#nonbinary max

There was only a few people in the room that Max knew, even though they'd done introductions and taken a picture together on the first day. Well, 'a few' constituted about half the class in this case - it was tiny, with people sprinkled around as if they all needed as much space as Max - but there was Alyssa, Victoria, Taylor? (she was pretty sure), and Kate with familiar faces. Taylor and Victoria had both given them a smile when they walked in late, but they'd chosen an unoccupied desk in the back-center of the room, too skittish to sit with them in class.

The bell rang, interrupting something Max hadn't even heard, but they were brought back to an, "Ahhh, well, I guess that will do."

As everyone rose from their seats, Jefferson continued, louder over the chair-scraping, "All right, it's lab tomorrow, so make sure to bring your equipment. Alyssa, if you still don't have a camera tomorrow, you can use one of the spares in the meantime and oh - make sure you've finished chapter 2 by then, even if it's not due until Thursday. We'll be breaking your photographs down to the most basic elements, so it's best that you have clear understandings of the definitions. We're going for precision, not style. See ya."

Max jumped as they exited the room, finding themself flanked by Victoria and Taylor. Even though they smiled and Taylor raised her hand into a wave, it took Max a second to realize they were friendly.

"Jesus!"

Taylor flinched back, but was quick to recover, tapping Max's shoulder as if it would calm them down. "Sorry! sorry!," she said, eyes wide, embarrassed. "Are you okay?"

Max found their hand clutching at their chest to protect their heart, and shrunk down, wiping embarrassment like sweat from their face. "Oh, no, no, it's good, I'm okay - just didn't see you."

After a brief pause, Max glanced between the two, as they looked back expectantly, then added, "Do you . . . need something? Am I in the way?"

Victoria waved away the thought. "Nah, we were just going to walk with you if that's cool. Taylor wanted to invite you to something before you scurried away."

"Oh. Oh?" Max nodded their head, and they turned to start walking. "What's up?"

"So-" Taylor started, looping her thumbs on the straps of her backpack and pulling it closer to her. Her nails were coated on one hand with black nail polish, pink on the other - something Max had never noticed before. "- there's kind of this thing Thursday. A Vortex Club party, like our first one of the year (Except for our retreat, I guess). Anyway, you should come! I can tell Courtney to put you on the guest list and-"

Nervousness set in quickly, but Max just tried to keep their eyes forward. However, anxiety and impulsiveness don't always mix, so Max cut in, "What's the Vortex Club?"

Victoria scoffed, and Max could somehow hear the roll of her eyes. "The Vortex Club is the real reason to come to Blackwell. When law schools see Blackwell, and they see Vortex Club, they see wealth, they see power, they see dedication. Even if it isn't there, they see it. And the same goes for the arts and sciences, even more so."

"Oh."

The trio pushed their way out the double doors into the courtyard. As they descended the steps, Max asked, "And they're having a party?"

"We're having a party," Taylor corrected. "Courtney's chair, and Nathan's co-chair. The four of us basically run this bitch - club and school, I guess - and yeah, we have parties. Nathan's dad, uh, like, he pays for us to have all sorts of events. Campus spirit events and club retreats and -"

"Basically everything but the booze and weed, but honestly some of that, too," Victoria interrupted.

Taylor shrugged. "Basically, yeah."

Confusion brought an itch to the back of Max's head, and they tried to scratch it away as they asked, "So, wait, like, you just have parties and stuff, but it's like a status symbol to be a part of it or something?"

"Oh, no!" Taylor protested, but didn't immediately have another explanation.

"Nah, Courtney makes sure we're reputable people who do good work and make connections with professionals and all that. Well, her and Sean. But either you work with Courtney or you pay your dues to the club somehow, and we all get good exposure. And good vodka."

"Huh."

Although they'd had no intention of it, Max found themself in the dining commons alongside Taylor and Victoria. Their Prozac didn't leave them with much of an appetite, so Max hadn't really gone except for dinner yet.

"So where's the party at, then? On Thursday."

"Oh, so, um, it's the first party of the year and technically everyone is invited so we're using the gym. Normally we'd do a house party somewhere but this one should be kind of big, so. Yeah."

Max asked, "Should I wear something?"

"Probably something," Victoria replied.

When Max gave her a blank look, she just snickered.

Max tugged at her jacket, shrugging as they asked, "So like, is this good?"

