HIGH SCHOOL MISSIONS
Chapter 4
Cool Kids
_______________________________________________
By the time they got to the office the bell had rung and the halls where empty.
The secretary there had her head down and didn't see them come in.
Alec cleared his throat and the woman looked up.
"Oh hi! You must be the new students! I have your schedules here for you, I'm afraid you missed homeroom so you can just head straight for your first class. Here's your locker combination, map and papers. Oh and I will need you both to sign in for some extra classes later today, new students require extra credits!" The woman handed them each a folder.
"Please don't ask young men for directions, they love playing jokes on the new students and will probably lead you to the bathroom or a closet."
"Thank you for the warning." Alec adjusted his shirt and turned to Max.
The bell rang, signaling the end of homeroom.
"Shall we?" Alec asked Max.
She smiled encouragingly. "Let's go!"
*************
Max and Alec walked elegantly through the halls packed with kids. Heads turned in their direction as the crowd seemed to part to let them through.
People whispered to each other, girls sighed and boys stared as the transgenics made their way to their classes.
They stopped in front of the science lab.
"I think my first class is here." Max told Alec.
"Ok," he checked his map and leaned a little bit closer to her ear. "I'll be in the next classroom in case you need anything." He whispered.
Max nodded and watched Alec walk away as the bell rang. He turned around and mouthed "Keep your eyes open" She nodded and walked into her first class.
*************
Max smiled at the teacher. His eyes widened a little but he recovered nicely.
"I take it you're the new student?" He asked her more than told her.
"Yeah, I'm MJ."
"Ok MJ, my name is Alfred Russell. You're going to need a lab partner, now let's see... who's available?"
"I am!" A guy wearing a football jacket and sitting next to a pretty blonde raised his hand.
"Sean!" The girl slapped him on the arm and turned away, flipping her hair and hitting him on the face with it.
"Aww, come on Steph, I was just joking!"
"People, people, resolve your love lives on your own time! Now MJ, you can sit with Melissa, since her partner is absent. We'll make permanent arrangements for you later."
Max walked towards Melissa. She had clear white skin and jet black hair. Her eyes where a little almond shaped and she seemed to have a nice figure.
"Hi!" Max whispered to her while the teacher continued his lesson.
"Hi. So, you're the new kid. I'm sure you'll have no problem fitting in, and neither will that boy who was with you." Melissa whispered back.
"Alecsander? Naw, he'll have friends before the next bell rings."
"Well, if you think about it so will you. I mean, if you want to be a part of our group."
Max glanced at Melissa with interest. "Just tell me you're not a geek and I'm in."
"A geek? Hell no, I'm a cheerleader!" Melissa giggled.
"Miss Witacker, will you please keep it down?"
"Yes Mr. Russell" Melissa said out loud. Then she whispered to Max, "See you at lunch."
Max nodded and got to work. That was when she noticed for the first time the soft music playing through the loudspeakers. Mozart. She made a note to ask Alec if he had heard anything unusual on the tape.
*************
Alec tapped his foot against the desk in front of him during math class, he was too bored to do anything else.
The poor girl sitting on the desk turned around to ask Alec to stop the annoying habit but one look at Alec had her melting into a puddle. She just giggled and turned her back to him again.
Alec smiled, that girl was definitely one of the 'popular ones' he was supposed to interact with. She had been playing with her blonde hair and looking at her reflection on a small mirror for the whole class.
Alec looked around. A couple of muscular guys wearing football jackets where sitting behind him, the rest of the kids seemed pretty ordinary except for a boy wearing thick glasses and hiding behind a big textbook.
"Nikki, could you please hand this sheets out?" The teacher asked the self centered blonde.
"Sure Mr. Watson" Nikki got up and started handing out the pieces of paper.
Alec heard a small hissing sound behind him and turned to check it out. One of the muscular guys glanced at Nikki, then looked directly at Alec and glanced at Nikki again.
Alec got the message. Once Nikki reached him he dropped his sheet on purpose.
"Oops." He smiled at her. She smiled back and bent down to retrieve the paper.
The guys behind Alec whistled slowly. Once Nikki was gone the guy sitting directly behind Alec placed his hand on his, Alec's shoulder and whispered "Thanks man!"
Alec smiled and thought to himself 'I'm in'
*************
Max stood outside her classroom and glanced down at her map. Every classroom was numbered but how the hell was she supposed to know which one was her Literature classroom?
"Are you lost?" Max looked up from her paper and found a handsome, tall, blonde boy with piercing blue eyes staring down at her.
"I'm not lost... just misinformed." She told him. The boy laughed and offered her his hand.
"I'm Luke."
"MJ" Max shook his hand.
"Pleasure. Now, let's see... what's your next class?"
"Lit. With Mr. Meisher." Max told him.
"Ok, this way milady!" He offered her his arm and she hesitated for a moment.
