the positivity club

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

During recess, while her friends were outside, Alina found herself wandering the halls of Hawkins Middle yet again, looking for Gabe and Max. She found the new boy sitting up against his locker, a brand-new newspaper in his hand, and, after telling him the plan, he agreed quickly. He seemed glad to be a part of something, and looking at him, Alina was reminded of how she'd felt after meeting Eleven for the first time. The same smile that had been on her face was on Gabe's now, and although being part of this was a little different than meeting the girl you'd wondered about for over a month, she couldn't help but compare them. It made her smile a little bit, too.

Alina said goodbye to Gabe and went to find Max. The girl didn't agree as quickly as Gabe did ("isn't he a stalker?" she'd asked), but after she told Max all of the messages that had been sent to him, she'd reluctantly agreed. Then she'd hopped on her skateboard and rolled away, reminding Alina to come and meet her at the arcade someday for Dig Dug. Alina watched her go, knowing she would soon. She couldn't help but like Max, even if she hated the way her friends obsessed over her.

As she was walking away, all of these fond feelings in her heart, a twinge of pain shot through her head, and Alina clutched at it. When she took another step, another bolt shot down her neck, and then her arms. She looked down at them, breathing hard. They seemed darker than usual, and she could see the veins popping out of them as they pulsed with pain. She let out a hiss through her teeth and stumbled to the girl's bathroom as more pain spiked through her, and sat on the toilet and waited for the pain to die down.

Your friends are replacing you, Alina. They don't like you anymore. She closed her eyes, pressing her hands over her ears as her head throbbed. Was this a symptom of PTSD, too?

It didn't feel like one.

Eventually, after what seemed like hours, the pain subsided, and Alina emerged from the bathroom stall freshly full of doubt. Of course, she'd still continue with the plan—she'd let Lucas, Mike and Dustin know about it after school. She did wonder what, exactly, had brought on that storm of self-doubt. With a shrug, Alina splashed some water on her face and exited the bathroom, unaware of what coursed under her veins.

After their next class, Math, where Alina nearly fell asleep, drooling all over x's and y's, she met up with Dustin and Lucas again. They were convinced that this was the time they were going to talk to Max at her locker. And Alina, who was still interested in seeing how this went, trailed behind. The plan was that Dustin and Lucas would talk to her, and, if Max seemed awkward about it, she'd come in and talk to her instead. About what, Alina didn't know, but she assumed they were just going to introduce themselves.

She got into position—in the hallway right next to Max's locker—and popped open her science textbook, pretending to immerse herself in it. Chewing gum, Alina snuck a peek at Max, who didn't seem to notice Lucas and Dustin standing right behind her, and then waited.

Dustin started it off by clearing his throat, causing Max to turn towards him. "Um..." Alina forced herself to look back at her science textbook, biting her tongue to suppress laughter. This was already going fantastic. "Hi, Max. I'm Dustin, and this is—"

"Lucas," Lucas cut him off, and Alina snuck another peek. He was grinning too wide, his eyes too full of excitement for her liking.

"Yeah, I know," said Max, as Alina looked down at her science textbook again, blowing a bubble. "The stalkers."

"U-uh... no..." both at the boys seemed at a loss for words until Lucas cleared his throat, looking embarrassed. "Actually... We weren't... we weren't stalking you."

"No," said Dustin, "we were just concerned, because, y-you're new and all..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Lucas nodded at Dustin. "For your safety."

"Mm-hmm, th-there are a lot of bullies here."

"So many bullies. It's...it's cra... it's crazy." Lucas was still smiling awkwardly at Max when Alina looked back up again. She was glad Max saw through most of their bullshit, though, and it was quite funny to listen to Lucas and Dustin try to come up with excuses, even if Alina didn't agree with what they were doing.

"Yeah," Dustin agreed, and Alina automatically thought of Daniel Tree, who'd been strangely quiet during science today. She wondered if he was planning something, and hoped he wasn't. A bully's plans were never good.

Max cocked her head, a smirk on her face as she eyed the two boys. "Is that why you're wearing proton packs?" she asked, staring at their costumes they'd mistakenly worn today. Dustin and Lucas immediately burst into awkward laughter, but Alina could tell that the comment had stung their fragile egos.

"Well, these don't function," said Dustin after a moment. "But... I do have this handy-dandy little trap here." He pulled out his ghost trap, holding it out in front of a bored-looking Max. "And look, it even opens and closes. Look, look, look." The trap let out a faint click as the door sprung open and Dustin smiled. "Voila!"

This is going terribly, Alina thought with a smirk of her own. Although she knew she should be supporting her friends, she couldn't help but feel a little glad. Perhaps now they would stop pining all over Max, and stop shunting Alina off to the side. Perhaps now she would be included again.

"It's cool right?" Dustin asked excitedly, but Max showed no emotion over the ghost trap. "No? Okay. But, um... So, we," he gestured to Lucas, "we were talking last night and you're new here, so you probably don't have any friends to take you trick-or-treating," at this, Max's eyebrows shot up, "and you're scared of bullies," Dustin continued, "so, uh, we were thinking that it would be okay if you come with us."

Alina spat out her gum in surprise, and the bright pink chewed glob landed on the cover of her science textbook. What?

