Chapter 1 – Meet Maxine

"Happy Birthday Maxxy!" cheered the 'oh so cheery' Ashley Crawford. Maxine rolled her eyes at the childish nickname. She opened her scuffed and torn back pack. Taking out her brown paper bag containing her lunch. Ashley sat in front of Max, sapphire eyes met dark lined, hazel ones.

"Come on! Smile you look sexy super fine when you smile!" Ashley snorted with laughter with that goofy laugh of hers as she winked.

"You are such an idiot Crawford" Maxine shook her head.

Ashley placed her chin on the wooden outdoor table the pair sat at every lunchtime. Her thin auburn eyebrows perched up to give her a more pensive look.

Max sighed "Come on don't give me that look-"

"Goofy!" Ashley smiled

"Huh?" Max blinked

"I prefer goofy to idiot." She paused for thought "it sounds cuter" Ashley decided smiling. Sitting she laced her thin fingers under her chin. Her bracelet coated arms jingled as she waved them, as if playing her own theme.

Maxine scoffed "Whatever, Ash." Max relented "You are now dubbed the Goofiest of them all" .

Ashley laughed "Why thank you Maxxy! I shall take this title and run with it!"

"What are you two on about?" came the deeper more masculine voice of Daniel Crawford. Ashley's fraternal twin brother and second best friend. "Happy Birthday Maxxy- Sorry I mean-"

Ashley stifled a laugh as Max spied a faint blush run across Daniel's face.

Max smirked and dismissed the mishap "you're just lucky I'm feeling nice today"

"Aw Max you are always nice!" The goofy Ashley dismissed giving a kind smile and wink like she always did.

"Come on then, might as well join the little party we are having" Max nodded. The latter looked upon the twins as Daniel took his seat next to his sister. Sure she didnt get along with Daniel as well as Ashley, but when it came down to it he was a great guy. He could be a bit of a pessimist at times, but who isnt?

Having a best friend also meant extending your family a little farther too. She learnt that long ago.

"You know you two look especially alike today" Max stirred with a smirk.

Daniel and Ashley exchanged a distasteful glance

"I was born a minute before him so..." Ashley corrected "he looks like me" Ashley jerked a thumb toward her chest.

"True, true" Max agreed.

"I knew I would regret coming over here…" Daniel sighed "Girls …"

"Ahem!" Ashley coughed getting her brothers attention once again. "That's girl" she indicated to herself then to Max "and woman! Max is a young woman now, 17 is a big number in a girl's life you know!"

"Since when?" Daniel shook his head, the freckles creasing on his nose

Ashley knocked on her brothers skull "Helloooooo?!" She got right up in his face "you just said happy birthday to her! So since today you fool!"

Daniel shook his sister off as their identical pairs of eyes met "I know that! What I meant was- ah forget it…" he waved his hands huffing exhausted.

"Honestly, mind of a gold fish this one" Ashley snorted into goofy laughter again. Max shook her head biting into the sandwich her mother had packed for her. After her taste buds were disturbed she rejected it immediately.

"Ugh bloody hell!" Max's face scrunched up in disgust pushing her lunch aside. "It's a bloody miracle my mum even had kids…" she mumbled under her breath

"She put mayonnaise on your sandwich again?" Ashley sighed. "I thought she was working again?"

"No" Max shook her head glaring at her lunch bag. "Frank came back, so she's decided to become miss homemaker again."

Daniel furrowed his brow "She's trying right? I mean she did make you lunch after all"

"Yeah… right" Max huffed deciding it was a moot point. 'She should have tried years ago…'she thought.

Suddenly the bell rang, it was the warning bell that lunch would soon be over.

"Oh!" Ashley gasped "I haven't given you your present yet!"

"It's not a free hugs coupon is it?" Max sneered hitching up her bag onto her left shoulder.

"No. That's for Valentine's Day my lovely" Ashley nudged her friend from across the table. "Here." sure enough Max was presented with a wrapped gift.

"It's from both of us" Daniel smiled.

"I know you don't like sentimental birthday gifts." Ashley shrugged in one of her rare moments of seriousness. "We thought you needed to have something, you know?"

