All Over Again

[max]

"B-but, I don't understand. I've only been away a couple weeks, why do I need a new locker?"

Max quirked one of her sly, thin brunette eyebrows and stared at the woman in an unpleasant way. Another book mounted on top of the threesome already placed in her arms put a little more pressure on the weak structure of the young lady but she dealt with it, the assistant of whoever had given Max a whole new bundle of somethings that she wasn't too comfortable with.

"And do I have to take a tour around the school? I almost know it from the back of my hand!"

"Well, maybe it's time you learned it from the front of your hand, Ms. Parker! We've already arranged everything for you, all right," Hey, I could take you in smart commentary any day! Max thought to herself, but listened, "Now, here is the combination of your locker, your school map and all the books that we distribute here. The rest you'll have to buy yourself... but, run along now! It's almost lunchtime and you don't want to miss that! Anyways, I'll see you again if you need any help around the school, just ask for Ms. Phelps."

More like Ms. Pulp. Oh wait, that doesn't sound bad or anything... Max rolled her eyes, the woman in the tacky suit left the smaller office and shortly after she did as well, four hardback covered books laid in her arms with a two-sheeted manual set atop them, the school map, and then a small strip of paper atop such which was the combination strip for her new locker. She didn't know why the hell she needed a new locker, she had only been gone for so long! Max deposited the many things into the gray backpack, tossed it onto one shoulder, and started to walk through the main corridor.

A black and white mini skirt, nylon stockings, black heels and a gray turtleneck was all the cover Max needed as she embarked on her journey. Journey that had completely no purpose whatsoever backing it up, but oh well, it was a journey and it beat class anyway, which was only in for another two minutes... As she entered and exited the different halls, Max took in the familiar sights, the tiny bits of memories she had in the place before she went absent for like ... four weeks? ... brought a very faint smile onto her lips, it was nice to be back.

[chihiro]

Things were getting better again. Aureus knew, she hadn't seen Soresu since the incident, and it was beginning to look like things were going to be okay. But one thing kept egging in the back of her mind. Something was missing. Could it be her friend Max? Where has she been? It made Chi worry, seeings that she knew about her own misfortune, and knowing that it plagued her.

The junior walked down the hallway in yet another pair of vintage jeans, a longsleeve black shirt and a poufy pink vest zipped up partway. She held her books in her right arm, marvelously cast-free, and she'd even managed to do something with her hair, putting it up in a messy bun. The last accessory to her attire was the little black beeper Aureus had given her, conveniently hidden just below the hem of her shirt and vest, hooked onto the waist of her jeans.

Looking up, brown eyes blinked a few times, unable to believe what she saw in them. A girl was walking down toward her, with books in her hands and looking at a piece of paper. She didn't look terribly pleased, probably about the paper she was frowning at, but that didn't matter because that was unmistakably..

"Max!"

Chi called out, smiling warmly and walking up to her. The excitement was all too apparent in her voice as she greeted her friend. It faded slightly as she remembered in a wave how they last parted, and the news she stumbled across in her absence. Max, Levi, Aureus...She likes Levi, and Levi is Aureus, but Aureus loves me... She thought, selfconsciously brushing her hand across the concealed beeper at her hip. It was a token of sorts, a promise to protect her...his feelings for her were true, but where did Max and Levi fit into this? It was something she didn't want to think about, because she knew she didn't understand it, and she didn't want to face the reality that she might lose what she held dearest.

"How've you been?"

[max]

Ah, my locker must be just ahead...

A mental sigh froze all happy thoughts going through her brain waves and Max continued on, at the side of the hall was a string of those metal lockers, one of them belonged to her now.
I should double-check this, She said to herself subconsciously, pushing a lock of brown that had come onto her face behind her left ear, Max glanced down at the paper slip and began to stare over the numbers when someone so familiar called her name. It's not...

Lifting her head, a layer of teeth dug into the border of Max's bottom lip as two green orbs gave the shorter girl an awkward, emotionless stare. Chi. Thoughts of the night-club, the girl and Levi, the kiss, they all came back ti her and before Max could think twice she had frowned. Almost ignoring her, she took a sharp three-inch turn to the left, nudged in the combination, pulled on the handle and then finally inhaled the tough smell of a new locker.

"Good enough."

She said to the girl whom she had her back turned to now, Max pushed her books onto the top shelf of the locker, almost forcefully, and then closed it after making sure not to leave the map along with them. Max turned back to Chi but didn't look at her, she pretended to look at the map, she pretended not to be angry still... taking in a large breath, she looked back up at Chi but then looked back down just as fast, she didn't have the strength to stare at her just yet. Not just yet.

Clearing her throat, Max searched for some words to say, nothing special came to mind. "Um, so... what's up?"

