CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
"She's Gotta Be Mad Max."
MONDAY morning rolled around, and Violet was woken up by her alarm on her bedside table. Her eyes that were crusted over with sleep pried open, and she rubbed one of them with her fist while the other hand outstretched towards the alarm. She used her mind to shut off the incessant ringing, then her head dropped into her pillow, as a small yawn escaped her lips.
She forced herself out of her bed, and hopped to her feet. She walked over to her closet and grabbed the hangers of clothes she picked out last night after her shower and cleaning up the mess that was her room. It consisted of, a long sleeved striped black and white shirt, some blue jeans that she cuffs at the ankles, and her purple zip up hoodie with purple chucks.
She sat down at her vanity and got started on her hair, she didn't really have the energy to do much to it, so she styles it into a low ponytail and called it a day. She spritzed herself with her perfume, and rolled on her deodorant, then she got up, grabbed her backpack, and used her mind to turn out the light and flung her arm back to close the door as she exited the bedroom.
She raced down the stairwell and followed the aroma of breakfast,
when she got to the kitchen she found a plate of french toast sticks and turkey bacon sitting on the island counter. As she grabbed the plate to heat it up, she noticed an a bright yellow sticky note on the surface. She picked it up and a small smile tugs at her lips as her velvet brown eyes scanned over the words.
Sorry for not being home all the time, but I made you breakfast to hopefully make up for it. Went to pick up Nance, but I'll see you later. Have a good day at school, Tink.
Love, Stevie.
She put the sticky note back down and she walked to the microwave and heated up her plate of breakfast. She cleared the platter and washed it in the sink before putting it in the drying rack, then she rushed up the staircase to the bathroom to brush her teeth. When she finished, she raced back down the stairwell and grabbed her backpack that she left in the dining room.
She headed out the front door, and locked it behind her with her necklace key, then she made her way to the garage to grab her bike. She hopped on the cycle and started on her journey to the middle school. After about a five minute bike ride to get there, she rolled up to the bike rack and placed her bike with the other lined up bikes.
She joined the groups of kids walking to the school doors, and she entered the busy hallways and made a beeline for her locker. Once she got there she turned her lock putting in the combo and pulled off her bag, then unzipped it and pulled out the books, folders, and miscellaneous items that she wouldn't need for her first few hours.
She zipped her bag up and pulled the strap over her shoulder, and she closed the locker shut. Just as she goes to head to her class, she looks across the hall and catches Will standing at his locker. He's the first one of the boys that she's seen this morning, so naturally, she walks over to go and say hi to him.
"Morning, Will." She greets him cheerfully.
He turns to her, "Oh, hey, Vi." He replied, sounding less than thrilled.
Violet frowned in concern, "Uhm, are you okay?"
He nods, but he doesn't look certain. "Yeah. I'm fine." She hears a rustling of newspaper and in his hand she sees a small piece of newspaper. "I just found this is my locker."
She takes the paper from him, and her eyes narrow in annoyance at the sight. It was a news article on Will and his disappearance. The headline read, "The Boy Who Came Back To Life", and in green marker were the words, "ZOMBIE BOY." And in the photo of him someone had scratched out his eyes with x's.
With a grunt of annoyance she balled up the paper in her hands and tossed it into the nearby trashcan, then she walks back to Will and threw her arm around his shoulders.
"It's bullshit, okay? Nobody hear knows anything. Only we know the truth, and that's all that matters. You're not "Zombie Boy" to me, okay? You're Will Byers, Will the fucking Wise? All right? My best friend."
Her words bring a genuine smile to the boy's lips, and his hazel eyes light up with happiness. "Thanks, Violet. I feel alot better now."
"Good." She smiles at him, and the bell rings signaling that classes have begun. "Now, let's get to class before we're later than we already are."
Being Mr. Clarke's favorite students has it's perks, because when Violet and Will come in late, he doesn't mention their tardiness. He only tells them what page they're on in their books as they sit down, and he waits patiently as she and Will pull out their science books from their bags and catch up on the lesson with the rest of their peers.
"Meet the human brain." Mr. Clarke picks up where he left off in the lesson, placing down a human brain model. "I know. I know, it doesn't look like much. A little gross even, right? But consider this. There are a hundred billion cells inside of this miracle of evolution. All working as one. No, no, I did not mispeak. I did not stutter. A hundred billion."
Everyone's attention to Mr. Clarke was pulled away by the door of the class slowly closing, an unfamiliar girl walked into the classroom, with the principal trailing after her.
"Ah, this must be our new student." Mr. Clarke smiled as she went to walk past him, her head down to avoid drawing attention to herself.
