A few hours later, after lunch and tea with Kate, Max walked through empty halls to the Photography Lab room.

One advantage of having no teacher is that I can ignore the bells, Max thought, and I got to spend more time with Kate. I'm glad she invited me...I'm not sure I could've handled that big lunch group that Beta Max described...and if I ate alone I'd be doing nothing but thinking about Chloe's super-secret date plans.

Kate had declined to join Max in the Photography Lab; Max hadn't been surprised and had encouraged Kate to take the time to read or draw instead.

It's so sad that Kate doesn't enjoy photography anymore, Max thought, clenching her fists, Jefferson managed to ruin so much...both big and small...what a complete and total asshole. At least Kate knows that she can talk to me...or Chloe...about what happened. It was hard to tell her about Nathan drugging Chloe...and about me being "on Jefferson's list"...but now she knows that she really isn't alone. And someday I'll tell her what actually happened. It feels so weird to have already told her...and Warren...and now they don't remember a thing.

Max reached the lab room, stepped in, and stopped in her tracks, groaning internally.

The room had only one occupant browsing photos on one of the lab's computers: Victoria, her back towards Max.

I really don't want to put effort into Operation Gooey Center right now, Max thought, I just want to go through my photos and get back in the groove. Victoria normally doesn't help with that kind of thing...

Max quietly stepped into the room and walked to one of the larger tables. She chose a spot where she'd be facing Victoria's back and silently put her bag on the table. She wanted to try to organize her current photos into some semblance of...something. It was about time that she started to pick out photos that she could send to schools...or even to publications...and her lack of organization wasn't going to help that. And, as a side project, she'd been thinking about making some albums for herself.

I'll have to be super quiet to avoid any unwanted input from Victoria, Max thought, I guess I could go back to my room...but I really don't want to do this on my floor or on my bed. These big tables are perfect for what I need. Ugh, silence it is.

She sat down as quietly as she could but a loud creak from the stool caused Victoria to jump and spin around. Max winced...so much for avoiding Victoria's attention.

"Oh, it's you," Victoria said. Max noticed that the sneer that Victoria typically displayed for her seemed significantly less prominent.

"I gave it about a fifty-fifty chance as to whether you'd show up here or be out getting wasted or something with your punk girlfriend," Victoria said.

Max stared and thought, um...okay, I guess I do have to put some effort into Operation Gooey Center, as difficult as that feels right now. So the question is...do I ignore what she said, confront it, or redirect it?

"So...what are you working on?" Max said, deciding to ignore Victoria's jab.

"You cannot be interested in what I'm doing," Victoria said, "which means something I said hit a nerve. Getting wasted, maybe? Moral Max never sips the bottle? Or maybe the girlfriend part? Maybe you wanted Chloe in the shower with you this morning?"

"Damn, Victoria, you really make this difficult," Max said, wrinkling her nose.

Victoria frowned and opened her mouth but Max rewound before Victoria could speak.

"...punk girlfriend."

Max opened her mouth to say something vague and dismissive about hanging out with Chloe later but stopped.

What if I just go with it? Max thought, be all super chill and honest...well...mostly honest. Might be fun to see what happens. And if I mess up, I can just rewind.

"Actually," Max said, smiling, "my punk girlfriend and I are going to hang out after class."

"Drinking, smoking pot, or fucking?" Victoria said with a smirk, "or all three?"

"Probably not drinking," Max said, surprised at how casual she was keeping her tone...surprise that was mirrored in Victoria's face, "Chloe likes beer and I hate beer so that's not happening. As for weed, that's probably off the table too. I've never tried it and Chloe knows that...so I think Chloe would give me some notice if she was going to offer." Max shrugged.

"As for sex…," she continued, "I don't know, Victoria. We haven't even been on a date...so I'm pretty sure sex isn't in the cards...and that's before getting to the question of interest. So yeah, it's probably just food, movies and music for us. And maybe, if we're feeling bold, sneaking around town. But that's good enough for us."

Max put as genuine of a smile on her face as she could, inwardly laughing at Victoria's confused expression.

"Yeah...that's good...great," Victoria said, "now, if you'll excuse me."

She spun back around to her screen, clicking through more photos.

If she were a robot, Max thought, I'm sure, "does not compute...does not compute…" would be flashing in her brain...I think this is another win for Operation Gooey Center.

