First Day of School
"Bu-But, Mom," Max Caulfield tugged at the sleeve of her mom's jacket, looking up at her with scared eyes, "C-Can't I just g-go to work with you…? Please? I won't even look at the markers, I swear!"
"Oh, sweetie," Vanessa Caulfield knelt down and looked her 7 year-old daughter in the eye, "I know that this place is not your previous school in Seattle but give it a try, okay? Your dad just got situated in his new job at the police department and I need to get to my rotation at the hospital started. Momma's not at a clinic anymore, so you can't come to work with me like you used to. Be brave, my freckled little Wonder Max."
Max grinned at the nickname and pulled at her Wonder Woman t-shirt, the Amazonian warrior princess lifting her sword high as she led her people into battle. More and more of her baby teeth gone, Max's toothy grin of baby and adult teeth got a snicker out of her mother which only pleased Max further and she smiled even wider until Vanessa Caulfield was chortling over how sweet her daughter was.
"You are the best thing to happen to your father and me, you know that, Punkin'?" Vanessa asked, pulling her diminutive girl into a tender hug. Moving a few weeks into the school year, Mrs. Caulfield was a little nervous about her daughter making friends in a new environment. Max was notoriously shy in her Seattle elementary school, her only friends being the equally shy Kristen and Fernando.
"I know," Max said with a nod as her mother let her go. "But do I hafta-"
"Max," Vanessa said with her lips pursed and a cautionary tone in her voice, "You're not going to be able to sneak your way out of this one, you little bug."
Max's mother fussed with her hair a bit, straightened Max's hoodie, and gave her a kiss on the cheek before watching Max anxiously look into the open double doors before gingerly taking a step inside. Looking back at her mom one last time, Max tried to give her mom a courageous smile like she'd seen Wonder Woman do in the cartoons and headed inside.
The lockers are so big, Max thought as she wandered the hall, walking along one side to avoid the bigger kids who weren't paying her any attention. Her lip quivering a bit, Max clamped on it with her teeth and huffed. Gotta be brave, gotta be a hero like Wonder Woman, Max nodded to herself as she clutched at the old satchel her parents had bought her. Pouting, lost, and getting increasingly more anxious, Max kept walking through the alien hallways of Arcadia Elementary until she saw a sign over two glass double-doors that said "Administration". Remembering that her old school's secretary Ms Gibbs had worked in an office with the same name, Max ran from one side of the hall to the other as quickly as she could and nearly got ran over by the janitor's cart.
"Sorry!" Max said, looking up at the peculiar man pushing the cart. "Uh, you okay, mister?"
"Ohh, I will be fine, young lady," the wide-eyed janitor told her, bending down to offer her a peppermint candy, "Would you like a candy?"
"…Not s'posed to take candy from strangers," Max said with a scowl, pressing her satchel to her chest, "Not s'posed to talk to strangers, either."
"Well, I'm Samuel and I look after the school," Samuel said with a smile as he set the candy at Max's feet, "I'll leave it here in case you change your mind. How's that sound?"
Max watched the janitor roll his cart down the hall and turn when the hallway split into four directions, then looked down at his offered candy. Why on the floor? I'm not a squirrel or a bird. I'm a person, you weirdo! I'm a punkin'! Pursing her lips as she rocked her feet, Max looked around and quickly snatched the candy up off the floor and stuffed it in her pocket before she thought anyone might notice. Turning back around, Max pushed at the glass door and let out a mild grunt from the heaviness only to nearly fall over when someone opened the door for her.
"Don't fall over now!" a voice called out cheerfully as Max felt herself steadied by a hand placed on her shoulder. "You look lost, little lady. You okay?"
Looking up, Max smiled at the kindly face that was looking down at her. Sandy-haired and dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt with "Arcadia Elementary" printed over the chest, Max watched as he reached his hand out to her. I dunno…
"Don't be afraid," the friendly man said as he offered his hand, "I'm William. I'm the P.E. teacher here. I like your shirt, by the way. My daughter likes Wonder Woman, too."
"She does?!" Max's eyes opened wide with delight and the toothy grin she gave William made the teacher laugh. "Can we be friends? No one else in my old school liked Wonder Woman, bunch of stupidheads…"
"It's not nice to call people things like that," William paused, then smirked, "I never did catch your name, did I?"
