DISCLAIMER: I still don't own any thing as cool as Maximum Ride. Just the plot.
It was a few months after my first encounter with Max, and school had started. Well it would start in about two minutes and forty seconds. I was sitting in first period math (yuck) when the teacher frantically rushed through the door, papers flying all over the place. He was a middle aged man with a button down shirt, which unfortunately for him, was off by one button so the entire shirt was uneven.
A few minutes after the bell rang, none other than Max strutted in the door of the classroom as if she had all the time in the world. Our teacher, Mr. S, just sighed as she walked in. It was the first day of senior year, and he already seemed exhausted by Max.
"Is this habit of being late going to continue from last year?" He asked, running a hair through his hair that was graying at the sides. I wouldn't be surprised if Max had caused some, if not all of it.
"Probably," Max said nonchalantly as she made her way to the only unavailable desk in the room which, of course, was next to me.
"Max, can you please try to be a little more respectful this year," he asked.
She shrugged. "Probably not."
"Max," he said in a warning tone. "It's the first day of senior year. Can we please try to just get through this day." He seemed stressed out, and I couldn't blame him. Max was a handful on her own, but in school she seemed to be even worse as she clearly didn't want to be here.
"What are you gonna do to me?" She taunted back. Frankly, I was surprised the teacher was putting up with her crap. She seemed so arrogant, almost like she needed to be taught a lesson. I mean she seemed cool, but she didn't need to act like she ran the place. "Saturday detention?"
He frowned. "I'm getting to close to sending you to your dean."
She just rolled her eyes but leaned back in her chair so it was balancing on the back two legs.
"You're gonna fall," I muttered, judging the angle of her chair.
"Doubt it," she shot back, popping a piece of gum in her mouth and chewing loudly.
Most of the class seemed to think of her as a form of free entertainment, except a few kids in the front row who shot her dirty glances.
"Nerds," she muttered under breath. "So Nick, you going to college?" She turned to face me, and was close enough that I could smell the minty freshness of her breath. I guess she had to chew a lot of gum to mask the smoky smell.
"Yeah," I said, copying down the equations he had on the board. Didn't most people go to college these days? At my old school, college was a really big deal and we got lectures about getting good grades, making good choices, the usual speech about once a week.
"Oh yeah?" She asked, and I just nodded. "Where?"
"I don't know. I'm applying to Boston College, Notre Dame but if I go to Marquette I have a chance at a scholarship," I said.
"I don't think I'm going to college," She admitted. Probably not, since she hadn't even taken out a pencil from her bag, despite all the notes and figures on the board.
"How come?" I asked. I didn't peg her as someone who really valued education, but I still figured she would get at least some sort of college education.
She shrugged. "I don't have the money. Only my mom is at home, and she needs help a lot. We have a farm a little ways from the house, and she would need help working the fields, animals and raising the other kids. I have 5 siblings."
Well now I knew a little more about Max and her home life. She didn't have a dad, maybe her parents were divorced? Either way, it wasn't any of my business. She came from a decent sized family but had limited money. That was interesting.
"Miss Ride, can you tell the class what I just said?" Mr. S said, turning towards us with a piece of chalk in his hand.
"Something stupid, I'm sure," she muttered and a few people around us snickered.
"A little louder please," he said, looking at her expectantly.
Max rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything. "A quiz Friday," I whispered to her under my breath.
"Excuse me. I know you're a new student here, but please don't provide Ms. Ride with any help. She needs to learn some respect." I sighed. If Max was going to learn respect, this certainly wasn't going to be how.
"He's being unusually annoying today," Max remarked, loud enough for everyone to hear, but it wasn't directed at Mr.S.
He sighed, "The quiz is Friday. It counts for your first grade so please study for it."
The bell finally rang. "See ya around Nick," Max said as she got up and stalked out of the classroom to catch up with a group of girls in the hallway.
"Hey," a vaguely familiar voice said, and a tall, skinny figure appeared next to me. "Iggy," he said holding out his hand. It was the blond guy who had been with Max both times over the summer.
"Nick," I said shaking his hand.
"So," he said cutting right to the chase. "Do you like, have a thing for Max?" His eyes, a pale blue, met mine.
"What?" I asked, incredulous. "No." I shook my head.
"You sure?" He asked with a sly grin.
"Very sure. I mean, sure she's real pretty but she's not my type," I said carefully. "Why?"
"She's not what you think she is," he said seriously. What was that supposed to mean? I had no idea what I thought of Max. "Just wondering. You seem to talk to her a lot."
I wrinkled my nose. "We've spoken three times." Maybe this guy was confused, but I definitely wouldn't say we'd spoke "a lot."
"And how many other people have you spoken to?" Well I guess the guy did have a point. He grinned as I stood there speechless. "Just be careful. This school isn't as simple as it seems," he said stopping outside a classroom. Gee thanks, I could've figured that out for myself. Everything about this school seemed to be different than my old school. I turned around, but Iggy was gone. I wasn't sure if Iggy was his real name, or a nickname. I was hoping it's a nickname because I couldn't think of what Iggy could possibly be short for.
