The next day, Max woke up, feeling like absolute shit because she watched another movie with her... or five. She was well under the covers, her whole body was covered by her blanket, and she felt stiffness and weakness throughout her whole body. She slept way past her alarm; it was already halfway through eleven in the morning.

She checks her schedule, after standing up and yawning for a minute. She walked with a limp towards her schedule by her door.

Okay, it's Tuesday... If it's eleven-thirty then... it's photography class now... PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS?!

She stumbles around her room, grasping at clothes and anything to just get to class faster. She grabs at a red shirt, blue jeans with one rip in the left knee, and a black beanie she had, courtesy of Chloe. She ate about five mints and sprayed perfume in the air to run through it. She grabs her messenger bag on her way out.

She sees Chloe on the way as she jogged out of the dorms. She was outside, smoking a joint while everyone is gone and in class, wearing a different tank top and jeans.

"Hey, Max Factor, where the fuck are you going?!" Chloe called out.

"I'm late!"

Max continues to go without looking back.

"I like your style, man!" Chloe exclaimed, even though she was already gone.

A couple of times, her sneakers would slip off, since she did not put them on completely. It took about five times to slip off before she decides to spend a minute of her time to finally put them on properly. She continues to rush into the school building, passing a guard and when she got to the class, she created a ruckus from slamming the door open.

"Max," the teacher turns to her, "You're here."

"Sorry, miss." Max was out of breath. She looks over to the right and sees Kate, who was silently giggling and looking at Max shyly. Max had a feeling, for two seconds that it definitely can't be Kate, because she was there in class already. Unless... she's really good at waking up early.

"Did you oversleep?"

"Yes, miss."

"Alright, sit down then. You came in right on time for today's assignment."

Max was ashamed, but she already missed today's English class, so she didn't want to miss this class. She doesn't remember ever being that frantic for school.

Max's eyes gravitated towards the right, looking out the window, and missed about half of the assignment.

"-ture the good in life. We express a lot of pessimism and we tend to not focus on what make life so unique. Give me a picture that would make someone feel hope and-"

'What the hell can I do with that? I don't pay attention to things that make me optimistic.'

"Let it be a solo project. I'll give you one week."

Max thought about it. Her mind immediately went to Kate, who sat alone and not really looking towards anybody. Max stayed in her seat, tapping her pen against her desk. A couple people got up to their partners and started to think of different ideas.

She felt like absolute shit. She wouldn't admit it outloud, but she can feel it eating her alive. The fear of being a giant disappointment was killing her. She just starts to draw on her lined paper, drawing a messy doge.

"Mad Max, time to go!"

About five minutes have passed of lunch before Chloe came into the class. It was only the teacher, Max, and Kate were left inside when she interrupted the silence.

Max was caught up in her journal, so she was taken aback from hearing Chloe's voice.

"Come on, Maxie, Rachel and I got shit to do." Chloe walks up to the desk. "We need to talk."

"... You and Rachel? Why do I need to be there-"

"We need to talk to you."

Max slings her messenger bag and fixes her beanie, "How important is it?"

Chloe grabs her by her waist and carries her off the ground again, "More important than your life."

She starts to carry her out, now Max was struggling and kicking, "Why my life?!"

Chloe kicks the door and hurries through the hallways, passing by two girls talking and a group of jocks bullying a guy, going towards the restrooms.

"Oh, hey Chloe!" Some skater boy waved to her.

"What's up?!" She continues to speed off and then kicks the door to the girls restroom.

Rachel was already in there, a sly smirk graced on her lips and swinging her phone in her hand around. Max couldn't lie, she didn't doubt those two for one second. She knew they would actually do something as insane as that.

"Welcome, Max!" Rachel greeted with a friendly, yet slightly sinister grin, "Don't we have the news of the century for you!"

Chloe puts her down, Max losing her balance upon landing, "W-what?"

"Well, we sneaked into the school successfully at midnight. Chloe wanted to swim in the pool first, so we did that. But! We were able to get into the principal's office and we looked into every file. We went in there going for Kate's buuuuuuut we got distracted with everyone's files." Rachel said with a snicker.