"You didn't ask," Max stated flatly, her mind still on this unknown girl that liked something she liked.
"Well, little lady, do you have a name?"
"Uh-huh," Max said, her satchel pulled up to her face as she peeked over it at William, giggling at the amused look on the teacher's face before popping out from behind the bag with a huge grin, "I'm Wonder Max!"
"Oh, Wonder Max!" William played along with Max, "I might have known it was you. What are you doing so far away from the Classroom of Justice? Your classmates need you!"
"…I don't haf a classroom yet," Max said, looking down at her sneakers as she bit her lip, "I-I'm scared, mister."
"It's William, Wonder Max, and there's nothing to be afraid of," William said, kneeling down to put a hand on Max's shoulder, "Do you know who your teacher is?"
"Ms. Grant. I was supposed to be in Mr. Jefferson's class but it was too full and momma said he gave her the willies," Max covered her mouth with her hands as though she wasn't supposed to have divulged that last bit of information. "Um, Ms. Grant's class."
"Let me call ahead to her room, and she'll send someone to come get you," William said with a wink as he stood back up, "She likes to introduce new students by bringing a student by to get them. Why don't you take a seat over there and try that candy I saw you get from Sam."
"B-But I didn't candy!"
"Max, it's not nice to lie," William lightly chided, a gleam in his eye, and Max pouted.
"…Wonder Max doesn't lie," Max said softly before sniffling. Bringing out the candy, Max tossed it into the trash to William's surprise, "Stupidface candy. Wonder Max needs no minty candy."
Max sat in one of the office's plastic-seated chairs that were along the wall and kicked her dangling legs as she hummed the theme to Justice League. Tilting her head from side to side as she hummed, Max felt sad over her mom and dad not being with her. Gotta be brave, Max thought to herself. It was what the lady dressed as Wonder Woman at the convention her dad had taken her to over the summer had said. Max, dressed in her homemade Wonder Max costume, had been crying when a boy had scared her by jumping at her from behind and the woman had seen this. Kneeling down alongside Max, "Wonder Woman" had placed a reassuring hand on Max's shoulder and told he she needed to be brave.
"An example to Amazons everywhere," the woman had said, Ryan Caulfield standing on the other side of his daughter as Max looked up from her feet to give her hero a smile.
"Excuse me?"
Max blinked and looked up to see a blonde girl watching her from near the door. Dressed in a black cardigan and a knee-length skirt, the blonde girl's hair was done up in a bun that reminded Max of pecan swirls. Her hair looks like a cinnamon roll, Max thought with a smile as she slid off the chair and walked over to the bashful girl.
"A-Are you Max?" the shy girl asked and smiled when Max nodded, "I'm Kate. I-I like your shirt."
"It's cuz I'm a superhero," Max answered, puffing her chest out with her hands on her hips as she struck a pose. Hearing Kate giggle, Max stopped posing and looked at Kate accusingly, "Well I am."
"Chloe's going to love you," Kate said, shaking her head as she offered Max her hand, "Want to come to class? Ms. Grant has a cookie for you, it's almost snack time."
"Cookies?" Max licked her lips to Kate's delightful giggle. Giving the blonde girl a wide smile, Max took Kate's hand. "I like you. Wanna be friends?"
"O-Okay," Kate said, offering Max a shy smile only to look at Max with an expression of disgust, "Ewww, don't gimme that candy! I saw you get it from the trash!"
"But I'm tryna be nice! Besides, it was my candy anyway and look it's not even opened!"
"Max, noooooo!" Kate said, giggling as she ran down the hall with Max closely behind, "Max! Nooooo!"
"Katie candy, Katie candy!"
"Class," Ms Grant said in a clear voice, the students in her classroom becoming silent as she spoke up, "I'd like to introduce you to our newest addition. This is Max. Would you like to say something, Max?"
