Saying Goodbye

Max Rivers doesn't always occupy my mind. I usually think of anything, everything else except him - he's forbidden to enter my mind- but today was a little different.

He was everywhere I looked. Literally.

*****

Today was Monday, my favourite day of the week. No, I mean it! I love Mondays - they always mark a new beginning, the dawn of the new week. I know it sounds weird, but it really does feel refreshing for me.

My best friend Kate tooted the horn on her car out side my house and I rushed out with a slice of freshly buttered toast in one hand and my hairbrush in the other. Don’t laugh! I'm usually a mess in the mornings.

"Let me guess," Kate smiled, looking me over mock-disapprovingly. "Slept in, again?"

I laughed a "You bet!" while clambering into the passenger seat, dropping crumbs on the seat before sitting on them. (Whoops!)

Kate let me brush my hair and eat my toast at the same time in silence as we drove the five minutes over to my other best friend's house, Rose. Right on time and looking absolutely perfect, she sashayed her way to the car and glided in; her slim figure following long, slender legs.

Rose Hart would be best described as having an English rose complexion (pale skin of winter with a permanent rosy blush) and luscious, long black hair which was usually swept into a ponytail with bangs framing an oval face, chocolate brown eyes and pouty red lips. She was the living embodiment of Snow White. She was fully and completely English, extremely well-spoken and lavishly wealthy, but she was also easily the most generous person I know. She could even pass a homeless person on the street and give them a twenty without a second thought.

Kate Reynolds was a little opposite in comparison. She had natural blond curls which was the envy of the school - she never ever had to fix her hair. She just dried it and it was perfect. She also always had a permanent olive tone to her skin and tanned very easily. However, opposite to Rose who was model-skinny, Kate had some chub which rounded her tummy and face, plus a huge set of boobs. Despite this though, she was incredibly confident, bubbly, and half Dutch (her mum was from Holland) half French.

"Morning girls!" Rose cheered as she made her way into the car. I swear that she was permanently happy.

"Hi!" was Kate’s reply and mine. I quickly wiped all the crumbs from my mouth, as somehow Rose's sophisticated aura always made me feel, well, a little bit inferior. I tried not to show it though.

Ever the perfect student, Rose gets straight down to gossip.... not. "Has everyone finished the essay for English Lit?"

Kate says 'Yes' the second I slap my hand to my forehead. "SHIT!! I knew I'd forgotten something!" Oh man, Mr Smith was going to murder me!

"Chill, I'm sure it'll be fine." Kate attempts to soothe me while driving, and fails.

I can't be calmed. Forgetting homework is the equivalent of a death sentence in my mind. "It will so NOT be fine! I'm doing bad enough, I don't need this to drag my report down as well!!" I whined as I buried my face in my hands.

"Liz, breathe."

I breathed. I hyperventilated a bit, actually.

"Oh for crying out loud!" Rose threw her hands up in the air. "Liz, it'll be fine okay? It's not the end of the world!"

“How? How can you say that? How do you know?”

Rose put her hands up in front of her, as if in defence. “Whoa, calm down. I’ll sort it out with Mr Smith, alright?”

I slowly let out a breath of air. “Yes. You’re right, I’m sorry. I was just seriously paranoid.”

”I’ll say!” Kate muttered as she pulled into the school parking lot.

Just as I came out of Kate’s car with my bag slung around my shoulder, I saw a familiar blue Ford speeding into the parking space right next to mine. “Hey, watch it, asshole!” I shouted at the driver.

I wasn’t the least bit fazed when Max Rivers sauntered out of the car and stood in front of me with a hard expression. “Call me asshole,” he said, “One more time.” Funny, he can’t even think of a comeback by himself.

“Quite quoting Hancock, jackass, and get out my damn way.”

Max’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Make me.”

I felt my fist clench beside me, and I was about to punch him in the chest when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked over to see Rose shaking her head at me. “It’s not worth it Liz, just leave it.”

I was walking away with Rose and Kate on either side of me when I spun around again. “I won’t be so lenient on you next time, Rivers.”

“Whatever, Adams.”

*****

"Oh my God, I despise that boy!" i hissed under my breath as we made our way to our lockers. Luckily, Rose, Kate and I all had our assigned lockers on the same row, so it was more convenient for each of us.

Kate shook her head. "He's perfectly nice to everyone else, it's just that you have a problem with him."

"Likewise, he has a problem with you." Rose added. "You just have opposite personalities, I'm sure.

I rolled my eyes. "Let's just change the subject. Just the thought of him is making me angry!"

"Speak of the Devil." Rose said in a hushed whisper to us as Max strode by. Our eyes locked on the way and I could feel the anger passing between them.

"Adams." He spat.

I narrowed my eyes. "Rivers."

Time seemed to freeze.

"Go back to your wormhole, boy."

"Get back in the kitchen, woman."

"How dare you use that sexist profanity!"

Max merely smirked at me, and I suddenly had this huge urge to kick him right in the side.

Hooray for Rose, the peacemaker, stepping in between us "Okay Max, pack your inflamed ego and depart, seriously?"

Two encounters in barely an hour, and I was beginning to see red.

Luckily for me, as Max walked off Rose and Kate sensed my growing anger and changed the subject once more, and we talked about Rose's overbearing parents all the way to Biology.

Apart from those two encounters, me and Max didn't talk for the rest of the day although there were plenty of glares across classrooms and the canteen, and we shoved each other three more times in passing in the corridors.

At the time, I had no idea exactly how much contact I was yet to experience with Max Rivers.