Max let Berrisford sleep in her room for the night, but made sure that she left for school early in the morning. Sure, she'd pay money to witness what would happen when Rachel had to try and beat one of the Fresh-And-Clean twins to the shower – but she really had to go visit Kendra.

So, precisely seven minutes before the bell rang, Max skidded to Kendra's office (because, when you run that fast you just have to skid when you stop) and opened the door.

"Alec's got an ex!" she said excitedly. It wasn't every day that someone told Max personal secrets, and she liked to take advantage of this occasion the best way she could – by telling the school gossip columnist.

"Well, of course he's got an ex. Can't think of him being solitary for long, can you?"

"She's sixteen, her name's Rachel Berrisford and her dad kicked her out of the house so she came over to our place to try and bum a place to sleep for a while," Max continued. Kendra furrowed her brow.

"Alec's shacking up with his ex? Now ma-hay-be I can make something out of that," she said, rapidly typing on her laptop. "I'll Google the name Berrisford, too. See if anything column worthy comes up for that. See if you can get a picture of her," Kendra passed her new digital camera to Max. Max examined the camera carefully.

"New?"

"From Walter," Kendra explained simply. "He's getting kinda jealous because I had a few dates over the past few days…"

"How many?" Max asked.

"Twelve in six days," Kendra said. "Really, that's not too much, is it? Guys are so weird. Anyways, he thinks he can win me back by giving me stuff."

"Like really nice Nikon cameras?" Max asked.

"Yep."

"Huh." Max frowned. Logan never got her anything of importance. Well, there was numerous bouquets of flowers – but no digital cameras or laptops. And she knew he had the money for it. When she turned to leave the room, she was stopped in her tracks by Rachel Berrisford standing in the doorway.

"Hi, Max," Rachel said brightly.

"H-Hi Rachel," Max stuttered. "Aren't you - how'd you get here?" Kendra grabbed the camera from Max and snapped a picture of Rachel, then ran back to her computer and downloaded it. Rachel blinked dazedly.

"I walked," she told Max.

"W-walked?" Max asked. Max had never, ever walked to school (despite the fact that it was all of ten blocks away). She always had a ride - this morning she'dridden her Baby to school.

"I didn't want to be too much of a bother to Alec and Cindy's morning routines, so I left," Rachel shrugged. "So, can I hang around with you for the day? I don't know anyone out here. If it's not too much trouble...?" she blinked up at Max. Max nodded.

"Sure, you can hang out with Max!" Kendra spoke up, her eyes focused on her computer screen. She looked at the two in the doorway. "We want to know all about you. For the school paper. We always do a special on new students," she added. "Aren't you enrolling?" Rachel shrugged.

"I don't have my Dad's signature for any papers, though," she said.

"Oh, I don't think that's going to be a problem," Kendra said, already printing something up on her printer. "Max, call Joshua and tell him to get his butt over here. Rachel, you just make yourself comfortable."

It wasn't exactly a well known secret, but Joshua Sandeman was quite the talented forgery artist. Max had never really had use for him because - well, when your stepmother is the principal of the school, you can't really get away with a forgery, can you?

It was three minutes until school started now. Luckily, Joshua hadn't been far from Kendra's office - he'd been in Mrs. Vertes's room preparing for the day ahead. When he got to Kendra's office, Kendra held up several school forms and a copy of Rachel's last report card which Mr. Berrisford had signed.

It took exactly one and a half minute for Joshua to sign everything, and one minute for Kendra to scan everything and send it to the school secretary for filing. Next it took fifteen seconds for Kendra to print and laminate Rachel's school ID. So, by the time the bell rang, all parties present in Kendra's office were already seated in their homeroom.

"Syl's not here, so you can take my desk and I'll take hers," Max told Rachel as Brin walked in in her new Versace shirt-dress and black leggings.

"You're late, Sung."

"Yeah, I know," Brin snarled back at Mrs. Vertes. She stopped when she saw Rachel at Max's usual desk.

"What's all this about?" Brin asked. "Who's this interloper?"

"That's Rachel," Max said. "Rachel will be joining us for a few days until the school gets her schedule fixed. Rachel, Brin; Brin, Rachel."