Looking up at the gentle smile on Ms. Grant's face, Max frowned and fidgeted with her hands, knocking the heels of her sneakers together as she struggled to not be shy. Gotta be brave, gotta be brave…
"Is she a spaz?" a boy asked and the kids at his table giggled some until Ms. Grant eyed him. "I was only-"
"Nathan, you can go sit in the time-out chair," Ms Grant pointed at an old wooden chair in the corner. Letting out a huff, Nathan got up and rolled toward the corner with a scowl on his face, "I told you last time, Nathan! No wheelies in my classroom! I'm sorry, sweetie. You don't have to say anythi-"
"I'm Wonder Max and I'm brave!" Max shouted before letting out a squeak and running to an empty seat in the back. Lip jutted out in a pout, Max laid her head on the desk and started to cry. "I'm not a spaz! I-I'm n-not!"
"Class, what do I say about name-calling?"
"If you can't say anything nice, then shut your mouth!" the class recited in unison, some of the kids giggling when Ms. Grant nodded before heading over to where Max was sitting.
"Max, I am so sorry for that. You want that cookie I saved you? I got some milk, too. You like chocolate milk or plain?"
Max thought about that. She liked chocolate milk, but she didn't know what cookie she would be getting. Plain seemed like an easy choice but if Ms. Grant gave her a chocolate cookie she'd get double chocolate. Double chocolate. Yummy.
"D-Double chocolate," Max whispered, Ms. Grant thankfully only catching the second word.
"Class, we'll go on ahead and take our recess period now so that you can introduce yourselves to Max," Ms. Grant said, looking at the clock to see it was nearly 11am already, "Once that's done, we'll walk to the cafeteria for lunch. I hear there's pizza today!"
"Yay!" the girl sitting next to Max shouted, raising her arms like she'd won a contest. Max saw the girl look at her and the smile made Max blush, it was so sweet. Blonde hair down to her shoulders, the girl was wearing blue jeans and a sweatshirt that had the Arcadia Bay lighthouse printed on it. When she smiled, Max saw the girl was missing a front tooth and giggled.
"She speaks!" the girl teased, joining Max in her giggling. Max watched the girl slide her chair over till they were sitting next to each other. "Hi."
"H-Hi," Max said, sniffling one last time as Ms. Grant brought over a chocolate chip cookie and carton of chocolate milk. Max eyed the cookie and milk from where her head rested in her folded arms on the table. Oooooh.
"That looks hella good," the blonde girl said as she eyed Max's snack, "My mom, well, she forgot to pack mine.
"Oh no!" Max sat up, looking over at the frowning girl as though something terrible had happened, "I'm sorry!"
"Dude, why? You didn't take my snack," the girl said before winking, "Or did you?"
"Agh, you're silly!" Max said, giggling again to the delight of her classmate, "I'm Max."
"I know, ya goof," the girl said with an impish grin, "I'm Chloe. My daddy's a teacher here. He teaches Pee."
"W-What?" Max asked Chloe, eyeing the girl with a confused look on her face as she reached for the cookie and milk, "Who teaches Pee? Everyone knows how to pee, Chloe."
"No, not pee," Chloe said, rolling her eyes with a smirk on her face, "He teaches exercise stuff!"
"Ohhhh," Max nodded then furrowed her little brow in thought, "Is your daddy's name William…?"
"You know my daddy?" Chloe asked, glancing from time to time and the still-uneaten cookie, "How do you know my daddy?"
"He was nice to me, s'all," Max said more to herself as she looked at her cookie and milk. Hearing her stomach growl, Max smiled only to look over when Chloe's stomach growled in return.
Max looked at Chloe, the blonde girl looking down at the table with a disappointed look on her face, then back at the snack she'd been given. Do I give her some of my cookie, or do I not share? She's really nice, though. She said a bad word, didn't she? H-E-L-L… Oh, there was an "A". Guess it's not so bad. The cookie was soft and Max did her best to split it cleanly in half. Licking the melted chocolate from her fingers, Max took one half of the cookie and placed it on the table in front of Chloe.
"You mean it?" Chloe smiled, the gap in her front teeth making Max blush again.
"Yeah, I mean it," Max nodded, returning Chloe's grin with one of her own as she nudged the cookie a little closer to Chloe. "Um, I-I… I don't have a lot of friends here so, um, I was-"
"Dude, I'm totally your friend now!" Chloe was elated, a large mouthful of her half of the cookie already gone with chocolate at both corners of her mouth as she grinned at Max and reached over to give the small girl a hug, "You totally saved me from my tummy rumbles!"
