People said that first impressions made others know what they'd think of you for the rest of time. That was a fact that Max knew quite well...
On the first day of lessons, the photographer went through another eventful day; not nearly as eventful as her first day back in Arcadia yet still one of the top 3.
Max entered her new photography class and met a number of people there. Only a few were memorably enough so far and they included Kate Marsh from the dorms who was there with her bright smile, someone named Alyssa who seemed to be ignoring anything related to anyone else and there was a clearly memorable student named Victoria Chase.
The taller pixie-cut blonde girl stood tall and eyed Max as soon as she entered the classroom, Max had no idea what her problem was and so attempted to hide away at the back of the class. That was a mistake.
Victoria sat next to her on another table and kept looking at her, Max's attention on Victoria went towards someone else as it seemed that Rachel had entered the classroom. Everyone's eyes were on her and she simply smiled and waved to the small audience, she quickly made her way next to Max and sat down on the brunette's left side which made Victoria's gaze onto herself disapear and end in annoyed huffs.
"Good to see you too Vicky" Rachel said as she felt Victoria's eyes give her burns at the side of her face, the girl didn't want to look at the other so she looked at Max, "Hope she isn't being a bitch towards you"
"O-oh uh- N-no. She isn't..." Max muttered out,
"Good then."
A few moments of silence went by and the teacher Max looked in awe over had entered with a bright smile, he entered and everyone went quiet for him. The teacher prepared a few items on his desk which included a camera, a book of his own works and a few printed out photographs.
"Well, class has seemed to have new members as well as old ones, I think it's time to introduce myself and get to know you all. New and old" he began,
Rachel seemed... off... Max didn't know what was up but there was a slight difference in the girls body language and it felt wrong. Her shoulders went up and her posture had changed to a more tight and confided self. From being highly confident to being on edge, it was odd. Max hadn't known the girl very long but knew that Rachel was an overly confident type and going into a photography class only to seem more off then normal was certainly a change.
Whilst Max was thinking about Rachel's off behaviour, the girl went back to normal. It seemed as if it never happened, her shoulders went back to slouching like prior. This confused her more. She was awfully nosey and wanted to know what was wrong, they were in class so Max thought it would be good enough to question her afterwards.
"My name is Mr Jefferson to you all and I'll be your photography teacher for the foreseable school year. Now that you are all seniors, I can only imagine how well you're work will get."
Mr Jefferson pointed at another student and so the introductions went on, everyone properly introduced themselves and now it was Rachel's turn. With a sly grin, she began;
"As everyone knows by now, I'm Rachel Amber. A future model and actress as you all know about," she looked towards her and winked at Max quickly then faced back to the front, "Can't wait to hear about everyone's hopes and wishes as they'll come true some point"
"Well, Rachel, that was clearly an informative and inspiring. But yes, let everyone hope about their dreams- one day they might be a reality. And now, onto you fellow new student" Jefferson smiled at Max and all she could do was blink quicky as she realised everyone was staring at her.
After breathing in shortly, she spoke in response, "H-hi- I'm Maxine Caulfield- But Max is fine..." She managed to say and stop herself from continuing as she would probably just stutter and scream.
"Why not tell us about your photography style? I managed to see your portfolio and I'm interested in why you chose what you did." Jefferson said in response, wanting to know more about the girl,
"O-ohkay... I enjoy taking pictures with my polaroid camera... It's what I've used since I was younger and I-I just find it more challenging then with a digital"
"Quite interesting Max, I can't wait to see you're work improve more."
More introductions went by and after the introductions, Jefferson wanted to take a class photo of them all together and so, he positioned everyone close together on a table and placed everyone in corresponding seats. Rachel was next to Stella and Kate while Max was behind Alyssa and next to Taylor.
[Imagine Rachel being there :')]
Afterwards, the class began discussing vairous things about future lessons and so on, Jefferson was responding to questions about his past works and everyone was getting to know one another somewhat. Once the bell went, it was now the end of the first day and Max nearly forgot about asking Rachel about her off behaviour from earlier.
The model had walked out of the classroom rather quickly and so Max had to catch up as soon as she could, she noticed that Rachel was walking towards the dorms and she followed.
