A/N: Updating schedule? I has it. But I threw it out of the window. Why, I dunno. XD; Er, hopefully this will get updated more regularly from now on, because somehow "updating every two weeks" turned into "submit one whenever I feel like it." I'm sorry?

Also, someone please shoot me. I nearly submitted chapter four of the original version of this story. I have no idea.

Duplicity

Chapter 4: Absolute Disaster

.~.~.~.~.

"You're joking," I said weakly, watching as Max laid a fishing rod against the doorframe, smiling happily at me.

"Nope! Today you're going to participate in the Fishing Contest and impress Rosalind. I already told my father that you're participating, so there's no backing out now!" He said brightly, and I resisted the growing urge to slam my head against the wall. Or Max's head. At least it wouldn't be as painful to me and be just as satisfying.

"Max, I told you I didn't want to do this! You know I'm no good at fishing!" I whined, staring at the pole like it offended me. Which it had, on many occasions. "There are plenty of other ways to get Rosalind to notice me more that don't involve embarrassing myself."

"You're not going to embarrass yourself," Max declared confidently, winking at me. I just scowled back in response. That was a lie if I ever heard one.

"Yes I am," I retorted, "there is no way I can pull off catching anything, much less a fish bigger than Kyle can catch. Dorothy is better at it than me." And she was terrified of the fish—she freaked out whenever one came near her that was still alive and wiggling.

There was a small crash in the other room, and I jumped out of my chair, ignoring Max for the time being to check, finding Dorothy stuttering apologies while my mother picked up shards of glass. Shaking my head, I turned back to Max.

He rolled his eyes, waving off my previous comment. "Details. I know you'll catch the biggest fish anyone has ever seen, because I am going to help."

I blinked at him, raising an eyebrow. Wasn't that cheating? "Max, you can't help, that's cheating."

Max deflated a little, but didn't give up. "What they don't know won't hurt them. Come on, it'll be fun!"

"No," I replied confidently. He was not going to convince me, no matter how much he tried.

.~.~.~.~.

"This is possibly the worst idea on the face of the planet." I sighed, staring out at the sea, watching it ripple against the line in the water. After Max had come into the Clinic holding a fishing rod, I knew I was in for trouble. It was totally unfair how easily he had been able to make me go along with this. I wasn't going to admit what Max had used to convince me to agree, but it involved a lot of blackmail; particularly with things that had happened when we were younger.

Curse my girlish appearance and being friends with girls who liked to play dress-up. That was all I was going to say on the subject.

"No it's not, stop being such a kill-joy," Max said cheerfully, elbowing me lightly in the side from his place next to me on the dock. I flinched, scooting away from him a little.

"I'm not being a killjoy, I'm being realistic," I replied sourly, shifting a little on the prickly wood of the pier. It was splintery and old, worn down by the ships that came in regularly, and highly uncomfortable to sit on. "Even Barrett thought you were out of your mind." He was participating as well, and when we ran into him on the way and explained what was going on he was sending me looks that told me he was truly sorry I had been dragged into this and Max ones that clearly said he thought he was a little insane. Not that the idea was anything new, but I digress.

Max huffed in response. "I am not. My ideas are always brilliant and always work."

I had to laugh at that one, stifling my giggles into my arm. "Sure they do." Max fixed on me with an angry stare, looking a little insulted. "Like the time you thought it would be a good idea to try and tame a Woolly, so you could show Jake that you weren't a priss or pussy or whatever it was he called you. Or when that rumor of a ghost hanging around the front door to the Clinic was going around, and you thought you could catch it by laying a trap." My mom had ended up getting tied up in a net, and both Max and I had been grounded for weeks. It was horrible. "Or the time you got drunk and—"

"Alright, alright, I get the point!" Max whimpered slightly, affronted. "So my adventurous ideas don't always work. But my ideas about wooing the female species always work!" he boasted, and I rolled my eyes. "After all, I am the best at appreciating the intricate minds of women, as well as their beauty." I groaned; he was going to go off on a rant about how awesome he was in a few minutes if I didn't stop him…

"Hey Max?"

"Hmm?"

"Your ego is showing, and I'd rather not see it," I said dryly, staring despondently at the water. This was not fun, I told myself. This was totally not fun at all.

Max laughed loudly. "Well if you've got it, flaunt it!"

I groaned, burying my face in my hands. This was going to be a long day.

.~.~.~.~.

And a long day it was.

"I seriously cannot believe you haven't caught anything yet," Max whined gloomily, looking just about bored to tears, as was I. "We've been out here for hours. There's only about two hours left until my father calls time, and you haven't even gotten one bite. Not. One." The day had been spent mostly in silence, staring dully out at the line in the water, waiting for something to happen. Julia had dropped by at about noon, which I was relieved for—finally, a distraction—but Max shooed her away, saying something about making sure the noise level was down so that the fish wouldn't be scared away or something. I had been more than a little bit miffed at him by that point, which was growing in leaps and bounds with nearly everything he did.

I snorted, glaring at him. "I told you so. You know I'm no good at this. But no, you insisted, and didn't listen to me. You never listen to me. You just get an idea in your head and can't let go of it, no matter how idiotic it seems to everyone else." I sighed. "And then I get dragged into it anyway."

"Hey! I was just trying to help!" Max replied angrily. "Maybe you should come up with your own idea next time."

"Maybe I will!" I huffed, pulling the line out of the water. There was really no reason to keep on trying, nothing was going to happen in the next two hours if nothing had happened in the last five. I couldn't believe I had let Max con me into trying this… "This is pointless. I'm going home," I said curtly, handing him back his fishing pole and standing up.

