Max stood on the first step, head angled back and jaw drooping slightly as she stared at the large doors. People moved past her in a consistent stream, but she didn't pull her attention away to find out who any of them were. Over and over, the doors opened quickly then started to slowly close, then yanked open again before they could completely shut. She wasn't thrilled to be going through them any moment. Any...moment. She was much more hesitant than she expected. Not from any sort of social anxieties, but because she knew going through those doors meant a true transition into a new segment of her life. Suddenly, she felt a hand on the top of her head.
"Trevor or Justin?" she asked without turning around. The laugh she received in response was lazy and slow. She smirked. "Justin."
"We have a winner," he chuckled. She faced him and smiled, holding her arms out for a hug.
"Dude, I missed those glassy eyes!" Max said. Her hugged her back with only one arm, the other too busy holding a backpack at his knees by its top strap. "How was your break?"
"Chill," he replied, bobbing his head with the urgency of molasses. "Mostly played video games and slept which is pretty much my dream. You?"
Dramatic as hell. Some would say literally.
"Yeah, it was cool. Varying degrees of excitement. I was here for the whole break and it can actually get a little creepy," she said. He nodded with a serious expression as though he were very aware of this fact. Max snickered under her breath, imagining what sort of experience he'd had to treat the topic so reverently. She turned back to the doors of Blackwell and sighed. "So...school, amirite?"
"You right," he said, hoisting the bookbag up and sliding one of his arms through the strap. "All good things, know what I mean?"
I kind of ignored that lesson for a while, huh?
"Yeah, yeah," she muttered, crossing her arms with a pout. "Well, at least I get to meet the new photography teacher today. So...that's nice, I guess. What do you have first?"
"What? I have no fuckin' idea, man," Justin said, bursting into laughter. Max narrowed her eyes at him.
You'd lose your head if you didn't need it to smoke.
"Seriously? You're ridiculous," she snarked, shaking her head.
"There's only so many classrooms, Maxzilla. I'll find the right one at some point," he said.
"Yeah, have fun with that," she replied. She groaned and held her arm out, bending it at the elbow. "Well, shall we?" Justin took some time to think it over, the hesitation clear on his face. He shook his head back and forth wildly in a mock tantrum.
"Fine!" he huffed, hooking his arm with hers, "we shall."
As soon as they had entered the school, the noise of busy hallways flooded her ears. She didn't find it entirely unpleasant. She was grateful when the girls' dorms became a bit louder, finally ousting the eerie quiet she had grown to dislike. Similarly, the familiarity of the bustling school struck something of a soothing note.
"Well, we made it," she said as they broke the link of their arms. "It was a treacherous journey but by god, we made it."
"Hooray," he responded with empty enthusiasm. "Anyway, thanks for the moral support but I need to go take a leak and then I guess try to figure out where the fuck I'm supposed to go."
I love the image of him poking his head into every classroom until he finds the right one.
"Yeah, sure," Max chuckled as they high-fived, "good luck plugging the leak." His chest heaved with a contained laugh and he headed off toward the bathroom.
Taking her time to look around, she slowly moved through the main hall. The Christmas decorations had all been removed, replaced with fliers and posters for Valentine's Day. That was an exciting thought, at least. She and Chloe were still accumulating all of their 'firsts,' and Valentine's Day seemed like a particularly important one. As she turned into the hallway where her locker was located, she smiled when she saw Warren. He was rooting through his locker sleepily with some sort of breakfast bar hanging from his mouth.
"Hey you," she said, leaning her shoulder into the locker next to his. He turned to her and muffled what Max assumed must be a greeting. Realizing what he said was incoherent, he held up an index finger and chomped down, then set the rest of the bar down.
"Yo," he finally choked out after a bit of a struggle to swallow. "Pretty weird to be back, right?"
"A little, yeah," she admitted. "I was getting pretty used to not cooking my brain over impossible math and science."
Just like...a crock-pot of incomprehension.
"Not me, dude. I'm in my element now!" He clenched his fist in tame celebration. A scowl took root in his features and he pulled a piece of paper out of the locker. "For the most part," he said, looking it over for just a moment before tossing it back.