"Indeed it is." The principal confirmed, "All yours."
"All right. Hold up." Mr. Clarke's words made the girl halt in her steps. "You don't get away that easy." He waved her over, "Come on up. Don't be shy." Reluctantly, she walked back over to the desk to join him.
Violet didn't blame her for wanting to avoid the new kid introduction, she still remembered her own when she first came to Hawkins middle. She was shaking so badly at the front of the room, and she swore she was gonna throw up or pass out.
Or both.
It's high up there on her list of the worst days of her life.
"Dustin, drum roll." Mr. Clarke instructed. Dustin does as he asked accordingly, and he drums his hands against his science book. "Class, please welcome, all the way from sunny California, the latest passenger to join us on our curiosity voyage, Maxine."
She glanced at him, "It's Max." She corrected him quietly.
"Sorry?" Mr. Clarke asked, not hearing her the first time.
"Nobody calls me Maxine." She spoke a bit louder, "It's Max."
"Mad Max." Lucas whispered, sat in the desk infront of Mike.
Violet's eyes widened, her gaze zeroed in on the red haired girl at the front of the classroom. Was it a coincidence that she just happened to go by the name Max? Or could it be that this new girl from California was the Mad Max who beat her highest score?
Either way, Violet was intrigued. Although, she wasn't sure why.
"Well, all aboard, Max." Mr. Clarke told her, allowing her to walk past him and pick a desk.
As she walked down the rows of desk, picking the empty one in the very back, Violet and the boys followed her every move with their eyes as they turned back in their seats to watch. Max sat down, class continued, Mr. Clarke picked up where he left off again, and the boys all eventually turned forward to pay attention.
Violet turned around too, trying to focus on the lesson that was being taught to the class. But every so often she would turn to take a peek at Max as she sat in the back, her gaze on the window, seemingly lost in her own world as the minutes ticked by.
She didn't know what was making her turn back so many times. Maybe it was the curiosity of someone else in Hawkins who could've beaten her highest score ever, or just the simple fact that she was from California. It was rare for someone from another state to come to here, Hawkins was merely a toilet rest stop on the way to somewhere bigger and better.
What would someone from California be doing here in Hakwins?
She looked back for the last time, expecting to find Max's gaze still set on the window, only it wasn't. Her eyes that Violet now knew were a deep ocean blue, we're gazing directly into her own.
For reasons that was completely unbeknownst to her, she just couldn't seem to look away. She's never seen the ocean before, only in movies, tv shows, and using her imagination when she reads. But she's never seen it in person.
But in that moment, as she looked into Max's eyes for the first time, she felt as if she were drowning in the rampant currents that was the cerulean blues of her irises.
And suddenly, she snapped out of it.
Her velvet brown eyes grew slightly, and her skin suddenly felt hot. She quickly turned in her seat as a rush of awkwardness and embarrassment wracked through her. She didn't know what the hell that was about, she had never felt that way before. It was like she was in some sort of daze, hypnotized, even. She just couldn't stop looking into her eyes.
It was like she was drawn to them.
"Violet?" Mr. Clarke questioned, her head snapped up to meet his gaze. "Are you okay? You're looking a little red in the face there."
The boys all turn back, exchanging concerned glances with eachother as they look at her.
"I'm fine." She bites out, shaking her head, forcing herself to shake off the queasy albeit indescribable feeling fluttering around in her stomach. "Nothing's wrong, Mr. Clarke. You can continue the lesson."
"Okay." He nods, turning back to the rest of the class. "As I was saying, the brain..." His words trailed off in her earshot as he resumed the lesson on the human brain.
She sunk down low in her seat, and her arms wrapped around herself protectively. She felt so strange, she was so nervous, and embarrassed all of a sudden. Her skin was burning, her hands were clammy, and it felt like there was an entire zoo running around inside her stomach. She's never felt that way before in her life.
What the hell was happening to her?
CLASSES come and go, and the time for Recess begins. Besides lunch, it's the one time of the day that the students get to go outside and release all that energy that they've been keeping bottled up in class. While all the other kids in their grade were kicking off games of basketball, four square, and hopscotch, Violet was standing behind a fence gate with the four boys she called her best friends.
They were watching diligently from afar as Max was skate boarding on the blacktop. Violet has never known anyone in Hakwins who's ever skateboarded or even owned a skateboard. It was definitely a California thing. On tv shows and movies, it always seemed cool, and she longed to try it herself one day.
She could probably use her telekinesis to become a pro, the possibilities are endless.
"There's no way that's Mad Max." Mike stated in disbelief.
