Big Shot // Madwheeler

Chaos on Wheels

     About a week later, Max and Mike tore through Hawkins on their bikes, dead set on the old Starcourt Mall. They passed through neighborhood after neighborhood, enduring shouts of "Slow down!" and "Reckless idiots!" as they passed by the homely residents. 

     The pair didn't pay mind to the yelling. This was normal for them. Max and Mike, the two most chaotic teens in all of Hawkins, creating just that. Chaos.  

     They laughed and joked among one another and stayed on their course. As soon as they arrived at the mall, they carefully snuck in through one of the old back doors. No one ever dared come near the mall except these two, so they really had nothing to worry about, but they didn't want to be seen either.

     Max deserted her bike and ran to and up the escalator. Mike watched her, shaking his head subtly in amusement. Max stood up at the top, arms up, looking at the sky with a giant smile. 

     She's adorable, Mike thought. 

     "Come on big shot, let's go!" Max yelled. Mike ran up the escalator to catch up to Max, who was already running down in the direction of the old Scoops Ahoy. He sped up, fast enough to catch her and knock her to the ground.

     "Could you slow down for a minute there?" he laughed.

     "Could you speed up?" she asked, still laughing. 

     They sat up, but still sat on the ground. They sat there, and just looked at each other, stared at each other, for a good minute. Smiling the whole time. Then Mike piped up.

     "You never even told me why we're here," he chuckled. Max shrugged.

     "I don't even know, I just thought it would be fun." Mike shook his head and laughed.

     "You're telling me, that we rode all the way out to this creepy abandoned mall just for the heck of it?" His face turned a light shade of pink.

     "Well, yeah."

     Mike stood up and helped Max up off the ground. "You're something else, Maxine Mayfield."

     "I know. I'm just lucky that you, Big Shot, are also something else." Max smiled.

     That was when they heard the noises. Noises coming from the theater. They ran toward it, and threw open the door to the projection room. There was no film in the reel, but something was playing on the screen. Max couldn't see clearly from the projection room, so she ran down into the theater itself, Mike following closely behind her. What she saw was clearly a message from Jane. She knew that Max and Mike were there.

     Mike. I need you.

     Great. Just when things were starting to go well for me. Of course his girlfriend calls, needing him.

      Mike saw the message and a burst of energy ran through him. A nervous energy, Max noted. 

     "We need to go, she needs us," Mike said, grabbing Max's hand and pulling her out of the theater. 

      "MAX, NOW!"

     Max snapped out of her trance, coming to and following Mike at full speed out of the mall, sliding down the middle aisle of the escalator like she had done during the Battle of Starcourt. Mike and Max grabbed their bikes and headed toward the Wheeler house, seemingly flying like bats out of hell until they finally reached their destination. They trashed the bikes in the front yard and burst through the front door, coming face to face with Nancy.

     "Well well, I see Chaos on Wheels is back in town. I keep getting complaints from all the neighbors and I'm trying to work on articles. So I'd appreciate it if you'd stop."

     "Yes, and I'd appreciate it if you'd stop being a priss for once too Nancy, but we both know that's not happening anytime soon." Mike snapped back. "We need you to take us to Champaign."

     "Get a pulse Mike, it's not like I can just drop everything. I'm working for the Indianapolis star for God sake." 

     "Fine then call Jonathan and make him come get us." Max lingered behind Mike, not daring to speak just yet.

     Nancy looked up from her computer for the first time and looked Mike dead in the eye. "No Mike. Your little so called emergency can wait."

     "It's Jane." With this, Nancy stood up slowly, her back still to Mike.

     "Michael Wheeler, I don't want to hear another word of this. I don't care," she said, with a glint of anger shining in her eye.

     "Mike," Max said. "This can wait until tomorrow, can't it?" She asked, with her hand on his shoulder. "It's late. It's getting dark."

     Mike sighed, looking at Max, defeated. She looked exhausted, and she had cuts from broken glass at the mall. He had to give her this one. It was only fair.

     He smiled subtly, but it was a sad smile. "Okay, fine. But I'll see you bright and early in the morning. Go home, take a bath and get those cuts taken care of. I expect you to be fresh as a daisy tomorrow. Bring your skateboard, bike, whatever you want, but you can't slow us down too much. We have a long way to go and we've already lost lots of time." He stared at her blue eyes again and they smiled back at him, thankful.

     "Deal. See you tomorrow, Big Shot."

     And she did. It was 6 o'clock in the morning when she woke Mike up. The two rode their bikes to the nearest bus station and rode the as far as they could afford, which was to Ogden. From there they rode their bikes for an hour and a half into Champaign, going as fast as ever. 

     "You know, I used to wonder why people called us chaos on wheels," Max said, as they pulled up onto Clayton Road, where the Byers moved. "But I don't anymore," she laughed. Mike got off his bike. 

     "Max, they've only been calling us that for like a week."

     "I know, Big Shot. I have a concept of time," Max said, tapping on her head as if searching for her brain. She sighed and laughed. "I'm just glad we're finally here." Mike went up and hugged her as she sat her bike down in the Byers' front yard by his.

     "You're the best, Mad Max." he smiled. They broke apart and headed for the door. Will opened it, beaming.

     "If it isn't chaos on wheels," he smiled. "Jane told me."

     Max and Mike looked at each other and smiled. "That's us," they said in unison. "It's good to be here."