Max giggled and hugged the girl back, smiling as she buried her face into Chloe's shirt. She'd never been this successful so quickly at making friends, but there was something about the blonde girl who was squeezing her that made Max feel more at ease. She's so nice, and she's really pretty. I mean, she did take half my cookie, though. Well, I gave it to her, but she did eat half my cookie. I still have my half, I guess…
Taking her half of the cookie, Max tried to get the carton open but her hands were still trembling at bit from the nervousness at the front of the classroom. When Chloe reached over and opened he carton for Max, Max gave her new friend a sheepish grin. She's really, really nice. Dunking her part of the cookie into her chocolate milk, Max chewed on the snack and enjoyed how much chocolate she had at her disposal.
"You're eating that cookie awfully slow, Wonder Max," Chloe teased, inching her hand across the table like she was going to try and snatch the rest of it, Max holding the cookie in both hands as she stuck her tongue out, "You like Wonder Woman too, huh?"
"She's so brave and strong, plus my momma said she's an "innipendant woman," Max said between slurps of chocolate milk, the only remnants of her cookie being smudges of chocolate on Max's fingertips. "I met her, you know."
"Nuh-uh," Chloe said, eyeing her friend, "No you didn't."
"Did too, did too!" Max said, narrowing her eyes as she pouted, "I met her with my dad and she told me that I had to be brave! She said I was an Amazon like her!"
"Tiniest Amazon ever," Chloe said, smirking, "Also freckliest Amazon. Fine! You met Wonder Woman. Woo. She's alright, but I know of something even cooler. You wanna know what it is?"
"Ooh, yeah!" Max bounced in her seat a bit, never having as much fun in school as she was at the moment. Chloe leaned over and brought her hand to Max's ear.
"Pirates," Chloe whispered and Max's eyes opened in awe as Chloe began to swing her pencil around as though it were a sword, "Captain Chloe be after yer buried treasures, Wonder Max! Y'arrr! Arr!"
Max giggled as the girl swung her pencil around and made swishing and clanging noises to go along with, crying out "Yo ho!" or "Y'arr!" every now and then. Reluctantly, Max took one of her pencils out and began to wave it around a bit as well. Hesitant, Max looked over at Chloe and saw the blonde girl watching from the corner of her eye with a smile on her face.
"C'mon, Max. Be my First Mate and we'll sail the seas together!" Chloe egged Max on until Max let out a faint "Arr" and then both girls were standing at their table, fighting off imaginary pirates that were after what was left of Max's chocolate milk.
"You're nerds," a voice chimed in and Max watched as Chloe's shoulders slumped and they both turned to see a girl standing across from them at the table. "You're such nerds with your nerdy games and your nerdy milk. Nerd."
"Go away, Victoria," Chloe said, waving her pencil at Victoria, "I'll make you walk the plank, y'arr!"
"That's a pencil, not a sword," Victoria said, sticking her tongue out, "Besides, it's not like you could afford a real sword. Real swords are expensive!"
"I could totally have one if I wanted!" Chloe shot back, pouting as she glared at Victoria.
"Victoria, stop it!" Kate yelled from the next table over, "Why are you always so mean to Chloe? She didn't do anything!"
"Goody-goody!" Nathan shouted from the corner, Victoria exchanging a look with him before she turned her attention to Max, "You're not an Amazon. Amazons aren't real."
"Y-You're lying," Max tried to shout but it came out as a loud whine and Max felt Chloe's hand slip into her own as her new friend supported her, "You… You're a butt!"
Victoria's eyes widened and she nearly choked on the chocolate milk Max finally noticed she'd stolen from her. Lip quivering, Max nearly cried but she saw the tough look Chloe had on her face and let out a huff. Gotta be brave, gotta be strong. Strong like Wonder Woman. Strong… Strong like Chloe!
"You're a bully and bullies are butts!" Max yelled, her voice high-pitched and shrill as she squeezed her eyes shut, "You're mean and a liar and you smell bad! Liar liar liar!"
