gabe and max

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The party's eyes swivelled to meet Alina's as they saw Gabriel Burton staring right at her. Although confusion was written on all of their faces, Mike seemed to be the one to take charge, raising an eyebrow and jerking his chin at Gabe as if to ask how she knew him. As a completely silent response, Alina mimed running and then tipped her own chin at him to communicate that they'd met while she was jogging outside. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten about him. Gabe was so... memorable. From his button-downs to the odd way he spoke to the fact he'd known about Will.

Mike nodded, and the rest of the party seemed placated with her response, their eyes moving on to the unknown girl, who none of them seemed to recognize. They'd gotten good at talking without words. Then Mr. Clarke spoke. "Ah, these must be our new students."

"Indeed they are," said Principal Coleman, smiling at the class. "All yours." He began to move out of the classroom, and the unknown girl let out a sigh, quickly attempting to move past Mr. Clarke into one of the empty desks at the back. Before she could do so, however, Mr. Clarke let out a chuckle, holding up his hand to halt her.

"All right. Hold up there. You don't get away that easy. Come on up, both of you. Don't be shy."

The new girl rolled her eyes but did as Mr. Clarke said, joining Gabe, who hadn't moved a muscle since waving to Alina, at the front beside her new teacher. Mr. Clarke beamed at them and gestured to the boy beside Alina.

"Dustin," he instructed, "drum roll."

Dustin, who was Mr. Clarke's favourite student, did as he asked, slamming his science textbook shut and tapping on the cover to build up the anticipation. A rush of sympathy went through Alina for Gabe and the new girl, who were both looking supremely uncomfortable already, the girl's cheeks red with embarrassment.

"Class," said Mr. Clarke, "please welcome, all the way from sunny California and Chicago... the latest passengers to join us on our curiosity voyage... Maxine and Gabriel!"

"It's Max," the girl corrected quickly, her eyes glued to the floor.

"Sorry?"

The girl let out an exasperated breath. "Nobody calls me Maxine. It's Max."

Alina's eyes widened, and she was sure the rest of the party was thinking what she was thinking. She turned to face Dustin, who was nodding. Mad Max, he mouthed, and Alina nodded back. The rest of the party exchanged glances, telling her that there would be a meeting later to discuss this new development, and Alina smiled at the girl. She kind of hoped that this was Mad Max. It would be nice to have another girl that was as into video games as she was.

Meanwhile, Gabriel had cleared his throat. "I, uh... usually I go by Gabe, but Gabriel's fine, too. You can call me whatever you want. I really don't mind. But just... Gabe's nice." He swallowed when he noticed the class was staring at him. "I'm going to stop talking now."

"It's okay, Gabe," said Mr. Clarke. "Well, all aboard, you two. Gabe, you can sit beside Lucas here, and Max, you seem to have found an empty spot already. Is that alright with you two?"

Max nodded, and moved towards the back of the classroom quickly, wanting to avoid further confrontation. The party's heads all followed her as she sat down, crossing her arms and staring out the window, all of them wondering if she really was the top scorer on Dig Dug. Alina couldn't help but raise her hand in a wave at her, but she didn't wave back.

Meanwhile, Gabe had found his spot beside Lucas, and kept his eyes locked on the students, even as Mr. Clarke resumed his lesson. His eyes ran over each of the party members, though when he got to Will's, he stiffened. He obviously recognized him from the newspapers he'd been reading.

Will caught Gabe staring at him and his face went red. Alina watched as her friend stared back at the new boy, his eyes taking in every inch of him, his face turning redder and redder with each passing second. After a startled moment, Gabe smiled at him, but that only caused Will to turn away, facing Mr. Clarke as he explained each section of the human brain.

Alina stopped looking at the two new kids, too, but she had a feeling that both of them would somehow have an impact in her life, however small. She licked her lips and tried to refocus on the lesson, although she knew this wasn't over.

Recess came quickly, and instead of reading comics or discussing Dungeons and Dragons like they usually did, the party flocked to the fence, staring across the playground at Max, who was skateboarding, oblivious. Cheers rang out across the schoolyard as the other students played, and Alina suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Perhaps it was her fellow students that were the naïve ones. They had no idea about the world beyond their own little circle, the fact that last year, their precious Hawkins Middle had been a place of horror for the five kids they always mocked.

