☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

°•. ┊ Daylight┊.•°
✧ ˚ ━ we're the new romantics, act one

CHAPTER ONE — madmax

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I don't really remember much from my childhood; only things from the ages of about ten and up, and yet I long for the life that I used to have. One with my entire family happily together, before my dad left and mom remarried some jackass with an even bigger jackass son. Before we were forced to move to some no name town in the middle of Indiana. Months into my junior year of high school and I have to start over, it's completely unfair. My mom already has my sister badgering her about it, so I try not to, but I can't deny that I'm angry. I had to leave my best friends behind and I'm not the most social person, so it won't be easy to make new ones, despite my mothers reassurance. It's my first day at Hawkins High and I am trying to keep a positive outlook, but I'll most likely end up at the back of each classroom, head in a book, and avoiding any human interaction. "Hey, you driving or am I giving you a ride there?" Billy asks, barely knocking as he enters my room.

"If you don't mind. Who am I kidding? You always mind, but yes I'm catching a ride with you." I huff.

"Be ready in fifteen. Any later than that and I'm leaving your ass home." He states, exiting my room, and leaving the door open because as I previously stated, he's a jackass. I finish getting ready in about eleven minutes leaving four to spare, so I grab a package of poptarts and then make my way out to Billy's car. Max is outside not too long after me and takes one of my poptarts. Unsurprisingly, Billy is the last one out and it's been twenty minutes.

"I swear he's more of a girl than either of us." I whisper, causing Max and I to laugh. Billy snaps at us and tells us to get in the car. The high school and middle school are basically right next to each other, so Max skates over. Billy gives us both a warning about meeting back at the car on time and then proceeds to threaten to leave us to walk. Same shit, different day. I peer up at the building before me and take a deep breath; mentally preparing myself for the day I'm about to have. I shake off my nerves and enter, the halls were flooded with students and teachers. I decide to find my own way to the main office, which isn't too difficult, considering it's right near the entrance. The lady at the front desk is nice, giving me a map of the school along with my schedule, to assist me in finding my classes. The two of us exchange pleasantries and then I am returning to the hallway. I am assessing my classes when I run into someone. "Shit. I'm- I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying attention at all. I was looking at my schedule and-"

"It's alright." The boy speaks, softly. "Here, let me take a look at your schedule. I can tell you where you're going." I hand it over, while keeping the fact that the secretary gave me a map, so I could figure it out myself. But he seemed nice and wanted to help. Plus, I don't want to come off bitchy. "I'm Jonathan, by the way."

"I'm Samira." I greet with a small smile. Feeling extremely uncomfortable in this atmosphere. I haven't been the new girl at a school ever, except for elementary school but everyone is new in kindergarten. Always had the same friends, same hangout spots, the only thing that changed were the teachers. A girl approaches us, she has brown hair and is wearing a multi-color sweater. She gives me a smile, which I return, and then asks the boy about a party that's occurring tomorrow. I can see him struggling with an answer. He wants to say no, but he obviously has feelings for her, so he settles with 'I'll think about it.' Now, she's turning to me.

"I'm Nancy. You must be new." She greets, holding out her hand.

"Samira. And yeah, I just moved here." I reply, shaking it.

"From where?" She questions.

"California." I confess, moving my hands to my back pockets, shifting my weight between each foot.

"Jeez, this town must seem extremely boring." Jonathan laughs. I shrug, unsure of how to respond. Not wanting to bash their hometown, especially since I don't know it too well. "Okay, first you have English, which is in this hall and your classroom is right there." He explains, pointing to a door about twenty feet away from us and to the left.

"Thank you, Jonathan." I speak, as he returns my schedule to me. "It was nice to meet you both. I'm gonna go in early and see what class information I can get from the teacher." I begin to walk away from the pair.

"Oh, Samira. Here, take this." Nancy hands me a bright orange piece of paper. "It's a Halloween party at Nina Patterson's house tomorrow night. You should stop by."

"I don't know...I'm not one for parties. Too many people." I laugh slightly.

"Fair enough, but it would be a good way for you to meet people." Nancy offers. "Just promise me you'll think about it?" I nod my head, knowing that I will not be thinking about it. And then walk to my class. I enter and start speaking with the teacher about the syllabus and the work I've missed and will now have to make up. It seems completely unfair that I have to do more work, simply because my mother decided to marry an asshole, who then chose to move us a month into the school year. It's easy work, but unfair nonetheless. The bell rings and students start to pour into the room, I take a seat two rows from the back. A petite girl with dark hair slides into the seat to my right, and pulls out her books. The class has started and the teacher is just lecturing the entire time. From my peripherals, I notice that the girl beside me keeps glancing over at me. I do my best to ignore it, but eventually I turn my head to look at her. She smiles widely at me and I give her a smile, while my brows furrow in confusion. I return my eyes to the board, brushing off the strange interaction. Thankfully, the bell rings and class is over.

