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"I thought you didn't even want to go Trick-or-Treating this year," Stephanie commented, holding Sam's chin with her hand. She was painting on Sam's face with various shades of oranges and yellows, and some black here and there. The costume Sam, Stephanie, and Corey ended up putting together was a very last-minute scarecrow.
Sam wore a white turtleneck of her own, with an old, oversized flannel of Corey's on top of it. Then, she also had on overalls of his that Corey no longer wanted, with a hat of Aunt Kat's they'd stolen from her room. In between Sam's layers of clothes, they stuffed her with straw taken from Aunt Kat's hay-bale Halloween decoration outside. The boots she wore were being borrowed ("yes, Steph, I know I'm just borrowing them, jeez") from Stephanie, and she'd also advised Sam to just leave her hair down in its naturally wavy state (they hadn't tried tackling the hair straightener since Will's fake funeral).
The only thing they needed to do now was Sam's face paint. Currently, Stephanie was dressed up in her Shaggy costume while painting on the circle cheeks, triangular nose, and stitched smile to Sam's face.
"Well, I didn't," Sam started, trying not to shiver at the cold paint being applied to her face. "But I made a friend today, and I think she's coming with us, so."
Sam shrugged.
"Wait," Corey interjected from where his legs were dangling off the side of Stephanie's bed. "Max is coming with us?"
Sam turned her head to Corey, confused that he was confused, until it hit her. She exhaled sharply. "See, I knew they didn't take a vote!"
"Stop moving your head!" Stephanie hissed, gripping harshly onto Sam's chin again and forcing Sam to look forward. As she continued painting, Stephanie commented, "Proud of you for making a friend that's not an idiot boy. You need more of a female influence in your life."
Sam protested, "I've made another friend that's a girl!" quicker than she should have.
Disbelieving, Stephanie stopped painting to send Sam a deadpan look. "Really? Like who?"
El, Sam wanted to say, but forgot that she couldn't.
Panicked for speaking too fast, Sam made worried eye contact with Corey, who also looked nervous. He shook his head and shrugged cluelessly, being no help at all.
"Uh..." Sam racked her brain for a lie, making eye contact with Stephanie again. "Well, you, right? You're my friend?"
And luckily, Stephanie looked like she felt bad for being so rude about Sam's choice of wording. Sam let out a relieved breath that the sad, little sister move worked once again.
"Yeah, Sammy," Stephanie smiled encouragingly, though it didn't quite meet her eyes. "I am."
Sam laughed nervously, sharing a look with Corey in a way that definitely was not smooth. "Right. Awesome. Yeah..."
She really hated keeping secrets from Stephanie.
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At 7:00, Sam, Lucas, Mike, Corey, and Dustin left Mike's house with their pillowcase bags in hand to meet up with Will and begin Trick-or-Treating. In perfect timing, Jonathan's car pulled up outside of Mike's right as they were walking across Mike's large lawn. They all called out greetings to Will, waving as Jonathan's car slowed to a stop.
The five kids waiting on the sidewalk for Will to join up with them, and Sam realized just how impatient the boys were, because they had quickly broke out in a pillowcase fight of sorts. Sam laughed, watching her friends slap each other with empty, harmless pillowcases.
Sam heard a car door slam, and looked away from the boys to see Will finally approaching them. "Will!" she called out, gaining the attention of her other friends, momentarily pausing their pillowcase war.
"Egon!" Lucas greeted in excitement as Will started running towards them.
Dustin hooped, cheering, "Yeah! You ready for tonight, man?"
"You know I am!" Will beamed back, finally reaching the group of five before him. Sam noted that, while he was holding an empty pillowcase with one hand, he was grasping something else in the other.
Sam's mouth dropped to the floor, gasping so loudly that the boys' heads whipped to her, wondering if something was wrong. But Sam's eyes were just glued on the large camera Will was harboring along.
"Is that a JVC?!" Sam badgered Will, like a nerd.