Mike was shaking his head as he watched Max skateboard. Alina had to admit she was pretty good as she watched her drop off a ramp, landing in a crouch, her skateboard continuing to roll along the gravel. She wondered how long she'd been practicing.

Alina had always wanted to learn how to skateboard, but she'd never found anyone to teach her. Instead, she and the party had gone rollerblading for the first time a couple of months ago, and Alina had found she was pretty good at it, and had mocked her friends, who kept falling on their asses.

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

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

"Are you forgetting that just last night I creamed your scrawny ass at Centipede, Byers?" Alina asked, crossing her arms and cocking an eyebrow. "Girls can so play video games."

Mike just sighed. "Well, even if they did, like Al does, you can't get seven hundred and fifty thousand points on Dig Dug. It's impossible."

"But her name is Max," Lucas pointed out. From the moment that the party had reached the fence to watch her, Lucas had kept his eyes locked right on the new girl. Alina wished he'd look away, just for a moment, but she could practically see the drool coming out of his mouth at the sight of a pretty girl.

Just turn around, Lucas, Alina thought. Just once.

But he didn't.

"So what?" Mike was asking him.

"So, how many Maxes do you know?"

Mike shrugged. "I don't know."

"Zero," said Lucas, "that's how many."

Max flipped up the end of her board and continued to skate, and Alina finally peeled her eyes away. It was already confirmed in her mind that Max was Mad Max, and she didn't want to discuss this anymore. But her friends seemed fixated on her, as if her skateboarding was the coolest thing in the world.

All Alina wanted to do right now was read comics with her friends. But instead she'd been roped into this strange stalking. Sure, Max seemed nice, cool even. But this was getting a little extreme.

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

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

"Okay, Mad Max or not, we should stop spying on her," Alina pointed out. The party turned their heads toward her to find that she'd taken a couple steps back from the fence, her arms crossed as she watched them discuss her. "We get it, she's a girl and she skateboards and she might have beaten Dustin in Dig Dug. But it's getting old already. And weird."

"What's weird?"

A new voice joined the conversation, and the party turned to find Gabe, who had somehow snuck up to them without notice. He was clutching another newspaper in his hand, this one about rotten pumpkins, and smiled at Alina when he saw her.

"My friends," said Alina, gesturing to the boys. "They keep stalking the new girl, just because she might have beaten Dustin at Dig Dug. I mean, it was impressive she managed seven hundred and fifty thousand points, but—"

"Just stop, Alina." Lucas raised his hands, looking exasperated, and Alina quickly looked away from him. She didn't want to know what kinds of feelings would surface if she met his eyes. Lucas's eyes held nebulae and galaxies and billions and billions of stars inside them, and Alina was beginning to feel as if she'd been lost among the cosmos.

"Well, it's nice to see you again," said Gabe after a moment, laughing awkwardly. "I met her on Sunday," he explained to the others, although they hadn't asked. "I was taking a walk around the neighborhood and she accidentally ran into me. I just got to Hawkins on Friday. It's nice, isn't it? And I'm rambling again." He laughed again before sticking out his hand, his eyes glued to his shoes in embarrassment. "I'm Gabe. But you guys already know that."

"I'm Mike," Mike spoke up after a moment. He didn't shake his hand.

"Dustin."

"Lucas."

"I'm Will." Will's head was bent slightly, but he kept sneaking peeks at Gabe, his face a brilliant red yet again. "Will Byers."

"I know," said Gabe. "I mean, I read the story. In the newspaper. You're really brave, do you know that?"

"Oh." Will's face turned even redder. "Uh, thank you. Most people just make fun of me when they hear the story."

Everyone was quiet after that, not knowing what to say, and with a sigh Alina spoke, cringing at the awkwardness. "So, Gabe, are you, uh, excited for Halloween?"

