❝ i love her and that's the beginning and end of everything. ❞
— F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Maxine Goode was the niece of Sheriff Nick Goode and she believed that's why people treated her the way they did. Because she was related to someone who went through the tragedies of the Camp Nightwing Massacre in '78, also him being Sheriff adds onto it.Before starting over in Sunnyvale, Max went to Shadyside High along with Deena, Kate and Simon. The four of them we're definitely inseparable ( especially Kate and Max ) but, Nicks side of the family wasn't very fond of his own sister and niece living in Shadyside because of the past it had.
So, after a few years of living in Shadyside and dating Deena. Max had to break it off because she was moving to Sunnyvale and she knew that Deena would react some kind of way because of the rivalry the two schools had. Or as Deena called it, Max just wanted to "start over" and "live her new fake ass life."
Of course, Max was sad about the whole thing but she couldn't show it. She wasn't really the one to show emotion. She hated it. It was a sign of weakness and Max, after all the trauma her and her family went through, she wasn't going to portray herself as weak because she wasn't.
After moving to Sunnyvale, Max wasn't very open about her sexuality. I mean — she never was because she knew her mom would accept it. Neither would her uncle nor any of her family. Who knows what would've happened if she found out. So, to cover herself up, she started dating this new guy. His name was Ethan.