CHAPTER ONE: madmax

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PERSEUS WARD RAN THROUGH THE HOUSE. Dustin had called and said that he and the others would be at the arcade. And Perseus had rushed to get ready to meet them there. He thought he made a ridiculous sight, jacket half off, shoes untied and him jumping around to push a shoe on.

"Where are you going?" Hopper interrupted the pre-teen.

Perseus looked up, now feeling a bit awkward. He had forgotten that he would have to ask Hopper permission to leave. It was odd now, because apparently Hopper wanted to know where he was so he knew if he would be okay. "Uh...Dustin invited me to go to the Arcade with him and the rest."
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Dustin smiled widely when he had seen Perseus. "You made it!" Dustin was the only one waiting outside.  "Everyone else is inside."

Hopper honked the horn, gesturing for Dustin to come to the door as Perseus had walked up to him. Perseus went to walk back to Hopper, but the man had told him that he wanted to speak to Dustin.

"Hey, guys," Perseus smiled at the group of boys, who surrounded one of the games.

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"Is it just me or is this game a..." Perseus trailed off, unsure of the word.

The blond-haired, blue-eyes, purple eye-shadow and red lipgloss animated woman on the game screen. "To slay the dragon, use the magic sword."

"Oh, Jesus! I'm in uncharted territory here, guys," Dustin tells them.

"You got this," Perseus tells the other.

"Down! Down! Down!" Lucas yells.

"I'm going! I'm going!" On the screen, Dustin dunked the claws of the dragon. "I'm going! I'm going!"

Everyone started to yell, but a second later, Dustin was burnt. "No! No! No! I hate this overpriced bullshit!" Plus, he had lost in front of Perseus, he hadn't invited the other to watch him lose. "Son of a bitch! Piece of shit!" Dustin kicked the machine.

"You're not nimble enough. But you'll get there one day," Lucas tells Dustin. "But, until them, Princess Daphne is still mine."

"You guys are so weird," Perseus tells them.

"Whatever. I'm still tops on Centipede and Dig Dug," Dustin boosts.

"You sure about that?" Keith asked. Perseus glared at him, he always hated the older one.

"Sure about what?" Dustin questioned. Keith eats a Cheeto puff. Dustin pushed Will aside. Perseus took a hold of Will's arm, stopping him from bumping into the machine. "You're kidding me. No, no, no."

Dustin had gone to check all the games, seeing that the first place had been another name, not Dustin's; MadMax.

"751,300!" Will exclaimed.

"Someone had a lot a free time," Perseus commented.

"That's impossible," Mike says.

"Who is Mad Max?" Dustin asked.

"Better then you," Keith replied.

"Is it you?" Mike asked.

"Does he look like someone who could get that high of a score?" Perseus asked. "The only thing close to 731,300 is maybe the amount of chips he eats."

"Then who is it?" Lucas asked, slightly laughing when seeing Perseus's glare.

"Yeah, spill it Keith!" Dustin spoke.

"You want information, then I need something in return." Keith says, smiling pointedly at Mike.

Perseus narrows his eye at the older one. "I've got my pocket knife if you try anything," he took a step back, extending his arms to push the others a step back.

"No,  no, no. No way." Mike immediately says. "You're not getting a date with her."

"Mike, come on. Just get him the date." Lucas yelled.

"I'm not prostituting my sister!" Mike exclaimed.

"But it's for a good cause." Lucas argued.

"No, don't get him the date. Know what? He's gonna spread his nasty-ass rash to your whole family." Dustin says a loud.

Perseus laughs.

"Acne isn't a rash and it isn't contagious, you prepubescent wastoid."

"Who the fuck are you talking to?" Perseus asked, glaring at the man.

"Oh, I'm a wastoid? She wouldn't go on a date with you. You make, like, what? $2.50 an hour?" Dustin fired back at Kieth.

Keith keeps eating his chips. "Nice perm."

"Gonna make fun of my hair?"

Perseus smacked the bag of chips out of the other's hands. "Okay, that's it. We get it you're useless and creepy."
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"Don't you think your over reacting a bit?" Perseus asked Hooper, who had driven him to school. "Thanks anyway."

While Perseus had stayed with Hopper, the man ended up being his guardian. "Just don't get into any fights." Hopper told the boy.

"Have no reason to now," Perseus smiled, as though it was funny. Hopper looked at him, face emotionless. "Oh, come on, it's a joke." Perseus adds.

"It's not funny," Hopper tells him.
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In Mr. Clark's class, the teacher placed the replica model of the human brain down on a small, black, flat platform. "Meet the human brain. I know. I know, it doesn't look like much. A little gross even, right? But consider this. That's 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."

