𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃 ━ max mayfield

7│EYE OF THE TIGER

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❛ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴄᴋᴇᴅ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴇʏᴇ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛɪɢᴇʀ ꒱


❝ RISING UP TO THE
CHALLENGE OF OUR RIVAL ❞

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After a rough night's sleep, Jessie decided that she was up for the day at some early hour in the morning. She rubbed her eyes despite her lack of tiredness and wandered into the kitchen where Max was sitting at the dining table. Neither girl spoke to the other as the redhead still wore her headphones, but they did glance at each other in acknowledgement.

Mrs. Wheeler and Holly were the first up for the day a few hours later. The sun had risen by the time the older woman set her daughter up at the table with crayons and other childish activities. Max asked if she could borrow the crayons and Jessie took a few as well, so they drew for a while after that.

As she began to make pancakes, Mrs. Wheeler looked up to watch the two teens for a moment. "It's nice that you stayed up with your friend, Jessie."

The brunette did her best not to roll her eyes. While the blonde was clearly making an effort to be polite, she was plainly one of the ones who believed in the 'Jessie is crazy' rumors. Instead, she replied dryly: "yeah, a friend."

Mrs. Wheeler didn't seem to pick up on her sardonic tone but thankfully stopped trying to make conversation as her husband joined them. He said nothing as he occupied a chair at the table and opened his newspaper. That was fine; Jessie had less problems with silence than she did with nosy people.

The brunette finished with her blue crayon and held up the solidly-colored paper critically. She turned it around in several circles as she tried to determine if this was the right color. She sighed when she came to the conclusion that it wasn't. It joined the pile of red, brown, yellow and orange papers that she'd already colored in. Her hand reached for the purple crayon as Nancy joined them.

"I think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this," Mrs. Wheeler commented as she finished her last batch of pancakes.

"Could try sticking together at a different house for a change," her husband commented from behind his newspaper.

"You know you're welcome anytime."

"Totally. You're like family," Dustin agreed as he entered the kitchen behind Nancy. He reached for the pancakes. "May I?"

"Absolutely," the blonde woman told him with a smile.

"Yeah, why not? Take us for all we're worth," Mr. Wheeler grumbled.

Dustin shrugged. "Okay."

Nancy joined them at the table while the curly-haired boy leaned against the counter. "Hey." She received similar greetings from the two girls. "You okay?"

"Just couldn't sleep. People kept blasting music in my ears for some reason," Max answered sarcastically. Jessie pressed her purple crayon more firmly onto the paper as she made long strokes with the wax point. The redhead continued: "but Holly let us borrow some of her crayons. We've been having fun. Right, Holly?" The girl made a sound of agreement.

Nancy glanced at the brunette to her left. "What're you drawing, Jessie?"

The teen held up her most recent artwork to show it off. She shrugged. "Hell if I know. I'm trying to find the right color."

The Wheeler's eldest daughter reached over and shuffled through her completed pages with a frown. "The right color? Are you drawing a cloud? A blob?"

"Again, I dunno," Jessie replied. "It's just. . ." she trailed off, unwilling to share what she'd felt last night with their entire audience. "I think it might be purple," she finished vaguely.