CHAPTER TWO.
EMPTY THREATS AND NEW KIDS

☆ミ ☆彡

CHALLAN WAS THE FIRST ONE TO ARRIVE in Mr. Clarke's class. She typically liked to get to all of her classes early a) so she can get a seat in the back, where she'd receive the least amount of attention (unless her seat is assigned, in that case, she just wants to get to her seat) and b) to avoid the occasional student sticking out their foot to trip her as she made her way to her seat.

"Hello, Challan," Mr. Clarke greeted as he looked up. He probably would've known that it was her without even looking up. She was always early.

"Hi, Mr. Clarke," she softly spoke. It had become clear to Mr. Clarke early on when Challan became his student that she wasn't very talkative and kept to herself. She was grateful that he never tried to push her into a conversation.

Challan walked to her usual seat in the back of the class and heavily dropped into it, her backpack dropping to the floor. She pulled out her science textbook and notebook as well as a pencil. She opened the notebook to a blank page and kept her eyes trained on it as other students began filtering in. She could hear giggles and whispers and hoped that it wasn't about her. Though it almost always was.

"Hey, hag," a girl, Abigail Benson, began quietly as she made her way over, "I've got a question for you."

Challan sighed softly and looked up. Abigail was one of her main tormenters. The girl couldn't go a day without being a bully. It was her only personality trait. Abigail turned to where Mr. Clarke was sitting to see if he was paying attention to them, continuing when she saw that he wasn't. "What do you think is the best way to kill a witch? I say the classic burning at the stake but Lilly thinks hanging. Would you rather be burned or hanged?" Abigail questioned with a smirk.

"A-are you threatening me?" Challan asked, looking around the girl to Mr. Clarke, who still wasn't looking their way.

Abigail leaned forward, "What do you think you stupid bitch?"

"I think that's a crime that you can get in serious trouble for," Challan replied calmly, though her heart thundered in her chest.

"You gonna snitch on me now, Logan?" Abigail inquired, her tone dark.

Challan leaned back in her chair, away from the girl.

"Abigail, get to your seat please," Mr. Clarke requested, finally looking up as the bell was about to ring.

The blonde turned to face him with a faux smile, "We're just having a nice little conversation, aren't we Challan?" Abigail's dark eyes glanced over at Challan who was looking at Mr. Clarke, her eyes practically pleading for him to intervene.

The bell began to ring at that moment, and Challan almost sighed out loud in relief.

"Abigail, to your seat," Mr. Clarke repeated, his tone more stern. Abigail turned on her heel and walked to a seat in the front by the window.

Challan crossed her arms against her chest, sinking into her seat and wishing she could just disappear forever as she received stares and glares from the other students.

"All right, class, let's begin," Mr. Clarke spoke, all eyes turning to him. A sigh left her lips as Mr. Clarke started the class, and the stares focused on him instead. She picked up her pencil and held the lead tip against the paper, preparing to take notes on whatever Mr. Clarke would be talking about in this class.

Mr. Clarke picked up a replica of what looked to be a brain and set it down on his desk for everyone to see. "Meet the human brain. 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, no, I did not misspeak. I did not stutter. A hundred billion."

A brunette, who's name Challan didn't remember, loudly popped a bubble with her gum and immediately after, the classroom opened and closed and two people walked into the room. All eyes moved to the door as the two entered.

One was the school principal who stood behind someone Challan didn't recognize. It was a girl with bright red hair. Challan couldn't see all of the details of her face from where she was sitting, but she could see that the girl did not want to be there. The redhead's eyes swept across the classroom quickly, scanning for an open seat. Her eyes landed on the only open one, which was next to Challan.

The dark-haired girl perked up a little in her seat at the sight of the new student, her thoughts running a mile a minute as Mr. Clarke spoke.

"Ah, this must be our new student," he said with a smile as he looked at the redhead.

"Indeed. All yours," Principal Coleman responded, quickly heading for the door.

The new student swiftly began to make her way to the seat but was immediately stopped by Mr. Clarke. She could see the annoyance on the redhead's face. Challan wasn't always good at reading people's emotions/facial expressions. You would think with all the free time she had she would have gotten better at reading people. But her lack of social interaction oftentimes made it difficult for her to discern certain facial expressions and emotions. However, this time it was easy. This new girl didn't even try to hide her disdain.

