Malefica

Chapter Seven- Why Are People so Damn Complicated?

That morning, Max actually put a little effort into her appearance. She put on a thin line of eyeliner, and just a little lip gloss. As far as clothes went, she didn't change much at all. She wore skinny jeans and a Rolling Stones t-shirt.

The entire walk to school, the weight of the book felt like a brick in her backpack. She felt waves of anxiety in her chest. But one she got to first period, he wasn't there. She was worried for him. She waited for him to run through the door, but he never showed. He wasn't in arts survey either. By the time she got to pre-cal, she was an anxious mess.

Rowan was super talkative, squirming in her seat as words poured from her mouth. "Dude, what happened to you yesterday?" she asked. "I heard you started flipping out in the middle of the cafeteria, like hyperventilating, and pushing people, and just totally freaking out. Are you okay? What happened?" she asked. She didn't even give her a chance to respond, before she plunged headlong into the second part of her spill. "I heard that Hannah was there, that you left the lunchroom with her...was she mean to you?" she asked, punching her open hand a few times. "Cause I can beat her booty, if I need to... princess boy, too....I'll mess 'em up," she assured, her face completely serious, green eyes narrowed.

"No, no...nothing happened. Crowds just give me anxiety, everything was fine," Max said, sort of amused at her concern.

"Oh, why didn't you tell me?" Rowan asked.

"Because...I don't know...it's not something I want to talk about," Max said, shrugging.

"Oh...okay, well," she smiled, pushing a strand of orange hair behind her ear. "So, do you want to hang out sometime? Maybe go shopping downtown or something, like a girl's night out? I think that would be fun. Ooh! I could introduce you to my friend Lilah, she's super chill. She graduated last year. We could go see a movie and just hang out. You two could spend the night at my house! It will be a blast," she said, all in one breath.

"Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun, actually," Max laughed. "We could go see the new Paranormal Activity movie, I heard it was really stupid," she smirked.

"Yeah, totally. Or that movie that just came out...the one about the girl who falls in love with her neighbor, and then finds out he's actually a werewolf? It looks super cheesy," she said, smiling.

"So when are we going to do this? Friday?" Max asked.

"Yeah! Do you think you could meet us downtown at the theatre at around five...I'll text Lilah and see if that works for her," she trailed off.

"Yeah, that works for me," Max smiled.

"Hey, I noticed you were wearing a little makeup today," Rowan said mischievously, "What's that about? Got your eye on someone?"

Max blushed, suddenly embarrassed at the effort she had put in this morning. "Oh, no...I just...I just felt like not looking like a zombie today," she said, laughing.

"Mmhhm," Rowan said, wiggling her eyebrows. "So, who is it? Ooh, is it Joshua?" she asked, leaning forward.

"No- no, it's for no one," Max said, laughing. "I don't wear makeup for other people, I wear it for myself."

"Okay, Tumblr," Rowan laughed as the bell rang.

During lunch, Max walked to the library to meet Hannah and Dillon again. But when she walked in, there he was. His legs curled into his chest, his feet dangling halfway off the chair, reading a book about astronomy. He looked adorable.

She sat down in the chair in front of him. He didn't notice her. "Where were you this morning?" she asked, and he jumped, and dropped the book. "Sorry," she chuckled, "didn't mean to startle y-what the hell happened to your eye?" A bruise covered a quarter of the right side of his face.