After the weirdness they had experienced at school, Y/N and Max were walking home together. Well, Y/N was walking while Max was slowly skating beside him.
They had went to the school's own nurse and she checked Y/N if he had any injuries. At best he just had a scar on his head that would heal in the next few days, and at worst he would have a light concussion. All and all, it could've been worse.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Max asked again as the boy next to her was constantly rubbing the back of his head.
"Yes, Max, I'm fine." Y/N let out a sigh. "Just like the other twelve times you asked me."
"I'm sorry for wanting to be sure my friend is alright." Max held her hands in the air as she thought of something else. "You know you're dad is going to ask why you're late, right?"
"You know you're brother is going to ask the same thing, right?" Y/N asked in the same tone. "And you know we can't just say 'one of our friends had an episode while we were looking for a new kind of animal another friend of ours discovered'." he quickly added on.
"So, what's the excuse?" Max asked as Y/N shrugged. "I fell down the stairs and you helped me get to the nurse, and then back home." he explained as they arrived at their houses.
"I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, same." Max waved as the two kids walked their separate ways to their separate homes across from each other.
Y/N walked inside as he called out a greeting for his father. "Dad, I'm home!"
"Y/N?" Owen called back as he leaned on the kitchen counter. "Where the hell have you been?" he sternly asked.
"I fell down the stairs and Max helped me get to the nurse and back home." Y/N explained as he saw the features on his dad's face soften. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, just a scar that will heal by tomorrow."
"Okay, good." the older man said. "Well, I made lasagna." Owen announced as he saw his son get literal puppy eyes. "You didn't!"
"I did." Owen smiled as the father and son walked into the living room to have dinner.
○●○
The next day at school, Y/N and Max were back with the group, except Will who stayed home and Dustin who didn't arrive yet, to continue looking for Dart. Y/N could already see that there was some tension between Max and Mike but Y/N didn't immediately know why that was.
They were now at the trash container as Lucas searched around for the creature. "Stop being a baby and do it already!" Mike exclaimed as Max looked sick just thinking about what she needed to do. "This is so disgusting."
"Do we really need to do this?" Y/N asked as he saw Dustin running towards them. "Heya."
"What the hell's going on?" Dustin asked confused as Mike answered his question. "What do you think? We're looking for Dart."
In between the explanation, trash was thrown towards them, making Y/N and Max both let out something out of their mouths. "Jesus." "Oh!"
"Ugh!" Mike grunted as he stepped aside some trash.
"Well, well, well." Lucas said as he dropped out of the container and spotted Dustin. "Look who finally decided to show up. After I drew the short straw. Real convenient."
"You stink!" Max exclaimed as she hid her nose from the smell and walked away from Mike to stand in the middle of Dustin and Y/N. "Hi Max." Dustin nicely greeted the ginger. "Hi?"
"Where's Will?" Dustin asked again as Mike shrugged. "He'll be here."
"And you just gonna stand there?" Lucas asked as he threw a stick at Dustin, who luckily catched it. "Or you gonna help?"
○●○
"All living things, from complex mammals to single-celled organisms, instinctively respond to danger. Expose a bacterium to a toxic chemical, and it will flee. Or deploy some other defense mechanism." Mr. Clarke spoke towards the class as Y/N looked around to see that he really was the only one interested in the story.
"We're very much the same." he continued. "When we encounter danger, our hearts start pounding. Our palms start to sweat. These are the signs of the physical and emotional state we call fear."
○●○
"Anything?" Lucas asked as Mike ran back to the group, who were now either standing or seated on the short stairs.
"We need to talk. AV room. Right now." he spoke as Mike walked up the stairs while everyone stood up. "Party members only." Mike said, mainly directed towards Y/N and Max.
"Come on, Mike." Dustin tried but was quickly shut down. "No! This is non-negotiable."
"Sorry, Max." "Sorry." Dustin and Lucas apologized as Y/N let out a sigh of frustration. "Jesus Christ."
"Told you." Max sighed as she sat down in her previous spot on the staircase. "They don't want us here."
