the girl with the face of an angel

✧

"I'M GOING TO THE ARCADE!" Rue shoved a bunch of quarters in her pockets. She shuffled to grab her keys from the counter, then her Walkman, putting on the headphones. She then walked closer to the front door.

"Have fun!" she heard her dad call before shutting the door and locking it.

Rue walked to her bike, hopping on it. She trapped her lower lip between her teeth as she turned on her Walkman. The mixtape shuffled for a moment before it began to play music.

With a quick nod of her head, she took off in the daylight. Rue wore her hair down that day, and its beautiful amber strands were flowing behind her with the wind.

She hummed along with the song Tainted Love by Soft Cell, blasting in her ears.

"Now, I know I've got to . . . Dun Dun, run away . . ."

Rue kept looking straight as she rode away, nearing the main square of Hawkins, where she saw the bright orange and dark blue sign of the arcade.

Her head bopped to the music as she got to the arcade, locking her bike on the stand. Her cheeks were rosy from the bitter fall air. "Hey, Keith," she moved one of the speakers behind her ear.

The older teenager nodded at her before munching on a cheese puff, "Hey, Rue," he mumbled.

Rue felt a little flutter in her heart. People actually liked her here. The girl only lived in Hawkins for about two months, and it seemed that most people knew her. It made her happy, knowing she wasn't considered an outsider or a freak in this small town.

"Tainted love ohh-oohh, tainted love . . ." The song began to fade away to an end.

"Oh," She hummed, pulling her headphones down to rest on shoulders. Rue walked closer to the game box she planned to play that day, Dig-Dug and found someone with bright red hair using it instead.

Rue pulled on the sleeves of her mother's sweater, covering her hands. She was fidgeting, waiting for the person to finish. Rue huffed when she noticed they weren't going anywhere when they put another three quarters back in the machine after dying. They had a cup filled with coins.

She wondered if she should suffer in silence, waiting for them to finish or go and play another game. Pac-Man looks nice. Rue was about to turn around, spend her time at the arcade in better ways until she heard the person playing Dig-Dug speak up.

Their voice was mocking, but it was one of the most breath-taking voices she has ever heard.

"Take a picture. It'll last longer."

Rue froze in her spot, face reddening in embarrassment. She didn't think they'd notice her staring, but she was caught red-handed.

"I didn't — " she stammered, "I wasn't — You were — I'm sorry!" Rue mentally cursed herself for making a fool of herself. She was doing so well in making good first impressions so far, and now she had ruined her streak.

They laughed, still staring at the screen. "I was kidding."

Rue swallowed thickly, and she now noticed the high score this person was getting. "Wow," she breathed.

The person died in the game and finally turned around, pulling off the hat and hood they had on.

Rue nearly stumbled from standing. It was a red-haired girl, and there was a grin on her lips as she stared at her.

Rue cleared her throat, trying to find where her words had disappeared. They seemed to have run off after seeing the girl with the face of an angel.

"Seven — seven hundred and fifty-one thousand three — uh — three hundred points?" she pointed at the screen behind her, the name MADMAX at the top of the score and her own RUENEW shooting down to the fifth place.

The words slipped away before she could stop them. "You're incredible."

"Oh, Thanks," the girl said, blinking in surprise. She chewed on her lip before continuing. "I have a lot of free time since I moved here," she added.

There was a silence, an awkward pause as neither of them knew what to do next. Should they both walk away, pretend nothing happened?

"I'm Max," the ginger introduced herself " — well, my name's Maxine — but I hate it."

Rue stood dumbfounded for a few seconds before snapping back into reality, and she nodded continuously. "That's cool . . . cool, cool, cool." she breathed, her green eyes flicking from Max's blue eyes to the freckles that populated every inch of her round face.

"I'm Rue - short for Ruth," She shook her hand, then smiling over how soft her hands were. 'She's really pretty,' she thought, wondering if she wanted to look like her or wanted to be with her.

Woah, slow down there. No, no, no. Stop doing that, Rue. You can't think like that! Stop thinking like that!

"Oh, thanks," Max said suddenly, her freckles disappearing under the pink blush growing on her cheeks.

Rue blinked, "What?"

"You said I'm pretty?" Max spoke. Her voice was wary as if she didn't hear it right. "I said — thank you. That's really nice."