"Hi," Rachel extended her hand. Brin ignored it and sat down in her seat. Max rolled her eyes and pulled a Red Bull out from her backpack. She caught Rachel looking at the Red Bull.

"What, you want some?" Max asked.

"No, thanks," Rachel said. Good, Max thought, more for me. She took a sip.

"I don't suppose you've got any Kabbalah in there, do you?" Brin asked. "I had to stay up all night doing that stupid paper for Vertes's APCP."

"Fresh out," Max said sarcastically. Brin slouched in her chair, knowing that she was fighting a lost cause from the beginning.

Three minutes later (therefore, four minutes after the bell rang and one minute before the TV flickered on to show the school news bulletins) Alec walked in. At least Max assumed Alec had walked in – she was busy stuffing her empty Red Bull can back into her backpack.

"Hey, hot boy," Brin greeted jovially. At Alec's look, she shrugged. "I got it from Cindy. You don't mind me calling you that, do you?"

"Brin, Syl," Alec said, sitting in his desk. "Max."

"What?" Max asked, resurfacing from wrestling with her backpack. Alec jumped up from his chair in surprise.

"What the f - " he looked at the desk in front of him where Rachel's face was hidden by her binder. "What – where?"

"Rachel, I think Alec's addressing you," Brin told her. "You look pale, Alec. Should we ask Mrs. Vertes to fetch the smelling salts?"

"McDowell, sit," Vertes said, pointing to his desk. Alec sat, but immediately turned to Max's desk behind him. He gestured to Rachel, who was now paying attention to the television rather than to Alec, then to Max, then he made some sort of neck-slice-y gesture.

Max took his sign language to mean that Alec was going to kill himself because Max had slept with Rachel. Okay, maybe there was a better way to interpret that.

"Welcome, welcome to another year at the best high school in the entire district…"Ames White's unseemly bruises (caused by Zack and Krit last year, if you have not forgotten) had somewhat faded away. That was to say, Sandeman had taken him to the dentist and gotten his teeth fixed, then taken him to the plastic surgeon to get his nose and cheekbones re-done. While he was at it, he also took him to get contact lenses, eliminating the need for the thick glasses.

"My dad kicked me out," Max heard Rachel telling Alec.

"Why?" he asked.

"He thought I was pregnant," Rachel said.

"What? Why the hell did he think you were pregnant?" Alec demanded.

Rachel shrugged. "I was going through a rough patch after we broke up. I ate a lot of Cocoa Krispies and Ben and Jerry's – watched a lot of daytime TV. Then I sort of got the stomach flu and threw up a lot and he just jumped to conclusions."

"So why didn't you just go to one of your friends' houses?"

"I dunno. I knew you had a place in Seattle and this just seemed like the best idea," Rachel said.

"It wasn't," Brin muttered. Alec turned to glare at Brin (which was usually something that Max did, but this time he would make an exception), but she ignored him.

"So I hoped I could stay at your house for a while," Rachel said. "Do you mind much?"

"Uhh… no, not really," Alec said. "I'm sure Max won't mind if Sketchy moves into her room. Of course we'll have to have the infection squad check out the room first but – "

"Wait, what?" Max interrupted. "Why does Sketchy have to move into my room?"

Max and Sketchy hadn't shared a room since they'd moved from LA four years ago, and Max really wasn't itching to go back to that experience.

"Because you're brother and sister and you love each other," Alec reminded her. "Remember?"

"No, I really don't remember love coming into the picture," Max snapped. "Why can't she just sleep in the living room or something?"

"What's the big deal with Sketch moving into your room?" Alec asked. "What, are you afraid of little brother cooties?"

"You say that in such an amused voice because you've never had to share a room with that little packrat," Max snarled. "Seriously, just removing the first inch of dust from his room would be a planetary service."

"I can sleep in the living room if it's really that big of a problem," Rachel said in a quietly pleasant voice. "I really don't mind – "

"You're not sleeping in the living room!" Alec told her.

Max and Alec were still fighting about the room situation when homeroom ended. Then the fight lasted out into the hallway and into chemistry. By English, they weren't talking to each other. And by lunch, they wouldn't even spare a glance in the other's direction.

Max took her usual seat between Original Cindy and Joshua when Brin sat down across from them.

