ৎ ָ࣪ 𓄹 ﹙𝟬𝟭𝟱﹚˖ ᨒ .ﾟ ꗃ 𓄸
❛ ZOMBIE BOY ❜  𓂃   𓈒   𓏸  ₊ ˚

       HAWKINS HAD ALWAYS BEEN A STRANGE TOWN, but now it was stranger than ever. A lot of things happened that didn't seem possible, and everyone would throw it under the rug as some kind of joke. The town was known as this normal place where nothing strange ever occurred, but that was just one of the biggest lies hidden by their secretive government.

They had been brainwashing people in Hawkins for decades, making them believe that they lived in a cliche town where they would live a perfectly cliche life. No harm could be done to anyone in Hawkins, right? So when two students go missing and are presumed dead, everyone forgets about the whole situation like it was just some kind of freak accident.

         Most people in Hawkins avoided Will Byers at all costs after that. They believed he was cursed with some kind of bad luck. There were people that even believed he was some kind of cloned demon. After all, his body was found. It was all over the news. That was all anyone could talk about when he returned home.

          The teenage girl with blonde hair opened her locker, putting away her items. She closed it after she grabbed her textbook, holding it against her chest. The girl looked up as she met Mike's eyes. He waited for her patiently with his own textbook in his hands.

         "Shall I accompany you to class, royal highness?" The boy with jet black hair teased, attempting a British accent, as he bowed before the girl in front of him. She rolled her eyes at his humorous attempt.

          "Very funny, Wheeler," The girl bit the inside of her cheek, trying to hold back a smile.

          "Oh, come on, Grace! Admit it was funny!" Mike followed behind the girl like a lost puppy as she made her way to their next class together.

         "I would've laughed if it was." Grace grinned at Mike, shaking her head. She had to admit, his newfound height made her feel particularly small.

          An idea popped into Mike's head. The boy reached forward, tickling Grace. When the girl let out a few breathless laughs, he stopped. They ignored the looks from other students in the halls.

          "You laughed," Mike smirked, tilting his head. "I only laughed because you caught me by surprise!" The girl quickly defended, hitting him.

         "I made 'The Grace Baker' laugh! I feel so accomplished." The boy continued to tease. It was no secret that she was popular at their school.

         Everyone knew Grace Baker. Her name would be brought up among students all the time. She had a lot of friends, though, she didn't hang out with them nearly as much as she did the party. It was strange, almost.

         The friendly smiles and kind gestures she sent everyone's way made her all the more likable. It was honestly refreshing to anyone around her.

         At first glance, the blonde gave out the impression that she was a super stuck up, rich girl, but her looks couldn't have been any more deceiving.

         "You always make me laugh, Mike." Grace told him. The teasing smile left his face, being replaced by a blush that he tried his best to hide from her.

Before he could respond to her sweet comment, Will slammed his locker open behind them. The pair watched as he balled up a piece of paper, grabbed his textbook and slammed his locker back shut.

         "Hey, Will!" Grace called out, waving the boy towards her and Mike with a smile. Mike knew that if anyone could brighten Will's mood, it would be Grace. She never failed to make people feel better.

         "Hey, guys!" The boy smiled brightly, making his way towards them. He held open his arms, both of his friends taking turns hugging him.

          "You okay? Do I have to kick someone's ass? I won't hesitate to go from classy to━━" The blonde was cut off by Will, a scared look on his face.

"I'm fine. Everyone's still calling me zombie boy, that's all. It's not a big deal." Will stated with a frown, turning to look away from the pair.

"That's totally a big deal. Are you kidding me? People can't just get away with stuff like that." Mike seethed in anger, wanting to protect him.

"It doesn't matter. Just forget it." Will shook his head, remaining calm. That's one thing Grace admired about him. Despite being made fun of, and even despite everything he went through, he was still calm.

"Fine, but if anyone is ever bothering you, let me know. I got your back." The blonde shook Will's hand firmly. He nodded with a huge grin.

"Correction, we got your back." Mike rephrased, as they all headed into their next class.

The trio took their seats next to Lucas and Dustin, waving and greeting the two boys.

Everyone settled down into their seats. Mr. Clarke started the day's lesson after that.