"My grades are shit, by the way." Chloe added as she placed her hand on Max's shoulder with a hard slap.

"You don't have to tell me that." Max mumbled her snarky remark.

"The fuck you say to me?"

"I said I love you." She said clearly.

"Besides the point," Rachel speaks up again, unlocking her phone, "This is physical and real proof that Kate is the person you're talking to on the internet."

Max bit her lower lip. She was curious; she is known as being slightly nosy and pokes around at nearly everything. She can feel a physical pull on her eyes to just look or hear what Rachel and Chloe want to say.

"No!" Max covered her ears and shut her eyes, "I don't wanna know!"

"Um..." Chloe puts her hand down, "What the fuck."

"I don't wanna know. I just want to tell her for myself. I'll send the message, I promise! I believe you!"

Chloe and Rachel give each other wide eyed stares. It was the last reaction they expected.

Rachel plays with her feather earring, "Max, it's okay. You don't have to freak out so much. Are you really that scared?"

"I-I guess. It's just freaking me out."

"Okay," Rachel puts her phone in her back pocket and grabs Chloe, "We'll leave you alone about it. We'll talk about it when you want to."

Max puts her hands down, "... It really is her."

Max was staring off into the ground, still convincing herself of that.

Rachel comforts her by petting her shoulder, "If that makes you feel better."

"I need to eat something." Max admitted.

"Yeah, we need to eat." Rachel said as she grabbed Max by the wrist. "Let's check Two Whales then."

Max was in her room, letting her stereo play Syd Matters and had a textbook open on her left.

It was about five PM when she decided to just read her math book.

She was still in the outfit she threw on, the only thing off is her shoes, because she felt drained and exhausted.

She then hears an audible knock on her door. It was very gentle and she nearly missed it. Max doesn't recognize it, seemingly so gentle and not wanting to irritate her.

Max gets up and opens it quickly, only to face the same hazel eyes and shy smile.

"I'm sorry to bother you." She spoke first.

"N-no, you didn't bother me," Max cleared her throat, "I was... studying."

Her hair was in a messy bun, she was wearing a plain white shirt, a black skirt, and her hands held together in front of her. The gold cross necklace burned into Max's mind and soul as she stood there.

"I forgot to introduce myself." She begins. "My name is Kate."

She holds her hand out, wanting to shake Max's.

"Max," She grabs and felt an electric shock upon connection. "It's fine."

They both giggle awkwardly. Max wanted to say something to make this not as awkward and tense. She avoided her eyes and swung her arms front and back, clapping her hands in between.

"That was quite an entrance you had in photography." Kate brings up again.

"I was busy last night, so I slept through my alarm clock."

"You should sleep early today. Do so as soon as you know you've done everything today."

Kate had a beautiful smile, making Max lose her train of thought.

"I will, thank you."

"You're welcome." Kate started to slowly back away. "I'm in room 222, if you ever need anything, okay?"

"I'll keep that in mind. Same for you."

"Have a nice day." Kate then goes across the hall to her room.

"You too." And Max closes her door. She jumps into bed again, taking her pillow, and screaming into it.

'Did that just happen?! What is going on?! Someone help! HELP!'

Max then decides to sleep right then and there. She figured that was a good time to finally get all that sleep she missed.

[Kate]

She goes into her room and felt a strange fluttering in her stomach from what happened.

She places her bag by the door, avoiding the pile of clothes as she walks through, and sits down at her desk. She opens up a spiral notebook and a math textbook to start her one-hour study session.

She frequently taps her eraser against her paper and doodled in the margins. Her mind wandered, her fingers fiddled with her necklace, her neck ached. Occasionally, she heard speaking and giggling outside of her door. She usually recognize a couple, mostly Victoria and another girl, Dana Ward, who greets her every time she passes by.

She stares at one sentence in her textbook for eternity as her mind wanders off in an endless loop. She was so unfocused and so out of it. Due to the bullying, the loneliness, the isolation, and never ending stress hits her like a truck.

She was never afraid to talk about her religion and beliefs, and also wasn't scared to lend a helping hand. But, if kindness only hurt her, then why does she even try?