"We've got to get rid of this new girl," she said plainly.

"What new girl?" Original Cindy asked. She looked over where Brin was staring and saw Rachel following Alec around – almost like some sort of sick love puppy, Max thought. "Ohh… so the school honey bear's got a new-old-on-again-off-again boo and ya'll are jealous?"

"It's not jealousy," Kendra sat down next to Brin. "It's journalism. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this Berrisford girl, would you?" She held out a tape recorder to catch OC's next words.

Cindy leaned into the recorder, pursed her perfectly lipstick-ed lips, and spoke loudly into the recorder, "No comment." Kendra pouted and retracted the recorder. "Ya'll are crazy and I'm gonna go to the bathroom."

"Uh, I would dot do dat if I were you," a nasal voice said. Syl plopped down into the seat next to Brin.

"Ew, what the hell happened to you?" Brin asked. "You're all… snotty."

"Syl has the syph," Joshua supplied helpfully.

"Is dat what Zane's sayigg about be?" Syl demanded. "Dabb, I'b goigg to kill dat little 'tard!" she sneezed into the handful of napkins she had in her hand.

"What's the deal with the bathrooms?" Max asked.

Syl shrugged. "I sort of clogged up de toilets wid all of dese disgustigg tissues." Another sneeze. "I told the secretary, though. Should be fixed in an hour or two she said." A cough.

"Original Cindy gotta take a leak," Original Cindy said simply. "What the hell she gonna do without the toilets working?"

"Um… I don't think so," Nurse Blanchard said gleefully.

Elizabeth Blanchard was the school nurse – but she might as well have been Renfro's own daughter for as much as the two were alike. Nurse Blanchard wouldn't give you a band-aid unless she considered it an emergency. And unfortunately for most, Nurse Blanchard's definition of an emergency was if she was in imminent danger of losing her job.

Luckily, her and Cindy spoke the same language.

"How much will it cost?" Original Cindy asked bluntly. Nurse Blanchard paused for a moment with a finger on her chin, looking up at the ceiling in thought.

"Five hundred," she said finally.

"I gotta pay five hundred dollahs to take a pee-pee?" Original Cindy said incredulously. "No, no, Original Cindy don't play that game. You let me in," she ordered.

"There's only one key to this bathroom and I have it," Nurse Blanchard told her. "And the only way you'll get in is if you give me five hundred dollars. Sorry."

"Nurse Blanchard," Max said, stepping forward for her friend. "Elizabeth," she said familiarly.

"You know, I really prefer it if my students called me Nurse Blanchard," Nurse Blanchard said curtly.

"Seriously?" Max shrugged. "I can call you whatever the hell I want because my mom is the principal of the school. Three-quarters of the board of governoros is made up of my best friends' parents, and, well, I'm a cheerleader," she said point-blank. "You let my friend into the bathroom or we're going to have trouble."

"Trouble-shmouble," Nurse Blanchard said. "What can you do to me?"

"It's really not what I can do," Max said. "More like what the jury will do when my little brother testifies to you sexually harassing him when he came to you with a stomachache." Nurse Blanchard glared at Max – and she had a very powerful glare, nearly as good as Donald Lydecker's but not half as good as Max's.

"Can we decide this soon?" Original Cindy asked in a strained voice. Nurse Blanchard sighed and gestured to the bathroom.

"Go." Original Cindy rushed into the restroom and locked the door behind her. "And I'm going to go have a talk with Principal Renfro about your little blackmail scheme," Nurse Blanchard told Max.

"Then I'll tell her about how you've been withholding ice packs from kids with bruises unless they pay you!" Max shot back. Nurse Blanchard scowled and wrenched open the door.

"Then I'll tell how your little brother's been asking me every day for the past two years if the government's allowed medical marijuana in schools yet!" Nurse Blanchard yelled.

"Then I'll – " Max followed Blanchard out into the hallway, only to have Blanchard stop dead in her tracks in front of her. Max stopped as well, seeing the one thing that she had thought would never happen.

Alec.

Kissing Rachel.

By the water fountain!

A/N: Ahh yes, and the next chapter will be... well, it could be a number of things. I'm actually not sure yet.

Reviews are always welcome!