unconditional love story - Elmax

~ Max Mayfield POV ~

We had 10 minutes left of this class and then I'd finally be free of this hell hole. Or well- the opposite actually. I was anything but free when I went home. Everyday I think of running away from that place, but I never actually do it. I tried. But it only made things worse. It's like I'm chained to that place. Like I couldn't get away from it. It didn't matter how hard I tried. It was impossible. So I tried to be away from that place as much as I could. And when I was away, I tried my best to forget about it. But I never could. It haunted me like some sort of ghost. Besides- it was hard to forget about something you carry with you.

"That's a cool drawing. What is it exactly?" I hear the voice next to me say. I look up as I clearly was stuck in my dark thoughts when I was sketching. I look down at my sketch and meet the brown eyes of the brunette right after. "It's a self portrait." I state with a sarcastic grin. The eyes of Jane look back at the paper and meet mine again after a few seconds. She looked slightly confused. I stare back at my drawing as I drew a monster like figure. I didn't really realize I drew that, I must have really been deep in my thoughts. "At least it's how I feel about myself." I add softly. I felt a wave of sadness wash over me, but didn't let it effect my expression. I kept it blank and emotionless. The brown eyes of Jane looked into mine with compassion. There was something else dancing in her pupils. But I wasn't sure what it was. "Well, I see girl with pretty blue eyes and wavy red hair. Who I think would have the prettiest smile if she'd ever show it to me." Jane states softly with a soft kind smile on her lips. The wave of sadness I felt before got overruled by a feeling of warmth. It almost did make me want to smile. But I didn't. The warm feeling quick faded when the bell rang and I got reminded what time it was.

Instead of smiling, I looked at her with kind eyes. "Nice try peaches." I state as I look at her gathering her stuff. "Peaches?" She giggles confused. "Yeah, I like coming up with nicknames. It's stupid." I explain as I get ready to leave as well. "No, I like it. I will come up with nicknames for you too-" She smiles as she scans my face. I felt my face want to burn up. The way she scanned my whole face with her big brown eyes was something I didn't expect. "Freckles." She adds with a sweet smile. I curve the corners of my mouth slightly. "Have a good vacation Max. I mean Freckles. ." Jane says with a soft smile when she looks at me one last time. I gave her a small nod.

All the kids were practically running out of the classroom to get home. But not me. I didn't want to spend two whole weeks at home. I was desperate to stay away from there as much as possible and now I couldn't use school as a excuse anymore for two whole weeks. Fuck. If I was back in California I'd escape to my only friend Nate's house to drink and get high in his treehouse he build with his dad when he was like 10 or something. I'd drink and smoke my pain away for that short amount of time, to get hit with reality again once it was time to go home again. It was better then to stay at home and be confronted with that shitty place and those shitty people. But I didn't have any friends in Hawkins. I had nowhere to go. I couldn't escape that hell hole even if I wanted too. I needed a valid reason to leave that house. But I had no one to escape too or to use as excuse. Unless- "Jane." I hear myself say as I walk over to my locker, which was weirdly enough right next to hers. She was talking some of her books out of her locker when she faced me with slight confusion in her eyes. Her friends stood across the hallway, waiting on her. Fuck I felt embarrassed. "Yes Max?" She asks me as she took the time to look at me and stop whatever she was doing. It made me feel weirdly appreciated in a way. Shit, what was I supposed to say? I didn't think this far ahead.

I casually open my locker and grab my board out of my locker. "Any chance you can work on that art project later today? Since it's in our sketchbook and all that and I don't really want to work on it in my free time." I ask. She looks at me with a smile. God Max, real smooth, dumbass. Ofcourse she won't fall for that. Why would she want to work on a unimportant art project with a total stranger when the vacation has just started. "Sure. You can come to our house, if that's okay?" She replies with her sweet voice. I felt the eyes of her friends burn into my skin as they were staring me down from across the hall. "Cool. I will drop my things off at house first." I state as normal as possible. The truth was that I had to go straight home after school, otherwise I'd be in big trouble. But now I had a reason to go somewhere. Somewhere other then that horrible place.

"Okay! Oh hold on." Jane says as she gets a sticky note out of her fully decorated locker and writes something on it. "Here, it's our adres. It's not too far away from you. It's close to the arcade. Hope you'll find it okay." She smiles as she hands it to me. Her handwriting wasn't neat or fancy like I expected it to be. Instead it was kind of messy. But I could read it just fine. The name of the street she had written down sounded familiar since I had skated through it the day I arrived here. "I'm sure I'll find it. And our adres? Do you live with your friends?" I ask her curious as I eyes her friends across the hall. When I look at them their eyes quickly change direction. "Oh, no- well one of them. Will, he's my brother. Well sort of. His mom is dating my dad. We were already best friends before that." She explains with a excited smile. I could tell she really enjoyed talking about her family. Something I couldn't relate too.

I repress my feelings as I look at her and nod slightly. "Cool. Guess I'll see you in about an hour or so. If my parents allow me to go." I say blankly. I quickly realize I already said to much. I close my locker and avoid eyecontact with the brunette as I didn't want her to comment on what I just said. But she didn't seem to think to much of it. Maybe it all sounds worse in my head, since I knew the true meaning behind it all.

"Sounds good Blue eyes." She smiles proudly at her new nickname for me. I let out a small chuckle. She was pretty cute.

"See you later dimples." I respond as those exact dimples in question appear when she smiles in response. Her cheeks turning a slight red. I might have observed her more during class then I should have. I put down my board as I skate off through the hall. When I pass Jane her friends I look at them. Dustin and Lucas gave me a awkward wave as I pass them. "Stalkers." I say with a slight playful tone as I gave them a nod. They quickly turn away with a red face and start bickering with eachother.

When I skated off the school property I had a bad gut feeling about how they would react at home. But I had to try anyway, since this was my only chance to have a escape plan from my home situation. If I became Jane her friend I'd have a place to go to to escape that hell hole. I know my parents wouldn't let me leave the house if it didn't have a good reason. I couldn't just leave the house on my own, since I tried to walk away multiple times and that resulted in- well- this. I couldn't do anything alone anymore. But with a friend, I could. Since my mom desperately wants me to be that perfect girl with lots of friends and cares about all that dumb girly stuff. But I don't. I just didn't want be home. And that's where Jane comes in. Or I'd just use her as excuse and go and get high in the forest to forget about it all for just a moment. But whatever it was, all I know is that I needed Jane for this plan to work.

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//AN: Here is another chapter for you my dear children. Feeding you some extra content. Hope you like it! <3

Please let me know what you think about the story so far! I really want to make it as good as possible for you all!

I miss and love y'all so much <3