Sydney's POV
Olive and I walked into school. We walked over to Emmy and Sophia.
"Eighth Grade!" Emmy said.
"I know," Olive said. "We're the big dogs now!"
"What's your first class?" I asked.
"Literature," Emmy and Olive said.
"Advanced Literature," Sophia said. "Oh."
"I'm in literature too," I said.
"I thought we'd be in the same class," Sophia said. "I tested out of normal Literature."
"It's fine, Sophia," I said.
"Yeah, totally," Olive said.
"Yeah, Soph," Emmy said. "We'll just meet at our next class."
"What's everybody's next class?" I asked.
"Math," Emmy and Olive said.
"Same," I said. "What about you, Sophia?"
"Advanced Mathematics," she said.
"Okay, what about the next one?" I asked.
"PE," Emmy and Olive said.
"Please don't tell me there's an Advanced PE," Emmy said.
"No, Em," Sophia said. "I'm taking PE with you guys."
"Thank God," Emmy said. We laughed a little. "I mean it."
The bell rang and we all hurried to our classes.
[Title Sequence]
Olive, Emmy, and I walked into our literature class.
We sat down. I looked at the teacher, who was writing something on the board. She finished writing and she turned around. She looked young, like really young.
"Hello class," she said. "My name is Ms. Rose Jacobs. You can call me Rose, Ms. Jacobs, Ms. Rose- whatever makes you comfortable."
Olive raised her hand.
"Rose?" She asked.
"Yes?" Rose said.
"I was just seeing if it worked," Olive said.
Rose smiled.
"So, I'd like all of you to introduce yourselves," she said. "Starting with…" she looked around the room, then pointed at me, "you."
I stood up.
"I'm Sydney," I said. "I'm thirteen, and I'm a musician and songwriter."
"Nice to meet you, Australia," she said. I laughed a little. "Next."
Olive stood up.
"I'm Olive," she said. "I'm Sydney's best friend."
"Anything else?"
"What do you mean?" Olive asked.
"Who are you, Olive?" Rose asked her. "There's got to be more about you than you being Australia's best friend."
"Well, I'm Jewish," she said, "though I'm not sure I want to be when I'm older. I've always wanted a Christmas Tree and what I'm told about Christmas is amazing. I know that we believe that the Messiah will come, but what if they're right about him already having come?" Her face turned to shock. "Did I just say that out loud?"
"There it is," Rose said.
"There what is?" Olive asked confused.
"Depth," she said. "Everybody has their own story, their own questions."
(Young) Max's POV
I walked into my first class and I saw Alisha sitting there.
"Alisha," I said, "you're here."
"Yeah," she said. "I asked my mom to transfer me here. I wanted to be around Leo more… and you."
"Me?"
"Yeah," she said.
"Hey, look!" Bucky yelled. "It's Al!"
All of the other guys crowded around her.
"Yeah, uh, it's me," she said. "Can you guys back up, please?"
"You should sing again," one of the other guys said.
"Or tell us another one of your stories," another said.
She looked really uncomfortable.
"Hey, leave her alone," I told them. "Can't you tell she's uncomfortable?"
"She's fine," one of the guys said.
Leo walked in.
"Hey, stop crowding my cousin!" He told the crowd.
"Come on, Al, tell us another story or something," Bucky said.
She started shaking.
"Hey!" I yelled at them. "Leave her alone!"
Leo and I started pushing guys away from her. She stood up and ran out of the room. Leo went after her. I followed him. The teacher walked in and I lied and said I was going to the bathroom.
Sydney's POV
The bell rang.
"Alright," Rose said. "See you all tomorrow."
Our classmates filed out of the room, except for me and Olive.
"Can I help you girls with something?" Rose asked.
"Well, you never told us about you," I said.
"Yeah," Olive said, "we introduced ourselves."
"Oh," she said. "I forgot about that."
"Could you tell us now?" I asked.
"I don't want to keep you from your next class."
"It's fine," I said. "It's just math."
Rose laughed a little.
"Yeah, I don't like math, either," she sat down at her desk. "Well, I'm a student-teacher."
"What's that?" Olive asked.
"I'm in my senior year of college, going for my Bachelor's degree in teaching," she said. "For part of it, we teach a class. Your class is my first."
"How old are you?" I asked.
"Twenty-one," she said.
"Woah," Olive and I said in unison.
"You're not even ten years older than us," Olive said.
"Yeah," Rose said. "Now, you better get to your next class."
(Young) Max's POV
I walked through the halls looking for Leo and Alisha. I rounded a corner and saw them. Alisha had her knees tucked and she was shaking and rocking back and forth. Leo was trying to talk to her.
"Al," he said. "It's okay. Please calm down."
He looked up and saw me. He stood up and walked over to me.
"Is she okay?" I asked.
