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"when you were young you used to dream about fires and scream into the night to find me standing barefoot at your side"
Max used to always wish for an older brother or an older sister.
Back when her parents were together and used to fight all the time she would think ‘If I had an older brother or an older sister we could get out of the house have some ice cream and leave this mess behind.’ Of course, she never got what she wanted and it wasn’t possible for her parents to just give her an older sibling.
Then her parents got divorced and for a while it was good. They weren’t fighting anymore and she was able to spend some peaceful quality time with both of them, apart obviously. But that good time only lasted so little because her mother met Neil.
When Max hadn’t met Neil yet she thought he was a kind person because of all the things her mother told her like how he would by her gifts. When she met Neil she realized how controlling he was and how those presents were only a compensation for that.
Then, she found out that Neil had a son roughly five years older than her. For a split second she was excited. Maybe, just maybe she could have an older brother she could go skateboarding with; an older brother who would give her rides, who would buy her all the ice cream in the world. All of these came crushing down when she met Billy. Most of the time he didn’t care about her but when he did it was always to yell at her for something. Soon after she saw how much Billy's father yelled at her mom too.
Then, Neil and her mom got married and Max realized she had to accept that this was her family now. Billy must have thought the same because he was now controlling and extremely rude towards her. But they were still in California and she was still able to spend time with her father on the weekends so it was bearable. One day her mother and Neil sat her down to tell her they moving to Hawkins-basically to the other end of the country. She was going to scream and stomp her foot but her mother was smiling and Billy took the yelling to himself. Two seconds later Billy was shut down by Neil yelling back at him. So two weeks later they were packed and leaving for Hawkins leaving Max’s dad behind.
At school she met the boys or more likely they came to her. They seemed weird enough to let her in to their tight knitted group. She was going to stay away because she thought as long as she didn’t make connections with people here she could run off to California easily. But then they invited her to trick or treating and Billy was off to a high school party and her mother was with some moms doing something so she really didn’t want to be home alone with Neil. She tried to ignore Mike’s displeasure over her being there. She heard Will’s brother had dropped him off and her wish for a proper older brother was back.
Max kept trailing behind the boys. Even though she called Dustin and mostly Lucas “stalker” they were cool people. When Lucas told her everything at the back room of the arcade she obviously didn’t believe the crazy story. But then he came over as she was just trying to fix her skateboard that was broken in half by Billy. Lucas seemed genuine and he was truly trying to include her in everything. It seemed like her believing in Lucas was important to the boy and that made Max happy (that someone cared about what she thought). So she hopped on to the bike, behind Lucas and they drove away.
They met with Dustin and an older boy, Steve, there. Despite all the meat pieces on the ground how much everybody worked to lure the so called “Demodog” there Max was still finding everything hard to believe. She found out that Steve had fought with a bigger version of this monster the year before and she still couldn’t believe it. I mean somebody older would now the difference between a dog and a monster, right? Then Dustin snapped at her and she went up to sit with Lucas. Lucas was too kind to her despite knowing so little about her. It made her happy.
When the monster stopped following the meat Steve got out giving Dustin the lighter. She thought he was insane going on his own to face a hungry monster. But she actually knew how great it was that he put himself out there leaving them behind. She had never met someone who would do that. When Steve ran back into the bus Max was almost sure that they were going to die. It was the moment she was eye to eye with the demodog that Max believed every part of the crazy she was told. She froze and not knowing what to do just screamed at the top of her lungs. A second later a pair of strong hands were pushing her away and showing his bat at the monster. They all agreed that Steve wasn’t the one to scare it away but nevertheless Steve had just kinda saved her.
Steve was probably Billy’s age but he was nothing like Billy.
They followed Steve out of the woods as Dustin and Lucas kept bickering. An hour later they were over at Will’s house with a bunch of people Max hadn’t met before. It was mostly adults and teens. Somebody Max didn’t know had died at the lab and everybody was sad over it. They told good stories about him so Max felt a little sad too. Will’s brother, Jonathan, was worried about him. He was kneeling beside the boy the whole time. Mike’s sister, Nancy, hugged him so tight. Max thought about what Billy would do if he was to find her here. Nothing similar to the reactions of the other two siblings. Just when she was thinking this,
“Are you okay?” asked Steve as he stood next to her with a scowl and worry oozing off his face.
Steve was nothing like Billy.
