Chapter Text
By the time seventh period English rolled around, Lucas was wishing he’d gone after Max at lunch. It was just that he knew her well enough to know when she was pissed off and wanted to be left alone. Besides, he’d had to have a serious talk with Mike about losing the attitude. Nothing Billy did was in Max’s control, and he knew Mike knew that.
“You gotta stop lashing out at people who aren’t to blame when you’re pissed off,” he’d told his friend, who’d looked away guiltily. He loved Mike. The guy had a huge heart and he’d do anything for any of them. Hell, two years ago he’d literally jumped off a cliff to save Dustin. But he had to learn to control his anger, because it seemed like Max was his go-to person to attack when he was upset and Lucas wasn’t okay with that. He’d been able to tell from the looks on Will and Dustin’s faces they weren’t either, and he was glad.
Max was one of them. She might have been the last to join the party, but that didn’t matter.
He waited right up until a couple minutes before the bell rang before reluctantly taking his seat and watching the door, hoping she wasn’t going to skip. But when she hadn’t shown up ten minutes into class, his heart sank, shoulders slumping.
Goddammit, Mike.
He did his best to pay attention in class as they discussed the first couple chapters of The Scarlet Letter, but he kept glancing at the clock, eager to get out of there and go find his girlfriend and make sure she was at least okay.
He’d grabbed his backpack up off the floor and was making his way toward the door when Marie stepped into his path.
“Hey. Are we still meeting at the library in a few?” she asked with a small smile, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.
Shit. He’d completely forgotten he was supposed to stay after and meet with her to work on their class project. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, I just need to go do something and I’ll meet you there,” he assured her, giving her a quick smile in return.
“Great. See you there,” she called as he moved around her and headed out the door.
He didn’t bother going to his own locker, making a beeline for Max’s instead. He looked around the crowd of students and caught sight of her familiar red hair as she headed for the school exit. He pushed his way through the throng of people. “Max! Wait!”
Either she didn’t hear him, or she was still pissed in general and ignoring him, but he was giving her the benefit of the doubt in the noisy hall as he rushed toward her, finally catching up to her as she made it outside. He reached out and caught her arm but she quickly yanked it away like he’d burned her. “Max?” Her face was pale, and he was sure he wasn’t imagining the tear tracks down her cheeks even though she wouldn’t meet his eyes. All the air left his lungs. “Hey. Hey, what happened? Where’ve you been?”
“I don’t wanna talk about it.” Her voice was so hushed he barely heard her and his eyebrows furrowed, trying to figure out what was going on.
“Did you and Mike fight again?” Because if they had, he was going to have to punch Mike.
“No. I have to go.” She turned away from him, moving to head down the steps.
“Max, wait.” He followed her quickly, shaking his head. “What’s going on?”
“You need to get away from me, Lucas.” There was no hint of kidding in her voice and he stared at her for a moment.
“What are you talking about?”
She finally looked up at him, her blue eyes locking with his brown ones. “Just go meet with Marie and work on your project.”
Lucas felt like she’d yanked the hypothetical rug out from under his feet. “Max.”
She didn’t answer him as she turned and headed toward the parking lot where Billy was waiting, arms folded across his chest as he leaned against the driver’s side of his camaro, glaring at him from less than a few yards away.
***
“You’re late.”
Max didn’t bother responding to Billy’s comment as she moved around the car to get into the passenger seat, bag resting on her lap as she closed the door. She didn’t look at him when he climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine and threw the car into reverse, backing up and then speeding out of the parking lot of the school.
“Open your legs,” he said, reaching out to put his hand on her thigh.
“No.”
Billy turned his head to look at her, clearly thrown by her response. “Excuse me?”
“I said no.” Her voice was shakier than she wanted it to be, but it was firmer than she’d expected. She clutched a little more tightly onto her bookbag.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” His voice was low, full of warning.
Right then, she didn’t care what her punishment was going to be for disobeying him. “Tell your friend Tommy to stay the fuck away from me.”
That got his attention. Wordlessly he jerked the steering wheel to the right, pulling the camaro off the road and shoving it into park. “What?”
She turned her head to glare at him, hot tears stinging her eyes. “You fucking heard me!” Max picked up her bookbag and shoved it at him before reaching for the door handle and climbing out of the car, leaving him sitting in the seat in stunned silence, at least for a few seconds before he hauled himself out of the driver’s seat and slammed the door.
“Did he touch you?” His voice was hard, demanding.
A bubble of laughter devoid of any humor rose up within her. “Why wouldn’t he? You let him on Friday, right?”
For the first time in a long time, Billy actually looked like he wasn’t sure what to say or do. Good. It was about time the shoe was on the other foot.
“What did you give me?” she asked.
“What?”
“What did you give me to knock me unconscious so you and your friend could rape me?” she demanded. “I know you gave me something! What was it?”