'Man, do teenagers really fall for that fake charm?' Max asked herself.
"I'll take her to her next class. You can go Luke." A beautiful, slim brunet with bright green eyes and the most amazing body Max had ever seen showed up from nowhere and guided Max away from Luke.
"Dak! Come back! Hey, I was going to show her!" Luke yelled after them.
"Yeah right!" Dak said. "Luke is a good kid, once you get to know him... but in the mean time, don't go near him alone. He'll cool down one you're part of the group."
"The group?" Max raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah... you ARE joining aren't you? Don't worry, we are the cool kids." The girl guided Max directly to her locker and waited while she took out her books.
"How did you know I'd been invited?" Max asked her while she tried to open her old rusty locker.
"How could you not be? You just had lab right? There are three of our members in it, surely one of them talked to you and invited you... same for your friend Alecsander I'm sure."
Max closed the orange door and stared at the girl. "How do you know so much about us? I didn't even tell you my locker number!" Max was suspicious.
The girl laughed "I'm sorry, I must be making you nervous! Don't worry, you're new, you're beautiful and you're rich. Fresh meat for the pack of wolves. I, like every other person in this school by this time know your name, address, locker number and schedule. The only thing left to find out is the amount of zeros on you account... give the hackers some time, we'll have it by tomorrow."
Max was taken aback by the girls words but she reassured her by saying "Ah, don't worry about it MJ, that's just the way this school is... everyone is curious about everyone and it's hard to keep secrets... unless you are elite and you have access to every piece of information and every rumor before it spreads, that way you can control communications. That my friend, is what makes people important. Don't you ever forget that."
The girl stopped in her tracks and turned around to look at Max "I just realized, I haven't introduced myself! I'm Dak, short for Dakareth."
Max shook the girl's hand and smiled "I'm Maxine Jane... but I'm sure you already knew that."
Dak only smiled. "Here you go, Literature classroom. Oh, and just in case anyone offers... see that room right there? The one that says Recycling room? Don't you ever go in there with a guy, it's the make out room but it's also used to play jokes on freshmen and new kids. Try to avoid it. See you at lunch MJ!"
"Bye!" Max called after her. There was something about that girl that seemed a little unusual. Max shrugged the feeling off and walked into her classroom.
*************
The bell rang for lunch and Max walked out of her classroom gratefully. She was hungry, her butt was sore from sitting down and she was sick and tired of the classical music being played 24/7
She had just stepped into the hallway when a hand grabbed her arm. She jumped up in surprise and was pretty alarmed until she heard a deep voice ask "Is it just me or is this the weirdest school you've ever been in?"
Max relaxed a little, then she turned around and slapped Alec on the arm.
"Ouch! Hey that hurt!"
"Don't sneak up on me like that you jerk! And Alec, this is the ONLY school you've ever been in."
Alec smiled at that "You mean I managed to sneak up on the always alert, forever cautious, totally aware, perfect Max? I'm honored."
Max hit him again "Shut up Alec, let's just go to the cafeteria. And be nice! Remember we need to get into that group!"
"Ok, ok! I don't think we're gonna have a problem with that Max."
Max snorted "You are NOT the king of the world Alec."
"Yeah well you're no queen either!" Alec whispered.
Alec grabbed the door handle. He took a deep breath and pushed it open slowly.
The noise inside seemed to stop for a moment. Everyone stared at the strikingly handsome couple walking through the doors but a second later the noise level went back to normal and Max was able to breathe again.
"MJ, Alecsander! Over here!" Dak called from a table near a window
"Hey, I'm so glad you found the cafeteria! Now let me introduce you to everyone ok?"
Dak took Max by the arm and started pointing to the guys and girls sitting around the table.
"Ok, that's Luke, Melissa, Sean and Stephanie. You know them already Max. And that's Nikki, Iker and Leo, Alecsander you know them..."
"Please, call me Alec." He smiled at the girls sitting around the table, they where all extremely beautiful.
"Ok, Alec. The ones you don't know are Ashley, Amanda Dave and Dade... they are twins obviously."
Dave and Dade where tall and well built as all the other guys on the group. They had short black hair and deep blue eyes. Sean had dark skin and really dark eyes. Luke and Leo had lightly tanned skin and golden blonde hair. Iker was probably the most handsome of the three, he stood up and offered Max his seat.
"Thanks... Aiker?"
"Iker... as in Snickers but without the C" The boy had light baby-like skin. He gave Max a big smile, revealing his straight white teeth. His dark hair was slightly curly and a few bangs fell past his clear gray eyes, he tucked the strands behind his ears.
Ashley leaned over Dave and whispered something to Amanda. Dave rolled his eyes as the two blonde girls giggled, Ashley ran a hand through her curly hair, which was tied up in a ponytail and Amanda tucked her straight locks behind her ears. Both of them where glancing at Alec.