They came up with a crazy plan to help Will so everybody worked to cover up the little cabin out in the garden. That didn’t do much. Then, El came back and everybody lost it. Her and Mike held each other. Mike screamed at the sheriff while everyone else hugged with El. After hearing so much about her Max wanted to be friends with her too but the other girl left her hand hanging.
“I didn’t meet Eleven before either.” Steve almost whispered at Max. She tried to smile a little.
The new plan required the others to leave with Max, Lucas, Dustin, Mike and Steve staying behind. They started to make a plan of their own while Steve kept objecting. Max knew from his point of view it was normal that he was objecting but Mike’s plan was actually good. She couldn’t help but think about how Billy objected to her plans with lots of yelling and some violence while Steve was pretty calm even though he had to keep his authority.
Then she heard a car pull up to the driveway and to Max’s luck it had to be Billy’s car. Her heart dropped to her stomach thinking about what Billy might to do Lucas and the others. She thought about the things Billy said about Lucas; the kind of things Max wouldn’t even think about repeating in her thoughts. Max could deal with him herself at home but she couldn’t deal with it if her friends were hurt because of her. So she said what she thought : that Billy would kill them. Steve was outside a minute later telling them to stay inside. She never had somebody that stood up to Billy for her. She wondered if the two knew each other.
Billy saw them and Steve was on the ground and Max blamed herself. Billy came and pinned Lucas to the shelf and Max blamed herself. She wanted to help to Lucas but she didn’t know what to do; she wasn’t strong enough to go up against Billy. She had learned that the hard way. That was when Steve came back and Lucas was next to them immediately after. Steve punched Billy with all his power. Billy called him “King Steve” in a mocking way and Max realized that they knew each other. For a second there she thought Steve was going to win but then Billy being Billy played dirty and literally smashed a plate on Steve’s head.
Max’s heart sank even deeper if that was possible. Steve who put himself on the line for the kids, who tried to be kind to Max despite meeting her just hours before, who went out to face Billy without blinking was getting beaten to death because of her. That’s when her eye caught the syringe. She knocked Billy down and made sure her friends were left alone. She somehow managed to make friends and she wasn’t going to lose them.
A part of her was waiting for Steve to get up as soon as Billy was down. But he didn’t and Max wanted to cry. Steve was all battered up lying on the floor because of her. That’s why she backed up Dustin when he said that they couldn’t leave Steve behind. She knew how to drive a little since she practiced running away alone before. So Dustin brought colored band aids from the bathroom and they put them on Steve’s face knowing damn well it wouldn’t do any good.
He woke up while Max was driving and he totally freaked out. The whole screaming was freaking Max out too but a deep part of her was so relieved that he woke up.
Dustin convinced Steve so he came to the tunnels with them. Steve took the lead walking past all the kids. Max never had someone to lead the way for her. Mike’s leg got caught and Steve destroyed it with his bath. Dustin got knocked down and Steve ran to him. They lighted up the cave and rushed back to the exit. Even after she had seen everything Steve had done she half expected Steve to leave the cave first because that’s what Billy or anybody older she had known would do. But obviously he didn’t do that. He made sure everyone left before him.
About an hour later when they were back to the Byers’ house thankfully Billy was gone somehow. Half an hour later the others were back and thankfully all of them were alive. Everybody hovered over Will and Eleven. Steve’s face was still bloodied and nobody seemed to notice expect for Max who was watching him from the corner of her eye. Steve quietly let himself out of the house and Max followed her. Steve told her to get inside but she didn’t listen. Steve sat on the porch and Max sat next to her.
"I’m fine.” Steve reassured her as if he had read her mind.
"You need to get cleaned and checked out.” Max answered with tears brimming in her eyes.
The one person who protected her the whole day was hurting (because of her).
“It’s not your fault. Billy wanted to beat me up for some time now.” Steve said not looking at her holding a napkin under his bleeding nose.
Max didn’t answer. She was trying to blink the tears away.
“I’ll be fine. Ask Nancy and Jonathan I’m used to getting beaten up.” Steve said this time looking at her.
Max looked at him too and wiped the tears away with the sleeve of her green jacket.
“Thank you, by the way. For saving me.” Steve said probably pretending to not see the tears.
Max tried to smile and nod as she ran inside not being able to look at his face any longer.
