For @openthreeinches

[beyourzoomer]

Hawkins, Indiana, isn't such a bad place at first glance. It's quieter than Ventura, by a lot. There aren't any beaches, and frankly, not a ton to do, and Billy hates her because they moved. Not that he hadn't hated her before, but it's definitely worse these days.

School isn't all that different than it is from back home, except she doesn't know anyone and doesn't have any friends, and there are some weird boys who keep staring at her every time they're around, and she's pretty sure a couple of them have been following her off and on throughout the week.

Weirdos.

She's heading outside for lunch when she hears laughter from down the hallway. She's heading that way, anyway, so when she comes around a crowd of people and sees a blonde girl and a couple of her friends laughing at a pretty brunette girl who's holding an art project of some kind, she narrows her eyes a little, glancing around.

The brunette -- Jane -- is new to this school, too. She'd been introduced in Max's English class, and had moved to hide in the back a couple rows over from Max right after being introduced. And the blonde. Well. Max doesn't know her but she's already picked up on the fact that the girl isn't very nice.

"Aww, poor Plain Jane. Are you gonna cry?" the blonde taunts, and frankly it does look like the other girl is about to cry, and Max knows from experience that is going to make things so much worse. Her shoulders are tense and she straightens a little.

"Yeah, she's gonna cry," one of the blonde's friends says with a laugh.

And that's about all of it that Max can stomach so she pushes her way through the crowd, focusing on Jane. "Hey, there you are, Jane. Ready to head to lunch?" Her voice is nonchalant as she deliberately turns her back to the blonde and her asshole friends.

Comments

[openthreeinches]

Jane is trying her best to be normal. She smiles a lot because that is what the kids on the television do when they're at school. She watches the other kids to see how they talk to one another. Tries not to be jealous of the ones that have small groups to retreat into around lockers, or cafeteria tables or desks before class gets started.

At first she didn't think they were that different from her. Of course, they had families and siblings and didn't know what it had been like being raised by Papa, but for the most part it seemed like they were like her. It had taken a few days for her to realize that whatever similarities she saw, they did not. They made fun of her clothes, the way she talked and that she couldn't follow all of their conversations about movies or celebrities. By the end of the second week she had noticed that people tended to either ignore her completely or make fun of her. She tried watching the movies they talked about, asking Hopper to open an account at the local video store. She tried reading the glossy magazines she saw the other girls carrying around on top of her homework. She listened harder to find the differences in her speech and theirs. But no matter what she did, she was never good enough. Especially for the popular girls led by Angela.

Her eyes were shiny with tears out of sheer frustration. She had worked hard on her art project and Hopper had told her it was good, only for her to have Angela question it's relevancy in front of the teacher and the class. Then she had tripped her, causing Jane to drop it and break it. If she hadn't lost her powers closing the last gate, she thinks she would throw Angela into the bank of lockers behind her. Instead all she can do is blink back her tears, not wanting to shed them in front of Angela and her friends. She grips the remains of her art project tightly, trying to think of the fastest way to get away from them when she hears her name.

She looks up in surprise, her eyes widening as she sees the girl with the bright red hair in her English class ask her if she's ready to head to lunch. She steps between her and the other girls and El lets out a low breath of relief, giving the other girl a small nod. "Yes. I am ready."

"I am ready," mimics Angela, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "I have a question. What's it like being a robot?"

[beyourzoomer]

Max meets Jane's surprised gaze and offers her a tiny smile, nodding when Jane agrees she's ready, but it doesn't deter Angela from continuing her bullshit. She turns to look at the blonde girl, one eyebrow raised. "I have a question for you. What's it like to be such an ugly ass airhead? Try bagging your face and saving the rest of us from the horror."

Angela looks shocked and there are several "ooohs" from the gathered crowd.

"Ugly? Taken a look in the mirror lately?"

Max smirks. "Wow, that's an impressively lame retort." She rolls her eyes and turns back to Jane. "Let's get out of here. If I have to look at her face any longer I'm going to lose my appetite."

[openthreeinches]

Jane let's out a surprised huff at air at Max's retort, her eyebrows rising in surprise. She doesn't know what everything she just said means, but there's no questioning the tone or the sharp look Max gives Angela. And if she needed any further clarification there's the look of utter shock on Angela's face. It's clear that no one talks to her this way.

It is a very lame retort, considering the fact that Max is far from ugly. Still, the fact that Angela lies makes her tighten her fingers on her art project even harder, barely fighting the urge to step forward and smash it over Angela's head. But before she has the chance, Max turns to her and offers her an out again. Jane nods and moves to follow her.

