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Despite the angry and frustrated messages and calls from her mother, Max saw no downside to using her credit card to pick up some new clothes and cameras for her first year at Blackwell.
She swore to herself many times before getting on campus that she wasn't going to wander around like some lost, loner hipster.
"Wow, your shoes are so cute!" A tall blonde spoke to her the first day, the compliment absolutely sending joyous vibes through Max.
"Uh, thanks I just got them." She answered, simple. Cool.
Another blonde approached soon after, this one dressed much nicer than the other, a little shorter, but clearly an alpha.
She seemed to be studying Max, and thankfully she was wearing her new, nice clothes. She wore some expensive skinny jeans, and a nice silky top under a blue cardigan. It was getting chilly out after all.
"You're in my photography class right?" The new blonde asked, though the question sounded mostly rhetorical.
She nodded, freshly cut hair brushing against the back of her neck in quick scratches. "Yeah, I'm Maxine Caulfield- uh, Max."
Suddenly she remembered seeing her before after all, in fact just two classes ago. She had actually sat in the desk next to her; and now she's gone and fumbled over her own name. Hopefully she won't be called Maxine by the whole school now. Oops.
The other looked pleased though, even stretched her perfectly manicured hand out for Max to shake. "Good to meet you, Maxine. I'm Victoria."
Well, shit. So much for that.
She just shook her hand politely, smiling out of genuine joy. "Hi Victoria. I remember seeing you show Mr. Jefferson your photos. They're so good! Very Richard Avedon-esque." Flattery gets you everywhere after all, right? The good thing was that Max had a very genuine tone all the time.
She seemed pleased with the compliment, "I saw your selfies, they're cute. You have the perfect face for them after all; hair surrounding you like a frame. Very gorge."
Max felt herself blushing up, and responded with a soft chuckle. "I know they're not so original but I can't help but take them. But, thank you."
She saw the two blondes exchange a look that she was slightly curious about, their eyes lighting up and eyebrows raising in a silent question.
"Have you heard of the Vortex Club yet?" Victoria asked her, tone full of a questionable amount of innocence.
Max could swear that she'd walked by a poster of some sort with the name on it, but otherwise, she had no clue what it was. "Uh," Her shoulders shrugged. "Should I?"
She felt almost embarrassed when they scoffed, but it washes away when Victoria wrapped a thin arm around her shoulder. She felt like a baby bird being taken under her wing. Her designer wing.
"Well," Her bright eyes lit up as she forced eye contact between them. "It's this club me and Taylor are in, and a bunch of my other friends too. It's really exclusive and we don't really offer spots to new people but like, I think it would be perfect for you, Maxine."
Max was cautious but extremely grateful and hopeful in one, she needed more details. "Really? What do you guys do? Is it like a school club or...?" She prayed she didn't sound dumb asking that.
"Yeah right 'school club', we do whatever we want." The other blonde responded with a high pitched laugh.
Victoria eyed her viciously before turning back to Max. "Well, my best friend Nathan sort of owns the school really, so his dad makes sure the principal keeps our club in high esteem and all, but we mostly chill and party and stuff. But don't let that throw you off, it's like, super good for your applications to colleges and stuff. It's a big deal."
The way she said big deal made Max believe her almost instantly, the emphasis on the words sending a thrill down her spine. "...Where do I sign?"
*
Max could feel her blood bubble up in her veins with pure excitement- she felt like she was a child, stealing a cool toy from the store. It was a scary type of high feeling.
Max giggled quietly as Taylor slipped on a rising piece of carpet they were running past in the dorm hall. She made an 'oof' sound that only made it more hilarious.
Only an hour before had Victoria convinced Max to come to their first hang-out of the new year, that it would get her used to the club's people and vibes. She couldn't turn it down, couldn't leave Victoria hanging like that.
Sure she was a little nervous about sneaking out within the first week, but not enough to not do it. Only enough to have a slight paranoia for the moment.
Victoria gripped her hand and Taylor's in the other, another girl- Courtney, ended up meeting them outside of the girls dorm, offering to take them in her car. Victoria leaned on Max, pulling her other hand from Taylor's and cupping it over Max's ear to tell her a soft secret.
"Shes such a try-hard for my attention. She'll do basically anything for me, it's hilarious." Sure it was bitchy to do so, but Max laughed at the short dark haired girl right then, and once more when Victoria did too.