"Ok you two, let me give you the grand tour through he cafeteria. Then we can show you the rest of the school ok?" Dak flashed them a smile.
Max shrugged "Sure, let's hear it."
Alec pulled up a chair next to Max and sat down.
"Ok, see that small group over there? They are our hackers." Dak pointed to a table with seven kids, they where all wearing the uniform but the girls had on black stockings and black nail polish, some of the guys had black nails too. Two of the girls had blue hair and all three girls where wearing what seemed to be several coats of makeup and black eyeliner.
"Are they like the geeks here?" Alec asked.
"Oh no, see that table over there? Those are the geeks." Dade pointed to another table where four boys and four girls where eating slowly.
"They are the math and astronomy club. They can multiply amazing numbers in their heads." Dave explained.
"And they have no sense of fashion" Melissa added.
"Yeah, you should have seen their clothes a year ago, when we didn't have to wear uniforms." Nikki whispered.
"Ok, ok, can I continue please? On our left we have the chess club and on our right we have the girls table." Dak pointed to a small group of five girls wearing their hair in pigtails tied with ribbons, their skirts where short, they wore knee high socks and had on very light makeup, their nails where painted pink.
"They seem cute." Alec commented. Dak smiled "They are... they are five of the youngest students here, really sweet kids, everyone likes them." she commented.
"So if you like them then why aren't they with you?" Max asked.
"The fact that we like them doesn't mean they have what it takes to be with us."
"What does it take? What is it that we have that they don't have?" Alec wanted to know.
"Oh we're not sure you have what it takes just yet. That's what the initiation is for, but you'll learn all about us if you go to our meeting tonight. Let me write the address down for you." Sean grabbed a napkin, took a pen out of his coat pocked and made a small drawing.
"And if we don't have what it takes?" Max asked.
"Then you just become one of them, the normal kids. But don't worry, I'm sure you'll get in." Dak winked at her and ate a spoonful of chocolate pudding.
*************
Max walked into the girl's lockers room with Dakareth Amanda and Ashley. The other three girls walked straight to their lockers and changed into their gym clothes. The three of them where wearing lacy silk underwear, Amanda's was red, Ashley's was navy blue and Dak's was black.
Max looked around the room, about twenty other girls where walking around on their underwear, most of them just wore plain white but Max spotted two of the cute young girls, one of them was wearing pink lace, the other one had cotton white underwear with pink little hearts. There was something about those girls...
"MJ!" Amanda tapped Max on the shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"Your gym clothes and locker number."
Max took a pair of small navy blue shorts and white tank top and a piece of paper from her. She, Max, checked out the number on the paper and found her locker.
By the time she had changed everyone had already left. She opened the door to the gym and found twenty five girls and twenty five boys standing on a circle around some mats. In the middle of all was the teacher and Alec, who was also wearing blue shorts but with a white T-shirt.
"Maxine Jane, nice of you to join us. Please step forward! My name is Mrs. Crick and I'm your gym teacher. For the past month we've been learning self defense."
Mrs. Crick made a quick hand signal behind her back which both Max and Alec missed. Dak and Iker walked slowly behind Max and Alec.
"You two are behind, but I'm sure with the proper amount of work we can have you up to speed in no time. Self defense is not something to be taken lightly and it requires training and experience."
Mrs. Crick made another hand signal and Dak and Iker propelled themselves forward, Iker wrapped his arm around Alec's throat and Dak did the same with Max.
Neither transgenic saw that coming, they didn't have time to control their reaction. Alec flipped Iker over his shoulder effortlessly and Iker landed hard on the mats. Max did the same with Dak, only she managed to land on her feet.
Both Max and Alec assumed a fight stance immediately before realizing what they where doing and relaxing their bodies.
Mrs. Crick was shocked "Ok, I can see you've had some training of your own. Did you take special classes? Because those two are at the top of the class."
Max shrugged "I'm just a teenage girl in a broken world, my dad wanted me to be able to fight back."
Max and Alec shared a glance and hoped no one suspected anything.
*************
When the final bell rang Max practically ran out of the school and down the front steps. She stood there next to a three and wondered if she should wait for Alec or Logan or just walk home. She hadn't had history that day so she had not seen Logan.
"Hey MJ!" Dade and Dave ran to her "Remember to be at the address we gave you tonight at eight! Don't be late!"
"We won't!" Max assure them.
Max heard a car honk "Hey MJ, want a ride?" Logan asked her.
Max shrugged "Sure, why the hell not?"
She climbed into Logan's car and he drove off.
"So how was your day?" He asked her.
"Ok, we had a minor problem in gym class but I think we handled it well. We can talk more about it once we get home and Alec sits down with us."
"Ok, want to go home right now?"
Max smiled "What did you have in mind?"
