The car ride back to camp wasn't as fun as one could imagine. Max was sitting on the back seat, staring out of the window as Gwen drove. His stomach began hurting again and he tried to keep himself still, avoiding any harsh movements, but with the unkempt road that leads back to camp, it wasn't an easy task. Gwen looked back into the rear view mirror and noticed Max playing with the rims of his shirt. "Max, you good back there?"

"Yep..." That was a lie.

Gwen looked up at Max again, "Are you sure? I have water so you can take the pills" Gwen took one hand off the wheel and grabbed the water bottle sitting in the cup holder.

"I don't want your fucking water Gwen, and I don't want the pills" Max was mad, he's pretty much always a little pissed off but right now he felt like everything and everyone was shit.

"Okay lose the attitude cuz I just took you to the fucking doctor you shit"

"Fuck you, Gwen, I don't have a damn attitude"

"Are you sure about that because it kinda sounds like you do"

Max looked at Gwen through the window and rolled his eyes, "I don't have an attitude just shut up…"

"Look, I will stop this car-"

"Bet you won't" Max had a small smile on his face, he couldn't help but enjoy annoying Gwen.

Gwen pulled over and took her seatbelt off to face Max, who was looking out the window avoiding Gwen's gaze. "you are being extra annoying and I'm going to need you to chill… Like, I know you're Max but like I took you to the fucking doctors and I'm trying to make you feel better so fix yourself." Gwen smiled and gave Max his prescription. "also, take it"

Max looked up at Gwen, "Gwen, just get back on the fucking road"

Gwen sighed and put the car in park, making sure there was no one else on the road.

"What are you doing? Can't you just drive and leave me alone for once? Why do you have to be so extra all the Goddamn time? "

"Extra?"

"Yes." Max didn't look up at her.

"How the fuck am I extra? Listen here you shit, I'm making sure you don't die." Gwen spoke in her usual tone, which irritated Max.

"Right." Max looked up at Gwen and took the bottle, "If I take these… will you drive?"

Gwen nodded and turned back around. She put the car back in drive and began heading down the road.

Max looked at the water bottle and began feeling nauseous, he couldn't even keep the water down but he needed to take the meds anyway. He took a sip of water and immediately regretted it. "Gwen, pull over"

"You complain when I don't drive but now you need me to stop… Alright." Gwen pulled over and Max opened the door and proceeded to vomit outside. "Did you take the meds yet?"

Max shook his head and wiped his mouth, he drank some water and rinsed his mouth out, taking some pills and swallowing them in the process. "Well, I did now."

Gwen looked back a Max, who was cleaning himself off. She hopped out the car and helped Max.

"Stop it, I don't need your help"

"We are in the middle of the goddamn road, I'm speeding up the process."

"Stop I'm not a fucking baby"

"I never said you were"

"You're treating me like one so stop it"

"God damn Max, making sure you don't die isn't me treating you like a child, It's my job, you really think I give a fuck?"

Max looked up at Gwen, "right." Max knew it, he knew it from the start, Gwen didn't give two shits about him. All she cared about were her paychecks…

"Okay, let's get you back to camp cuz you need the rest." She reached out to pet Max's hair but he pulled away.

"Stop it"

"Alright, put your seatbelt on." Gwen walked back into the front seat, she didn't really look into the fact that Max pulled away, He's Max and he's done it all the time.

Max didn't look at Gwen, he was right. She didn't care, she never did. He was stupid to even consider the idea that someone actually cared, he cursed himself for it. These past 2-3 days have been literally hell, and he was losing the small almost nonexistent hope he had left. He put his seatbelt on and stared out the window. He felt tears well up in his eyes. No one in his entire life ever showed him genuine affection or care. When they did, they always had a motive behind it. They were either embarrassed by his presence or just annoyed with his existence. Thinking that Gwen was the exception was a waste of his time… He should have known better.

Gwen didn't say anything as she looked back at Max. She saw the hurt in his eyes and she immediately felt bad. She knew exactly why Max was mad, she just didn't realize what she had said until it was too late, she felt like an asshole… Who tells a neglected child that they don't care? Gwen cursed at her self. She didn't know what to say to make him not feel like shit, "Max, I know. I'm a fucking idiot. I didn't mean to say what I said, it just kinda slipped out. Not that it's true, on the contrary. Your special Max-"

"You're just like everyone else… A fucking liar." Max wasn't expecting for those words to come out of his mouth, he didn't mean to say anything back at all, but he kept on talking, "you pretend to care and it's a waste of your time. I get it. I don't need an explanation. I don't blame you anyway."

"Max, the fuck are you talking about?"

"I don't need people to keep pretending to care. It gets annoying after awhile. So...whatever just drive." He didn't dare look at Gwen, he felt tears fall down his face and he did his best to hide them.

Gwen didn't know what to do. She knew Max, but a crying Max was something she never really dealt with… it was too out of character for him. "I'm not pretending to do anything" She leaned back into her seat. Waiting for a reply. She didn't get one.

Max kept looking out the window. Into the passing forest. Not saying a word. He was much more focused on keeping himself together and make it back to camp without vomiting the contents of his stomach and crying. Life sucked.

He felt the car stop. "Gwen… I swear to God if you don't drive I'm gonna-" Gwen took the keys out of the ignition and got out of the car. She walked over to the back and opened the door to Max.

He looked at her in confusion, "What are we-"

"Just get out of the car. I wanna show you something."

Max got out and followed Gwen down a trail into the forest. He looked around until Gwen stopped, moving some branches out of the way. "Where are we?"

Gwen led Max into an opening in the forest, with a picnic table right in the middle.

