stars around my scars

✧

wo years ago, Lucas Sinclair asked Max Mayfield if she was ready to accept the risk of knowing the truth. At the time, she thought the boy had just been pulling her strings, leading her on with another stupid prank. She was already pissed about being pushed back and forth by Lucas and his friends, and worse, Rue hadn't been picking up the phone the whole weekend.

An insecure part of Max believed that Rue became bored with her and opted to stop their short-found friendship because Max wasn't good enough to be her friend. At least, that's what Billy would have said. If Billy had known how Max felt, he would have gone on and on about how Max lacked intriguing qualities that would tempt someone to befriend her.

Two years ago, Max would have believed Billy. He always knew how to put her down and ruin her day, possibly the whole month.

Two years ago, Max accepted the risk. She couldn't believe that anything Lucas were to tell her would be worse than what she lived through already.

He proved her wrong, though.

The next day, Max found herself preparing a trap for a monster from another dimension. That same night, she discovered a laboratory located in the woods of Hawkins, Indiana, where there appeared to be a gateway to the dimension where the monsters were emerging. Since then, everything has gone downhill. Her best friend's father was mauled to death, Will Byers was possessed, met Eleven, injected her brother with a drug, drove a car, and watched her friends burn a hive mind.

There was a break of peace after that until the Fourth of July came along and then her brother had become possessed and he nearly killed her, twice, a monster made out of human remains hunted her and her friends, she watched as Rue murdered Billy, and fall into a coma for a week.

Max was sure that if she knew it all two years ago—she would not have accepted the risk.

Max was also certain that if Rue had known what she had agreed to before coming to Hawkins, she would not have taken the risk.

Rue's ignorance irritated Max at times. Mostly because Rue was a mind reader and could easily figure out anything she needed to know without exerting herself. However, Rue Newby's integrity and morals prohibited her from intruding into someone's private thoughts. Max recalls Rue confessing that she never read somebody's mind unless it was absolutely necessary, that privacy was a gift that should not be taken away from anyone.

Max would have read the minds of everyone around her if she possessed Rue's psychic abilities. It would have been for her amusement or to determine what anyone genuinely thought of her or whether they were lying. Max would have done a lot of things differently if she had Rue's abilities, especially if Billy had still been around.

Max Mayfield couldn't believe that almost a year later, Billy still haunted her thoughts. He felt like a plague, one she couldn't escape from. Even dead, he wouldn't let her rest, and he'd make her doubt herself in everything.

But at least she had someone to blame. It was Billy's fault everything went to shit in her life. His fault, not hers. It was his words stuck in her head, after all, the ones that pushed Max into shutting everyone out, ending things with Rue, ending contact with El. It was his words that had her praying for her own demise every night. At least she liked to think of it that way.

Max had only realized a little too late what she had done, but that damage had already been done, everything was too broken for her to fix, so she might as well leave it as it was. Max turned to music as an escape and a coping device. Max never thought of herself being the type of person to turn to music when things went downhill, but Rue Newby had taught her music was the best help there could be.

Max didn't know where she would be without music. Sometimes it scared her to think she'd be nothing. If it hadn't been for Rue, Max would be nothing.

Max wished she could go back in time and save herself from ruining everything. Rue was the first person to look at Max and thought she was enough. Rue saw through all the layers of toughness and meanness Max had created in the aftermath of Billy. She saw Max in a way that no one else could. And Max felt as if she didn't need to keep adding more layers to herself. Max felt like she could be herself around Rue.

But then Rue was gone.

And the layers had piled up again.

Max guessed it was hard for Rue to see any of that thousands of miles away, and she didn't blame her.

But Rue was here now, sitting a seat away from her.

When Rue looked at Max at the airport, Max could have sworn Rue was seeing her all over again. She saw everything underneath the layers. She always did.