She didn't notice before it occured but she managed to knock into someone, "Oh my dog! I'm so sorry" she said in response as she noticed what had happened,
"Dang man- No, its cool" a taller boy with brown hair replied, he wore a shirt with a science joke ontop and looked like he was looking for someone else, "The names Warren, Ms strange person who bumped into me"
"Haha.... Sorry about that... But my name's Max"
"Coolio Max, see you round?"
"Probably"
The interaction went by somewhat fast but Max didn't mind, she realised that the girl she was following had disapeared and she wanted to find her again. Sighing softly, she managed to pull herself together and walk towards the dorms to see if Rachel actually went inside.
As she entered, she saw that a few doors were open with girls inside talking to one another. Max tried to ignore them all and her brain now became fixated on asking what was wrong with Rachel. She went further into the hallway and tried to find Rachel's dorm, everyone had a small whiteboard that had a small note from the owner or others written ontop of.
She eyed the boards and found one which had to be Rachel's own, it had the note: I have thee in my grasp: I will not bend.
A small smile went across the photographer's face as she read it, Rachel certainly was a theater kid and quoting from one of Shakespeare's works was admorable. She knockes softly on the door and heard movement from the other side, "The doors open!" Rachel's voice called out,
Max opened the door and saw Rachel reading what seemed to be a script of some sorts. She noticed that Rachel's room was organised into two main areas. Her mirror which she was sitting infront of was in the shape of a star and had lights surrounding it with makeup and books scatters across it. The other side of her room seemed to be obsessed with stars and space themed items. Even her bed had a star-filled cover ontop.
"Hello Max.." Rachel breathed out as she saw Max enter the room,
"Hi" Max replied with, just wondering how to ask Rachel about what had happened earlier.
"You alright?"
"I should ask you that, you seemed... off... When Mr Jefferson entered the classroom..." Max looked at the ground and trailed off towards the end of the sentence,
"I did didn't I, oh well. It doesn't matter Maxie." Rachel looked at the brunette infront of her and changed her facial expression of neutral towards one with a soft smile on, "You can sit on my bed you know, only fair" she offered.
This resulted in Max looking at the bed and then towards Rachel, trying to see if what she offered was somehow a trick but knowing how nice the model was, she knew it wasnt. Slowly, Max edged her way towards the bed and sat down near the edge just in case Rachel wanted her off of it.
"Max, I don't mind you being here" Rachel noticed the difficulty Max was going through, "You're sweet to realise that I wasn't feeling the best when Mr... Jefferson entered."
"Do you maybe want to talk about it?" Max offered and looked into Rachel's direction, not inentionally aiming for eye contact but managed to get the blonde's full attention and both stared at each other in the eyes without breaking the contact,
"I will, but not right now. There's more important things to think about-"
"If somethings upsetting you, why not talk about it? It might make you feel better?" Max offered once more, hoping for Rachel to feel safe whenever she was near her. Rachel blinked and looked away briefly and lowering her soft smile, she was thinking about something. A moment later, Rachel looked back at the photographer and tilted her head,
"You hardly know me Max, and you now want to hear all my secrets?" Rachel smiled once more, "I know you're eager but damn girl"
Now Max was too stunned to speak, it seemed as if Rachel knew how to directly press Max's buttons and knew exactly how to do so. Her face turned hot briefly and she didn't know how to speak in response.
After having her fun, Rachel moved off from her table and sat next to Max on her bed, "Okay okay, you clearly aren't the best at coming back with an insult or something"
"T-talking in general is hard... So insulting is a no-no." Max confessed and her hand went to rub the back of her neck in comfort,
"Seems so. But thank you for asking how I was. Promise I'll tell you some point, kay?"
"Alright..." Max looked at Rachel's table and noticed that the actoress had highlighted some lines in her book and wanted to ask more, "Are you rehearsing for a play?"
"I am, its a side character but there's lines at least." Rachel replied and moved some hair off of her ear and placed it to the side, exposing her earring fully. She noticed Max's gaze onto the earing and raised an eyebrow, "You're always curious about the world around you, aren't you?"
"Y-yeah... I guess that's true"
"It's cute"
Max stared at the comment and blushed slightly, how did just entering Rachel's room and attempting to comfort her turn into Rachel saying something like that? Did people tell their friends that they were cute? She wasn't completely sure. Staying quiet and in slight shock was her response and Rachel chuckled,
"You're fun to joke around with, no wonder Chloe didn't stop missing you"
"Oh please, you're fun too"
"Course I am! I'm amazing to be around, ask anyone else at this school."