"Woah, I didn't know this existed" Max looked around and took in the scenery. It was nice, a small little area surrounded by trees. He looked over a Gwen, who was looking over at the table, "why did you bring me here?"

She shrugged, "this is the place I would go to whenever anxiety came to visit, it's a calming place… Quiet."

Max looked at Gwen, "you grew up with your anxiety?"

Gwen nodded and walked over to the worn down picnic table. She ran her fingers around the wood and noticed how rough it's gotten. It brought back memories, memories of when she would run all the way here just to scream, cry and break down. Fun times. She sat down and looked up at the trees, "Life sucks Max, I think you or anyone else here should know that. But just because life sucks, doesn't mean you have an excuse to act like shit. Don't victimize yourself. It gets you nowhere… Trust me."

Max walked towards Gwen and sat down next to her. Gwen didn't look down at him, she kept staring at the trees. Max didn't know what to say, he thought about what Gwen said. She had a point, "I suck"

"No, you don't…"

"Yes I do"

"And why is that?"

"Do you know what it's like for your own parents to tell you that you're a waste of space at home? Every call home from school just… And it's not just at schools, it's here too, they just don't bother to deal with it. I'm a fuck up. No one cares. Everything I do is wrong and no one likes me, and it's like…" Max didn't know how to explain to Gwen what he was feeling. "My parents were right… I'm a mistake" Max felt tears fill his eyes again and he didn't bother wiping them away, he never said any of that out loud to anyone. Until now.

Gwen didn't take her eyes off of the trees, "you really think that?"

Max didn't respond, he just stared at the ground. Hoping it'll break in half and swallow him whole, just so he can get out of this situation.

"I don't think you understand how cool you are Max. You're not a mistake. You're not a fuck up. You're just a kid."

Max looked down and wiped away stray tears.

" I get that you're parents aren't the best, and I get that you're forced to grow up faster than most. You have us. Do you really think David would come up with inclusive camp activities if he didn't like you? Do you really think I would be wasting my gas on you so you don't die at camp?"

"In the car and to Andrea you said-"

"Well, I didn't mean it." Gwen looked down at Max and saw him wipe tears from his face, "I say shit I don't mean all the time, so I'm sorry."

There was no answer from Max.

"Do you accept my apology?" Gwen let out a small laugh and turned to face Max.

Max just sat there, his legs brought up to his chest, sobbing quietly. Gwen was apologizing, sharing her story, and letting him learn about a place that she cares deeply for. Max didn't know how to react to this. He never experienced the feeling of being trusted this much before, it was a nice feeling. An overwhelming feeling. He looked up at the trees and nodded, he smiled and proceeded to hug Gwen.

Gwen hugged Max back. "I'll take that as a yes." she felt her shirt getting wet with tears, "Aw don't cry..." she rubbed circles onto his back like she always does. "You're a good kid Max. You're smarter than what you give yourself credit for. I don't know what you go through at home, and I know you're not gonna tell me any time soon and that's okay. But we love you, Max, people can be nice without wanting anything in return. Learn to trust a little okay?"

Max sniffled and nodded. Wiping his eyes just for more tears to take his place. "thank you…for caring, and for not getting annoyed."

"Oh, I could never" Gwen brought back her usual sarcastic tone. Max pulled away and wiped his face.

"This never happened"

"What never happened?" Gwen smiled

"Exactly"

They both laughed. Max and Gwen sat there for a while, talking about random shit, they didn't feel like going back to camp just yet, it was nice out and being away from camp for a while might do Max some good.

"So, who the fuck is Andrea? How do you know her?" Max had that question ever since he was Gwen get all happy when she saw her.

"Oh, she was my best friend in College! We were roommates and we really hit it off. She was majoring in Nursing I think, and I did liberal arts with a dual major in psychology. We had really fun times together…"

"Did you guys lose contact with each other?"

"Yeah, after senior year of undergrad we all parted ways, she went to this really prestigious Medical school and I… well… dropped out." Gwen's smile faded but it quickly came back

"Why?"

"Because… Who the fuck hires a liberal art major?"

Max watched as Gwen brushed off the question, he didn't ask for more details so he just sarcastically replied "welp…Can't argue with you there…"

"Exactly, so yeah, we lost contact… It was nice seeing her again though."

"Do you regret it? dropping out?" Max didn't mean to ask that question, but he couldn't help himself, his curiosity got the best of him.

"Oh no. I'm not cut out for school… I will say however that applying to jobs is a pain in the ass… I was lucky the camp hired me. And I kinda like the camp, even tho I won't be putting my degrees to a professional use, it's nice to know what I know… Especially cuz I work with kids"

"Weird kids"

"Very weird and annoying little humans, but actually as bad as that sounds, I'll admit, it's a pretty cool job to have."

Max looked over at Gwen and smiled, "shhh don't tell David that… he'll start taking the CBFL's more seriously"

They both laughed and Gwen got up, "okay, it's getting late and we should probably get back to camp so you can get more rest. I see you're feeling better so those pills did the trick."

"Yep, still feel like shit though"

"Then let's get back to camp," she grabbed the keys and walked back to the car, "let's hope the fucking car still works"

"Yeah, I have to get back and kill Neil."

A/N: Guess who's back... back again... Hey I'm back... tell a friend... YES, I'M FINALLY BACK!

Whooo, it feels like forever since I've been back here, but don't worry, I wasn't gonna just leave you all hanging. This chapter was one of my favorites to write, so I hope you all like it! Reviews and comments are welcomed, so YAY! Happy Reads my little shits! See you all next week!