Victoria's eyes snapped down to Max's legs, then worked their way slowly back towards their face. Max found it entirely unbelievable that she hadn't already looked her outfit over and found it lacking, but at least she was going through the effort of pretending that it was hard to say.

"Uhhh?" Victoria asked, arms slowly raising to a shrug.

"You can try it," Taylor chimed in, craning her neck to look at Max while grabbing a food tray, "but Courtney might hunt you down if you do. She hates it when people don't try and look good." Beat. "No offense."

"Uh, none taken, I guess."

After a few minutes split apart to get their own meals, the three of them sat down together, with Max placed opposite of Victoria and Taylor.

Just as they were settling in, Victoria let out a sigh of disgust. Max tilted their head to the side in question, quick to dip a fry in ketchup and start eating.

Victoria responded, "Of course she's a vegan. God."

"What? Who?" Taylor asked.

Victoria's eyes focused somewhere behind Max, and they turned to look at whatever she was staring at.

"Kate Marsh."

As soon as Victoria said it, Max realized how she'd pieced that together (not that it was hard) - Kate had already taken one burger from the rack labeled with a hand-sized sign that read 'V', and she was taking another. They self-consciously glanced at their own burger, not yet connecting Victoria's tone with what Kate was doing.

I really should go vegan, but . . .

"Wait, I don't get it, why 'of course'?" Taylor asked, turning towards Victoria as she [Victoria] twirled her fork in a bowl of stir-fry.

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Because she's just so good, right? She's got all those environmentalism stickers on her laptop like, hello, we all live on the West Coast, chill the fuck out."

Victoria paused, so Max thought it was a safe time to start responding. However, as soon as they opened their mouth, Victoria continued.

"Plus, she founded an Abstinence Club what, the second day of school? And she carries her Bible in her bag, too. I mean, I have honest-to-God never met someone who so vehemently did not want to fuck."

While Taylor's face snapped into a critical side-eye glare, Max asked, "So what? I mean, like, she knows what she's about. I may not be into the whole god thing, but I think it's kind of cool. Like her whole deal."

"Well, I think it's kind of annoying."

That comment soured the mood further, and Max stopped talking, instead focusing on getting the right amount of ketchup on each french fry before eating it. Taylor went back to her food as well (french fries too, but minus a burger, or anything else for that matter), and the momentum of Victoria's complaints collapsed right into silence.

After a few seconds, Max heard from behind, "Oh, hey guys."

As they turned, Kate Marsh shuffled into view, holding a tray with several plates and bowls with both hands.

"Hey Kate," Max said, flinching a little out of humiliation. There was always the possibility that she heard, after all.

"Hi Kate," Taylor said, managing a little wave.

Victoria just smiled a closed, strained smile until Kate passed by her, at which point her expression immediately fell back into annoyance.

A few seconds later, Taylor's eyes snapped back up from her food and her eyes widened in realization. Then, smiling, she nudged Victoria in the ribs and said, "Are you still just jealous that Kate got to be Jefferson's assistant instead of you this year?"

Again, Victoria rolled her eyes so hard that Max couldn't tell if she thought the idea was stupid or if Victoria was getting ready to yell.

Luckily, she wasn't. "No, I don't need that to be exceptional." Beat. "I just think she's fake, is all."

Although they couldn't quite put their finger on why, Max felt a little hurt by that.

Max hadn't known what to expect when they were assigned 'Science Lab' as part of their mandatory schedule. They had known even less of what to expect after finding out that The Art of Science was a mixed science class focused on hands-on experiments and projects in biology, physics, chemistry, and engineering. Luckily, Max was fairly certain they had been partnered up with the smartest kid in class, because they were halfway through their first lab and he'd only looked at the instructions once. They were running a change-of-state physics experiment about loss of heat and taking the temperature of ice water or something like that, but their partner (Warren, they were pretty sure) had been conducting the whole thing while they took the temperature.

He also was pretty much conducting the conversation, too.

"But no, despite what anyone says, I refuse to believe that Chell is just a lucky test subject. Valve's original and all, but I don't think they'd break from all storytelling convention and make her totally unrelated from the rest of the cast, small as it is. I may not be sure about the whole 'the heart box has Caroline's body in it' thing but Caroline is for sure her mom, so GLaDOS is basically her family at this point. Just, you know, her sick, twisted, abusive family."

"Oh, so just like a real family, then," Max replied, totally deadpan.

