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Max covered her face and flopped back against her bed. She wasn’t scared that Will would judge her for liking girls; she saw the way he looked at Mike, but she was scared he’d judge her taste, and judging by his face, he was, or he was at least confused.
Will stared at her as if she randomly grew a second head. Or, actually, when they found out she can turn invisible and phase through objects, in addition to the unnatural speed and energy.
El had been happy to have someone like her at the Party. Well, sort of like her, El could move things with her mind, remotely view, and get into people’s minds; she couldn’t do any of that. She was basically a fast bomb that would turn invisible and move through walls. She also couldn’t control it yet.
They knew the Kinect energy came from her few months in the lab, but Owens thought the speed and the ‘ghost’, as El called it, came from her body being altered in the Upside Down and Dimension X.
“Please don’t think that I’m gross or that there’s something wrong with me,” Max mumbled into her hands. She hadn’t gotten the courage to look at him since she told him.
“I-” Will hesitated, looking down at her from his spot sitting on the edge of her bed. “I don’t think that there is anything wrong with you, Max. I mean, it would be a little stupid if I did. You just told me you know about Mike.”
“It’s different,” Max finally looked at him, but didn’t sit up. “You think about it and feel it, but you aren’t doing it. My mom would lose her shit if she found out that I kiss a girl every night.”
Will didn’t say anything for a long moment. “It’s just she’s a cheerleader.” He flopped down beside her.
“That’s what you're hung up on?” Max shifted so she was leaning up. “Not the fact that she is a she.”
“She’s Jocelyn Palmer, Max!” Will exclaimed. “She’s the princess of Hawkins High, she lives in the biggest house in Loch Nora, her family is in a whole different tax bracket than Steve’s. She’s blonde! She’s a cheerleader!”
“She’s nice!” Max automatically defended. “And she’s funny and smart. Her parents like me; they don’t look at me like I’m weird or messed up.”
Will groaned. “But a cheerleader, Max, really? That’s a completely different species.”
Max rolled her eyes at that. “She’s a human, not a vampire.” She laughed. “And Chrissy is blonde and a cheerleader.”
“It was her sister, right?” Will asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence. “The first one Vecna killed.”
“Yeah,” Max nodded. “Sandra, she cheered too. They don’t know, and I feel like shit because I can’t tell her.”
“Max,” Will started. “You can’t, you know you can’t. She’ll be in danger the second she knows.”
“I know.” She whispered.
They lay in silence for a few minutes again. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. It felt light and free.
“Why did you invite me over?” Will asked eventually. “I’m assuming it wasn’t just to let me know you have a girlfriend.”
“I have an idea.”
Will nodded, waiting for her to continue. “You have an idea.”
“School starts back next week, and we have three years before we can leave Hawkins for good.” Max sat up and glanced at Will before looking back at the carpet. “You don’t like girls, I’m dating a girl.”
“Okay?” Will sat up now and watched Max, trying to figure out where she was going with this.
“I want to make a pact.” She rushed out.
“A pact?” Will couldn’t hide the confusion in his voice. “We all almost die together at least once a year. I think that goes beyond a pact.”
Max shook her head. “Not like that. Just for me, you, Jocelyn, and if you date anyone.” She paused, hesitating for a moment. “For the next three years, we fake date. You're my boyfriend, and I’m your girlfriend; we don’t do anything besides keep it up in public.”
Will didn’t say anything for a few minutes, eventually looking away and at a poster of the whole party on the bookshelf next to the bedroom door. “So,” He began. “We’re just friends who are labeled boyfriend and girlfriend and do couple things in public?”
Max nodded quickly. “Sit by each other at lunch, hold hands, and probably kiss at least once a week. We hang out alone as friends, but everyone else will think we’re on a date. We have an alibi for actual dates.”
“El will see through it.” He countered.
“El will understand.” Max countered back.
They both knew that wasn’t a lie. El always understood, even if she didn’t actually understand.
“Does Joceyn know?” Will asked after a few seconds.
Max nodded again. “She knows I’m talking to you about it and thinks it’s a good idea. If you find someone, you can tell him about it, too.
Will sighed but nodded. “We date until we leave for college, and then he mutually and peacefully breakup.”
“Deal?” Max held out a hand.
Will took her hand. “Deal.”