Me, Myself, and Her

Chapter Three

Chapter Three: Haunted

The next day, Annie, Meghan, and Holly were doing their locker routine when they found Max at her locker. "Hey, Max!" Annie called out. She had just closed her locker with her stuff in hand when Annie called her name.

Max turned and smiled at the trio. "Hey," she said, looking at Annie and then the other two. "Are you guys heading to class?" She hopped in with their group and went down the hall.

"Not yet, we have to stop by Annie's locker where the bell usually rings so we get going and then we see each other in the next class," Meghan said. Max nodded along. "But hey, you guys start in the first class, so that's pretty cool."

Annie smiled. "Sure is. Means I don't have to deal with them alone." Meghan and Holly knew exactly who she was talking about. Max, however, was lost.

"Who's 'them'?" she asked. Annie remembered that Max didn't quite get her history with Max's 'stalkers'. The name was deserved with the way they've been staring at her.

On cue, the bell rang leading Holly and Meghan to wave goodbye and walk to their class. Max stayed with Annie at her locker as she grabbed her things. "They are the boys who've been stalking you. It's a whole thing... I don't bring it up often," she explained.

Max nodded and was curious on what happened, but she decided not to push and wait for a day they might be closer. A part of Max's mind hoped for that day to come soon. "Cool," Max said, not knowing what else to say.

Despite the awkward topic, Annie let out a snort at Max's even more awkward reply. The noise surprised Max and she looked at the brunette confused, yet not weirded out. She was still smiling.

Annie's cheeks went red and she covered her mouth with her free hand. "I'm so sorry, oh my god that was weird," she said quickly, the words toppling over each other.

Max found herself ready to come to the defense again, but stopped. A lot of the things she was doing, she realized, was defending. But specifically, defending what Annie said about herself. It was weird, and it could remind her of a similar circumstance back in California with a friend of hers in the fourth grade.

The two girls entered Mr. Clarke's room and went to their seats quickly. Max was still doing her best to avoid the stares her new stalker gave her. Annie tried not to feel jealous and hurt by their constant attention on the new girl after they cut her out.

The day was pretty bland, with Annie continuing her doodles and Max trying not to stare as she did. At their last class before lunch, the group decided they'd meet each other in the lunchroom. Meghan would get the table, as always, while Holly and Annie got their food. Max wanted to drop her things off and grab her skateboard, then she'd be right there.

Annie sat down with Holly coming in right behind and the girls got to eating their lunch. As they ate, Meghan set out the snacks- more jicama- but this time there was a third bag. "So," Annie started, going off her thought of the bag. "Max is pretty cool."

The other two nodded quickly. "She's awesome," Meghan said. "Hope she likes it here. I want to ask her about California."

Holly nodded. "I hear it's so cool down there since it's such a huge city," she added on.

Annie laughed. "You know California is a state, right?" she asked, teasing her friend.

"Ha ha, yes I do. I just meant, like, Los Angeles and that area. I bet that's where she's from."

They didn't talk for a moment, just enjoyed their food. During their silence was when Max came by and sat down with them. The girls kept up nice conversation, just chatting about random little things. Holly ended up asking where in California Max was from and she talked about it a little, but not too much. One thing Annie picked up was that she missed it.