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Hawkins Middle School, Hawkins, Indiana. Later that day.

After the bell rang and class was done, Mike couldn't wait to be gone. Normally, he dreaded the end of Mr. Clarke's class because P.E. was always up next. But on this day, he would gladly accept the distraction of flag football. However, before he could leave, his hopes of distraction from Mad Max Mayfield were utterly dashed by the kind nature of Mr. Clarke.

"Michael, Maxin...Max, could you two wait up for a second?" The middle school science teacher asked as the students in question stopped in their tracks.

"What's up Mr. Clarke?" Mike asked, hoping that it wasn't what he thought it was going to be.

"Well, seeing as Max here is new to our school, I was thinking that she should be given the grand tour to make sure that she doesn't get lost and I couldn't think of anyone better than you." Mr. Clarke explained as Mike's heart dropped.

"I don't think that I need a tour." Max responded, clearly seeing how uncomfortable Mike was.

"Oh...well, I have gym and Ms. Ryder will give me Hell it i'm late." Mike pointed out, hoping to get out of this.

"Don't worry Michael, I'll write you both hall passes." Mr. Clarke insisted as he immediately scribbled out a hall pass for Mike and another for Max in under a minute.

"All right then." Mike said as he took the hall passes and handed Max hers as the pair of students walked out of the class. Once Mike and Max were both out of earshot from Ol' man Clarke, she turned to him and stopped.

"Look, you don't have to do this if you don't want to, if Clarke asks...I'll tell him that you have me the tour." Max said with a look of annoyance on her face at the thought of being a burden.

"It's fine, I told Mr. Clarke I would do it and I'll do it." Mike insisted as he motioned for the red head to follow him.

"Well, you looked like he asked you to bury a carcass or something." Max pointed out as the brown haired mop top heaved a sigh.

"Look, it's not you OK?" Mike said as he looked at Max with confliction in his voice. "It's just...I'm dealing with a lot right now and...it's just really complicated."

"Fair enough." Max said as she didn't plan on prying Into Mike's affairs unless his shit started to have an affect on her shit. She had problem of her own that she didn't need or particularly want to share with a boy that she just met. Max had her secrets, Mike could have his.

True to his word, Mike showed her around the school, where the different grade sections were congregated, the lunch room, the gym, the playground, etc. As Mike went on and on exposing every single facet of the school, she Max couldn't help but get into it a little bit herself. The boy clearly knew his stuff and perhaps it was kind of nerdy, but she didn't give a shit.

Max couldn't help but find his wealth of knowledge strangely endearing. She had no idea, since if it had come out of any other mouth, Max would probably tell them to shut the Hell up; but Mike Wheeler had a way to make even the most mundane stuff seem interesting. Eventually, Mike took Max up to the roof; even though they weren't supposed to be there.

"Technically, students aren't allowed to come up here, but it's a great view." Mike explained as Max looked out and saw a great deal of Hawkins from the air.

"I'll give it to you Wheeler, you sure know how to make a girl care about boring shit." Max remarked with a smirk as Mike chuckled at her expense.

"I do my best." He replied as he stood next to her on the edge as they looked over the middle school parking lot. "Hey Max, I was wondering if I could ask you something?"

"Please tell me you're not asking me out." Max groaned as if it was something that every guy did within 5 minutes of meeting her. Mike nearly gagged at the idea of asking out anyone except El; but he held his composure so that he wouldn't have to answer questions that he didn't want to answer.

"No...it's not that." Mike said as he forced his voice into a normal tone. "I was just going to ask if you've ever been to the Arcade downtown?"

"Yeah, it's not as cool as the one back home, but it's good enough." Max shrugged as it confirmed that she was indeed THE Mad Max.

"I thought so, because my friend Dustin was pissed when you beat his high score on Centipede and Dig Dug." Mike said as Max beamed with pride.

"Dustin...I remember seeing his score. He's pretty good; for an amateur." Max teased as Mike laughed out loud.

"Don't let him hear you say that. He'll challenge you to a game off to defend his honor." Mike warned his companion.

"Bring it on." Max challenged, clearly unafraid of the challenge, or lack thereof that Dustin presented. "Get me a bag of quarters, tell Dustin to pick any game and I will destroy him."

"I would pay some serious coin to see you and him go head to head. Dustin taught me everything I know about gaming." Mike admitted in awe as he knew that such a showdown would be nothing short of legendary.

"If you want a real crash course in arcading, I'm the one you should be studying." Max insisted, earning a smirk from Mike.

"Are you offering to teach me how to play games the Mad Max way?" He asked.

"Meet me at the arcade after school, I'll take your game to a whole new level." Max promised as she walked away towards the stairs; leaving Mike to wonder what he had just gotten himself into.

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