Problems of adults

Chapter 35 : Pictures

A week passed and Jane felt that her lungs were not working as good as days before. She kept that for herself, not wanting her friends to be worried too much. They couldn't do anything anyway, and they would feel guilty for nothing, they had enough emotions because of her. But now, she was at the lunch table, but she realized that Axel didn't give her her meal for the day. She sat with the others, wondering what she could eat without aggravating her heart. But the second after, a box full of warm food appeared on the table before receiving a kiss on her cheek from her girlfriend.

- "Have a good lunch," Max said, sitting next to Jane.

- "...You prepared my meal?"

- "Yep. And I'll prepare the next ones too! I hope you'll like it. I called your nutritionist, your doctor, and your sister to know what I could cook for you. All the recipes I have for you are validated by all of them."

Jane took a moment to look at her meal, feeling the hot caressing her cheeks and smelling the good odor of it. It was so different from her last meals, and the fact that Max had spent so much time just for her was touching her a lot.

- "It's chicken breasts with light cream and mushroom risotto," Max explained. "I kinda changed the recipe of the risotto, I hope it will be good."

- "For me, it was," Will intervened.

Dustin, Lucas, Mike, and Beverly frowned before looking at him. Will pinched his lips together, knowing he just made a mistake.

- "When did you taste it?" Mike asked.

- "Um..."

- "Well, I guess this is the moment to tell you!" Max said.

- "Tell us what?" Dustin frowned.

- "I...My mom kicked me out..."

- "What!?" the four friends exclaimed.

- "I had the audacity to defend myself against Neil. Well, she didn't appreciate and chose him over me. So, I packed my stuff and left. Will found me and told me I could stay with them. So, I live with him now."

None of them reacted. They all had the reflex to look at Jane, but she was mesmerized by her meal.

- "You can be mad at me for hiding it from you, I mean, it shouldn't be something secret between us..."

- "We're not mad, we are happy for you!" Lucas stated.

- "Yeah, that's great! You have protective people around you now. We won't be worried for you anymore! Well, not for the same reason!" Bev added. "She knows?"

- "Yeah, she knows!" Will answered.

- "She kinda discovered it by accident, and she wasn't in the mood for it. But, it's fine, I can understand, it wasn't a good period."

Bev pouted. Jane ignored the conversation; she was still feeling ashamed of her reaction at the Byers's. She grabbed her fork and took her first bite of risotto. The sweet sensation in her mouth made her realize that she had eaten disgusting vegetables for weeks for nothing. She almost cried of happiness. Max could see on her girlfriend's face that she was enjoying the meal, and it made her really happy. The redhead softly caressed Jane's cheek, catching her attention, and warmly smiled to her.

They were about to finish their meal when they heard loud noise coming from the halls. They frowned at each other before standing to see what was happening. When they got out of the cafeteria, they saw pictures on every locker, and Troy punching again and again Alban. Lucas and Dustin ran to the black-haired boy and forced him to stop. Alban rolled on his side and spat some blood before yelling: