Reviews make a writer write faster :3

Oh shit, I'm enjoying my own story! But I'm really pumped for following chapters! I have so many plans in my head! :D

Please keep reviewing, it makes me really happy :D

„I hate the zoo", Biggs said, rolling his eyes, as he sat next to his best friend in the school bus.

Alec chuckled slightly, as he kicked the seat in front of him. "Who doesn't?"

Biggs just watched him doing so, waiting for the outburst of the person who sat in said seat.

"McDowell!", a female voice came and Max turned to face him. "Stop that!"

"Stop what?", Alec asked, a devilish grin on his face.

She glared at him. "The kicking. If you kick my seat again, I will kick you in the face. That's a promise!" She turned around again.

Alec suppressed a laugh. "'That's a promise!'", he mocked and he and Biggs burst into laughter.

Max's face turned towards them again and soon a hand landed on Alec's head.

Now he was the one glaring at her, while she just smirked and looked away again.

"Interested in her, aren't you?", Biggs whispered, silent enough, so she wouldn't hear them.

The blonde looked at his best friend with wide eyes, showing confusion and even a little fear. Then he switched to his mask again and rolled his eyes. "Oh, please." He looked out of the window. "I'm so out of her league anyways." He suddenly started to kick the seat again.

Biggs heard Max mumble: "I'm so going to kill him" and he grinned quietly to himself. Oh, boring love stories, how I've missed that.

They got out of the bus, Max smiling wide. She eyed Mr. Cale the whole time and then noticed OC rolling her eyes. "What?", she asked.

"Nothing, Boo", she said. "'s just that you're just going to hurt yourself eventually."

Max bumped her shoulder against her best friends'. "Oh, come on, OC! It's not like I'm actually planning on marrying him or whatsoever…" But suddenly she did imagine a wedding, where she stood next to Mr. Cale at the Altar, saying yes and kissing him and…

"Max!", Cindy's voice came to her, while she was tossed around by her friend. "Groups are being read."

The girls' joined the group, as Mrs. Beaver read: "Alec McDowell, uh… Biggs… Max Guevara and Cynthia McEachin – group 3."

Closing her eyes, Max groaned out in annoyance way too loud, because everyone suddenly stared at her. Opening her eyes again, she found Alec's green eyes, glittering in amusement.

She glared at him for a second, then turned away to look at Original Cindy, who was very close to break out into laughter. "Don't you dare", the brunette girl whispered and rubbed her eyes.

Now the day was going down already. Having Alec kick your seat for almost an hour in a small school bus was bad enough, but now having to work with him the whole day… She couldn't think of anything worse.

"… group 9. So, that's it. Get to your groups and fill in everything you can find. We meet each other here again… In 3 hours! Have fun!" With that, Mrs. Beaver gave everyone a sheet of paper and then went away.

Alec and Biggs came over to the girls and Max kept herself from rolling her eyes again. That grin on Alec's face… Ugh, why can't he be normal?

"Okay, ladies", he said looking at his sheet. "First stop… the monkeys."

"Why the monkeys?", Max asked, staring up at him confused. She always forgot how tall he actually was! Or she was just very short. Maybe a bit of both.

Alec shrugged. "I like monkeys."

The brunette shook her head showing him the map. "The lions are much closer. Let's go there first."

Pouting, Alec nodded. "Fine. But then – monkeys."

"We'll see", she mumbled, trying to keep herself from commenting on Alec and monkeys.

They walked for a while, got the answers for the lion and went on to the monkeys. Alec just stood before them a long time, a stupid grin on his face. When everyone turned to leave, he didn't move at all.

While OC and Biggs went on, Max looked back at the blonde guy and noticed a quite sad look in his eyes. She felt the need to reach out to him, when she realized who she was thinking about. That here was Alec. He would manage. "Hey", she called out, her voice soft. She didn't intended it to be so soft, but now she couldn't take it back.

Alec looked at her, surprised. "Oh", he said. "Sorry", he said and went to her. He stood there for a second, right beside her, but he suddenly shook his head and went on, without a single word.

Max looked after him, feeling weirdly confused and even a little hurt.

When they were done with everything on their sheets, the four of them just sat down somewhere, ate ice-cream and talked a little.

Biggs was just telling a story about his 3 years life in Colorado. OC was listening, Alec was just staring into the sky, knowing the story already. He thought that Max was listening, too, but he noticed, how she glanced at him from time to time, her mouth opening and closing soon after.

Eventually, he was pretty annoyed, so he just got up, turning his back to his friends, apologizing and walking away. He walked around for a while, taking in the zoo, when he came to a stand right in front of the seals.

He didn't even need to turn around when he heard someone stepping up beside him. He knew exactly who this was.

"I like seals", Max said, leaning on the railing. "They have something jolly, don't you think?" She looked at him.

He stared back at her and shrugged. "Yeah, maybe." His gaze was then fixed on one single seal. Why won't she just leave me alone?

The brunette nodded and went silent again. They stood like that for several minutes and right when Alec had decided to turn around and leave again, she said: "What's wrong?"

His eyes met hers and he saw sincerity in them. "Nothing."

"Tell me", she demanded, scooting closer. "You can't hide it from me. I can see right through you, you know? You've let your guard down."

If anyone knew how it was to wear a mask the whole time it was Max. She didn't seem like it, but she was much more broken than she would admit. "Yeah, maybe. But it's nothing I can't figure out myself."

She reached out for him and brushed his arm, but he jumped away, afraid of her touch, fearing, that she'd burn him. "Alec, you've let your guard down", she almost whispered and he took a deep breath. He noticed, that she had just used his first name. It was something they never did. Calling each other by first names. Sure, Alec called her Maxie from time to time, but that was only to annoy her. Having her say his name showed, how serious she was. And the look in her eyes held understanding, no pity. It made his heart swell and he wanted to pull her into an embrace, but stopped himself. "You don't do that. Never ever."

He nodded shortly and then ran a hand through her hair, a smirk on his face. "I'm flattered that you care, Maxie, really am, but…" A sigh left him and Max grabbed the hand he just ran through her hair and held it tight. "It's nothing I can talk about, Max", he nearly whispered, resisting the urge to intertwine their fingers.

She nodded softly releasing his hand. "Okay, I just…" Max took a deep breath and stared right into Alec's eyes. "I just want you to know, that, even though I'm such a bitch to you most of the time, I'm still there if you need someone to talk. Alright?"

A little smile came to his lips and he ruffled through the young woman's hair. "I try to remember that."

Max smiled back at him and then they both started walking back to their group. Neither Biggs nor OC said anything and while getting into the bus, neither of them said anything about Max and Alec sitting down at the exact seats than before: Max right in front of Alec.

They sat in silence, when Alec started to kick her seat again. She turned to glare at him and he just smiled. Suddenly she started to giggle and turned around, out of his sight.

"You okay, Boo?", he heard OC whisper, but Max didn't stop giggling.

Instead she just said: "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. I'm pretty good actually."

Alec smiled and looked out of the window, after he caught Biggs' confused expression. Yeah. Fine. Pretty good. I feel amazing.