“I didn’t --”
“BULLSHIT!” She grabbed a small rock off the side of the road, hurling it at him and feeling momentarily satisfied when it slammed into his chest, catching him off guard. “What did you drug me with?”
“I didn’t!” His voice rose. “That was Tommy’s idea.”
Max grabbed another rock, glaring at him even as he backed up a couple steps, holding his hands up. “And you let him!” This time, she heaved the rock at his windshield. It didn’t shatter, didn’t even crack, but it bounced off and landed on the hood of the car.
“Knock it off, Max!” he barked.
“Fuck you!” She kicked the front bumper, which would have been more effective if she’d been wearing something aside from flats.
He rounded the car, moving toward her.
“Stay back,” she ordered, a little thrill going through her when he stopped in his tracks.
“I didn’t have a choice with Tommy,” Billy told her, staring at her intently. “He saw us at school last week. In the science lab.”
“And whose fucking fault was that? I didn’t ask you to yank me into a room and rape me at school!”
His jaw tightened. “Rape?” he echoed, taking a step toward her, disbelief in his tone. “It’s not rape when you get off on it, Max.”
It felt like he’d knocked the wind out of her, all the color draining from her face as she stared back at him.
“And let’s face it, you always get off on it.” Billy took another step closer.
Shame flooded her veins because she knew that was much was true. Her breathing was uneven and she took a step back away from him before turning and stalking away.
“Where the fuck are you going? Get in the car!” he yelled after her.
“Go to hell!” she shouted, flipping him off over her shoulder as she kept going. He didn’t come after her.
And Max didn’t look back.
***
It was a slow night in Hawkins.
Steve had already finished up the little bit of paperwork he’d needed to do to wrap up the day and he still had almost two hours before his shift was over. Hopper had long since gone home, so he was there by himself, which was lonely in addition to boring. So when the little bell above the door jingled to alert him to someone’s presence, Steve perked up quickly.
He paused when he spotted Max standing just inside, looking wary and uncertain, like she wasn’t sure she should be there. It was weird considering how she’d never hesitated to barge right into places - his apartment included, at times - with the utmost confidence. Then again she hadn’t visited his place in weeks. Months, maybe. Christ. Had it really been that long?
“Max?”
She flinched slightly at the sound of his voice and Steve frowned. “Hey.”
It took him a moment to realize she had on a skirt and come to think of it, she had the day of the carnival a few weeks ago, too. He was pretty sure he’d never seen her in a skirt before then. “What’s up?” He watched her wind her arms around herself, then shrug as she moved farther into the station, closer to the front desk.
“Nothing. Just thought I’d say hi.”
Steve narrowed his eyes at her. “You never drop in just to say hi.”
“I have, too.” There was the barest hint of defensiveness in her tone.
“Not since I first started.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been busy and tonight I’m not, okay?”
He stared for a moment, then shrugged even though he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going on. That something was wrong. It was Hawkins, after all. When wasn’t something wrong? Granted. It had been well over a year since the last incident with the Upside Down, but he still felt like he was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. He had a feeling they all were.
“Okay,” he said finally. “In that case, make yourself comfortable. I’ll get you a soda.” It didn’t occur to him that giving a teenager soda at ten o’clock at night probably wasn’t a great idea. Then again no one had ever accused him of having great ideas to begin with. He rose to his feet even as she moved around the desk to sit down in the empty chair beside his, watched her curl her legs up beneath her, skirt covering her knees. Then he headed toward the break area, grabbing a cold Pepsi bottle out of the fridge and returning to the front, holding it out to her.
She took it, but stared at it for a long moment, eyebrows furrowed as if she was trying to remember something.
“Max?” he prompted finally as he sat down beside her. She didn’t answer, and he felt something in his chest tighten. He leaned a little closer to her, waving his hand in front of her face and withdrawing quickly when she recoiled.
She set the bottle down on the desk, wrapping her arms around herself once more. “Are you busy?”
“No,” he answered sincerely. “And even if I was, I told you before, I’m never too busy for you or any of the others.” Steve watched as her lower lip trembled and for one horrifying moment, he was sure she was going to start crying. Something was definitely wrong. “Max. What happened?”
Max looked up at him, and sure enough, her eyes were full of unshed tears and he’d never seen her that close to crying before. Still, she seemed to be considering filling him in on whatever it was and he leaned forward unconsciously, ready to go pummel whoever it was that had her this upset. “I can’t,” she whispered, dropping her gaze.
“Why not?”
“Because you’d make it into a big thing and I can’t --” She bit down hard on her lower lip, shaking her head.
“Make what into a big thing?” he asked, confused. When she didn’t answer, Steve started going over various scenarios in his mind. “Did you and Lucas break up?”
“No.”
“Did you and one of the assholes have a fight?”
