CHAPTER THIRTY
MADMAX

The month was now October, and Kimmy was bored beyond belief as she sat in her science class near the back.

She was sat far away from the rest of the party, with no one sat in the desk to her right next to her. The party sat in the front two rows while she was sat at the back row. She didn't mind though, she'd been absent when everyone had picked their seats for the year.

Kimmy hated science class. Not only was she not good at it, but it also bored her to a great extent, she'd fallen asleep in the class more times than not.

Unlike her friends who were extremely taken with science and found it to be incredibly interesting, she just didn't care for it at all.

Unlike her friends, she didn't enjoy any of her subjects.

"Meet the human brain." Mr Clarke smiled, very enthusiastic as always. Kimmy knew her friends liked that about him, but sometimes it was just too much and too early for Kimmy to handle. "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-"

Kimmy was glad when her teacher was cut off by the classroom door opening, her cheek rested in her hand and she was dangerously close to falling asleep.

"Ah, this must be our new student." Mr Clarke beamed, looking delighted.

Kimmy lazily turned her head to the classroom door, watching as a girl with red hair made her way into the class, not looking very pleased. She tried to walk past the teacher at the head of the class and move to get to a seat without having to embarrass herself but the man quickly stopped her.

"Alright, hold up there. You don't get away that easy. Come on up here, don't be shy. " Mr Clarke sighed, although it was very clear he was teasing. The man then turned to Dustin, giving him a nod. "Dustin, drumroll?"

Kimmy watched as her curly haired friend nodded, closing his book and drumming dramatically with his hands.

The redhead looked incredibly uncomfortable as she stood at the head of the class, looking everywhere but the children in front of her as she began to fidget with her bag strap.

"Class, please welcome, all the way from sunny California, the latest passenger to join us on our curiosity voyage, Maxine!" The man spoke happily, gesturing to the girl stood next to him.

"It's Max." The girl corrected quietly, sending the man a strained smile.

"Sorry?" The man asked, his smile faltering slightly.

"Nobody calls me Maxine." She mumbled, looking the man dead in the eye to avoid catching glimpse of the children watching her. "It's Max."

Kimmy furrowed her brows as she watched her friends exchange excited glances as they whispered amongst each other, suddenly wondering what conversation she was missing out on. 

"Well," Mr Clarke recovered quickly, a smile back on his face in seconds. "All aboard, Max."

The girl sent him a nod, rushing past him as she went to look for a seat. The redhead ended up taking the seat next to Kimmy. Kimmy offering her a strained smile while she nodded in return.

Kimmy noticed her friends had followed the girl with their eyes as she walked, staring at her even now as she sat down.

Mike had a bored look on his face, looking entirely uninterested. Will looked at her blankly, almost looking like he didn't care, but looking slightly interested all the same. Aaron looked to her with a confused expression, his face scrunched up. However, Lucas and Dustin both looked to her with awestruck expressions, their eyes wide and mouths slightly open.

Kimmy sent the group a look of confusion, shrugging her shoulders and furrowing her brows. That seemed to snap the group from their trances. Each of them snapping their attention back to the front of the room instantly.

"What's their issue?" The new girl muttered to Kimmy, her face scrunched up in a look of disgust as she glared at the back of the boys heads, Kimmy holding back a laugh at the sight.

"Just ignore them." Kimmy whispered at her, shrugging her shoulders as she spoke. "They can be a bit... bizarre."

"Do you know them well?" Max asked her, sounding surprised.

"Yeah. They're my friends." Kimmy sighed, nodding her head, catching a look of Max's shocked expression.

"Really?" She asked, as if she didn't believe her. "Why are you sitting all the way back here?"

"I wasn't here the first day when seats were assigned - slept in." Kimmy explained, hesitating as she went to carry on. "And... I guess some like me more than others."

She wasn't wrong. Kimmy was sure Will wasn't very taken with her and she was positive that Mike didn't like her at all. She knew for a fact that Mike didn't like her, he'd made it very obvious that he didn't want to be her friend and that he didn't like the party being friends with her.

"Hm," Max hummed thoughtfully, shaking her head. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but you seem way to cool to be hanging out with the likes of them."

Kimmy almost laughed at the accusation, raising her brows as the tips of her lips pulled up. "Trust me, I'm not cool at all. I bet they're the only five in our entire grade that even know my name."

Max snickered at her response, tilting her head in slight puzzlement. "What is your name?"

"Kimberley Jenkins." Kimmy answered instantly, scrunching her nose in distaste at her first name. "But I hate Kimberley so people just call me Kimmy."

