ElMax

first day of highschool.

Hawkins High school.
el had never been here before.

at 6:30am Hopper woke her.
'going to school soon. wake up!'
she groans and gets up slowly.

she spent ages choosing an outfit.
it was 7:03 am by the time she was done.
she chose a large green top with ripped black jeans and DM boots.

eventually she ate breakfast with Hopper.
toast and bacon was the only thing she had.
'Jane want a lift to school today?'
(she had chosen to go by Jane trying to forget her past.) Jane thinks.

'could you give Max a lift? she lives across the street!' Hopper looks out and sees a skateboard.
'sure thing kid. she's not mad anymore?'
'she never was. Mike lies.' Jane replied.
'really?!' Hopper was mad now.
'yes!'
'well you go get her i'll clean these.'

she throws on her grey converse and runs outside. almost getting hit in the process.

she knocks and Beverly answers.
'who are you?' Jane questions.
'Beverly. are you looking for Max?' Jane held a relived smile to be at the right place.
'yes. where is she?'
'she's in the bathroom. doing her hair i think.'
'can you tell her to come over and dad's gonna take us?' Beverly smiles. 'yeah of course.'

♡︎♡︎♡︎

'Max!' Beverly calls.
'what do you want?' Max inquires leaving the bathroom. she sighs when she sees Beverly smirking. 'Jane was here.'
'she was? and talked to you?'
'yeah. she said to go to her and her dads gonna take you to school.' Max smiles softly.
'thanks Beverly. see you in school?'
'see you. can i take your skateboard?'
'absolutely not.' she leaves quickly.

'el?' she knocks. 'Jane*. i go by Jane now.' Jane informs her.
'okay sorry. any reason why?'
'to... escape my past.' she thinks of the right words. 'okay cool. can i come in?' Jane let's her in.

Max looks around, fascinated.
the living room was filled with pictures.
some of Jane with Will, others with Hopper and Joyce and even some of them all together. then the photos stopped around a year ago it looked.

'Jane?' Max looks for her friend.
'yes?'
'was Hopper and Joyce married?'
'yes. they lived with Will and i.'
'what happened if you don't mind me asking.'
'well last year Joyce died and will lives with Jonathan now.' Max gasps. 'Jane i'm so sorry.'
'it's okay. dad took it the worst. it's why we moved.' Max nodded sadly.

'hey Max. want anything before we go?' Hopper offered with a small smile.
'no thanks. Beverly made me toast.' he nodded.
'who's Beverly?'
'my roommate. she pays me so i get some money.' Jane shrugs satisfied with that answer.

'so shall we go?' Hopper inquired. 'yes.'

Hopper was mainly singing the whole drive while Jane and Max were excitedly talking. happy to be with each other again.

'hey we should have a sleepover to celebrate!'
'celebrate what?' Jane raises her eyes brows to Max. 'you coming back!' Jane looks to Hopper.
'you can stay on Saturday if you like.' he smiles.
'i got my old job back so i'll be working late.'
Max grins.
'thank you! and thanks for the lift.' she gets out hauling her school bag over a shoulder.

Jane gets out to and thanks her dad.
she slams the door and walks to school with a max when-

'Eleven!!' Dustin screeched and ran to her.
'Dustin! i missed you!' Max sits back with a smile.

'so why did you hate us?' he asks.
'hate you? i've never hated used.'
'what? but Mike said...'
'Mike lies.' Jane exclaims. 'oh...'
'yeah i really missed you he said you hated me.'
'i could never.' he hugged her tightly.
'Lucas will be so happy! where's will?'
'he didn't move back. he's with Jonathan. we lived together with dad and Joyce but Joyce died last year.' she looks down containing her tears.

'Dustin!Max!' Lucas runs up and sees el.
'el?' he hugs her. 'is will here?' she shakes her head and Dustin explains. 'i'm sorry.'
she shrugs. 'where is Mike?'
'why?'
'to... what's the word?'
'confront him.' Max smiled. 'yes that.'
'well i saw him. he's in the lecture theatre.' Lucas explains with an amused smile.

El walks of to the lecture theatre (with help of the party).

'Mike!' she shouts in the empty lecture hall.
'eleven? what the hell are you doing here?'
'i moved. why did you tell them i hated them?' he struggles to think of something valid. 'because i wanted to spend time with you.' she raises an eyebrow with a confused expression.
'you only wanted to talk to Max! i had to tell you they didn't like you or you wouldn't talk to me!' she sighed. 'yeah? and how'd that turn out?' Max butts in. 'Max you aren't a part of this.' Mike scolds. 'i clearly am if you were so jealous you had to say i hated her.' Max smirks.

'well go away! and el i'm sorry. what can i do to fix it?'
'nothing. meet me at the gates. 3:15.' and walks away. leaving everyone confused. 'el?' he calls but she is already near her class.

'Jane what are you meeting Mike for?' Max questions. 'i want to fight him.' she says casually. 'can you tell me where my locker is?' Max pointed still in a state of shock. el would fight Mike. her boyfriend of however many years? interesting.

3:15pm.

Mike showed up in the spot el told him to.

'el what do you want? because me, i want another chance.' he tries. 'you get no chances!' she screams annoyed. 'Jane!' Max runs to her.

'Max step back.' Mike freezes. 'what you'll use your powers on me?' he asked but didn't want a reply. 'no. hand to hand combat. fair?' he thinks.
'i'm not fighting you el.' she punched him.
'my name is Jane.' she says coldly. 'Jane!' he screams in pain.

'what is this even for?'
'telling me everyone hated me.' she says.
'i'm sorry ok? can we move past it?' she shakes her head. 'goodbye Mike. Max come on.'
'conspiring!' he shouts.

'where are you going?' max runs to catch up.
'i'm going home.' she says. 'bye Max.'
max felt kind of offended but left anyway.
she likes walking with Beverly. she's alright.

'so how was walking or driving with Jane?'
'it was good. we talked all the way. then she tried to fight her boyfriend and now left me alone.' Max exclaims in one breath. red by the end. 'oh. really? kind of shitty.'
'i know. hey wanna go to the skate park?'
'i don't have a skateboard.' Beverly points out.
'you have a penny board don't you?' Max smirks. Beverly grins and runs to grab it.

Max decided that maybe she could be friends with Beverly, that maybe she wasn't all that bad. Max was only scared of making female friends in fear it would replace Jane so she ignored it and went with Beverly. who seemed overly excited Max was being nice to her.

'so what can you do?' Beverly asked with folded arms. 'this.' Max shows her everything. 'wow. that's amazing.' Beverly says proudly. 'what can you do?' Max retorts. 'turn corners.' Bev chuckles and tries to go up a small skate hill. and manages at that. 'good job Bev!' Max cheers with a proud grin. 'thanks. race?'

in short Max thinks she may of somehow lost Jane but has gained Beverly so it's ok right? if all else fails beverly is good at romance advice.