I sighed as I shut my locker. On my way to my next class, I saw Max walking strangely close to some guy in the hallway. They didn't seem to be in any hurry even though class was about to start. They didn't seem to be holding hands, but their shoulders brushed against each other as they walked down the hall. He was a few inches taller than Max, with sandy colored hair that swept across his sea green eyes. In a second they were gone, and I was in another classroom, nearly identical to the first one. She had definitely seen me, but walked by as if she hadn't.
I sat down with a frustrated sigh and opened my Environmental Science book to page 21.
A week later, I was sitting alone in first period when I felt a shadow pass over me. I was half expecting it to be Mr.S, but it was just Max.
"What's gotcha down kid?" she asked, plopping her bag on the ground and slipping in to the chair beside me. Max had been here every day this week, except Wednesday. But I think she just ditched since I saw her I the cafeteria later that day.
"Just tired; I don't want to be here," I said, sitting up to look at her. She looked tired today, but still flawless.
"You and me both, kid," she said, grabbing a stick of gum from her pocket.
"Kid?" I asked, and she just shrugged. Mr.S came around with our quizzes near the end of class. My paper was face down on my desk, but I flipped it over. I scanned over the red pen marks, but he hadn't corrected anything; it was all just underlined or circled or Yes! was written next to a few problems.
Max's eyes widened as she saw my -0 at the top of the page. "Holy shit," she breathed, "You're frickin' Einstein."
"Actually, Einstein was more into physics," I said without meaning too. Now I sounded like some nerd, and I rudely ignored her compliment. For some reason I felt like Max wasn't one to compliment people often. "Sorry, I meant thanks," I muttered quickly under my breath.
She just smirked. She flipped over the paper than had been placed on her desk and the smirk dropped right off her face. "What the hell? How am I so stupid?" She asked herself, scanning over her paper which was covered in slashes and red Xs. She skimmed her work and looked confused and incredibly frustrated.
"It's okay, I'm sure you'll do better next time," I said, doing my best to sound positive.
"That's not gonna help my grade now is it?" She snapped, but suddenly apologized. "Sorry," she mumbled. "You're right. I'm just stressed." She ran a hand through her wavy hair, her eyes narrowed.
Wow, I got a compliment and apology from Max in one day. That was more than I'd got all of last week combined. I guess that was good, maybe we were starting to become friends. If that's what I even wanted. I needed to think through some things and sort out my priorities.
"Don't worry about it. If there's anything I can do..." I trailed off and she just looked at me. Smooth, I thought to myself, real smooth. That sounded so lame. 'If there's anything I can do...' I sounded like some unsuccessful school guidance counsellor.
She looked at me blankly for a second before turning her attention to her D+ quiz. I wondered why she cared so much about grades if she wasn't planning on going to college.
At the end of class, she got up and grabbed her books but stopped before she reached the door. "I changed my mind," she said, as I approached. Confused, I didn't respond. "There's something you can do to help."
"Alright," I said, sounding stupid I'm sure. For somer reason, every time I talked around her I sounded stupid.
"Tutor me," she said simply.
"In math?" I asked, looking at her blankly (again!).
"No in the ancient art of Chinese tapestry." She rolled her eyes, "yes, in math you moron."
"Sure," I said simply. I had no problems with teaching Max one on one.
"Tonight at 7:30 at the library downtown," she said. I felt it was a little gracious to call it a "downtown area", but nodded anyway. "Don't be late," she said with a wink and was instantly swept up in the wave of people streaming down the hallway.
I made my way down the hallway, my head swirling. Max and I were hanging out tonight. Okay I guess tutoring and hanging out aren't exactly the same, but it was a hell of a lot closer to hanging out than I was this morning.
I was confused though. Was she asking me to tutor her as a friend or because she desperately needed math help and she was sure I didn't have anything better to do. The second was probably more likely. I sorted through some of the information I knew about Max. She was independent, but lived in a large family and was needed to help around the house. She was arrogant and incredibly sarcastic, but call me crazy, but she seemed to be more than just a sassy teenager. She seemed popular, and was definitely well known by her peers but I wasn't sure who her actual friends were. She was like a puzzle. I had to figure out one piece at a time, and hopefully it would all come together in the end. Or maybe I would never figure her out and she would be a mystery to me for the rest of my life.
But for some reason, I felt like I had met Max on purpose. Everything happens for a reason. Maybe Max was that reason. Maybe she was what led me to this desolate part of the country.
OKAY, SO FOR THOSE OF YOU READING THIS, I DEEPLY APOLOGIZE. I HAVE TO WRITE ALL MY CHAPTERS ON AN IPAD WHICH IS SUPER INCONVENIENT FOR MULTIPLE REASONS. I APOLOGIZE FOR ANY GRAMMATICAL AND SPELLING MISTAKES, JUST REVIEW AND TELL ME IF THEY GET BAD. ALSO I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO USE THE BOLD BUTTON SO THAT'S WHY THIS IS IN ALL CAPS. AND FINALLY, IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW TO USE THE LINE BREAK TOOL AND COULD EXPLAIN IT TO ME, THAT WOULD BE SUPER. THAT IS ALL.
OH I ALMOST FORGOT, IF YOU'RE STILL READING THIS, REVIEW! I LOVE REVIEWS (obviously-even the mean ones because they're very helpful) AND THE MORE YOU REVIEW, THE QUICKER I'LL UPDATE. HAPPY READING!
Never mind, I figured out how to use bold but am too lazy too retype all that in lowercase.
read, review, and make good choices