"Well, since you're doing full names," Max sighed, an amused look on her face as she spoke. "Maxine Margot Mayfield. But I hate Maxine so people just call me Max"

"Did your parents name you Maxine and make your middle name Margot on purpose?" Kimmy blurted, genuinely interested. "You know, so it was all 'M'?" 

"I actually don't know," the girl replied after a moment of thought, her brows furrowing. "Never thought about it. But I doubt it."

Kimmy shrugged, much more interested in her conversation with the girl next to her rather than whatever Mr Clarke was blabbing about at the front of the classroom.

"Have you made any friends yet?" Kimmy asked curiously, hoping the girl was at least happy in her new town.

"No," Max scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You're the first person who hasn't been a complete dick when I've tried talking to them."

Kimmy wasn't surprised, Kimmy had learned a long time ago not to try make friends at Hawkins Middle, judging on her past experiences, she'd always been shut down.

"Yeah most of the people are complete dicks." Kimmy murmured, her honest response evidently taking Max by surprise. "But, you can sit with me and my friends at lunch if you want?"

Kimmy thought the girl was cool, and felt it was only right she offer her to eat lunch with them, knowing how shit it was to have no friends

"What with you and the weirdos?" The girl asked with a dumfounded expression, sounding genuinely interested. "Wouldn't they mind?"

"To be completely honest? Probably." Kimmy shrugged, watching as Max sighed. "But who cares? Some of them still don't like me hanging around or eating lunch with them but I do it anyway. If any of them tell you that you can't stay, I'll go somewhere else and eat lunch with you. I'm sure Aaron and Lucas will too."   

"Aaron and Lucas?" Max asked quietly, looking perplexed.

"Yeah, two of the boys sat up there." Kimmy nodded, looking at the boys who looked very interested in what their teacher had to say before looking back at Max. "And even if they don't - which I doubt, I'll still have lunch with you. I know how shit it is to have no friends."

Max looked as if she was hesitating before sending her a small smile and nodding. "Alright sure. Where will I meet you?" 

"Um," Kimmy mumbled, doing her best to think ahead to what class she had before lunch. "What class are you in before lunch?"

"I'm not sure." Max replied, pulling out a folded piece of paper from her pocket and looking over it quickly. "Uh- english."

"Bummer," Kimmy sighed as she furrowed her brows. "I have history. I can meet you at the school courtyard outside?"

"Okay, that's fine." Max nodded, before tilting her head and asking something else. "What about the cafeteria, won't you actually need lunch?"

"Oh, shit, sorry I forgot about that." Kimmy rushed out, thinking of where she could meet the redhead instead so she could show her where to get lunch. "I can show you where the cafeteria is so you can get food-"

"I take my own food." Max replied simply, cutting her off.

"No way, me too!" Kimmy exclaimed much more excited over the fact than she should have been. "Aaron makes it for me because he thinks the food from the cafeteria will kill him."

Max looked to Kimmy with a look of concern but Kimmy just brushed it off with a shrug.

It looked as if Max was away to say something else, but she was cut off by the school bell indicating the end of class.

"Okay," Kimmy sighed as she packed her books away. "Remember, meet at the school courtyard at lunch."

Max nodded, sending her a smile and a thumbs up.

...

Kimmy was walking much faster than usual as she tried to get outside to meet her new friend as quick as possible.

Well, at least she'd hoped she'd made a new friend. At least then she wouldn't feel so left out all the time when spending time with the party as a group.

Kimmy was a little more than surprised to find the party also stood outside in the courtyard, always sitting in the cafeteria.

She slowly made her way over, listening in on the conversation as she did so.

"There's no way that's MadMax." Mike scoffed, sounding unimpressed.

"Yeah," Will was quick to agree, never looking back at his friends as he spoke all of them looking dead ahead. "Girls don't play video games."

"And even if they did," Mike continued, sounding as if he wanted the conversation over and done with. "You can't get 750,000 points on DigDug. It's impossible."

Lucas sighed, scoffing as he went to speak. "But her name-"

"What are you guys talking about?" Kimmy asked with a smile on her face, taking the group by surprise as she spun around to face her.

Aaron looked to her with wide eyes, almost looking  guilty. "I'm sorry we weren't at the cafeteria, Kimmy. But Dustin is dead set on finding out who beat him on DigDug. He's got this crazy idea it's the new girl."

"Who Max?" Kimmy asked tilting her head slightly as she watched Aaron nod his head with an eyeroll.