"You're giving up?" Max questioned, and I was a little confused on why he sounded surprised.

"Why not? If I haven't caught anything by now, I doubt I'm going to catch anything before time is called. There's no point in just sitting here arguing with you." Max took on a crestfallen 'you're giving up on me?' kicked puppy expression, and I winced, feeling a little bad for yelling at him. "Look, I appreciate you trying to help, but playing against my skills isn't going to get me anywhere."

"Fine, I get it. I'll tell my father you're out of the running." He stood up, fishing pole in hand, stepping off the dock onto the stone of the pier and heading for the stairs, not looking at me. "You can just go on home or whatever. I'll see you later."

I heaved another sigh; Max was mad at me. I didn't see why—I should be the one mad at him for leading me on this wild goose chase to nowhere, but no, he had to be the one to get pissy. Why was he being so difficult, anyway?

.~.~.~.~.

Predictably, Kyle won the Fishing Contest. Luckily, this meant that all notice of the fact that I didn't come back with a catch despite Herman's apparent announcement that I was participating was forgotten while everyone talked about how big of a fish he had caught. Unfortunately, one of the people who were relaying the story of how massive this fish supposedly was included my sister, which meant that I heard the story multiple times, each with a different ridiculous twist to it. One was a story she made up about Kyle's epic battle with the mammoth fish, struggling to land it for hours while it fought him, but he was, in the end, victorious. Another was that he had hooked a fish that was the size of a Buffamoo, but it broke his line and got away, so he had to settle for the smaller fish he caught beforehand. It was full of bull, really; I knew from what Max told me that the biggest fish he caught was about a foot long, but it was bigger than what Barrett had caught so he had won.

It was highly annoying, really, because it was what everyone talked about for the next week, even Rosalind. I had respect for Kyle, he was a good person, but it was too much to be hearing about him constantly, especially from the woman I had a crush on and I knew he liked as well.

At least Max didn't seem to be angry with me anymore, although he seemed a bit distracted whenever we spoke, like something was on his mind. He wouldn't tell me what, though, and it was frustrating me. It had to be related to me—I kept on catching him zoning out while watching me, but I didn't understand why he was doing it or why he wouldn't explain what was on his mind. I was a trustworthy person… but he kept insisting that it was nothing, so there wasn't much I could do. So I spent the rest of the summer and the beginning half of fall doing whatever I could to get Rosalind to notice me—paying extra attention to her health, spending more time with her than usual, giving her the occasional gift that Max suggested I give. Things were okay, as far as I could tell. Nothing cataclysmic had happened, anyway.

It was annoying that I whenever I spent time with him Max tended to zone out while staring me, though. "Max, you're doing it again," I said, flipping the page in the book I was reading. We were up in his room, the windows open to let in the fresh fall breeze. It was a nice change from the sweltering heat we got every summer here in Alvarna, even if it carried the chill I knew was coming soon.

Max half-jumped to attention, quickly looking away. "Ah, sorry…"

I snapped my book closed, leaning forward to face him properly. "Why can't you tell me what's on your mind?" Honestly, he was worrying me. He'd been acting weird for a while now, but wouldn't explain himself at all.

"Why do you keep insisting that there's something on my mind?" he asked evasively, and I rolled my eyes.

"You've been acting weird a lot recently. I keep catching you staring at me. There has to be something bothering you."

He chuckled, but I could tell that it was fake. "There's nothing bothering me, Ray." He slid off the bed, stretching.

"Max—"

"I'm going for a walk, do you want to come?" he asked quickly, cutting me off. I frowned, growling internally; he'd been avoiding all my questions like that for a while now, and it was getting on my nerves. Why couldn't he just spit it out? I wasn't his best friend for nothing, and I didn't like that he seemed to be keeping things from me. Whatever it was, it was bothering him a lot, and I wanted to know what it was!

"Sure," I grumbled, slipping off the bed and leaving my book there. I could get it back later. Maybe during this walk I'd be able to extract something from him.

.~.~.~.~.

We were strolling through Cherry Blossom Square when I thought the mood had calmed enough for me to ask him again what was on his mind. "Is there anything you want to tell me, Max?" I asked, glancing at him. He seemed a bit fidgety, at least more so than he had been back in his room.

Max seemed to half jump in surprise, peeking at me in the corner of his eye before focusing off in the distance. "No, why?"

I groaned audibly, getting really frustrated. "Yes there is. You've been fidgety and distracted around me for a long time now, and whenever I ask you about it you either avoid my questions or brush me off. It's really starting to get on my nerves," I replied honestly, and Max's nervousness seemed to escalate. "Just tell me what it is and get it over with."

"I promise you, it's nothing! Nothing is worrying me," he assured me, sending a smile my way. I didn't buy it. We passed through North Square, and he turned, heading for the Park.

"Max…" I said warningly, stepping ahead of him to try and stop him as we rounded the fountain. "That is a lie and you know it."

"No it's not," he protested, ignoring my attempts to get in front of him. Finally he stopped, and I jumped in front of him, blocking his path.

"Yes it is, so tell me what's going on!" He completely ignored me, staring distractedly at something from over my shoulder. I growled; this was absolutely infuriating! Why couldn't he just spit it out and get it over with?

"Ah, uh…Ray?"

"What?" I asked crossly, crossing my arms with a huff.

"Look." He pointed behind me, and I quickly turned to look in the direction he was. What I saw made my heart stop.

.~.~.~.~.

A/N: MUHAHA ebil cliffhanger. XD -shot- Well, those of you who read this the first time probably know what he saw anyway, but that's not all of you~