This chapter would definitely be longer if I weren't so dead-tired, so just be patient please, but thanks so much for staying with me through all of this. There is way more to this story, sorry to make you all think that was the end, but yea there is waaaayyy more. So we shall see how that goes. I probably won't be updating until Friday as tomorrow night I will have more than enough homework to do. Let me know what you think, what you think is going to happen. I'll try and bring Patrick in some more, per request. If there is anyone else you want to see more of, let me know. Remember, Max in italics, Hayley normal.
-Zoomie
The first day of school popped up and pulled a sneak attack on me a week later. First I was sitting with Hayley at the slushy building and then I was walking across the senior parking lot, my index wrapped around her pinky as she walked slightly behind me, talking to Grace. I was barely listening to their conversation, only catching bits and pieces of it.
"If Marcus assigns homework on the first day, I'm shooting him," Grace said now and Hayley nodded fiercely in agreement.
"Do you remember last year when we got that two page essay from him, due the next day?" Hayley said, shaking her head. "Maybe his AP classes are different."
I snorted. "Good luck with that one," I muttered without turning around. Hayley slid her finger from mine so she could slap me with that hand but I grabbed it before she hit me and just slid my fingers back around hers. She sighed but I saw her smile out of the corner of my eye.
"Twenty bucks you have more homework not including an AP class than we do with," Grace challenged me, sticking out her hand. I shook my head and smirked.
"Mom doesn't like it when I take money from you so easily," I replied, stepping into the school and a shiver went down my spine as soon as I did so.
"Ew, school," Hayley mumbled, voicing my thoughts. I laughed and turned to kiss her before she followed Grace off to Marcus's AP history class. And then I was off to Modern Lit, which I hated, but at least I had the best teacher in the entire school.
"Late on the first day, Mr. Garriner?" Mr. Zalman said to me with a smirk, not bothering to mark me tardy, as I walked in on the middle of his introduction.
"So sorry, Mr. Zalman, I lost my way," I said in a fake British accent. Everybody laughed as I took my seat in the back of the room, directly across from Charlie, who high-fived me as I got settled. I sighed and turned to look at Zalman.
"Are you ready, Max?" he asked me sarcastically, but I saw his eyes twinkle for a moment.
"Yes, please go on," I said, waving my hand as he went on lecturing about class requirements and what he expected from us all. I'd heard the speech on expectations for the past three years from every teacher, so this year I didn't even bother to pay attention, while making it look like I was as I daydreamed about the summer.
Seniors were granted open lunch, meaning we could drive off campus for the lunch period, so as the lower-classmen all tramped towards the health-violation cafeteria, I headed out to my van with Mitch right behind me.
"Quizno's or Rio Wraps?" I asked him, gunning it and speeding out of the parking lot. Bowie, the security guard and the one who checked for lower-classmen sneaking out to lunch, shot me a look from his post but didn't say anything. I wasn't the only one who liked to floor it, though I was the only one that went almost double the speed limit.
"Taco Tuesday man, Rios!" Mitch exclaimed as we zipped across the street and through the junior parking lot and then a back parking lot to the plaza right next to the Rio Wraps. It was nice; our school was almost directly across the street from a Subway, Starbucks, Rio Wraps, and Quizno's.
As soon as we walked in I saw half our student body there, not only seniors but juniors that snuck out and some sophomores that had senior friends. I shook my head, wondering if I should ever invite Hayley, risking us both getting suspended, or just spend a few lunches in the caf.
Mitch and I ordered and ate, sitting with Charlie and Alfonso, who was still here until he went back to Brazil at the end of this semester. His English had improved immensely from the few times I had talked to him over the summer. He was even cursing now, just like I had predicted.
"Shit!" he exclaimed now, in his accent, as a glob of taco meat dripped and landed on his soccer jersey. I laughed-it still got to me- and he shot me a look. I held up my hands in surrender before going back to my last taco.
"So Max, there's this venue in Lapeer that wants us to play a set next weekend. Think you want to do it?" Charlie asked me, taking a long exaggerated sip of his Large Diet Coke. Every once in a while Charlie or Tom would ask me if the band should do a show or not, and I always said yes. They knew that, but they still asked me, and for that I was grateful because I didn't just feel like any other band member.
