Eight years later…
"KRIT! Give them back!" Max bellowed as she tried to grab her keys from her brother.
"Nope, I feel like riding to school today." He easily swatted off her attacks while continuing to eat his cereal a wicked smile on his face.
"I swear to god if you don't give them back I'll kick your ass." She spat as she lunged for them again.
"Max…," Gabrielle warned as she entered the kitchen cup of coffee in one hand the morning paper in the other, "what have I told you about using that type of language?"
"Sorry mom," she apologised, "but he has my keys and I've got places to be."
"Krit give your sister her keys back." she mumbled reading an article over the top of her glasses perched on the tip of her nose but Krit continued to taunt his little sister.
"ERRR…Krit don't make me go Manticore on your behind!" Max snapped frustrated
"No super powers in the house," Gabrielle added casually, "We had to refurnish the dining room the last time you two were at each other's throats."
"Fine, just give me my keys and no one gets hurt!" if this carried on she was going to be late and that was no way to start her last term as a senior, there were only twenty two days of school left before the summer holidays, might as well make the effort.
"Krit…" his mother warned and he relented chucking the keys to their owner, who beamed
"No one rides my baby except me." Max smiled smacking her brother on the side of his head, behind her Gabrielle mumbled something which made Max turn
"It is not a death trap!" Max sighed, it was a never ending argument in their house about the safety of riding a motorcycle and Gabrielle's eternal view that they were made to kill and nothing else,
"Only when you're on it." Krit added earning himself another smack,
"I think you're an excellent rider." Rick added walking into the room and kissing Max good morning on the crown of her head
"Thank you daddy." Max smiled pulling her tongue at Krit as walking towards the door,
"At least wear a helmet niño" Gabrielle said
"Yeah, I will." Max called climbing the stairs, when she reached her room she found her boots and walked onto the balcony to see what the swell was like this morning. She loved watching the sea and the waves were perfect for surfing, with a sigh she pulled on her boots and strung them up. The view was part of the reason she loved her room so much, it just fit her to a tee, the carpet was black and so was the bedding on her four poster king size bed, the walls were a deep maroon and a black trial design that spelt out her name circled the room only disrupted by the black doors leading to her en suite bathroom, the balcony and back into the hall. The ceiling was black as well as the desk in the one corner, littered with paper, and the dressing table in the other, her walk in closet was what she liked to call an organised mess and the book shelf in the other corner was almost overflowing.
Before she left she gave herself a once over in the mirror, the black army boots and leather jacket clashed wildly with the navy blue plaid skirt, white blouse and navy blue sleeveless pull over but she pulled it off quite nicely, The pros of being genetically engineered perfection I guess, she thought bitterly as she flew down the stairs back pack in one hand ridding glasses in the other. She entered the garage and rolled her baby onto the gravel driveway, the black body work of her Kawasaki Ninja gleamed in the California sun. Her father got a custom paint job done in the body so that it had tiny spider's web graphics covering every inch of the chassis but the best part was on the gas tank written in white for every one to see was, 'TOUCH ME, YOU DIE'.
Max mounted her baby and felt at home with 600cc's of raw power between her legs, she put on her back pack and her ridding glasses, revved the engine a couple of times, then sped off down the drive way kicking up the gravel as she went. The roads were just filling with the morning traffic as she sped by ignoring the occasional wolf whistle that riding in a skirt produced; she always wore hot pants underneath it just in case she had to kick some ass.
Twenty minutes later she pulled into a parking and Harley High School stretched out in front of her, she thanked the gods there were only twenty two more days left of this place, it drove her up the wall. She slid gracefully off her baby and searched her pocket for some gum as she walked towards the picnic bench under the big oak tree to await her friends' arrival. She sat the popping her gum ignoring the tries various guys were making to get her attention, she shook her head sadly, No matter whether they're freshmen, sophomores, juniors or seniors they just never learn.
First to arrive was Original Cindy at Harley high on scholarship,
"Hey boo, what's caraklakin?" she smiled sitting down,
"The usual, I'm stuck in school when there is some killer surfing to be done at the beach, story of my life." Max sighed over dramatically
"Pull yourself together boo, only twenty two more days."
"And counting." Corrin added slumping down on the seat to the other side of Max,
"I don't know what you're all complaining about, I like school!"
Raz commented as she sat down on her usual spot on the grass
"That's because you're a freak Raz." Bailey, her brother added as him and Herbal joined her on the grass.
"Knowledge is the fruit of the mind, and food to soul, Jah speaks to I and I through the pages of a book." Herbal said his Jamaican accent strong
"That's because you and you is stoned half the time." Original Cindy observed and the whole group nodded their heads in agreement. but someone was missing. Heavy breathing behind her alerted her to the arrival of the seventh and final member of their group, he was one of the guys who just never learn.
"Sketchy!" Max said which made him jump, "When are you going to step to the real and accept the fact that you cant sneak up on me, and you never will."
"C'mon Max," he moaned, "how do you always know?"
"You want the truth?" she asked innocently
"Yeah, lay it on me."
"I can smell your cheap ass cologne a mile away." she smiled sweetly as everyone laughed.
For Max this was the only reason she came to school, so that she could see her friends everyday and what a bunch they were, first there was Original Cindy, straight out of Compton and as ghetto as they come, keeping it real with the down to earth truth. Next there was Corrin, 'the band geek', who plays a mean trumpet but who also kicks ass on playing field hockey.