"Well, it's not dinner and a movie but how about some grocery shopping?"
Max smiled "Sounds good to me!"
************
"...So I asked the boy if he even cared about Australopithecus and you know what is answer was?"
"What?"
"Well Mr. Cale... I'm a vegetarian..."
Max had tears of laughter rolling down her cheeks "You'd think this guys would teach the kids something!" She grabbed a bag of fresh strawberries and threw them into the cart.
"Yeah, you'd think." Logan took a tomato and showed it to Max "Does this seem ripe enough to you?"
Max carefully took the tomato from his hand and took a bite "Mmm It's ripe enough!" She chewed the juicy tomato and swallowed.
She noticed that Logan was staring at her.
"What?" She asked.
He moved his hand towards her face but stopped a few inches away from her cheek.
"You've got some on your chin." He told her with a sad tone.
Max wiped the tomato away and dried her hand on her skirt. Logan sighed.
"You have no idea of what I'd give to be able to do what you just did."
"Wipe juice off someone's face?" Max frowned at him. Logan just smiled sadly.
Max bit her lip "Some day Logan, some day."
"Yeah well you know what they say."
"What?"
"Hope dies last."
**************
Max and Logan walked into the basement through the back door, laughing and carrying several paper bags full of groceries. The room was dark.
"Where the hell have you been?" Alec asked them. Max shrieked and Logan dropped a bag.
Alec hit the lights, he had been sitting on the couch so Max hadn't seen him.
"Alec what is wrong with you?" Max bent down to pick up the bag that Logan had dropped "Great, the tomatoes got squashed. This is all your fault..."
"I asked you a question." Alec told them calmly, too calmly.
"What does it look like? We where grocery shopping" Logan pointed to the bags they where carrying.
"Together?"
"Well, yeah"
"What is it to you?" Max dropped the bags on the kitchen counter and placed her hands on her hips.
"You where grocery shopping together! Did you have fun pushing the cart together, brushing your hands against each other while reaching for the lettuce... oh wait! You can't do that or he'd be dead!"
"Alec what the hell is your problem?" Max interrupted him.
"You two! What if someone saw you?!"
"Alec, we live together! It's ok if we go grocery shopping..."
"No Logan, we..." He pointed to himself and Max "live together, you just live above us ok? Someone could have spotted you and reported this! Do you have any idea of how it looks? Logan you could get fired! Or worse, Max could be relocated! We need to stick together for this, this is no ordinary mission! We're sleeping with the devil here, we can not afford stupid mistakes like this!" Alec yelled.
"How is Max being relocated worse than me getting fired?" Logan asked to no one in particular but the transgenics ignored him.
"Who died and made you CO?" Max snapped at Alec.
"No one, not thanks to you! Max, this could've cost us the mission."
"Well no one saw us so what's the big deal?" Max yelled back, they had been walking towards each other during their fight and Max was now shouting at his face.
"Guys break it off, the neighbors are going to hear." Logan whispered urgently.
Alec took a deep breath and backed off, he stormed to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.
Logan sighed "I'll go put the things away. Talk to him Max."
Max pouted and shook her head. "We didn't do anything wrong Logan, he's the one who exploded for no reason!"
Logan walked over to Max and took a hold of her shirt covered arm "We both know he's right Max, just talk to him."
Max sighed but agreed. She knocked on the bathroom door slowly before entering without waiting for an answer.
Alec was splashing his face with water "Max, go away." He didn't even look at her.
"You where really worried weren't you?" Max asked him softly.
"We left our homes, we gave up our lives so that we could come here and take down Manticore's new little project and you almost messed it all up! Of course I was worried!" Alec put his elbows on the sink and covered his face with his hands.
"Oh, you where worried about the mission..." Max said in a very tiny voice and sat down on the rim of the bathtub.
"Well sure, what else?" Alec glanced at her, She was looking at the floor, her head down. And she was pouting adorably.
"Oh Max, I was worried about you too!" Alec sat down beside her and lifted her chin with two of his fingers.
Her face hardened immediately "What ever"
Max pushed his hand away and stood up. She was just leaving the bathroom when she stopped at the door with and her back still turned to him she asked "Just how worried where you?"
Alec smiled "Oh about 98% worried about the mission, 2% worried about you." Max smiled a little and walked away but her smile widened when she heard him mutter to himself "Or was it the other way around?"
__________________________________________________________
Guys I'm really really sorry this took so long, I swear I'll try to update sooner! And an explanation for the whole school thing is coming up, (yes, there is a reason why things are so strange)
I wanted to thank everyone who has been reviewing this story, I'm glad you're enjoying it! Also I wanted to ask... where are all the M/L fans? Keep voting!! Remember the pairing is decided by chapters, which ever couple gets the most votes for this chapter will lead the next one and so on.
And if you don't want to vote then please leave a review! Your comments mean a lot to me!!
