TWO: MINOR STALKING

"I HATE THEM," Veronica's voice was horrifyingly bitter as she leaned against Heather's car with her arms crossed. Her eyes were trained on Nancy Wheeler and Steve Harrington who was sitting in the latter's car. Even after everything that happened last year, the two had stayed together throughout the year and it was probably coming up on their one-year anniversary. Despite what Heather had confessed that night, nothing changed. She tried not to be bitter. Veronica was bitter enough for the both of them.

Heather, who slammed her door after getting her bag out, sighed, "Life's too short to focus on the bad. Remember what good ole Danny said a million years ago, just wait for them to fall apart."

"How do you remember that?" Veronica turned to face her best friend, her brow furrowed.

"It's the most profound thing I think my brother has ever said, I think I'm gonna remember it," Heather explained with a shrug. "But Ver, if they don't fall apart, try to enjoy what's left of your senior year, all right? Soon enough we'll be out of here and we won't even remember people like them."

"I think I'm in love with her."

"Oh, you're definitely in love with her. It's been years, Ver, I think it's safe to say this is more than a crush. Most love goes unrequited. It sucks, but at least we have each other, right?"

Veronica sighed, shrugging her shoulders defeatedly, "I guess you're right. God, sometimes I wish you were a lesbian, we would be so amazing together!"

Heather let out an airy laugh. Last year changed her. Something about that one week where nothing made sense made everything she was missing fall perfectly into place. She was more relaxed now, she had a bit of a better sense of optimism. She wasn't with the boy she loved, but she was happy.

"Come on, I gotta grab my math book before class," Heather grabbed her best friend's shoulder slightly, starting to walk towards the school building.

"Wait, wait, I think they're arguing!" Veronica's voice was embarrassingly hopeful, but Heather would be lying if she didn't feel the same way about the couple. They stopped, but after a moment Veronica groaned, "Ugh, they're kissing. Yeah, let's go."

They stopped yet again when there was the sound of an engine revving. They shared a confused look before turning towards the sound. It was a student pulling up very quickly and pulling into a spot while narrowly avoiding hitting a few other students. The door opened and out stepped a leather boot wearing, denim-clad boy with a tragic mullet.

"I think I can smell the douchebag from here," Heather muttered, earning a snicker from Veronica.

"If you squint, you can almost see the rat living in that mullet," Veronica whispered, earning a full-on laugh from Heather. "Ew, look at Carol and her bitches totally ogling him! Girl, he's ugly!"

"Carol will hop on anything with a dick," Heather scoffed, "Come on, let's get to class."

"MEET THE HUMAN BRAIN," said Mister Clarke. The four boys looked on in anticipation while Daniel, who was sitting next to Mike, was practically half asleep. He loved Mister Clarke, he did, but he still had no interest in science. "I know, I know, it doesn't look like much. A little gross even, right? But consider this. There are a hundred billion cells inside of this miracle of evolution. All working as one. No, I did not misspeak, I did not stutter. A hundred billion."

Thankfully, the lesson was cut off by the door slamming closed. Instantly earning everyone's attention, a bored-looking girl with bright red hair walked (more like stormed) into the classroom, followed by the principal.

"Ah, this must be our new student," Mister Clarke said with his signature warm smile.

"Indeed it is," the principal responded, "She's all yours."

The girl tried to walk to the one empty seat in the back but was stopped by the teacher. "All right hold up. You don't get away that easy. Come on up, don't be shy. Dustin, drum roll." Dustin nodded, closing his book and beginning to drum softly on it. "Class, please welcome, all the way from sunny California, the latest passenger to join us on our curiosity voyage, Maxine."

"It's Max," the girl corrected.

"Sorry?"

"Nobody calls me Maxine. It's Max."

The name sounded familiar, but Daniel knew he didn't know a Max. He knew pretty much every kid in his grade and he couldn't figure out where he had heard the name before. Then, it clicked. He and Lucas likely made the same connection as the boy turned and whispered, "Mad Max."

