CHAPTER TEN.
FRIENDS KINDA SUCK

☆ミ ☆彡

CHALLAN HAD GONE BACK TO SCHOOL THE VERY NEXT DAY. Her parents hadn't wanted her to, they wanted to keep her home for a few more days. But Challan didn't want to stay home. She just didn't. Besides, it's not like Abigail and her friends would be there anyway. They had been suspended for a week.

So, Challan assured them that she was fine, a little shaken up, but fine. It was a lie. She was more than a little shaken and hadn't slept at all because she had nightmares all night long, but she didn't tell them that. If she had, they would probably never let her go back.

She was sure her parents were going to try to find a way to pull her out of Hawkins Middle and to the middle school in Evanswood. They weren't sure how they would make it work, but they were going to try. Challan didn't really care. This is what she had wanted for a long time but for some reason, a part of her didn't want to go to school in Evanswood. She wasn't sure why. She really needed to get her priorities in check.

Both of her parents were in the car to drive her to school. They wanted to keep their eye on her as much as they could after what happened.

"Are you sure you want to go back today? Maybe a few more days off would be best," her mother asked for the sixth time.

"I'm sure," Challan said quietly.

The woman looked at her husband who shrugged slightly.

"We'll pick you up after school and take you to ballet okay?" He dad said.

Ballet. Challan had forgotten that she had dance practice after school today. She hadn't brought her dance bag in her rush to get to the car before her parents had to avoid anymore questions. It didn't help that her mind was all over the place and she just forgot.

"I... I forgot my dance bag," she muttered.

The two adults looked at each other again.

"That's okay. We'll bring it when we come to pick you up and you can get ready in the bathroom when we get there," her mother said, sending her a reassuring smile. "Unless, you don't want to go today."

"No. I want to go," Challan said with a nod.

"Okay."

Challan returned her attention to the window, watching the trees fly by. When she got to school, her parents again asked her if she was sure. Challan picked up her backpack, sending them a forced smile, a nod, and exited the car.

She was used to stares. She was stared at every single day. But it was different this time. Everyone knew about what had happened. Challan wasn't sure what their opinions were on the incident but they were probably in support of Abigail and her friends. It's not like anyone there gave a shit about her. She thought that Max did but she was wrong.

The thought of the redhead sent a pang through Challan's heart. She was no longer angry about the situation, just sad. She had never felt this sad before. To finally have something that she had wanted so badly be ripped away like that, it hurt. Max had hurt Challan like no one had ever hurt her before, not even Abigail.

The redhead who she unfortunately couldn't stop thinking about, spotted Challan as she entered the school. Max's eyes followed her form attentively.

Max was surprised to see Challan at school the next day. She would've expected the girl to have stayed home for a few days after what had happened. Max didn't think she'd come back to school this soon if she were in Challan's shoes.

Challan hadn't meant to lock eyes with Max. It was completely unintentional. Her eyes just happened to drift in the direction of the redhead, who she did not know was standing there. The eye contact was brief, Challan immediately looking away from her before Max could react.

The redhead sighed as Challan walked past her. She wanted to follow after her, to apologize again. But she decided against it. She needed to give her some space, no matter how badly she just wanted to talk to the girl.

Challan reached her locker, twisting the combination into the lock and opening it. She sighed heavily, pulling out her things for science. She ignored the whispers and stares, closing her locker and walking to class.

Nobody messed with her at all on her way there. When she walked into the classroom, those that were there turned their attention to her.

"Challan?" Mr. Clarke questioned, standing up from his seat. She turned to look at him and he cleared his throat, sending her a smile. He, like everyone else at school, hadn't expected to see her back so soon after the incident. "How, how are you?"

Challan forced a small smile, "I'm okay."

"Good, that's uh, good. It's good to see you." She nodded in response and made her way to her seat in the back of the class.

She pulled out her textbook and notebook as well as a pencil and waited for the class to begin. Max came into the classroom, her eyes finding Challan quickly. The girl was looking down at her notebook and hadn't looked up. The redhead walked over to her seat, Challan looking over when she heard the desk slightly scrape against the floor.

"Hi," Max murmured when her eyes met Challan's. The curly-haired girl looked away and Max's face fell.