"She's having a panic attack," he said. "She has claustrophobia. It means she's scared of closed spaces. I've never been good at helping her with them. Will you sit with her? I need to get back to class."
"Sure," I said.
I sat next to her. I looked over at her. She was still rocking, and she was staring straight ahead.
"I'm sorry that they crowded around you," I said. I saw a tear start its way down her face. Without thinking, I wiped it away with my thumb. "You know, I had thought you had ruined my birthday because you were given all the attention, but it wasn't your fault. Honestly, you made it the best birthday ever when you pranked me and then we pranked each other." I smiled at the memory. "I remember how freaked out I was when I opened your gift. I was like Ah!" I mimicked my scream from that day.
She started laughing. I laughed too.
"Thanks, Max," she said.
"What just happened?" I asked.
She took a breath and smiled.
"Sometimes, making someone laugh or bringing up a good memory can bring them out of a panic attack," She told me. "You did that. Leo's never been able to get me out of it."
"I did that," I repeated. She hugged me around my shoulders. I smiled.
Sydney's POV
"She's so cool," Olive said, about Rose, to Sophia, while we were eating lunch. "She's twenty-one and she's in college."
"Woah, really?" Sophia asked. "She's that young?"
"Yeah," I said.
Suddenly, Rose sat with us.
"Hey, girls," she said.
"You're sitting next to us?" Emmy asked.
"Yeah, if that's okay," she said. "It's packed in here."
I looked around, and she was right.
"So how's your first day of teaching going?" I asked.
"Good," she said.
She started eating her food.
"Don't you have college classes?" Olive asked.
"I do," she said. "They're in the afternoon. So after this, I have to head to class."
"Oh," Olive said.
"We'll start reading a book in class tomorrow," she said. "I hope you'll be ready."
"We'll?" I asked.
"Yeah," Rose said, "that way I know you guys are actually reading it."
Rose was nearly done with her food.
"You're smart," Olive said.
"Thank you," she said.
"Does that mean you're gonna be hard on us?" Emmy asked.
"Not if you do the work," she said.
"Well, just so you know, I have—" Emmy started.
"ADHD," Rose finished for her. "I can tell. I have it too."
"Really?" Emmy asked.
"Yeah," she said. She then looked like she was deep in thought, and not a good thought.
"You okay, Rose?" I asked.
She looked over at me.
"Yeah," she said. She rubbed her shoulder. "I should probably get going."
She stood up.
"See you tomorrow," I said.
"See you tomorrow, girls," she said with a smile.
I watched her leave, wondering why she looked how she did when she said that she has ADHD.
(Young) Max's POV
Mom walked into my room.
"Hey Max," she said. "Anything eventful happen at school today?"
"Kind of," I said.
"Like skipping class?" She questioned. "Max, we talked about this."
"I know," I said. "I had a good reason, mom. Alisha started school there, and—"
"That's no reason to skip class, Max," she said.
"Mom!" I yelled. "Will you let me finish what I'm saying for once?!"
"Max," she said, with shock.
"Sorry, mom," I said, sitting on my bed. "I didn't mean to yell."
"What happened to make you skip class?" She asked, sitting next to me.
"The guys saw her and crowded around her, trying to get her to sing and stuff," I said. "She asked them to back up, but they wouldn't, even when Leo and I told them to leave her alone." I looked at my mom. I could tell she was really listening to me. "We pulled them away from her and she ran out of the room. Leo went after her and I followed him."
"Why did you follow Leo?"
"I wanted to make sure she was okay," I said. "She looked really freaked out when they wouldn't leave her alone."
"Was she?" Mom asked. "Was she alright, I mean."
"No," I said. "When I finally found them, she was having a panic attack and Leo was trying to calm her down. He asked me to sit with her while he went to class."
"And did you?"
"Yeah," I said. "I apologized for them crowding around her. Then I told her that I had thought she had ruined my birthday—"
"Max—"
"I'm not done, mom," I told her.
"Sorry, continue," she said.
"Then I told her that she actually made my birthday the best one ever because I found out she's a prankster too," I said. "Then, I mimicked the same scream I did when I opened her present." I smiled. "She started laughing and I did too. She told me that you can get someone out of a panic attack if you can make them laugh or remind them of a good memory."
"And you did that," she said with a smile.
"Yeah," I said. "I think this is gonna be a good rest of the year."
We heard the doorbell ring.
"Are you expecting anyone?" Mom asked.
"Well, Leo always comes around," I said.
"But he never rings the doorbell," mom said.
We walked downstairs and I opened the door. Alisha was standing there.
"Alisha," I said, "you're here."
"Hey, Max," she said. "That's the second time you've said that today."
"Yeah," I said. "Sorry."
"Can I come in?"
"Yeah, definitely," I said.
She stepped inside.
"Hi, Ms. Reynolds," she said.
"Hi, Alisha," mom said. "I'll leave you two alone to talk."
