Regular People [Elmax]

Chapter 7 - Back in Cali

[Song of the Chapter: Keeping a Secret by Bleachers]

California - 1983:

Max opened her eyes slowly, giving them time to adjust to the golden sun of Santa Barbra that had filled her room. She didn't close the curtains the night before, she liked watching the stars as she fell asleep.

She rolled over and looked at her nightstand, her eyes still half shut, and read the time on her clock out loud.

"9:51, crap"

It was the summer, she didn't have to be anywhere but there was somewhere she wanted to be and if she didn't hurry she wasn't going to be there on time.

She hopped out of bed, got changed and brushed her teeth before heading downstairs to find her mom sat reading alone in the living room.

"Good morning sweetie, you're up late"

"Yeah sorry, rough night"

"How come? Do you want to talk about it?", her mom patted a spot next to her on the couch.

"Not really, I just couldn't get to sleep, that's all"

"Okay well I left you some scrambled eggs, you can warm them up if-"

"No thanks, mom. I've gotta go", Max picked up her skateboard and headed straight for the front door.

"Maxine wait", Max grimaced slightly at the sound of her full name, "you know you can tell me anything, don't you?"

"I know mom", Max turned to her and smiled before leaving and closing the front door behind her.

Max walked out of her yard and hopped on her board and started skating slowly and cautiously towards the Upper East side of the city. She only almost fell off twice so she was getting better. It was quite a long way to skate from Milpas, she cursed herself for not leaving sooner. However, the closer she got, the more excited she became.

She finally got to the arcade and stepped off her board. She leaned it up against the wall and peeked through the window. She couldn't see much through the crowds of boys so decided to head inside. She found the game she regularly played that was situated near the door and inserted her quarter. When she originally started coming here she wasn't really a fan of games nor was she particularly good, but she'd picked up a few things after coming here every Wednesday since the beginning of summer. She continued to play for 5 minutes until she saw a familiar face come through the door out of the corner of her eye, she turned to look and saw, in all her glory, Jess Williams. Max stood and stared, unable to take her eyes off her, she was the prettiest girl she'd ever seen. She wore hiking boots, cargo pants, a navy blue shirt with a slightly faded Pacman printed onto it and a long-sleeved teal flannel shirt over the top. Her outfit stood out greatly compared to the colorful 80's fashion, but it wasn't just her outfit that made her stand out. She had short blonde hair that fell just to her shoulders and piercing green eyes. She was in the grade above Max, she was thirteen and went to the same middle school. They'd never spoken but Max felt some kind of magnetic pull towards her, something that seemed to fit the description of 'a crush'. That's why Max came here every Wednesday, because Jess was here every Wednesday.

Jess walked right past Max, not giving her a second glance, as she headed for the Pacman machine where a group of five boys were waiting for her.

"Well, well, well if it isn't Jess the Jackal. About time you showed up. James is trying to beat your high score"

Jess scoffed, "good luck on that one. The Jackal reigns supreme on almost every game in this arcade", she high-fived one of the boys next to her.

Max looked up at the game she was playing, Dig Dug (she'd lost when she got distracted by Jess, but even then her score was pretty good) and saw, at the very top of the leader board, 'JACKAL' with a score of 552,415.