she cracked her neck to the side, letting out a sigh of relief as the tension from being pinned and basically suffocated left her body. The first bell rang in the distance, signalling the start of class and she picked up her bag, dusting a few pieces of dirt from its bottom and slinging it over her shoulder.

A few people glanced at her, whispering about the blood on her face but otherwise kept to themselves, not wanting to get involved in whatever Marley Harrington had gotten herself into that morning. She didn't mind, of course, didn't like the lot anyway and much preferred when they all ignored her so the silence and odd whisper were welcomed.

She pulled out a tissue from her pocket and wiped at her nose, sticky clots of blood decorating the white fibre and quickly soaking through it, she grimaced, not expecting for her blood to clump together the way it did.

"Harrington!" Only one person called her that.

"Mayfield," Marley nodded curtly, sniffling and resuming the cleaning of her nose. "How are you?"

"Never mind that, you're bleeding!" Max huffed out, moving away Marley's tissued hand to look at the damage, "God, Bub, who's cereal did you shit in?"

"Troy's. Didn't take kindly to the fact I was back apparently," Marley shrugged, wincing as Max dabbed at a sore spot around the bridge of her nose, "Is it broken? Please don't let it be broken..."

"It's not...I don't think."

"You don't think?" Marley whined, taking the tissue back and doing it herself. It was nice Max was tending to her wound, sure, but that was the problem, it was too nice and way too intimate in Marley's book considering she had never had anyone tend to an injury of hers, not even a doctor. "Red. You don't think?!"