Author's Note: Life in Snippets is a novel-length fan fiction available on my Tumblr. However, I wanted to write a prequel to it, as well as potentially rewrite the original fic. This would be the starting point of the prequel. Enjoy.

Max had been super on-again off-again when it came to extracirriculars ever since she started school. While her parents (please see: Mom) pushed for her to be in athletics, they learned about ten minutes into her first soccer game that she wasn't cut out for them. Despite the fact that the team was composed of entirely six year olds, everyone else seemed to grasp that you couldn't just stop playing when you were tired, that there was a social contract to try and win. Max, on the other hand, had stepped out to snack on oranges for the rest of the game, insisting that it was too hot to play.

That pretty much set the tone for everything else her parents tried to get her involved in. Gymnastics, Tae Kwon Do, Girl Scouts - it was lucky that she made friends with Chloe, or else she may never have gotten exercise as a kid. It had been even worse in Seattle, where Max had preferred to stay cooped up in her room playing WoW and Elder Scrolls games.

With all that in mind, it's pretty easy to see why Max hesitated in front of the door of the LGBTQI+ Spectrum club room some Monday early in the school year. Although she knew one of the girls in the leadership, Courtney, from orientation and the Girls' Dorms, her experiences with GSAs and the like so far had been pretty bad. Her school's GSA in Washington had been run by a straight cis girl who had, over the course of a few months prior to Max attending, dropped the membership from 21 members to 5. It had been, well... not what she was hoping.

Max was just about to give up, turn around, and head back to her dorms. She was so ready to do it. Sure, this might be one of her best opportunities to meet other queer people, yes this could set her up to have friends with a shared identity, yes she could reaffirm that she'd listened to Courtney's recommendation, but she just-

"Hey, you here for Spectrum?"

Max snapped out of her liminal trance and realized there was another person in the hallway - a tall girl approaching the same door she was standing in front of. Wait, not just a tall girl. The tall girl from photography. Victoria. She answered more than half of the questions in class by herself despite the fact that she was constantly on her smart phone. Sure, there had only been five class sessions so far, but she'd quickly made an impression.

And now that they were standing next to each other, Max realized that she really was quite tall. Unfortunately, all this time spent staring had given Victoria enough time to be standing in front of the door, becoming increasingly uncomfortable without a response.

"Like, are you gay?" she asked, opening her hands up as if this simplified the question (it didn't).

Still, it was enough to shake Max awake. "Y-yeah," she replied, finally, to the first question. Then, just to make things clearer, she stood up a bit straighter, pulled away a hand from the notebook she brought, and indicated with her fingers, "Yes and yes to both."

"Cool." Victoria smirked, reaching past Max's body for the door handle and pulling it open. "After you."

Max bowed her head in appreciation before ducking into the room. Victoria stepped in immediately afterwards, slipping past Max to make her way to the far side of the room, where Courtney sat at the front table. The entrance left you stuck between the white board and tables, which afforded everyone a pretty good look at you before you could get into the class (which Max quickly recognized as a Cultural Anthropology class due to a set of display cases on her side of the room).

With a quick scan, Max recognized a few familiar students: Courtney, Victoria, Evan (also from photography), and a few faces from around campus, though she didn't know their names. Well, seven was better than five, so that was something, and this was more queer-oriented than the GSA had been.

Well, Courtney and Victoria were sitting at the same table, and Max at least knew their names, so . . .
Max approached their table, and indicated a seat on an unoccupied side. "Is it cool if I sit here?"

Courtney brightened to an extent that had to be fake and said, "Yeah, Max, of course! I'm so glad you came."

As Max took her seat she said, "Well, yeah, I mean. Not one to miss gay stuff."

Victoria snorted and Courtney replied "Awesome!"
There was something very self-satisfied with Victoria's look for a few seconds, but then the door opened behind Max and her eyes slipped away to whoever entered.

