It had been months since Simon had first met Maddie, and he hadn't been able to stop thinking about her. It didn't help that every few weeks she would show up at the same party as them, and it would be rude not to talk to her. Of course, talking never stayed talking, Maddie sneaking out of Simon's house usually twice a month.

They weren't dating, no she basically refused to make eye contact with him at school, but he also hadn't seen her with any other guys. Not that he was watching her, no he just happened to cross paths with her at school. Maddie pretty much just hung out by herself, or occasionally this blonde cheerleader who had a reputation for being the most annoying person ever. Simon was unsure of how Maddie was coping with her when she got annoyed at him so easily.

But that didn't deter him. Every time she dragged him away from his friends at a party he always went willingly, not even wanting to complain. Of course, Deena and Sam were usually off somewhere definitely not making out, and Kate, as much as she loved parties, barely had time for them.

In the four months it had been since Maddie had moved, Simon's feelings grew for her every day. It wasn't love, no he didn't even know her that well, but the parts he did know were amazing. She was playing hard to get with him, he wasn't overconfident, but Simon knew there was a chance that she liked him back.

"I'm not interested,"

Ok, maybe not.

Simon had his head buried in his locker, completely ignoring everything Sam and Kate were saying and trying his best to act like he wasn't spying on a girl he barely knew.

It was a football player, Max or Matt or something, standing in front of Maddie's locker. "You seem great, Mack, I just don't want a relationship with anyone right now."

Mack grumbled something Simon couldn't hear and walked off in the opposite direction. Maddie let her head fall against the door of her locker, scowling to herself. She didn't have time for this, she had to finish cleaning out her locker before she was late to cheer practice. She shoved the box in her bag and started walking down the hall towards Simon, who all but decapitated himself with the force he shoved his face in his locker.

"Hey, Maddie," Kate spoke up, stopping the taller girl in her tracks. "Coach wanted me to let you know he's out sick, so last practice is cancelled,"

Simon's heart almost stopped. He'd completely forgotten that Sam, Kate, and Maddie were on the cheerleading squad together. Like he knew all of them were cheerleaders, but it had never occurred to him that they would know each other.

"Okay, thanks for letting me know," Maddie said, glancing at Simon. "I'll see you later then,"

"Tobey and Artie are throwing a party tonight since it's the last day, juniors and seniors only," Kate grinned. "You in?"

Maddie took a final look at Simon for only a moment before nodding. "Sure,"

Once she'd walked away, Simon emerged from his locker, meeting the judgemental gazes of his two friends. "What the fuck were you doing?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. "I thought I left my maroon hoodie in here,"

"You're wearing it," Sam pointed out. "Did that have something to do with Maddie?"

Simon choked on his own spit. "I- what? No,"

Kate laughed, not unkindly. "Holy shit you have a crush on her. Have you ever even spoken to her before?"

He could have told her. He could have said, "Actually, Kate, if you go into my bedroom you will find both a pair of her underwear and one of her bras both left on separate weekends. So, yeah. I've spoken to her before,"

But he wasn't going to be that guy. She wasn't some conquest to brag about to his friends. Besides, he didn't want to share those details with Kate and Sam anyway. They were just his. So instead he said, "Yeah we've talked at parties a few times. She's nice,"

Sam nudged him. "We can put in a good word for you if you want?" Simon desperately wanted that to happen, but he knew that Maddie wouldn't. Sam would say he had a crush on her and that would scare her off, and then he wouldn't be allowed anywhere near her.

"No, that's okay," he shook his head. "I don't know if I like her," Kate and Sam nodded understandingly. "So what were you guys talking about?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "You weren't listening the entire time? I was saying that I know a nurse at the hospital who can hook me up, she looked after me after I broke my ankle last summer,"

"Sounds good," Simon nodded.

"You in, Sam?" Kate asked, the blonde girl shaking her head. "Guess it's just you and me, Si. You sure you wanna do this?"

Simon took one more look at Maddie's empty locker before turning back to his friends, looking expectantly at him. "Let's sell some drugs,"

Andrew had work, he'd gotten a job at the diner downtown, so Maddie walked home by herself. Shadyside High was closer to their house than Shadyside Elementary, so Sydney caught the bus home. Jack was babysat during the day by a retired nurse who lived a few streets down. Maddie thanked her, rustled up as much money as she could find (ignoring how Mary slipped one of the bills back onto the counter when she thought Maddie wasn't looking), and sat down beside Jack in his little cluster of toys.