"Hm? Why you being salty?" Max asked.
"Ugh," he said, "I got A's on all of my exams except chemistry." He turned to her with a look of disbelief. "Chemistry! I thought for sure I nailed it..."
"Oh wow, you're such a dick," Max laughed. She put the back of her hand against her forehead. "Woe is me, I've committed a great sin in letting my perfection falter!" He tried to say something and she doubled down on the act. "Alas!"
"Ha ha," he responded dryly. "It's not a big deal, just a little disappointing. I just like to do my best. Nothing wrong with that."
"Well, that's what happens when you don't get Professor Caulfield to help you out," she said with a chuckle. He raised an eyebrow to show his bewilderment. "Oh, back in the uh," she leaned in closer to him, "other timeline, I helped you with a lab and you got a good grade!"
Warren winced and brought a hand to his face, briefly swaying as he did so. He grunted in discomfort and shivered. Max was confused for only a second before she realized.
Ah! Oh no!
"Oh fuck, I forgot!" she yelped, grabbing him by the shoulders. "I'm so, so sorry! I completely forgot! Are you okay?"
"Yep, yeah," he said, blinking a few times before giving a small shake of his head. "S'all good, accidents happen." He puffed out his cheeks and blew the air out slowly. "Welp, that was a new one."
I'm so stupid.
"Warren, seriously, I am so sorry. I forgot that was even a thing," she said.
"It hasn't happened since when you first told me about it?" he asked, turning back to his locker and retrieving a book.
"No! I've been good. Total lapse in memory." She hunched forward as if ashamed and narrowed her eyes. "Are you...sure you're okay? It almost looked like it hurt."
"Hey, forreal, I'm okay," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "If anything, it just reminds me time travel is weird and science is a lie so that's pretty neat."
I can't tell if he's just playing it off or not...
"Ugh, that sucks." She frowned and held her hand up as if taking an oath. "I promise I'll be even more careful."
"Alright, alright," he laughed, "this pouty Max thing is killing me. Stop it, okay?" She hesitantly nodded. "Okay, good. I've gotta get to my first class. Let me know if you want to chill later, alright?" He smiled widely at her, which she returned, then he was off down the hall.
That's a bit of a rough start to the day.
She opened her locker and took the things she knew she'd need for her first class, leaving everything else behind. She jumped at the sudden sound of the bell ringing and slammed the locker closed, taking off up the steps in a hurry.
It took approximately a minute before the novelty of being in class again wore off. The warmth from the heater had reversed any sense of being awake and she spent most of the lesson trying not to doze off and bust her face on the table. Thankfully, the class was pretty light as it served for a minor introduction to what she'd be learning during the semester. This time when the bell rang, she was doubly grateful for it. There was no way she wouldn't be wide awake for her next class.
She returned to her locker and switched out her necessary materials, then took a deep breath. Turning around, she stared at the doorway leading into the classroom, feeling a miniscule bit of unease slosh around in her stomach. She realized she hadn't been in that room for months. Not since she had rewritten time once and for all. Clearing her mind, she entered the room.
"Max!" Victoria called, snapping her fingers to aid in getting her attention. When she got Max looked at her, she stopped snapping and pointed at an empty seat at the table next to Taylor. Of course, Kate was next to Victoria. Max found herself thinking about the last photography class she had attended.
Victoria and Nathan were being bullies and...and Kate didn't come. She went to the roof instead. And now we're all friends and sitting together? Kate and Victoria are together? This is...a crazy reminder of how things changed. How I changed things.
"We're sitting together," she said as she sat down, though it was more of an audible observation than directed at anyone in particular.
"Well, yeah," Taylor said. "It's better than you sitting by yourself like a little emo kid, right?" Max rolled her eyes and turned to her.
"I'm always going to be emo," she said. Taylor and Kate laughed, but Victoria seemed to be thinking it over.