Will seemed confused for a moment at the terminology Sam was using, until realizing she was referring to the video camera in his hands. He held it up for a moment, eyeing it before looking back at Sam.
"Yeah," smiled Will, "Bob lent it to me for tonight!"
Sam's excited grin grew. "That's so cool!"
Will was sending Sam a fond look, adoring how excited she could get about simple things like cameras.
"Here," Will started, propping it on his shoulder and began rolling it to video. "You can do the intro for the video."
Getting into character, Sam immediately pretended to be a broadcaster that was meant to be in front of a camera for everyone to see. She waved, "Hello, people of the world! I'm Sam Hughes, your host, and today we are proud to show 'A Party's Halloween' on Bob Newby's amazing camera!"
Lucas jumped into Sam's side obnoxiously, throwing an arm around her neck. "I'm Lucas, Sam's amazing co-host!"
"Luke, get away!" Sam hissed, trying to pry Lucas off of her while simultaneously trying to hide her amused laugh. Giving up on both subjects, Sam went slack in Lucas's grip and laughed into the camera, saying, "He's not a co-host, everyone. Don't worry."
Dustin shot in front of Sam and Lucas, arms bursting out as if it were his big debut. "Because I'm the co-host! The one, the only, Dustin Henderson!"
"Can you nerds get on with it so we can start Trick-or-Treating?"
"Yeah, if I'm agreeing with Gray, then you guys need to hurry up!"
In unison, Sam, Lucas, Will, and Dustin all looked to where Corey and Mike were impatiently waiting. Then, the trio faced the camera Will was holding, with Dustin no longer blocking Sam and Lucas from view.
"That's Corey and Mike," Dustin stage-whispered to the camera, as if explaining a big secret.
Sam and Lucas nodded with Dustin. Lucas continued, "They pretend to hate each other, but they actually don't. Not really."
"Will?" Sam changed the subject, taking the camera from Will's hands and pointing it to Will, instead. "Got anything to say to our lovely, willing viewers?"
"Um..." Will looked shy now that he was in front of the camera and not behind it. He shrugged bashfully, saying, "...Hi?"
Lucas sighed, pretending to be a disappointed boss. "See, this is why he's the videographer. Give him his camera back, Sam."
Sam rolled her eyes, but ultimately did hand Will the camera back.
To the "audience," Lucas commented, "Sam's just wants Will's camera to herself 'cause she's really into cameras and radios stuff."
"That's not true!" Sam gaped back. "I would never want to steal from William Byers."
Dustin scoffed, said, "You're just biased. Will's definitely your favorite."
"I do not have favorites! I tolerate all of you equally," Sam sent them assholish grins. She opened her mouth to say more into the camera before being yanked away.
"Seriously, nerds. Can we go now?" Corey snapped, now dragging Sam by her wrist.
"All right! All right!" Will stopped recording, in an exasperated tone. He shared a look with Lucas. "We're coming!"
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"Trick or treat!" six kids exclaimed with bright smiles. They were all huddled together at the front door of an old lady's home.
The women beamed the sight of them. "Oh! Well aren't you cute? The four little exterminators, their science experiment, and a scarecrow!" she grinned, sticking out a bowl of candy bars.
All the boys' smiles quickly turned upside down while Sam thanked her for them. Dustin scoffed softly, taking a much larger handful of candy than all the Party members.
"You look wonderful tonight, Miss," Sam complimented the old woman before they could walk off the porch.
Baffled, she responded, "Well, aren't you kind?"
"When I was younger, my mother used to tell me it's better to be known for my kindness and grace, and that rudeness is the weak person's imitation of strength because kindness is the strength they're looking for," Sam said with her beautiful, kind smile, her green eyes beaming under Aunt Kat's straw hat.
"That is so beautiful, sweetie! Where's your mother now? I'd like to have a word with her."
"Dead!" Sam answered enthusiastically, smile not backing down.
The lady's smile faltered for a moment before she cleared her throat, tuning out the snickers of the boys around Sam. "Oh... Um, well... I'm sorry to hear that. What's your name, darling?"