A few seconds later, and Taylor, a third person from photography class, plopped into the chair next to Victoria.
"Sorry I'm late!" said, turning away from the table to speak to Evan on the other side of the room.

He looked up from a folder he'd been poring over, then up at the classroom clock. It read 5:31, meaning they were one minute behind schedule.
He shrugged. "You're literally not. We're starting a little late for new people."

"Oh," Taylor replied. Her skin was flushed red, but her forehead was sweaty too - it looked ore like she'd been out in the heat or like she'd run here than that she was embarrassed.
As she turned back towards Victoria and Courtney, though, she seemed to realize that Max was there. "Oh, hey, you're new!"

Max, however, was not nearly so immune to embarrassment, and felt an anxious cold as the table focused on her. She wasn't even actively doing anything, but just by sitting here she was coming out. It was weird.
"Uh, yeah," was all she said in reply.

Taylor pointed at Max, face immediately pinched in thought. "Hey, wait; no, yeah. We have class together. You're that shy girl." And then, as if Max didn't perfectly well remember, she added, "Photography."

"Uh, Max."

Taylor snapped her fingers as if she herself had just remembered that and said, "Right! Yeah. You're the one who got here on scholarship, right?"

Max blinked several times, temporarily stupefied. Victoria swatted her (Taylor), but she took no notice.

"Um," was Max's first reply, and without follow-up, Taylor made assumptions.

"Oh, wait, is that like rude to ask? I don't know."

Max shrugged, replying slowly, "No, I just mean."
What did she mean?
God, it was going to sound stupid.
"Like, it's such an anime trope that people even care. I didn't think that actually happened in real life."

Surprisingly, this only seemed to divert attention away from Max to Victoria, as Taylor said, "Look, Tori, Max is a weeaboo too. Now you can have a new gay weeb best friend and I don't have to watch a show about tiny cute girls getting decapitated."

"First of all, it's called Puella Magi and it's fucking awesome, and two-"

As Victoria and Taylor devolved into banter, Courtney shot an apologetic glance over to Max. She made a concerted effort to talk over them: "Sorry about them. I think Taylor's just interested because the last scholarship photography student . . . made some waves."

That comment seemed to catch Taylor's attention again; "Who, Rachel? Well, that's an understatement."

And then, Max's attention was cut by Evan calling out a loud "Yo," having stepped up to the front of the room with his folder in hand. Max hadn't even noticed him writing an outline for the meeting up on the board, or the fact that a few other people had entered in the past few minutes. She estimated there was probably eleven or twelve people in here, including yet another student from her photography class - Alyssa, this really cute girl with a lisp and what could only be described as a church goth aesthetic who spoke even less than Max did.

"So hey guys," he started, scanning everyone quickly, "welcome to the first Spectrum meeting this year. Let's start off with some introductions: name, pronouns, year, and favorite dessert item. I'm Evan, he, him, his; I'm a senior in the Arts program, and I like monkey bread."

He then gestured over to Courtney, who immediately turned her attention inwards towards the rest of the classroom. "Hey everyone, I'm Courtney; Evan forgot to mention that we're co-chairs for Spectrum but whatever; she her hers, and my favorite dessert is lava cake. Oh, and I'm a senior."

She passed it over to Victoria, who was entirely too ready; "I'm Victoria. She her hers, they them theirs, and I'm a senior."
Max was never very good at staying focused on one thing at a time. Even if she tried to maintain eye contact, she really tended to focus on people's hair, on their mouths, on their clothes. But at the second set of pronouns, her eyes snapped right up to Victoria's, and found her bright green eyes looking right back. The pause in what Victoria was saying only lasted a second, but from what Max could tell, Victoria didn't look away from her until she spoke again.

"My favorite dessert is the snickerdoodle cookies from the bakery off of Jasmine."