"It can't be," Daniel shook his head.

"What other Max do you know?" Mike interjected.

As Max walked to her seat, all five boys turned around, following her. It made complete sense that she was Mad Max, why wouldn't it? She was probably one of the only people named Max in Hawkins.

This, of course, led to them stalking her during recess. She was on a skateboard and doing small tricks, minding her own business. She had clearly been riding for a while as she seemed to know her way around it. If Daniel ever steps foot on one of those things, he would be kissing the ground in under a minute.

"There's no way she's Mad Max," Mike argued as they all stared through the fence. Mike not-so-subtly had his thumb hooked through Daniel's belt loop, keeping him close.

"Yeah," Will agreed, "Girls don't play video games."

"Maybe, but they can," Daniel suggested, earning a scoff from the Byers boy.

"I've never met one that plays."

"My sister plays sometimes, she's pretty good, too," the curly-haired boy shrugged. It was true, Heather taught him pretty much everything he knows about arcade games.

Lucas sighed, "Well, Heather's the exception."

"Maybe Max is the exception, too," Dustin added with a small smile.

"Yeah, but still, there's no way they'd get 750,000 points on Dig Dug. That's impossible," Mke cut in, squinting at her.

"But her name is Max."

Daniel nodded, agreeing with Lucas. "It makes perfect sense! We've never seen the screen name, Mad Max, before because she only just moved here! Who else would it be?"

"He's right, I mean, the timing is perfect. She shows up the day after our top scores are broken," Dustin nodded along, his eyes never leaving the redhead. It was probably creepy how they were staring, but she made no signs of noticing the boys yet which was good. Daniel didn't want to deal with any embarrassment of being caught staring.

"Exactly!" Lucas insisted, "So she's gotta be Mad Max, gotta be."

"And plus she skateboards, so she's pretty awesome."

"Awesome?" Mike exclaimed in confusion, his voice suddenly louder, "You haven't even spoken a word to her!"

Dustin shrugged, firing back, "I don't even have to. I mean look at her," when he said that they all turned back to look at her but she was gone, "Shit! I've lost the target!"

"Oh, there," Will said, walking away from the fence they were leaning against.

Max was walking up the stairs with her skateboard in her hand, the same neutral expression she always seemed to have on her face. She was easy to spot in a crowd due to her bright hair but other than that it seemed like she was trying extra hard just to blend in. She clearly wasn't happy to be in Hawkins and she definitely didn't seem like she wanted to make any friends. Daniel could understand that. If it wasn't for the four boys, he probably would have wandered the halls of elementary and middle school all by his lonesome. Maybe he would have still thought he liked girls. Funny how things work out like that. Mike's loose hand was warm against his hip, barely touching, but still so obviously there. This could have all been different. He wanted to be someone like that for Max. She seemed like she needed a friend. To Daniel, everyone could use a friend no matter how much they thought they didn't need one.

He was brought out of his daze when he saw Max drop something into the trashcan under the stairs, causing all five boys to run towards it, trying to find what she threw away. Sure, this was a little weird, but all of them were shy so what were they supposed to do? The four boys crowded around the trashcan while Dustin dug through it, awkwardly waving to staring girls who were walking by.

"Got it!" Dusting exclaimed, pulling out a piece of paper. "There we go."

"What does it say?" Daniel asked, more excited than he thought he would be. The girl interested him, she was so obviously more than meets the eye. They rarely ever got new students in Hawkins, so naturally, he was going to be intrigued.

Dustin unfolded the paper excitedly while they all looked on.

'STOP STARING AT ME CREEPS!' said the note.

Dustin sighed once they all read it out loud, "Well, shit."

"William Byers?" came the voice of the principal, causing them all to turn around, "Your mother's here."

( note! )

let's play a game called how many chapters can i get out of episode one of season two