Scott was at work and Bonnie was probably asleep, so Maddie gave him a snack, a little tub of pudding she'd bought from the cafeteria and kept cold with a freezer pack. She sat on the wood floor and spoon-fed it to him, finishing up when Sydney got home.

"Hey, kid," she kissed her little sister's head. "How was your day?"

"It wath good!" Sydney's missing front tooth meant she'd had a lisp for a while. "We got homework!"

She started washing up the dishes while Sydney got started on her homework. Jack seemed pretty happy with whatever cartoon was on their TV and a bag of goldfish crackers, so when she was finished, Maddie sat down and started helping her sister. By the time Andrew was home, she'd ordered pizza and Jack was asleep, Sydney had a shower and her long dark hair was plaited nicely while she coloured quietly in the living room, ready for bedtime. "Hey, Maddie," Andrew gave his sister a kiss on the forehead, grabbing a slice of pizza. "You going out tonight?"

The seniors finished a week earlier than the rest of Shadyside High, so Andrew had been an official high school graduate for the past week, and he'd spent that entire time working, sleeping, or looking after Jack.

"I'll stay here and give you a break," she offered, but Andrew shook his head.

"No, we had a slow day today, I took an hour-long nap in the back," Andrew said. "Go out," she gave him a squeeze before rushing up and getting changed.

She got to Tobey and Artie's a little later than she'd planned, but she'd dressed up nicely. Not for Simon, she didn't even remember when he said she looked pretty in blue, that wasn't why she was wearing a blue top. She poured herself a cup of the closest alcohol and downed it in one go, grabbing some water to sip after. She would usually alternate between alcohol and water, switching to soda after a few hours. Maddie wasn't a huge drinker, sure, she got drunk, but she did not want to become addicted to alcohol, and she wasn't a fan of getting blackout drunk.

But something she was a fan of was Simon. She'd been stressed all day and there was nothing she wanted more than Simon on his knees for her, but of course, he wasn't anywhere she could see. Maybe he didn't come?

She couldn't see him, but she could see Sam Fraser, so she knew Simon was probably around somewhere. She sort of envied that group; there were four of them but she'd only ever spoken to three. She knew Sam and Kate from the cheer squad, and there was another girl that hung around with them. Whenever she looked over at them, Simon usually had his arm around either Kate or Sam. Not that she looked over at them a lot. It was a small school, she was bound to notice. She set off, needing to find him.

By her third room, she had managed to spot him, he was with Kate (go figure), and they had a large white box with a red ribbon tied around it. "Simon!" she yelled, pushing past other high schoolers to get to him. He turned and grinned lazily at her. He was high. Not too high, but high enough for Maddie to notice. They'd gotten high a few times before, and an embarrassing amount of that time had been spent with her admiring his face. "Simon! Hey,"

"Hey, Mads," he said. "You want anything? You can have a discount for being pretty," he brandished the open box at her and she saw one of her sweatshirts was in the bottom, clearly being used to cover the insane amount of drugs in the box. There was a little tin box in there that they had put money in, but other than that it was filled to the brim with pills and other substances their parents certainly wouldn't have approved of.

"No, thanks, Simon," she shook her head. "I have my own stash. But-"

"Wait, you do?" Kate interjected, shooting Simon an almost imperceptible look to apologize. "Can you hook us up? You'll get a cut of course, we're saving up to get the fuck out of here if you want to join us?"

Maddie considered it for a moment. Unlike their other... habits, Scott and Bonnie had kept their stash in the garage mostly hidden from their children. There was enough in there that they didn't notice if she knocked some off; it was mostly pills, but there was weed and some other stuff that screamed D.A.R.E so she decided not to touch it.

But she didn't know if she wanted to become entangled in Simon's regular life. She didn't know who Simon Kalivoda was in the daylight, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to. But the way he was smiling at her made her heart jolt, and before she could stop herself she was answering. "Sure,"

────────── ⋆˚✿˖° author's note
maddie 🤝 simon
being stupid

i'm almost 99% sure that the fs fandom is dead in the year of our lord 2024 so there's gonna be like 2 people reading this so. hi i love u <3333