𝐊𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 | 𝐌𝐚𝐱 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝

ɹnoᖵ ɹǝʇdɐɥϽ

The next school day, Max and Y/N had joined Lucas and were walking along the halls of the school.

"I still don't get why they call him zombie boy." Max told Lucas in relation to Will. "I mean, I get it. He got lost in the woods for a week or something, but why was he a zombie? Because everyone thought he was dead?" she asked.

"Yeah. I mean, we had a funeral for him and everything." Lucas replied, making Y/N scrunch his face as he got hit with a wave of confusion. "You had a funeral for him after a week?"

"Well, see, some other kid drowned at the quarry. We thought it was Will because his body was super decomposed." Lucas explained as Max whipped her head towards the boy. "What?"

"Dude, that's not funny. Like, at all." Y/N said as Lucas subtly shook his head. "It's not a joke, all right? It's public knowledge. You can ask anybody." he promised before quickly adding on; "Except Will, because he is really sensitive about it. All right?"

"Okay." Max agreed as Y/N nodded his head and continued walking towards their next class.

○●○

"The case of Phineas Gage is one of the great medical curiosities of all time. Phineas was a railroad worker in 1848 who had a nightmarish accident. A large iron rod was driven completely through his head. Phineas miraculously survived. He seemed fine. And physically, yes, he was." Mr. Clarke began his lesson.

In between the lesson Max was stealing glances of Will. When he would turn around, Max would quickly look either outside through the window beside her, or at Y/N sitting beside her.

"But his injury resulted in a complete change to his personality. So much so that friends who knew him started referring to him as 'no longer Gage'. At the time, this was known as the American Chrowbar Case. Although it wasn't a--" Mr. Clarke continued as he got interrupted by someone walking into class late. That someone being nome other than Dustin.

"I am so sorry, Mr Clarke." Dustin apologized while panting a bit. "Really, I'm so sorry. Please continue with the class." Dustin said while walking towards his seat. "Don't mind me. Really, continue, please. Thanks."

"Although it wasn't a crowbar, it was a rod, as I said." Mr Clarke continued as Y/N saw the group softly whispering towards each other. After a few seconds Dustin turned towards the new members. "AV club. Lunch."

"Dustin!" Mr. Clarke exclaimed as the boy turned back towards him. "Yes, my lord?"

"Would you care to join the class now?" Mr. Clarke asked, making Dustin nod. "Please, yes."

"The case of Phineas Gage." Mr. Clarke told him as Y/N and Max turned towards each other. "What could be so special?" the ginger asked as Y/N shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe he found a new kind of candy." Y/N suggests, making Max chuckle.

"AV club." Dustin whispered one final time, both new kids giving him a thumbs up, before the class continued.

○●○

When the class was over and the lunchbreak began, everyone was inside the AV room. Dustin brought his Ghostbusters trap with him and put it on the table.

The trap opened as everyone looked inside to see... some sort of creature inside.

"His name is D'Artagnan." Dustin said like he was talking about a cute puppy. He picked the creature up out of the trap and into his hands. "Cute, right?"

"Uh," Y/N began as he thought about what kind of answers he could give. "How about no."

"D'Artagnan?" Mike asked, making Dustin proudly nod. "Dart for short."

"And he was in your trash?" Max asked, still a bit confused about how no one was freaking out.

"Foraging for food." Dustin answered her as he had a follow up question for the redhead. "Do you wanna hold him?"

"No, no." Max refused while violently shaking her head.

"He doesn't bite." Dustin promised as Max was still shaking his head. I don't want to--" she got cut off by Dustin softly throwing Dart into her hands. "Oh, God, he's slimy!" she told everyone as she threw the creature into Y/N's hands.

Once he caught it, he began examining the creature, almost like his older sister would teach him. "What is he?" he asked as Dustin smiled. "My question exactly."

Next thing everyone knew, Dustin brought out some books about different animal species. "At first I thought it was some type of pollywog." Dustin began before Max questioned him. "Pollywog?"

"It's another word for tadpole." Y/N quickly answered as Max whispered a soft thanks to him.

"A tadpole is the larval stage of the toad." Dustin explained.

"I know what a tadpole is." Max told him as Dustin continued. "All right, then you know that most tadpoles are aquatic, right? Well, Dart, he isn't. He doesn't need water."

"Yeah, but there are nonaquatic pollywogs, right?" Y/N questioned as Dustin nodded.

"Terrestrial pollywogs? Yep. Two to be exact." Dustin agreed as he opened one of his books. "Indirana semipalmata. And the Adenomera andreae. One's from India, one's from South America. So how did one end up in my trash?" Dustin finished with a question for the group.

"Maybe some scientist brought it here, and escaped?" Max suggests as that would be the most likely and normal answer.

"Do you guys see that?" Mike asked as everyone looked down to Dart to see something... moving inside of him?

"Looks like something is moving inside of it." Mike said as he grabbed the nearby lamp and put Dart in the spotlight. He didn't like that however, as he jumped and crawled away from the light, almost falling down in the process before Dustin caught him. "Whoa. It's okay, it's okay."

"I got you little guy." Dustin said and brought Dart close to his face, again, like a cute puppy. "I know you don't like that. It's okay."

"And there's another thing." Dustin began with another talk. "Reptiles, they're cold-blooded. Ectothermic, right? They love heat, the sun. Dart hates it. It hurts him."

"So if he's not a pollywog or a reptile..." Lucas began for Dustin to finish. "Then I've discovered a new species."

Shortly after the bell rang, meaning the break was over. Everyone scrambled to get their things as they walk out towards next class.

"We gotta show him to Mr. Clarke." Lucas said as he walked out.

"What if he steals my discovery?" Dustin asked as everyone let out a chuckle.

"He's not going to steal your discovery, Dustin." Y/N chuckled.

"You know, I'm thinking about calling it Dustonious pollywogus." Dustin informed the group. "What do you think?"

"I think you're an idiot." Max quickly replied as Y/N softly laughed.

"When I become rich and famous for this one day, don't come crawling back, saying, 'oh my God, Dustin, I'm so sorry for being mean to you back in 8th grade. Oh, my God'.

While the group continued to joke around, they failed to notice Will walking slowly behind them, already having a good idea where Dart came from.