Angela's friend turns to her. "Are you going to let her talk to you like that?"

Angela makes a small, impatient noise and steps forward shooting out her foot to trip Jane again. Jane stumbles into the lockers nearby smashing her art project between her body and the metal. Angela and her friends laugh. "Oh, your friend should really watch her step," she says sweetly to Max with an innocent blink of bright blue eyeshadow.

The anger the rises up in Jane is impossible to ignore. She yells Angela's name, turning her attention from Max to her and raises her hand to strike. She lets out an agonized noise, mustering everything in her to send her flying, but nothing happens.

The crowd erupts into laughter. "What the hell was that?" Angela asks, looking at Jane like she's crazy.

[beyourzoomer]

It all happens too quickly for Max to intervene. Her eyes widen when Jane stumbles into the lockers, and then -- she's really not even sure what's happening when Jane raises her hand and shrieks. And then everyone is laughing at her again.

Max feels her temper flare dangerous and hot as memories of every time Billy's humiliated her dance through her memory. Her hands curl into fists as she steps directly in front of Angela, her own eyes darker than usual with anger on behalf of the girl she doesn't even know. Billy is a lot bigger than she is, but Angela is not. And Billy's more than happy to use his size to intimidate, and it works. The blonde girl doesn't have the same advantage.

She also clearly doesn't seem to think Max is any sort of threat, because she laughs at the angry look on her face.

"Let's see how long you can keep smiling," Max says before drawing back and punching her hard in the face. The other girl staggers backwards and hits the ground, dropping her books, blood gushing from the girl's nose. Some of the crowd laughs, others gasp in shock or horror. Max glares down at her. "Not so funny now, is it?" Her knuckles are throbbing. She's not sure if she managed to break the other girl's nose, but she hasn't gotten back up and her friends are staring at Max as they scramble to her side.

"Next time you'll be missing part of an earlobe," she tells Angela before turning back to look at Jane.

[openthreeinches]

Jane feels the humiliation settle around her when nothing happens except for the eruption of laughter around her. She feels her face on fire as she looks around and wishes for the thousandth time that she didn't have to come to school. As lonely as she'd been in the cabin, at least it hadn't felt like this.

But then the redheaded girl steps in front of Angela and El's brain short circuits with surprise when she hits her. El doesn't even register getting to her feet before she's reaching out for the other girl's arm. The other girl who is still threatening a shocked looking Angela with blood staining her pink shirt.

Jane's eyes are wide as she pulls Max away from the crowd, knowing it's just a matter of time before a teacher comes along. They always come too late and too uninterested to be of any real help. She pulls Max into the nearest restroom and then lets go of her. She opens her mouth to speak, but nothing comes out.

Then she grins, laughing softly before saying, "You hit Angela."

[beyourzoomer]

Max lets the other girl pull her away from the crowd, which is probably in everyone's best interest, because Max is still pissed. But also because she can hear adult voices coming down the hall, and if she gets detention today, her ass is in big trouble. Neil will have a kitten, he'll take it out on Billy, and Billy will take it out on her.

Jane pulls her into the bathroom and Max looks at her, raising her eyebrows a little, not sure what to make of the girl's wide eyes, but then she laughs and Max relaxes.

"Yeah. She deserved it," she says honestly. She'd tried to intervene without violence, but Angela had drawn first blood by tripping Jane. She's not normally a violent person, but once someone crosses a line, she's not going to back down either. She's not Billy Hargrove's shitty little sister for nothing.

[openthreeinches]

Jane nods, her eyes still wide but also amused as she looks at the other girl with wonder. She knows that she would've done much worse if her powers were in working order. Not enough to kill her, but she would've lost control. Angela would've flown through the air until something stopped her and that would've hurt much more than a punch to the nose. There's a part of her that feels guilty for that. Is almost grateful that she didn't have the ability to hurt Angela like that. But she pushes that down, instead focusing on her new friend in front of her.

"Thank you," she says, not sure what else to say in this moment. She can hear the sound of running footsteps in the hallway and moves to pull Max further away from the door before letting her go. "I'm El--"
She catches herself, frowning slightly. "I'm Jane."

[beyourzoomer]

Max lets the other girl pull her farther away from the door, grimacing at the sound of footsteps running by. She's probably going to get suspended. At the very least, she'll end up with detention. She's not going to think too much about what kind of trouble she'll be in at home. She'll deal with it, because she doesn't have a choice. Besides, she doesn't really regret what she did, not when El? Jane? El-Jane? is so sincere in her thanks. It's not something Max is used to.

"Max," she responds, sticking her hand out to shake El-Jane's hand. "Nice to meet you."