Chapter 4
Cool Kids
_______________________________________________
By the time they got to the office the bell had rung and the halls where empty.
The secretary there had her head down and didn't see them come in.
Alec cleared his throat and the woman looked up.
"Oh hi! You must be the new students! I have your schedules here for you, I'm afraid you missed homeroom so you can just head straight for your first class. Here's your locker combination, map and papers. Oh and I will need you both to sign in for some extra classes later today, new students require extra credits!" The woman handed them each a folder.
"Please don't ask young men for directions, they love playing jokes on the new students and will probably lead you to the bathroom or a closet."
"Thank you for the warning." Alec adjusted his shirt and turned to Max.
The bell rang, signaling the end of homeroom.
"Shall we?" Alec asked Max.
She smiled encouragingly. "Let's go!"
*************
Max and Alec walked elegantly through the halls packed with kids. Heads turned in their direction as the crowd seemed to part to let them through.
People whispered to each other, girls sighed and boys stared as the transgenics made their way to their classes.
They stopped in front of the science lab.
"I think my first class is here." Max told Alec.
"Ok," he checked his map and leaned a little bit closer to her ear. "I'll be in the next classroom in case you need anything." He whispered.
Max nodded and watched Alec walk away as the bell rang. He turned around and mouthed "Keep your eyes open" She nodded and walked into her first class.
*************
Max smiled at the teacher. His eyes widened a little but he recovered nicely.
"I take it you're the new student?" He asked her more than told her.
"Yeah, I'm MJ."
"Ok MJ, my name is Alfred Russell. You're going to need a lab partner, now let's see... who's available?"
"I am!" A guy wearing a football jacket and sitting next to a pretty blonde raised his hand.
"Sean!" The girl slapped him on the arm and turned away, flipping her hair and hitting him on the face with it.
"Aww, come on Steph, I was just joking!"
"People, people, resolve your love lives on your own time! Now MJ, you can sit with Melissa, since her partner is absent. We'll make permanent arrangements for you later."
Max walked towards Melissa. She had clear white skin and jet black hair. Her eyes where a little almond shaped and she seemed to have a nice figure.
"Hi!" Max whispered to her while the teacher continued his lesson.
"Hi. So, you're the new kid. I'm sure you'll have no problem fitting in, and neither will that boy who was with you." Melissa whispered back.
"Alecsander? Naw, he'll have friends before the next bell rings."
"Well, if you think about it so will you. I mean, if you want to be a part of our group."
Max glanced at Melissa with interest. "Just tell me you're not a geek and I'm in."
"A geek? Hell no, I'm a cheerleader!" Melissa giggled.
"Miss Witacker, will you please keep it down?"
"Yes Mr. Russell" Melissa said out loud. Then she whispered to Max, "See you at lunch."
Max nodded and got to work. That was when she noticed for the first time the soft music playing through the loudspeakers. Mozart. She made a note to ask Alec if he had heard anything unusual on the tape.
*************
Alec tapped his foot against the desk in front of him during math class, he was too bored to do anything else.
The poor girl sitting on the desk turned around to ask Alec to stop the annoying habit but one look at Alec had her melting into a puddle. She just giggled and turned her back to him again.
Alec smiled, that girl was definitely one of the 'popular ones' he was supposed to interact with. She had been playing with her blonde hair and looking at her reflection on a small mirror for the whole class.
Alec looked around. A couple of muscular guys wearing football jackets where sitting behind him, the rest of the kids seemed pretty ordinary except for a boy wearing thick glasses and hiding behind a big textbook.
"Nikki, could you please hand this sheets out?" The teacher asked the self centered blonde.
"Sure Mr. Watson" Nikki got up and started handing out the pieces of paper.
Alec heard a small hissing sound behind him and turned to check it out. One of the muscular guys glanced at Nikki, then looked directly at Alec and glanced at Nikki again.
Alec got the message. Once Nikki reached him he dropped his sheet on purpose.
"Oops." He smiled at her. She smiled back and bent down to retrieve the paper.
The guys behind Alec whistled slowly. Once Nikki was gone the guy sitting directly behind Alec placed his hand on his, Alec's shoulder and whispered "Thanks man!"
Alec smiled and thought to himself 'I'm in'
*************
Max stood outside her classroom and glanced down at her map. Every classroom was numbered but how the hell was she supposed to know which one was her Literature classroom?
"Are you lost?" Max looked up from her paper and found a handsome, tall, blonde boy with piercing blue eyes staring down at her.
"I'm not lost... just misinformed." She told him. The boy laughed and offered her his hand.
"I'm Luke."
"MJ" Max shook his hand.
"Pleasure. Now, let's see... what's your next class?"
"Lit. With Mr. Meisher." Max told him.
"Ok, this way milady!" He offered her his arm and she hesitated for a moment.