“Yes, but it’s whatever. I don’t care.” Her tone of voice spoke to the exact opposite of the sentiment she’d just voiced.
“Mike?” he guessed.
“He’s pretty much the only one I ever fight with, so, yeah. But that’s not...it doesn’t really have anything to do with…” She waved a hand vaguely but fell silent once more.
“Are you sure? Cause I’ll go smack him upside the head right now if you want,” he offered, only half-kidding. She almost smiled at that and he grinned momentarily before it faded and he gazed at her intently. “Seriously, Max, you can talk to me.”
“Can I crash on your couch tonight? I don’t wanna go home.”
Steve sat back in his seat, keeping his eyes on her. “Yeah, of course.” Not that he’d let her take the couch, but if she said she didn’t wanna go home, he knew she had a damned good reason. He knew her family wasn’t the most stable or healthy - hell. His wasn’t either. His father stopped talking to him the same day he’d announced he was going to be a police officer. But Max’s family was even less stable than his own, and that was saying something. “But you gotta call your mom at least and tell her you’re not coming home.”
She didn’t argue, simply reached for the phone and dialed, pressing the phone to her ear and waiting. “Mom? Hey. No, no, I’m fine. Sorry. I’ve been studying with Jane and we lost track of time. I think I’m just gonna crash over here tonight.” She paused, glancing at him when he raised his eyebrows and then rolling her eyes. “Of course, the chief’s fine with it. I will. Thanks. Bye,” she said after a moment, then hung up the phone.
“Crashing at Jane’s, huh?”
She rolled her eyes again. “Sounds less suspicious than Hey, Mom, I’m sleeping over at my friend Steve’s tonight.”
He winced at that. “Right.” He leaned back in his chair, rocking it back and forth with his foot. “Did you eat dinner?”
A guilty look flashed across her features and he sighed.
“I didn’t think so. I have leftover Chinese in the back if you’re interested.”
That got a tiny smile out of her. “Thanks, Steve.” She slowly unfurled herself from the ball she’d been curled into and rose to her feet before heading toward the break room.
Maybe she didn’t feel like she could tell him whatever it was that was going on, but he could at least give her a safe place to stay for the night, where he could keep an eye on her. Maybe she’d eventually open up and he could really help her somehow. He hoped so.
***
Max was tempted to see if Steve would let her skip school Thursday, but she knew even he had limitations of what he’d allow without asking a lot more questions than he had. He’d tried a couple of times last night, and she’d simply told him that things around her place had been rough for awhile and she just wanted a break. He’d dropped it quickly, satisfied with the answer. She had exactly one outfit she left at his apartment on nights the party would crash there - which hadn’t really happened since last summer - but it was better than going to school in the same sweater and skirt she’d worn the day before.
She’d pulled on the spare jeans and socks, the long-sleeved green shirt, and then Steve had driven her to school, her hair still damp from the shower. She’d refused breakfast; her stomach was in knots anticipating seeing both Billy and Tommy and wondering how she was going to get through the day without getting into trouble with one of them.
When she stepped into the school hallway, she could have sworn a hush fell over the student body, several of them turning to stare at her and she looked down to make sure she didn’t have her shirt on backwards or inside out or something. The people in Hawkins were far more concerned about that sort of thing than anyone in Irvine ever had been. But her shirt was fine, and her jeans were buttoned and zipped so she did her best to ignore the others the way she normally did, avoiding eye contact with Will as she passed.
“Max, wait,” he called, but she didn’t stop.
Max made her way to her locker, freezing in place at the sight of the graffiti that decorated the metallic door.
In bright red spray paint someone had scrawled the word Slut.
***
“People are jerks.”
Max drew in a slow, deep breath and exhaled as Dustin sat down beside her at the lab table in first period AP Bio. She didn’t look at him.
“It was probably Troy and James,” he whispered. “They’re definitely the type to graffiti someone’s locker.”
“I don’t care,” she said, voice flat. She leaned back in her chair, folding her arms over her chest.
“Oh. Okay, that’s good. Cause it’s not worth your time. They’re assholes.”
“I know.” She didn’t want to talk to Dustin, didn’t want to talk to anyone. Truth be told, she felt more exhausted today than she had been the last few days and she just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. Maybe she’d get really lucky and not wake up. She was sure she wouldn’t ever be that lucky, though. Not with Billy around.
“And Mike’s really sorry about yesterday. He was being a total dumbass. He knows none of that shit’s your fault. He’s gonna apologize later, you know, because he drew first blood. Metaphorically anyway.”
She closed her eyes, trying to tune him out. She was relieved when Mrs. Allen stepped into the room and class began. She slumped down in her seat, doing her best to pay attention when she couldn’t bring herself to care in the least about what was being taught.
***
“All right, Ladies. Since we’re rapidly approaching the end of the school year, today we’ll be playing a longtime favorite of mine,” Coach Baker announced as she moved to the far corner of the gym, toward the cage of assorted colorful balls. “Dodgeball.”