After 10 minutes of everybody filling each other in with what happened the adults found out that they went to the the tunnels. Max saw in their eyes and Nancy’s that they were getting ready to be mad at Steve for not making the kids stay. So she jumped in wanting to be the one to defend Steve this time. Max told them about Billy and how he came over and was hurting Lucas. She saw Lucas look down at her sentence with the same blame she had in her eyes. She liked Lucas more because of that. Max told them about how Steve protected the kids and got beaten up almost to the death. Her voice choked and Dustin took the words from there. Dustin told them about how they stole a car and took Steve with them and how he had no choice but to go with them to the tunnels. Lucas backed him up in some points looking at Max. Even Mike had said nice things about Steve.
When the story was done Hopper immediately went on to check up on Steve who was still outside. He decided Steve didn’t have a concussion but still took him to the hospital. Max wanted to go with them and Dustin too but they weren’t allowed. Steve gave them a smile and ruffled Dustin’s hair as they left. Max noticed Steve giving a painful smile to Nancy too.
As much as Max liked Steve after that like ten hours they spent together she really didn’t expect him to stick around but he did.
He took Dustin to the snowball and picked him up. He offered to give Lucas and her a ride home too. Max knew from his smirk that he noticed how much the two of them were blushing. They dropped off Dustin first who hadn’t stop talking one bit the whole ride. Max noticed him leaving out the part where nobody wanted to danced with him and then how Nancy danced with him instead. She still didn’t know the whole deal with Steve and Nancy and Jonathan. They dropped off Lucas next and Max didn’t know how to part with the boy. They gave each other an awkward hug as Steve watched them.
“Do I need to give him the don’t hurt Max talk now?” Steve asked when she got back into the car.
“Shut up.” she told him blushing harder than before.
For all she knew brother’s gave that talk.
She still expected Steve to stop hanging with a bunch of middle schoolers but he didn’t.
He never asked her how it was like in her house but after her step-brother had beat him up like that he probably guessed it. Every Saturday with or without the party Steve would take her out to have lunch and then ice cream. Every time before they got back he would ask her if she needed anything.
She was finally getting her ice cream. For all she knew brother’s took their little sister out to have ice cream.
During Spring she got sick of riding to school in Billy’s car. She had enough of getting yelled at every morning and watching out for Billy so that he wouldn’t see her hanging with the party. True, Billy wasn’t bothering them anymore but that didn’t mean she was going to stop being careful. So she told her mom and Neil that she would skate to the school. Her mom was skeptical at first and Neil thought Billy did something so he was about to get mad at his son. But Max told them she just liked skating and she could even bring out her bike (even though she hated biking). Then, they let her. Even if there was stil March snow lying on the ground two adults and a young adult thought it was a good idea that a thirteen-year-old should skateboard to school.
That went on about a week until Steve saw her skating as he made his way to Dustin’s house. He pulled up next to her.
“Get in red. You are going to break your arm over the ice.” Steve said.
She almost refused it but she was far away from the house and her ass was freezing. So she sat down at the passenger seat which received Dustin’s protests because apparently that was his seat. Steve told him that he lost his front seat privileges when he spilled a milkshake on the seats last week.
This became something regular after that. Max would skate a few streets down and Steve would pick her up. The shotgun was hers in the mornings and it was Dustins in the afternoon. Radio belonged to Steve and the older boy was the one to choose the music. It was a damn good deal.
For all she knew brother’s gave rides to school and around the town (without even being forced by their scary parents).
Everybody but especially Mrs.Byers and Hopper trusted Steve with the kids. So when she went up to Hopper’s new cabin in the woods with Steve it wasn’t a shock. Turned out Eleven or Jane wanted to be friends with Max now and as far as she heard from Steve it was the party’s doing. Mike who seemed to hate her at the beginning told Jane that Max was a part of the party now and that Jane should get to know her. Since she is still not allowed out of the house Steve drove Max up to the cabin for a girl’s day.
As the girls retreated to Jane’s room Steve started to cook for them saying eggos weren't proper food.
“Don’t get lost in boy talk.” he shouted inside.
“Shut up Steve!” the girls shouted back in unison followed by a laughter.
For all she knew brother’s teased their sisters for their love lives.
That’s why after her first fight with Lucas, which to be honest was mostly her fault, she was standing at the door of the Harrington house sniffling. Steve opened the door with his bat ready to be swung. He gave out a breath when he saw it was Max. The way his knuckles were whitened at how tight he was holding the bat made Max think about exactly how much stress Steve was still under over the whole Upside-Down thing.
He let her inside and offered her some cocoa. Max tried to ignore the beer bottles standing on the counter. She told him that her and Lucas had a fight.