Mike, Dustin, and Lucas filtered into the classroom. Dustin sent Challan a small wave and she tentatively waved back before looking away from the three. Challan didn't really intend on talking to the party ever again because they were sort of friends with Max. But, she didn't want to be mean when Dustin hadn't done anything to her.

Seeing this little interaction caused Max's frown to deepen. Challan was full on ignoring her.

The bell rang and Mr. Clarke started the class. What he said, though, made Challan frown.

"All right class. Today, we're going to start off a little differently. In light of recent events, we're going to take some time to talk about bullying."

She could feel eyes on her and all she wanted in that moment was to be swallowed whole. The anti-bullying spiel was brief, thankfully, and Mr. Clarke went on with the actual lesson for the day.

Max hadn't paid attention to the the lesson, instead taking to stealing glances at Challan every so often. She had so much that she wanted to say but not the words to say them. Start with an apology and go from there.

The bell finally rang and Challan was practically up and out of her seat and the classroom before Max could blink.

Max got up quickly, running after her but when she got into the hallway, she couldn't see the girl.

••••

The entire day, every single class began with an anti-bullying lecture and Challan really regretted her decision to go to school that day. The only thing getting her through it was the fact that once the school day was over, she could go to dance recital rehearsal and she was really looking forward to that.

Max had tried giving Challan space but just couldn't, the guilt beginning to eat away at her. She didn't know why she felt so guilty. Was part of the reason she wanted to be Challan's friend because she wanted to see if Challan was really a witch? No, not really. Maybe a little at first subconsciously, but she honestly just wanted to understand why everyone was so convinced that she was. But as soon as she started talking to her, she honestly forgot all about that. In that moment, she was just talking to the girl who smiled at her in science class. Max really did want to be her friend, she just didn't know how to get Challan to believe that.

She had to say something. Apologize or just do something. She had tried speaking to Challan all day and Challan had ignored her all day. But the redhead was relentless, finding the girl as she made her way to her last class.

"Challan!"

The girl in question ignored Max. Picking up her speed as she saw her classroom door. Max ran around her small frame and blocked her path.

"I'm sorry," she blurted quickly. Challan merely blinked and Max sighed. "Please, please just talk to me. I'm sorry, okay? I never meant to hurt your feelings and I know I fucked up. But you have to believe me when I tell you that I really did want to be your friend. And not because I wanted to prove that you weren't a witch or whatever bullshit Abigail said. But because—" she cut herself off and took a breath, "because I just did." Max could feel herself becoming vulnerable and she hated it. She should tell Challan what made her want to be her friend in the first place, but she didn't think the girl would believe her.

Challan sighed and looked around the hallway, "I have to get to class."

Max frowned, "I know I suck. And you have every reason to be mad at me—"

"I really have to get to class Max—"

"I told off Lucas. Told him that I didn't want to be in the party anymore because of all the bullshit and the secrets. They treated me badly, they treated us badly and we shouldn't stand for it."

"That's good for you, Max—"

"I treated you badly. Well, I mean, I hurt you with some of the stupid stuff I said yesterday and you shouldn't have to stand for it. Please, let me make it up to you. Let me make this right. Tell me how to make this right," Max pleaded. She hated this. She hated how a girl she barely knew had this much of an affect on her. Max would never have done something like this in the past. But for some reason, her friendship with Challan Logan was extremely important to her.

The bell rang, signaling that they were late for class. Max didn't care but Challan did.

"We're late. I gotta go," she said, moving past the redhead and walking into her classroom a few feet away. Max watched her go and sighed before running down the opposite way to her own last class.

••••

After class was over, Challan went to her locker to get her things before making her way out of the building. She began walking in the direction of parent pick-up.

"Hey, Challan! Wait up!" She heard Lucas's voice shout from behind her. Challan contemplated continuing to walk before stopping with a sigh. He finally caught up to her and came to a stop.

"I kind a have somewhere to be," she told him.

"You're a girl, right?" He got straight to the point.
Challan's eyebrows furrowed and she turned on her heel and continued walking to parent pick-up. He followed after.

"Sorry, that was a stupid question," he apologized quickly.

"You don't say," she sarcastically spoke. Sarcasm wasn't really something she usually had. Where did that come from?

"Hey!" Lucas grabbed her arm to stop her and she turned around. "Look, I really need to ask you a really important question."