“What’s dodgeball?” Jane whispered from where she sat beside Max on the gym floor.
Max glanced at her, and then back at Coach Baker. “You get divided into two teams and the other team throws balls at you. You try to dodge them. If you get hit, you’re out of the game.”
The brunette frowned deeply, clearly perturbed by the idea, and Max didn’t really blame her even if she’d always been pretty good at dodgeball.
“Just stay toward the back. They’ll have a harder time hitting you back there,” Max assured her and Jane smiled a little, nodding.
“All right. Two teams. Everyone up!” Coach Baker yelled as girls scrambled to the other side of the gym, leaving Max, Jane, and a handful of others where they were. There was a disproportionate number of people on the other team and she grimaced as she rose to her feet, glancing at Jane sideways while the coach started tossing balls out to everyone. Max caught one easily and handed it to the other girl, then caught another one as it was thrown to her.
“Play ball!”
It didn’t take Max long to figure out that she was Enemy Number One, as nearly every girl on the other team aimed right at her. She managed to dart away from several, and she moved toward the back of the gym to get some distance even as she hurled her own ball across the line, hitting some random girl whose name she didn’t know.
“Whore,” she heard the girl mutter as she moved to sit on the bleachers.
“Excuse me?” She was so distracted by the girl’s utterance that she missed the ball hurled straight at her head. It hit her with such force she stumbled backwards into the gym wall, wincing as several more pummeled her at once.
Jane moved quickly, standing in front of her and shielding her from another round that came hurtling toward her, knocking them away with her hands, and Max suspected, her powers. She was glaring at the other girls now, blood dripping down her nose as she heaved a ball across the gym and knocked another girl down.
“Mayfield! On the bleachers! You’re out!” Coach Baker shouted.
“Are you okay?”
Max drew in a breath and looked at Jane, who caught one of the balls hurled in her direction. “Yeah. Fortunately these don’t really hurt that much.” She shrugged. “Thanks.” She headed over to the bleachers, casting a wary look at the other girls who were already seated there.
One of them, a blonde she really know, leaned toward her a little. “I can’t believe you did that to Carol,” she whispered.
Her eyebrows furrowed and she looked over at her. “What?”
“Oh, stop playing innocent. Everyone knows you screwed Tommy yesterday,” she hissed.
She felt the color drain from her face and she said the only possible thing she could think to say. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you don’t. Slut.” There was disgust on the blonde’s face. She looked over to the other girls she was sitting with and they began having a hushed conversation.
Max swallowed heavily, doing her best to ignore the panic she felt welling up within her. It was quickly becoming obvious to her what had happened. She couldn’t lose her cool in front of these girls because that would just make everything even worse. She sat stiffly on the bleachers, lips pressed tightly together, head held up as high as she could manage.
***
She hated home-ec.
She hated that she’d been forced to take home-ec instead of something more useful like shop class. She already knew how to cook. She didn’t think it was fair that the girls were expected to do all the work around the house, had never bought into the sexist bullshit that Neil had been spoon-feeding her mom since they’d gotten married.
Still. Fourth hour found her standing over one of the stoves in the home-ec room, hair tied back in a ponytail to keep it out of her face as she focused on making a pot of vegetable soup and doing her best to ignore the fact that the other girls in the class kept looking over at her and whispering at their own stations.
“...desperate to be popular.”
“Slut.”
She drew in a breath and exhaled slowly before moving over to the station beside her and staring intently at the trio of girls. “Maybe instead of making assumptions about people you don’t really know you should shut your mouths and pay attention to what you’re doing.”
“Excuse me?” one of them asked, wide-eyed.
“Your pot’s boiling over,” Max said matter-of-factly, arching her eyebrows as soup bubbled over the top and spilled down the sides, trying not to smirk as they moved quickly to turn the fire down beneath their concoction and clean up the mess. She turned to move back to her own stove but she suddenly found herself face to face with Carol.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” she whispered, eyes alit with fury.
“I don’t know what it is you think happened, but - “
“The whole school knows what happened,” Carol snapped. “But let me tell you this, Maxine. You shouldn’t have slept with my boyfriend. You could have picked any other guy in this school but you went after Tommy.” She leaned in closer, dropping her voice to a whisper once more as the teacher looked over. “You’re gonna live to regret ever crossing me.”
Max said nothing as the other redhead glared at her for a moment before turning and stomping out of the classroom.
By now even the teacher, Mrs. Burch, was staring at her.
“Oh screw this,” she mumbled, untying her apron and tossing it onto the counter before she, too, headed for the door.
“Miss Mayfield! Come back here!”
She ignored her as she exited the classroom without looking back.