“Can I have the talk with him now?” he asked with a big smile trying to get Max to smile too.
But it did the opposite affect. When she started to cry Steve gave her a little hug. When she told him the details and explained it was her fault Steve reminded her of the power of apologies saying how even when he fucked up the most Nancy had forgiven him after an apology.
Then, probably to distract her Steve told her all about Nancy; he even left the ugly parts where he called her a slut. He didn’t forgot to add that slut wasn’t a word to be used especially not between girls.
For all she knew brother’s comforted their little sisters.
Around May when Steve was picking her and Dustin up he heard some of the girls at school tease her about being a tomboy. Max was going to jump on them but she was held back by the boys. Mike had told them to fuck off and Max smiled thinking how much their friendship had evolved.
They didn’t talk about this incident in the car but once Dustin was dropped off and Max moved to the front seat and Steve looked over at her.
“There is no one rule about girls or anybody being one way. Just ignore them and don’t get stuck with stereotypes, red.” he said.
She didn’t answer but she smiled looking outside the window as the car rolled again. Will had told her about some of the advice his brother Jonathan gave him. This definitely sounded like one of those brotherly advices.
June came around and she learned from Will who learned it from his brother that Steve’s parents weren’t going to be here for the graduation. So the party decided to go to the graduation as a group followed by a dinner given at the Byers house for Steve. Apparently, Mrs.Byers had been meaning to do something to thank Steve for all the babysitting he was doing.
They didn’t tell Steve that they were coming and Steve didn’t invite them. Max tried not to think about the second part because as far as she knew normally little sisters were invited to their brother’s graduation. Dustin who was like Steve’s little brother wasn’t thinking about it either (or so he seemed like he wasn’t thinking about it).
They were all there : the party (even Jane) , Jonathan and Nancy, Dustin’s mom and Hopper. Mrs.Byers had stayed home to prepare for the dinner. Max thought they overdid it because none of the other students had that much family with them but she didn’t care. Steve deserved all of this.
When his name was announced the kids jumped up and shouted earning a few looks from around. As Steve walked on the podium he spotted them and smiled brightly shaking his diploma in the air.
“What are you doing here?” a shocked Steve asked after the ceremony.
“We are here to see you graduate dumbass.” Mike answered.
Steve shook his head and ruffled Mike’s hair (which was a first time). Later they joked about how it was a graduation gift from Mike to Steve.
As Steve hugged them one by one Max swore he saw some tears collecting in his eyes but she decided to keep her comments to herself. He had even shared a hug with Jonathan and Nancy which was nice considering everything Steve told her. Mrs.Henderson hugged him tight probably crushing Steve’s ribs as understood by his face and Max laughed at the sight. The women invited him over for breakfast next week as Dustin jumped up and down asking him to say yes. A part of Max wished he could invite Steve over to breakfast too.
“Proud of you kid.” Hopper said as he gave Steve a hug and a pat on the shoulder.
Max saw Steve turn around after that and blink the tears away and she decided to once again not say anything.
Brothers could be broken too Max learned that day.
When they finally went over to the Byers house Will showed and explained to Steve the banner he made that read “Congratulations Steve!” It had a bunch of drawings of Steve and the kids on it. There was even a depiction of Steve’s famous bat. Steve smiled brightly and thanked Will which made the boy giddy.
“I’m gonna frame it and put it on the wall.” Steve said to him as he squeezed Will's shoulder.
Lucas gave him a graduation themed bandana which Steve quickly tied around his neck. Lucas’s face lit up as Steve told him that it was the best bandana he had seen.
“I can’t rock it around my head like you do so it goes around my neck.” Steve said pointing to the red colored bandana.
After an awesome dinner and a cake Steve disappeared with Hopper. Max found them on the porch. Hopper saw her coming and put off his cigarette. He went inside and gave Max a pat on the shoulder on the way.
“That shit is not good for your health.” Max said looking at the cigarette Steve was holding.
“First of all, swear jar.” Steve said as he put off it off, “Second, you shit heads are bad for my health. You always demand that I take you places. You give me heart attacks over your useless ‘red codes’. Which reminds me we need to go over what counts as red codes.”
Max just rolled her eyes and smiled. She knew Steve enjoyed every part of driving them to the arcade. He got a point about red codes though. Last week Dustin called a red code because his Farah Fawcett spray was finished.
“You never told me where you are going off to college.” Max said biting her cheek.
She didn’t want Steve to go away and the rides to school and the ice cream weekends to be over.