"Oh, I don't celebrate Halloween," said Gabe brightly. "I never have. My dad didn't really do it, for whatever reason. But it's still cool to look at all the decorations and costumes, and I keep a bowl of candy by the door just in case people come around." After a second, he seemed to realize that the boys looked uncomfortable by his presence. "Well, it was nice meeting you all."

And then he walked away. Alina's eyes followed him as he left, thinking about how bizarre their conversations were.

"Well, anyway," said Dustin after a second. "Max is really cool, Alina. She skateboards, so that's pretty awesome."

"Awesome?" Even Mike was getting annoyed now. "You haven't even spoken a word to her."

"I don't have to," said Dustin. "I mean, look at her." He turned back towards the fence, only to see that the redhead and her skateboard had disappeared. He let out a curse. "Shit. I've lost the target."

"Please don't call her that," Alina groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Oh!" Will moved away from the fence. "There."

The party watched as Max made her way up the stairs, her skateboard tucked under her arm. As she made her way to the door, she tossed something into the trashcan, and then disappeared inside the school. The boys exchanged mischievous glances, and Alina let out another moan.

"Oh, please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're th—"

Dustin, Lucas, and Will all took off running towards the garbage can. Mike hung back for a moment besides Alina, looking disgusted at his friends. "Look," he said. "I just wanted to say that I agree with you. About Max. It is getting old. I mean, who cares if she's Mad Max?"

Alina smiled, relieved that someone was on her side. "Thanks, Mike," she said, then faced her friends, who were still running. "C'mon, let's get these weirdos in order."

Mike let out a laugh, and soon he and Alina were following behind the other party members as they reached the trashcan. Lucas and Will were already standing in front of the trashcan, blocking the view of Dustin as he began to dig through it, looking for whatever Max had dropped, and soon Alina and Mike had joined them.

"What if it's just a bubblegum wrapper or something?" Alina asked as she stood in front of Dustin. A group of girls walked by, confusion and disgust etched on their faces as they caught a glimpse of Dustin's head in the trashcan. Will, embarrassed, quickly raised his arm in a wave to them, and Lucas and Mike quickly followed. Alina tried to cover her face.

"Got it," Dustin announced, procuring a crumpled piece of paper. "There we go."

As the party watched, Dustin unfolded the piece of paper Max had dropped, smoothing it out on his knee. The five of them read it out together, Alina letting out a snort when they were finished. For the note was addressed directly to them, written in permanent marker.

STOP SPYING ON ME CREEPS!

"Well, shit," Dustin cursed.

"William Byers?"

The party turned to meet the eyes of Principal Coleman. "Your mother's here," he explained, causing Will to shrink nearly two inches. Alina felt a rush of sympathy go through her. It was a lab day. Well, after the episode he'd had last night, this made sense.

Alina put her arm around her friend. "Sorry, Will," she said softly. "You gonna be alright?"

Will nodded. "I'm alright."

And with that, he followed Principal Coleman around the corner, his shoulders slumped slightly in his dismay. Alina wished that she could do more for him. This year had been awful for him already.

As Will headed inside with Principal Coleman, Dustin let out a sigh. "What are we going to do?" he asked. "About Max?"

"How about you follow her advice?" Alina tapped on the paper she'd sent them. "She's right. Your stalking is creepy. It's why the only girls besides me you've talked to are your own sisters. You guys really are shit with girls."

The boys made to protest this, and Alina held her finger up. "You know it's true. Don't try and deny it. And the only reason you swayed me was because of Will and Eleven."

"That's not true—" Lucas argued.

"It is. But it doesn't matter. What matters is what we're going to do next. And what I'm going to do is introduce myself to Max. You guys are welcome to come with, if you'd like."

And see what Lucas sees in her, Alina thought, but pushed that thought down. She wasn't going to blame Max for what Lucas felt. So, after confirming that none of the boys were coming with her, Alina shook her head, pulled out her ponytail and let her curls out, and then headed up the stairs inside alone.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: and things immediately begin to get spicy between alina and lucas! we know that alina still has a crush on him, but does lucas still feel the same way? i know, because i'm the author, but still ;)))

hope you enjoyed this chapter! as always, if you liked it remember to vote and comment! love you all :))

'till next time!