[𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗢𝗡𝗘: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗘 𝗖𝗟𝗨𝗕]

MAX AND SAGE WALK THROUGH THE school halls together, hand in hand. max glances at three girls walking past them and sees a couple making out against lockers.

sage glances at her girlfriend, rubbing her thumb over max's knuckles as they walk by lucas talking to his basketball friend, patrick.

max looks at lucas, his mouth opened as he stared at her. sage gave him an awkward smile and waved at him before turning a corner with max, and seeing chrissy cunningham walking out of the counselors office. she looked scared.

the brunette furrows her eyebrows at the girl, wondering why she looked so scared. before walking in the counselors office, max turns to sage and gives her a peck on the lips.

the wheeler twin smiles softly then leans against the wall outside the counselor, watching max walk in. sage lets out a sigh before walking off to head to her lunch period.

suddenly, lucas stops her.

"hey, sage," lucas says, grabbing her arm gently, stopping her. "lucas, what's wrong?" sage asked her friend as she stopped walking.

"i just wanted to give you a ticket for my game," lucas said, handing her a ticket. "thanks, but are you sure you'll be playing this time?"

the sinclair teen shrugged with a small sigh. "i really hope i do,"

sage gives lucas a soft smile. "i'd love to go, lucas. i'll talk with max before i go over to her house." the brunette tells lucas.

"really? thank you, sage," lucas says and hugs her tightly. "you're welcome," sage chuckles, hugging him back before releasing him.

"i'll see you then,"

sage waves at him and walks away to head to her lunch. lucas smiles softly before going to the counselors office, leaning outside of the door, waiting for max to walk out so he can give her a ticket to his basketball game.

soon enough, max walks out.

"max, hey," lucas says and leans off the wall, startling the girl. "are you stalking me or something?" max asks, walking away.

"oh, no, i . . . i just wanted to give you this." lucas said, following her and handing her a ticket. max turns around and takes it. "what is this?"

"a ticket to the game. i already gave sage one."

max rolls her eyes at the mention of his games and looks at him. "i know you never want to go to my games, but this one is kind of a big deal." lucas tells the red-head.

"a big deal? lucas, you really care about this?" max questions the sinclair teen. "yeah, i . . . i do. maybe you should find something you care about too." lucas tells her causing her to stop, and spin around to look at him. "what the hell is that supposed to mean?" max asked.

"uh . . ." lucas exhales deeply. "you're just . . ."

max looks at him, waiting for him to finish his sentence.

"it's . . . it's like you're not even here anymore. it's. . . it's like you're a ghost or something." lucas says. max furrows her eyebrows. "a ghost? really?" the red-head asks him.

"max, i know something's wrong."

"yeah, right. yeah, something must be wrong with me because i broke up with you, and got with sage because i found out who i truly am." max told him. "no." lucas shook his head.

"no, that's . . . that's not what i meant."

"lucas, look, people just change, okay? that's it. i've changed. it's that simple."

max fixed her backpack strap on her shoulder and went to walk into the restroom, but stopped. the mayfield teen turned to lucas and handed him back his basketball ticket.

"tell sage to go. i'm sure she'll be there. good luck." max said and walked into the girls restroom, leaving lucas standing in the hall.

max walks over to the sink, hands on either side of it as her breathing was shaky. the red-head bit the inside of her cheek then took her backpack off of her shoulder, putting it in front of her, and taking out tylenol medicine. she puts one pill on the palm of her hand and puts it in her mouth, swallowing it dry. the mayfield teen puts the bottle of pills back in her backpack, zipping the pocket shut before hearing a girl cough.

max slows down her actions, listening as she swings her backpack over her shoulders and slowly turns around to look at the stall. the girl then retches into the toilet making max furrow her eyebrows in concern.

"hey, are you all right?" max asks. "yeah — yes, i'm . . . i'm fine." the girl replies. max, who doesn't seem convinced, takes a few steps forward. "okay, um . . . you're sure?"

"please, just go away."

the mayfield steps back and turns around, walking out of the restroom completely.

chrissy, the girl who was in the stall, flushes the toilet before hearing her door stall pounding.

"are you deaf? i said go away." chrissy said. "chrissy?" a woman asked behind the stall.

chrissy feels her heart drop at the voice and slowly around, looking at the door.

"chrissy?" the woman repeats. "mom?" chrissy asks. "you ready to try on the dress again? i loosened the back a little for you."

the lights suddenly start flickering above her and wet squelching was heard. chrissy looks down at the gap of the stall to see large footsteps that seemed to look human, but they weren't.