'Man, do teenagers really fall for that fake charm?' Max asked herself.
"I'll take her to her next class. You can go Luke." A beautiful, slim brunet with bright green eyes and the most amazing body Max had ever seen showed up from nowhere and guided Max away from Luke.
"Dak! Come back! Hey, I was going to show her!" Luke yelled after them.
"Yeah right!" Dak said. "Luke is a good kid, once you get to know him... but in the mean time, don't go near him alone. He'll cool down one you're part of the group."
"The group?" Max raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah... you ARE joining aren't you? Don't worry, we are the cool kids." The girl guided Max directly to her locker and waited while she took out her books.
"How did you know I'd been invited?" Max asked her while she tried to open her old rusty locker.
"How could you not be? You just had lab right? There are three of our members in it, surely one of them talked to you and invited you... same for your friend Alecsander I'm sure."
Max closed the orange door and stared at the girl. "How do you know so much about us? I didn't even tell you my locker number!" Max was suspicious.
The girl laughed "I'm sorry, I must be making you nervous! Don't worry, you're new, you're beautiful and you're rich. Fresh meat for the pack of wolves. I, like every other person in this school by this time know your name, address, locker number and schedule. The only thing left to find out is the amount of zeros on you account... give the hackers some time, we'll have it by tomorrow."
Max was taken aback by the girls words but she reassured her by saying "Ah, don't worry about it MJ, that's just the way this school is... everyone is curious about everyone and it's hard to keep secrets... unless you are elite and you have access to every piece of information and every rumor before it spreads, that way you can control communications. That my friend, is what makes people important. Don't you ever forget that."
The girl stopped in her tracks and turned around to look at Max "I just realized, I haven't introduced myself! I'm Dak, short for Dakareth."
Max shook the girl's hand and smiled "I'm Maxine Jane... but I'm sure you already knew that."
Dak only smiled. "Here you go, Literature classroom. Oh, and just in case anyone offers... see that room right there? The one that says Recycling room? Don't you ever go in there with a guy, it's the make out room but it's also used to play jokes on freshmen and new kids. Try to avoid it. See you at lunch MJ!"
"Bye!" Max called after her. There was something about that girl that seemed a little unusual. Max shrugged the feeling off and walked into her classroom.
*************
The bell rang for lunch and Max walked out of her classroom gratefully. She was hungry, her butt was sore from sitting down and she was sick and tired of the classical music being played 24/7
She had just stepped into the hallway when a hand grabbed her arm. She jumped up in surprise and was pretty alarmed until she heard a deep voice ask "Is it just me or is this the weirdest school you've ever been in?"
Max relaxed a little, then she turned around and slapped Alec on the arm.
"Ouch! Hey that hurt!"
"Don't sneak up on me like that you jerk! And Alec, this is the ONLY school you've ever been in."
Alec smiled at that "You mean I managed to sneak up on the always alert, forever cautious, totally aware, perfect Max? I'm honored."
Max hit him again "Shut up Alec, let's just go to the cafeteria. And be nice! Remember we need to get into that group!"
"Ok, ok! I don't think we're gonna have a problem with that Max."
Max snorted "You are NOT the king of the world Alec."
"Yeah well you're no queen either!" Alec whispered.
Alec grabbed the door handle. He took a deep breath and pushed it open slowly.
The noise inside seemed to stop for a moment. Everyone stared at the strikingly handsome couple walking through the doors but a second later the noise level went back to normal and Max was able to breathe again.
"MJ, Alecsander! Over here!" Dak called from a table near a window
"Hey, I'm so glad you found the cafeteria! Now let me introduce you to everyone ok?"
Dak took Max by the arm and started pointing to the guys and girls sitting around the table.
"Ok, that's Luke, Melissa, Sean and Stephanie. You know them already Max. And that's Nikki, Iker and Leo, Alecsander you know them..."
"Please, call me Alec." He smiled at the girls sitting around the table, they where all extremely beautiful.
"Ok, Alec. The ones you don't know are Ashley, Amanda Dave and Dade... they are twins obviously."
Dave and Dade where tall and well built as all the other guys on the group. They had short black hair and deep blue eyes. Sean had dark skin and really dark eyes. Luke and Leo had lightly tanned skin and golden blonde hair. Iker was probably the most handsome of the three, he stood up and offered Max his seat.
"Thanks... Aiker?"
"Iker... as in Snickers but without the C" The boy had light baby-like skin. He gave Max a big smile, revealing his straight white teeth. His dark hair was slightly curly and a few bangs fell past his clear gray eyes, he tucked the strands behind his ears.
Ashley leaned over Dave and whispered something to Amanda. Dave rolled his eyes as the two blonde girls giggled, Ashley ran a hand through her curly hair, which was tied up in a ponytail and Amanda tucked her straight locks behind her ears. Both of them where glancing at Alec.