"Sam."
"A pretty name for a pretty girl," she pinched Sam's cheeks, and the boys could no longer contain their amused laughter. "Here, take another handful, cutie pie."
Sam didn't hesitate before she took another handful, throwing all the candy in her bad. Forcing a captivating smile on her face, she looked back up at the elderly woman. "Have a good night, ma'am!"
And Sam turned around, starting to make her way down the porch, the boys slowly following.
"That's the sixth time tonight!" Lucas patted Sam's back as she split up the extra candy for the six of them.
"Did your mom actually tell you that?" Mike asked her as the group began for the next house. "Or did you just say that for candy?"
Sam sent Mike an incredulous look. "Are you serious? You met my mom, of course she actually said that."
All of the boy shared look, shrugging at each other as if saying, 'Yeah, that checks out.' They'd all met Diane Hughes when she was alive for them to; she was the nicest women anyone had the privilege of meeting. It was no surprise Sam's advice ended up being actually said by her.
"Besides," Sam tilted her head, moving the conversation along, "that lady needed a compliment."
"How do you know that?"
Sam shrugged, not knowing how to explain how it had just been evident in her head when the lady spoke, or that when the door first opened, Sam felt a wave of tiredness and forced happiness.
"You know," Will chuckled in amusement, "you can really see through people, Sam."
"That's what I've been saying!" Lucas exclaimed, grateful that someone else had finally noticed it, too.
"You guys are so dramatic," Sam shook her head with a laugh, continuing to walk between Lucas and Dustin and hoping the previous topic would end before they could start.
"Whatever," Lucas sighed, letting Sam off the hook for once. "If I get another 3 Musketeers, I'm gonna kill myself."
Dustin's head peered past Sam and to Lucas in confusion. He asked, "What's wrong with 3 Musketeers?"
"'What's wrong with 3 Musketeers'?" Lucas scoffed, also leaning in front of Sam to look at Dustin.
Scrunching up his nose, Mike added, "No one likes 3 Musketeers."
"Yeah," Will added, "it's just nougat."
Dustin gaped incredulously. "Woah, 'just nougat'? No way. Specks, Corey, what about you?"
"3 Musketeers is ass," Corey deadpanned.
Sam scrunched her nose, looking at Dustin a little more empathetically. "It's... okay..."
"In Sam terms that means, 'it's disgusting,' by the way," Lucas interjected, sending Dustin a smug look.
Sam nudged Lucas harshly, sending him a pointed look. Dustin was shaking his head in disbelief.
"I can't believe this," commented Dustin. "It is top three for me."
"Top three?" Lucas questioned incredulously as the Party reached the road.
Dustin nodded proudly. "Top three!"
"Oh, god," Mike's face screwed up in disgust. "Give me a break."
"Seriously, I could just eat a whole bowl nougat," said Dustin, ignoring his friends' grossed-out groans. "Just straight up—"
And then Michael Myers was jumping out of the bushes, yelling at the whole group, causing them to let out terrified shrieks. Sam was scrambling behind Lucas's figure for protection. She thought she heard herself screaming before realizing it was Lucas.
A familiar laugh came from behind the mask, and Sam could feel her heartbeat slowing down in the slightest. She tried calming her breathing, turning to face Max, who was chuckling and had now removed the mask.
"Very funny, Max," Sam huffed breathlessly.
"Holy shit! You should have seen the look on your faces!" Max cackled at the shaken group of friends. "And you," she looked directly at Lucas, who had his hand pressed to this chest to try and regain his composure, "who screams like that? You sound like a little girl!"
Everyone was not prepared for that, still trying to recover when Max began walking off from them. Upon realizing no one was following her, she turned on her heel, waving around her plastic pumpkin basket around. "Hey, you guys coming or not? Ooh! I heard we should hit up Loch Nora — that's were all the rich people live, right?"
It was also where Justin Zimmerman and Carrie Cunningham lived, but Sam didn't need to let anyone know that. Max let out another chuckle before turning around and resuming her steps. Sam shrugged as she followed Max, catching up to her side. Lucas and Dustin shared excited grins before they caught up with Max and Sam, followed by Corey and Will.