Rue's eyes widened, "Did — did I say that out loud?" it came out no more than a whisper. She didn't remember letting the words slip through her lips, and she knew well she said it in her head.

Wiping her nose with the sleeve of her mom's sweater, she felt herself go slightly lightheaded as her cheeks burned.

"I didn't mean — I mean — I did mean it! You — you are pretty, I just didn't mean to say it out loud . . . "

However, Max just kept smiling, looking down at her green vans, not knowing what to say next.

Rue cleared her throat. She felt more embarrassed with every second she stood there. Rue looked down at what leaned on the game box. "You skate?" She tried to change the subject. Rue let out a breath of relief when Max followed her lead.

"Yup," she nodded, her fire-red hair bouncing along. "Want me to teach you?" Max grinned, kicking up the board.

"What? Seriously?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Oh, okay," Rue nodded, staring at Max's ocean eyes. She did not expect her to ask her that.

Max chuckled at her awkwardness before taking her hand and leading her outside.

She caught Rue by surprise, and the poor girl didn't know how to act; a pretty girl was holding her hand and taking her somewhere.

The two walked down the steps of the arcade, back outside to the cold autumn air. Max stopped when they got to the empty part of the parking lot. She put on her hat again, turning to Rue. "Okay so," she started, putting the board down. "the first thing you should do is stand on it."

Hesitantly, Rue stepped on the board, putting pressure on one side, which made the board roll. A small squeak slipped from her lips as she brought her hands out for balance. "I'm gonna — "

She didn't get the chance to finish her sentence. The board had rolled away from under her foot. And now, she laid on the cold ground, staring at the cloudy sky. She huffed, the tingling feeling of defeat rising. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry."

Max made a face as she helped Rue stand on her own two feet again. "Why are you apologizing?" She asked, and when Rue didn't answer she continued, "You don't need to be sorry for messing up, you know," Max chuckled, walking a few feet to get her board. "everyone makes mistakes, it is human to err."

Kicking up the skateboard, she walked back to Rue. "Hey," she started, watching as Rue pushed her hair out of her face. "I'm still kinda new around here," she trailed off. "Could you show me around a bit?" her eyes trailed down to the walk-man clipped to Rue's jeans. "We could get new records or something?"

"I — " Rue tried to think of the words, then she remembered the reason why she was at the arcade in the first place. "I'm supposed to meet my friends — " she stopped talking when she saw the look of defeat on Max's face. Rue thought about it for a few seconds, then considered how Mike would probably become the happiest boy on earth when she didn't show up.

"Actually, I would love to."

（ ₊˚. ✰┊📼 ! ）

The stars in the sky were nonexistent, as between us arose puffs of gray. Those balls of cotton seen during the day shifted into streams of gray the colour of ash and soot. They blanketed the sky, hiding the full moon in its full glory behind them.

It was late, and it was probably not safe for two underaged girls to be walking alone at night. But that was the last of their worries as they talked, chatting away about anything and everything.

"I'm sorry about your brother," Rue told max. The two had walked all around Hawkins at least twice, getting to know each other.

"He sounds like a horrible person to live with."

Max snorted, throwing her head back for a moment to stare at the starless sky. "Yeah," she chuckled dryly. "Billy's always been an asshole, but now he's just angry."

Rue nodded. She and Max's step brother went through the same thing. Rue didn't have an abusive father, although she did get . . . abused . . . before. No, that's an ugly word. Let's say she's been mistreated.

The difference was Rue knew how to have self-control and not let out all her anger on the first person she sees. The only thing was, the method she used to cope wasn't also the smartest.

"I'm sorry about your mom, she sounds like such a great person," Max smiled sincerely, nudging Rue's arm softly.

Rue bit on her tongue and forced a smile, her green eyes twinkling under the streetlights. "Yeah, she was . . ."

"If you need to talk to anyone, I'm here for you. Just show up at my place," said Max, taking Rue's hand in hers and swinging their hands back and forth.

Rue hummed as they turned the street back to the arcade's parking lot. Max let go of her hand as she put her skateboard down.

"Thanks for showing me around, Rue." Max smiled at her. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah," she waved the ginger goodbye as she started to skate away. Rue bit her bottom lip, trying to suppress the smile growing on her face as she walked towards her bike.

（ ₊˚. ✰┊📼 ! ）