𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 [𝐬.𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧]

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐧

Summer passed, and soon enough, school started. Laurie is officially in her senior year of high school and her last fall semester is almost over. The past few days have been fall break, and tomorrow school starts again. Early decisions for college are coming up, and while also trying to work and keep her spot at the top of the class, she has been a very busy chick.

She had already sent her applications to her top choices earlier in the month, and now she's reading over Steve's college essay. Marking up some things here and there, it's not as bad as his first draft. Luckily that boy has her and Nancy both top of their class, working to make sure he can get into a good college. So he doesn't need anything else for his parents to criticize him.

It's about midday when the bell on the front rings. She looks up from the paper and is taken aback when someone new walks in. Working at the arcade for almost five months, she knows all the people that come in and out. This person is definitely new, and so is the car that quickly pulled out of the parking lot that dropped her off.

"Um, excuse me." The red-haired girl stops when Laurie calls out to her. "Hi, um, I'm Laurie, and I was just wondering...are you new in town?" She notices how the girl is standing, slightly moving, and very closed off. "Is it that obvious?" Laurie smiles kindly at her, which seems to help a little. "No, it's just that I've worked here for almost five months, and Hawkins is also depressingly small. I know all the people that come in and out of here." The girl nods before looking down at the ground.

"I'll do this again. Hi, I'm Laurie and welcome to the Palace Arcade. Since we are coming up on school starting back after fall break, today is the last day to get the top high scores on Centipede and Dig Dug for a grand prize of your choosing." This made the girl look up; it piqued her interest.

"As you are new, you get one free play at those two machines," She bends down and grabs the special tokens, "we also have an amazing snack station and prize section. The food is surprisingly good for arcade junk." They both laugh, and she notices the girl's skateboard. "Huh, not many girls skate around here. Be sure to give the boys some hell, yeah?" The redhead nods with a big smile as Laurie leans off the counter.

"I'm Max, Max Mayfield."

"Henderson. Laurie Henderson. I have officially told you my name three times. I'm sorry." She says, laughing, and Max laughs along with her. "Are you going to middle school? If you are, then you should meet my brother and his friends. His name is Dustin. He's a sweet boy. He needs someone to toughen him up. I'm too nice for that." Max nods before heading off to play some games.

A smile still on her face, she can't help but feel that the girl will be around for a while.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The sound of blaring music makes Laurie look up as the same car that dropped Max off pulls into the parking lot. She squints to see if she can make out the driver's appearance but can't seem to.