TIME AFTER TIME (Dustin Henderson)

whatever you say, Maxine

"He just seems lonely, don't you think?"

Lucas and Max were walking down the hallway. Ever since recently, it seems Max has been a bit concerned with there curly haired friend.

"I don't know what you're talking about...." Lucas mumbled back, confused as to what his girlfriend was talking about.

They turned the corner and Lucas pulled the av room keys from the pocket of his khakis, fumbling with them until he finally opened the door.

Mike was showing Elle the new headset he'd received as a gift from Mr. Clark this Christmas, while Will and his 'friend' Jennifer Hayes were seated on the floor, and were seemingly writing each other's names in fancy calligraphy on each other's hands.

Max and Lucas dropped there bags by the entrance, joining the rest of the group.

"Where's Dustin?" Mike asks, looking towards the doorway.

"Ya. I haven't seen him all day." Will admits, outstretching his arm to Jen so she could get off the floor.

"Well I guess we'll have to start without him! So I was thinking....." Mike began to ramble on about some new satellite technology, but Max couldn't focus.

"You wouldn't mind if I-" "I told you. You don't have to come to the av meetings if you don't want to." Max smiled and pecked his lips quickly before getting up and grabbing her things.

"Jen, Elle, you wanna-?" Max was about to ask if they wanted to join her, but the two seemed very invested in there current activities.

Elle, staring at Mike so intently, you'd think she was trying to read his mind. And Jen, drawing some masterpiece in her notebook.

Max shrugged and hurried out, aiming for the back door. Hopefully the bimbos from her home room hadn't claimed her skating spot yet.

The girls weren't so fond of her. She wasn't exactly upset, but just wished she had some girl friends. Teenage boys weren't exactly the best with emotions. But than again, so was she.

She settled on the back stairs, pulling a brown paper bag from her backpack and reaching inside.

On the other side of the courtyard, she noticed a group of girls in puffy sleeves and high ponytails surrounding someone she'd never seen before.

Her initial reaction was to just stay away. It wasn't her, it wasn't one of her friends or anyone she remotely cared about, so why should she get involved?

But as they carried the small girl to the dumpster, something twisted within her stomach, making her get up as fast as she could.

When she arrived at the scene, the bimbos where gone, leaving the trace of there cheap perfume.

She looked around, not seeing the new girl. But than she heard something. It was muffled and quaint, but when she stood still enough, she could hear it.

"Help! Please!"

She pulled off her green sweat jacket and stuffed it in her backpack. Than held her nose and began to climb.

Once she was hovering over the opening, she gripped the rim and began to dig through the trash.

Under an old football and a discarded lunchables, the girl was found, crunched up in a ball. She opened her eyes and took Max's outstretched hand.