"All right. Hold up. You don't get away that easy," the man spoke and the girl rolled her eyes as Mr. Clarke beckoned her back to the front. "Come on up. Don't be shy." He then turned to Dustin Henderson, a curly-haired boy who sat in the front with his friends, one of them being Will Byers, who had gone missing the year before. Challan was pretty familiar with that case, seeing as a lot of people in town pointed fingers at her family when he had gone missing. She shuddered at the memory of last year, the worst year of her life.

"Dustin, drum roll," Mr. Clarke said. Dustin closed his book and began tapping his hands against it to make a beat as Mr. Clarke continued. "Class, please welcome, all the way from sunny California, the latest passenger to join us on our curiosity voyage, Maxine," he announced.

The redhead, who looked like she wanted to be anywhere else the whole time the man spoke, turned to look at him. "It's Max," she corrected. Max. Challan was happy to put a name to the face. Max. It suited her.

"Sorry?" Mr. Clarke questioned.

"Nobody calls me Maxine. It's Max," she repeated.

"Ah, well, all aboard, Max," Mr. Clarke said and Max quickly walked to the back of the classroom, plopping down in the seat next to Challan's with a sigh.

Challan tried to keep her attention at the front but she was extremely curious and mildly intrigued. Hawkins never got new students, ever. Challan wanted to know what could have caused someone to move from somewhere like California to a place like Hawkins, Indiana. She turned her head, her gaze landing on the side of Max's face. She could see the freckles that dusted her cheeks clearly now.

The redhead promptly turned her head in Challan's direction, blue eyes locking with the her brown ones. The dark-haired girl felt a wave of panic at being caught, her eyes wide. She sent Max a shy smile and Max nodded her head in return, curiosity shining in the redhead's eyes. Challan returned her gaze to the front of the room to Mr. Clarke and began paying attention to the lesson.

She started to fidget in her seat when she felt eyes on her. She attempted to ignore the stare, she was used to stares after all. But this one felt different and she had to know why. Turning her head inconspicuously to the side, her eyes met Max's again. Challan's eyes widened once more. Their eyes remained locked for a moment, Challan unsure of what to do. The black haired girl sent Max another smile, this one more awkward than the first. This time, the redhead smiled back.

Challan returned her attention to Mr. Clarke. She would have to find the courage to actually speak to the girl sitting beside her. Maybe she could finally make a friend. A tiny smile made its way onto Challan's face at the thought.

••••

Challan walked out of the school's doors during the break, making her way to her designated spot where she would sit during this time. A spot far away from the other students where she could just read and not be bothered by anyone, for the most part. It was under a large tree and was practically out of sight from any onlookers. It was secluded and it was hers and she liked going there for a moment of peace.

A hand on her shoulder made her jump before freezing in her spot, fear beginning to pump through her, thinking it was Abigail or Lilly or any of her other bullies at school. She turned around, coming face to face with Max.

Challan wasn't sure what to do at that moment, confused as to why the new girl was standing in front of her though she wasn't upset about it. This was the perfect opportunity to properly introduce herself. "Hey," the redhead greeted.

"H-hi," Challan replied, suddenly feeling nervous. She wasn't exactly good at speaking to people. She was very socially awkward.

Max stuck out a hand, "Max Mayfield. You're Challan, right?"

Challan didn't even look at Max's hand, her brown eyes narrowing in confusion and suspicion as she met the redhead's blue ones. "How do you know my name?" She asked with a tinge of reservation.

"Oh, uh, that girl Abigail I think is her name. She told me about you," Max explained.

"What did she say?" Challan asked, her reservation turning into mistrust.

Max faltered slightly, "N-nothing. I mean, nothing much. Nothing really." But Challan knew the truth. Abigail had told her. Of course, she had. The one time Hawkins Middle School gets a new student, the one time Challan finally had the opportunity to make a friend, and it was ruined before she even got the chance to talk to her. Ruined by stupid Abigail Benson.

"Right," Challan muttered before turning around and beginning to walk away, her spirits beginning to fall.

"Hey! Wait up!" Max called after her, placing her skateboard on the ground and beginning to skate towards Challan. "Where are you going?"

"Why?" She asked.

Max shrugged, though Challan wasn't looking at her. "No reason, just curious."

Challan stopped abruptly, causing Max to halt. She stepped off her skateboard and looked at Challan expectantly.

"Look, whatever Abigail told you is a lie. And if she sent you here to mess with me or something... just don't. Please, just leave me alone," she said.

