Max slowly made her way to the girl's bathroom.

Sometimes it's good when nobody gives a shit about you she thought
Or I would have to stop and talk with all those guys.

Nobody even seemed to notice her as she squeezed herself through the crowd. Carefully, Max pushed the door to the bathroom open. With a sudden strange feeling, she remembered how she saved Chloe some time ago in a bathroom like this. As she closed the door, silence fell over the room. The music and voices were abruptly muffled. The stalls were empty, but Max heard someone sobbing in the corner of the room. There Victoria was, sitting on a bucket crying. Max stepped in front of her and didn't know what to say. After a few seconds, she cleared her throat.

"Uhm…Victoria? Are you alright?"

The blonde girl looked up. Her eyes were red and puffy, her makeup ruined. Still, she smiled sarcastically.

"Yeah Max, I'm sitting here crying my eyes out because everything is alright."

"Sorry" Max apologised. "I know that was a stupid thing to ask"

She kneeled down and looked at Victoria. The queen bee wasn't fancy or cool or anything at the moment. Just a desperate young girl. Max felt a sudden wave of sympathy rush over her. Well Victoria was looking so miserable, it was hard not to.

"Can I help you somehow?" Max asked while trying to smile.

"No… not really". Victoria studied her, she appeared almost suspicious
"I mean…Max I-you're always nice to me and I'm constantly bitching…so why would you want to help me."

"Never mind. That's not why you're crying anyways, is it?"

Victoria sniffed.
"It's because Nathan is an asshole."

"What did he do?" Max felt uneasy. Whatever it was, if Nathan was involved, it must be bad.

"Well it's not what he did. It's more what he didn't do. I mean, he… well it was like-"

"Victoria" Max interrupted her "Calm down. Tell me, what's wrong?"

"Ugh Max… Why are you so nosy? It's just that I made a mistake and I wanted to talk to him but he obviously didn't want to so…"

"What did you do?" Max asked hastily, ignoring that she was just being even nosier. Victoria sighed. She clearly felt rather unsettled, but when she spoke, her voice was steady.

"I kinda… well, you know Nate's my best friend and we really spend a lot of time together. And there was this moment last time we did, you know, a really perfect moment and I somehow… Well I… I kissed him, Max." Victoria looked desperately into Max's eyes.

"You kissed him?" Max was thunderstruck. She had expected something totally different.

"Yeah I did, and if you ever tell someone I swear, I'll shove your selfies down your throat!"

There she was, the typical mean Victoria. But as fast as the girl got her claws out, she seemed to lose all her self-esteem again.

"Sorry Max" she said.
"I just don't know what to do. I tried talking to Nathan maybe three times already about it, but he knows how to avoid me."

"So what's going to happen know?" Max asked "Do you want a real relationship, I mean, do you have a… a crush on him or something?"

"Ugh…Max I can't believe I'm talking to you about my love life. Not even Taylor or Courtney know this…"

"So, that's a yes? You want Nathan as your boyfriend?" Max grinned.

"Yeah I think I really do. That's so fucking weird." Victoria put her head in her hands before speaking again.
"Well, whatever, it doesn't matter anyways. Cause it seems like Nathan doesn't even want us to be friends anymore."

"Victoria, I'm sure I'm not the relationship- expert…" Max said, making Victoria even chuckle a bit.

"But I think you should give Nathan some time. You know, as far as I can tell, he's not the best at controlling his emotions… So maybe he's just a little confused."

"Yeah, you're probably right Max" she sighed

"I've just been chasing after him the last few days trying to convince him. He surely knows that I'm the best he can ever get here." She said in a tone of rising confidence. Victoria dried her eyes and got up from the bucket. Max stood up too and tried to reassure Victoria one last time.

"Just give him some time to think about it. I'm sure it'll all work out in the end."

Smiling, Victoria actually reached out and took her hand.

"Thanks Max. Seriously. I really needed someone to talk to, and you were there for me."

"Anyways, text me if you ever need to talk again Victoria" Max responded, before watching Victoria approach and open the bathroom door.

"Ciao" she remarked before turning around and leaving Max all alone. Max stayed in the bathroom for a while, collecting her thoughts before she too left the room. Hopefully all of this had now given her friends time to arrive. Deciding to wait outside of the gym, Max put on her jacket and went outdoors.

Max paced in front of the gym, still waiting for her friends to arrive. Her head swirled from the conversation she just had had with Victoria. It was bizarre, talking with her as they were something like friends, knowing a secret not even her closest allies had an idea of.

"Hey Mad Max"

Deep in thoughts, Max was startled by Warren's voice.
He came closer, smiling and waving at her. Max pushed her most recent conversation with Victoria aside and smiled too.

"Finally" she said "I thought you'd never come."

"Oh come on Max, I would never leave you alone" Warren laughed.
He was looking pretty good tonight, maybe because he wasn't wearing a science shirt for a change. They waited outside for a bit longer, chatting happily about games and movies, until Dana and Kate arrived. Going back inside the gym felt like entering a stove. More people were dancing, the air was hot and stuffy, and the Vortex Club members already looked wasted sitting together in a corner making noise louder than the music.

Gosh, is this really the right place to be now? Max asked herself.

But before she could start feeling weird, Dana had already dragged her on to the dance floor. It was fun, Max had to admit, although she never went to clubs or parties normally. She didn't even feel too embarrassed, "shaking her bony white ass" as Chloe would say. After a while, they all were sweaty and out of breath, but in great mood. They took a seat in the back of the gym and started to discuss vividly what they wanted to do in their holidays.

It's so awesome to see Kate smile again Max thought.

She had had some worries that Kate might not enjoy the party after all that happened to her. But as she watched her friend, Max didn't notice any sign of unhappiness. They were enjoying themselves, sharing some Nachos Warren bought, and making stupid jokes until Dana said goodbye to make late night visit to Trevor's room.

"Hey, how about we leave too?" Warren asked "We could go and watch a movie on my big screen TV"

"Wait what, that crappy old thing?" Max laughed.

"That would be pretty cool" Kate said, just as Max phone vibrated. New message from Victoria? Really?

Hi Max, just wanted to say thank you again. I can't believe I feel better now after we talked. Thanks, xoxo Victoria

Xoxo from Victoria? WTF? Max smiled and watched Warren inhale the rest of the nachos. Just when they got up from their seats, she received another message, this time from Chloe.

Max, come here pls, I'm bored. You can stay overnight, Mom will make a shitload of breakfast.

Max looked up from her phone. Warren and Kate were already waiting for her. She hadn't seen Chloe for a few days, but actually she had already agreed to spend the night with her Blackwell pals…

Visit Chloe or Stay with Warren and Kate

Visit Chloe - Part 3a
Stay with Warren and Kate - Part 3b