"It actually is pretty crazy, huh?" She leaned over to dig through her bag, then straightened back out with a notebook in hand. She flopped it on the table with a flair of drama and made a sound of disgust. "I haven't looked in this for so long. Want to know what the last thing I wrote was?"
"What was it?" Kate asked. Max couldn't help but notice how liberal she was being with her leaning on Victoria. When Victoria opened the notebook, Max had to keep herself from visibly reacting. The format of the words, the purple ink, the small drawing in the corner... It was very familiar.
Oh man, Vic...
"It's this stupid little rant I wrote," she said. When no one responded, her shoulders slouched. "Ugh, okay. It says: My phone is dead and I'm bored. Time to bust out my poesy. Why did I give up the word for the image? Because I suck. But..." she scowled, "Mark Jefferson rules. Everyone in here loves him. But he only seems to care about..." She glanced at her arm when she felt Kate's hands wrap around it, then she looked at Max. "Max C. I want to hate her, but she wouldn't care. Envy is a sin, Vic." She laughed sadly and closed the book. "Get over yourself," she whispered.
"Woah," Taylor said, patting her hands on the table awkwardly, "I guess that's kind of fucked up for several reasons, huh?" Kate glared at her.
"Taylor!" she hissed. Taylor's hands shot up from the table, now acting as a show of surrender.
She probably feels like shit. The amount of guilt inside this girl...
"I mean," Max said, looking down at her notebook as she nervously scribbled nonsense, "I was jealous of you too, of course." Victoria stared at her for a moment, then smirked as she propped up her head with a hand.
"We don't look good in green, I don't think," she said. "You didn't have any reason to be jealous of me. You do your own thing and it's really great. I'm actually trying to take cues from you." She regarded Kate again and smiled. "Well, I guess now you have a reason to be jealous but, yanno."
"That was cute," Kate said, squeezing Victoria's arm affectionately.
"It's getting a bit gratuitous at this point, isn't it?" Max asked Taylor. The girl snickered and shook her head.
"Yeah, because we didn't put up with you and Chloe being disgusting for months. I'm immune to this shit now." She playfully flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Just you wait, I'm gonna find a guy and I'll get my revenge."
This is going to be a thing we go through with every friend, isn't it?
"Oh boy, I can't wait," Max replied sarcastically. Suddenly, Victoria's eyes grew wide as they traced over Max's shoulder. She turned in her seat just in time to see a woman hurrying into the room with folders in her arms. She dropped them on her desk and faced the class, smiling with embarrassment around the edges.
Max hadn't really thought about it, but she now realized she hadn't actually seen a picture of the new teacher. She was younger than she expected, looking like she couldn't have been out of college more than a few years. She leaned more toward Ms. Grant's casual fashion as opposed to dressing in what would be considered 'professional attire.' In fact, it seemed like she'd have no trouble fitting in with any average pack of hipsters. Her her was tied into a bun, making the multiple piercings in her ears visible. As if punctuating Max's assessment, she pushed her thick rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose.
She seems...cool? My style, at the very least.
"So," she clapped her hands together, "I'm late for my first class ever! We're off to a great start!" That brought a quiet wave of laughter out of the class, which seemed to help her relax. She scampered over to the door and shut it, then went back to center stage. "I'm your new photography teacher! I'm so excited to finally meet you all." She turned to the whiteboard and scribbled 'Ms. Waters' on it. She proudly stepped back from the board, then frowned. "Is that weird to do for high school?"
Aw, she's really awkward. I like her!
"My name is...obviously Ms. Waters," she said dryly, rolling her eyes as she pointed at the board. "I don't mind if you call me Maddie, though. We can do that until someone abuses it and I'm forced to go back on it," she laughed. "I know how it works, it's inevitable." She did a pretty good job of switching eye contact with different students as she spoke. "A little bit about me, I guess. I'm a recent graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology but have been working as a freelance photographer since just after high school. I don't really lean toward any specific style, but like to chase whatever is currently capturing my interest."
She already seems way less pretentious than Jefferson.