Mike, however, was not sharing the sentiment.
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They had finished another mansion in Loch Nora, walking down the steps and enjoying the night. Sam was ninety percent sure that house belonged to Justin, but wasn't going to say anything in fear of being berated like she had been earlier.
"Another full-size," Dustin scoffed incredulously. "Like, seriously, rich people are such suckers." He, Sam, Lucas, and Max continued to walk side by side from the large house. Then, to Max, "Wait, you're not rich, right?
Max laughed at the absurdity of the statement. "No, I live up Old Cherry Road."
"Oh," said Dustin, falling quiet.
She shrugged, saying, "No, it's fine. I mean, the street's good for skating."
Dustin hummed, nodding while he munched on a full-size 3 Musketeer bar. "Yeah, totally tubular."
Sam leaned past Max to make a face at Dustin. "'Tubular,' Dustin, really?"
"What?" Dustin shrugged, nodding at Max. "Did I say that right? Or is it, like, tubulah?"
Dustin said the word in horrible mocking of a surfer bro that had both Sam and Max looking to each other in amusement before giggling.
"It's — It's like," Lucas started, imitating a surfer, "totally tubularrr!"
"Toootally tubular!" Dustin mimicked Lucas's mocking of what a Californian sounded like.
Sticking out his pinky and thumb, Lucas fisted the rest of his fingers and shook his hand, continuing, "What a gnarly wave, dude!"
"Totally brodacious, dude!"
"Stop!" Max spoke through her chuckles. "My ears are hurting!"
Sam also let out a laugh she'd been holding back. "Oh, my god, I bet you guys would be eaten alive in California!"
"What, Sam?" Lucas mocked confusion. He leaned his back into Sam's side obnoxiously, putting his hand through a wave motion. "Am I not totally tubular?"
"No!" Sam pretended to be annoyed, but she was being overtaken by her laughs and smile. She tried pushing Lucas off of her, but Lucas was forcing Sam into Max, and therefore Max into Dustin. The four of them collectively laughed as they stumbled over each other's feet. She chuckled, "Oh, my god, Lucas, get off!"
"But I'm riding the gnarly wave, bro!" Lucas continued his imitation, squished against Sam's side.
Corey watched the four of them continue their weird banter, hiding a fond smile as he feel a few feet behind. He and Will had ended up walking together while Mike — annoyed — followed everyone.
"Hey, Core," Will called the boy who glanced at Will and saw he held a camera towards Corey. "Say hi to your future self!"
Awkwardly in front of a camera, Corey held up a hand and waved. "Hi, Future Corey. I hope you're not in jail, yet."
"You're not gonna end up in jail," Will scolded, looking a lot like his mom right now.
Corey shrugged, said, "Tell that to my dad. He's convinced I'm a felon... Well, technically I was, so it's warranted. I'm just... a reformed felon. Hopefully."
"Hopefully," Will echoed, snorting in amusement.
Will turned the camera to Mike, wanting Mike to do the same, but he was quick to speak his mind.
"Did you guys agree to this?" Mike questioned Corey and Will.
Confused, Will put the camera down and asked, "What?"
"To her," Mike nodded at Max, "joining our Party."
Corey looked over at Max, and Sam next to her. Both girls had big, genuine grins on their faces. He heard Stephanie talking to Sam in his mind, saying, You need more of a female influence in your life. He remembered the hurt look on Sam's face while she thought about Eleven, almost accidentally spilling to Stephanie about the girl.
Will shrugged. "It's just for Halloween."
"You should've checked with me," Mike scoffed.
Corey rolled his eyes at the boy with so much attitude. "What's so bad about Max joining our Party, anyways? Look at how happy they all are. Sam finally has another girl to hang around."
"Yeah, they were excited about this," said Will. To Mike, he continued, "I guess we thought you'd be okay with it."