"Whoah Max, uh, kind of dark there." Warren scratched the side of his face, a little off-guard. "But like, technically yeah, I guess. I wonder if that's the point. Like, why center an abuse story in a comedy game? Ah, well. So, uh, how much time do we have left?"

"Technically? Just whenever it boils, which is supposed to be in like . . . 9 more. Uh. Four minutes and thirty seconds. But really until class is over so," Max tapped their phone where it sat on the desk so the time would appear. 1:48. "So, like forty more minutes."

Warren jumped right into another topic, or maybe deeper into the whole Portal thing, but Max's attention began to wander to the table behind them. Alyssa-from-photography sat with her back towards them and Warren, hair pulled back to avoid spilling over the slide she was staring at on her microscope. Across from her sat another (tiny) girl from photography, but she had spoken so little last week that Max couldn't remember her name, although they were certain she'd introduced herself to Max on the first day. She leaned over the desk, elbow on a blank notebook page while talking, although her voice was soft enough that Max couldn't hear her even a few feet away.

However, when Alyssa spoke, Max could hear fine.

"I dunno, the Vortex club and I aren't exactly B-F-Fs, especially now that Courtney's in charge. They probably wouldn't even let me in."

Max turned in their seat, aware that this cut Warren off mid-sentence without knowing what, exactly, they'd interrupted. The squeak it produced on the seat must have been enough to get Alyssa's attention, because she turned while the other girl leaned a bit to the side to get a look.

Max tucked a tuft of hair behind their ears and said, "Um, are you guys talking about the party this Thursday? In the gym?"

The tiny girl opposite of Alyssa responded quickly, "Oh, yeah. Are you going? The school uses student staffing for events so I'm like, carrying sound equipment or something."

Max nodded. "Yeah, Taylor invited me, from photography. Apparently she and Victoria and Courtney-"

Max hadn't quite finished before being interrupted by a loud sigh of disgust from Alyssa, which caught them so off-guard they just stopped speaking.

Alyssa, taking a few seconds to recognize that demanded an explanation, said, "They're just assholes. They run the Vortex Club, but they seem to think that means running the school, too. I mean, they're basically the Plastics, except where it's been uncool for girls to tear each other down for a decade or whatever."

So they really are important. At least, important enough to be hated.

"Uhh, what's the Vortex Club and who are you talking about?" Warren asked, still stirring the near-boiling water although Max had stopped taking measurements. Then, immediately distracting himself, he looked at the other girl and said, "Warren, by the way. I'm Warren, I mean."

"Stella," she replied.

Max responded, "It's like a social frat, kind of, for like high schoolers. And they do community stuff and it looks good on a transcript."

"Eh," Alyssa shrugged, a casual negation. Following up, she said, "I mean, it's just an enclave for rich kids to party and everyone else to lick their shoes for an officer-ship or a recommendation or something. It's living proof of the whole 'It's not what you know, just who you know' thing. It's bullshit."

Max was becoming increasingly disinterested in their whole deal, which wasn't too hard when it had sounded sketchy from the start. They leaned down, deflating until their elbows pressed into their legs and they held their head up on their hands. It was only seventy seconds until their experiment would be finished, and they wouldn't even notice.

"So, like, what's their deal then? I know Courtney's Spectrum co-chair and the Vortex Club chair, but like, are Victoria and Taylor just part of her posse, total Plastic style?"

And for the first time since Max had known her, Alyssa laughed. It was kind of a weird laugh, projected from the chest and with a bit of a snort. She recovered quickly, though, and said, "Right, right, you weren't here last year. No. No, um, other way around. Victoria is the leader, 'Sweet-T' and Courtney are just her sycophants. Well, Courtney definitely is. Taylor's . . . Taylor."

A question quickly jumped to the front of Max's mouth, but they held it back for a second.

Just a second, though. "Isn't Taylor Victoria's girlfriend?"

Alyssa's eyes shifted back and forth between Max and Stella on either side of her, as if one of them would give her the answer. "Uhhhhhhh?"

Stella chimed in, "I'm not even really sure she likes girls. She hasn't dated anyone since she moved, I don't think. And you know Rachel would have blasted it if she'd fucked anyone. Those two got pretty damn petty before Rachel took off."

Alyssa shook her head. "God. But you're right. Even if Victoria let any guy but Jefferson within five feet of her, Nathan would probably knife 'em, or like, disappear them or whatever rich people do when they don't like someone."