"A-Am not…," Victoria tried to reply, her lip now quivering as the shy new girl took her by surprise, "Y-You're stupid. You're-"
"You're a butt! Big stupid butt!" Max retorted, pointing a chocolate-stained finger at Victoria as she walked around the table towards the pixie-haired girl, "Butthead jerkface butt!"
Victoria backed up a couple steps and stumbled on the leg of a nearby chair, the chocolate milk she'd stolen off of Max and Chloe's table spilling onto her sweater. Looking down at her sweater before glaring at Max, Victoria sniffled and pushed Max.
"You made me get milk on my sweater, you stupidhead!" Victoria said at Max as the brunette got up, You made me-, hey, don't… don't cry, I was j-just playin'!"
"You are a bully, Victoria!" Chloe yelled as she sat down beside Max and held her friend in a hug, the brunette crying into Chloe's sweatshirt, "You stole her milk and called us names, then you spill the milk. You're… You're an asshole!"
The entire classroom went silent, a collective gasp from nearly all the kids as they retreated to their seats when Ms. Grant's head snapped up from the science textbook she'd been reading at her desk while the kids had their break. Max heard Nathan snicker in the corner, mumbling "asshole" to himself, but was too afraid of the look on Ms. Grant's face as she came over to her and Chloe's table.
"Chloe, what did I tell you last week about bad words?"
"But Victoria-"
"Chloe, what did I say about bad words?"
"Victoria stole Max's milk and pushed her! I wanted to help my friend!"
"Chloe," Ms. Grant said as she pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, "Go take Nathan's place in the time-out corner. Nathan, have you learned your lesson?"
"Yes, Ms. Grant," Nathan droned, sticking his tongue out at Chloe when the teacher wasn't looking as the blonde girl took his spot.
"Ms. Grant, she was being a bully and Chloe saved me!" Max said, tugging on Ms Grant's shirt sleeve as she pointed over at Victoria. The pixie-haired girl already having retreated to her table, Max shot the girl a dirty look and muttered "asshole" to Ms. Grant's utter amazement.
"Max! Max, there is no place in this classroom for language like that. Especially when it is your first day. I think both you and Chloe need to be in the time-out corner. Take your chair and go sit by Chloe," Ms. Grant shook her head as she headed back to her desk.
But I didn't do nothing! Max thought, frowning as she'd never been in trouble before. It's Chloe's fault! She said it! She said the bad word, and then I said it because she said it! I didn't do nothing! Her head downcast, Max slowly grabbed ahold of her chair and pulled it over to where Chloe was sitting. Joining the blonde girl, Max sat facing the same wall Chloe was facing.
"You got me in trouble," Max said, her voice petulant as she huffed, "That's not nice."
"I'm sorry," Chloe's apology was sincere and the soft tone in which she'd said it surprised Max. Awww, she's sad. "I didn't m-mean to get you in trouble, M-Max. I… I just didn't like her picking on you. It's not fair. All the teachers like Victoria because she acts nice around them, but is really mean when they don't see her. Also…I don't have any real friends."
"No way. You're so cool, like you must be the coolest person in the whole school," Max said in earnest only to see Chloe shake her head.
"My daddy wishes I had friends, but no one plays with me because they say I'm 'poor'. T-They think I don't hear them but I do."
"I'm your friend," Max said, looking over at Chloe to see the girl look at her in turn.
"R-Really?"
"We can be best friends forever, if you want," Max said, not realizing that as she talked to Chloe her shyness faded away. "You're really funny and you're nice. I like you."
"I like you, too. We are hella BFF pirates," Chloe said, hugging Max.
"The purpose of the time-out corner is for you to actually take a 'time-out', you two," Ms. Grant called back to them from the front of the classroom. Max and Chloe exchanged a smile.
"Sorry," both girls said in unison as they held hands while sitting in the corner.
Author's Note
And now for something completely different, huh?
I remember doing an opening sequence toward the end of my vampire story that dealt with how I would have liked Max and Chloe to meet. The girls were little, playing at a park as they ate ice cream. I've wanted to try something like this ever since I wrote that but I got caught up in other stories and my personal life. Now the first part is done and you've obviously just read it (hopefully!) read it because you're at the end :)
Read, review, and I'll see you later!
Stay Hella, Cinnamon Rolls!