𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 ; 𝘉𝘺𝘭𝘦𝘳

𝟔.

Hawkins High | Thur 4:32 PM
Max Mayfield

Ever since the group split up last year, Max has felt like she pulled the short stick. El had the cheerleaders, Lucas has the football players, Mike had Will and Troy apparently so the question was who did Max have? She had no one. Absolutely no one.

But, do you really think she was going to mope around in her own self pity? Of course not!

The solution to her lack of a social life was simple: join a new club. The club she would join was obvious: no sports, nothing too nerdy, nothing too hard, nothing that would keep her after school for hours, nothing that costed anything, and nothing that was managed by a teacher. Who would've guessed that AV Club would be the one to meet all the requirements?

For the past week it's just been Max and Dustin, drinking hot chocolate out of the old coffee maker in the corner, keeping track of announcements, Dustin talking over the intercom while Max made sure the audio sounded decent. But just having the two of them there alone was starting to become redundant, so, they decided to spice things up and add some new members. They even turned it into a little competition: who could recruit the most people?

Max was able to get the club's captain to come back by keeping the door open in the red room, the boy caving just as long as she didn't hurt the pictures. She was also recruited a couple freshmen and Blaineley Jack, partially because she was nice to look at and partially because she was on the cheer team with El. She's got to keep and eye on her somehow.

"Hey, Henderson!" Max called, catching up with the boy. She held her tiny black bag's strap on her shoulder and walked next to Dustin who she considered a friend at this point. It's only been a week and Dustin doesn't really talk about himself that much but he's still good company. Funny and calm.

"How many people you got?"

"Five," he smiled smugly. "How about you?"

"Ha! I got seven!"

"Pff, I doubt they'll all show up. You can't just ask anybody Max, you've gotta find those people who look like they'd actually want to be in the club. Not just naive freshmen who think it'll be 'totally tubular' to join a group with upperclassmen."

Dammit! How'd he know?

"Hmm. I guess we'll see."

Turns out, Dustin was right. After about an hour of waiting, only four people end up walking through that door to sign up. Mike, which was a little awkward at first but they were never really mad at each other directly. They barely talked really, but maybe that would change. Isaiah, the captain ended up showing up as well, making Max grin at how her intimidation tactics actually worked. Blaineley showed up too which wasn't surprising; the girls a literal angel. She even ended up bringing a friend too, another cheerleader named Jenifer. Max didn't get the best vibes from her when Blaine introduced them, but tired to hold her tongue since she was only a freshman.

Then, right when they were about to close the door and get to interviewing someone else entered. A tall, dark haired boy who's locks reached his shoulders. He wore eyeliner, black nail polish, a leather jacket. The spitting image of punk rock with a hint of goth. Completely taking Max's breath away.

"Patrick! You came!" Dustin says, standing up out of his chair next Mike and did a handshake with the taller boy, snapping at the end. "Didn't know you'd actually show up."