Summer's Over

Chapter 1

“. . . Summer’s over. It’s the first day of school," Max sighed.

The students made their way through the doors and down the halls of Winlake High School. Max noticed them droop, scurry and stroll by her. Her unnaturally pale, ivory toned face, her dead deep red hair and bold ocean blue eyes carefully concealed by a grey hoodie, she’d been wearing it since her first day at this dump, it was twice her size and awfully loose. She looked like a delinquent but she didn’t mind that. As long as no one paid attention to her.

She was searching for a face, Damon’s. He had become a very close and trustworthy friend to her, although she met him recently last year. She was seventeen now and Damon was a year older. He used to be an orphan, but he was adopted two years back by this wretched woman he happily calls his mother.  Max hated her but what really frustrated her was how Damon was so accepting of her. It was probably one of the few but major things that bugged her about Damon. He was so painfully optimistic. It got on her nerves. She felt like giving him a much needed taste of the real world. Considering his tough childhood, one would think he would be more cynical.

    Sulking, she passed by without even noticing Damon standing by the classroom door waiting for her. She went in and took the seat at the very back of the classroom, in the centre though. The teachers gave the kids at the back corners a harder time.

    Damon being used to Max’s offhand behavior, quietly walked in and took a seat beside her and waited for her to snap back to reality. He didn’t feel like bugging her. She was so uptight anyway, she’d throw a huge fit and start over-reacting. Arguments he could never win. She was really good at twisting things around and making herself the victim. He sighed. The sound of Damon’s deep, heavy sigh halted Max's increasingly disturbing thoughts.

“How long were you sitting there?”

“I dunno, " he said. "What were you looking so pissed about?”

“You should’ve said hey or something. Manners 101; something they didn’t teach you at the orphanage, apparently,” Max bit off. Damn, why do I do that? she thought.

    “Yeah, I guess they didn’t," Damon replied carelessly.

    He didn’t mind much, he rarely got hurt emotionally. Come to think of it, Max didn’t once see him hurt or genuinely depressed. Shoving her disturbing thoughts aside, she perked up and gave him one of her rare smiles. He was staring at her, something she was used to. He did it frankly as if she were some sort of new specimen. She gave him an annoyed, skeptical look.

    Mr. Anderson walked into the classroom greeting all the students and asked them about their summer. She watched the over eager popular girls in front, some were raising their hands wildly and others were making comical gestures while re-enacting their so-called hilarious, summer stories.

    “Do you really think they're funny?," she asked watching Mr. Andy laugh.

    “I dunno, probably. Wish I could hear it". He had a dreamy expression on his face followed by a smile that Max categorized as dumb-looking. Only she would call it dumb though. He had a charming personality, but his face was in complete rebellion to it. His skin was tan, maybe olive green, but he didn’t look foreign. His body was tall and lanky with a bit of muscle that barely went without notice. But what really did him in, was his eyes, they were pure black, sharp and could cut ice; they gave him a very stern and menacing look. An ordinary person would be petrified if they ran into him in a dark ally. Although in reality, he's the most caring and compassionate man. Damon looked like a jock. They had a bad reputation at their school, and Max considered them to be immoral individuals.

Subsequently last year, putting her dislike aside, Max pushed Damon to try out for the football team. She didn't have a doubt in her mind about him getting selected as a member of the team, and he did. The coach loved him and called him a genuine team player. Damon was really happy about the news. It was different, not like his usual relentless bliss.

“HELLO?” Damon's hand was in front of Max's face moving back and forth.

"What?" Max responded in annoyance.

“Do we have any funny stories to tell?”

“None to tell”, she said pointedly.

 “Oh, come on”, he nudged her and gave her a boyish smile. They were just impossible to resist, and he knew that. He could play naïve as much as he liked but this she was sure of. Sighing, she gave up and answered.

“Hmm. That time you pretended to be a doctor was pretty funny, especially when the nurse came in and started scolding us. And that time you fell out of that huge oak tree while bragging about how you were a monkey when it came to climbing trees. That was so funny, nothing can top that. I’ve never laughed so hard.”

“Yeah. If I had known that, I would’ve broken my arm ages ago," he said solemnly.

“Yeah, yeah.”    

They sat through the last few minutes of first period talking and giggling.  

Second and third period flew by. . .

At the end of fourth period as Max and Damon were leaving the classroom, Margie, this perky blonde who Max new well had a crush on the latest jock of Winlake High, came up to them.

“What do you want?” Max snapped.

“Be nice?” Damon requested nervously.

“It’s alright, Damon. Don’t you know Max is just like that," Margie waved off any offence. "Anyway, I didn’t want anything from you, Maxine.” She turned her full attention and view towards Damon, “Hey, Damon. How was your summer? Mine was wonderful!” exclaimed Margie.

“Mine was good too," Damon responded hesitantly.

“Good to hear. Coach Myers said to be at the football field after school, sharp. All the guys are gonna be there. Oh! And I’ll be there too. So we can talk in private and maybe hang out afterwards," she winked.

“I was actually gonna go over to Max’s afterwards, so I’ll have to pass on that. Hope you don’t mind," he replied.

“No prob at all, but we’ll have to hang out some day," she chirped. "Well, see you after school. Bye!”. She walked by without acknowledging Max’s existence.

“You know she likes you, right?” Max said, exasperated.

“She does?” He was amazed by the idea.

“Duh. Why would she be talking to you otherwise?" She rolled her eyes.

Damon laughed. He wasn’t the type to care about being popular or having female attention. He was already attractive for the girls before even becoming a jock, but now he was approachable. Before they were lured in by the danger factor he emanated, and now because of the status he had achieved for himself in school.

Great, Max thought.