𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖. || M. Mayfield ||

Chapter 12: The Hellfire Club

21 March 1986

"Here, we are," i say, parking my car in the school parking, as i lock the car, after me and Max get out of the vehicle.

We walk toward the gym, until i hear someone calling for Max, "Max! Max!" we both turn around and see Ms. Kelley, Max approaches her, while i stay behind, putting my hands in my pockets.

"Where were you yesterday?" She asks, with a smile, "Oh, yeah, sorry, i forgot it was Thursday." Max answers, obviously lying, since she told me she didn't what to meet her.

"Well, I'd like to see you today, come straight after lunch, okay?" she says, still smiling, as i sigh, while Max raises her eyebrows, without answering, as she turns around and grabs my arm, dragging me to the gym.

We enter there, cheerleaders were dancing and the band was playing music,"They're there," Max says, pointing Dustin and Mike, sitting on the bleachers.

Max heads towards them as i follow her, she sits at Mike's left, as i sit beside her, "Look I'm not saying that my girlfriend is better than yours, it's just that Suzie's, like, a certified genius," Dustin says, with a high tone, as the fans keep yelling for no reason.

"You do realize El saved the world twice, right?" Mike says back, crossing his arms.

"And yet you still have a C in Spanish," Dustin says, pointing up his finger, while Mike glances at him, with furrowed eyebrows.

"And let's hear it for your Tigers!" we hear the announcer says, before the basketball team enters the gym, running with a smile, as the fans yell even louder, while we clap our hands.

As the team's captain starts his annoying speech, i notice Lucas putting his arm up, and slightly waving towards us with a smile, as Max slowly avoids him, looking away, making his smile fade.

I put my arm up, lightly waving at him with a smile, as his face lighten up, waving back, before i start listening to Jason, "When we were down by ten points at half to Christian Academy, I looked at my team, and i said, 'Think of Jack', 'Think of Melissa', 'Think of Heather', 'Think of Billy'" he says, i glance at Max, seeing her slowly looking down, 'Shut up, Jason, annoying little shit,' i think to myself, furrowing my eyebrows, before noticing a girl, looking at Max in disgust, probably recognizing her being his sister, "What the fuck are you looking at?" i ask her, with furrowed eyebrows, as she silently looks down, 'Yep, the privilege of being Steve's sister is showing,' i think, as the blond continues his speech.

"'Think about our heroic police chief, Jim Hopper' , 'think about every one of our friends who perished in that fire', 'Let's win this game for them.', and that's exactly what we did!" He shouts in the microphone, as they all start cheering.

"And now tonight, we're gonna bring the championship trophy!" he shouts again, as i groan and Mike sighs, shaking his head.

"Tonight?"

"How is that possible?" Dustin asks in disbelief, "They call it a tournament. You win one game, you go on until there's only one team left," Max explains, as they both look around not believing what they heard.

After lunch time, i went with Max to Ms. Kelley's office, "Alright, if you don't feel like telling her, don't, okay? It's not like she can force you to talk, like, if she does, all you need to do is call me and you'll see what will happen," I say, walking beside Max, as I notice Chrissy walking out of the room we're heading to.

"Of course I will," she says, chuckling, as we approach the office, "Well, I'll wait here," I say, leaning on the wall, as Max nods, opening the door, "Remember what I said," I say, before the door closes, as I keep looking around in boredom, until I notice Lucas, "Hey, Y/n," he smiles, "Lucas, what is it?" I say, as I get off the wall and do our handshake.

"I wanted to ask you if you would come to the game," he asks, raising his eyebrows.

"Ohh, I would like to come, but I have to cover up for Steve and Robin at work, you know," I say, already feeling bad.

"Shit, yeah, i forgot," he says, pursing his lips, slightly throwing his head back.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, dude," I say, patting his shoulder, with an apologetic smile,
"It's okay, it's not your fault," he says, with a sad smile.

"Tomorrow you'll tell me every single detail of the game, alright? I'm pretty sure you'll win and do a good job," I smile at him, as he does the same.

"Of course, see you tomorrow," he happily says, with a smile, walking away.

I wave with my palm wide, before I lean back on the wall, bored again.

Minutes later, the door opens, revealing Max with a frown, she slams the door closed, quickly walking away, "Let's go," she sternly says, grabbing my arm before dragging me outside.

"What happend?"

"She just keep asking me stupid questions, and she thinks she understands me, while she doesn't know shit about me," Max snaps, walking quickly, and before I could answer, I hear Dustin's voice.

"Max! Y/n!" we stop and look around and see him running to us, "What's wrong?" I ask, when he stops in front of us, bending down, putting his hands on his knees while panting.

He raises his finger, heavily breathing, before he finally looks up, while we furrow our eyebrows at him.

"How are you doing?" he asks, raising his eyebrows and smiling at us, "Uhh, we're good, what about you?" I awkwardly say, being suspicious.

"All good, perfectly fine, yeah, I'm good, yep," he quickly utters out, with a wide smiling.

I slowly keep nodding at him, awkwardly smiling, not knowing what to say, "Did you run to us only to ask how we were doing?" Max asks, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I mean, no, I wanted to ask if any of you would like to play with us tonight, for the hellfire club," he says, as I slowly move my eyes down at Max, "Aren't you enough to play together?" she asks, trying to understand the cause of this sudden invitation.

"We were enough, but now we need at least someone more to play, so, will you come?" he asks, obviously desperate, but trying to hide it with a smile.

"If I play will I get one of this cool tshirts?" Max asks, raising her eyebrows and smiling, while pointing at Dustin's tshirt, visibly being ironic.

"Yes!" Dustin says, laughing and showing his tshirt.

"Really?" Max smiles even more.

"Yeah! Everyone get a tshirt, we make them ourselves, and if," Dustin stop talking as his smile drops, and Max nods, waiting for him to continue.

"Were you sarcastic?" he asks annoyed, as Max shrugs and starts walking away as I follow her.

"Was she sarcastic?" he asks again, in disbelief, looking at me, "I don't know Dustin, you tell me," I say ironically, walking away.

"Will you come at least?" he asks, raising his voice to let me hear, "Can't, I've got work," I say back, just as loud so he could hear me, while walking to the car.