Sitting in the back of Steve Harrington's car, potentially days away from facing other monsters from the Upsidedown, Max held close to the Walkman Rue had given her all those months ago. Rue's gemstones and stickers had peeled off, and the labels on the buttons were practically gone from how many times Rue and now Max had used it, but she had them memorized by this point.

Our Mixtape, the cassette she had grown awfully attached to, was playing in the music player. Rue had composed the mixtape specifically for Max with songs that reminded Rue of her.

Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) was Max's favourite song out of all of them in the mixtape. It led her to buy Kate Bush's album on cassette and create her own mixtape with that same song on loop for 46 minutes.

Now, with her favourite song playing in her ears, Max couldn't help but think of all the broken pieces she had. She wished she could somehow put them back together, somehow fix the mess she had made. Things were so different now, and she really wished they weren't.

When Steve stopped the car deep into the driveway of Reefer Rick's lake house so they wouldn't be seen, Max couldn't help but have this gut feeling that they were moments away from something bad happening.

She tried to shove those feelings away and tied her hair back and out of her face. Max got out of the car, and Dustin stumbled to follow her. He nearly tripped and fell face-first onto the grave floor before he caught himself. Embarrassed, he smiled sheepishly at Max before Steve grabbed him by the collar and led him to the trunk.

Robin, Steve, and Dustin retrieved the food bags they had brought for Eddie and Ricky. The group had taken a brief detour at the grocery store after deciding that the food from Dustin's kitchen wouldn't be enough for two early twenty-something boys who had probably only eaten the pot brownies Ricky had made.

Rue had become unusually quiet since they had left Dustin's house. Max considered her silence as a bad note; she didn't know why, but something about it concerned her. Rue has already been an undoubtedly quiet person, but there was something off about this. Everyone else seemed to dismiss it, but it felt like an itch on Max's skin that she couldn't scratch.

Dustin directed everyone's attention to the shed hidden behind the woods. As they approached Lovers Lake, the air became cooler. The calmness of the heart-shaped lake originated from the deep hue of the lake, which became the poetic melody of the light that danced upon its wind-dancing ruffles.

Dustin ushered everyone towards the shed hidden behind the trees. The air was cooler as they approached closer to Lovers Lake. The heart-shaped lake held a sort of calmness to it, the deep hue became the poetic song of the light that played upon its wind-dancing ruffles.

Dustin kicking through the metal door of the shed had disrupted the tranquillity of Lovers Lake. Before the gang piled into the shed, there was a startled shout from inside. Robin and Dustin joyfully held up the plastic bags as they grinned at Eddie, who had backed himself into a corner and grabbed the shattered beer bottle he nearly murdered Steve with the night before.

"Jesus..." Eddie slowly brought down the bottle and sighed deeply.

"Delivery service!" Dustin smiled.

Max didn't know why, but she found herself forcing a smile on Eddie as if to apologize to Dustin and Robin. She also couldn't help but raise her brows when she spotted Ricky sprawled on the floor on the other side of the shed, still asleep.

Robin set the bags near the boat and made her way toward Ricky. She kicked his side and leaned down, "Rise and shine!"

"Go away, Dani," He muttered, half asleep, "I still have an hour before my shift."

Eddie finally peeled himself away from the corner after spotting the food. He approached it gingerly, almost as if he was too shy to take it which left Max surprised. Eddie froze midway from his approach and pointed between Max and Steve with raised brows. "Who's your friend?"

Max immediately realized he was referring to Rue, who had tucked herself against Steve's side and had remained silent. She was staring at Eddie with doubt, almost as if she were trying to decide if she could trust him.

"That's our lovely Rue," Dustin said, waving his hands in the air before he looked back down at the bag of food and began to pull everything out so Eddie could see his options. "The one we told you about.

Eddie nodded, "Right." His gaze lingered at Rue for a moment longer before he blinked and nodded again. "Well, uh, I'm Eddie..." He introduced himself. When Rue didn't say anything Eddie pursed his lips and picked up a box of cereal. "Alright then. Not a talker, that's fair."