Max grinned and began removing stacks of polaroid photos from her bag, scattering them on the table in front of her. Victoria glanced over her shoulder at the noise and a brief sneer touched her face...she opened her mouth but then closed it almost immediately, her brow furrowed, and returned her attention to her screen.

Wow, Max thought, her eyebrows raised, that was definitely a win for Operation Gooey Center...she actually passed over an opportunity to make fun of me...

Max started stacking her photos into piles according to category: animal shots, nature shots, place shots, selfies (which quickly became the biggest pile), and miscellaneous. Halfway through, she became frustrated and mixed them together again, deciding instead to sort them by where she took them. However, a few minutes in, she found herself unhappy with that as well.

She drummed her fingers on the table before saying, on a whim, "hey, Victoria? How do you organize your photos?"

Without turning, Victoria said, "by date."

"Er...what if you don't have the dates?" Max said.

"What do you mean?" Victoria said, turning around, "every photo is saved with...oh, right, analog retro zone."

"Yep," Max said with a smile, tapping William's old camera.

"Have you tried organizing by category?" Victoria said.

"Yeah, but it wasn't really clicking for me," Max said.

"Let me guess: the selfie stack was as tall as you are," Victoria said.

"I do have a reputation to maintain," Max said.

Victoria smiled and Max thought, wowser, that's a real smile...from Victoria...at me...who is this person and what has she done with Victoria Chase?

"Then perhaps you should try organizing them by emotional impact," Victoria said, "how do you feel when you look at the photo? I'd also separate out any that have a very strong impact on you; those are probably your favorites and those are the ones you'll want to submit."

"Thanks, Victoria," Max said, "I'll try that."

Victoria nodded in response and turned back to her work.

Max began doing as Victoria suggested, although she found it difficult at first to decide which emotions she would use as her categories. She had to re-sort a few times as she went...but found herself decently satisfied with the resulting stacks.

It's sure as hell better than what I had before...which, admittedly, was nothing, Max thought.

She then reached into her bag and pulled out the emergency photos, most of which had been taken by Beta Max. Max had glanced through them before and agreed with what Beta Max had mentioned in the journal: they definitely were not her best work. A few of them, however, impressed Max enough to add them to the other stacks.

She paused as she did so, feeling a pang of doubt.

Hmm...these are the emergency photos, she thought, maybe I should keep them together. But...it's been a while since most of these were taken and I only took out...um...three so far. Seems okay to me.

She continued through the emergency photos and came across an out of focus shot of what appeared to be a wooden panel. She rotated it and peered at it carefully, finally deciding that it must be a desk. She was about to toss it but figured that Beta Max might have intentionally kept it; she placed it back in the emergency pile.

Max put away the remaining emergency photos and started putting her other photos into labelled envelopes. As she filled her last envelope, Victoria stretched at her seat and stood up, turning to look at Max with her arms crossed.

Max froze, holding a small stack of photos in the air.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Have you heard anything about our new photography teacher?" Victoria asked.

"No, nothing at all," Max said, "have you?"

"No," Victoria said, frowning, "and it's fucking annoying. One of the reasons I came to this school in the first place was for Mark Jefferson...um, his class, of course. How was I supposed to know he was a fucking psychopath? I should take Chloe's advice and go punch him in the face."

"I've been thinking about visiting him," Max said, anger bubbling inside, "and giving him a real verbal smackdown...really dig down to his deepest pride and tear it to shreds. I'd tell him that none of his photography will ever matter again because all he'll be remembered for is kidnapping and drugging girls...and for murdering one. I'd tell him that all of his work...everything he's ever accomplished...doesn't mean a thing anymore: all of his books are getting pulled from shelves and all of his photos are being taken down. I'd tell him...very clearly...that his entire legacy is being completely erased...except for the fact that he is a fucking monster."

Victoria listened with her mouth open in surprise.

"Holy shit, Max, you're devious," Victoria said, her lips curling into a smile.

"Think it would work?" Max said.

"Fuck yes," Victoria said, "please tell me if you're going to do it; I would give anything to see his face when you lay that out."

Max nodded with a smile.

"Well, thanks for that, Max," Victoria said, grabbing her bag, "you made my day. Good luck with your photo organization."

"Thanks," Max said.

As Victoria made her way across the room, a sudden thought popped into Max's head.

"Hey, Victoria?" Max said.

"Yeah?" Victoria said, turning.

"Why don't we teach the class?" Max said.

"What?" Victoria said.

"Why don't we teach the photography class?" Max repeated, "until the new teacher arrives."