"Oh," she mumbled in a teasing tone, sounding as if she was just getting ahold of things. "So that's why you were all staring creepily at her in class?"

Aaron and Mike scoffed as if to say she was being ridiculous, but Lucas and Dustin didn't even flinch, clutching onto the fence as they watched her skate around on her skateboard.

"Well," Kimmy sighed, moving to get past them. "I'm going to have my lunch, you guys can come with me if you want-"

"Why are you going over there?" Aaron asked sounding puzzled as he watched her.

"I asked Max if she wanted to have lunch with us, she's my friend now. I think." Kimmy replied calmly as she walked backwards, only then did Dustin and Lucas snap their heads around to look their brunette friend. "You guys can come if you want."

"I think I'm going to go to the cafeteria." Aaron shrugged, not looking fazed by her words at all. "I'm far too cold to eat outside-"

"Kimmy you have to talk to her for me." Dustin blurted, reaching out to grab her arm desperately. "Please. I need to know if she's MadMax."

"Alright," Kimmy murmured, doing her best to keep her friends happy.

Kimmy waved bye to the group of boys as she walked away, the only one to return it being Aaron seeing as Dustin and Lucas were already back looking through the fence. On the other hand she hadn't expected Mike to return the wave.

Instead she sent Aaron a small smile as she turned, watching as he instantly returned it before she could turn away.

"Max?" Kimmy called, catching the girls attention, causing her to stop skating and turned to her.

"Hey," Max replied with a smile, but her smile soon dropped and she turned serious. "The weirdos have been staring at me the entire time I've been out here."

"I know," Kimmy sighed, her shoulders dropping in second hand embarrassment for her friends. "Dustin has this theory that you're the one who beat his high score on his favourite arcade game or something. DugDig or something, I don't know."

Max laughed in response as the two made their way over to the bench so the two could each their lunch.

"DigDug?" She asked through laughs. "Yeah that probably was me."

"Christ, you're MadMax?" Kimmy teased, rolling her eyes as she opened her own brown lunch bag and picked up her sandwich. "Don't let him hear that, you're like a celebrity to him."  

"Which one is Dustin?" The redhead asked, not daring to look over to the boys still watching them.

"The one with curly hair." Kimmy replied simply, watching as a look of realisation flashed across Max's features.

"I swear," Max sighed, taking a bite of her own sandwich. "I've not even known them for a day and I don't know how your put up with it. I could never be in a friend group with just boys, I'd lose my shit."

Kimmy frowned slightly but quickly recovered, not wanting to dwell on her old friend who had gone missing almost a year before.

"Yeah," she said instead, continuing to eat her food. "I guess it can be a bit much a times."

"No seriously," the girl sighed dramatically. "You're lucky I moved here when I did, otherwise you would be screwed."

Kimmy let out an unsure laugh, "what?"

"Well, lets be honest here, Kimmy," Max groaned as she spoke, clearly disapproving. "You can't be going through life with just boys around you - you'd go insane within a few more months, thank god you now have me to guide you."

Kimmy laughed in response, shaking her head at Max's words. "Thank god."

"Hey," Max spoke up, nudging Kimmy was she pulled a piece of paper from her bag. "Do you have a marker on you?"

Kimmy nodded, pulling her bag onto her lap and began looking through it. "Yeah, here." Kimmy muttered as she handed it to her. "What do you need it for?"

Max didn't reply, only scribbling on the piece of paper, holding it up for Kimmy to see with a smirk.

Stop spying on me, CREEPS!

Kimmy held back a laugh, turning to glance at the boys no doubt still watching them. Only now it was only Lucas and Dustin. Aaron, Mike and Will most likely already having left for the cafeteria.

Max scrunched the bit of paper into a ball, standing and urging for Kimmy to follow. Kimmy did so, clutching her lunch bag tightly in her hold as she followed Max up the short flight of stairs.

Max then dropped the piece of paper in the trash can below the two dramatically to make sure the two boys definitely saw.

The two girls then ran into the building, laughing between themselves as they wondered through the halls.

Kimmy immensely grateful that she had a friend like all the girls did in the movies she'd watched. Glad that the redhead seemed to genuinely like her for who she was. Kimmy hoped that the two could grow to have a great friendship, just like all the other girls had with girls their age in her grade.

...

SEASON 2 OFFICIALLY STARTED YAY!!!!

Also I got this written and posted WAY earlier than I thought I would.

Hopefully you guys are enjoying the story, you should know that season 2 is going to be MUCH more interesting than season 1 I'm so excited about it.

Voting and commenting is appreciated❤️!!

- AJ:)