She went into the kitchen.
"She's actually listening from the kitchen," I told Alisha.
"No, I'm not!" Mom said, from the kitchen.
She laughed. I'm really starting to like her laugh, I thought.
"So, what are you doing here?" I asked. That sounded rude, I thought. "Not that you're not welcome."
"I came to thank you for getting me out of my panic attack," she said.
"No problem," I said. "I just felt bad for how they treated you. No one should be crowded around like that."
"I just have one question," she said.
"Shoot," I said, meaning 'go ahead'.
"Why did you wipe my tear away?"
"You noticed that?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said. "That was really nice. I was just wondering why you did it."
"I just didn't want to see you cry," I admitted.
She looked at me and smiled.
"Thanks," she said. "You're a good friend."
"Yeah," I said. "See you tomorrow?"
"Yeah," she said. "See you then."
She walked out the door.
Mom walked back into the living room.
"You wiped a tear away?" She asked all gushily.
"Don't make a big deal about this, please," I said.
"It is a big deal!" She said. "I really am raising a gentleman."
"I just wiped her tear away," I said.
"You stood up for her, Max," she said. "That's not something a non-gentleman would do."
"She's one of my friends," I said.
"You care about her," she said.
"Not more than my other friends," I said.
"I just didn't want to see you cry," mom repeated my words.
"Gah!" I yelled. "I'm going to my room."
I ran up the stairs.
Sydney's POV
After school, we went to my dad's smoothie/bike shop.
"Hey dad," I said.
"Hey girls," he said. "How was your first day of eighth grade?"
"Pretty good, actually," I said.
"Yeah, it was good," Sophia said. "Is there any way I could bargain with you get Shane's bike back?"
"Well," he said. His phone started ringing. "I better get that." He answered. "Hello?" He nodded. "Yeah, I'll tell her." He hung up.
"That was my mom, wasn't it?" Sophia asked.
"Yeah," he said. "She said for you to go straight home. Oh, and you're grounded for a week."
"Ah, man," Sophia said. "See you guys later."
"See you," we all said.
She left.
"Can I go over to you house, Olive?" Emmy asked. "I'm probably not allowed at Sophia's for a week."
"Sure," Olive said. "Shaun has his friends over, but it should work." Her phone dinged and she looked at it. "Speaking of. We have to go now. Sorry, Syd."
"It's fine," I said. "See you tomorrow." I looked at my dad. "How's business doing today?"
"Good," he said. "There's been a lot of college students."
"Cool," I said.
"That's the last one, I think," he said, pointing behind me. "She just came in a few minutes before you showed up."
I turned around to see Rose sitting at a table. I turned back to my dad.
"That's my teacher!" I told him.
"Really?" He asked. "I could have sworn she was a college student."
"She is," I told him. "She's a student-teacher."
"Oh," he said. "Well, I think she likes the smoothies."
"Hey, I was wondering if I could get another—" I heard Rose say behind me. "Australia?!" She said excitedly.
I turned around.
"Hey, Rose," she said.
"I didn't know you came here," she said.
"Yeah," I said, "this is my dad."
"Oh," she said. "I didn't know that."
"It's fine," I said. "So, what are you up to?"
"I'm studying and writing tomorrow's lesson plans," she said, "which is technically homework."
"Oh, nice," I said.
"I'm going to take a break, though," she said. "Do you have any questions about class?"
"What did you want?" Dad asked.
"Oh, blueberry smoothie," she said. "Do you want anything, Australia? I'll pay."
"Yeah, I guess, uh, blueberry-banana smoothie," I said.
"Is it okay that I call you that, by the way?" She asked.
"Yeah, it's cool," I said. "Have you figured out nicknames for anyone else?"
We sat down.
"Not yet," she said. "Only thing I could come up with for Olive is Oil or Tree, which are horrible nicknames," I laughed, "and the only thing I could come up with for Emmy is Award."
"Those are bad," I laughed. "So, have you always lived in Portland?"
"Yeah," she said, "what about you?"
"Yeah," I said, "but as you can see, I still live with my dad."
"So do I," she said.
"Wait, what?" I asked. "You're twenty-one."
"Yeah, well, not all adults can afford their own place," she said.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to—"
"No, it's fine," she said.
"So what book will we be reading in class?" I asked, changing the subject.
"To Kill A Mockingbird," she said.
"That sounds interesting," I said. "Can you tell me anything about it?"
"It's not about a mockingbird," she said.
"Hey, Syd," dad said, "sorry to break this up, but your grandma's waiting for you outside."
"Oh, yeah," I said. "See you tomorrow, Rose."
"See you, Australia," she said.
"Don't forget your smoothie!" Dad said.
"Oh, yeah," I said. I grabbed it from him. "Thanks, Rose."
"No problem, Australia," she said.
I left the shop.