Chapter Six: Call it What You Want

The next morning, not even knowing how she got roped into it, Annie was standing outside of the school's dumpster with Max and the Party- well, except for Lucas, who was in it. He had drawn the short straw, apparently. She was possibly going to be late for class, not to mention how confused Holly and Meghan will be when she's not there.

Her eyes met Max's and she looked away, back at Lucas in the dumpster. That was another thing. Ever since she admitted her crush to herself, Annie has no idea how to act around Max. She wanted to try and act like nothing was wrong, but that was so much more difficult when that involved being close and such to her- she was freaking herself out.

Although she wouldn't say it, Max could tell there was something weird going on with Annie. It sucked because she didn't know how to bring it up and ask if she was okay. Max didn't know how to describe her relationship with Annie. It kept reminding her of something from forever ago, but she didn't want to jinx or jeopardize anything.

"This is so disgusting, is it really necessary?" Max asked. Annie had to nod her head in agreement, taking weird breaths to try and avoid the smell.

Suddenly, Dustin came around the corner and stared at the group, confused. "What the hell's going on?" he asked. Annie mentally laughed at his timing.

"What do you think, we're looking for Dart!" Mike said, as if it were obvious. It should be, but it's not like that's the first thing to go through everyone's heads. Especially in Annie case, who was only here because of Max, who wasn't even sure why she was still there when Mike was so against it.

A black bag came flying out of the trashcan right towards Annie, something she hadn't noticed while Max did. She grabbed Annie's arm and pulled her out of the drop zone just before the bag could land right on her.

"Holy shit!" Annie yelled as she got pulled out of the way. Max raised her eyebrows at the girl having never heard her swear before. "What?" Annie asked, self-conscious. Max shook her head and moved on from that.

Lucas vaulted over the side of the dumpster and landed in the middle of the group. Nearly gagging, Annie had to step away from the smell. She didn't mind hearing Lucas dig into Dustin, however, with his super convenient timing.

"You stink," Max stated, then walked over to the bags to start digging around with her a stick she and Mike had. Coincidentally, that happened to be over by Dustin, who was very thrilled at the girl being close to him.

Annie deflated slightly and figured no was a good time to go inside and hope to find Holly and Meg before first period. "I'll catch up with you later," Annie said to Max as she passed by.

The brunette started to walk away. "I'll be back," Max said quickly, handing off her stick to someone else and going after Annie. "Hey, Barbie, wait!" she called out.

Annie's cheeks flushed at the nickname. It used to be cute- still is- but in a more friendly way. Now, in her mind, it was in a flirty way.

Stop it, Annie. You can't do that to yourself.

She stopped and let the redhead catch up. "Hey, are you okay? You've been acting a bit weird lately... Is it because I'm hanging out with them? If so I can totally stop or whatever," Max rambled.

Annie shook her head, stopping the rambling. "No, no, it's not because of that. Even if it were, I'm not gonna force you to stop hanging out with people you like hanging out with. I guess it's just the stress about Will," Annie lied. Sure, some of it was, but not all of it. Not even close to half of it. But it's not like she could tell Max the real reason.

Luckily, it looked like Max bought it. The redhead nodded and walked back over to the group. Annie turned and made her way back inside.

Max, however, did not believe that Will was the entire reason Annie had been weird. She wasn't that weird the first or second day Max knew her, it only started to shift around Halloween, after the other two had to leave. Max pinpointed that to be the shift day. Maybe it really was because of the Party and she just didn't want to make Max feel bad.

Whatever the case, Max liked Annie too much to let whatever was bothering her bother her. And when she says like, she means in a friendly way. Totally. Not doubts there.

Sadly, Annie did end up missing Holly and Meghan, because the bell rang right as she entered the school. Quickly, she went to her locker to drop off her bag and pick up her notebook and pencil pouch. She wondered if the others would be a bit late.

In Mr. Clarke's Annie wasn't the last to arrive and neither were Max or the Party. They all managed to get in their seats before the final bell rang to signal you were late. As per her usual habits, Annie half paid attention but mainly just drew in her notebook.

In her mind, she had been debating what to actually draw, though. She was tired of the basic doodles she always did and wanted to branch out a bit. Maybe she could practice other drawing skills with different subject matter? Or try to draw something that actually exists from memory!

Annie combined both of those ideas and worked on a light sketch of four figures. She had to start light and very basic, because people drawing wasn't her strong suit. These figures started out very basic, but by the end of the class, she started having some rough outlining done.

