Chapter one Max. Fall 2009 October 18th, 2009 Dear journal, It’s only been a month into school this year and already the drama with mom has started up again. I mean that woman will not let go of her past! Every year she makes me tryout for the god dang cheer squad! And now Jane and Luna’s mom is making them tryout too because my mom talked their mom into this!! And now they are tweaked at me! How is any of this my fault?? Ugh! Whatever. Any way I got to go, *insert sarcasm here*don’t want to miss the first day of tryouts!! - max ************************** “Maxine if you don’t get down here this instant you will be grounded for three weeks!” I sighed, typical threat. Never happens. “I’m coming!” I called as I threw my bag over my shoulder, and slid my old combat boots over my worn out lucky socks. Don’t ask about the lucky socks thing…it’s a long story. When I reached the bottom of the staircase my mom already had her car keys in her hands, and her usual Wednesday morning ‘I had no coffee so get out of my way’ look on her face. Yikes. That is never a good thing. And yes I said Wednesday… I know it’s weird. “Well go!” she said well more like screamed; literally shoving me out the door. I rolled my eyes and trudged out to that brand new forever taunting me black ford GT mustang. See it was supposed to be my car, but instead mom got a little ‘thrill’ happy and took it as her car. So now I’m car-less until I get the money back that she owes me from last spring’s babysitting craze. “Would you walk faster Maxine?” “I would walk faster if you were driving me to something I actually want to try out for.” I mumbled mostly to myself, but I guess she heard anyway. I looked over my shoulder to see how pissed she was- and clearly I did a wonderful job because she had dropped her coffee and was grinding her teeth together pretty bad. Well my day is officially going to be hell times ten. “MAX!” I looked over my shoulder to see Dylan sitting on his Harley- his shoulder length hair blowing slightly around his tanned face. I brushed a strand of hair out of my face, and started down the drive. He flashed a smile at me; my cheeks flared with heat. “Hey Blondie!” He said handing me his leather jacket in exchange for my shoulder bag. “I thought I told you...” I sucked in my breath as I swung my leg over the back of his bike. “Not to call me Blondie.” I felt his body shake a little as he let out one of his trademark laughs. “Maxine! If you don’t get your but over here right now you will not go to that tailgate party at you’re school on Friday!” “You can always sneak over to my place and we can go together.” I rolled my eyes, and gave him a little smack on the back of his head. “Hey. It’s just a suggestion.” He said turning around to look at me. “Cause you know that you need to get out more, and um...” He paused leaning closer to me. “I could use a date; preferably the most beautiful girl in the sophomore class.” I sighed. I swear he has been trying to get me to go out with him practically since the sixth grade! Sometimes I wonder if I just give in and say yes that he’ll drop the matter, and then after a while we could just go back to being friends. God what am I saying. I could never do that to him! He’s been my best friend ever since we were two. Ugh! Why does he have to make this so complicated- you know with his gorgeous dark brown eyes, silky soft pitch black hair, and a totally hot perfectly tanned body!! What in the hell am I going to do? Well one thing is for sure…I can’t let him find how I truly feel about him. I looked over my shoulder to see my mom dialing a number on her phone- no doubt Dylan’s step-mom. And when that happens nothing good ever turns out too good. Okay. Just relax…breath. She can’t do a thing. I told myself, wrapping my arms tighter around Dylan’s waist; taking in the scent of the leather jacket. Everything is going to be okay…I hope. ***************************** Dylan Fall 2009 As I rounded the corner of first and Washington I felt max wrap her arms tighter around my waist, and pressing her face into my back. For some reason I felt my face flair up with a wave of heat. I laughed. Only max could make me –god this embarrassing to say- blush. Okay there I said it. The girl makes me blush. I shook my head. One of these days she is going to kill me. I thought to myself. Great; I’m going to die of lost control. I felt her body tense up as I pulled into my usual parking space. I turned around searching the parking lot trying to figure out what had made her feel uneasy. Nothing seemed out of place, just students running around the parking lot trying to get to their classes. Maybe she started to regret riding to school with me- no that couldn’t possibly be it. I thought as I helped her off the bike; her jeans caught on the footrest. When I looked down at her she had her head bent trying to unhook her jeans from my bike; her golden hair covering her soft tanned face. Now that I think about it I guess I’ve always had some kind of crush on her. I smiled to myself wondering how she would react if I told her how I really felt about her. We had always lived next door to each other. Always hanging out on weekends; spending summer nights at her house lying on her trampoline gazing up at the stars. She always had this certain glow about her. I never could figure out what exactly that glow was, but it was always there somehow. “Here let me help.” “No no. I’ve got it…just give me a moment.” I laughed. She had always been the ‘do-it- yourself’ self kind of person. She got that from her dad. He never let anyone try to help him with things; always saying that he could handle it. When I looked back at her she was staring at me- her expression was a mixture of confusion, and a slight hint of anger. I knew the anger part, but not the confusion. She let out a sigh of defeat, looked up at me with this ‘help me dam it!’ look on her face after a few more attempts of trying to unhook her jeans. I