"chrissy! did you hear me?" the woman asks and pounds on the door. "open the goddamn door, chrissy . . . or i'm gonna gut you like the fat pig you are." the woman shouts.

"go away! go away! go away!" chrissy screams, covering her ears. "did you hear me?" the voice deepens. "go away!" the teen screams again.

"go away! go away! go away! go away!"

"can you hear me?" a distorted voice asks as the door pounds rapidly.

suddenly, the lights stop flickering and the door stops pounding. chrissy pants out of breath as her head turns to look at the door. the red-head gets up, opening the stall door, and walks out, looking around the restroom.

   "THE DEVIL HAS COME TO AMERICA," eddie says as he reads a news book to the table.

"dungeons and dragons, at the first regarded as a harmless game of make-believe, now has both parents and psychologists concerned. studies have linked violent behavior to the game, saying it promotes satanic worship, ritual sacrifice, sodomy, suicide, and even . . ."

eddie slams the book onto the table, "murder,"

two teens laugh, looking at each other.

from a distance, stood mike and dustin. "shit, he seems really revved up today." dustin says to mike. "he's always revved up," mike mentions and looks at the table. "we'll just act casual."

sage walks up next to her brother and friend, holding her tray of food. "hey, guys,"

"hey," the two replied in unison. "casual." dustin then said. "casual." mike repeated. "right, okay."

sage gives the boys a weird look before following them to the table, sitting down.

"society has to blame something," was the first thing the three teens heard as they sat. "we're an easy target,"

"exactly."

"we're the freaks because we like to play a fantasy game," eddie said then jumped onto the table. sage looked up at him. "dude, i'm eating," she said as he walked on the table.

"as long as you're into band or science . . . or parties," eddie said sneeringly as he ruffled sage's hair, walking past her. "or a game where you toss balls into laundry baskets . . ." the munson adult shouts to the basketball players.

"you want something, freak?" jason asked, standing up deafeningly. eddie lifts his hands up to his head and sticks his tongue out at him.

dustin laughs up at eddie as sage bites into her food, smiling a little.

"prick," jason muttered, sitting back down.

eddie turns around, walking back to his chair.

"it's forced conforming. that's what . . ." the munson adult jumps off the table, shouting, startling some teen. ". . . killing the kids!"

the group chuckles as eddie allows two cheerleader girls walk by him.

"that's the real monster." eddie says and sits back down on his chair. "so, uh, speaking of monsters, uh, lucas has to do this, uh, balls-in-laundry-baskets game. so . . ." dustin chuckles to take his nerves away. ". . . he's not gonna be able to make it to hellfire tonight."

"and i know there's no way we can beat your sadistic campaign without him. so, me and mike, we were talking, shooting the shit, and we were thinking maybe we might . . ."

mike turned to his twin. sage looked at her brother and shrugged, not wanting to say anything as she bit into her chicken. mike sighed and spoke up for him.

"postpone."

the table immediately protested.

"postpone? can't just drop this on us!"

"over my dead body,"

"shut up!"

the table shuts up and looks at eddie.

"you saying sinclair's been taken in by the dark side?" eddie asked. "uh, something like that." mike replied. "something like that?" eddie repeated and threw his food at him.

"jesus christ." dustin mumbles.

"and rather than find a sub for him, you want . . . you want to postpone "the cult of vecna" ?"

"i . . . i don't want to postpone it. we don't want to postpone it. it's just that, you know, most of the subs will be at the champion game." mike tried to reason with him as eddie got up from his chair, frustrated. "oh, it's the championship game?" eddie asked the wheeler teen.

". . . yeah?"

"can i level with you? jeff graduates this year. gareth's got, what? a year and a half? me, i am army-crawling my way toward a d in ms. o'donnell's. if i don't blow her final —" eddie walks around the table, dancing a little making the teens laugh. "— i'm gonna walk that stage next month, i'm gonna look principal higgins dead in the eye, i'm gonna flip him the bird," eddie flips off the air. "i'm gonna snatch that diploma. i'm gonna run like hell outta here."

dustin laughs as gareth speaks up. "didn't you say that last year?"

"and the year before that?" jeff adds in.

"yeah, yeah, and i was full of shit." eddie says, walking back to the table. "this year is different. this year is my year. i can feel it. '86, baby."

eddie smiles at his friend group making the boys, and sage chuckle.

"you know what that means? it means you boys," eddie grabs mike and dustin's shoulders. "are the future of hellfire. i knew it the moment i saw you. you sat on that table, right over there, looking like . . . looking like two little lost sheep with a babysitter beside them."

sage looks over at eddie. "babysitter?"

the adult ignores her. "you were wearing a weird al t-shirt which i thought was brave." eddie tells dustin. "thank you," dustin thanks.