[chihiro]

Chi wouldn't have felt a colder feeling from her if a winter breeze had blown it's way through the hallway. She took a step back instinctively as Max went to open a locker...was it new? She didn't remember hers being right here, especially since her own was only a little ways down itself. She wrapped her left arm around her books as well, huggnig them to her chest as she waited for her to place her things in her locker, or at least just look at her. It was odd how things had changed since the night at the nightclub...they used to be friends. Were they still?

Chocolate orbs blinked as Max turned back to face her, well, not exactly, she was staring at the map in her hands...didn't she already know the school layout? What was wrong with her? Chihiro pretended not to notice, however, shifting her books in her arms.

"Um...Nuthin.."

She cast her gaze to the ground for a moment before raising it to meet the girl again, a small frown in place and tilting her head to the side the slightest bit before speaking up again.

"Where've you been? It's been a few weeks, we were beginning to worry about you.."

[max]

"We."

Max muttered quickly so Chi wouldn't hear her, Oh yes, she must be talking about her and Aureus! -- Levi, ack, Levi... why do I always get those two mixed up? But then again ... just throw a mini skirt and a tad bit of make-up and she could have them both, and more! The Asian girl couldn't help but think of that night that she had found the two kissing, drinking, dancing... she inhaled something and raised her head, looking at the girl, she looked different from those days when they were still friends... a little more done up.

"I'm sure you were,"

Max said, she didn't want it to but, her voice layered with the obvious, angry sarcasm. She let her arms hang by her sides, the map in her left hand, and pushed back another strand of hair. She didn't understand why Chi was trying to act so much like her friend, when that was probably the last thing they were. Max was bored, it was aggravating but she knew she had to get on with her tour of the school before one of the teachers caught her disobeying rules, but she didn't want to dismiss herself and give off the rude impression that she still hated Chi -- which she wasn't so sure whether she did or didn't, yet.

"Oh, I guess I was just sulking in my thoughts back at home, I needed some time off... is that a problem?"

Max didn't know why, she felt like she wanted to just ignore Chi, or something, and hate her. Or at least one part of her felt like this, the other part wanted to apologize, but Max had nothing to apologize for.

[chihiro]

A slender eyebrow raised at Max's display, she was certainly acting strange enough. First she freaks out, then disappears, and now she's regarding Chi as if she were a nuisance, not her friend. Alright then, so she kissed Levi at the Pipeline, so what? She had no idea he was involved with Max, or that in fact Levi was the alternate personality of her now boyfriend Aureus...hmm, on second thought, maybe they did have a disagreement.

"No, I don't have a problem with that, but apparently you do."

She replied, her tone mirroring that of Max's. She could be just as obstinant and moody as she. She had dont nothing wrong, so why was she getting attitude.

"Did I do something wrong? Because apparently something about me is pissing you off."

Yep, she was being blunt, because the more she thought about the situation and the way Max was looking at her, her temper was beginning to rise.

[max]

Max wasn't even surprised at Chi's sudden change of mood, yeah, it wasn't quite hard to take in. She gets pissed off because she's pissed off, the usual drama that might build up between two young ladies after something like what had happened between these two happened, who knows, a kitty cat fight usually followed after this. Oh, wouldn't that be exciting?

"Did you do something wrong? Hmm ... I don't know, I think that going behind my back and getting Levi drunk and then practically making out with him right next to me isn't that bad a thing, so no, Chihiro. No, you didn't do anything wrong."

Max rolled her eyes and turned back around to her locker, opened it up, threw the map back inside it, and then closed it again. She didn't need the stupid thing and Chi had probably guessed she wasn't even reading it quite at all in the first place, turning back to Chi, Max sighed. She inhaled three times and then held her breath, inhaled again and then held her breath, and then bit her lip nervously. She didn't mean to keep throwing that thing back at Chi, the nightclub incident, but it was hard to forget. Max shrugged guiltily,

"Sorry..." She said veeeery quietly and had to think twice whether Chi had heard her or not, she didn't really want her to hear it, that meaning a dent in her pride, but she did want her to hear it a little tiny bit as well.

[chihiro]

The junior's jaw dropped slightly as Max began to rant. The way she went on about it, she made it seem like Chi had had a mster plan to take Levi from her. She could even imagine a chibi version of herself cackling and rubbing her hands together with a thunder cloud cracking overhead...was she serious? The girl's expression changed from one of astonishment to astonished anger as she looked at her former friend.

"Where the hell do you get off?! I told you that night that I had no idea that you and Levi were involved, and you even denied it yourself! And it's not like my entire plan was to 'get him drunk' and make out with him next to you. He was intoxicating himself, I had no part in it. And by the way, if you didn't know, you don't need to worry about me trying to steal your little red headed romeo because I have a boyfriend."