smiled at her as I bent down to help her. “You better not tell anyone about this.” She said lowering her voice to a whisper; the threat still very clear in how she had said it. “Well.” I said finally getting her unstuck. “Then maybe you should be careful next time.” I let my hand rest on her thigh- feeling her go stiff again. I could hear her breathing start to become all breathy you know kind how a person’s breath sounds right before they are about to get on a really terrifying roller coaster. I was about to lower my hand down to her knee when she jerked her leg away. She reached her hand out to me, and helped me up. “Sorry.” I murmured. I grabbed her bag from off the seat, handed it to her, turned and walked to the main office. God how could I be so stupid! Now she’ll probably try to avoid me until we graduate! The battle that was going on in my head was interrupted when I rounded the corner by the gym, and saw Andrew leaning against the wall; something about his posture made me a little uneasy. “Hey.” I said walking up to him, and taking up the space beside him. “Have you seen Anna at all?” “Um…no.” his question took me by surprise that I answered too quickly, that I could swear that he would freak out on me, and storm off like a elementary school girl. I know it sounds over exaggerated, but that’s really how he is. He shook his head, and walked away. I sighed. This couldn’t get any better... ******************************* Max Fall 2009 Monday November 10th, 2009. / 2nd hour. Dear journal *sighs* algebra so totally dragging on today!! God I swear I could seriously die of boredom!! The only thing that’s keeping me from running out of here screaming is the fact that Dylan keeps looking at me, and the fact that he dropped a note on my desk when he walked by my table earlier. Of course I’ve read it and all that, but I can’t seem to write back! Now don’t get me wrong when he helped me with my jeans, which was a pretty ‘steamy’ moment….UGH!!! Okay fine I’ll admit it! I loved it okay!?! God forbid! I can’t take it anymore!! Dylan is just so hot! And I’ve known him forever, and…and…AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help me!!! -max I sighed-looked around the room, and tossed my journal back into my bag. The door opened noisily, and everyone looked up to see a blonde haired boy wearing a black t-shirt, a leather jacket. His expression looked angry, like as if someone had keyed his car or something. He looked over at me; his gaze felt as if it were burning through me. I wanted to look away, but he was just too…sexy? I guess that would be the word to describe him. “Dear sweet Jesus he’s hot!” Anna whispered. I rolled my eyes, and turned my attention to the clock. Only four more minutes. “Hello.” I looked up to see Mr. Tall dark and sexy standing right next to my desk. I tried to smile, but it failed. I cleared my throat and said “Um...Hi.” I tried to keep my eyes on the chalkboard- pretending like I actually cared about what was written up there. “Are you going invite me to sit next to you?” I seriously felt a chill go up my spin when he said that. I jerked my head up towards the clock. Yes! I gathered my books, and headed to the door. Thank god it’s early release today. Before I made it out the door, he caught up to me, grabbed a hold of my Jack Skellington jacket, and yanked me back. He whispered in my ear “I know that you know me max.” he paused, looking behind us to see if there were any students left in the class. “You can’t keep living like nothing had ever happened two years ago.” His warm breath danced around the side of my face as he whispered those words; embedding in my brain, never to get erased. Well this just gets better and better. I thought as he let go of my arm and strode out the door. I shook my head, trying to get rid of what had just happened. When I turned the corner I found Jane flipping through a magazine that had Luna’s picture plastered on the front cover. Jane looked up at me and pointed to page six. “What now?” I moaned. “Oh it’s good alright.” I smiled. The girl really did know how to throw on hell of a party. “So what are you two up to?” Luna said strolling up to us; her smile was extra wide, and bright. Hmm. Wonder what she’s been up to… I thought, shaking my head from side to side, trying to clear my head. “Nothing really.” Luna looked over at me- eyebrows raised. I shrugged my shoulders trying to say don’t look at me... I never said s**t. Thankfully she understood what I meant, and turned around just in time to see her crush Xander walk by with his usual crowd of basket-ball obsessed friends. She flashed him her best –look at me Xander! Please notice me! – Thousand watt smile waving at him all flirty like. For once the guy actually smiled at her, kept walking with his friends, paused said something to his friends that clearly made them keep walking, and walked back towards us. “Oh. My. God!” Luna breathed out a long high pitched squeal, turned on her heels and stared at us for a few fast pacing heart beats. “Shhhh!” Jane glanced at over at me, her face displayed an obvious worried look. I rolled my eyes, shook my head and let out an exasperated sigh. “Just play it okay Luna?” she nodded her quickly, and pulled the magazine out of my hands flipping through the pages franticly trying to find something that didn’t involve her. God forbid if she blows this I don’t know what I’m gonna do with her. I shook my head mentally, trying to sort through my thoughts. When Xander walked up to Luna – I swear that boy’s smile could light up the whole stink’n town. Jane nudged me in the shoulder-as if to say ‘she can handle this, so let’s just leave her alone to sink or float...’ I smiled weakly, spun on my heels, and walked to me Jane’s third hour class. “Would you quit worrying about her alright?” “Sorry.” I said, taking one last glance over my shoulder before stepping into my own personal hell…U.S history. Ugh! ***********************