"mike, you wearing whatever shit your mommy bought you from goddamn gap." eddie turns to mike making the group laugh.

suddenly, eddie aggressively pulls the two teens up from their seats. sage's eyes widened in shock and she turns her body to look at them.

"and we showed you that school didn't have to be the worst years of your lives, right?"

"no," the two replied.

"well, i'm here to tell you that there are other little lost sheepies out there who need help. who need you. and all you guys gotta do is get your bo-peeps on and go find one."

eddie shoves the two teens forward so they can go search for a sub for lucas.

"that was very aggressive," sage mumbled and continued to eat her food. "and before you ask, no i will not sub for lucas!"

everyone's mouth shut after she finished speaking.

   "IF I PLAY, DO I GET ONE OF THOSE cool t-shirts?" max asks dustin with a sarcastic smile. dustin laughs and shows her his shirt.

"yes!"

"really?"

sage crosses her arms, waiting for dustin to realize her girlfriend his being majorly sarcastic.

"everyone gets a t-shirt. we make 'em ourselves, and if you . . ."

after taking a glance at sage, dustin looks at max, realizing she's being sarcastic.

"you're being sarcastic."

max shrugs at him, taking sage's hand, putting her board down, and skating away.

"you being sarcastic?" dustin turns around, watching the two skate and walk away. "she was being sarcastic,"

sage follows her girlfriend to the bus area. once they got to the bus area, they let go of each other's hands. max turns to sage.

"you'll see me after the game?" max asks and sage nods. "yeah, of course. i'll get a ride from eddie." sage replies with a soft smile.

the red-head gives sage a slight smile and hugs her tightly. the brunette hugs her girlfriend back, rubbing her back gently.

max pulls back, kissing sage's cheek softly, and walking off to her bus.

sage watches max walk off and into her bus. once she knew max was in and safe, the wheeler twin walks off, getting weird stares from students.

most of the students knew about the relationship max and her had. the students found it weird, disgusting, wrong. but it didn't bother the couple. they were happy with each other and they didn't care what others thought.

the wheeler twin flips off the students looking at her, and heads to the gym for the game.

sage gives the ticket to the front and walks in, finding a spot and puts her backpack down. the wheeler twin walks off the bleachers and heads to the snack bar, grabbing some candy and popcorn for her to eat as she watches.

as sage walks back to the bleachers, both teams are on the court, warming up.

once the teams finish warming up the principal walks up to the microphone.

"please rise for our national anthem,"

everyone stands up from their spots.

"singing for us tonight, we have a very special guest. all the way from nashville, our very own tammy thompson!"

the crowd cheers, clapping. sage blinks in disbelief as tammy walks in with a smile.

steve slowly turns his head to look at robin, who's standing with the band. robin looks over at steve with a shocked smile.

tammy makes it to the microphone and begins to sing the national anthem.

"o say, can you see,"

sage winced when tammy is off key and the microphone wines.

"by the dawn's early light . . ."

steve turns to look at robin, unamused. "told you," he whispers. "muppet."

robin smiles, "okay, she does sound like a muppet." robin whispers back. "oh my god, totally," vickie, from next to robin, agrees.

"she sounds like kermit . . ."

"i was thinking more like miss piggy,"

vickie snorts.

"i used to think she sounded good 'cause i had this massive crush —" robin began but got cut off my vickie laughing a little. "sorry?" vickie asks, looking at robin.

robin turns to look at the red-head. "um, we . . . took a . . . a massively hard class, together. we were . . . we were in mrs. clicks class together. yeah." robin chuckles dryly.

"uh . . . sorry, were you asking me a question?"

"no," vickie chuckles. "oh, okay."

robin turns back, thinking: god, i really need advice from sage —

". . . ramparts we watched,"

"wow. she sounds amazing, doesn't she?" the blonde, brenda, says from next to steve.

the harrington teen gives the blonde a look when she looks away.

"and the rocket's red glare. the bomb's bursting in air. gave proof through the night that our flag was still there."

"o say, does that star-spangled . . ."

lucas looks behind a basketball player, and looks at the bleachers to see if his friends were there. the sinclair teen lets out a sigh of relief when he sees sage standing there.

the wheeler twin sees lucas and gives him a small wave, smiling. lucas smiles back at her, turning back to look at tammy.

AUTHORS NOTE //

hope you enjoyed this chapter !!

bee <3