***
Skipping lunch wasn’t a hard decision to make considering she had exactly no appetite. She hadn’t seen any of her friends since earlier in the day and she was sure by now they’d probably all heard the rumors floating around, and she dreaded coming face to face with any of them. Dreaded facing Lucas. She had no idea what to say to him. He wouldn’t believe it, probably. He trusted her and she didn’t doubt that. But she knew her behavior lately had been stranger than usual even from her own perspective.
He knew something wasn’t right. He knew her too well to believe anything else.
Raking a hand through her hair, she made her way into the library and toward her back corner, freezing in place when her gaze landed on Will, who was sitting in the chair beside the one she always sat in.
“Hey,” he greeted, offering her a small smile even as he pulled a sandwich out of his crumpled paper lunch sack.
Max stared at him for a moment. “What are you doing?”
“Eating lunch here with you,” he explained with a shrug.
“Why?” Her fingers tightened around her backpack straps involuntarily, chest feeling tight.
“Because you’re my friend,” he said simply, motioning to the chair beside him.
She chewed her lower lip and then slowly moved to sit down, curling her legs up beneath her and watching as he unwrapped his sandwich and promptly offered her half of it. She shook her head, stomach turning. “No thanks.”
Will studied her for a moment, but set half the sandwich atop the bag on the table and took a small bite of the other half. “A lot of people here are jerks,” he said, voice dropping.
A short laugh escaped her involuntarily. “Yeah.” The irony was that aside from a couple of people before today - not including Billy, of course - overall Max hadn’t really had any trouble with other students. But wasn’t that just how fast life could change? In a few short hours your entire life could be upended. She’d known that for a long time now.
“Are you okay?”
Max didn’t look at him even as she struggled to assure him she was fine.
“It’s okay if you’re not, Max,” he whispered. “I get it.”
She knew he did, to a degree. Will Byers had been subject to bullying for most of his life in one way or another. Not just from peers, but his dad when he was younger. She hoped to God he never had to deal with the kind of shit she was dealing with currently. She started when he reached out and laid a hand on her arm, but she didn’t pull away.
“Can I crash at your place tonight?” Her voice was barely audible, and she hated herself for how weak and pathetic she sounded, even if it was just in front of Will.
“Yeah, of course,” he whispered back, squeezing her arm gently.
One of the things she loved the most about Will was his tendency to not ask a lot of questions because he felt like he was prying. He just got it. She drew in a breath and nodded, meeting his eyes for a moment. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
She knew he meant it.
***
Fridays used to be something Max would look forward to, but today definitely didn’t count. There was nothing to look forward to about today, and especially not another day of school. The one and only saving grace was that there were only a few more weeks of school. She could get through it. Tommy and Billy would both graduate, Billy would leave town, and with any luck she could put the entire last year behind her and never look back. It would seem like just one big nightmare and she’d finally wake up and be free.
She made her way into the school side by side with Will, studiously ignoring the looks from people she’d never even talked to as she made her way to her locker, pausing when she found it had been scrubbed free of the slur that had been there yesterday. She glanced at Will questioningly and he gave her a tiny smile, shrugging.
“Some people are assholes. But other people are your friends,” he told her before heading down the hall to his own locker. She watched him go with the faintest hint of a smile on her lips as she turned to get her books out for first period.
“Hey.”
She glanced to the right and held her breath as Lucas approached. It was the first time she’d seen him since the day before yesterday, since she’d skipped seventh period yesterday. “Hey,” she said, fiddling with the lock on her locker.
“Let’s talk at lunch, okay? Just you and me?” He laid a hand on her arm almost hesitantly and she remembered how she’d pulled away from him the last time they’d talked, and guilt flooded her.
“Okay,” she agreed, closing her eyes when he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“Ignore these people, Max,” he whispered into her ear. “You’re better than them.” And then he was heading away, and she was pretty sure he’d just taken a little bigger piece of her heart with him.
***
The only thing good about the four hours before lunch was that they didn’t play dodgeball in p.e. again. Instead, she’d nearly had her head taken off by a spiked volleyball but Jane had shoved her out of the way with her powers just in time. She wasn’t really sure why the other girl was suddenly on her side of anything, regardless of Mike’s words a few weeks ago that Jane liked her and just didn’t know how to talk to her.
She got a detention for walking out of home-ec the day before, but she wasn’t too worried about it. It wasn’t like her mom kept tabs on what she was doing. Billy, on the other hand, might present a problem. But she was sick and tired of dealing with Billy and his issues, was at the end of her rope with anger and frustration aimed mostly at him.
Max found a note in her locker from Lucas telling her he’d meet her in the courtyard at one of the picnic tables, so she left her bag in her locker, bringing only a notebook and a pencil as she made her way outside, glancing around. She didn’t see him anywhere, yet, so she made her way to the picnic table the farthest away and sat down, flipping her notebook open and doodling idly, something she’d found herself doing more and more often - probably because of Will.