"Abigail didn't send me here. I just thought that you looked cool and wanted to see if you wanted to hang out or something," Max said.

"Why?" Challan would be lying if she said she didn't have trust issues. But you couldn't exactly blame her. Kids could be ruthless.

Max shrugged, "I don't really know anyone."

"You clearly know Abigail," Challan pointed out, her voice quiet so as to not draw attention to them.

Max rolled her eyes, "Not really. Plus, she seems like an asshole. I don't want to be friends with assholes." In all honesty, Max was curious about the girl standing in front of her. Max found it weird how quickly students at the school informed her to avoid the Logan girl and all the different things about witches and whatnot. It was honestly confusing and Max wanted to find out the truth for herself.

Challan fought off a smile, "She is, that."

"What? An asshole?" Max asked and Challan nodded, the redhead chuckling.

"Please don't tell her I said that," Challan added quickly, panic striking her at the fact that Max could very well have been sent by Abigail and the redhead could relay what she had said to the blonde.

Max's eyebrows furrowed slightly before she shook her head and placed a hand on Challan's shoulder. "I won't, promise."

Challan nodded unsurely, her guard still all the way up. She had thought that a new student could be good news for her. But kids could be easily persuaded and the fact that Abigail got to Max first made Challan uneasy.

"Why don't we start over?" Max proposed, holding out her hand again. "I'm Max."

Challan looked down at Max's hand for a moment before cautiously taking it in her own, giving it a shake. "Challan." Max smiled as the two shook hands. There was a beat of silence.

"Uh, cool skateboard," Challan said, head tilting down at it. Max looked at it, her smile widening.

"Thanks. Do you skate?" Max asked and Challan quickly shook her hand.

"No, no. I'm a dancer so I can't really do things like skateboarding. I could get injured, you know?" Challan answered. Max nodded her head along to what Challan was saying.

"Dancer, huh? That's cool, what kind of dance?" Challan couldn't tell if Max was genuinely interested or if she was just trying to be nice or even if she just had some other ulterior motive. Either way, no one had ever shown an interest in her until now.

"Ballet," she replied with a smile, and Max nodded. The redhead then looked around, eyes narrowing as she looked at something before she rolled them. Challan turned her attention to whatever Max was looking at but didn't really see anything.

"So, what do around here for fun?" Max asked, looking back over at Challan who shrugged.

"Uh, I don't really go out much so, I'm not too sure. But there's the movie theater and an arcade. A video store too," she answered.

Max wanted to ask why she didn't go out much but decided against it. Instead, she nodded and said, "I've been to the arcade a few times. I have the highest score on Dig Dug and a few other games there."

"Didn't you just move here?" Challan asked.

"Yup," Max smirked.

"That's pretty impressive," Challan admitted. Although, she didn't know what Dig Dug was, for Max to have the highest score already after not living in Hawkins for that long was fairly impressive.

"I guess. Maybe we can hang out at the arcade some time," Max proposed. She could see the hesitant look in Challan's eyes and her face fell slightly.

"Maybe," Challan mumbled. Max sent her a small smile.

"Well, I'll let you get back to whatever it is you were doing," she said. Challan nodded her head and Max got back on her skateboard and pushed off.

"It was nice to meet you," she called over her shoulder.

"Y-you too," Challan replied. She looked around before walking over to her spot.

••••

I hope you enjoy this chapter. I feel like things are moving too fast but things move pretty quickly in Stranger Things. I'm going to try to make Challan and Max as happy as I can together. But you know, you can't have fanfiction without angst and drama ;). Stranger Things 4 spoilers below.

I just wanted to say that after watching volume 2 of season 4, I'm not too sure I want to write for that season. So I might write this book up to season 3. I'm not good with AU-type things so I don't want to change how things happened in the show, especially since I don't know how season 5 will be. I'd need to watch season 5 to see how far I want to go tbh but who knows when that's coming out? Everything that happened to Max in volume 2 has left me so emotional and just angry. Especially because I feel like she was overcoming so much this season and then they just did that to her. Now the Duffer Brothers are saying she's brain dead (but they clearly don't know what it means to be brain dead so I'm taking what they say with a grain of salt). Anyway, been thinking a lot about this. I'm still not sure how far I'll take this book but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Until then, let's enjoy my Chalmax babies (idk what their ship name is yet lmao).