Eddie sat on the boat in the middle of the shed and crossed his legs. He munched on the dry cereal and began to take swigs from an iced tea he found within the pile. He didn't say much, only stared off to the lake, watching the morning sun reflect off the water.

Everyone followed him and surrounded the boat, and Ricky finally got up from the floor. He had stretched his arms into the air, his shirt rising and exposing his toned stomach before he dropped his arms again. Max's eyes widened, and she looked away, embarrassed to admit that she felt her face grow warm.

Ricky fixed his shirt, shrugged on a spring jacket and sighed, "Seriously? All junk food?" He looked up at Steve in disbelief after glancing at the food. "It's like you don't even care for our health, man."

"It's the cheapest stuff at the store—" Steve began to argue, but Ricky waved him off, shutting him up rather quickly.

"Yeah, yeah. Always got some excuses up your ass, don't you, Harrington?" Ricky cracked open a water bottle and sat near Dustin. He leaned his arm on his shoulder and smiled at the boy. Ricky then nodded towards the three girls standing at the other side of the shed, "Rue, right?"

She nodded.

Her lack of response put Max on edge. Rue held a closed-off sort of body language as she stood between her and Robin. Max wouldn't blame her-they had dragged her across Hawkins without an explanation. Max had to bite her tongue to stop herself from blurting out the truth to her.

"I knew it," Ricky smirked, which he does a lot, and Max noticed. It's a part of his charm, she thinks. "Alex never shuts up about you and Will. I'm his brother, Ricky."

Dustin cleared his throat, cutting off the small talk. He turned to Eddie, "So we got, uh, some good news and some bad news. How do you prefer it?"

Eddie froze as he ate a handful of dry honeycomb cereal. "Bad news first, always," he said with his mouth full before taking a swig from the iced tea. His eyes were wide as he spoke, and he shook like a scared puppy.

Dustin nodded, "Okay," he glanced behind him for a moment after hearing Steve and Ricky argue quietly. Dustin glared at them, and Steve shoved Ricky away before leaning on the wooden pillar next to him.

"Go on, tell him the news, Henderson."

Dustin scoffed and rolled his eyes before turning to Eddie again. "So, we tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you. Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."

"Like, 100% kind of convinced," Max added so he'd be aware of how bad his stakes were.

Eddie stared at her blankly for a moment, processing all the information. Max almost felt bad for him.

"And the good news?" He tried to sound hopeful.

"Your name hasn't gone public yet," Robin told him, "But if we found out about you, it's only a matter of time before others do too. And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother are gonna be gunning for you."

"Hunt the freak, right?" Eddie said stiffly.

"Exactly."

"Shit."

"Wait," Rue said, speaking up for the first time since they had gotten into the car. Everyone turned to her, and she pointed at Eddie with one hand, "If you didn't kill the girl... Chrissy. If you didn't kill Chrissy, who did?"

Eddie raises his brows. There's a look of incredulity on his face, and he slowly turns to Dustin. "Does she—does she not know—? I thought you said—"

"Well, you see," Dustin starts, his voice rising in volume and cracking nervously. "Uhm, the thing is..."

"What don't I know?" Rue asks. "What is he talking about?"

Everyone but Eddie and Ricky grows stiff and nervous, Dustin most out of all of them. Dustin spares Max a helpless glance, but she glares at him in a way that screams: I told you so.

"Eddie didn't kill Chrissy. Vecna did." Ricky clarifies.

"Vecna?" Rue echoes, her voice laced with disbelief. "Vecna." She says again. Rue spins on her heels and paces back and forth and repeats the name to herself. "That makes sense." She states sarcastically. "Who the fuck is Vecna?"

The original plan of reassuring Eddie that everything was under control immediately goes amiss.

"Dustin?" Ricky calls, "How are we going to kill Vecna, this dark alternate dimensional wizard, if the girl with superpowers doesn't even know who he is?"

"Excuse me?" Rue turns around quickly before Dustin can answer. She glares at Ricky, "What did you just say?"