The hang-out spot was at the nearest beach, the one below the large, looming lighthouse that you could get to from a long winding path up the woods that began in the far left corner of the sandy beaches. Max went there years ago, in what felt like a past, unimportant life.
It was dark out, a startling pitch black that is only broken by the crackling light of a driftwood fire, about ten to fifteen other kids surrounding it either in folding chairs, on coolers, or crouched down in the sticky sand.
She sees kids she's seen around before but mostly they were just unfamiliar to her. It was daunting but not enough to make her scared, she was going to try and be a member soon enough, after all.
"Party's here!" Taylor shouted happily, the soft chatter of the other kids who seemed already drunk off the beer they were drinking, rose to a loud whooping cheer for their arrival. Or at least the ones they knew, maybe not Max yet.
"Lets get a drink and chill. Mingle you up and all." Victoria spoke to her, guiding her towards the cooler behind the fire.
"Who should I get to know first? I can't fuck up, Vic." Max mumbled, much to her new friend's amusement, and she was mostly just trying to sound playful, though she's sure the truth of the statement came through in the end.
The blonde pulled two beers from the open cooler and handed her one, "Oh, c'mon. You should meet Nathan first. He's the one." She didn't know what she meant by that, but Max is sure it's a vital plan to follow.
She cracked the can open swiftly, having open soda cans enough. Now hopefully alcohol didn't taste as shitty as it did when she had snuck it that one time as a kid, or else this was gonna get embarrassing for her.
She sipped at it while Victoria lead them over to one of the parked cars out on the beach. It was a truck, she couldn't really tell the color as it was too far from the dim fire light, but she could make out a boy sat on top of the hood.
He was wearing a letter jacket and had a cigarette in his hand as he stared them down the closer they got to him. She could make out his form well enough, her eyes adjusting to the shadows, and he was good looking- dare she say he was cute.
"Hey Nate." Victoria greeted, dropping Max's arm and approaching her friend completely.
"Shit I thought you were too busy touching yourself to Jefferson to show up tonight." He spoke crudely, and it made Max laugh- especially when Victoria gasped and punched him in the leg.
"Shut up." She started before turning towards Max again. "This is Maxine. She's great, and I couldn't let her stay in the dorm when she should be chilling here tonight."
Before anyone could say anything else, "Call me Max though." She nudged Victoria, especially after having reminded her new friend about a billion times today so far.
Victoria just rolled her eyes and nodded along with her correction begrudgingly. She wished she thought her name was cute and fitting, but despite her mom and Victoria's protests, it didn't suit her. Not even now.
Nathan laughed, "Max. Like that better. I'm Nathan, and I'm gonna take a wild fucking guess and say you want to be in the Vortex." He didn't phrase it as a question.
Max wasn't acquainted to his personality yet, but since Victoria was smiling and urging her to answer him she assumed he wasn't being rude or sarcastic. Or if he was it wasn't personal.
She laughed, "Am I acting desperate?"
"Ha fucking ha. I'm around desperate all day, not even close."
She smiled up at him and soon Victoria nudged her shoulder, "Lets go join the others now, I think Hayden would love to meet you next."
Before she could follow after her she stopped at the sound of Nathan's voice. "Hey, yo wait."
She turned to face him again, watching as he slid down his car and joined her on the beach. "Nah, fuck that. You smoke?" He questioned, blowing off Victoria completely. She seemed to already be gone though, leaving Max with him- and maybe that was good? Does she have butterflies?
Something about his question made it seem like he wasn't talking about just plain cigarettes. She wasn't going to say no though, hell no she wasn't. "Yeah." She answered calmly, silently praising herself for how natural it sounded.
He smirked in the dim light and reached for her arm, pulling her close to him and nodding off in the direction of the lighthouse. If it was a year ago she would have been thrilled to go up there again, now it felt like a weird memory.
"We sometimes chill up there too when other people are on the beach or its a smaller group." He tells her as they start making the walk there.
"How often do you guys come here?"
"A lot I guess. It's whatever, for when we're not going all out for the whole school and shit." He answered, shrugging his broad shoulders.
Once they reached the lighthouse she glanced up at it like it was going to fall over on her, only looking away when Nathan pulled at her shirt sleeve.
"Here." He mumbled, handing her a joint and taking the beer from her hand before plopping down on some tires they must have brought up here for sitting on, scortch marks from past fires in the middle of the tires, like they were mimicking the driftwood fires up here as well.
He handed her a lighter after she sat down next to him, almost forgetting to. She was silent for a moment, shivering when he placed his arm behind her like they were at the movies.
