Max sat quietly in her photography class.
Tapping her pencil absently on the table, she watched as Mr. Jefferson moved about and explained things. What things? Max wasn't so sure; she was daydreaming so everything he said kind off… faded away as soon as he opened his mouth.
She had found herself daydreaming more and more. She still wasn't over her brief-but-awkward encounter with Chloe in the girls restroom over a week ago. She'd seen her around since but they didn't talk.
Not that they had anything to talk about.
But Max wanted to talk to her.
Kate was sat beside Max and she too was rather absent from the lesson at hand. She was doodling some Hawt Dog Man characters in her notepad - but thankfully Mr. Jefferson was far too busy to notice either of them not paying attention.
"Psst."
Max raised an eyebrow and looked at Kate. "Yes?"
Kate raised an eyebrow and looked at Max. "Uhm. What?"
"...did you try to get my attention?" Max asked quietly, glancing at Mr. Jefferson quickly.
"...no?" Kate replied.
As the two leaned back, they shared a look and then both shrugged. Then they actually paid attention to the lesson - for a while anyway. Eventually Max returned to her daydreams and Kate to her doodles.
"Psst!"
Max looked at Kate again but saw her focused on her doodles. She shook her head slightly and looked about - seeing everyone focused on Mr. Jefferson. Well. Mostly everyone.
Victoria was glaring at Max.
No wait. Not Max. Victoria was glaring beyond Max - behind her, through her - towards the window beside her and Kate's desk.
What?
"I'm here you doofus!"
Max swiped her head to the side and squeaked silently.
"Chloe!" she exclaimed in a whisper and quickly looked at Mr. Jefferson - finding him still droning on about things. Hopefully he would still be going on for a while. "What the hell!"
Chloe grinned as she peeked at Max through the window of her classroom - precariously balanced on her skateboard and tiptoes at once. She crossed her arms and leaned in a bit.
"Whacha doing?" she asked stupidly, glancing at Mr. Jefferson.
"...I'm in class," Max replied matter-of-factly - hearing Kate gasp silently behind her, no doubt noticing Chloe too.
"Hey Kate," Chloe added and grinned towards her too.
"Uhm. H-hi."
Max looked at Chloe, then towards Kate, then towards Victoria across the classroom - seeing her still glaring directly at Chloe. She wondered why, but didn't dwell on it as she quickly focused back on Chloe.
"What are you doing?" she asked and shuffled slightly closer to the window.
Chloe rolled her eyes and looked over her shoulder quickly, ensuring there were no teachers in sight in the courtyard. "Talking to you, duh," she replied as she gazed back at Max. "How are you?"
"...good?" Max panicked a bit when she heard Mr. Jefferson stop talking. Thankfully he was just sorting through his papers on his desk, only seconds later resuming his talk.
"Aren't you happy to see me, Mad Max?" Chloe teased and leaned in a bit more.
Max groaned and rubbed at her face but nodded anyway. "I am? ...but can you… not? If Mr. Jefferson sees you-"
"Maxine," Mr. Jefferson conveniently spoke up on cue.
Chloe almost yelped as she let go of the window and fell back. There was a sound of upturned leaves, rustling, some quiet swear words and finally silence. Nobody but Max and Kate heard it though, it seemed.
"Yes Mr. Jefferson?" Max answered back, biting her lip. She hoped Chloe was alright.
"Please - you know better than to call me Mr. Jefferson, Maxine. Mark is fine - you all know that," he addressed the class with his hands out. He smiled and then looked back at Max. "You seem distracted. Am I boring you?"
"Huh? Uh. Oh! No, not at all," Max quickly replied and shook her head. "I was just… thinking. That's all. Sorry. I'll focus now. Also its Max, never Maxine."
Mr. Jefferson lingered a bit over her, staring as he kept his mouth slightly open - as if wanting to speak. He closed it quickly however and then smiled, nodding. "Right. Good. Your education here is important - now please, focus Max."
Max waited a few seconds and breathed a sigh of relief. She looked up at the window and didn't see Chloe anymore - but she did see a piece of paper rolled up into a ball, balanced on the very edge.
She bit her lip and reached out to take it, thankfully not being spotted by Mr. Jefferson. She opened up the page and read the contents - blushing slightly.
'skate ramps after class'
She sighed and scrunched the paper up again, shoving it into her pocket.
Then again - with doubled efforts - she focused on what Mr. Jefferson was talking about.
Chloe laughed as she talked to Justin and Trevor beside her, skateboard across her lap. She leaned back a bit and reached over to grab the joint from one of them, taking a quick drag before blowing the smoke out.
Watching as they both took off down the ramp, she kept herself sitting on the edge - leaning back on her hands and glancing about. After a few seconds she closed her eyes and just…
...relaxed.