Victoria looked to Taylor, whose face was down in her arms on the table, and it took her a second to realize the lull was due to her. When she did, though, she shot up straight and said, "Oh! Right. I'm Taylor Christensen, I'm a senior. Oh, she her hers, and my favorite dessert is fudgecicles."

Max swallowed nervously, snapping her hair ties as she reviewed the order on the board. She wasn't quite sure where she was supposed to look, so she just kept her eyes towards the front, away from Victoria's stare and towards Evan's expectant look.

"Okay, yeah, hey, so I'm Max. She her hers, they them theirs, and I'm a senior with the, um, Arts program. My favorite dessert is . . ."
Crap.
I should have been using this time to think of desserts.
Shit. I'm taking too long.

"I, uh, I really like this these cookies you get at Whole Foods. Lu Petit Ecoclier. They're, um, they're French."

Her anxiety must have been pretty obvious, because Evan actually responded with a "Cool" before pointing over to the next person. Max turned inwards on the table for a second before turning her seat around, but she spared enough of a glance to realize that Victoria was looking at her again, eyes flat and a little slitted. Was she glaring? Victoria would always give her this look when Jefferson called on her in class and she missed an answer - as if her speaking had personally offended her. But what could Max have possibly said? She'd been polite every time they'd actually spoken to each other.

Pretty much everyone else was unfamiliar to her, and she couldn't keep track of the names and pronouns - without having a name and face drilled into her day after day, details tended to slip away fast, with nothing solid to cling onto. It was lucky that so many of the students she worked with in classes - like Kate Marsh in music - lived so close. Remembering everyone by the room they lived in had seriously helped keep details about them straight.

Max didn't even realize she'd been stuck in her own head for several minutes until Evan stepped away from the front, and Alyssa moved to the front. Considering Max had never seen Alyssa physically assert herself into any space or conversation before, this caught her eye immediately.

"Hey, everyone, I just wanted to announce the activity I run every year well in advance. As you may or may not know, Spectrum hosts HalloQueen on the Saturday before Halloween. We bring in a local - well, local-ish - drag king or queen and put on our own drag show. It's kinda big because lots of kids go, and it's expensive because we need to pay the performer and have lots of snacks-"

"- and booze," Victoria interrupted.

Alyssa rolled her eyes but just continued, "Well, that's not part of the budget. Anyway, we need to start fundraising earlier than last year, so I'm trying to organize . . ."
And although Max was interested in this event, her focused dropped, and she let herself take a look at everyone else in the club again. Victoria's eyes were finally off her, which was nice, and instead on Taylor, whose face was again lying on her arms. Victoria brought her hand up into Taylor's hair and began to scratch her scalp, and although she said nothing, Taylor leaned into it like a cat.

Oh. I guess that makes sense.

Max hadn't known those two were together. Then again, they sat together in class all the time, always talking just quietly enough that Max couldn't hear at the next table over.

Max had been caught staring, but not by Victoria or Taylor - instead, Courtney's attention broke away from Alyssa over to Max. She followed Max's eyes to those two, then back to Max. Once she'd established eye contact, she put on a shallow smile and rolled her eyes.
Apparently, this was normal.

Max started to fidget with her hair ties again.

Courtney standing up didn't quite break Max out of her reverie, but when Alyssa sat down and Courtney started talking, Victoria broke contact with Taylor, and all three of them turned to look. There was just something about the way she talked that demanded attention.

"Hey everyone! As I said before, I'm Courtney, and I tend to head up organizing events for Spectrum. That being said, if you want to plan activities as part of Spectrum, come talk to me before or after a meeting, or at my dorm on the weekends. Anyway, I'm sure most of you are here for the more frequent social stuff as well as the big events, so let me give you the run-down."

Courtney spun around, grabbed a marker, and started adding to the side that Evan hadn't already taken up with the agenda.
"So, Dana Ward hosts a bi-weekly movie night on Thursdays, and she's asked me to announce that it is specifically open to members of Spectrum and the queer community in general - we've got flyers here you can take, and there are more around the school."

