A/N: This was supposed to be longer, but I can't seem to get the Kate part right. In case there's anyone who reads the two stories I'm working on, I'm already working on the next chapter of the Bardock story.

Maxine

Maximilian reaches the fountain and finds the girl already there. Maxine Caulfield, fellow member of the Vortex Club and the queen bitch of Blackwell.

She looks like shit. She's slightly hunched over, pacing back and forth. Her eyes are wide and she nervously snaps her head here and there. Did Nathan finally get her on the stuff he's taking?

He watches her for another moment, then clears his throat.

"Max!" she sees him, and he flinches in surprise when the girl hugs him. "Thank dog you're here."

"H-hey," he stammers. "Are you okay, Maxine?"

"It's Max, never Maxine."

"Since when?"

She pulls away and studies him. Maxine frowns as if reminding herself of something, and shakes her head. "We're not friends, either?"

What kind of question is that? "We're both in the Vortex Club and we're in Jefferson's class together, so I guess that makes us friends. I think."

Maxine looks up to the sky and takes a long, deep breath. When she turns back to him she's a little calmer. "That's better than nothing," she finally says. "Warren won't even look at me."

"Graham? After what you and Vic did to his girlfriend I'm not surprised," he comments, and watches her wince at his words. "Seriously, Maxine, is everything okay?"

"I'm fine," the girl doesn't sound convincing, but he keeps that to himself.

"All right," he drops the subject. Whatever's the deal with her is none of my business. "So why did you call me here?"

"I..." she suddenly looks nervous. No, she's embarrassed. "I need an... anchor, let's say. A lot happened so quickly, I needed something familiar."

"Okay," he simply says.

"This is going to sound weird, but can you do me a big favor?"

"Depends on what it is."

"I need you to treat me as if I'm someone else."

"What."

"Like, pretend I'm someone who looks and sounds like Max Caulfield, but is not," she elaborates, making things more confusing for him. "Or like I lost my memories! I should have started with that..."

"Why?"

"Just play along, okay?" she holds her arm. "It's easier than telling you what's happening."

Maximilian looks at her before replying. She looks really bad, like she's having a psychotic episode like Nathan's or something. But he really doesn't want to get involved; the last time he got invested in someone it didn't end well.

"Sure."

"Thank you!" relief coats her words. "First things first, can we get some coffee?"

oOo

Maybe she did lose her memory...

Maximilian is sitting on Maxine's bed. He's been in her dorm lots of times, but the girl is looking around like it's the first time she's seen it; she looks grossed out by all the fancy stuff she's bought, and keeps murmuring to herself. He catches what sounds like I'm still using analog here.

The fancy coffee maker beeps that it's ready, making her jump. She motions for him to join her at the small table, and for a while they just drink in silence.

"This really helps," Maxine exhales happily, putting her third cup down. Maximilian simply nods. "Tell me about myself."

"What?" he asks before remembering their agreement. "Oh."

"Be as honest as you can," she tells him, looking at her expensive clothes. "From what I saw before meeting with you, and from this room, I'm guessing I'm a carbon copy of Victoria."

"If anything, she's trying to copy you," he corrects her. "You arrived at Blackwell with this, um, rich bitch attitude I saw in San Fran a lot; Vic tried to bully you and you shut her down pretty bad. After that the rest of the Vortex Club courted you and here we are."

"Wow," Maxine tries to stay serious, but a smile slowly spreads across her face. "I never had a chance to put her in her place."

He frowns in confusion at her words but keeps his mouth shut. He's just going to play along until things get dangerous.

"Sorry," she quickly sobers up. "Do you know who Rachel Amber is?"

"I've heard of her," he says. "She was in the Vortex Club before we came to Blackwell."

"Was?" Maxine looks pained.

"She went missing months ago."

"So that didn't change..." she exhales. "What about Chloe Price? Do you know her?"

"Doesn't ring a bell," he shrugs.

"Okay, we'll need to go to her house after this," she mumbles to herself.

We?

Maxine closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. When she opens them he sees they're full of fear. Whatever she's going to say has her scared. What the fuck...

Her voice is thin when she speaks. "Kate Marsh?"

"What?"

"Kate Marsh?" she repeats.

"What about her?"

"Is she... is she okay?"

"She looks fine," he shrugs again. "There was that thing a while back, but she got over it."

"What thing?" she asks, and again looks genuinely scared. Even though it's against his non-investing policy, he decides to ask Nathan just what the fuck he gave her.

"The video?" he answers, struggling to keep playing along. "The video you and Vic took of her at the party and put up online."

He watches the color drain from her face, and adrenaline shoots up his body. He jumps out of his chair and grabs her before she falls down.

"Jesus, Maxine, are you okay?"

The girl blinks fast, then looks around groggily. She passed out? Maximilian holds her and leads her to the bed, then runs for another cup. Her hands are trembling so much that he helps her drink the coffee.

"Thank you," she lays flat on the bed.

"No prob," he tells her. "What, uh, what happened?"

"I took the video of Kate?"

"You and Vic," he nods. "You showed it to us before posting it online."

"I'm a monster..." she covers her mouth.

Maximilian stays quiet, watching her slowly breathe in and out. He completely agrees with her, but doesn't think it would do her any good to hear that.

"Where I come from..." she trails off. "The End of the World party," she says instead. "Was that a thing?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"During the party Kate tried to make a sex tape," Maxine covers her mouth again and quickly turns to her side, lurching forward as if trying not to throw up. "Did that happen here?"

"Yeah."

"Did we..." she lurches again. "Did we stop it?"

"You and Vic cheered throughout the whole stream."