The door opens and closes quickly, a red-headed curly haired girl with a red jacket walked in. The principal behind her.

"Ah, this mist is our new student," Mr. Clark says.

"Indeed. All yours," the principal replied.

"All right. Hold up." Mr. Clark stops the girl. "You don't get away that easy. Come on up. Don't be shy. Dustin, drum roll."

Dustin placed his hard-cover book on the top of his desk and started to hit it with a rhythm. "Class, please welcome, all the way from sunny California, the latest passenger to join us on our curiosity voyage, Maxine."

The girl turns to the teacher. "It's Max." She whispered.

"Sorry?" Mr. Clark questioned, not hearing the girl with how low she spoke.

"Nobody calls me Maxine. It's Max."

"Mad Max," Lucas whispered.

"We'll, all aboard, Max," Mr. Clark told her.

Max walked to the empty seat.
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"Are you guys seriously stalking her?" Perseus asked when Dustin had took a hold of his hand to drag him to the parking lot.

"There's no way that's Mad Max," Mike says.

"Yeah. Girls don't play video games," Will says.

"Just like a father doesn't hit his son," Perseus sarcastically replied. Which had the boys look at him, unamused and sad. "Okay, come on, why is everyone so serious? It's a joke. Hopper didn't find it funny, practically was getting ready to give me a lecture on it."

"Didn't he beat up your dad?" Dustin asked. Although it felt odd to say that. Not, that Hopper beat a man up, but odd to still call Charles Ward Perseus's father.

Either way, Mike ignored them. "And even if they did, you can't get 750,000 points on Dig dug."

"Well, maybe you can't." Perseus says. "Clearly she can."

"You're supposed to be on our side," Dustin huffs.

"But her band is Max," Lucas points out.

"So what?" Mike asked.

"So, how many Maxes do you know?"

"I don't know."

"Zero. That's how many."

"She shows up at school the day after someone with her same name breaks our top score," Dustin speaks up. "I mean, you kidding me?"

"Exactly. So, she's gotta be Mad Max." Lucas says. "She's gotta be."

"And plus, she skateboards, so she's pretty awesome," Dustin says.

"Awesome? You haven't even spoken a world to her," Mike tells him.

Perseus sighs. "Come on, if it's so important we'll go ask her."

He goes to walk around the fence but is stopped by Mike and Lucas, who grab his jacket but immediately drop their hands when they recalled how he acts to sudden touched or grabs.

"Are you insane?" Lucas asked.

"Shit, I've lost the target," Dustin says.

"Oh, there," Will says, looking to the left. Max was walking back into the school, dropped a paper in the trash.

Which had Mike, Will, Lucas and Dustin run forward. Perseus sighs, thinking about walking away when he sees them go through the trash.

He only approached them when the principal walked up to the stairs. "William Byers. Your mother's here."
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They had waited to see Will leave.

"You guys think he's okay?" Dustin asked.

"He's always weird when he has to go in," Lucas made known.

"I don't know. He's quiet today." Mike says.

"He's always quiet," Lucas replied.

"What he was through was traumatizing. Of course he's different." Perseus points out. "At least, that's what my therapist says. But, in a more intelligent manner."

"You have a therapist?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, Hopper said some bullshit about me maybe needing one because of the physical and emotional abuse from my father. I don't know, it's a bunch of bullshit to me. How's an hour conversation gonna suddenly stop the fear of him being released to hurt you guys and kill me?"

No one said anything, unsure of how to reply.
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"Everyone's doing good. Well, Will is obviously traumatized, and Mike's getting angrier more often, but, other then that... it's all good," Perseus informs Eleven. "He misses you."

"Is he okay?" Eleven asked.

"Other then being easily angered," Perseus repeats, he shrugged. "Yeah. He's fine."

Hopper walks in, turning off the TV the two had left on before he walks into the small dinning room. "Hey, what's we talk about?" he calls out.

Both Eleven and Perseus slowly walked out. "No signal," Eleven says. "It's 8-1-5. You're late."

"Yeah, I lost track of time. I'll signal next time, all right?" Hopper calls back. "Uh, and it's 8:15. Not 8-1-5."

"Eight-fifteen," Eleven repeats as the two come to sit down at the small table.

"Now, what did we talk about?" Hopper questioned. "Dinner first, then dessert. Always."

"It was more of a late lunch," Perseus says. "As Eggos count for breakfast. How can they count for breakfast and a snack but not dinner?"

"Please don't encourage her," Hopper tells the boy. "That's the rule."

Then they begin to eat their dinner.
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