As she went over to her desk, Max turned back to Victoria and shrugged. The girl returned the gesture as if to say 'so far so good.' Ms. Waters dug through one of the folders she had brought in with her and held up two photographs.
"I try to be well-rounded. These are two of my favorite landscape shots I've taken. I'll pass them around." She approached Stella and held the photos out for her to take, making sure to offer her a big smile. "Interestingly, neither of them have been accepted anywhere I've submitted them, but they're still some of my favorites." She moved her hands in circles around each other as she explained. "I kind of find comfort in that. It reassures me that this is my passion and, above all else, I do it for me." She returned to her desk and grabbed a piece of paper. "That's what we're going to talk about today. Keep it casual to ease back in. I want to know where you land on the photography spectrum. If it's your passion, a hobby, or if you just took this class because you thought it'd be easy!" She was quick enough to search through the reactions of the students and smirked when she caught some nonvocal confessions. "But first, I'm going to take roll."
As she began going through the list of names, murmurs filled the classroom, presumably giving first impressions of their new teacher. After each one, she took an extra second to assign a face to the name. She was excited in a way that was both positive and a manifestation of nervousness. She stumbled when she reached a specific name.
"Kate Ma-" She stared at the paper, pencil ready to make a check mark. Her expression changed in an instant, swinging from perky to an honest sadness. She looked up from the paper slowly. "Kate Marsh?"
I wonder if she really knew what she was getting into.
"Here," Kate said, sheepishly raising her hand. Ms. Water's reaction hadn't gone unnoticed, and the atmosphere in the room took a nosedive. She stared at Kate for a moment, as if thinking of something to say, then conjured an obviously forced smile as she went back to the list. Kate bowed her head in embarrassment.
"So..." Ms. Waters said once she had finished roll call. She was clearly uneasy as she scanned the room. "I know that very horrible things happened last semester. I, uh...there's really nothing I can say that you haven't already heard or would do the situation justice. But I want you all to know that I'm here for you if you ever need to talk about anything. And I'm going to do everything in my power to make this as comfortable as I can. Please, please let me know if I can do anything differently to help make that happen." Though it probably wasn't a conscious move, she was looking at Kate when she finished. In response, the blonde did her best to smile back at her.
She couldn't say anything, but Max also took comfort in her words. It happened very infrequently, but there were moments when keeping her experience in The Dark Room a secret made her heart ache. She hoped it wasn't petty to think it, but sometimes she wished she could be included in the outpouring of support Kate received. Instead, she held tightly to her memories, refusing to let them escape to anyone but Chloe.
She at least seems sincere... That's good. I hope Kate likes her too. I hope this...works out.
"It's a little hard to segue from that," Ms. Waters admitted, stepping backwards in a shy manner, "but I wanted to address it. Having a black cloud hanging over our heads wouldn't do us any good" She took a deep breath. "Okay, um, let's start with a simple question. Who here actually likes photography? That it's something you'd want to honestly want to pursue?" Max hesitated, but raised her hand once she saw Victoria's in the air. A few more people put their hand up as well. "That's actually more than I was expecting," Ms. Waters laughed. "Hm...Victoria, right?" she asked, pointing at the girl. "Tell me what about photography inspires you."
"But she seems cool?" Chloe asked as she grabbed another slice of pizza. Somewhere along the line, sitting on the floor of Max's room while they ate had become the norm. Perhaps it was just the routine of it, but Max had grown to really like it. In a way, it almost felt like a meditative experience. She figured it was the closest she was going to get to a sense of detaching from material things.
"Yeah, she really does," Max replied, chomping into a slice herself. "The class was pretty fun and it sort of gave me and Vic the opportunity to gush about how obsessed we are with taking photos. I didn't think of it before, but she's really kind of brave to take the job. Her first teaching gig ever and she takes the place of a famous sociopath?"
"She is," Chloe agreed. "I wouldn't want to be in her shoes, that's for damn sure. And her actually being awesome is a huge plus... What's that look for?" Max had a distant look in her eyes, as if lost somewhere in her own head.