"Ok you two, let me give you the grand tour through he cafeteria. Then we can show you the rest of the school ok?" Dak flashed them a smile.
Max shrugged "Sure, let's hear it."
Alec pulled up a chair next to Max and sat down.
"Ok, see that small group over there? They are our hackers." Dak pointed to a table with seven kids, they where all wearing the uniform but the girls had on black stockings and black nail polish, some of the guys had black nails too. Two of the girls had blue hair and all three girls where wearing what seemed to be several coats of makeup and black eyeliner.
"Are they like the geeks here?" Alec asked.
"Oh no, see that table over there? Those are the geeks." Dade pointed to another table where four boys and four girls where eating slowly.
"They are the math and astronomy club. They can multiply amazing numbers in their heads." Dave explained.
"And they have no sense of fashion" Melissa added.
"Yeah, you should have seen their clothes a year ago, when we didn't have to wear uniforms." Nikki whispered.
"Ok, ok, can I continue please? On our left we have the chess club and on our right we have the girls table." Dak pointed to a small group of five girls wearing their hair in pigtails tied with ribbons, their skirts where short, they wore knee high socks and had on very light makeup, their nails where painted pink.
"They seem cute." Alec commented. Dak smiled "They are... they are five of the youngest students here, really sweet kids, everyone likes them." she commented.
"So if you like them then why aren't they with you?" Max asked.
"The fact that we like them doesn't mean they have what it takes to be with us."
"What does it take? What is it that we have that they don't have?" Alec wanted to know.
"Oh we're not sure you have what it takes just yet. That's what the initiation is for, but you'll learn all about us if you go to our meeting tonight. Let me write the address down for you." Sean grabbed a napkin, took a pen out of his coat pocked and made a small drawing.
"And if we don't have what it takes?" Max asked.
"Then you just become one of them, the normal kids. But don't worry, I'm sure you'll get in." Dak winked at her and ate a spoonful of chocolate pudding.
*************
Max walked into the girl's lockers room with Dakareth Amanda and Ashley. The other three girls walked straight to their lockers and changed into their gym clothes. The three of them where wearing lacy silk underwear, Amanda's was red, Ashley's was navy blue and Dak's was black.
Max looked around the room, about twenty other girls where walking around on their underwear, most of them just wore plain white but Max spotted two of the cute young girls, one of them was wearing pink lace, the other one had cotton white underwear with pink little hearts. There was something about those girls...
"MJ!" Amanda tapped Max on the shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"Your gym clothes and locker number."
Max took a pair of small navy blue shorts and white tank top and a piece of paper from her. She, Max, checked out the number on the paper and found her locker.
By the time she had changed everyone had already left. She opened the door to the gym and found twenty five girls and twenty five boys standing on a circle around some mats. In the middle of all was the teacher and Alec, who was also wearing blue shorts but with a white T-shirt.
"Maxine Jane, nice of you to join us. Please step forward! My name is Mrs. Crick and I'm your gym teacher. For the past month we've been learning self defense."
Mrs. Crick made a quick hand signal behind her back which both Max and Alec missed. Dak and Iker walked slowly behind Max and Alec.
"You two are behind, but I'm sure with the proper amount of work we can have you up to speed in no time. Self defense is not something to be taken lightly and it requires training and experience."
Mrs. Crick made another hand signal and Dak and Iker propelled themselves forward, Iker wrapped his arm around Alec's throat and Dak did the same with Max.
Neither transgenic saw that coming, they didn't have time to control their reaction. Alec flipped Iker over his shoulder effortlessly and Iker landed hard on the mats. Max did the same with Dak, only she managed to land on her feet.
Both Max and Alec assumed a fight stance immediately before realizing what they where doing and relaxing their bodies.
Mrs. Crick was shocked "Ok, I can see you've had some training of your own. Did you take special classes? Because those two are at the top of the class."
Max shrugged "I'm just a teenage girl in a broken world, my dad wanted me to be able to fight back."
Max and Alec shared a glance and hoped no one suspected anything.
*************
When the final bell rang Max practically ran out of the school and down the front steps. She stood there next to a three and wondered if she should wait for Alec or Logan or just walk home. She hadn't had history that day so she had not seen Logan.
"Hey MJ!" Dade and Dave ran to her "Remember to be at the address we gave you tonight at eight! Don't be late!"
"We won't!" Max assure them.
Max heard a car honk "Hey MJ, want a ride?" Logan asked her.
Max shrugged "Sure, why the hell not?"
She climbed into Logan's car and he drove off.
"So how was your day?" He asked her.
"Ok, we had a minor problem in gym class but I think we handled it well. We can talk more about it once we get home and Alec sits down with us."
"Ok, want to go home right now?"
Max smiled "What did you have in mind?"
