A week had passed since Warren had met Max. He was looking forward to every science class so far, just to have some time to talk to her. Of course, they had other classes together as well, but, unfortunately for Warren, Max had made a good friend in Kate, and they were sitting next to each other frequently. Then again, their friendship was helping Warren. As he was close with Kate too, the three of them had spent some of their lunch breaks together, so he had had the chance to come to know Max better. For today, Warren had set himself another goal: "Get Max's phone number. For science of course" Standing in front of his wardrobe, he tried to choose a nice outfit.

"Try to find something different than your freaking nerd shirts" he told himself before realising that he didn't have that many other ones.
"But Max is quite a nerd too… or at least a little bit. So maybe she's okay with it. "

Remembering that his mum had told him to "always be true to himself", he picked a green Dr. Who shirt. It was his favourite TV show and also one of his favourite shirts, so he should feel pretty comfortable. To make him feel even better, he sprayed a bit of cologne on his neck. Warren had never used it before, and for a short moment, he wondered why he did so now.

"Will Max like it?" He asked himself, getting insecure. Maybe it was a bit too much. Although he would smell freaking manly.
"God, why do I even worry about what Max will say?"

Taking a moment, Warren sat down on his bed. It was no use to fool himself, he knew he had developed a huge crush on the shy girl from Seattle. Maybe he even knew it from the first moment on when he had spotted her in the classroom. Warren ran his fingers through his wavy hair. Problem was, he had never been lucky with girls. Sure, there was this awful first kiss with that girl called Wendy, and sometimes he felt like Brooke tried to flirt with him… but this weren't the girl he wanted to be with. Girls he liked never even seemed to realise that he existed.

"Well, that's different with Max. She knows you exist. She's almost your friend. So don't fuck this up, dude!" Warren took a deep breath.

True, Max was different than other girls he had ever fancied, girls he never even had the courage to talk to. But that didn't make it any easier. Taking a glance at his watch, Warren realised that he was almost too late to science class. Again. Sighing, he got up, grabbed his backpack and left his room.

A few minutes later, Warren arrived at the classroom, completely out of breath.

"I should do some sports" he thought.

Seconds later, he changed his mind though. Playing games sure was almost as good as workout was. Well, it was definitely more fun. He remembered that Max had agreed to play World of Warcraft with him, which brought a smile to his face. Entering the room, he saw her sitting at the desk already. When their eyes met and Max waved at him happily, his heart seemed to beat twice as fast as usual. It somehow happened every time they met, and he constantly tried not to show how nervous he was around her, although he couldn't hide his blushed face.

"Hey Warren!" Max greeted him "How are you?"

"Hi! I'm good, how about you?" he said, sitting down next to her, trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach.

"Oh I'm pretty good too. I just had a lot of problems with the latest homework for science class." Max grinned at him. "I bet you did it in about five minutes."

"Not really" Warren laughed. It was quite right though, but he didn't want to make her feel bad.
"Well, I could help you next time, if you'd like to." He then added casually, the butterflies now fluttering worse than ever.

It made him feel uncomfortable, and he was glad Kate interrupted with a friendly "Good morning." Trying to avoid looking into Max's eyes, he waited for her answer.

"Warren, it would be really cool if you could help me. I haven't got a chance to pass this class if you don't" Max said, making Warren stare at her incredulously for a moment. He tried to cover up his surprise with a smile.

"Well, sure, I'd be glad to. Can you give me your phone number then? So we can text and… for scientific purposes of course." he added, grinned sheepishly and held up his phone.

"Of course, good idea."

A smile flashed over Warren's face again. He couldn't believe how easy it had been to get her number. Max even wanted to take of photo of him, to save it with his contact. Again, they had to fall silent when Ms. Grant arrived, but her presence couldn't stop Warren from thinking about Max.

"Get a grip now, Graham." He told himself, smirking "Otherwise you'll be the one who needs help with his homework."