Chapter 8

004

• 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞? •

─────✧･ﾟ: *✧･

☄. *. ⋆ Stella and Max didn’t live far from each other, so it took a while before they had to part ways.

“This is my neighborhood. See you tomorrow, Cali” Stella told Max with a smile. “Bye,” Max said, returning the smile before Stella turned into Loch Nora.

Most people wanted to be Stella’s friend. She was popular.

But with Max, it was different.

Something drew Stella to Max.

And to Max’s surprise, she was drawn to Stella.

–

☄. *. ⋆ Max walked up to her door, only to find Billy waiting there.

“Where were you?” He asked.

Max looked away for a split second as she spoke. “I was with a friend.”

“Who?”

“Does it matter?”

“Max… who was it?”

“It’s just a girl from school. It’s not a big deal,” Max shrugged before pushing past Billy into the house.

His next words stopped Max in her tracks. “It that Harrington kid?”

“What?” Max slowly turned to face Billy, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

“You stay away from her. You hear me?” He ordered.

Max looked around – mostly at the floor – confused. Why did he want her to stay away from Stella? It didn’t make any sense. She was nice, there wasn’t really a reason for anyone to dislike her.

“Y- yeah… yeah, okay,” she stuttered before going off to her room.

–

☄. *. ⋆ Stella entered her house, not surprised in the slightest when her parents still weren’t home.

They had left to- Where was it? Illinois? Whatever, some business trip in another state about a week ago. They were supposed to be home today, but they were late.

Again.

Stella didn’t mind, though. She enjoyed it. Her dad sucked, and her mom just went with whatever her dad said, so just her and Steve at the house was perfectly fine.

Stella dropped her bag by the door and made her way to the kitchen before grabbing an apple and heading upstairs to her room.

–

☄. *. ⋆ The next morning was the morning of Halloween. The boys in the party all tried to convince Stella to dress as something Ghostbusters-related for Halloween, but she had her heart set on going as Alice, from Alice in Wonderland.

There was no way Stella was going to school in-costume. She had a strong feeling that they were getting a bit old for that. She tried to tell the boys, but they insisted on wearing their Ghostbusters costumes to school, so she was ready to say “I told you so.”

–

☄. *. ⋆ “Steve, get up!” Stella ordered her older brother, yanking the covers off of him. “I’m gonna bike today, it’s nice outside,” she told him.

“Then why are you even waking me up?” Steve groaned.

“‘Cause, you should still go to school,” Stella told her brother. “Now get up!”

The brunette made her way back to her room, checking her hair in the mirror before walking back downstairs to make breakfast.

–

☄. *. ⋆ Stella parked her bike at school as her friends greeted each other, yelling out the names of their costumes.

“Spengler!”

“Egon!”

“Venkman!”

“Wait, woah, woah, woah,” Mike said.

Here we go again.

“Why are you Venkman?” Mike asked Lucas.

“Because I’m Venkman,” he replied, as if it was obvious.

Mike pointed to himself. “No, I’m Venkman.”

“Why can’t there just be two Venkmans?” Will tried keeping the peace.

“Because, there’s only one Venkman in real life,” Mike told him. “We planned this months ago. I’m Venkman, Dustin’s Stantz, you’re Egon, and you’re Winston!”

“I specifically didn’t agree to Winston,” Lucas told the boy.

“Yes you did!”

“I don’t think he did,” Will said.

“Me neither,” Stella agreed, shaking her head.

“No one wants to be Winston, man!” Lucas told Mike.

“What’s wrong with Winston?” Mike asked, acting like it wasn’t obvious.

“‘What’s wrong with Winston?'” Lucas repeated incredulously. “He joined the team super late, he’s not funny, and he’s not even a scientist!” He listed off.

“Yeah, but he’s still cool.”

“If he’s cool, then you be Winston.”

“I can’t!”

“Why not?”

“Bec- because…” Mike stammered.

Lucas mocked the boy. “B- b- b- because- you’re not black?”

“I never said that!”

“You thought it.”

“Guys, this is so stupid, just-” Stella told them, getting cut off by Dustin.

“Guys!” He interrupted, bringing the argument to an end. “Why is no one else dressed up?”

Stella smirked, despite the fact that the boys couldn’t see her face. She put a hand on Mike’s shoulder and teasingly whispered in his ear. “Told you so.”

It was Dustin who wanted to be at school in-costume the most, but Dustin wasn’t the one being annoying at the moment.

Mike just smacked her hand away and pushed her away from his ear.

“Good luck!” Stella laughed in a sing-songy voice, putting up a peace sign as she headed inside the school.

–

☄. *. ⋆ Stella approached her locker, which Max was already next to. “Hey, Cali,” she greeted.

“Hey,” Max smiled.

Seeing Max again today brought back the butterflies in Stella’s stomach, and Stella was well aware.

“So, would you wanna come trick-or-treating with the stalkers and I tonight?” Stella asked the redhead, pushing her thoughts away as she grabbed her math textbook from her locker.

“Yeah,” Max accepted the offer with a smile. “I’d like that.”

