Summer was over, meaning that Max and her friends were going back in the hell that adults liked to call high school. When Max entered the school, she saw Alban and his friends surrounding Beverly against the lockers. The redhead didn't hesitate and ran to them before pushing some of them.
- "What the fuck are you doing!? Leave her alone!"
- "Oh, look who is here! The other redhead! Maybe you wish that your stepfather fucked you too!?" replied Alban.
- "What!? What the fuck are you talking about!?"
- "Everyone knows that this little girl is missing her daddy's dick! We're just helping her to get through this with our daddy's dicks!"
- "Get the fuck out of here, you're disgusting, and I'm not sure you can call yourself a "daddy" when just a slap let you unconscious for almost an entire hour!"
Alban became red of anger and embarrassment while his friends were laughing at him. The blonde teen didn't support to be humiliated like that. He jumped on Max, grabbed her by her jacket, and made her fall on the floor before punching her in her face. Beverly jumped on him, making him fall. Derek, one of his friends, punched Beverly in her stomach, forcing her to bend. Max quickly stood, ignoring the blood running from her nose, and kicked Derek in his balls. The boy fell on the floor, holding his private part. Alban attacked again and took a metal bin to hit Max's back. The redhead fell again, giving Alban an opportunity to punch Bev in her jaw. The girl fell on the floor, completely dazed. The blonde teen began to lose it. He took off his belt and used it to hit the two girls. Even his friends seemed scared by him. Max couldn't believe it; it was like if she was condemned to be whipped with a belt. She rolled on her side and put her body on Bev's to protect her. She didn't know what to do, when it was just Neil, she was completely frozen, not expecting anyone to help her, but here, there were people around, why nobody was moving!? They were certainly as terrified as her. After a few seconds which seemed hours, she heard someone running and yelling at them. Alban stopped whipping them and ran away. She felt two hands on her, but the girl thought it was still one of them.
- "Max, it's me, it's Lucas!"
The redhead gave a quick look at him and felt relieved immediately.
- "Oh my god, Lucas, I'm so happy to see you, you have no idea!"
When she sat, she saw that all her friends were here. Joyce arrived in running near the two girls. Bev was conscious, but she was terrified, she didn't know how they did to know about her father. Lucas helped Max to walk while Mike helped Bev. They brought the two girls in the nursery where Joyce would take care of their wounds.
- "Don't tell Neil, please, since I finished at the police station, he is completely crazy!"
- "I won't, don't worry, if the headmaster needs an adult with you, I'll be here."
- "Thank you..."
- "What happened?" asked Dustin.
- "Alban and his stupid friends were annoying Bev when I arrived about...you know."
- "Oh...I'm sorry..."
Bev nodded with tears in her eyes. Mike noticed that Max was shaking, so he sat next to her and wrapped his arms around her.
- "You ok?" asked the boy.
- "Yeah, just...shaken."
- "How did he know?" frowned Will. "None of us talked about it to anyone, right?"
- "Maybe someone who is not part of us did," told Lucas.
- "Don't accuse Jane with no proofs," intervened Joyce.
- "I'm just telling—"
- "It's not her, I don't think she would have done that," said Max. "Before she came to your house, I saw her at the coffee shop, Alban openly mocked her, so she slapped him and he stayed unconscious for a long moment, I don't think she would have come back to him to tell him that. Even if she could have."
- "I hope it's not her," told the mother.
- "Can I ask you something?"
- "You are wondering why I want to help her?"
- "Um, yeah."
- "Because she needs help."
- "But—"
- "She doesn't want help, I know, it doesn't mean she doesn't need it."
- "Don't expect me to be nice with her."
- "I'm not expecting you anything, it's my job to take care of her, not yours, I know why you don't like her, and I can't blame you for this, I mean, I'm completely mad at her for robbing the Wheeler's house and traumatizing you."
- "And she killed Bev's father," added Dustin.
- "She didn't," answered Bev. "And, is it really a problem now that you know who he was?"
The friends looked at each other not really knowing what to answer. Did Bev's father really deserved to die? But if he wasn't dead, Bev would still be hurt by him, and maybe she would have become depressed and done horrible things to herself. The person who killed him was really to blame? Who were they to judge the situation? Sometimes the victim was not the one they thought.
- "Boys, maybe you should go to class, I'll take care of them, ok?" smiled Joyce.
- "Ok, sure. Thanks mom."
Lucas kissed the two girls' cheeks and left with the other boys. The two redheads stayed quiet while Joyce was putting bandages on their wounds.
- "Beverly, if you need to talk, you know you can come to me, right?"
- "Yeah, thank you," weakly smiled Bev.
- "Take some rest, I'll be in the other room if you need anything, ok?"
- "Yes, thank you again," told Max.
Joyce gave a small caress on each cheek before leaving with a warm smile on her face. The two young girls stayed a moment without talking, thinking of what just happened. Max couldn't stop seeing Neil above her, hitting her with his belt, kicking her until blood, telling her that she was a bitch, a loser, and other things like that.
- "I'm sorry, for not telling you," said Bev in a low voice.
- "No, no, I understand. I'm sorry for not noticing it. I should have...I should have seen it."
- "It's not your fault, maybe I'm just a good...liar."
- "You're not a liar, you were hurt, and I didn't see it, I'm so stupid..."
- "You're not. It's done, no need to blame someone. I just...I feel stupid for missing him, I mean, he was my father, and he wasn't always like that, I mean, sometimes he could be nice...but..."
- "But sometimes he wasn't, and you were his victim. I know that feeling. When Billy disappeared, I missed him too, even if he did everything to be hated, I still missed him because I saw him being broken over the years because of...this asshole that he called a father! Now I hate him for abandoning me with him...I'm sorry, you are the one who is hurt the most, I shouldn't have—"
- "It's ok, you're hurt too, and I'm glad you talk to me. You still have no news of Billy?" asked softly Bev.
- "No, he is certainly dead," sniffed Max.
Beverly grabbed her best friend's hand and squeezed it to comfort her. It had been a while they hadn't spoken from the heart.
- "So, Gary has a floppy dick?" joked Bev.
- "(chuckles) He struggles to get hard, but he will get it, I hope!"
- "You love him?"
- "I don't know, I think I do," smiled Max with a small blush on her cheeks.
- "Then, I'm happy for you, you deserve to be loved."
- "You too."
- "I have the time, it's too complicated to be in a relationship!"
- "Oh yeah, I can't disagree!"
The two friends chuckled. Bev was glad to have Max, at least she could understand a bit more than the others what she was living, she wasn't judging her or thinking she was crazy. Maybe she was, but Max would never tell her. She was supporting her no matter what, and she needed that.