As the day went on, Annie felt like she was just moving through it. It didn't feel like she was interacting much around her. Like she was a ghost. Of course, that was dumb, but it's how she felt. She didn't tell the others, she just nodded along and pretended she was interested.

Meg and Holly of course noticed, but didn't want to ask. They were worried about her, of course, they just didn't know how to deal with this. The last time she was anywhere close to this state was when Will first went missing. But everyone was like that, so it wasn't like Holly and Meghan knew how to deal with it.

Max was worried, too, but didn't ask. She'd have to make weekend plans with her, Max decided while she ate something Meghan's mom made for her (which was delicious). They could go to the arcade or maybe hang out at Annie's house- Max's house was off limits. They could even go see a movie. Anything to get Annie out of this funk.

Annie was going outside after her lunch. She really didn't know why, she just felt the need to. When she did, she found Max sitting alone on the stairs with all her stuff. "Hey," Annie called quietly.

Max turned around at Annie's voice and smiled. "Hey, you wanna sit?" Annie nodded and Max moved some of her things down to the step below to make Annie some more room. "I actually am glad to talk to you. Do you have any plans this weekend?" Max asked.

Annie's heart skyrocketed and she felt herself float for a minute. Well, metaphorically. It was hard to keep her true feelings at bay, not wanting to terrifying and weird out Max, so she just smiled. "I don't, are you thinking of hanging out?"

To Annie's happiness, Max nodded with her own smile. "Yeah, I was just wondering if you'd like to do something together, like go to the arcade or go see a movie or something."

"Ooh! There's this new movie coming out this weekend called "Nightmare on Elm Street" that I wanna see!" Annie said, nearly cutting Max off.

It made Max feel so much better, seeing Annie this happy and excited. This might be just the thing she needs to get her out of her funk. "That sounds awesome!"

The girls sat and worked out details, Annie deciding she'd get her brother to drive them both, which meant it was Max's turn to write her address down and give it to Annie. As long as Billy didn't interfere in anyway, Max was perfect.

Annie was telling Max a bit of what she'd heard about the movie when the bell rang for the next class. They talked all the way there, and for a second Max forgot why she had been alone on the stairs in the first place. Until she saw the Party out in the hall. Then it came back to her, and she was pissed. Annie picked up on it, but didn't pry.

By the end of the day, she said bye to the girls and hurried off to meet Steve at his car. When she got in the passenger seat as was settled in, she looked up and saw Lucas and Max. At first glance, they were talking, but then she looked closer and saw they were arguing.

Annie started to piece it together a bit, remembering how she hadn't been as involved with the Party, like when she was sitting outside the A/V room yesterday. Maybe that's why she was alone on the stairs today. Max was fired up enough that she was letting them know, something Annie never found the strength to do.

She was proud of Max for standing up to them about their rudeness. When Steve got in the car, she looked away and they drove home. He seemed slightly pissed off himself, but Annie couldn't place what it was.

"You okay?" she asked a couple minutes into the drive.

Of course, Steve didn't want to answer. How would his sister react if he told her some big bad new kid was giving him grief and Nancy ran off with some other guy. So he said, "I'm okay."

They didn't talk for the rest of the drive home, just focused on listening to music, until they pulled into the driveway and Annie remembered her plans with Max. "Hey, um, quick question before we go inside?"

Steve stopped from opening the door and sat back. "Shoot."

"Can you drive me and Max to the theater this weekend? I think we decided Sunday, but we're going to see that new movie coming out, Nightmare on Elm Street? She asked if we could hang out and I said you would drive and stuff so yeah. Got her address and everything," Annie rambled, pulling the paper in question from her pocket.

When she looked over at Steve to gage his reaction, she saw he was smiling. "Yeah, of course. Do you think it's...?" What he was alluding to made Annie scoff. "Come on, you don't know! You said she invited you to hang out? I think it's a sign."

"Or maybe she just wants to hang out with a new friend for her first weekend in Hawkins. She doesn't exactly have that many friends to make plans with," Annie offered.

Steve looked confused for a second. "Wait, I thought you said she was friends with the Party or whatever?" he asked.

"Well, kind of? I don't know, but all I know is I found her outside during lunch and she was sitting all alone on the steps. And I've seen her sitting outside the A/V room waiting for the Party inside. Well, before the whole Dart situation blew up whatever that was," Annie explained.

Steve nodded. "Well, whatever the reason, I'm happy to drive you. Not like I have many plans happening anytime soon," Steve admitted.

They went inside now that Annie was done and enjoyed a rather basic night. It was the next day that would change everything.

A/n: yay! It may not be a date (or is it 😏) but we get more Max and Annie! Hope y'all are liking the book so far :)