“Cool,” Stella smiled. “Uh, we meet at the Maple Street cul-de-sac at seven. See you in class,” Stella told the redhead, swinging her backpack over her shoulder before heading off to class.

–

☄. *. ⋆ After math class, the two girls were at their lockers, talking about the upcoming night.

“So, I was wondering if maybe after tonight you’d be down to sleep over at mine. We can, like, binge all our candy and watch scary movies,” Stella suggested, putting her math textbook back in her locker, as she won’t need it anymore today.

“Yeah, sure. Sounds fun,” Max agreed, getting books from her locker as she turned her gaze to the ground with a smile. And Stella noticed, beginning to wonder about it.

But it was probably nothing. There weren’t many other people who liked girls. Especially not in Hawkins.

Although, she still couldn’t help but notice, and keep thinking about it.

Stella’s attention was caught by Dustin, who cleared his throat. Lucas stood awkwardly beside him, and Max didn’t notice, hearing it and not knowing it was directed at her.

“Max,” Dustin spoke up, grabbing the girl’s attention. “Hi. I’m Dustin, and this- this is-“

Lucas cut off the boy, who was gesturing to him. “Lucas.”

“I know. The stalkers,” Max said, shutting her locker. Dustin and Lucas started tripping over their words. “N-no, we- we weren’t stalking you… we were just concerned because… you’re new here. And there are lots… of bullies.”

“So many bullies. It- it’s crazy,” Lucas chimed in. Stella guessed he probably just wanted to say something so Max didn’t think he was just some awkward kid that Dustin brought along with him.

“Is that why you’re wearing proton packs?” Max said, leading Stella to smile. The redhead turned to Stella, who just shrugged. “I tried to tell them.”

“Well, these don’t function,” Dustin told Max, obviously not picking up on the redhead’s sarcasm. “But… I do… have…” He said, fumbling with the contraption. “This handy dandy… little trap here. See, look, look,” Dustin told the girl before pressing a button, causing the doors to open. “Voila!” He smiled.

He got the memo after seeing Max’s face. “No? Okay, well, we were talking. And you probably don’t have… any friends to take you trick-or-treating,” Dustin continued. “And you’re scared of bullies, so, we decided… that it would be okay if you’d come with us,” Dustin told the redhead.

“‘It’d be okay’?” Max said.

“Yeah, we know where to get the full-size candy bars. We figured you’d want in,” Dustin told the girl, still not getting her sarcasm.

Max just cocked a brow. “That’s presumptuous of you.”

Dustin and Lucas obviously didn’t know what the word ‘presumptuous’ even meant. “Y- yeah, totally. So, you’ll come?”

Max just rolled her eyes before grabbing Stella’s hand and walking off.

At the contact, the feeling in Stella’s stomach returned.

–

☄. *. ⋆ Stella rode her bike home with her friends that day due to the fact that she didn’t want to just shove her bike into the trunk of Steve’s car.

“I don’t get it, I mean, everyone dressed up last year,” Dustin repeated, having said it about three times already that day.

“Well, I mean, I tried to tell you guys, but for some reason, you just go, ‘Oh, Stella gives amazing advice, and is right most of the time, but let’s ignore her,'” Stella imitated, making her voice higher and using a mocking tone. She expected a remark along with some curse words from Dustin, but she didn’t hear any of that.

“Guys?” The curly-haired boy called out. Stella looked at him, seeing that the boy was looking behind them. She followed his gaze to see a blue Camaro- which she had noticed Max getting into earlier, meaning it was her brother’s car -speeding towards them.

“Is that Max!?” She asked the others. A panicked Dustin replied to her. “It doesn’t matter, we need to haul ass!”

At those words, Stella faced forward again before quickly realizing it would probably be smarter to get off the road. “Go, go, go!” She shouted. “Get off the road!”

Everyone listened to her and made it off of the road, just as the car swerved around them, quickly straightening out once it passed them.

When Stella turned, her handlebars got caught on her jacket, and messed up her control of the bike. The handlebars jerked far to the right, making her fall to the left. She started falling and tried to put her arm out to catch herself, but the force was too much and her left wrist bent to the side.

A crack was audible, and Stella let out a cry as pain shot up her arm, which she quickly realized she couldn’t move. The handlebar digging into her arm added even more pain.

“Stella!” Mike panicked, rushing to the girl’s side. “Stella, are you alright?”

Stella couldn’t focus on forming a coherent sentence, the only thing occupying her mind was the pain in her wrist – which she was now clutching with her good hand – so she just whimpered in pain, throwing her head back as she tried to refrain from screaming at the top of her lungs. The girl had sprained her ankle once during a basketball game, but this hurt far worse.

“Oh, shit, oh, shit, oh, shit,” Dustin cursed, placing his hands on the back of his head, panicked. “Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God.”

“Here, you can ride on the back of mine, alright? We’ll call Steve when I get you home, he can come pick up your bike, okay?” Mike told the girl, helping her up as the others just watched in worry.

Dustin and Lucas helped Stella onto the back of Mike’s bike after they hid Stella’s bike in a bush- she loved her bike, and would be extremely upset if it got stolen or destroyed.