"Well, it's not dinner and a movie but how about some grocery shopping?"
Max smiled "Sounds good to me!"
************
"...So I asked the boy if he even cared about Australopithecus and you know what is answer was?"
"What?"
"Well Mr. Cale... I'm a vegetarian..."
Max had tears of laughter rolling down her cheeks "You'd think this guys would teach the kids something!" She grabbed a bag of fresh strawberries and threw them into the cart.
"Yeah, you'd think." Logan took a tomato and showed it to Max "Does this seem ripe enough to you?"
Max carefully took the tomato from his hand and took a bite "Mmm It's ripe enough!" She chewed the juicy tomato and swallowed.
She noticed that Logan was staring at her.
"What?" She asked.
He moved his hand towards her face but stopped a few inches away from her cheek.
"You've got some on your chin." He told her with a sad tone.
Max wiped the tomato away and dried her hand on her skirt. Logan sighed.
"You have no idea of what I'd give to be able to do what you just did."
"Wipe juice off someone's face?" Max frowned at him. Logan just smiled sadly.
Max bit her lip "Some day Logan, some day."
"Yeah well you know what they say."
"What?"
"Hope dies last."
**************
Max and Logan walked into the basement through the back door, laughing and carrying several paper bags full of groceries. The room was dark.
"Where the hell have you been?" Alec asked them. Max shrieked and Logan dropped a bag.
Alec hit the lights, he had been sitting on the couch so Max hadn't seen him.
"Alec what is wrong with you?" Max bent down to pick up the bag that Logan had dropped "Great, the tomatoes got squashed. This is all your fault..."
"I asked you a question." Alec told them calmly, too calmly.
"What does it look like? We where grocery shopping" Logan pointed to the bags they where carrying.
"Together?"
"Well, yeah"
"What is it to you?" Max dropped the bags on the kitchen counter and placed her hands on her hips.
"You where grocery shopping together! Did you have fun pushing the cart together, brushing your hands against each other while reaching for the lettuce... oh wait! You can't do that or he'd be dead!"
"Alec what the hell is your problem?" Max interrupted him.
"You two! What if someone saw you?!"
"Alec, we live together! It's ok if we go grocery shopping..."
"No Logan, we..." He pointed to himself and Max "live together, you just live above us ok? Someone could have spotted you and reported this! Do you have any idea of how it looks? Logan you could get fired! Or worse, Max could be relocated! We need to stick together for this, this is no ordinary mission! We're sleeping with the devil here, we can not afford stupid mistakes like this!" Alec yelled.
"How is Max being relocated worse than me getting fired?" Logan asked to no one in particular but the transgenics ignored him.
"Who died and made you CO?" Max snapped at Alec.
"No one, not thanks to you! Max, this could've cost us the mission."
"Well no one saw us so what's the big deal?" Max yelled back, they had been walking towards each other during their fight and Max was now shouting at his face.
"Guys break it off, the neighbors are going to hear." Logan whispered urgently.
Alec took a deep breath and backed off, he stormed to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.
Logan sighed "I'll go put the things away. Talk to him Max."
Max pouted and shook her head. "We didn't do anything wrong Logan, he's the one who exploded for no reason!"
Logan walked over to Max and took a hold of her shirt covered arm "We both know he's right Max, just talk to him."
Max sighed but agreed. She knocked on the bathroom door slowly before entering without waiting for an answer.
Alec was splashing his face with water "Max, go away." He didn't even look at her.
"You where really worried weren't you?" Max asked him softly.
"We left our homes, we gave up our lives so that we could come here and take down Manticore's new little project and you almost messed it all up! Of course I was worried!" Alec put his elbows on the sink and covered his face with his hands.
"Oh, you where worried about the mission..." Max said in a very tiny voice and sat down on the rim of the bathtub.
"Well sure, what else?" Alec glanced at her, She was looking at the floor, her head down. And she was pouting adorably.
"Oh Max, I was worried about you too!" Alec sat down beside her and lifted her chin with two of his fingers.
Her face hardened immediately "What ever"
Max pushed his hand away and stood up. She was just leaving the bathroom when she stopped at the door with and her back still turned to him she asked "Just how worried where you?"
Alec smiled "Oh about 98% worried about the mission, 2% worried about you." Max smiled a little and walked away but her smile widened when she heard him mutter to himself "Or was it the other way around?"
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Guys I'm really really sorry this took so long, I swear I'll try to update sooner! And an explanation for the whole school thing is coming up, (yes, there is a reason why things are so strange)
I wanted to thank everyone who has been reviewing this story, I'm glad you're enjoying it! Also I wanted to ask... where are all the M/L fans? Keep voting!! Remember the pairing is decided by chapters, which ever couple gets the most votes for this chapter will lead the next one and so on.
And if you don't want to vote then please leave a review! Your comments mean a lot to me!!