Max didn't look impressed at Dustin's offer. "It'd be okay," she repeated, looking from him to Lucas in disbelief.

"Yeah!" said Dustin brightly. "Our party's a democracy, and the majority voted you could come."

That's not even true, Alina thought, her brief happy mood fading back to the bitterness usual of her these days. When, exactly, did we vote on this? Or did Dustin just mean him and Lucas when he said 'the party'?

Trick-or-treating was supposed to be a thing just the party did, which is why, even if Gabe was technically her friend now, she hadn't invited him (that, and the fact that he didn't celebrate Halloween). This was going to be Alina's first trick-or-treating out with her friends, and now she was questioning if they even liked her anymore.

Perhaps she was overexaggerating, but as she stared at Max, she began to doubt it. Max was just so effortlessly cool. And she was pretty, too, with her red hair and desert-tanned skin and bright blue eyes. And she skateboarded, and she had beaten Dustin at Dig Dug, something Alina had never managed to do. Alina liked Max. But as she watched, she realized her friends might like Max better than they liked her.

Max just scoffed. "I didn't realize it was such an honor to go trick-or-treating with you," she said, tossing her hair over one shoulder.

"Yeah, I mean, we know where to get the full-sized candy bars. We figured you'd want in."

"That's presumptuous of you," said Max, as Alina scraped the gum off the cover of her textbook a tissue, throwing both in the trash. Satisfaction coursed through her when she heard Max say that. At least they had the same opinions about this conversation.

"Yeah," said Dustin, obviously having no idea what presumptuous meant. Alina slapped her palm to her forehead, embarrassed for him. "Totally. Uh, so, um... you'll come?"

Max just rolled her eyes and slammed her locker shut, beginning to walk in the opposite direction. Dustin smiled and called after her. "We're meeting at the Maple Street cul-de-sac at seven! That's seven on the dot!" When Max didn't respond, instead continuing to walk away, he turned to Lucas. "Presumptuous," he said, letting the word roll off his tongue. "That's a good thing, right?"

Lucas didn't respond, and Alina zipped her textbook into her bag, preparing to go to class before catching up to Lucas. Dustin remained at Max's locker. "Is it bad?" he asked, and Alina rolled her eyes, not responding. Dustin stepped forward, beginning to follow the two. "Lucas? Alina? Is it bad? Lucas? Al? Son of a bitch guys, is it bad?"

He'd jogged to catch up with them, and Alina finally whirled around to face him. "Yes, Dustin, it's bad. Do you wanna know what presumptuous means? It means to fail to observe the limits of what is considered appropriate. And you know what? I agree with her. You guys were way out of line there. And," she raised a finger when Dustin made to speak, "when, exactly, did this 'vote' you were talking about happen? Because I sure wasn't a part of it."

Dustin, who was suddenly looking interested in his shoes, licked his lips. "It didn't," he said eventually. "We never had a vote. I dunno, we just thought, she's new and maybe she wanted to have friends to trick-or-treat with."

"Yeah," said Lucas in a quiet voice. If Alina could've read minds, she'd probably have forgiven him. Because he kept thinking about how, yes, he did like Max a little, but she didn't compare to the girl standing beside him, with her slightly runny skeleton makeup and the space buns that adorned her head. But she couldn't, so she remained angry.

"Okay, but you two didn't ask me, Will or Mike first," Alina snapped. "I mean, Max is cool and all, but I thought that this whole 'trick-or-treating' thing was supposed to be party members only. And you two act like you want to lick her shoes or something. She's just a girl, not a new species of pollywog! You guys should be able to speak with girls now! I mean, you're friends with one!"

"We're sorry." Lucas swallowed. "We should've asked you first. We just thought we might like to make new friends. Possibly expand the party."

"Expand the party?" Alina repeated. "You know what Mike's gonna say if he finds out about this. He's going to think you're trying to replace Eleven."

"Just like he thought you were replacing Will last year?" Dustin asked. "He eventually let you in. Why can't Max be the same?"

He had a good point there. Alina pinched the bridge of her nose, before brightening a little. Now would be a perfect time to tell Dustin and Lucas about the idea she had planned. So, she swallowed her sadness. "It's fine," she waved it off. "We'll talk about that later. But..." she leaned in. "I have this thing I want to do. For Will. You know how he keeps getting those mean notes in his locker?"

Both Dustin and Lucas nodded. "Well, I was thinking, we could try and counteract the bad notes by giving him a bunch of good ones. That way, he won't have to go to his classes feeling the whole world's against him. What do you think?"

"That's... a really good idea, Alina," said Lucas, smiling at her. This action, paired with the fact that he was wearing an adorably dorky costume today, made her heart flutter. "So, is it just the party doing it?"

"No, I thought we'd ask Jonathan, Nancy, and maybe Steve," said Alina. "And... well, I talked to Max today. And Gabe. I asked them to be involved too. And they both gave their okays to it, so they're in, too." She grinned at her friends, suddenly warm inside.

Just then, the creatures living everywhere let out shrieks as they were besieged by fire.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: kind of messy chapter, but whatever! alina is definitely acting a little bit strange, isn't she?? is it just her jealousy, or something else?? idk :)))

'till next time!