Victoria snorted as soon as the movie night had been brought up, but Courtney showed no response. Max found this newfound tendency . . . irksome. She definitely hadn't tried this around Mr. Jefferson, but she seemed very willing to push at her fellow students. When Max had seen the jewelry, the fancy clothes, the fancy camera, she had (other than being jealous) hoped that Victoria wasn't a bully. For now, though, she was just making Max uncomfortable.

Courtney made a few more announcements before saying the meeting was adjourned early, but asking people to stick around and socialize before heading out. Two people promptly ignored this suggestion and left, and Max . . . Max wasn't sure if she'd be the third.
At least, until Courtney came and sat on the table next to her, effectively trapping her at the table with her and the others.

"So, Max!" she started with her characteristic pep, while Taylor and Victoria started a conversation of their own. "Do you think you'll keep coming? Like, to these or any of the activities?"

"I, uh . . ."
I don't know. You seem really nice but Evan seems pretentious and Alyssa seems super serious and Victoria's kind of rude and I don't think Taylor likes me and-
She's expecting an answer out loud, and I think she wants to hear a 'yes'.
"I mean, that movie night seems cool. I've met Dana."
It's super low pressure and this might mean Dana is gay? She complimented me the first time we talked on my outfit and everyone is aware I am a lame dresser. Even if she's totally fake, it was nice and I could stand more of it. In a gay or not-gay way.

This time, it was Taylor who snickered and turned her attention over to Max. "Yeah, it'll probably be super cool until Juliet realizes Dana is hanging out with 'the gays' and tries to protect her from 'the rumors'."

Max cringed at the description, even if she generally didn't like getting information second-hand like this. "Yikes. Is . . . Juliet like that?"

"Aggressively heterosexual and thick as a brick?" Victoria leaned in a little as she said it, delighted at the opportunity to share her thoughts on the subject. "Definitely."

Max shrugged, a little confused as to why Juliet would be such a deterrent from movie night with Dana.
"So . . . are you guys gonna go? To Dana's thing?" Max focused on Victoria, whose eyebrows quirked at the question.

Once she recognized that Max was serious, Victoria rolled her eyes dramatically and responded, "I'm certain I'll find something better to do than hang out with that bimbo."

Max shrugged again, more to deflect recognition of what Victoria had said than anything, but turned to Taylor next.
Taylor, who seemed positively surprised Max was even asking her, blinked for a few seconds before saying, "Oh. Um. I don't think so."

Before Max even turned, Courtney started in, "Well, it's a Spectrum event now, basically, so I have to go. Plus, Dana has really good snacks."
Victoria shot her a glare so obvious that Max almost snorted, but figured it might not be endearing right now.
"What?" Courtney asked, "she does."

The chatting continued for a few more minutes, but as things kept going, Max became increasingly aware that these three knew each other far better than she knew any of them. It's not like it was surprising, per se, what with her being a transfer student, she just hadn't realized these three were friends. Or girlfriends? Either way, Max grew quieter and quieter, more and more awkward, sinking gradually back into her seat to divert attention away from herself.

Eventually, Max worked up the nerve to leave, seeing an effective escape route through the center of the tables behind her.
She said, "Hey, um, I think I'm gonna go. I'll see you guys in class."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, see you Max," said Taylor, reaffirming that she could only barely remember Max moment to moment.

"Thanks again for coming, Max," Courtney said with a smile. Max could tell that something about her performance today had not left Courtney impressed, and her smiles were getting faker.

"Yeah, see ya," Victoria said, barely sparing her a glance as she got up.

Max stood there awkwardly, just out of her seat, for a brief second before turning around and heading out the door. She expected to hear it swing shut behind her, and it was only the delay in it swinging closed that alerted her that somebody was following her out. She turned around.

Victoria. Oh.
Wait, what? Why?