But Mike snapped, "She's ruining the best night of the year," before stalking away.
Corey watched the raven-haired boy march away with a tired exhale. Will seemed upset that Mike was upset, but Corey just put a hand on Will's shoulder, stopping him. His eyes were trained on where Mike had gone off to.
"I'll go knock some sense into him," said Corey, patting Will's shoulder. "You go catch up with the others."
And so, doing exactly what he said he would, Corey went after Mike Wheeler. The world must be backwards today, if he was the one (read this sarcastically, please) chosen for the honors.
"Come on, Wheeler," Corey started once he found the boy, grabbing Mike's oversized sleeve. "What's actually wrong—?"
"Sam already had another girl to hang around!" Mike whipped around to Corey's face now, finally being set off. "She had El! And you're all trying to replace her with Max!"
Corey was originally taken a back, but quickly recuperated himself to match Mike's energy. "Dude, no one is trying to replace El!" he responded.
Now, Corey was well aware he wasn't apart of any of the shit that went down last year until the very end; he didn't know Eleven like the rest of them did; but, he knew enough to confidently say they all were way too fond of Eleven to replace her. They missed her, in fact.
"You can't 'replace' a girl like that."
"Tell that to Sam, Lucas, and Dustin!" Mike shouted, but Corey heard his voice crack. Face hardening, he rambled, "Next thing you know, they're replacing me next. They didn't even care to ask my opinion about this!"
"Well, the Party's a democracy—"
"I know! I know the Party's a democracy!" cried Mike, as if that wasn't the point. "But it still would've been nice to feel included! I feel like... I feel like everyone hates me now, and I'm being left in the dust like El!"
Then Mike's voice cracked, and, oh shit, Corey wasn't equipped to handle this.
"Come on, dude, let's sit down," Corey said, guiding him with an arm around his shoulder, speaking to Mike in a voice he'd never spoken to him with before. Mike was breathing sharply in and out, and Corey knew then Mike was also showing a new side of himself tonight. He set both of them down on the nearest curb that was relatively empty for a rich neighborhood on Halloween night. "Mike. Mike, look at me."
Mike's head snapped to the side, and as much as it looked like he was trying to glare at Corey in annoyance, there was also a profound sadness to his features.
"No one is ever going to replace you," Corey said slowly, making sure Mike truly understood his words. "You're the leader of this Party. You're irreplaceable. I'm gonna be honest, I didn't understand when I first joined the Party. 'Cause you're, like, a douche—"
"Hey!" Mike gaped in offense. "This is a shitty pep talk!"
With a deadpan stare, Corey snapped, "Would you let me finish, Wheeler?" Mike just silently glowered at Corey. "Thank you. Like I was saying, I didn't understand how you could be the leader of the Party... until I did. Until I saw their eyes turn to you when they're unsure about something, wanting to hear your opinion on the matter. Until I saw you acting as Dungeon Master in all of their campaigns. Until I heard the way they speak about you, like Sam. Especially Sam. She adores you, dude. You're her best friend."
"Does she really?" Mike asked, nose scrunching up in a way that was kind of adorable, really.
"Yes!" Corey said exasperatedly. "You're all of their best friends... Even..." Oh, god, he was going to have to say it, wasn't he? "You know, even me. So... trust my word when I tell you that you're not being replaced. Neither is El."
"Yeah?" Mike said, in a soft tone that Corey had never heard before and had completely off guard, face flushing.
"Yeah, man," Corey coughed, turning his head forward to hide full view of his face. To keep things surface level, he said, "Who else am I going to argue with without having to feel bad about it?"
"So I'm your best friend?" Mike asked, grinning.
"I take it back," Corey said quickly. "You're the bane of my existence."
"Nope, it's too late. I'm your best friend and you think I'm irreplaceable. Are you in love with me?" Mike asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
"You repulse me," Corey said, but he was smiling and Mike was laughing, and even though Corey's face was flaming, it felt like they were going to be just fine. Even if everything went to shit again, they would be okay.