Victoria tapped her lips with a finger, thinking.

"You know," she finally said, "that's not a horrible idea. What are you thinking?"

"Well...Mr. Jefferson had a pretty detailed syllabus," Max said, "and you know a lot about history and techniques. I think you'd be able to cover most or all of the topics that were planned for the next few weeks."

Victoria looked a little startled at the compliment.

"Er...thanks, Max," Victoria said, "but you said 'we'...what would you be teaching?"

"Um...I figured that without Jefferson's pompous lecturing, most of the topics will go much faster," Max said, "you...um...tend to be more to the point, after all."

Victoria nodded and Max continued, "so I figured that the rest of the time could be used for peer feedback. I'd lead us in providing constructive criticism of each other's work."

"I did always wonder why we weren't doing more of that," Victoria said, "but you're right, Mar...Jefferson was such a pompous ass, which is so much more obvious in hindsight. Remember how he'd just grab someone's photos in lab and critique them himself?"

Max nodded and said, "I'll admit that he was good at balancing praise for good work with suggestions for improvement but it's true...we didn't get many chances to do that as a group."

Victoria nodded slowly.

"Alright, let's do this," she said, "I'll prepare notes for lecture and tell you how long each one will take. You prepare a format for constructive criticism and assign people to bring in photos. Two people per class, a few photos each?"

"Sounds good to me," Max said, "and we can adjust the format as we go."

"Excellent," Victoria said, "I'll send out an email to the class about this and we'll start with this tomorrow."

Max smiled and nodded.

Victoria left and Max sat alone in the photography lab.

Wowser, Max thought, I think I've found a whole new branch of Operation Gooey Center...I'm actually planning out how to teach a class with Victoria Chase. Not the weirdest thing that's happened over the last couple of weeks but still way outside of normal. I...think I need to re-evaluate my definition of normal.

Max finished stuffing her photos into their designated envelopes. She pulled out her phone to check for messages from Chloe just as the bell rang. None. A stream of worry began trickling into Max's mind...until she remembered that Chloe was doing something for their date. Max's worry fell away and she smiled. Then questions began bubbling up into her mind and she had to quickly shove them away.

If I start wondering about what this date is going to be like, Max thought, I will drive myself crazy.

Max packed her bag and made her way through the throng of students in the hall to her Life Drawing class. As usual, the room's seats were arranged a pair of concentric circles and Max breathed a sigh of relief to see that Manny the Mannequin sat on the stool in the center of the room. Max knew, when she signed up for Life Drawing, that it would eventually involve drawing real people...real people that, at some point, would be nude. She didn't consider herself a prude...but the idea of sitting in a room with a bunch of her fellow students, staring at a naked person...and drawing them...made her insides twist. So far, they'd only used Manny, with Mrs. Welch posing the mannequin's limbs in various positions to get the class familiar with drawing the human form without having to worry yet about minute details. Max dreaded the day when there would be a person in the center of the room. She was sure she'd get over it, but that didn't do much to reduce her apprehension.

Why did I sign up for this class again? Max thought, oh right...I wanted to 'stretch my artistic comfort zone.'

She quietly snorted and chose her usual seat in the outer ring of desks and pulled out her Life Drawing notebook, papers, and pencils. Daniel was already in the room, sitting almost directly across from her. They waved to each other and Daniel went back to sketching...he was in his element here.

I wonder if Daniel...or any of the rest of the class...is as freaked out as I am about the prospect of drawing naked people, Max thought, sighing, if Chloe ever did what she threatened and show up to model for this class, I would die.

Max imagined walking into the classroom to see Chloe sitting in Manny's spot, wearing a robe and a mischievous grin.

"Hi, Max," she imagined Chloe saying, "looks like I found a way to force you to watch me undress."

She then imagined Chloe slipping the robe off of her shoulders...and quickly squashed those thoughts as the rest of the class filed in.

Mrs. Welch stepped through the door at the exact moment the bell rang. Max had noticed weeks ago that Mrs. Welch smiled each time she did that

It must be a little game that she plays, Max thought.

For the first half hour of class, Mrs. Welch explained the day's poses for Manny, including details about the musculature involved. Max firmly believed that she'd learned more about human anatomy in this Life Drawing class than in any biology or health class she'd ever taken.

After Mrs. Welch finished the introduction, she made some minor adjustments to Manny and opened up the free drawing time.