Max was getting confused, as nothing Stella and Alyssa were referring to Max knew anything about. Who was this Nathan kid everyone kept mentioning? Was he friends with Victoria? Was he pining after her or something? It only seems right that the rich boy running the school would be with the queen bee.

I wonder why they're not dating already. Maybe he's a huge douche? Or gross-looking, maybe. She doesn't seem like the sort of person who would date someone just for their money.

Max and Warren's experiment was boiling, and neither of them were paying attention. While Max was trying their best to pay attention to the conversation, Warren seemed engrossed in his thoughts.

At least, until Max realized he was mumbling, and he decided to let the other in on the question: "Okay, like, sorry to back up like seven steps but Courtney who?"

"Wagner," Alyssa replied.

Warren's eyes widened suddenly, and he leaned over the desk to get closer access to the conversation. "Wait, Courtney Wagner? And she's from here, right?"

Alyssa and Stella nodded in unison.

"Dude, holy fuck, Courtney used to run my Robotics team back when I was in like sixth grade. I didn't know she was all popular and shit now. How'd that happen?"

Alyssa shrugged again, but provided no answer. Warren wiggled in his seat a little, seemingly perplexed by this development, totally unaware of what Max had just realized - 1) they hadn't taken notes for several minutes 2) the experiment was about to boil over and 3) Ms. Grant was approaching their desk.

"Now, I think that's far enough Mr. Graham, Ms. Caulfield, you can take your last reading and move on. I'd prefer neither of you burned yourself just yet."

Max felt a twinge of embarrassment somewhere amidst the stabbing pain of shame, but just picked up their notebook while Warren checked the thermometer.

"I think my mutagen's a little unstable," Warren said, trying to read the thermometer through condensation.

Max shook their head.

This damn kid.

Media literacy was the class where Max had gotten to know Courtney last week, as they'd sat down at a random seat before being ambushed by a highly interactive class. From the syllabus, it looked like the class focused heavily on super heroes over the past century, from the origin of the masked vigilante (The Scarlet Pimpernel, which they were reading for the first three weeks of class) through the start of the cold war. It was not what they had been expecting at all, and now, knowing Courtney a little better, Max was a little surprised to find that Courtney knew a lot more about comics than Max did. Max had just watched the Spider-Man trilogy like, a dozen times or so. After spending last class period with Warren, Max was getting the impression they were out of the media loop.

"Okay, now, it looks like most of you are sitting in the same seat at last week. Why don't we try switching it up, so you're sitting with someone new?"

The teacher for this class, Ms. Hargrave, was a tall white woman in her late forties or early fifties with dark (dyed, question mark?) hair. She didn't talk a lot, as far as teachers go, letting the students' circle of desks guide the conversation on the book. It felt a lot like AP English, actually, just without the opportunity for college credit.

Max's eyes shifted away from the teacher back to Courtney for a moment, then shrugged before they both stood. Everyone converged into the middle of class for a few seconds like they had done over and over getting to know each other on the first day, then began to pair off. Max was terrible at this, of course, and everytime they looked to someone who looked friendly, that person made eye contact with someone else, raised a hand, and they veered off to the edge of the room.

It was a loose formation of visible pairs and triads when Max began to wonder if, somehow, they simply had been left out. That is, until they turned around, and found someone with a hand half-raised, as if trying to get their attention.

Oh. Kate.

"Hey Max."

"Hey Kate." Max paused for a brief second, then asked, "Do you want to . . .?" They gestured back and forth between themself and Kate.

Kate smiled a pinched smile and nodded before backing up, taking the chair Max had been sitting in half a minute ago. Max settled themself down in Courtney's former chair, and then the class was settled after a few more seconds.

As they launched into a discussion on how the Scarlet Pimpernel both resembled and contrasted modern and contemporary super heroes and vigilantes, Max's interest waned as they realized they knew considerably less than many of the other students. Luckily, Kate seemed to be having trouble with the topic too, as after a few minutes her eyes started to jump back and forth between her classmates and her notebook, where her notes were turning into margin doodles.

Pretty good margin doodles, actually.

"That's really cute," Max whispered, nodding at the cartoon scene forming on the page. Only one character was fully formed so far - a bird girl (judging by the eyelashes that cartoonists insist on to distinguish animal genders) with a wing held up, a single feather extended above like a finger. Next to her, just a torso, was a rabbit wearing a cross.

Kate turned a little to see Max, then back down at the page following their gesture. She pursed her lips a little, a little embarrassed as she tucked a tuft of her hair behind her ear.