"There you guys are!" came the voice of Sam, scaring the boys. They jumped apart from each other, as if they were being caught, and stared dumbly up at their blonde friend. "We've been looking all over. Where's Will?"
Corey stood up with a confused face. "I thought he was with you guys?"
"You lost Will?" Mike cried incredulously to Corey, standing up as well.
"You were the one who marched off having a temper tantrum!" Corey said. "This is not my fault!"
Lucas groaned, throwing his head back. "Oh, god, not right now, you guys. Let's just split up and look for him, okay?"
And so that's exactly what they did, searching for Will Byers.
Max ran around with Sam by her side. "Will?" they called, zigzagging between Trick-or-Treaters. "Will?" the turned, pushing past a couple of older teenagers who stole candy from kids. "Will?!"
This all felt too familiar for Sam, she thought with a sinking heart. Here they were again, searching desperately for Will, who was lost again. Sam didn't want to freak out with Max right here, but she was definitely freaking out. She hoped Will was okay, that he wasn't actually lost or in any pain.
"Specks! Max! We found him!" Dustin yelled breathlessly, running up to the two girls. He tugged on Sam's arm, pulling her away. "Come, this way!"
Sam quickly grabbed Max's arm, and the three ran off in a chain, rushing down the side of someone's house.
They found Will with Mike's arms on his shoulders, looking around horrified, lost in a different world and out of breath.
"Is he okay?" Sam asked immediately, staring down at the pair.
"I don't know," Mike said, before turning his attention back to Will. "I'm gonna get you home, okay?"
Will whimpered, and Sam could feel her heard shatter.
"I'm gonna get you home," Mike said again. "Hold on."
He struggled to get Will to stand up, something Dustin noticed and tried helping with. But Mike shook him off quickly.
"I got him! I got him," Mike threw an arm around Will, trying to get Will up the stairs.
The Party members (and Max) stared back at him in surprise at how Mike wasn't letting anyone help out with Will. They were Will's friends, too.
"Mike!" Lucas called desperately, wanting to help and not knowing where the sudden mood change had come from.
"Keep Trick-or-Treating," Mike grunted, turning around with Will under his wing. "I'm bored, anyways."
And then Mike was walking away, getting smaller from their view. Sam, Lucas, Corey, and Dustin shared eye contact that Max luckily hadn't noticed from the way she was looking at Will.
"What's wrong with him?" Max asked concern, facing the Party so that they broke apart from their silent conversation.
Trying to smooth the situation along, Sam shrugged casually, said, "Oh, you know... Mike's just... like that..."
"I wasn't talking about Mike?"
Yeah, Sam knew that.
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Although the whole Will thing had depleted the mood of the night, Sam had still promised Max a sleepover, so that was what she was going to give her. Now, mind you, Sam had never had a sleepover before, so she didn't really know what to do, but she had to be doing something right, because Max hadn't asked to go home just yet.
"I'm sorry about your brother," Sam told Max. The two had been talking away the night, and had landed on the subject of their difficult families. "He sounds like a horrible person to live with."
Max snorted, tilting her head down for a moment. She was lying on Sam's bed stomach down, feet dangling in the air.
"Yeah," she chuckled dryly. "Billy's always been an asshole, but now he's just angry."
Sam had her back on the floor, feet up on the side of her bed. She nodded, understanding completely. Sam didn't think that Uncle Dan... abused... the kids in the house. That was an ugly word. Let's just say he mistreated them.
"I'm sorry about your parents. They sounded like such great people," Max said sincerely, which Sam could tell by the tone in her voice.
Sam bit on her tongue and found herself smiling back, green eyes twinkling under Sam's star string lights. "Yeah, they were..." she trailed off.
It went silent. Not, awkwardly silent, or anything. A comfortable silent. Sam liked this kind of silent. Sam liked having someone to talk to about this kind of stuff. Sam liked Max.
"Hey, who was that guy?" Max questioned randomly.
Sam's eyebrows furrowed from the floor. She did a sort of pull up to look at Max in confusion, asking a strained, "What?"