Then again, that won't help in doing her project for photography. Her views on everything at the moment was skewed and blurred. Everything was one big gray area.

She shuts the book and took her hair tie out. She felt more relief as her hair fell down her shoulders, going from her desk to her backpack for a book, The October Country.

She hears muffled banging from the hallway.

She thought that was strange, but she took a wild guess that it was for the new girl across the hall.

She goes to her door and peeks through, seeing the back of Chloe, waiting in what seems to be her pajamas. She can tell right away that the two were inseparable friends and felt her lips form a small grin. She closes her door gently, going back to her bag.

After reading about two chapters, she decides to finally get ready for bed.

She puts her hair in a bun again, her shirt and shorts, and her toiletries and towel as she left to the bathroom. She walks through the halls, Dana Ward and Juliet Watson's dorm door was open and letting their music blare from inside.

"Hey Kate!" She can hear from inside. That was definitely Dana. She saw for a moment that Dana was still wearing her auburn hair in a ponytail and wearing a gray tank top and shorts.

She wasn't sure why Dana and Juliet had their own room together. The dorms were were one room per person.

Dana is this beautiful and popular girl of Blackwell Academy. The school has a "Vortex Club," a clique full of popular individuals, which Dana is a part of, but despite that, she is a nice and caring person.

Kate waves back with a smile and continues on her way. At least she knows that someone is on her side. Well, so was her Max, but there's only so much she can do. She found it a coincidence that there's a new student named Max and she has been talking to a Max for about two years.

She walks in, hearing two showers on at the moment, and starts with brushing her teeth at the sink.

She stares at her reflection, the darkness under her eyes were prominent, her bun was a mess, and the white of her eyes were slightly red from lack of sleep.

One shower stops and Kate didn't think much of it until the shower curtain flies open, revealing Rachel. She was walking out, naked and still drying her arms and hair with her white towel. Kate lets out a high-pitched gasp and covered her eyes.

"Oh god, I'm sorry, Kate!" She can hear Rachel loud and clear, "I didn't hear anyone come in!"

"You do that regularly?" Kate was had her hand over her eyes.

"Pretty much," Rachel had a tinge of regret in her voice, "You can look now."

Kate puts her hand down and sees Rachel finally wearing the towel around her torso.

"I'm sorry again," Rachel said with a chuckle. She had her small bag filled with a toothbrush and toothpaste.

"It's okay. It's good to be comfortable, I guess." Kate had spit out her toothpaste and wipes her mouth with a smaller hand towel.

There was an awkward silence between the two. Rachel brushed her teeth as it happened. It lasted for a couple of minutes before Rachel broke it.

She spits out her green toothpaste, "What do you think of Max?"

"She seems nice," Kate answered right away, "She walked into class late today and I thought it was pretty funny."

"Do you think she's pretty or anything?"

Kate felt how direct the question was. She can also feel Rachel's eyes staring right at her.

Kate stayed silent before replying, "I would say so."

"It's a weird question, I know. But, she's awkward and said you were pretty, but didn't want to say it to your face."

"Tell her I said thanks." Kate smiled, "But, I'm going to shower now, if you don't mind."

"Not at all," Rachel grabs her stuff so she can leave, "See you tomorrow."

Kate goes into the last shower. She never really spoke to Rachel for longer than a second before; She only ever said hi to her. The conversation only consisted of Max, which she wanted to speak to, but haven't been able to. Those two were also obviously friends, so she didn't find it too peculiar. However, Kate didn't think much of it other than to make the two friends.

She takes off her clothes before she starts the shower.

After her warm shower, she walks back with slightly damp hair, finally feeling relaxed. It was about nine PM when she finished.

The hallway was dark, quiet, and devoid of anything really. She starts to hum as she walked towards her room. She found it soothing and made it seem like she's the only person in the world.

She arrives to her room, placing her things on her couch, and paused for a moment. She hasn't turned on her laptop all day. She didn't feel the need to speak to anyone else today, but the two haven't missed a day yet.