She started sketching out a palm tree on a blank piece of paper, trying to make it as real as she could even if it looked nothing like she wanted it to. She was so caught up in what she was doing, she didn’t even notice someone approaching her until the bench shifted. She looked up, expecting to see Lucas and her eyes narrowed when she saw Troy instead.
“What do you want?”
“I figured we should talk about our project for English. I wanted to talk to you yesterday but you weren’t in class,” he said, and for the first time since she’d met him, he actually seemed like he was trying to be nice. Something was very wrong.
“Right.” She’d forgotten all about the stupid project. She drew in a breath, not thrilled in the least to have her grades depend on Troy of all people. She assumed she’d be doing all the work and he’d benefit from it. Except she cared less and less all the time about things like grades. In the long term, they seemed pretty pointless.
“Also…” Troy glanced around and then shifted closer to her. “Listen. That shit at the carnival a few weeks ago. I was out of line.”
“Yeah, you were,” she agreed, narrowing her eyes and wondering what it was he was aiming for by being nice to her.
When his hand rested on her thigh it all made perfect sense.
“I heard you’re up for a good time,” he said with a smile. “I thought that might be a good way to start off this partnership.”
Before she even realized what she was doing, she’d picked up her pencil and jammed it pointy-end down through his other hand that was resting on the tabletop.
Troy howled in pain, yanking his hand free and falling backwards off the bench, garnering the attention of everyone around as she rose to her feet, heart pounding hard against her chest.
“Don’t ever touch me again,” she snapped.
“Max?” She turned at the sound of Lucas’ voice, relief washing over her at the sight of his familiar face. She moved toward him, only to be intercepted by Mrs. Burch.
“Ms. Mayfield! Principal’s office! Now! Mr. Ellis, are you all right?” She quickly moved to Troy’s side.
“She stabbed me with her pencil!” He was still whimpering, clutching his injured hand to his chest.
“What did you do to her?” Lucas demanded, glaring at him and moving to stand beside her, reaching for her hand and weaving his fingers through hers.
Mrs. Hardy glanced at them over her shoulder. “Move, Ms. Mayfield. That isn’t a suggestion,” she said harshly, pointing toward the building.
She clutched tightly onto Lucas’ hand for a moment, then let go and stalked toward the building, angry tears prickling at her eyes. Lucas caught up with her quickly. “What did he do?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she muttered. It never did, did it? At the end of the day she was still the one getting in trouble.
“It matters to me.”
Max let him open the door for her, let him walk with her toward the principal’s office, but she didn’t answer his question. If she told him, he’d get even more upset, and maybe he’d confront Troy and then he’d wind up getting hurt because of her. Wasn’t that always how this was going to end? One way or another, Lucas was going to get hurt because of her.
“Max.” He stopped her right before they reached the office.
She tried to smile but couldn’t, just shaking her head.
“Did he say something to you? About that stupid rumor about Tommy?” he whispered, moving so he was in front of her.
“Let it go, Lucas,” she said quietly, meeting his eyes for a moment before reaching for the doorknob and heading into the principal’s office to await her punishment.
***
Max slumped in a chair outside the principal’s office as her mom and Neil spoke with Mrs. Burch and Principal Snyder an hour later. She’d pleaded with the former not to call them, but considering the “severity of her actions,” they had no choice. She waited with her arms folded across her chest as they all spoke with Troy and his mother, as well. She wasn’t even given the chance to defend herself.
And now she was waiting the inevitable fallout that she knew was coming her way. Neil had never taken his anger out on her before - at least nothing aside from yelling at her a couple of times - but she was also pretty sure whatever he did to her would pale in comparison to what she’d already gone through. Her mom certainly wouldn’t step in, she was sure. She didn’t want to have two failed marriages under her belt.
Max let her eyes close, focused on steeling her nerves against whatever punishment was in her future. She’d dealt with Billy. She could deal with his dad. All she had to do was survive. She’d been doing that now for as long as she could remember.
It wasn’t until Hopper stepped into the secretary’s office that her stomach dropped and she stared up at him with wide eyes.
“Max,” he greeted, staring at her for a minute before his gaze flickered to Principal Snyder’s door.
“Chief,” she returned, trying not to squirm. His lips pulled into a frown as he approached the door, knocking once and then opening it and stepping inside.
Shit. Shit.
She strained to hear what was being said, but could only catch bits and pieces. “So you haven’t even asked her what happened?” There was skepticism in Hopper’s voice and she bit her lip, trying not to get her hopes up that he’d be on her side just because they’d faced demodogs together a year ago.
Hopper stepped back out and motioned to her. “Come in here, Kid,” he said gruffly.
Swallowing hard, Max pushed herself to her feet, sure that her face was drained of all color. Her palms began to sweat.
The look that her mom gave her was a mixture of shock and disappointment. The look on Neil’s face was blank, but she could read the tension in his jaw.