"Thank you," Kate replied, even more quietly. Her eyes returned quickly to the professor as she started talking, but Max was a little less interested in the lecture now that they had a clearer look at the rabbit character.

"Is that, um, like your fursona?" Max asked. The cross matched the one on Kate's neck, so it seemed like an easy guess.

Kate's eyes widened in surprise for a fraction of a second, startled, shrugged just as quickly, and whispered back, "No. I mean, I just think it's cute. And it feels weird to actually draw people."

Max paused, but then asked, "But that's you, right? The bunny?"

To Max's surprise, Kate did not reply immediately, but instead blushed. "I mean . . . yeah."

Sounds like a fursona.

Max found Kate's embarrassment endearing, the color in her cheeks pretty and warm. They looked up from the page and straight at Kate now, which only dragged her attention away from the discussion entirely to look back at Max.

"Well," Max said dryly, "I think she's pretty cute."

Perhaps frightened by Max's attempts at flirting, Kate seemed only more uncomfortable, unable to look away for a few seconds before a student raising their hand drew her attention away again.

"Thank you," Kate whispered again.

Max packed up slowly after class, trying to somehow get their notebook, wallet, pen, and sticky notes to take as long as Kate's notebook, class reading, pen and pencil and highlighter that all fit into a pencil case, etc etc. Somehow they pulled it off, though, and they slung their bag over their shoulder as Kate put on her backpack.

Max took a hesitant step towards the door, hoping that Kate would oh-so-coincidentally decide to leave at the same time, but she made no move. Instead, her eyes just locked onto Max, who immediately froze.

"You're in room 219, right? Right across the hall from me? I'm in 222."

Max blinked, caught off guard. Then they responded, "Uh, yeah, that's me. I'm sorry, I didn't even notice we were neighbors. Has Victoria's stereo system been annoying you, too?"

Kate waved it off, finally working around her desk so they could leave. "Nah, I kind of like her music, actually. But I was thinking - because we've got this and Photography together and all, and we're neighbors - maybe you'd like to study together sometime? When I took two visual media classes, I thought I wouldn't have to read very much, but . . ."

Max nodded, "I made the same, fatal mistake. I thought - oh hey Courtney."

Courtney was obviously waiting for them, standing just outside the door with her eyes on her phone. As Max addressed her, though, Courtney plastered on a smile, just slow enough that Max didn't believe it.

"Hey Max," she said, then seemed to realize that Kate stopped just outside the door as well, awkwardly standing outside of Max and Courtney's conversation but obviously close enough to hear.

Kate initially looked around the hallway instead of at Courtney, but noticing that her eyes had fallen onto Kate, Kate's eyes dropped to her.

"Hey there Courtney. Long time no see."

With the same sort of sluggish delay as her smile, Courtney eventually responded, "Yeah, hey Katie."

After another uncomfortable second laden with way too much tension that Max didn't understand, Courtney looked back to Max and only reinforced her smile.

"Max. Did Taylor already invite you to the party Thursday? I was hoping you'd come spend some time with the Vortex Club, have some fun, and maybe," she raised the back of her hand to her mouth as if there was someone trying to overhear - but not Kate, as she wasn't even hiding her mouth from her - "some wine." She dropped her hand, clasping it over her phone instead. "Or vodka, if you're a vodka girl."

Max felt a little twinge of annoyance at 'girl', but shrugged it off. "Yeah, Taylor and Victoria grabbed me after photography to invite me. I'll come, I promise."

Pleased, Courtney slipped into a more natural smile. "Great. It should be a blast. Text me if you want details or anything," she said, already turning to go. "I'll see ya later, Max. Later . . . Kate."

"Yeah," Kate replied, then, when Courtney was too far away to hear, "I'll see you."

Max turned back to Kate, wondering why things had been so awkward between her and Courtney. However, while they were busy wondering, they were also just staring at Kate silently.

Kate pulled some strands that had fallen out of her bun down to her neck, then said, "Wait, yeah, I think you were saying something?"

Max blinked. "I was? What?"

Kate shrugged. "I dunno." Beat. "Oh! Right, I was inviting you to study. Media homework, lots, unexpected-" they began to walk together as she recounted the list, Kate rolling her hand as if trying to say 'et cetera' despite actually saying it all.

Max snapped their fingers into a finger gun, "- fatal mistake! Right, yeah."