Taken aback, Ricky stumbles over his words, "Girl with superpowers?"

"Before that."

"Alternate dimensional wizard?"

Rue scoffs after hearing it. It is obvious it all finally clicks, and she runs her hands through her hair. "Oh, my God, that's why I'm here," Her voice is breathless as the betrayal quickly sinks in. "That's why I'm here, isn't it?"

The silence that follows after is deadly. No one said anything, afraid to say the wrong words. They did share guilty glances and tried to avoid Rue's gaze, though.

Steve Harrington was the first to speak, which was automatically a terrible idea after he said, "What? No, Rue. It's—it's not like that at all."

"Steve," Robin tries to stop him, but he ignores her.

"Rue, come on. This is all coincidental."

Dustin winces.

Rue's eyes snapped to Steve. Her lips parted as sorrow settled in her eyes. "Don't lie to me."

"I'm—I'm not lying—"

"Cut the bullshit," She seethed, her hands balling into fists at her sides. When her sorrow turns into wrath, it does it quickly. Rage consumed her, swallowing her hole until she was almost unrecognizable.

Steve tried to speak again, but she stopped him.

"I said don't lie, Steve Harrington. Why would you even bother? I can tell when you lie anyway," her gaze shifts to everyone else, "I knew there was something off, but I didn't think it was this. I didn't want to believe you'd drop so fucking low—"

Rue pauses to scoff out an angry laugh. She glares at everyone with all the hatred she can muster and points at Steve, "Wow you're full of shit." Then she points to Dustin, "You're full of shit." Then Max, "And you're full of shit." And Rue threw her hands in the air and shouted, "You're all full of fucking shit!"

There was a family of ducks that flew away after hearing her shouts. Silence consumed the shed once more-this time, much more uncomfortable than the last. Rue scoffed again and flipped everyone off before stomping out of the shed and slamming the door shut behind her.

"That could have gone a lot worse," Robin stated, "she could have killed us all if she wanted to."

Eddie shifted awkwardly in his spot on the paddle boat and pointed over his shoulder, "Does she take medication for that?"

"I know what can get her to chill if you guys are looking for a last resort," Ricky suggested, and when Max and Dustin glared at him, he threw his hands in the air, "It's just weed! I'm not gonna kill the kid."

"What now?" Dustin asked, turning to Max.

"We go after her," She said as if it were obvious. Max scoffed when she realized no one had even thought about following Rue to make sure she was alright. She obviously wasn't, but still.

When Max stood from her spot, she could feel the hot blood pound at her head. She tried to ignore it as she hurried out of the shed and stepped into the fresh air. Max brought her hands to her head, her cold fingertips creating an odd contrast against the hot skin. That stupid headache had returned, and it's been plaguing her all week.

The sun made her mind spin, and her vision blurred before. Fighting through it, Max spotted Rue's blurry figure storming towards Reefer Rick's house. Max felt the sense of wrong creeping back into her consciousness as she followed Rue.

A part of Max wanted to remind herself that it was just Rue. Would-cry-if-she-stepped-on-a-bug, Rue Newby.

But she wasn't sure if Rue was still the same girl she once knew.

The fact was, Rue had never been very good at articulating her emotions. Max was aware that Rue frequently struggled with it, at least from what she remembered. She wasn't sure Rue still had the problem anymore-she made it pretty clear how she felt moments ago in the shed.

Max's vision had finally cleared. "Rue?" she chased after her. "Rue, wait. Come on—"

"Go away, Max," Rue muttered, swerving past a tree and nearing Reefer Rick's driveway.

Max frowned, but she took the bullet anyway, "Rue, listen to me. I need you to understand—"

"No!" Rue shouted. She spun around with a deadly look in her eyes, stopping Max from saying more. The red-haired girl froze in her spot, almost stuck where she was with her feet nailed to the ground as Rue glared at her. "No, I don't want to understand! I mean, it's pretty fucking clear what's going on. You're using me."