Kate figured she would understand, maybe even for a few days so she can focus more on the photography project, but she felt guilty. She almost reached to her laptop before stopping, shaking her head, and going to her rabbit instead.

"Hey Alice," She bends over a bit to look at her rabbit directly, "I don't know what to do..."

Her black-and-white rabbit looked back at her, wiggling her nose.

She heads to her light, turning it off, and going to bed to say her prayers.

The next day, she woke up at seven AM.

She sits up and stretches her arms. She gets out of bed and fixes it, folding the blanket and straightens her pillows. She feeds Alice, smiling at her, and then grabs her bag and towel from her couch.

At this time, no one else is awake. So, she walks to the showers while she hummed only slightly ready for the day. She read the slates next to the doors as she walked; there was about three that mentions the school mascot, Bigfoot, two were puns about Chemistry, one with lyrics, two saying a quote about riches and fame, and her own that says her favorite Bible quote.

She laughs at Max's saying "You have a Nikon? I have a Cannon," with a drawn picture of a cannon under it.

She goes to the bathrooms, doing everything in her routine, down to fixing her hair into the large bun she always has it in. It took about forty-five minutes for her to finish everything. She was happy to take her time to get ready, especially on a Wednesday, alone.

She goes back to her room and places her stuff on the couch once again.

She grabs her clothes from her brown dresser by her bed, grabbing a black pencil skirt, a white shirt, a black vest, and her usual white socks and gray sneakers. Lastly, her golden cross necklace and her purity ring. The weather has been warm recently.

She had a few extra hours, so she decides, after a month, she'll go back to playing the violin. Every morning ever since she was young, she played and practiced her violin. She played the piano and flute as well, but something about the violin just makes her feel so much more ready for her day. Recently, she hasn't been doing so due to lack of sleep and overwhelmed by her peers.

She would play her scales and would play along with whatever songs she hears through the walls. Today, she played a Mozart in the dead silence.

She has gotten compliments before on her playing. You know, if Dana or Victoria weren't playing music.

When she was done, the music from other rooms have finally stopped playing. It was eight-fifteen.

It was time for breakfast for her, so she leaves her room, only to walk into Chloe's back.

"Oh shit," Chloe turns, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Kate disregards the blatant profanity.

Chloe and Max were standing in the middle of the hall, already dressed and almost like they're bickering.

Kate did not look at Chloe much, but looked at Max. She observes her black jacket, blue shirt, blue jeans, and white sneakers. Her short brown hair was slightly mess, but it fit her.

"Oh hey," Chloe grabs Max by the shoulders and pushes her towards Kate, "Hang out."

"What?" Max turns to her, "I can't just bother her."

"Actually, I'm going to breakfast right now." Kate mentions happily, "We can go eat together. I would like to finally welcome you here."

"Perfect!" Chloe turns Max around and pushes her closer to Kate again, "Maxi-pad, I will be with Rachel. Have fun!"

Chloe leaves right away.

"Where do you eat breakfast?" The two started to walk towards the exit.

"I eat at the Two Whales," Kate replies, as she looked at Max holding her bag with a death grip, "I'm guessing you've already eaten there."

"Yes, with Chloe. It was breakfast, too."

"That's good. I try to eat there every morning. If you don't mind, we have to take the bus."

"I don't mind at all. I can't drive." Max chuckled.

Kate laughs lightly, "So how are you enjoying the school?"

"Obviously I was late already, but I like it so far."

"It actually brightened my day yesterday. I wasn't feeling well."

The two walked out into the morning sun. The air was comfortable and felt their muscles relax in it. The outside was currently empty and the only person outside was the janitor walking. They start to walk out through the grass.

"Are you okay?"

"I was just really tired. I was up all night watching movies and I lost track of time."

"No way, I was watching movies too. That's the reason why I was late."

"What movie were you watching?"

"I wanted to watch one Disney princess movie, but then I ended up watching two and a half."

"Whoa, I was watching those movies, too. That's insane. Well... I watched way more."

Kate did let out a little white lie; she did actually watch about five.

The two finally arrived to the bus stop and waited for the town bus to come.