She spat, her chocolate hues flashing angrily. Max had sparked her temper, and all of the frusteration she had been holding inside since the incident with Karel mixed in with it as well. I wonder if she knows that my boyfriend is the alternate personality of her love interest? ...Either way I don't care, she shouldn't be talking to me like this.

"You know what? Forget you. I haven't done anything but be your friend, and then you stand right there all high and mighty and spit in my face. I have better things to do with my time than to ego-sit for some little stuffed shirt goody goody like you."

With a last look of contempt Chi turned her back the girl, her dark hair flipping about her shoulder like a curtain as she walked away. Sure, it was harsh...it was really harsh, but Max had just stepped over her last nerve. With everything that had been going on lately, to find out that one of your only real friends had turned on you really just took the cake.

[max]

Little stuffed shirt goody goody?!

That was enough to light Max's fuse, whether they were friends or not, she didn't take insults lightly. Especially such powerful insults, even though she wasn't going to lift hands to get back at Chi, Max was probably as furious as a bull seeing red right now, why would someone be so ... rude? All Max ever did her whole life was try and help people, act nice, it wasn't her fault if she got mad at Chi and Levi for that little nothing in a nightclub she never should have even thought of going to, it was natural reaction that any girl in her position would've given! And maybe she was being a bit off just now, but you didn't just recover from a double-break-up so quickly, as far as she knew Chi could've just gone and stuck a pipe up her mouth instead of giving her that big counter speech.

Max squeezed her fists tightly, okay, it was settled. She officially hated Chi now,
"Yeah, it's no wonder you've got a boyfriend, with all that padding you put under your shirt and those skanky pieces of cloth that you wear as an excuse for a skirt, who wouldn't want to bang you?" The last words about the skirt and stuff just sort of slipped out of her mouth, but there was no second thoughts or apologies following this, Max meant it!

"And hm, you probably do, I forgot, life must be busy when you've got guys to please around the clock, right? -- By the way, do you guys not talk anymore or do you find some way to squish your little red haired romeo into the schedule?" Max was being childish maybe, but that didn't make her stop at just anything, Chi was probably harsher then her but she had a way with words as well.

[chihiro]

Chi had been ready to turn around and laugh in her face at the stuffing her shirt comment. Anyone who had a set of eyes could tell that she didn't. But then she struck a chord in Chi mentioning banging her because of her skirts, and the images flashed in her mind like lightning. The classroom, the lock, Soresu, her skirt on the floor...the girl's cheeks burned crimson and she narrowed her eyes, clenching her jaw.

In a few steps she had crossed the distance between them, her left hand raising to connect with Max's right cheek. She gasped, glancing down at her now slightly stinging hand as she realised what she had just done. But Max had no idea what she'd done with just those words, she was just as angry as she had been before, she didn't know anything about that, but she said them anyway.

"Don't you ever say that about me and my skirts again. As you can see I don't dress like that anymore. And there is one and only one boy I 'please' and that's Aureus, or have you been too wrapped up in your own little barbie fantasy to realize this? And he is in no way a 'little red head romeo' so stop trying to use my insults against me."

Her voice was deadly even, her chocolate eyes burning into Max's. She had no idea how much she had pissed Chi off with her little immature rant, because it had hit extremely below the belt to a degree even Max didn't know. There was only one boy she cared for, only one...only one...

[max]

Max didn't mean for anything to get serious, but in a leaped second Chi's hand had come and went from her right cheek leaving a little red glow on her pale skin and almost not long after she slapped the girl right back on the same side. Right cheek.

"I hope that hurt."

She said very slowly, she didn't care whether she had pissed Chi off. Chi laid her hand on her, and boy oh boy, Max didn't appreciate that much. Not much at all.

Her green eyes stared into the brown ones of the shorter girl, she felt her hands ball into fists even though Max isn't one to look to violence for a solution, she was ticked right into explosion. Not even her mother, which both women knew Max didn't get along with, had ever-ever hit her before. Not her ass and defiantly not her face, but here was Chihiro, a girl that didn't even know Max beneath this little demeaning figure, this anger, hitting her?

She had listened to Chi's words carefully and they only gave her more of a reason to just keep pawing at her with words, "Aureus...hmm, I guess you tricked him into a drink or two as well and then he just decided why not stick around since you two, come to think of it, do make a pretty cute couple... not. You know what, maybe you just lifted your skirt for him, just a little higher then where it ends, ne? And I can only imagine a boy fleeing from such a view, noting how perverted a man can get. I bet you're having fun, Chi. I bet you like having all the boys at your fingertips."

Max didn't care, even if she started getting boxed she probably wouldn't care about that fire burning in Chi's eyes or about the one that swayed so obviously in her voice... no one touched Max and got away with a pathetic goo-goo look, no one.

[chihiro]

"Shut up..You shut up right now, Max."