Max glanced over at Daniel as they started, seeing him grin widely as he opened his sketchbook and squinted at Manny.

Max smiled at Daniel's obvious enjoyment and began her own sketch. She didn't think of herself as a particularly talented sketch artist...although Warren had told her otherwise when he'd caught a peek of her notebook. She felt a pang at that and thought, in a voice that sounded like Chloe's, dude, stop giving yourself so much shit. You're hella talented...Warren thinks you're good and if you showed your sketches to other people, they'd probably say the same.

Max smiled slightly.

Okay fine, she thought, I'm actually good at stuff.

Hell yeah you are, said the Chloe-like voice.

Max continued her sketch, drawing the ovoids that comprised Manny's body, erasing and penciling over any grievous mistakes. She found it interesting that she sketched in pen in her journal, where mistakes couldn't be erased. And yet, she'd never really felt the need to correct mistakes there...she'd therefore begun to adopt the suspicion that her sketches and drawings were much better when she wasn't expecting anyone to look at them.

After just ten minutes, Mrs. Welch rotated Manny to give the class a new perspective; he was now facing nearly away from Max. For the next sketch, Mrs. Welch encouraged everyone to try to fill in some of the gaps in Manny's appearance to make him look more human.

After a few minutes of sketching, Max began to zone out...her eyes and hand seemed to work with minimal involvement from her brain. Her thoughts wandered and she imagined Manny having a shock of blue hair...and then Manny became Chloe in her mind, sitting on the stool with arms crossed above the skull on her tank top and a defiant scowl on her face (but with a subtle wink over at Max). Max smiled...that seemed like the pose Chloe would take: classic badass punk. Max absentmindedly sketched torn jeans over Manny's legs. She drew all the way to the torso before a thought struck her: Manny wasn't in the same pose that she was imagining Chloe in. The thought abruptly woke her out of her dreamy daze.

What am I doing? Max thought, looking down at her half-complete sketch, I'm not sure I should be drawing Chloe here…

She began to erase and sketch over the jeans, realizing with some embarrassment that Mrs. Welch probably wanted them to draw Manny as if he were nude. She started drawing legs in place of the jeans and within a few minutes, she'd zoned out again and her mind wandered back to Chloe. This time, Max's daydreaming put Chloe in the same pose as Manny: turned mostly away with an arm stretched out above. Max imagined Chloe in her pajamas so that she could draw the legs properly. Soon her mind wandered further, taking permission from Mrs. Welch for Chloe's clothes to vanish. It was okay...Manny...or Chloe...was facing mostly away. Max sketched Chloe's back and shoulders. She sketched an arm to match the mannequin's before bringing her pencil back down to the lightly sketched ovoid that represented Manny's head. She sketched in hair...just like Chloe's as it looked from behind. She glanced up at Manny.

Hmm, she thought hazily, the pose is twisted a little this way...so I think…, she drew a slight curve and then adjusted another curve, and down there, you'd definitely see…, she drew another set of curves and a line...and then stopped, staring wide-eyed at her sketch.

Oh shit, Max thought, I definitely just drew Chloe...naked.

She was about to flip the page and start over when Mrs. Welch's quiet voice came over Max's shoulder, making her jump, "Miss Caulfield, this is excellent work; excellent! I've noticed that your work tends to improve significantly when you let it come naturally."

Max managed a chuckle despite her rapidly reddening face and said, "yeah...me too."

"Well," Mrs. Welch said, looking down at a clipboard, "let me just mark this down as a job well done for today's work," she scratched a few notes down, "so no homework for you. I look forward to what you can do with a real model."

Max groaned inwardly.

Mrs. Welch wandered away and Max quickly closed her sketchbook to hide her work. She considered rewinding but did not want to redo the entire class...particularly since it would add even more time before her date…

Max sat up straight at that thought and leaned over to look up at the clock: 3:45.

Holy shit, Max thought, her eyes wide, only fifteen minutes until Chloe picks me up!

The butterflies in her stomach that had subsided throughout the day returned in abundance. She grinned widely, her feelings flipping back and forth between giddiness and nervousness.

I can't believe that I'm about to go on a date...a real date...with Chloe, Max thought.

As if answering her thoughts, Max's phone buzzed.

Max glanced over and, seeing that Mrs. Welch was deeply engrossed in Daniel's work, grabbed her phone.