"Sounds pretty decent," I said calmly, finishing off the taco and crumpling my wrappers. "Night show?" I got up to throw my trash away, weaving between all the tables filled with students on the way. As I turned to go back to the table I saw an elderly couple walk in the door, take one look at all of us kids, and turn around to leave.
"Yea, night show. Ten o'clock," Charlie said as I sat back down, laughing.
"Sweet. Did they say who else would be playing?"
"Just Eclipse, Broken Road, and Lighted Fire. We are closing, I think. Perishing Republic may go after us, but then that's it. They're still waiting to hear from them."
"I've heard of Road and Fire and Perishing, but who's Eclipse? They from the north?" I asked, standing up with everyone else as we headed back to out cars.
"Yea, somewhere over in Waldburg, I think. I think they won their Battle of the Bands, but don't quote me on that." I nodded and we all climbed into our respective vehicles.
After school I met Hayley in the little alcove by the theatre, where the only people that hung out there were, obviously, the theatre geeks, though at least half of them were friends. Or somewhat friends. Acquaintances I guess you could call them.
"Hey," she said softly, walking up and sinking into my arms. She pulled her head back and kissed me, tightening her arms around my middle.
"Hi," I whispered against her lips as she moved them from the corner of my mouth down to the spot right underneath my jaw. A shiver ran down my spine to my toes, making a pit stop at my heart along the way. "I love you," I said quietly, as she buried her face in my t-shirt.
"I love you too," she said back, her voice muffled. My heart skipped a beat and I was sure she heard it as her ear was right over where my heart was.
She walked with me out to the van, her fingers tangled in mine, as we dodged the other crazy senior drivers, walking slowly. Usually I'd stay after school but today I had to get to the doctors to get my physical so I could wrestle come late October. It's really not as stupid as it seems. Though even I admit, some guys should never put on that leotard thing we have to wear.
"So I'll text you later?" Hayley asked me as we reached the van. I nodded and put my hands on her hips, pulling hers to mine.
"After the appointment. It should be done by four-ish," I said, kissing her softly on the lips. She kissed me back before stepping back as I climbed into the van. I waited until she was walking away before whipping out of the parking lot and speeding down the road.
I was glad we weren't one of those couples that had to constantly say I love you, or be making out, or whatever. We didn't even have to be touching all the time, though we generally held hands if nothing else, and that was enough. And each time Max told me he loved me, my heart spazzed in my chest, pounding so loud he had to be able to hear it, because I knew he meant it when he said it. It wasn't something we said all the time. We didn't even say it every day. We just knew; it was obvious by the way our hearts reacted together, when I could feel Max's beating in rhythm with mine.
Now that we were a couple at school, I could see Grace going back to how she was before. She never laughed or smiled like she used to, and she rarely looked at me during lunch, though we still talked constantly. Even Mel was less smiley than she used to be whenever we hung out. It worried me.
"Maybe it is just school," Max suggested quietly when I told him this, as we walked down the hallway after school, his index around my pinky. The bell had just rung and people were still milling around, calling to each other, getting in a last word before they rushed have to a sports practice or musical rehearsal.
"Maybe," I said as we rounded the corner to the main hallway. "How are they at home now?" I asked him after a minute. We'd never really talked about it before.
"Grace always looks kind of mad whenever she sees me, I guess, though that really isn't anything new. Melanie doesn't smile half as much as she used to. But Hal, that could be because of school."
"Yea," I said, "but not schoolwork. Because they see us together at school. Maybe they thought we'd break up after a month or so."
"But it's been three and a half months," Max replied. "You'd think they would have gotten used to it by now."
"Yea but they were never around us before. Now Grace sees us together here everyday. And she probably tells Melanie, or Melanie asks about it. I don't know, it just worries me." We let the subject drop after that, kissing goodbye at my bus. Even when he was frustrated, Max was always so gentle with me. I waved goodbye to him and climbed on the bus, watching him walk away through the windows. Was it too much for his sisters? I couldn't lose my best friends over a guy, especially when that guy was their brother.