"I'm actually beginning to believe you with that theory." Y/N sighed as he sat down beside the ginger. "Tell you what. Tomorrow, we'll go spend the entire day at the arcade." Y/N proposed as Max let out a chuckle. "What? You, at the arcade?"
"What's the matter, Mayfield?" Y/N asked as he held his hand up between them. "Scared that I'll beat your highscore?"
Max smiled before connecting their hands in a handshake. "Not a chance, L/N."
○●○
The bell rang through the school as Y/N followed Max to her locker. "So, arcade tomorrow, yeah?" Y/N asked as Max nodded. "Yup."
"Hey, Max. Hey, Y/N." a voice spoke up behind them, making the male mutter a 'oh, hell no'. "Have you seen Dustin? We're supposed to meet after class."
But instead of answering Lucas, both Y/N and Max walked away while slamming her locker closed. "Max! Y/N?!"
Both kids walked outside as Lucas followed them. "Hey, where are you two going? Come on! We've gotta go look for Dart."
"Yeah, good luck with that." Max responded as she sped up her walking towards her brother's car.
"What is wrong with you?" Lucas asked the girl in a tone he didn't mean to sound like.
"What's wrong with her?!" Y/N quickly replied before Max even had the chance to think of a reply. "What's wrong with you and your whole pathetic little group?"
"We-- I--" Lucas struggled to say anything towards this new side he saw of Y/N. "You all pretend that you want us in your group, that we all can be friends together, and the next minute you're treating me and Max like total shit!"
"That's not true."
"Yes, it is! You go and hide in the AV club, keeping secrets like we're in second grade or some shit!"
"You know," Max finally spoke up. "I thought you guys wanted us in your party."
"We do. But it's..."
"But what?"
"There... there are just things. Things we can't tell you, alright? For your own safety. Both of your safety."
"'For our own safety'." Y/N mocked the boy standing opposite of him. "Piss off."
"Did you keep these secrets from El?" Max asked as Lucas was even more confused now. "How do you know about El?"
"Did you?" Max repeated her question while ignoring Lucas's one.
"That was different. Trust me. Okay?" Lucas tried defending himself. "That was just... just different."
"Okay. You know what? Forget it, okay? We don't wanna be in your stupid party. We're out." Max told him. "Have a nice life." she said as her and Y/N separated to go to their own cars.
"Max! Y/N!"
"You still stink, by the way!" Max called out before disappearing in Billy's car. "That kid you were talking to, who is he?" Billy asked his sister.
"He's no one." Max dismissed as she stepped in the passenger seat.
"No one?"
"This kid from my class."
Billy stepped in after Max as he quickly lit up a sigaret. "Why was L/N defending you?" he asked.
"What?"
"You heard me." Billy told her as Max took a deep breath, hoping Billy didn't notice. "That kid was just annoying me and Y/N told him off."
"Y/N? Are you two first name basis now?"
"Billy, he's our neighbor. It's not too difficult to call him by his first name." the ginger told her brother as Billy saw Y/N step inside his dad's car. "And besides, why do you care if I call him by his first--"
"Because, Max," Billy cut her off. "you're a piece of shit, but we're family now, whether we like it or not, meaning I'm stuck looking out for you."
"What would I ever do without y--" Max raised her hands as Billy caught the one on his side. "Hey!" he exclaimed as Max looked a bit frightened at him.
"This is serious shit, okay? I'm older than you. And something you learn is that there are certain type of people in this world that you stay away from, and that kid, Max... That kid is one of them. Both of them. They will only end up hurting you."
Max tried releasing her arm from Billy's grasp, but didn't have the strength to do it. Plus, she was scared of him. "You stay away from them, you hear me? Stay away." Billy finished as he pushed Max's arm against the car door on her side and started the car's engine.
But the push was too hard as Max was now holding her arm and very lightly and quietly sobbing, trying to keep the tears in her eyes and just focus on the fact that her and Y/N would meet up at the arcade tomorrow.