"Is it as stupid as the one you just asked me?" She questioned lightly, trying not to sound harsh. She was being rude, he didn't deserve that.

"No," he responded. Challan motioned for him to continue and Lucas took a deep inhale and looked at her. "How do you know if a girl likes you?"

Challan looked him up and down in confusion, "Uh, I don't know. Have you tried looking in a book?"

"A book? What book am I supposed to look in?"

"You know, like, a book in the library," she replied. She sent him a smile and began walking again, Lucas following behind her. He called her name a few times and she became a little annoyed. She already wasn't in the best mood and he of all people should know that.

"Challan." Lucas grabbed her arm again and turned her around. She removed her arm from his grasp and stared blankly at him.

"Lucas, I really do have to go." He ignored her and continued on.

"I like this girl, okay? I think I really like her. She's so cool, and smart, and funny, and beautiful. And I wanna know if she likes me too. But also, I think I messed everything up with her. So I guess I want to know, how do you know when you like someone? And how do you fix something you might have broken?" He continued. It's like he wasn't even hearing her. He looked at her expectantly and she sighed.

He was talking about Max, he had to be. Max had told her earlier that she had told Lucas off and that she would no longer hang out with the party. So Lucas likes Max. She held back an eye roll and became angry. Why was he asking her this? After everything that had happened yesterday?

"I don't know. Don't really have much experience in that department. Are we done here?" She really did have to go. The drive to the studio was long and she wasn't even ready for practice yet.

Lucas's face contorted into annoyance. "What's your problem?"

Challan scoffed, "Are you seriously asking me that? What's your problem?"

"Me?" He place a hand on his chest.

"Yes, you! You and your friends! None of you had been interested in ever being my friend since the beginning and now you're coming up to me and asking me for advice? Are you serious?" She replied.

Lucas just stared, his mouth dropping open in surprise as she continued.

"And you know what? It's fine. I'm used to it and know you were just forced into being nice to me because of Max. But you at least acted like you wanted her to be your friend and then you pushed her off to the side like she's nothing and excluded her from things and for what? She hasn't done anything wrong." Challan wasn't sure why she was defending Max after everything that happened yesterday. She was confusing herself.

"I know—"

"Oh you know? And yet you still treat her as though she's unimportant. Why?" Challan's arms were crossed and she tapped her foot expectantly.

Lucas shook his head, "You wouldn't understand. It's for the best, for the both of you."

Challan rolled her eyes, "That's so stupid. It's stupid and Max deserves better."

"So, you're mad at me for Max?" He asked in confusion.

"Yes!" She turned on her heel and began walking again before stopping in her tracks, turning back to the boy and stomping back over to him.

"And I know it doesn't make sense for me to because of what happened yesterday but this how I feel. So yes, I'm mad at you for Max but I'm also mad at you for me." Lucas said nothing as she continued.

"I have tried, so hard to get people to like me. I've tried being nice and friendly to everyone to show that I wasn't some scary witch. Despite the name calling, and the bullying, and the racism, I've tried to become friends with people in this stupid town and I'm tired. I'm tired of trying just to be excluded and treated like dirt by people I thought might actually finally be my friends. But, you guys only tolerated me because Max was my friend and brought me along. But in the end, even she was just pretending. None of you really wanted me around and that's okay. I'm used to that. But it doesn't hurt any less. It never hurts any less. But if this is what it means to have friends, then I'd rather just be friendless because this, this really sucks. So I'm done trying."

And with that, Challan turned back around and continued on her way. She immediately felt guilty. She didn't like being mean. She typically didn't have a mean bone in her body. But she was so upset about everything that happened at school the day before, everything that happened with Max, and just everything all together. Sometimes she wished she could just disappear. She really wanted to disappear. It's not like anyone would miss her if she were gone.

Lucas stared after her, thoroughly confused by what just happened. And although he was confused, he also felt a little guilty. She was right. Initially the only reason he wanted to hang out with her was because of Max but in the short time he had known her, he grew to enjoy her company. With a sigh, Lucas made his way over to the bike rack but stopped once he saw Max. He made a beeline toward the girl who was on her way to her stepbrother's car.

••••

Hope whoever's reading enjoyed this chapter. Please vote, comment, and support, it gives me the motivation to actually write.