When Max didn't follow up their realization with a response, Kate's eyes just shifted about awkwardly, puffing up her cheeks as she smiled in the awkwardness.

That helped Max remember to respond. "Oh, yeah. I mean, yes. I'd love to. I study way better with people anyway. When?"

As the two of them made it into the courtyard, Max nodded towards the fountain, and they sat down together. The sound of the fountain was pleasant white noise, drowning out the conversations of students scattered through the courtyard or leaving the classrooms.

Kate shrugged again, but still responded, "Oh, I don't know. I'm pretty busy on week days but maybe the weekend? We could actually go somewhere in town if we wanted. I don't have a car, but the town's pretty small. I mean, you're from Seattle, right?, so I guess it's all pretty quaint around here but-"

Max shook their head.  "Actually, I grew up in the Bay."

Kate's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Really? I thought you were a big city girl visiting the Nowhere fishing village, like Victoria."

Max replied, "I'm nonbinary, actually."

Kate's face was blank, unreadable, as if Max had just spoken German mid-conversation. After a few seconds, though, "Oh, okay. So, uh, you're not a big city person, then?"

"Nope, not really." Max had forgotten where Victoria said she was from, but they did remember that it was a big city. Or was it just the clothes? People don't wear brand name clothes in towns with 4,000 people in them - most people wouldn't even recognize them if you did. Maybe that's how Victoria got her friends - she found the only two kids in town who would recognize a Louis Vuitton.

"Huh. Well, is there a place in town you'd like to go? I live a bit closer to Tillamook so I don't actually know Arcadia Bay that well."

"Oh, I don't know," Max said, looking forward. The only place that really came to mind was the Two Whales, but Max . . . wasn't so sure it was the right time to go just yet.

Probably not. Not like this.

"I don't really remember anywhere I liked to eat or anything."

Kate leaned forward, holding her chin up with her hand. "Hmm, all right. Well, I tried going downtown during move-in weekend, and there's some nice places there. There's like this coffee lounge I found and it's like the only place that sells vegan stuff in town, so I could stand to go check it out again. It was pretty quiet when I went there, at least."

Max fell quiet, rocking themself a little on the fountain's edge. They studied Kate more closely than they had allowed themself before - her messy bun starting to collapse on itself, her dark, starchy clothes, her unpainted nails, her leggings.

This is sounding more and more like a date. Am I crazy? Or just wishfully gay?

"Hmm," Max hummed, the need to respond forgotten. Kate turned her head back towards Max, cocking her head in curiosity.

She was . . . definitely pretty. If she wanted to, she could be very pretty.

Maybe she's one of those open-minded Christians. She seemed cool when I said I was nonbinary, at least. Maybe she's from one of those churches with gay pastors who believes in Love Thy Neighbor and the Sermon on the Mount and that stuff. Or maybe . . .

Max scanned over Kate's backpack, her clothes, her nails, anything for a potential sign that Kate was queer, but there was nothing. No pride flags, no catchy slogans, just a few buttons of pandas, bigfoots, a UFO, and the Human Rights Campaign logo. But even straight people would show off that logo these days.

Apparently, Max had been sitting and staring long enough for Kate to get uncomfortable, because she finally cut the silence with an "Um."

Max blinked in an effort to clear their head, then replied, "That sounds cool. Just, like, let me know when works for you this weekend? I don't think I have much going on this weekend," except maybe a hangover Friday, Max silently tacked on.

And for what Max realized was the first time they'd seen, Kate smiled brightly. "Awesome, thank you. Maybe I'll buy you some tea to thank you for letting me drag you to the vegan place."

The fact that Max didn't know if they were being flirted with or not left them nervous, but also a little excited. Kate smiling was something special, Max could already tell. Maybe there could be more of it over a cup of tea and an art theory textbook.

September 3, 6:18pm

Victoria: do you seriously have nothing to wear

Max: I seriously dont. Max: I like things that are soft and familiar, and that usually means I bought it in the ninth grade.

Victoria: wow Victoria: i'm genuinely impressed you managed to get Courtney to learn your name wearing anything from last season Victoria: what did you do

Max: I showed her a really neat vape trick and she was like 'Wow, Max, that was incredible, do you want to be friends?'

