Flames | Madwheeler |✗|

6 | A Familiar Sight

"beauty is hidden behind every disaster."

[ chapter six ] → a familiar sight

     It was another Monday morning in the Hangrove household, and in all honesty, Max Mayfield wanted to shoot herself. She had come downstairs 10 minutes late, earning her a scolding from Neil, and a death stare from Billy. She had been manhandled out of the house by Billy, shoved into his car, that reeked of cigars and ax, making her want to vomit, and had arrived at school late.

     Trudging through the halls of Hawkins Middle School, Max let out an inward groan when she realized in the rush to leave her house, she had completely forgotten to grab her skateboard. Max hated not having her skateboard with her, she had received the board as a birthday present from her father when she first started to learn how to skate, almost five years ago. The board reminded her of home, of simpler times, it gave her a sense of belonging, it had been the only constant thing in her life, and she carried it like a shield, it protected her from the harsh reality of the world surrounding her, and without it she felt exposed, like everybody could see right through her hard demeanor and find out how damaged she really was.

     Walking into class, she suddenly felt very self-conscious, she pulled her maroon Adidas jacket closer to her body, as she sunk into herself.

     "Maxine, how nice of you to finally join us," her English teacher Mr. Thompson brawled, beady eyes scrunching up in distaste when he saw her.

     She inwardly rolled her eyes at him, she, in all honesty, could not give two shits about what this man thought about her. As far as she was concerned, he was her English teacher for the year, and she would deal with him, but the second the bell rang on the last day, she was bolting out of there.

     "Please, take a seat, unless you would like me to personally escort you to an available desk."

     There were two available seats, one in the back, next to a nice blonde girl Max had begun to talk to as of recently, and one next to Mike, who was looking at her, eyes scrutinizing her.

     She definitely knew who she wouldn't be sitting next to.

     She started to make her way to the back of the room, only to be stopped when Mr. Thompson once again called out to her,

     "Maxine, please take a seat closer to the front, we wouldn't want you to slack off and not pay attention."

     Max huffed, and intense feeling of dislike radiating off her, as she shuffled deliberately slow to the empty seat next to Mike.

     Mr. Thompson resumed the lesson as Max got situated in her seat. She could feel Mike looking at her, and it took all her willpower to not turn her head and face him. Instead, she kept her gaze straight forward, for once listening to Mr. Thompson go on about the rules of grammar.

     Mike Wheeler was not having a good day. He had gotten barely two hours of sleep, after staying up late last night to talk to El. She had reassured him that she would be joining school soon and that she wasn't going anywhere. Despite that though, Mike was still on high alert. Everything was quiet, almost too quiet, and he knew that something would shatter the silence eventually, he just didn't know what.

     He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the door to open, and in walked Max. He was surprised, to say the least, he had almost forgotten she was in this class, she rarely ever showed up and when she did she would always be in the back, out of sight. He gazed at her and his brows furrowed when he took in her appearance. She had on her striped red Adidas jacket, which he had seen countless times before, along with a pair of ripped denim jeans. She however, he noted, did not have her skateboard with her, and that shocked him. He had never seen her without her skateboard at school, in fact, come to think of it, he had only ever seen her without her skateboard when they were being hunted by the deme-dogs.