She balled her hands into fists, clenching them in supressed anger. If she kept spouting such wrong accusations and blatant insults, she was going to end up slugging her. Right here, in the middle of the hallway.

"You're out of line."

She was breathing deeply, trying to control her fury, her fists were shaking. She had never dreamed of drugging Aureus, and the fact that Max kept bringing up the skirt slut innuendo just kept jabbing at the large open wound that was her life. One more jab, and she would snap.

[Aureus]

It was early in the morning, and the first period bell had yet to ring. Lucky for Aureus too, as he had been late getting to school. This kinda disappointed him, 'cause he wouldn't have as much time to talk with Chi. Walking down the corridors, the Pillar took the time to separate a few squabbling Freshmen, who were having the lamest fight he had ever seen. For good measure he socked them each in the stomach; had to get the point across some how, ni? Continuing along, he nodded to a few teachers who actually liked him; probably because they were new and he did well in their classes. Eventually, the faint sound of a cat fight reached his ears.

Great, who this time? Cindy and Mika again? The boy wondered, remembering the last two times he had been forced to break the two girls up. Rounding the corner, he was caught completely off guard. It was Max and Chi of all people.

It seemed he had arrived just as the battle was heating up, and was too taken a back to react just yet. He wasn't sure exactly how things had been started, but knew they really took off once Chi called Max flat chested. His jaw dropped when the latter retaliated by calling the first a whore, in so many words. In addition, the comment did anger him to an extent. Chi was his girlfriend after all, and she was definitely not a whore.

Red haired romeo? Is that what I've been reduced to?! And I'll be damned if this isn't the craziest cat fight I've seen in a long time. O.O Did Chi just slap her?o.o I think... The schizo thought while watching the events unfold. As expected, Max retaliated in the same manner, in addition to saying things that were just fucked up.

Shaking his head, the dark haired boy came back to his senses and walked between them. "Alright, that's enough!" He yelled, clearly angry, more at Max than Chi. Why? Because Chi was his girlfriend? No, but because she wasn't the one saying such blatantly hurtful things. "You're both out of line, especially you Max! I understand you're mad, but don't you think that's a little much?" He continued while hugging his girlfriend from behind. He could tell she was pissed, more than he had ever seen before, and if Max kept pushing it there was going to be serious trouble. "Calm down, please." He whispered to the brown eyed girl.

[max]

Funny. It was a funny thing being told to shut up, being told she was out of line. Max was furious, she could almost feel sweat coming onto her hands due to how tightly she was baling them but she knew that was just a fragment of her imagination... for now. Chi looked, sounded, was pissed to no end but Max wasn't scared.

Everything she had said was probably a bit of truth Chihiro was trying to deny with some half-minute acting and anger. Max was intimidated, she never dreamed off anything out of the way, she wasn't a violent person, but she knew that something was brewing right now and it wasn't good..

"Are you going to make me, Chi?"
She quirked a half curious eyebrow, it was almost as if she already knew the answer, taking a glimpse look at Chi's own hands forming into fists, she swallowed the wetness in her mouth and didn't think twice, she had a small predicament of what this all would come down to.

"Are you going to shut me up?"
Hmm? Shouting? Before Max could say abra-cabdabra Aureus had shown up, that brown-haired boy, and was tugging Chi away. Aww, the fun had just begun. Oh wait... what the fuck was with that? Hmm, do you think it was maybe just random that the boy had come to the conclusion that both girls were out of line but Max was more so then Chi or was he maybe just fending for his girlfriend? "Does she always need you to back her up?" Max twitched but then realized this was Aureus ... and she was directing some of the hatred running through her because of Chi's rudeness at him! And he had done nothing! She was maybe a wee bit out of control, yesh.

"Awkward moment. I bet you're wishing for that mini right about now, huh, Chi?" She teased the brown-eyed girl, she wanted to see what she would do, she had no means to insult her anymore and didn't know what the thing was with her and the skirt thing she kept blabbering about but she wanted to see what Chi would do, and if loverboy would perhaps stop her.

[chihiro]

Chi fell back slightly as Aureus seemed to show up out of nowhere, positioning himself between the two of them. She placed a hand up, gripping the back of his shirt at the middle of his back. She breathed deeply as he asked her to calm down, siphoning off the bit of calm she always seemed to find when she was around him, and had almost considered backing down when Max began shouting. And she had targetted Aureus, focusing her hate indirectly through him.

"Yeah, I am gonna shut you up...and maybe you could borrow some of my mini's sometime, since you seem to be so avid about them, maybe it'll help you get some and stop being such a bitter bitch."

She spat, letting go of Aureus as she stepped around him to fling herself at her ex best friend, ignoring the whole polite stomach punch warning and going straight for her face. She'd had it, she'd held herself back enough, she'd tried to be a friend, but she didn't need to put up with this.