"That dude you were talking to in the hall earlier," Max explained, referring to Sam and Justin's little thing from the morning. "He was holding onto your—"
"My wrist, yeah," Sam finished for Max, nodding to herself in embarrassment. "Yep. That would be Justin Zimmerman. His friends call him Jay."
Max suddenly peered over the side of Sam's bed to make eye contact with her. She wiggled her eyebrows, "Do you call him Jay?"
Sam sat up abruptly, hoping her face wasn't getting pink. On guard, she asked, "What does that mean?"
Max sent Sam a, 'Really?' look.
"Sam," Max deadpanned, when Sam didn't let up the clueless act. "Be serious. He's totally into you!"
Sam paused. Sam blinked. Then—
She busted out into laughter, shaking her head. Max watched Sam in confusion, wondering what was so funny about the whole ordeal. Sam had to calm down before she could speak again, breathing out to stabilize herself.
"Max, no," Sam shook her head, smiling sadly. "I'm not the kind of girl that guys like Jay are ever actually into... He's probably already dating Carrie Cunningham for all I know."
Max's nose scrunched up in distaste. "That random cheerleader girl?"
Sam laughed at Max's description of her, but ultimately nodded. "Yes. The 'random cheerleader girl.' They've been friends since, like, diapers, because they both live next to each other in Loch Nora — a fact Carrie will never let me forget."
"Okay, well, screw her," Max shrugged as if it were easy. When Sam looked confused, Max continued, "It sounds like Carrie's the problem here, not Justin. So just, you know, forget about her evil ass. I saw the way that guy was looking at you. He likes you."
Sam smiled gratefully at Max. When Max started getting down from Sam's bed, Sam pushed herself back so that her back was against her wall. Now, Max had her back against the side of Sam's bed so the girls could properly stare at each other.
"I don't know..." Sam mumbled in a breath. "Sometimes I think so, then other times..."
For a girl, you're actually really smart.
I wish I sat behind you. That way I could cheat and not have a C anymore.
Hey, being a jock is better than being a weirdo. I mean, did you see the nerds who were dressed up today?
She realized she had yet to finish her statement, as told by Max's expectant look. Sam followed it up with, "Other times he's just weird. I don't know how to explain it."
"Well," Max started, "a wise woman once told me the best people tend to be the weirder ones."
Sam smiled, recalling her first ever interaction with Max.
"Yes, this woman does sound very wise," Sam huffed, referring to herself, although her smile soon fell, afterwards. "But... Jay's a different kind of weird. It's like there's something about him that I haven't figured out, and it's something really important that should, like, determine my whole perspective on him. He's not... He's not like Lucas, or any of them."
Max raised an eyebrow of Sam's choice of words in the last sentence but opted not to comment on it because she'd already pressed Sam about too many middle school boys tonight. So, to change the subject, her eyes moved over to the guitar propped up in the corner of Sam's room.
"I didn't know you could play guitar," Max said.
Sam's head turned up from where her eyes were glued to her lap, following Max's gaze to the acoustic guitar in the corner. She smiled at the sight of it.
"Oh, that was my dad's," Sam began, standing to pick up the guitar before resuming her earlier position across from Max. She set the guitar in her lap like how it should be if she were to play it right now. "He taught me how to play a bunch of instruments when I was younger, but the guitar always just stuck."
Max grinned in excitement at the fun facts about Sam. "That's awesome. I wish I could play an instrument. My dad only ever taught me how to surf."
Sam looked up from how she had been tuning her guitar, sending Max a terrified glance.
"Don't let Lucas or Dustin hear that," she fretted, but her forced-scared demeanor dropped when both of the girls set off in giggles.
"No, that would not be tubular," Max joked with Sam.
Max watched Sam tune the guitar, random plucking a string or two. She wondered how someone could, just, know if a chord was right or wrong just by listening to it. Max figured it just came with a lot of practice. That, or Sam really was a genius, like every was saying.