"I believe you"
"Good" Rachel chuckled and the two settled down over some time.
Various hours went by and now the time was around 8pm, the two were discussing where they wanted to go after Blackwell. Rachel admitted that she wanted to go last year when she could have but her parents offered to pay for an extended tuition at Blackwell so she stayed on for one final year. After this year, she and Chloe were going off to LA for their future together, Max seemed sadened by learning this, if she never stayed then the two would have never met nor herself and Chloe would have never met again. Small things that cause bigger things, similar to the butterfly effect, could do so much harm.
On the other hand, when Max discussed that she was probably going to go back to her parents as she had no real clue on how to progress after graduation, Rachel offered by telling her that she could join Chloe and herself. The three would take on the world together and that made Mad become in awe at the model. They didn't know one another very well but after this, they felt like they had known each other forever. Maybe knowing Chloe as a mutual friend made these two feel closer.
Rachel and Max were still in the model's dorm and both layed out on the bed. Max was quite close to her and wasn't taking much notice of their positions at the time, Rachel was closer to the wall and had the remote of her television in her hand, "Netflix and pizza?" she offered.
"You don't want me to go?" Max said in response as she checked her phone to see the time,
"It's fine Maxie, I love your company", Max blushed slightly at the compliment,
"T-thank you... I love yours too"
The blonde ordered pizza shortly afterwards and got the two a sharing sized margaritta. Max confessed that she was a vegetrian and Rachel didn't want her to feel forced to eat meat so she went with a subsitute both agreed with. A cheese based pizza would still be as good.
Once the pizza's arrived and the two settled back down together with the box on each other's laps, they decided to watch a film together. Both had different ideas on what to watch though.
"Hell no! Final Fantasy was a shit film I will not watch it!"
"Its the best sci-fi film ever made what are you saying?!"
"Its crap!"
"No its not!!!"
"Fucking hell it is, we are NOT watching it"
"Please?"
"Fuck no."
"Fuck you."
"GASP! Did you just swear Max?"
"Did you just say the word 'gasp' instead of gasping?"
"Touchè"
The two laughed about their argument and finally agreed to watch 'Legally Blonde', the film about lawyers and blondes. They ate the pizza somewhat quickly and both snuggled into one another, they were both getting more comfortable with one another and didn't realise how awkward their positions actually were.
Rachel's arm was wrapped around Max's hips and her head was leaning ontop of Max's own. Max placed her arms ontop of Rachel's lap and one was behind Rachel's back. the hand on Rachel's lap was intertwined with Rachel's free hand and Max had leaned her head ontop of the model's shoulder.
After the end of the film, Rachel needed to move and reach the controller which was on her side desk next to Max. Blinking, she opened her eyes and heard small snores coming from the brunette in her arms and she realised that Max had fallen asleep here. A bright smile came across Rachel's face and she held the photographer tighter, not wanting this moment to end.
Although she had to get the controller, she decided that the television would automatically turn off and so, she placed Max down onto the bed and wrapped her arms around the girl infront of her.
A thought went through her mind briefly, quesitoning if she should do this to her. She heard so many things about Max and felt like she knew her but she knew that Chloe might of romantiziced the comments about her. Rachel wanted to get to know the sleeping girl in her arms more and felt incredibly comfortable with Max being in her arms; typically, if anyone else were to do this, even Chloe, she would kick them out rather loudly with a smile. But Max was different, she didn't want to upset her. She wanted to protect her.
Sure they were similar builds and heights but Rachel knew that Max didn't hold any confidence in herself. Thinking about this made Rachel want to help Max get over her low confidence... But then again, if Max was more confident, then she wouldn't need Rachel with her. She didn't want Max to leave for someone else, these thoughts made her instincly hold onto the brunette harder and it earned a tinly, nearly inaudiable, yelp.
Rachel heard this and realised what she was doing, she loosened her tight grip and relaxed her mussles. This made Max more loose and inturn, the brunette moved herself to face Rachel, still asleep. Max's eyes were still closed and she still produced quiet snores, smiling at this, Rachel stroked Max's cheek to remove small locks of brown hair from Max's face.
Slowly, Rachel's fatigue set in and she drifted off to sleep herself.