"Meet the human brain. I know it doesn't look like much. A little gross even, right? But there are a hundred billion cells inside of this miracle of evolution." The man began to explain to his students. Will, Lucas, Mike, and Dustin were the only ones listening.

Grace blew a big bubble with her chewing gum, laughing as it popped on her face. She put the gum back into her mouth, doing it once more.

The entire class turned to the door at the sound of it being unlocked. A girl with ginger hair and bright blue eyes walked into the classroom, looking uninterested. The principal entered the room after the girl, trying to appear welcoming and kind to the new student.

"Ah, this must be our new student." Mr. Clarke beamed with excitement at the girl.

"Indeed it is. All yours." The principal left the classroom, closing the door behind him.

The new girl seemed quite uncomfortable, trying to make her way to a seat in the back of the class.

"All right. Hold up. You don't get away that easy. Come on up. Don't be shy." The man stopped her from sitting down. The new girl rolled her eyes.

"Class, please welcome, all the way from sunny California. . .the latest passenger to join us on our curiosity voyage, Maxine." Mr. Clarke cheered as he pointed at the new girl, while Dustin did a drum roll.

"It's Max." The girl corrected him. "Sorry?" The teacher was confused as he turned to her.

"Nobody calls me Maxine. It's Max." The new girl explained firmly, taking a seat in the back.

The group's eyes followed the girl, watching her as sudden realization hit all five of them.

"Well, all aboard, Max." Mr. Clarke smiled at the new student, continuing the lesson.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆⠘ *‧☽ ‧* ⠘☆ﾟ‧ ───

RECESS CAME AROUND, the boys did nothing but stalk the new girl. They have been obsessed with finding out who this Mad Max person is all week long, now they felt like they were onto something. It made sense really. She was the first Max that they've stumbled across since Dustin's high score was beaten.

"There's no way that's Mad Max." Mike shook his head, pointing at the ginger girl. All five heads turned to the culprit, watching her in astonishment.

"Yeah. Girls don't play video games." Will agreed with him, continuing to stare at Max.

"And even if they did, you can't get 750,000 points on Dig Dug. It's impossible." Mike finished his rant, not noticing the glare Grace sent him.

"Am I non-existent to you?" Grace raised an eyebrow at them with her hands on her hips, making the four boys turn to look at her.

"No. That's not what we meant. It's just━━" Mike tried to defend their case.

         "You guys underestimate girls too much." Grace didn't let him finish his sentence, instead holding a finger up to make him stop talking.

"They, underestimate girls. Not us." Dustin pointed at Will and Mike, then, gestured between him and Lucas to show that they didn't feel the same.

"And her name is Max. How many Maxes do we know? Zero. That's how many." Lucas put his hand on the fence, staring at the girl like he was in a trance.

"Then she shows up at school the day after someone with her same name breaks our top score. I mean, you kidding me?" Dustin squinted as Max did a trick on her skateboard and landed.

"Exactly. She's gotta be Mad Max." Grace explained, chewing on her fingernails. She got excited to have a new girl at school that was interesting.

"She even skateboards, so she's pretty awesome." Dustin smiled as the words left his mouth, trying to hold back his excitement over the whole situation.

"Awesome? You haven't even spoken a word to her." Mike disagreed, rolling his eyes. He didn't like how everyone was trying to applaud Max. Mostly, he didn't want another member in the party. Not after everything that happened with Eleven.

"I don't have to, look at her! Shit. I've lost the target." Dustin turned to where they last spotted her, realizing she wasn't there anymore.

"She's over there." Will was the first to find her again. Everyone looked over where he pointed, watching as she threw a piece of paper in the trash.

Grace Baker looked at her four friends, covering her face in pure embarrassment. Her friends ran to the trash can, digging the paper out. A group of girls walked by with the boys waving at them trying to be secretive, but what they were doing was obvious.

"Got it. There we go." Dustin opened the balled up paper, beginning to read it out loud.

"Stop spying on me, creeps." Everyone stated the words the girl wrote for them.

"It's official. I like her." Grace smirked at her small friend group, earning looks from them. "What? It's not like she's wrong." She shrugged her shoulders.

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        AUTHOR'S NOTE 📝. . .

This update took some time, but only because I have a lot going on right now at work. They have me working extra hours but you know what? Ya' girls getting that dough! Lmaoo anyways enjoy this lame chapter!