"Yeah." Will agreed with him, "Girls don't play video games."
Violet cast him a quizzical look, "Uh, hello? I'm standing right here."
"I didn't mean it like that." Will quickly says, shooting her an apologetic look.
"Yeah." Lucas joined in, helping him out. "He just means, you're less of a girl girl and more of a tomboy."
Her eyes roll, "Whatever. My point is, I play video games, she could too. I mean, look at her. She's literally skateboarding, and she's good at it. Maybe girls are different in California than they are in Hawkins."
"Even if she is different, how could she beat you by 750,000 points?" Mike questioned, "You play Dig Dug religiously." His head shakes, "It's impossible. She just moved here."
"But her name is Max." Lucas pointed out.
"So what?" Mike asked.
"So, how many Maxes do you know?" Lucas counter questioned.
Mike shrugged, "I don't know."
"Zero." Lucas answered for him, "That's how many."
"And she shows up at school the day after someone with her same name breaks Vi's top score." Dustin implied, "I mean, you kidding me?"
"Exactly. So she's gotta be Mad Max." Lucas insisted, "She's gotta be."
"And plus she skateboards, so she's pretty awesome." Dustin grins.
"You can say that again." Violet murmured to herself, her gaze transfixed on the ginger girl doing tricks on the board. "She's amazing."
"Awesome? Amazing?" The raven haired boy beside her questioned, his voice heavy with skepticism, making Violet's eyes roll. "You two haven't even spoken a word to her."
"We don't have to. I mean, look at her." Dustin spoke, searching around to find Max. But she was long gone. "Shit, I've lost the target."
"There." Will points out, walking away from the fence with the others following him.
Across the way, Max was walking up the stairs to the side door of the school. But before she disappeared behind it, she dropped something in the trash. To Violet, it just looked like she was throwing something away, but to the boys that apparently meant run to the trash and dig inside of it. She trailed behind them with a loud groan as her eyes looked skyward.
Boys were so gross.
She leaned on the brick wall behind her with her arms folded over her chest, waiting for Dustin who was digging head first in the trash can. They got a couple weird looks from students who passed by them, and she didn't blame them. She would be weirded out if she caught somebody digging in the trashcan like a wild raccoon looking for scraps, too.
"Are you done yet?" She complained, "This is disgusting."
"Seriously, Dustin. Hurry up." Mike told him impatiently.
"Got it. There we go." Dustin alerted them, standing up straight again. The five of them huddled together to see what he found, it was a crumbled up piece of paper with words scribbled on it with a blue marker.
"Stop spying on me, creeps." The boys all read aloud.
"Well, shit." Dustin murmured.
Violet snorted, "So much for her not seeing us."
"William Byers." The principal's voice suddenly announced behind them, Violet and the boys turn around to face him. "Your mother's here."
Violet and the boys quickly say their goodbyes to Will, and he leaves with the principal and heads back inside the school. The four of them walk around the building to get a view of the parking lot, and they watch from afar as Will comes out of the front doors of the school, he makes his way to his mom's car, and climbs inside.
"You guys think he's okay?" Dustin asked them.
Violet shakes her head, "I know I wouldn't be."
"He's always weird when he has to go in." Lucas mentions.
"I don't know." Mike murmured, "He's quiet today."
"He's always quiet." Lucas replied.
Ever since had Will come out of the Upside Down, twice a week he's been going back to Hawkins Lab to get regularly scheduled check ups. When Violet first found out about it she was completely against it, considering her own experiences, she was worried that the same thing that happened to her and El would happen to Will.
Jim Hopper understood her wariness and made sure that she knew that the lab was under new management, he also promised that he would go with Will and Joyce to make sure that nothing happened to Will. Was she still against it? Yes, incredibly. But she trusted Hopper, and if he said that he would protect Will then she believed him.
Also, she was a bit worried about her best friend. She didn't know what was going on with him, but she knew that there was something. But anytime she asked him what was going on, he told her that he was fine and thatshe shouldn't worry. Out of all the boys, Will was the worst liar, and each time he told her that he was fine, the less she believed him, and the more she worried for him.
She just hoped he wasn't in any kind of danger.
—micaela speaks
Yo.
To be honest guy, I might stop leaving these notes at the end, 'cause I really don't have anything to talk about most time lmaooo.
But luckily, this time I do.
So, Violet, she is going THROUGH it. You guys will find out why in the next chapter, because I already wrote it and I shortened this chapter into two separate parts because it got way too long for my liking.
But yeah, poor baby is experiencing the symptoms of crush syndrome and she does not know what's going ON.
But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I will see you in the next one!