"Hi." I hear from the direction of the starer, as I'm packing up my things.

"Hi..." I say quickly.

"I'm Delilah Henderson."

"I'm Samira Mayfield."

"Oo, Samira. That's really pretty. When'd you move here?" She inquires

"About a week ago. And before you ask, we moved from California." I explain.

"California must have been nice." She states, I nod my head wanting the conversation to end. "Sorry for staring at you earlier..."

"You were staring? I didn't notice." I speak sarcastically.

"Yeah, I just really wanted to talk to you, but Ms. Davis wouldn't stop talking. I swear most of the class was asleep before it even started." She laughs. Alright, so the weirdo isn't so weird. She's actually really sweet.

"Well, Delilah, you're not as strange as I thought. Still strange, but in a good way." I laugh.

"Thank you. And you're not as stuck up as you look." She breathes.

"Wait...I look stuck up?" I question, genuinely.

"Not necessarily. You're just pretty and you have good style, so in terms of high school stereotypes, you look like one of the mean popular girls." She babbles slightly.

"Huh. I can't tell if that's a compliment or not..." I think to myself. "Anyways, I'm more of the geeky, loner type. I get weird and awkward in social situations and prefer book characters to most people."

"Well, you are now officially not a loner. You are my new best friend." Delilah declares proudly. I pretend to weigh my options and question her declaration of friendship, messing with her. Then laugh and accept her offer. Although it wasn't technically an offer, more so a demand. Turns out, we have most classes together which I am grateful for. One friend is more than enough. The day surprisingly flies by and quickly I'm meeting Billy by his muscle car, waiting for Max. He once again threatens to leave without her and as he finishes his threat, Max skates up. The car ride home was quiet and tense. So, pretty normal for this group. When we get there, the three of us go to our separate rooms and I start my homework. I'm nearly finished when Max knocks. I tell her to come in and she flops on my bed, I spin my chair around to face her.

"What's the matter honey?" I tease in the same voice you would use with a baby. She sits up abruptly.

"I hate it here. This town is awful. This house sucks. And so does this family." She uses air quotes over the word family. "You know, besides you. I miss California. And I miss dad." She admits quietly. I move to sit next to her and she leans her head on my shoulder.

"I miss him too. Just call him, Maxie. I know it's not the same, but at least it's something." I offer. She lifts her head to look me in the eyes.

"Really? Have you talked to him since we left?" Her question cuts deep. I find myself looking down at my hands, chipping off my nail polish. "Yeah, that's what I thought." She begins to pace around my room. "None of this is fair. We didn't even get a say."

"Yeah, we're minors, Max. Legally we have no say." I huff.

"It's bullshit." You could practically see smoke coming out of her ears. "And now, I have a bunch of stalkers. This town is full of stalkers." My head snaps up and confusion covers my face.

"Wait, wait, wait. Stalkers? What stalkers?" I ask, immediately going into protective mode.

"It's just some kids at my school. They're harmless." She says. She can tell that I'm not convinced. "They're just AV geeks, nothing I can't handle. I promise." She goes on a tangent about these kids and how upset she is with mom. This lasts for a good half an hour. I stand and grab my purse and keys, then open my bedroom door.

"Come on. We're having a sisters night out." I state. My mom's in the kitchen when we pass her. "Going out for a bit. Gonna explore the town. See you later." I don't give her a chance to respond, before closing the door behind us. Once we're in my car, I just start driving, not a destination in mind. We pass an arcade and Max tells me that we have to stop there later. We go to the main part of town that contains the shops. There's not much, but at least it's something. I park and the two of us start walking around. I see a movie theater across the street and pull Max away from a store window, dragging her over to it. We get two tickets for a showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show; the lady in the ticket booth gives me a strange look, glancing between my sister and I. She doesn't say anything though and hands us the tickets. As we enter the building, Max and I make our way over to the snack bar; we get a large bucket of popcorn with extra butter, two cokes, and candy. Max gets red vines and I get snow caps, two movie theater staples. Now, Max and I have seen this movie a hundred times, it's one of our favorites, and seeing as we are the only ones in the theater; we do an entire production, dancing and singing along. It's really nice to see her smile again. A genuine smile. We exit the screening room laughing our asses off and quoting one of the best scenes. "Janet?"

"Dramatic gasp. Brad!" Max mocks.

"Rocky!"

"Grrr."

"Janet!"

"Doctor Scott!"

"Janet!"

"Brad!"

"Rocky!"

"Grrr." We stop after that, gaining weird looks from the sparse townsfolk on the street. We get back in the car. "This was fun. Thank you, Sammy."

"Don't mention it. And the fun isn't over, Maxie. You wanted to go to the arcade, right?" I ask. She nods her head. "Then we know our next stop." As we arrive at the arcade, Max and I rush in and immediately start playing any and every game. We end up being the last ones there, helping the worker lock up.

[word count: 2127]

lexi's letters; enjoy the story of stemira <3