MADELINE, dustin henderson

|002

We're driving to our new school, with Billy in the driver's seat, Max in the passenger seat, and me in the back behind her.
Billy drives into one of the parking spots and stops, stepping out of the car first. Max and I both grab our skateboards and exit the car too. Placing our boards on the ground, not giving a word to Billy, we ride off towards the building.

"Hey, do you think we'll find any friends?" I ask her as we approach the entry door, grabbing our skateboards.

"Not sure, but even if not, we have each other," Max replies and with a smile on both of our faces, we walk inside of the hell-hole.
After we find the principal's office and get all the needed information, he leads us to our new classroom.
He opens the door, revealing a pretty normal class. We walk inside.

"Ah, these must be our new students!" the man exclaims happily. I realize it's the guy who the principal told us about, Mr. Clarke.

"Indeed they are. All yours," the principal agrees and Max starts to walk further into the classroom, wanting to sit down already. And I don't blame her, I want this to be over just as much.

"Alright, hold up there. You don't get away that easy," Mr. Clarke stops her, making her turn around to him. I notice the principal leave already.

"Come on up, don't be shy," he says, Max rolls her eyes, but she stands next to me anyway.

"Dustin? Drumroll," he exclaims and one of the boys in front closes his book and starts pounding his hands on top of it.

"Class, please welcome all the way from sunny California, the latest passengers to join us on our curiosity voyage, Maxine and Madeline!" Mr. Clarke says happily and the boy, who I'm guessing is Dustin, stops pounding.

"It's Max," my sister corrects him.

"Sorry?" the teacher asks, not understanding the correction and I sigh.

"Nobody calls her Maxine, only Max. Also, I would prefer Maddie," I say and he 'ohs'.

"Well, all aboard, ladies!" he exclaims and we both head to the back of the classroom, sitting next to each other. On the way to the table, I see four boys turn around to us as we walk. Creeps.

-

I'm sitting on the stairs, moving my skateboard back and forth with my feet, watching my sister do tricks on her own skateboard. She picks it up, walking over to me.

"The boys from our class," she mutters to me and I look up at her.

"Yeah,"I start, quickly looking at the four boys staring at us, talking about something. "They're creeping on us all day," I say and she takes a crumbled piece of paper from her pocket.

"What's that?" I ask and stand up, grabbing my skateboard.

"It's a message for them. I know that when I throw it in the trashcan, they are that creepy to actually read it," she says and we both chuckle. We start walking up the stairs and I open the door for us, but my sister throws the paper ball into the trashcan first. She smiles at me and we walk inside.

3rd person POV

The four boys run towards the trashcan the moment the door behind the girls closes. Dustin starts rummaging through it, while his friends try to look like he's doing nothing weird.

"Got it! There we go..." the Henderson boy exclaims and gets out of the trashcan. He tries to straighten the paper and the boys all join, seeing a message.

"Stop spying on us, creeps," they all read out loud.

"Well, shit," Dustin says.

"William Byers?" they hear from behind them. The principal.

"Your mother's here." with that, the Byers boy has to leave.

-

Dustin watches as Lucas looks at the arcade with his binoculars.

"Still no sign?" he asks his friend.

"Jack shit," Lucas replies and Dustin lets out a breath.

"Ah, damn it. My mom is gonna murder me." he looks at his watch and Lucas turns to him.

"So go home, I'll radio if they come," he says and looks through his binoculars again.

"Yeah, nice try. You just want me outta here so you can make your move." Dustin turns to him and Lucas looks back at Dustin.

"Oh, cause you're such a threat," Lucas concludes.

"That's right! Maddie will not be able to resist these pearls," the Henderson boy says and does his now typical 'grrr' sound at Lucas.

"So you plan to impress mainly Maddie, oka—"

"Ten o'clock," Dustin says, nudging the other boy.

"What?" the Sinclair boy asks in confusion.

"Ten o'clock!" he repeats and Lucas finally understands, looking through his binoculars again. The boys see a car stopping in front of the arcade and their two targets getting out of it. Max quickly opens the door, starting to yell at whoever is in the driver seat, while Maddie looks very bored and frustrated, opening and closing the door slowly.

"They're arguing, they're arguing!" Lucas points out, nudging the boy next to him.

"God, I see that! I don't even know why you need those. God, so stupid," Dustin says, looking at his friend's binoculars. Maddie pulls her sister away from the now moving car, right after she closes the door.

"Stop, Max! He's an asshole, I get it." they can hear Maddie say as Max flips the driver off.

"Come on," Maddie says and pulls her inside of the arcade.

They see the siblings playing their games of choice, the boys turning to look at each other.

"She's incredible," they both mutter, sliding down the building.

"She's... MadMax," Lucas says.

"And BadMadz..." Dustin smiles.

Maddie's POV

"I have to say, the boys must've been really embarrassed when they read the paper you threw away." I chuckle when my twin and I are back home from the arcade, sitting in Max's room.

"Yeah, I wish I could have seen their faces," Max agrees with a smile.

"But... one was kinda nice," I say quietly, looking to the ground so that Max doesn't see my blush.

"Ohhh, really?" she asks with a smirk playing on her face.

"Oh, come on, Max!" I say and lightly push her.

"So you have a crush, huh?" she asks me again and I groan.

"Max, stop!" I laugh and grab a pillow, throwing it at her. She gasps in disbelief.

"You're going to regret that!" she says and grabs another pillow, starting a pillow fight with me. We laugh until we both fall asleep in Max's room.