dream boy • stranger things

𝐨𝐧𝐞

"Huh?"

"Nobody calls me Maxine, it's Max."

"Ah, well, all aboard Max."

Max's bored, almost carefree attitude didn't seem to discourage their teacher's attitude any less as he continued to introduce the other new student with just as much enthusiasm.

"And be sure to give a warm greeting to Noah!"

Noah, now standing at the front of the class and embarrassed, blushed a deep red. He kept his head down, hoping that the cute guy in the front row with the baseball cap hadn't seen his bright red tomato looking face.

The group whispered to each other, all having their own personal theories about her, and the username that had just so happened to take their places on the highscore boards.

Dustin was more focused on the other student. On the kind of cute way that he was flustered and nervous, on the nerdy shirt that he'd been wearing because it was the exact same type of nerd shit that Dustin was also into. His little prepubescent heart fluttered. Teenage love was the closest thing to love at first sight that there was, and if Dustin had to put a name on what he was feeling, he probably would have called it love at first sight.

Later on that day, the group watched Max practicing tricks on her skateboard. She was pretty good, and she knew it. At least, in this hick town, where she knew there probably wasn't anybody who could pop a trick the way that she could. Back in California? Now that was a different story.

"But her name is Max?" Lucas said, it should have been evident to Mike that she was the one who had taken their places on the scoreboard.

"So what?" Mike didn't believe it. She was a girl. It had to have been just a coincidence, at least in his mind.

"So, how many Max's do you know?"

"I don't know."

"Zero. That's how many."

"She shows up to school the same day someone with the name breaks our top score, I mean, are you kidding me?" Dustin points out, after getting a bit tired of listening to his friends bicker back and forth for the past few minutes.

"Exactly. So she's got to be Mad Max."

"Plus her skateboard, so she's got to be pretty awesome."

Dustin and Lucas decided to stake out the arcade. It was the only way to know for sure whether or not Max was Mad Max. It'd been nearly half an hour since the end of school and they'd come over to the arcade on their bikes. Although it was obvious that there was no Max there yet. They'd seen her leave school in a car. She should have arrived there before they did.

"Still no sign?"

"Jack shit."

"Dammit, my mom's going to murder me." Dustin groaned, checking the time on his watch.

"So go, I'll radio if she comes."

"Oh nice try you just want me out of here so you can make your move."

That's when Dustin noticed Max's unmistakable red hair through the window of a car that had just pulled up into the parking lot, evidently with a driver that was beyond manic driving. The driver sped through, slamming on the breaks as he pulled into the parking spot to avoid crashing into the side of the building. As Max got out of the car, they could see her and the driver yelling at each other. Now, they were certain that Max The New Girl, was Mad Max.

As Dustin and Lucas started riding their bikes back home, Dustin couldn't stop thinking about the new boy in school. Noah. The way that his stomach got butterflies just thinking about his name. He wanted to talk to the new guy in class, but was scared, horrified, knowing his own awkwardness, trying to do that probably wouldn't end well. But hey, maybe at least his new grown in teeth would give him the confidence boost he needed.

As he pulled up into his driveway, he heard a strange almost purring noise coming from near the garbage cans. It sounded different than his cat's normal meowing.

"Mews?" He called out his pet's name.

"Mews." He said, getting tired of trying to call the cat inside, and deciding to just leave it be. He went inside.

That night as he was getting ready for bed, he couldn't help but think of Noah. No matter how much he wanted to get that stupid boy out of his head. It was strange, the way that he was feeling in that moment. He didn't want to have a dumb little teenage mush crush. He didn't want all of this dumb little teenage feelings. All Dustin wanted right now was to wish them all away. To wish everything away. To find a way to kill off or ignore whatever it was that he was feeling.

Yet he couldn't seem to exterminate the butterflies in his stomach.