"I...don't know," she said. "It's not fair of me, but...we all thought Jefferson was cool. He had us all fooled. I don't actually think there's anything wrong with her, but it's still a lingering thought."
I hate how much of an effect he's had.
"I think that's understandable, babe." Chloe nudged Max with her foot. "And I'm sure she's well aware of that too. I'm not...trying to discount your nerves but I don't think lighting's going to strike twice on that."
"No, I know," Max said. "I guess it's just something that'll pass with time." She ate her piece of pizza up to the crust and then handed it to Chloe. "Anyway, yeah, that was my day. How was work? Frank started training today, right?"
"Yes!" Chloe said giddily. "It's so fucking bizarre to see that man nervous. I kept checking in on him and from what I could gather, he was doing pretty well. I didn't get any complaints from the customers, anyway. But I'm sure Pete was keeping it easy and helping out a lot." She let out a disbelieving chuckle. "I'm going to be pretty bummed when he moves to night shift entirely."
"Aw, yeah." Max slowly fell back until she was lying on the carpet. "But still, it's really nice to hear he's got a job. A morally acceptable one, anyway." She lifted her head to look at Chloe. "What do you think Rachel would say?"
"Ha!" Chloe smiled as she shook her head. "She'd be so fucking confused. But I guess she'd be really proud of him too, right? I've noticed..." She grew contemplative. "I've noticed that I've been sort of...cleaning up my memories of her. Everything got so fucked up and who knows how she really felt about anything. If she actually loved Frank. But when I don't slow down to really think it over, it's like that's just true in my head. I don't remember all the bad stuff." She brought one knee closer to her chest and rested her arm on it. "Is that messed up? Just like, covering up the bad things and only remembering the good?"
"No, I don't think so," Max said. "I think that's just how memories work. When you're close with someone and then something happens where you drift apart or circumstances force you apart, how much you cared about them and miss them takes priority. And I think that's a really nice thing, to be honest."
Maybe also a little dangerous if you forget why you broke up with someone.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Chloe replied. "I can't remember a single negative thing about my dad. Or I guess, anything that was bad is just something I miss now." She laughed as she narrowed her eyes. "Or were you talking about me?"
I'm so obvious, ugh.
"That was kind of the example in my head, yeah," Max said, blushing a little. "I only ever thought of you fondly and missed you. But...I guess you kind of hated me, huh?"
"Oh, shut up," Chloe said, getting on her knees and shuffling over to her. "I didn't hate you. I probably said I did a million times, but I was just angry at everything. Maybe angry because I missed you so much if...that makes sense? Sort of sounds like an oxymoron."
"Well, you are my oxymoron," Max teased. She shrieked as Chloe jumped on top of her.
"That wasn't even clever," Chloe murmured as she nipped at Max's ear.
"Look who's firing cannonballs through their glass house!" Max laughed. "Like ninety percent of your jokes are awful but I laugh at them because I want to get in your pants." Chloe sat up, straddling Max as she looked down with a look of shock.
"Is that true?" she asked. For a second, Max thought she might be genuinely offended. "Ninety seems really excessive. Give me eighty at least!"
Pfft, what? I was being generous. ...who am I kidding, I love it.
"I'm not going to barter on the quality of your sense of humor," Max said. Chloe's jaw only dropped lower.
"My whole world is crumbling," she said, her tone far away and somber. "Next you're going to tell me your name isn't even Max Caulfield! Who even are you!?"
Heh, so dumb.
"Don't be silly," Max giggled, "of course my name is Max Caulfield. I mean, for the moment..." Chloe perked an eyebrow. "Well, it's just..." Her eyes glimmered with something lovely as she grinned. "I'd kind of like to add a hyphen at some point."
A/N: Hey, Max finally gets to resume her photography classes and we meet the new teacher! I enjoyed figuring her out and drawing from my experiences with 'cool' teachers in the past. I might end up using her more than I initially thought just because it'd be fun to flesh her out. :)
Not much else to say about the chapter, but I'm really looking forward to getting into the next few! Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter aaaand thank you for reading aaaand I'll see you guys for the next one!