Let her worries fade away. She'd lie if she said the weed didn't help that.
"Uhm. Hey!"
With a slight gasp, Chloe opened her eyes wide and looked to the side. She quickly recovered and smiled. "Max! You actually came, holy crap!"
"Uh. Yeah!" Max replied and awkwardly stood beside Chloe, looking down at her.
Chloe stared right back up at her and kept her smile. After a second she realised and quickly shuffled to the side, patting the spot beside her. "C'mon - take a seat, Pete."
Max sat down and sighed, pulling off her bag and putting it down beside her. She crossed her hands over her lap and fumbled with her fingers nervously almost - watching Justin and Trevor down on the ramps.
There was a period of silence where Max just watched the skaters and Chloe just watched Max watching the skaters. It wasn't too awkward. But it was awkward.
"Hey, so… uh… why did you want to meet?" she asked eventually, looking at Chloe.
"Huh?" Chloe mumbled in confusion. Seconds later her brain processed what Max said. "Oh. Yeah! I dunno dude, just wanted to talk. Get to know you a bit better, seeing as fate has a funny thing for bringing us together in awkward places."
"Oh." Max looked away and bit her lip, looking down at her hands. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess it does," she said with a giggle.
Silence again. Neither of them minded though - it wasn't awkward this time for whatever reason. Maybe they already broke the ice, as it were.
"Hey, so you're from Seattle, right?" Chloe eventually spoke up, leading the conversation. "I vaguely remember you saying something like that once, near the beginning of the year."
"Uh, yeah. I'm from Seattle. You're from, uhm… Portland, right?" Max replied, looking at her.
Chloe smirked and loosened her tie a bit, letting it rest around her neck. She hated the damn thing. "Bingo. Parents sent me here because I was a little shit and got kicked out of my last school. Also the one before that. I had my reasons."
"Ooh… right," Max hummed. "My parents sent me here because it was the best school for what I wanted to study. Uhm. Photography, that is."
As they both shared a look, they also glanced away in unison - focusing on the skaters down on the ramps. Neither of them spoke yet again, shrouding themselves in silence, but they liked it.
Weird.
"Hey you two!"
Chloe looked to the side in surprise, quickly followed by Max. They both watched as Rachel approached and dropped down beside Chloe, letting her legs hang over the ramp. She put her bag down and then sighed, brushing her hair away before leaning back and facing up towards the sun.
"What you up to?" she asked after a few seconds, opening one eye to look towards Chloe, then Max.
"Oh. We were just talking. Sharing backgrounds," Chloe replied, hearing Max nod.
"Yep. Just getting to know one another," Max repeated.
Rachel looked at Chloe, then Max, then Chloe again before smirking. "Ah. Sharing backgrounds. You lot are boring," she teased and nudged Chloe with her elbow.
Chloe wasn't sure how to take that. She just cleared her throat and shrugged, looking away for just a second. "Right."
"Talking is boring." Rachel groaned and rolled her head back. "Maybe you two should come to the next Vortex party," she suggested and then looked at Max. "How's that sound, Maxine?"
"Uhm. I d-don't know…" Max trailed off and looked at her sneakers, scuffing them together. She glanced back up at Rachel after a few seconds. "Also it's Max, never Maxine."
Rachel furrowed her eyebrows briefly before smiling wide. "Right. Max it is, sorry. But no, seriously - you two need to come and hang out," she continued anyway. "I can get you into the VIP area."
"Eh. I'd rather avoid Victoria," Chloe muttered.
"Me too," Max added.
Rolling her eyes, Rachel reached forward to grab Chloe's forearm - giving it a shake. "C'mon… Victoria isn't going to kill you. Nor you, Max."
Chloe winced slightly and looked at Rachel's hand around her forearm. She cleared her throat and once again looked away. "I… actually wouldn't bet on that. Victoria has it out for me."
"That's because you have it out for her ," Rachel pointed out with a knowing look. "You're always at each other's throats - doesn't take a genius to notice that," she pointed out, leaning forward to look at Max. "You've noticed too Max, haven't you?"
Max opened her mouth and flapped it about silently for a few seconds. She looked at Chloe and then dropped her shoulders slightly. "Yeah. Yeah, you two do kinda have a rivalry of sorts…"
"Wha-" Chloe sputtered out, almost offended.
They did both have a point though. But teasing Victoria was so fun .
"It's like you're crushing one her or something…" Rachel trailed off, her smirk growing ever wider. She looked around at Max. "I bet she is, isn't she Max?"
Max once again flapped her mouth open. Seconds later she nodded yet again. "Yeah. Yeah!" she repeated herself, chuckling slightly.
Chloe blushed, shook off Rachel's hand and then shook her head afterwards. "I am not crushing on Victoria Chase! Jesus fuckin'-"
"Alright, alright!" Rachel quickly interrupted; her hands held up placatingly. "Okay - you're not crushing on Victoria Chase. Fine. My bad."