"All right, so are you playing me something, Hughes, or am I not special?" Max teased, noticing how Sam was just fidgeting with the instrument, but not really doing anything with is.
Sam's gaze that had previously been locked on the guitar looked up at Max, almost as if caught in the act.
"You want me to play?" asked Sam, as if it didn't look exactly like Sam was going to play the guitar. "I've never... I don't play in front of people." Not since Dad, at least.
"Well, I'd be honored to be the witness to Samantha Hughes's first ever concert," grinned Max, fanning her face as if Sam's presence was enough for her to swoon alone.
Sam huffed, amused. "I am definitely not a music artist."
"Would you ever want to be?" Max wondered curiously.
"If I was good," Sam said, looking over her guitar to Max. "Which I'm not."
Max raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Well, I'll be the judge of that."
Sam met Max's eyes, putting the two girls in some sort of silent battle. But, clearly, Max was not going to back down from this. Sam faltered, exhaling out incredulously.
"You really want to hear me play?" Sam wondered suspiciously.
"No, Sam, I'm just pretending—" Max started sarcastically, before cutting herself off. "Yes! I really want to hear you play!"
Sam sighing, finally giving into Max and looking down at her guitar contemplatively.
Then, Sam began to play.
She didn't play the song loud, of course, too afraid Uncle Dan would wake up and storm into Sam's room scarily. But she did, in fact, play. Max was staring, entranced by the strumming of Sam's fingers on the strings. It didn't even look like Sam was meaning to, but she was humming along to the song as she played it. For some reason, Sam felt her eyes stinging with forming tears. Nothing was wrong, it was just... this was her first time playing in front of someone since her dad died. And she certainly hadn't chosen a song to help cheer her up in her grief. She missed him. She just wanted her dad.
Sam sniffled when she was done, and if Max noticed Sam wiping underneath her eyes, she didn't comment on it. She looked back up at Max, a little nervously.
"That was 'Landslide,' right?" Max guessed. "Fleetwood Mac?"
Sam smiled with closed lips, nodding slightly. "Well, yeah, of course it's Fleetwood Mac."
"Hm. I was right."
She eyed Max oddly, wondering, "Right about what?"
"You're really good," Max nodded surely. "And I will be the first person to buy a ticket at Samantha Hughes' second concert."
Sam laughed incredulously, shaking her head as if she'd never quite met someone like Max Mayfield. Finally, she stood to put the guitar back up. Unfortunately, she overestimated her strength, and the instrument slipped right from Sam's hands.
The guitar landed right on Max's knee harshly before Sam could do anything about it.
In unison, Max and Sam held their right knee in pain, hissing, "Ow!"
Max's head whipped up to Sam. She asked, "What are you saying 'ow' for?"
"That hurt!" Sam cried in annoyance, like it should be obvious for Max to know that.
Incredulously, Max snapped, "Me getting hit by the guitar on my knee hurt you?"
And now, Sam finally realized what was so odd about this whole ordeal. She finally got that it was Max who should be in pain, and not Sam in the slightest.
"Um," Sam scrambled for a response, hands still holding her knee until she began eyeing her hands wildly. Then she looked at Max, as if she were a deer stuck in headlights, then back at her knee and hands in a very distressed manner. "I... Uh... I don't..."
"Oh shit, Sam—" Max said, her finger pointing at Sam's nose as her voice became muffled.
Sam blinked, not hearing what Max had said. "What?"
"You're bleeding."
For some reason, Sam looked down at her pants first. Then, she felt a warm substance dripping from her nose. Instinctively, Sam's had snapped up to wipe under her nose, then her hand came away from her face so Sam could look at the deep red color that had now transferred to her hand.
"Your nose is bleeding."
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whaaaaaat? that's weirddddd
samax first sleepover who cheered!
first colorwheel heart-to-heart who cheered!
the gays are winning today (me)
anyways, i wish i knew how to edit to bad y'all i'd have so many edits for this book on tiktok :( maybe i should make a tiktok for my wp stories but they just wouldn't be edits. thoughts?
what'd you think?