Max had no idea what to verbalize in response to this, but luckily, Victoria took the lead. Or, at least, she took the lead in letting an awkward look cross her lips, obviously hesitating to say something.

"Oh, hey," Max finally said, hoping the acknowledgement would get Victoria to talk.

"Hey Max. Hey, like, are you nonbinary? You said you used they/them pronouns in there and-"

Oh.
Oh!

"Oh!" Max interrupted, and Victoria immediately cut off what she was saying. "Yeah, like, I'm trying to figure that out, I guess. I guess nonbinary is probably a pretty good word for it, but I still mostly use she her hers."

Victoria's posture totally changed. She placed one hand on her leg and the other on her hip, leaning forward a little. For once, instead of her eyes looking flat or narrowed, they were bright and earnest. "Yeah, I mean, I do too."

Max blinked. "Oh! Right! You use they/them. Do you have a preference?" Max figured she had, right off the bat, found another woman-aligned nonbinary person. Score one for coming to this meeting, then!

Victoria lifted her hand from her leg over her chest, "Oh, probably she her hers. Like, I'm binary for sure, I just like they/them as like, a social convention."

Max felt like she was missing something. "Wait so . . . you're cis but you use they/them . . .?" Although she tried to help it, a cautious edge of incredulousness crept into her voice. She kept careful eye contact, hoping to seem less judgey, but she was pretty sure she wasn't pulling it off.

"What?" Now it was Victoria's turn to blink stupidly for a second, before realizing the source of their miscommunication. "Oh, no, like, I'm totally trans."

Now Max was embarrassed.
"Oh!" she said.
That sounds too surprised, Max.
"I didn't know."
That's kind of the point, Max.
"Not that it's like, like I should know, I just mean-"

Victoria waved a hand, cutting Max off. "Nah, don't worry. I'm super lucky and kind of loaded and I got on androgen blockers. But I'm kind of an ungrateful bitch because I'm really not stealth." Victoria shrugged, a grimace mirroring the movement.

Max shook her head, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "No, no, I think that's super cool. It's . . . nice. I wish I could be like that."

Victoria's eyes were wide and staring again, but this time Max could see the gears moving somewhere behind them, some problem bouncing around for a few seconds of silence.
Then, springing back into animation, she said, "Get your phone out. I'm giving you my number."

Max was taken aback, but on several levels, was very willing to comply.
"Oh, uh, okay," she said, pulling it out.

Victoria explained, "Like, we're in the same program, we're in the same class, we're probably the only two trans students in a senior class of 80 - why not stick together?"

Max found a lot of people cute, to be honest. To keep it from being debilitating, she mostly had to let it fade out into white noise, pretend she couldn't notice it. But now that Victoria was insisting on giving her number to Max, and Max was doing her best to input it, her hands were shaking.
Victoria was super cute, and she was not filtering that out right now.

Once Max had the number in and had Victoria verify she'd put it in correctly, Max gushed, "Thank you so much. I don't really know like, anyone here, and it's been super weird, and-"

"Don't worry about it."

Max settled back down into an embarrassed, but happy smile.
Victoria returned it with a smirk, but she held Max's eyes longer than most. Hers were just so bright and warm, and Max found it hard to look away.

After perhaps a too-long moment, Max could feel her blush worsening, so she said, "Thanks."

Victoria nodded, finally blinking, though so slowly it only served to highlight her pretty eyes and gold-flecked eye lashes and fantastic eye shadow and wow; Max could not be bothered to put this level of effort into her own appearance but wow was she dazzled by it.

"Like, are you gay?" Max heard, almost resonant in her mind.

"See you around, Max Caulfield," Victoria said, that same smirk on her face as she turned and re-entered the club room.

Max took in a deep breath, pulling her bangs away from her forehead and burrowing her hand in her hair.
"Okay, yeah, I'm gay. I'm pretty gay."

Max took one last look at the newly-entered number, and slipped her phone into her pocket, leaving the hallway in a bit of a daze.