Even though they'd been in the same class for 2 years now and he considered her something that came close to a friend Max didn't know Rose too well. Of course he was aware of the stuff everybody knew, how generous and cute she was and that she was nice and fun to be around. So he also knew that such an innocent and kind-hearted girl shouldn't be hiding in the library while crying her eyes out.

Seeing her like that just didn't seem right. She was supposed to be cheerful and happy, infecting the people around her with her joy. So everything inside of Max felt the urge to help, the urge to go there and soothe and somehow comfort her to right this error. In fact she had done it for nearly all their classmates at least once, even for Chloé, so it was just logical to give something back to her, wasn't it?

But how could he help her? He just didn't know. What should he say? How should he behave in the first place?

Apparently Max realized that Kim's tutoring in interpersonal communication hadn't been too successful and that he still didn't have the empathy that was needed to comfort a troubled person properly.

'Just try to be a good friend by being there' he thought to himself, took a deep breath and adjusted his glasses before walking up to the section for romance novels Rose was hiding behind. At least it took an action to get a reaction, right?

Still thinking about the right thing to say he suddenly stood in front of her as she looked up to him in surprise and blinked through her blur of tears unbelievingly.

He had been too hasty. He had no plan! What had he been thinking?

To be honest he had expected himself to come up with a solution much earlier.

Unfortunately he had to say something nevertheless. Now.

"Uhm, so... Do you want to talk?" he asked after some moments of awkward fidgeting and avoiding her eyes. In this short amount of time he had given himself due to poor calculation he couldn't come up with anything better. Pathetic in his opinion since nearly everything seemed to be a more promising choice than what he just had said.

To his surprise and relieve Rose seemed to appreciate that he was at least trying and smiled a little. Probably she would have been thankful for any act of kindness in her state, no matter how wimpy it may be.

"That's very nice of you." She still had a husky voice and coughed before she wiped away her tears. "But talking won't change my failed math test" she whispered and looked at the crinkled paper she held in her hands that Max hadn't recognized earlier. It was impossible to read what she'd wrote but the big red F on top of the sheet was conspicuous.

"You failed? How could anyone fail that one it has been so e-" midsentence he realized that what he intended to say was not helpful at all and the uprising shame in her wide eyes reassured him about this.

"I- I mean I'm sure it's not that bad. You can still catch up and do better on the next test!" he corrected himself quickly. Perhaps it wasn't the optimal choice of words but still he was quite satisfied with his second attempt. Confident he gave her an encouraging smile but against his presumption she just looked to the ground, still gloomy.

"Thanks for trying to cheer me up but it's far too late for me to catch up on my own. It's my own fault! I've just been too caught up in this dating mission thing that Marin-" suddenly Rose interrupted herself by putting her hands on her mouth. With a panicked expression she looked around but relaxed as soon as she was sure that except for the two of them no one was around.

Warily Max crocked an eyebrow but decided that her slip of the tongue wasn't worth paying attention to right now. The important thing was that he could help her and that he was willing to do so.

"Well, no one said you have to do it on your own. In fact I was just about to start studying, would you like to join me?" His awkward smile grew to a genuine one as he saw the hope in her big blue eyes.

"That would be super great Max, thank you! But…" The excitement in her voice ebbed away and she timidly looked down at her small feet "I don't want to bother or burden you in any way. I'm sure I'll be fine. I may have been a little dramatic back there." Nervously she giggled and even Max knew immediately that she hadn't been overdramatizing at all, it didn't suit her anyway.

"Come on, it'll be fun! And I mean, two people mean twice the outcome, right? Am I doing the math right here?" he asked and felt horrible right after he made such a terrible 'joke' but the disgust vanished thanks to Rose's chuckle, truly joyful this time. Thankfully she smiled at him.

"So you're sure it's ok if I join you?" The gratitude and anticipation in her voice as well as in her eyes warmed his heart. Determined he reached out his hand and his smile grew even wider.

"I'm one hundred percent positive."