Loving Max

Chapter 1: A Stranger to Love

Our school was just five minutes away from our house so Dad drove me, mom and my brother in his police vehicle. It was the first day of school but I was never really excited about it. Truth is, no one is excited to go to school the first day. We are just excited to see our friends and classmates that we missed all summer and brag about the adventures we spent for that awfully short period of time. If we were to spend the first day without talking to friends and classmates, no one would go to school.

The car stopped in front of the school gates. When we got out, everyone's eyes were on us because we just stepped out of a police car, like we are convicts going to jail. But after three seconds, they stopped staring at us. Maybe it's because of my mom who is known to be a teacher at this school or maybe they realized that if we are going to be imprisoned at this institution, they are too because we're all students here.

Besides that, it was a normal first day high at Harley High. I always thought they have an odd name for the school. I tried to ask mom about that but she doesn't seem to be interested in its history. "It doesn't matter, as long as I get to teach young people like you, it's awesome," she would say. She was just so devoted to teaching that it does not matter where it came from but what's important is that where the students are going. Mom kissed us goodbye and she went off to work.

It's not school if we don't have the groups. As I went deeper into the halls of the school, I looked up to see the "Welcome to Harley High" banner dangling above our heads, adorned with pink, yellow and blue decorations. I just smiled at how girly that was and when I looked back down, I realized that nothing's new. We still have the nerds on one side, arguing about Einstein's theory of relativity or whatever nerdy stuff. On the other side, the complete opposites of the nerds, the all-brawn-no-brains bullies, otherwise known as the Harley High football team. Attached to them like lizards were the members of the cheerleading squad who is almost as equally brainless as they are. Walk a little more and you can find the people who look like they sold their souls to Satan, the Gothics. At one point in life, I find them cool, and their music too but then something just hit me and I was disgusted at myself for being as weird as them. I mean, I'm not judging. Just call it enlightenment. Just a little more and I am at my group, the "mediocres". I personally call my circle of friends that because we have a little of everything.

"Hey, 'sup Jane," John teasingly called. He calls me Jane in reference to the series "Jane the Virgin" 'cause among the group, I belong to the NGSB community and yeah, I'm a virgin, too. He used to call me gay too but when I got mad and gave him a black eye for a week, he resorted to just calling me 'Jane', which I don't find offensive. There's something about being called 'gay' that touch the egos of men.

"John, man, I missed you," I replied, sounding like a queer.

"Eww, you sound like a queer," he confirmed it.

"Seen the other two? I mean Raf and Grace," I said looking around.

"Don't know, man. Been here for a couple of minutes and I haven't seen either of them. Maybe, they were still smooching. You know what two months of missing each other can do," he said with a knowing grin.

I laughed. Had to. Raf and Grace are lovers but I know that they won't do such thing in broad daylight. They're too discreet. Until they came, panting, like they were running in a 3-year marathon and finally finished it.

"Hi guys," Grace said between breaths  and it seems she's avoiding to meet our eyes, like she murdered my dog. Not that I have one. I'm not a pet lover.

"So, where's Raf?," John asked.

"Hey, ladies," a voice boomed behind me. It was Raf, trying to hide his exhaustion, obviously from running.