Max sort of looked away, towards the school.
Chloe kept her eyes on Justin and Trevor.
Rachel noticed, looked them both over and then rolled her eyes. She braced herself back on her elbows and closed her eyes, trying to sunbathe.
"I'm gonna hit the ramps," Chloe spoke up after a few more minutes of awkward silence.
For whatever reason, Rachel's presence sort of… made things awkward between Max and Chloe again. Ugh.
Rachel and Max both watched as Chloe stood up and promptly made her way down, skateboard in hand. Only seconds later she kicked off - joining Justin and Trevor nearby.
An hour or so later, Chloe was done. She brushed her hair back as she rolled up beside Max, kicking up her board and collapsing back down - Rachel however was nowhere to be found.
"Where'd Rachel go?" she asked, looking about before focusing on Max again.
"Oh - she said she had homework to do," Max replied, messing with her camera. She placed it down beside her and then pulled up a few polaroids - checking them over.
Chloe looked and looked and looked. Her brain clicked and she pointed at the polaroids almost immediately. "Oh, dude! You got snaps of me skating?" she exclaimed.
"Uh, yeah-"
Wasting no time, Chloe snapped up one polaroid and checked it out herself. After a few seconds she nodded. "Damn - I look that badass with a board?" she teased, glancing at Max.
Blinking, Max groaned after a few seconds. She took the polaroid back and shoved it in with the others she took. "You look okay with a skateboard," she corrected Chloe, smiling to herself.
"Ouch."
Max chuckled and fumbled with the polaroids again. "Uh. Do you want one? I was just practicing and… they suck-"
"Dude, these are amazeballs!" Chloe interrupted, grabbing the polaroids again. She quickly shuffled through them before finding one she really liked - they were all pretty fucking good though. "This. I'm keeping this - oh man."
Watching as Chloe put the polaroid in her breast pocket, she looked up at her and the two just… stared at one another for a second, two - maybe three, or perhaps four. They both snapped out of it and looked away again. "They're not very good," Max repeated.
With a groan, Chloe put the polaroids back in Max's hands - shaking her head. "Dude - these are fucking amazing , okay? Keep them for me, maybe I'll want the rest later - m'kay?"
Max still didn't believe her - it was kinda hard to - but she nodded anyway. "Alright. Fine. Uhm, anyways - I have to go myself, I got piles of homework…" she trailed off and groaned, rubbing her forehead. "Shucks."
"Really? Oh man. Let me walk you to your dorm at least?" Chloe asked, immediately perking up onto her feet. She reached her hand down, gesturing Max to take it.
Max stared and stared and stared and then finally nodded again. She took Chloe's hand and stood up with her help, taking her camera up with her. She grabbed her back, put her camera away and sighed.
"Let's go nerd!" Chloe called out - taking off on her skateboard with a laugh.
"What- hey! That's not fair!" Max shouted, quickly breaking into a run after her.
Chloe didn't actually get far - she simply got a head start, then waited over for Max. They walked the rest of the way to the dorms, talking and getting to know one another. Max learned things about Chloe and Chloe learned things about Max - which she promptly used to tease her, as Chloe would.
Though eventually they reached the girls dorms - more importantly Max's dorm room. They smiled at one another and stood outside. Chloe sort of rocked backwards and forwards on her heels, putting that extra energy to use, whilst Max just smiled like and idiot.
"So… we're here. My dorm," Max said and looked at her door. She grabbed the handle and held her hand there, waiting a few seconds. "Uh. Thanks for inviting me to hang out," she quickly added - looking back at Chloe. "It was nice."
Chloe grinned and grinned. "Yeah, I guess it was. Thanks for the polaroid too, I'm gonna hang it up in my room - shit looks rad."
Max furrowed her eyebrows and questioned the choice of words but didn't mention it. "Thanks. If you want the rest just, uh… ask."
Then they well silent and stared at one another again.
"Right. Uhm. See you soon?" Max muttered and shrugged a bit.
"Yeah. Soon. Count on it."
Max gave her another smile, cleared her throat and promptly disappeared behind her door.
Chloe stood there and watched. After a few seconds she gave herself a fist pump and whirled around on her heels - heading down the hall to her own room; almost dancing on the way there. She got a few looks but not for long.
Slamming the door behind herself, Chloe was quick to turn up her hifi and start actually dancing. It didn't take her long to grab a cigarette and spark up too, humming along to the songs as they came - taking drags in between.
She grinned.
Max was… something else. Chloe crushed on girls before, but never acted upon it - not by much anyway. Yet here was Max and Max was… Max. Dorky and awkward - yet there was more.
Chloe just couldn't pass that up.