–

☄. *. ⋆ When Stella got home, she didn’t really know what to do. She knew she had to tell Steve that they had to go to the hospital. Normally, she’d shrug it off, but she couldn’t now, considering her arm.

Stella stood outside Steve’s bedroom door – left arm limp by her side, clutched by her right hand, immobile, but still hurting – biting her lip as she readied herself for Steve’s reaction. She knew he would be panicking, and frantically asking her what happened.

She squeezed her eyes shut and sighed before knocking on the door, twisting the doorknob, and pushing the door open. She pursed her lips as she waited for the door to open enough for him to see her, and when he finally did, she winced at the expression on his face.

“Hey, Steve.”

–

☄. *. ⋆ Steve did, in fact, panic, even before Stella moved her hand to reveal her forearm being crooked in a place that should not be able to bend. The girl was visibly hurt, a bruise running from her shoulder to her wrist and a line of blood running from her forehead just above her left eyebrow down her face, caused by a twig. When he noticed her arm, he freaked even more, eventually leading her to tell him what happened.

“Who the hell would do that? I’m- I’m gonna kill that asshole,” he said while Stella just focused on picking at her nails, chipping the black nail polish with one hand. The two were at the emergency room, waiting for the doctor to return. Stella was resting on her back, lying on the hospital bed, and Steve was on one of the chairs for family.

“I mean, I don’t know his name or anything, just his sister. She’s pretty cool, though, nothing like him,” Stella muttered, shrugging. Steve looked over at his sister, cocking a brow. Stella glanced at her brother before turning her focus back to her nails. “Max,” she added after seeing the look on the boy’s face. “She’s pretty cool. She watched basketball practice yesterday. She was gonna spend the night after trick-or-treating tonight. Is that okay?”

Steve furrowed his eyebrows as the girl spoke, looking as if he was solving a puzzle. “Yeah, that’s- that’s fine.”

“Estelle?” Stella’s head shot up at her full name as the door opened, seeing that the doctor seeing her had entered the room again.

–

☄. *. ⋆ Stella sat in the passenger’s seat of Steve’s car, her arm in a sling as she stared out the window. They had found out that her arm was broken, which she assumed, and she had to wear a cast for at least four weeks. It sucked. And as if being in a sling for four weeks minimum wasn’t bad enough, it also meant that there would be no basketball for the same amount of time.

“So, Max?” Steve spoke up.

“What?” Stella’s head immediately perked up at the mention of the redhead’s name.

“That dude’s sister. Her name’s Max?” He asked, earning a nod from Stella.

“Is she nice?”

“Yeah… why are you asking me this?”

Steve waved a hand. “No, no, nothing, I’m just- curious about your new friend, that’s all.”

“Okay,” Stella replied, suspicious as she looked down at her nails, picking at the black polish again. She really needed to stop that habit.

After a bit of silence, Steve spoke up again. “Do you… like her?”

“What?”

“Max,” Steve said. “Do you like her?”

“Yeah- I mean, she’s my friend.”

“No. You know what I meant.”

Stella shifted in her seat, looking almost incredulous. She had never told Steve that she liked girls. He hadn’t proven himself to be very fond of queers throughout his life. What would he do if he found out his own sister was one? “I- no- I…” She trailed off. She had only known Max for two days, but in those two days, she had grown to like the redhead.

“It’s okay,” Steve reassured the girl.

“It’s wrong, though.”

“Stella.” Steve’s voice became genuine and serious. “There is nothing wrong with you.”

Stella’s eyes glossed over, the girl quickly blinking them back. “Promise?”

“Yes.”

It was silent for a moment before Stella finally spoke again. “Mom and Dad would freak.”

“Well, this is about you, not them.”

Stella went silent once again, eventually asking something. “How did you even know?”

“Uh, you literally turned bright red when you mentioned her. Not to mention your voice going up like two octaves and your eyes darting everywhere.”

“My voice did not go up.”

“Yeah, it did, actually.”

Stella fought the smile creeping onto her face. “Whatever.”

–

☄. *. ⋆ Stella was really hoping Max didn’t blame herself for the incident on the way home from school.

Her mind drifted to the Snow Ball, a winter dance her school had. Should she ask Max? She definitely wanted to.

She started to think about how her parents would react, but it wouldn’t be that hard to keep it from them, right? They were never in town, anyways.

But Max probably didn’t like girls. So Stella still wasn’t sure if she was even going to ask the redhead.

But the way Max avoided eye contact with Stella when she invited her over. The way she smiled while she did, Stella wasn’t stupid. She’s been pretty perceptive her whole life.

She shook her head and focused on what was going on now, which was that it was 6:30 P.M., so she had to start getting ready to trick-or-treat.

─────✧･ﾟ: *✧･

she came out to steve 😀

stuff i almost did part 3: originally, max was going to be stella’s gay awakening and she wasn’t gonna know she liked girls until meeting max but i just decided to switch it up from my last fic and have her already know

anyways hope you liked it 🙂

ty for reading!