Raz and Bailey were next, the identical twins with nothing in common but their looks and their birth day, Raz is the valedictorian and Bailey is the 'kid with potential to do more', Bailey's the jock with a football scholarship, Raz wouldn't know a football if it hit her in the head. Herbal, the Jamaican import who smoked weed and talks in rhyme, living life at his own pace. Last but not least there was Sketchy, the self proclaimed lady's man who would do anything for a quick buck.
"Max," Sketchy said casually, "There's a guy standing awfully close to you 'baby'"
Max turned her head so fast she almost gave her self whiplash and sure enough some idiot was hovering way too close to her baby for her liking. She got up and marched purposefully towards the fool intent on breaking his hand if he laid a finger on her bike, Sketchy and Original Cindy followed close behind her, Sketchy to watch some poor punk get beat down and Cindy to make sure the poor guy didn't get hurt too bad.
"Hey!" Max called as she reached the tar of the parking lot making the guy jump and look at her. She had to admit that he was good looking, his blonde hair stood in unruly spikes and behind his glasses were the bluest eye's she had ever seen, his strong jaw was lined with stubble and his athletic frame stood at a tall six foot, she was guessing. It's a shame I have to kick his fine ass, she thought with a mental shrug.
"You're either blind or stupid guy, what's the matter can't read?" the leather of her jacket squelched as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"I can read just fine thank you," he smiled sweetly, "You must be the owner, I'm Logan…Logan Cale." He extended a hand politely
"I don't care if you're the Dalai Llama," she continued sweetly, "you touch my bike, I kick your ass, simple concept, understand?"
"Consider me warned." Logan threw his hands up in defeat but kept that amused grin on his face and his eyes fixed on the gorgeous girl in front of him, he didn't even notice the two people standing behind her until one spoke up.
"You must be new around here sugar, where you from?" Original Cindy asked
"Just transferred actually, I'm from Seattle originally."
"Well, welcome to the adolescent hell that is Harley High," Sketchy said pushing in front of the girls and offering his hand, "I'm Sketchy, this here is Original Cindy…"
"How ya doin sugar." She smiled
"And the chica over there with the possessive issues is Max." he finished shaking hands with Logan.
"What?" Max asked running a protective hand over her motorcycle, "No one but me touches my baby." Cindy rolled her eyes at the behaviour
"Don't worry," she assured Logan, "She'll be back down to earth in a second, come on sugar." She grabbed his hand and led him back up the hill to the oak tree where she introduced him to the others.
"Transferred? So late in the year?" Raz asked confused
"Yeah, Harley has a better scouting program than my old school, plus the principal is my godfather so he worked out the paper work." Logan said
"What sport you play?" Bailey asked doubting the scrawny guy's football potential.
"Basketball."
"Do you have your time table yet?" Raz asked ignoring the groan that erupted from her friends, Logan rummaged around in his bag for a couple of minutes before finally pulling out a slightly crumpled piece of paper and handing it to Raz. As she examined it a broad smile grew on her lips and it soon turned into a fit of giggles, she handed the paper to her brother who also began to laugh, the paper was passed on till every one but Max and Logan was laughing.
"What?" Max asked slightly irritated, in between her fits of laughter Original Cindy handed her the time table,
"Look familiar?" she asked before she collapsed with laughter as Max's jaw hit the floor. His time table was identical to hers and printed neatly at the bottom of the page was the name of the person Logan would be shadowing until he got to know the layout of the school: Maxine Guevera
"You've got to be shitting me!" she protested, "Why me?"
"Maxine I presume." Logan sang, that devastatingly sexy smile back in place making Max melt inside but on the outside she had better things to do today than play babysitter. Just then the bell for class rang and the group collected their things and walked towards the school building and wishing Max luck. With one final scowl in their direction she grabbed her bag and hopped off the bench, after a few steps she noticed he wasn't following her so she turned only to see him smiling at her again.
"Well, you coming or not?" she asked her hand on her hip
"Just admiring the view." He stated innocently, but the reference to her backside didn't go unnoticed, Cocky little thing, isn't he! She waited for him to catch up to her before making her point,
"The same concept applies to me," she whispered getting so close to him he could feel her breath on his lips, "Touch me and I'll kick your ass."
"I'm a fast heeler." Logan replied decreasing the distance between them even more but still not touching her, there was some thing about this girl, she was special, he had to know more about her, as he was about to throw caution to the wind and grab her a rather annoying high pitched voice interrupted them.
"Miss Guevera shouldn't you be in home room?" Mrs Perkins asked
She stepped away from Logan grudgingly, the situation was about to get very interesting, this dude had guts, she had to give him that and she was very keen to find out where all this was going and what exactly she was going to do when it got there.
"Of course Mrs Perkins, I was just on my way there." With that she grabbed Logan's shirt and practically dragged him to room 104. She casually strolled in leaving Logan to follow in her wake,
"New student Mrs Leighman." Was all she offered as explanation before she took her place near the back of the class and Logan introduced himself, she had barely sat down before the first bell rang for class.
She popped her gum noisily as she made her way to her locker with Logan close behind her. He watched patiently as Max stuffed her leather jacket and back pack into her locker, extracting her history book and a pen which she tucked behind her ear.
"You have one of these yet?" she asked without looking at him
"Yup," he replied looking at his time table sheet again, "Number 283."
She rolled her eyes and let out a heavy sigh,
"Someone out there hates me!"
"What?" he asked confused, she tapped the locker to the left of hers where bold white numbers read 283 against the deep navy blue and he chuckled as he punched in his combination and deposited his bag.
"Looks like we're neighbours." He smiled
"Great!" Max mumbled as she stalked off towards history with Logan at her heels.