010 & 011-Elmax

3

-This chapter takes place during season 2 episode 3: The Pollywog-

-The Day After Halloween-

-Max's POV-

"I still don't get why they call him zombie boy," I say to Lucas. "I get that he got lost in the woods for a week but why is he a zombie? Because everyone thought he was dead?"

"Yeah, we had a funeral for him and everything," Lucas explains.

"After a week?" I ask in disbelief.

"Well, some other kid drowned at the quarry. We thought it was Will because his body was super decomposed."

"What?" I ask. "Okay, that's not even funny."

"It's not a joke, all right? It's public knowledge. You can ask anybody, EXCEPT Will because he is super sensitive about it, all right?"

I look Lucas up and down. He looked serious so I nod as we walk into Mr. Clarke's class. He was one of the only teacher's who's name I knew already since he was definitely one of the more memorable staff. Once class starts Mr. Clarke begins to go on about some accident from forever ago. I'm not paying attention that well; I'm too focused on Will. I close my eyes and try to let myself settle into his brain in the most subtle way possible. I imagine his brain like the cold waters of a California beach. I ease myself into it so the water isn't disturbed. Suddenly I feel it, like a jolt of electricity. I'm in. Is Mike paying attention? I hope so, if this is on a test and he fails he'll be held back. I can't do ninth grade without Mike. His grades already dropped. Where's Dustin? Lucas looks like he's about to fall asleep. Me and Mike never talked about last night. Will we ever talk about it? Probably not.

What happened last night? I wonder. Will jumps and looks around the room quickly. I glance at the window then to the teacher to make it look like I wasn't even paying attention to him. He must've sense me after I started thinking to myself. Suddenly the door swings open and Dustin comes running in.

"I am so sorry Mr. Clarke, please continue," he pants as he flops down in his seat. Dustin then leaned towards his friends and whispered something to them. Dustin turns back to me, looking completely stunned. He waves a finger at his nose. Right, my nose! I take a tissue that I stole from the bathroom earlier and wipe the blood off of my face (the reason I had tissue in the first place was because my allergies have been acting up recently with the weather change and everything). I could probably convince Dustin that I just get nosebleeds at random times since it was pretty common.

"Dustin," Mr. Clarke calls.

"Yes my lord?" Dustin says.

"Care to join the class now?"

"Please, yes."

"Case of Phineas Gage."

"Phineas Gage."

"Page one-oh-four."

"One-oh-four, one-oh-four."

"Focus."

"Yes, focusing, focusing." Dustin turned back to me once more and whispered very loudly, "AV Club, lunch! Bring Mar." I gave him a thumbs up and looked back to Mr. Clarke.

-Later-

Mar and I make our way to the AV room. We had to find it on a map and it took us a while but we finally got there. I open the door and let Mar walk in ahead of me. We were the last of the group there.

"Glad you could join us!" Dustin says. I chuckle.

"What'd you want us for Dustin?" Mike asks in an annoyed tone.