She mimicked what she's seen on TV, and of course plenty of times in real life from her father smoking cigarettes before he quit three years ago.
She sparked up the lighter, watching carefully as the flame burned the night air, and eventually the joint as she hovered it over the short flame.
It lit quickly and soon the light was out again, the darkness not wasting anytime in creeping back up on them. The darker it was the more aware she was of Nathan pressed against her side, it was totally distracting.
"I have no idea what I'm doing." She confessed before even trying, afraid of coughing up her lunch or fainting on him. God this was so pathetic.
He laughed light heartedly though, removing his arm from behind her and instead taking the lighter and joint from her, stuffing the lighter away and holding the weed with three firm fingers.
"It's easy, watch." He commanded, and she watched with sudden intensity as he breathed the substance in, the embers on the end of the joint lighting up with the movement of them getting shorter.
He blew a puff of smoke from his lips towards her, and she only laughed, the scent of it catching her by surprise. Sure she's heard it was a distinct smell but this was prominent. She didn't know if she liked it or not yet.
He slid an encouraging hand on her small thigh as he once again passed it over. "See? Shit's simple." He shrugged as she took the joint back, looking a little less unsure than before. His touch was certainly a confidence booster.
"If I choke and die this'll be so embarrassing." She shook her head with a laugh.
"Dont die, if you do you won't be in the club and I won't get to see you more often."
"Well damn, how can I die now?" She joked, nudging his shoulder as he rolled his perfect eyes. Was he getting cuter or was it just her?
She finally brought the joint up to her slightly parted lips, already chapped slightly from the night wind. She took a confident smoke, letting it linger in her lungs about as long as Nathan had, the burn in her throat expected but still much.
She released it with a slight wavering breath, but there was minimal struggle to breath otherwise and no coughs, thank god.
"See, you're a fucking natural, Max." He was almost sounding proud of her.
She held her hand up in victory, throwing herself almost on top of his lap after taking another quick puff. "Holy shit that feels so good."
He laughed in return, starting to get high himself, and she doesn't remember how many times they've passed the joint back and forth, but now it was practically just the roach when Nathan tossed it into the dirt across from them.
He lifted her on top of him completely now, not liking the way she kept sliding on and off of the edge of his lap. He was warm beneath her, just as warm as she was. The pot made her skin feel loose and comfortable like a soft blanket surrounding her very soul.
His hands hung low on her hips, his eyes hooded and his mouth a cute, lopsided grin. "You're too cool to not be in the Vortex."
She giggled involuntarily and buried her smile in his neck, his pulse point slow and hot there. "So does that mean I'm allowed in?"
"Was there any doubt I'm your mind that we wouldn't all fall for you?"
"If I say no is that cocky?" She had a smirk on her lips as she pulled back, looking him in his eyes again.
"No, just true." He shrugged, getting so close that he nudged her flushed cheek with his nose.
"You're so...cute. And good at this, by the way." She didn't know what made her bold, but if she tried to blame it all on the weed she'd be a liar.
Her heart fluttered at his soft chuckle with her small confession. His fingers seemed to grip her tighter every second, she felt like she was floating while not moving an inch.
"You're good too you know. Your cute laugh and eyes winning everyone over probably."
"Shut up, I do not!" All giggles and blushes.
He kissed at her cheek, fingers roaming up her sides slowly but surely. "You definitely do, Maxine." He said the name teasing and softly. It sounded good coming off of his tongue.
"Victoria was right, you're the best." She whispered, turning her head and meeting his lips with a quickness that almost made her light headed immediately.
He kissed her in return, turning the kiss into something furtive yet painfully slow, like he knew exactly what he was doing.
He licked her mouth open, his tongue pressing against hers with gentle licks and she couldn't stop the tiny whine that slipped out the second his hands gripped her ass, pulling her body as close to his as humanely possible.
Her breasts were sensitive as her nipples hardened against his chest, the movement of her trying to climb even closer to him making her go crazy.
He let a laugh bubble up in between them and Max pulled away, chuckling herself, for no apparent reason.
"Fuck, it's too cold out for this." He complained but kissed at her neck with a swiftness she didn't expect right away. Nathan was such a pleasant surprise.
"Maybe we should go back, warm up by the fire." She suggested, yet only arched into his soft touches.
"Hmm...maybe. What if I feel like keeping you for myself though?" He asked, sounding completely devilish- it was hot. To say the least.
"Bring on the shackles."