Chloe: yo maxaroni
Chloe: on my way to pick you up
Chloe: and i dont even need a pick up line
Chloe: cuz u already said yes
Chloe: hope ur ready
Chloe: for awesomesauce

Ready? Max thought, oh crap...do I need to dress up? Or...I don't know...put on a fancy hat or something? What do people do to prepare for a date? Oh my god I hope I don't smell.

Max glanced around the room and, seeing that no one was looking her way, quickly ducked her head down to sniff under her arms.

Okay okay, no cause for alarm, Max thought, I do not smell. Good. But do I need anything else? I...I'll just ask Chloe...she'll be cool with it...I think.

Max cringed and began typing.

Max: Hey, do I need to bring anything on this awesome date?
Max: Or get dressed up or something?
Chloe: dude, i bet ur sitting there
Chloe: wondering if u need a fancy hat
Chloe: amirite?

I swear she can read my mind, Max thought, I guess that's what you get when you end up dating your best friend.

Max: Yeah pretty much
Chloe: ha!
Chloe: no dont need anything
Chloe: wait
Chloe: actually yes
Chloe: u need to wear a big frilly hat
Chloe: nice dress too
Chloe: underwear optional
Chloe: and perfume
Chloe: like half a bottle
Max: OMG
Max: I would look (and smell) insane
Chloe: i think youd look cute AF
Chloe: but seriously
Chloe: u dont need to do anything
Chloe: date is with max
Chloe: not fancymax
Chloe: just want max!
Max: :D
Chloe: no
Chloe: i take it back
Max: :(
Max: Imagine my face if you said that to me in person
Chloe: dammit
Chloe: shit
Chloe: so cute and sad
Chloe: in frilly hat and dress no underwear
Chloe: fine i take back the take back
Max: Aww thanks, Chloe
Max: You're the best
Chloe: and now i have that in writing
Chloe: 10 minutes
Chloe: be there
Chloe: dont care if fancymax
Chloe: or hipstermax
Chloe: underwear still optional
Max: dork

Max quickly shoved her drawing materials into her bag and packed up her notes. When the bell rang, she was first out the door and walked quickly through the hallways, dodging other students as they exited their classrooms.

She left the building and practically skipped down the stairs. She stopped at the curb, a huge smile on her face, and rocked backwards and forwards on her feet, her heart pounding.

Okay...now I can finally think about this: what did Chloe plan? Max thought, glad that she'd been distracted enough during the day to not have that thought as her constant companion, a special movie night? Maybe she bought Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within...or maybe she's taking us to a really nice place for dinner...er...wait, if that was it, she probably would have wanted me to dress up. Oh, or maybe she packed a picnic and we're going up to the lighthouse.

Max's thoughts were terminated and her heart seemed to jump into her throat as Chloe's truck appeared and rolled towards her.

Chloe inched the truck to a stop in front of Max, grinning, her eyes covered by a pair of aviators. Max crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow but a smile tugged at her lips.

"'Sup," Chloe said with an upward nod.

"'Sup," Max responded, suppressing a laugh.

Chloe removed her aviators and hopped out of the truck, walking over to stand in front of Max.

"So," she said, "you ready to do this thing?"

"Hell yeah," Max said.

Chloe grinned and opened the passenger door, motioning Max inside.

"Ah, I'm liking this," Max said.

"Special date, special treatment," Chloe said.

"You mean I don't get special treatment otherwise?" Max said with a lopsided grin.

Chloe paused and said, "shit, yeah, I should probably think things through before I say them."

"That's okay, Chloe," Max said, "I'll just expect you to always open doors for me from now on."

"Yes, oh powerful time wizard," Chloe said, bowing, "all the better to get a nice view of your ass."

Max shook her head as Chloe laughed and returned to the driver's seat.

"So, butts aside, where are we going for this super secret date?" Max said.

"Nope, you find out when we get there," Chloe said, pulling the truck onto the road.

"Taking me to the lighthouse?" Max said.

"No, but that's a hella good idea...maybe next time," Chloe said.

"Hmm...taking me to the beach?" Max said.

"Well...hey, wait a second, you're just going to keep asking about places until you run out of options," Chloe said, "so nope, no more answers."

"Is it the Two Whales?" Max said.

Chloe snorted and said, "okay fine, that one I can say no to...awesome place, sure...but not for our first date."

Max liked the sound of that...our first date, she thought, it feels so real now…

They drove along the road away from Blackwell and into the woods. Max pursed her lips and watched the trees zip by.