“Star Court Mall. It’s an awesome place red.” Steve said with a sigh, “I’m not going to college. I got a job for the summer.”
That made Max so happy but she didn't say it. Anyway, Steve didn’t seem as happy as her either.
“You know you are an adult now you can get out of Hawkins.” Max said again biting her cheek.
Steve looked at her for a second and Max was afraid of what he would say.
“I’m not good at anything to survive elsewhere kiddo.” Steve said as he turned his head away.
Brothers needed comforting too Max learned that day.
“If you are talking about school I’m not very good at it either but that doesn’t mean we aren’t good at something else.” Max said smiling and she hoped this would make Steve feel better.
And it worked because now Steve is smiling as he patted her shoulder.
“Hopper was telling me that with proper training I can work for the sheriff.” Steve said.
“Your bat swinging talent could come in handy.” Max said still keeping her smile.
Steve was still smiling at him but Max also saw the pain and worry in the back of his eyes. So much for comforting, Max thought. She couldn’t make the monsters better for her pretend brother when she couldn’t even do it to herself.
Two weeks later Max was at the door of the Harrington house again. It was midnight and she had just ran away from home all the way to Steve’s house. Her cheek was burning where Neil had slapped her. Billy watched the whole thing happen and did not say anything. Her mom watched the whole thing happen and only got mad at her husband after his palm met with Max’s cheek.
She didn’t knock on the door first. She was originally on her way to Lucas’s house. Anytime a fight happened at the house she was either secretly calling Lucas or going to their home the next day. Lucas would sometimes talk to her and sometimes they would just sit next to each other with Lucas’s arm draped over her shoulder. Lucas’s mom would bring them cookies. Erica would barge in wanting Max to play with dolls with her.
She didn’t know why but her feet had taken her here instead. She slowly knocked on the door and waited for an answer. She heard feet shuffling and a pause at the door which meant Steve had grabbed his bat. He swung open the door to and stared at Max. The bat was dropped to the ground a second later and Steve was pulling her inside.
“Who?” Steve only asked once they were inside.
Max saw that Steve was ready to go fight the person who hurt Max even if it was Billy who practically almost killed Steve. She didn’t know why she was surprised at this even though Steve had been protecting her from day one.
“Neil.” Max said as she choked on her words.
When she started to cry Steve rushed over and gave her a proper hug as she clenched on to his t-shirt. Steve made her call her mom to say she was okay but they decided it was better to not tell her where she was.
Steve offered her his bed saying it was clean with a little smile. They ended up sleeping in the living room with the TV open in front of them. Steve hadn’t said much but it was clear that he was still planning on killing Neil.
She fell asleep feeling safe and feeling like nobody was able to touch her there.
For the next week she was over at Steve’s house a lot. When she was not there she was over at Lucas’s. If she was not in both of them it was the Byers house or the Henderson house. So basically anywhere that actually felt like home. She guessed somebody, somebody meaning Steve, had talked to Hopper because a couple of days later she saw Hopper cornering Neil. After that Neil was staying away from her and Billy was already staying away anyway. One was her doing and the other was Steve plus Hopper’s.
About 20 days after that Upside Down struck again.
Max was there as Jane tried to fight using her powers. Max hoped that Jane, who was her best friend now, would come out of this unharmed.
Max was there when Lucas was grabbing her hand and pulling her away while they tried to run away from the monsters. She was there as he used his slingshot against the monsters trying to be brave.
Max was there as Will used his newfound powers hoping he would stay unharmed too. She was there as Mike watched Will and Jane with worry in his eyes knowing he couldn’t do anything. She tried to tell him that everyone would be okay and it looked like for a second Mike believed her.
Max was there as Dustin made a crazy plan which turned out to be pretty genius.
Max was there as Steve left them behind with Nancy and Jonathan to run off to check the monsters in other floors. Her and Dustin tried to hold on to his arm trying to stop him from leaving but he was too strong and determined. He left his beloved bat with Max just in case.
“You already know how to use it red.” he said with a cocky smile.
Max was there as Steve left ruffling both Max and Dustin’s hair and giving Lucas a pat on the shoulder. Max was there when he came back alive. But she was too caught up in the chaos to jump at him. Dustin was closer so he basically tackled Steve as Steve dragged the boy to a place they could hide.
Max was there as she, herself, swung Steve’s bat to protect his friends. She had managed to save Lucas’s leg from a monster and distract another to give Mike time to run away.