Troy and his mother both glared at her, Troy’s now bandaged hand held tightly against his stomach. Mrs. Burch looked disgusted.
The only one who wasn’t actively looking like they wished she’d sink into the earth and disappear was Hopper.
“Have a seat, Ms. Mayfield,” Snyder told her, motioning to the empty chair on Neil’s other side.
She took it wordlessly, doing her best not to look at any of them, but Hopper moved to stand on the other side of her, leaning against the wall so he could see everyone at once.
“All right, why don’t you tell us what made you stab a fellow student with a pencil?” Snyder asked, leaning back in his chair and staring at her with narrowed eyes.
She drew in a slow, deep breath, barely resisting the urge to look at the chief. “Troy came over and sat down beside me and then he proceeded to put his hand on my leg and suggest we have sex before starting on our English project,” she said, gripping onto the arms of the chair.
“That’s not true. My son would never put his hands on a girl without permission,” Mrs. Ellis said, shaking her head.
“With all due respect, Mrs. Ellis,” Hopper said, arching his eyebrows. “Unless you were there, your opinion is just that.”
She scowled.
“Mr. Ellis?”
“She seemed into it,” Troy said with a shrug. “I guess I read the signals wrong.”
“The signals?” Mrs. Burch questioned, looking between the two of them.
“When I asked her if she wanted to make out, she leaned in like she was going to kiss me.”
Fury bubbled over and Max glared at him with every ounce of anger and hatred flowing through her veins. “You’re a fucking liar!”
“Maxine!” Neil’s voice was sharp.
“That kind of language is uncalled for and will absolutely not be tolerated, Ms. Mayfield,” Principal Snyder said firmly.
“I’m sorry if I read you wrong,” Troy said, looking over at her.
“I wouldn’t kiss you if you were the only boy left on the planet, you racist dirtbag,” she snapped.
“All right, that’s quite enough out of you,” Mrs. Burch scolded. “Regardless of how it happened, when you send mixed signals to someone, you shouldn’t be surprised when they take it a step farther, Maxine.”
“There were no mixed signals!” Max responded, jaw tightening. “If he doesn’t want to get stabbed he needs to keep his hands to himself!”
“I want her arrested,” Mrs. Ellis said, her face red as she pointed at Max.
“On what grounds?” Hopper’s eyebrows quirked. “He just corroborated Max’s version of events. I got a kid her age. If someone put their hands on Jane without her permission, I’d hope she’d do the same thing.”
It was a struggle for Max not to smirk at that. Jane would have done a lot worse, and they both knew it.
“Says the biggest womanizer in Hawkins,” Mrs. Ellis muttered.
“What was that?” Hopper asked, eyebrows rising higher as he peered over at her. She fell silent, lips pressed tightly together. “Thought so.”
“So you aren’t going to arrest her?” Neil asked, studying Hopper.
“I’m tempted to give her a brand new box of pencils,” he responded, folding his arms across his chest.
“Well.” Snyder didn’t look impressed by that, but there wasn’t much he could do. “We can’t have students stabbing other students so I’m afraid that you won’t be getting off the hook here as easily. You’re suspended for the rest of the day, Ms. Mayfield.”
“And what about him?” Hopper asked, nodding toward Troy. “What’s his punishment?”
“I think he’s been punished quite enough, considering his injury, don’t you?” Mrs. Burch asked.
“Actually, no, I don’t,” he responded, glancing at Max momentarily.
“He’ll serve detention next Friday after school, once he’s healed up more. Ms. Mayfield, We’ll see you on Monday,” Principal Snyder said, giving her a meaningful look. “Hopefully when you return, you won’t be causing anymore trouble.”
Max said nothing as she rose to her feet, avoiding Hopper’s eyes as she did so.
“She won’t. Isn’t that right, Maxine?” Neil’s eyes were icy as he stared up at her.
“Yes, Sir,” she mumbled before following her mom out of the office and down the hallway, passing Mike at his locker on the way. His eyes were wide, worried as she walked by him, arms wrapped around herself. She couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes, either.
“We’re going to have a long talk when we get home,” her mom told her, voice hushed as she led the way out of the building.
Max remained silent. If a long talk was the worst thing she was facing, she had nothing to worry about. But she knew better.
“Mrs. Hargrove? Mr. Hargrove?”
Max turned at the familiar voice and nausea washed over her when she spotted Carol approaching. All the air rushed out of her lungs as actual fear set in.
“Yes?” Neil turned to face the senior.
“Can I speak with the two of you about something please? It’s important.” Carol cast a thinly veiled smirk at Max.
“We should go,” Max urged quietly, looking at her mom with pleading eyes.
“In a minute. Go get in the car, Max.” Her mother held the keys out to her.
When she hesitated, Neil snapped at her. “Maxine, go. You’re in enough trouble already.”