Victoria: tell me you're joking Victoria: like i know the story is bullshit but you don't actually vape do you Victoria: is there secretly a giant douchebag hiding in that tiny body that only comes out to make vape trick Youtube videos

Max: Ah, yes, I drank a mysterious concoction and now he emerges sometimes without warning

Victoria: genderfluid femme/douche

Max: If smoking weed is douchey then you're actually not far off

Victoria: it's a little douchey Victoria: but don't worry, everyone in this entire school is a douche Victoria: you'll blend right in

September 3, 6:55pm

Victoria: speaking of which we should smoke sometime

Max: That sounds cool. Maybe at the party Thursday?

Victoria: sure. God knows there will be enough weed there to hotbox the gym so maybe we'll get stoned just from going.

Max: That sounds awful. Max: Does seriously everyone smoke? Like I know it's Oregon but still.

Victoria: i'm pretty sure Courtney is literally the only person here who doesn't spend every other weekend lying on the floor watching their hand move before they realize it's been two hours.

Max: Courtney seems... idk, intense? Like in a cool way. Max: I feel like I'm a high school student but she's the HR person for a shady law firm or something.

Victoria: Courtney's . . . courtney.

A notification appeared at the top of Max's screen notifying them that somebody by the name of bitch-in-training had started following them on Instagram. When they tabbed over, the Instagram turned out to be Victoria's. The top two rows were a mix of selfies and candid shots of Taylor, every one of which looked like it had been carefully picked or cleverly staged.

Victoria: half this school's clubs would die without her, though, she...

The rest of the message cut off, and Max was too busy scrolling down Victoria's Instagram to check. It looked like there was a photo or two every day, although about a month back there was a huge chunk of photos of what looked like Victoria exploring Rome. If anyone had gone with her, they weren't in the photos - just Victoria, beautiful buildings, and clothes Max would never be able to afford. For some reason, Max's envy of Victoria's materialism only encouraged them to keep scrolling, occasionally clicking to read comments. Almost every picture had upward of 100 likes, and there was a read replies bar for all of the thirsty comments and emojis boys left.

God, they're gross, Max thought, dismissing a photo of Taylor and Victoria together where one of the messages had been particularly . . . fetishy.

But then, Max stumbled across a photo quite unlike the others. For one, Victoria had obviously not taken it, because she was the model. Secondly, the background was so dark that Victoria was the only thing clearly visible. Thirdly, she was only in her underwear, both of which were black and patternless. Lastly, whether because of the lighting on her or the camera filters or her makeup (probably all of these), her skin was so bright that it looked like it glowed, and her underwear was so dark that pieces of her seemed like part of the background rather than the foreground, though there was just enough glare to make it clear that wasn't true.

Max bit their lip nervously, dropping their eyes down to the caption quickly, embarrassed. This caption was much longer than the rest.

bitch-in-training It's been almost three years since I started taking hrt. Despite everything I might say on here, it's hard to believe this body is mine after so long. Sometimes I look in the mirror and I don't even recognize myself, and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But this is who I am. I'm a sexy bitch. And I love every second of it. Credit to @madking95 for the photo. #transgender #transfemme #personal #hrt #3yearshrt

Curious, Max tapped on the link to madking95, but found all of the pictures locked. Its description read only "Portfolio rejects and commissions / Vortex Club RULES"

Max tapped to request access, then went back to Victoria's page to follow her Instagram. The page had left a question gnawing on Max's mind - or maybe it had just made it chew harder.

Max: Is Taylor your gf?

'gf' is more casual than girlfriend, right? I'm not being weird?

Victoria: no? Victoria: she's basically my sister Victoria: where'd that come from?

Max: Oh okay. Max: And kind of your Instagram but also kind of just . . . I dont know. Max: I guess you two just seemed cute.

Victoria: well we are Victoria: just not like that

Max wasn't sure how to respond, but, luckily, after a minute or so, another message appeared from Victoria.

Victoria: you could basically just ask to play with her hair and she's basically yours if you want to ask her out, though

Max: Not exactly the plan but good to know I guess? Max: Could I play with her hair and not ask her out?

Victoria: idk............. that sounds dangerous

Max: Well Ive been known to be dangerous. Max: You know. Sometimes. In a cool way.

Victoria: oh?

After about three solid minutes of deliberation, Max pressed 'Like' on Victoria's black and white portrait. After just a few seconds, the "..." appeared next to Victoria's name, but it was at least a minute before she actually responded.

Victoria: oh.

And try though they might, Max couldn't think of any smooth follow-up. Left with the options of either playing it off or trying to be smooth, Max opted for the third choice. Just stop texting and try and do some homework instead.