Max was there as one other monster caused her to drop the bat to the ground. All she could do then was to back up. But another person had grabbed the bat stepping in between the monster and her. That person was of course Steve and he had managed to send the monster away to the other end of the room.
Max was there as Steve saved her life and put his own life on the line once again.
Max was there when everyone got out of the mess alive (even Billy who was at some point infected with the Upside Down turning him into a textbook monster this time).
Byers house was their refuge again as everybody went there to sleep off the tiredness and scariness of dealing with another dimension.
She cuddled on the couch with Lucas holding him tight and thanking the stars again and again for not letting Lucas or anybody else die.
Steve came and dropped his jacket over them. He probably thought that they were asleep and wouldn’t notice it.
It was almost a year later and Max was now realizing what she had actually known for months.
Max had an older brother now. That older brother wasn’t perfect just like nobody was perfect. That older brother was kind and loving and he was funny and cool. He would give the best advices that sounded stupid but somehow worked. He would drive her to school and any place she wanted while he jokingly complained about it all the time. He would give her romantic counseling but also tease her about her love life. He would buy her all the ice cream in the world if she wanted. He would literally go to the ends of the world for her and protect her with his life. He would do half these things for the other kids too and it only made him more special. He was like a brother to the whole party but he still had moments and rituals just for her.
Max tried her best to be a good sister too. She tried not asking for too much. She tried to follow Steve’s mood swings to give him back his own advice because Steve Harrington was shit at applying his own advices. She tried to be equally cool and funny. She tried her best to annoy him in ways only little sisters could do. She tried going to all of his basketball games and cheered for him (instead of Billy) and then she kept visiting him at work. She just tried to give back by showing him that she was there, always.
Her parents weren’t together anymore. She had worse things to deal with at home now. She knew about other dimensions and was fighting monsters. She wasn’t in California anymore but in Indiana. It was a little late but her wish had come true. Max had an older brother now and his name was Steve Harrington.
(+ Alternative Ending)
Max wasn’t there when Steve locked the door leaving Dustin, Robin and Erica behind. She wasn’t there as Dustin punched the glass door trying to stop Steve.
Max wasn’t there when Steve fought with the monster to protect Dustin, Robin and Erica. She wasn’t there when Steve fell tired and couldn’t stand the monster anymore. She wasn’t there when the monster attacked Steve and ripped him apart. She wasn’t there when Dustin almost broke the glass with the power of his fists as he screamed and cried. She wasn’t there as Erica silently cried and turned away. She wasn’t there as Robin tried to hold Dustin hiding her tears.
Max was there when the fight was over and Dustin came up with blood stains on his t-shirt. She was there as Dustin couldn’t look at them and couldn’t speak. She was there waiting for Steve to appear. She was there when he didn’t.
Max was there as Robin explained what happened. She was there when Erica ran up to Lucas and hugged her brother. She was there as everybody started to cry. She walked over at Dustin and gave him a big hug as the two of them cried after their brother. Soon the hug turned into a group hug as everybody cried over Steve Harrington who had many nicknames over the years but whose favorite nickname was “the babysitter.” From then on he would be known as the hero.
Max was there at the funeral to which Steve's dad didn’t even bother to show up. His mom was confused as to why a bunch of middle schoolers were crying this hard after him. Lucas held her hand throughout the funeral and that was probably the only reason she didn’t break down. Nancy and Jonathan were crying as much as the kids. So was Mrs.Byers and Ms.Henderson.
Max was there as Dustin closed himself off with blame and survivor’s guilt. She didn’t know how to help him; nobody in the party did.
Max was there as Lucas got closer to Erica, to his family, to her, to the party because of the pain and the knowledge that he might be gone in a minute too.
Max was there when Will stopped drawing. He didn’t seem to want to pick up the pens and crayons anymore.
Max was there when Mike got so angry that he was getting into fights at school everyday.
Max was there when Jane was confused because she didn’t know friends were able to just leave them.
Max was there as Jonathan and Nancy regretted that they didn’t become proper friends with Steve after the whole drama.
Max was there when even Billy gave her sad eyes. She wondered whether he felt guilty because he played a part in it or not.
Max was there as she grew numb. She tried holding on to Lucas and the party but it wasn’t enough. She stopped skating. She started to get into fights with random people by Mike’s side. She didn’t know herself that brothers could just leave.
Max’s wish had came true when she was 13. She got herself the best older brother.
Max’s wish died, literally, when she was just a few months into 14. She had lost the best older brother in the world.