Max looked at them both in honest surprise and unwrapped the precious gift. Her hazel eyes widened as she tucked a scruffy piece of raven hair behind her pierced ear. 'No way…' she thought she had only seen this in stores and wished she could have a copy to call her own.

"No you really shouldn't have-"

Ashley rushed at her in a full on hug. Her friend's slim body pressed up against her short stature.

"I knew you'd love it Maxxy!"

"Ash you've got arms like vines you'll choke the life out of her." Daniel scoffed

"If I die now I'll die happy" Max sighed.

Ashley snorted with laughter for the third time today grinning.

"Where did you get this? Toby said they were completely out of stock!" Max looked at the gold lettering tracing it with her finger.

"Me and my bro." Ashley hooked her brother into her armpit. Both tall creatures standing beside one another beaming "We got connections."

"I ordered it online, Dad gave me allowance on his credit card." Daniel answered honestly much to Ashley's dismay.

"I… thank you both so much!" Max beamed back "Finally DiZ'nee's Heroes is mine!"

"You can even join my group when you start it up!" Ashley flipped the cover of Max's new video game over to point to a critic's statement she had read a million times. "This guy, should get paid double for this quote because believe me it's so true…."

"The happiest place on earth huh?" Max read the quote "We'll see about that." Max squinted seeing a name printed underneath the quote. "...Mr Charming from…. Gamer Gazette magazine"

"One problem…" Daniel sighed splitting up the two "Didn't your Mom sell your computer?"

"That's the bonus about having a big brother with a half decent job. He bought me a laptop last year for my 16th" Max grinned slyly. Adding the last note as a mumble "…for school…"

"For school?" Daniel spluttered "I think I immediately regret buying this…"

"Trust me, I use it for school... and gaming" Max shrugged "He'll understand"

With that the last bell rang and the three dashed off to class together all smiles.

Max walked home from school her 4 year old canvas shoes flopping about as she marched. She definitely needed new clothes. Her hazel eyes scanned over the cars full of teens zooming out of the school parking lot.

She sighed deciding that traffic would just piss her off if she had her own car. Yet it would sure cut the time walking home. Not to mention it was hot.

Her town was in the middle of a heatwave at the moment, it made her rethink her all black wardrobe she was usually pretty proud of. Her nose piercing was beginning to grow hot in the sun. 'Not cool...' She thought to herself.

Feeling a pool of sweat forming between her shoulder blades. She decided to tie up her mop of raven black hair keeping it from sticking to the back of her neck.

To break her boring stroll to home base she felt her pocket vibrate. She dipped a hand into the left pocket of her well-worn dark wash jeans. And removed her brother's old Nokia.

She smiled a little when she saw the first message was from Ashley:

'Can't wait to see you online tonight! And happy birthday!'

If only they lived in the same direction it would be so much easier having someone to talk to on the long way home. She flicked down using the square arrow keys and clicked on the second name.

'I do hope you are having a wonderful birthday! It's much more fun than an un-birthday they happen every day'

Max was tempted to question what the heck an 'un-birthday' was but knowing Alice she decided not to. It was probably some British saying she had no idea about.

'Thanks Alice. Didn't you say your uncle got you a copy of DH recently?'

Max awaited her British 'text-pal's' reply. Sure enough after a few minutes her device buzzed to life.

'Oh yes, he said everyone whose anyone plays this game at least once.'

Max was about to respond when her phone buzzed to life once more:

'It is incredibly difficult, so I stopped playing. The last thing I remember was having to follow a white rabbit…'

Max shook her head with a scoff. Alice was much more of a reader according to most of her posts on tumblr and what she had sent Maxine online. But after Maxine went on and on about playing the damn thing, Alice must've decided to try it herself. It looked like she had another friend to play with.

'Don't worry Alice, You'll have help soon enough. Just don't fall down any rabbit holes'

Maxine laughed to herself sighing "Ah I am hilarious…" she decided privately putting her phone away and concentrating on the path ahead. Her mind was alive with what she would do on the game, who she would be…

She hadn't looked forward to something this much in a long time.