Where are we going? Max thought, this is taking us away from town...I hope she's not intending on having our first date at the Prescotts' house...er...she wouldn't, would she? I...I'll just trust that she knows what she's doing.

"So, how was your naked drawing class?" Chloe said.

"No naked people yet, just Manny," Max said.

"Manny?" Chloe said.

"Yeah, Manny the Mannequin," Max said.

"Ha, clever," Chloe said.

"Mrs. Welch did have us try to draw Manny as if he were real today," Max said, "and I ended up daydreaming and drawing y…"

Oh shit, Max thought, blushing, I can't believe I just said that...maybe she didn't notice...

Max turned to see Chloe looking at her, eyes sparkling with mischief.

"You drew who now?" she said.

"I...um...you," Max said, bowing to the inevitable.

"Are you saying that you drew me? In class?" Chloe said, "Max! I'm astonished. And...was this perchance a nude drawing?"

Max, her face growing substantially redder, said, "er...yes...kind of...but it was from behind…"

"That's what she said," Chloe interjected, earning her a smack on the arm.

"...and yeah...um...no clothes," Max finished.

"Please tell me you have that drawing," Chloe said.

"Yeah...it's in my bag," Max said.

"And please tell me you'll show me," Chloe said.

"Er...okay," Max said.

"Max, you are honestly super adorable," Chloe said.

"I can't believe I'm going to show you that drawing," Max said.

"Just pretend it's a feedback session," Chloe said, "aaaaand, here we are."

They drove around a bend in the road and Chloe pulled the truck off of the road, parking behind Frank's RV. Max thought that the spot looked vaguely familiar but she couldn't quite place it.

"We aren't having our date in Frank's RV, are we?" Max said.

"Oh yeah," Chloe said, stopping the truck, "figured it would give us insight into our future as RV travellers and would also provide a ready chaperone in the form of Frank."

Max raised an eyebrow.

"Max, we both know that if we're left alone, you'll be all over me," Chloe said, "I need to have someone to watch over us. You know, to protect my fragile innocence."

"I know that you're kidding...but I'm not sure how much of that was a joke," Max said.

"Everything, of course," Chloe said, "I'm the chaperone."

"What a phenomenally terrible idea," Max said, chuckling.

Chloe hopped out of the truck laughing and Max followed.

The RV door swung open and Frank stepped out.

"Finally," he called out.

"What the hell, dude," Chloe said, "I said I'd be back in, like, twenty minutes."

"Yeah yeah," Frank said, reaching behind him into the RV.

He pulled out a rectangular cloth box and a paper grocery bag, handing them over to Chloe. Max approached slowly.

"Ah, so you are the one this is all about," Frank said, smiling at Max.

Chloe stepped over to Max with the bag in one hand and the box propped on her shoulder.

"Yep yep," Chloe said, "she's the one."

Those words made Max's heart flutter.

"She's been talkin' about you all day," Frank said.

"Frank's been helping; wouldn't've been possible without him," Chloe said.

"Wow...um, thanks, Frank," Max said.

"No problem," Frank said, "finally getting out and doing something. Feels good...anyways, you girls have a good time."

"Will do, Frank. See you later," Chloe said.

"Bye," Max said.

Frank waved and shut his door; the RV's engine sputtered to life and Frank drove away.

"Alright, G, let's go!" Chloe said, leading the way into the woods.


Author's Note: I had a lot of debate with myself about "fluff" in this story. There are a set of core questions that this story seeks to answer...which don't include things like "how do Max and Victoria deal with not having a photography teacher?"...so I was very tempted to just remove anything not directly related to those core questions. However, I ended up really liking some of the interactions and information that came out of these tangents to the story, particularly the ones that delve deeper into Max and Chloe's relationship. So, if something gave a new insight or new information about a relationship or a different angle on Max's life, I ended up keeping it, erring to the idea that most readers really like Max and Chloe and that hopefully you'll like spending more time with them. I did end up taking out some things...for instance, I actually had Max's lunch with Kate all written out...and the scene in a previous chapter where David admits his use of surveillance in the house was originally much longer. But while those had some nice elements to them, neither of them really offered anything new, so I cut them out. Anyways, there are sort of three different types of passages in this story: 1. Core Question stuff, 2. Max & Chloe Relationship stuff, and 3. Life of Max stuff (which was what a lot of this chapter was)...those categories aren't necessarily mutually exclusive and there's definitely some overlap...but, as the story progresses, 1 & 2 do become more prominent...