Wordlessly she took the keys from her mom and headed out of the building. She contemplated tossing the keys and making a run for it.
She knew enough to know not even she could zoom away from the inevitable.
***
Max sat wordlessly on the sofa beside her mother as Neil paced the length of the living room in front of them. Neither of them had spoken a word to her the entire way home from the school, but Neil’s face had been bright red when he’d climbed into the car and he’d gripped onto the steering wheel so tightly she was sure he’d break his fingers.
“I think we can all agree that since we’ve become family, I’ve treated you with fairness and respect,” he began finally and she bit down hard on her lower lip, studiously not looking at him as he started to speak. “I’ve tried to be a good stepfather to you. To give you the stable home you’d never had before.”
It took every ounce of willpower she had not to lift her eyes and stare at him in disbelief at that. Her home, her life had been plenty stable right up until the moment Neil Hargrove entered the picture and wrecked it all.
“I haven’t asked anything of you. I’ve provided for you and your mother. I make sure there’s food on the table and that you have clothes on your back. You’ve had it made, Maxine, and in return...this is what you do? Embarrass me? Embarrass this family by having sex with random boys like some street whore?”
Beside her, her mother flinched but said nothing and Max bit down hard on her tongue. There wasn’t anything she could say, because it didn’t matter what she said. He wouldn’t believe her anyway. It was best to just keep quiet and let him berate her until he was done rather than open her mouth and make it worse.
“Apparently I approached all of this the wrong way. Apparently you need more rules and discipline to keep you out of trouble. So there won’t be anymore sleepovers with friends or late night study sessions that aren’t here where we can keep an eye on you. You are grounded for the summer.”
Neil stopped pacing and stood in front of her. “Get up, Maxine.” She rose to her feet, not even surprised when he reached for his belt buckle and began to undo it. “Bend over the couch.”
Her mom rose to her feet, as well, turning and leaving the room wordlessly, not wanting to be witness to what was about to happen.
Max did as he ordered, bracing her hands against the back of the sofa. The one bittersweet victory out of all of this for her was that, rather ironically - thanks to Billy, she didn’t give Neil the satisfaction of crying as he beat her.
***
It didn’t take long for the news about what happened at lunch with Max to get around school. By the time the final hour of the day rolled around, Billy had heard at least eight different versions of what happened. To say he was pissed off would be an understatement. Troy had been taken to the hospital, and Billy’s dad and bitch stepmom had been called to pick up Max. Word had it that she’d been suspended for three days for stabbing Troy with a pencil. Something the little shit probably had coming.
He could only imagine what his dad’s reaction to all of it had been. Nothing good. But considering Max hadn’t spent the night at home the last two nights, it was difficult for him to feel bad for her. One way or another, she was going to learn her lesson this time.
“Hey, Billy.” Tommy’s voice was cheerful. Too cheerful, considering he was to blame for all of this.
Still. He was going to get what was coming to him. Billy just had to be smart about it. “Hey,” he greeted casually, glancing at him and shutting his locker.
“Plans for the weekend?”
“Nah. You?”
“No. Carol’s still pissed at me.” He shrugged.
“Wanna grab some beers and see what kind of trouble we can get into?” Billy suggested.
“Hell yeah.”
Tommy was probably hoping said trouble involved Max. It did, just not the way his friend thought.
“Great.” He pulled his cigarette pack out as he made his way toward the car, watching as Tommy slid into the passenger side of the car without reservation. Billy glanced around before getting into the driver’s seat and starting the car, eyes darker than usual. Anticipating.
Tommy had no idea about the loaded gun in his glove compartment.
***
Somewhere around 2 in the morning, Max woke up covered in sweat, sick to her stomach and clutching her abdomen from cramps that were so severe she felt like she was dying. She wanted to call out for her mom. To tell her something was wrong. Her period cramps were never this bad. Her back ached like someone had hit her with something more solid than a belt.
It took her almost a half an hour before she was able to uncurl from fetal position and reach out to turn on her bedside lamp, and when she did, she closed her eyes quickly, wincing at the sudden brightness. When she was finally able to see normally, she was horrified by the amount of blood staining the sheets.
She made her way into the bathroom as quickly as she could, blood still running down her legs as she closed and locked the door behind her, flipping on the light and rummaging through the closet until she found her supply of pads. She cleaned herself up as best she could before putting on fresh underwear and the sanitary napkin.
By the time she’d managed to change her bedsheets, blood had soaked through the pad, her cramps even worse than before. The nausea intensified and she barely made it back to the bathroom before throwing up.
Max laid down on the cool linoleum, closing her eyes and panting for breath as sweat drenched her and matted her red hair to her pale skin. She clutched onto her stomach and tried to breathe through the intensity of the pain without screaming. Tears streamed silently down her face as she prayed to any god that would listen to just let her die.