The next few days are peaceful, to Max’s surprise. He sees Russell again in passing while leaving the house with Keelie to go to the mall. He waves cheerfully and Max starts to think he might be a bad judge of character. He doesn’t see him again after that, but he’s more preoccupied with his haul of new clothes. He’s never been bought clothes before just so he has things to go to school in. It seems excessive but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want them.

What’s really strange is that he also doesn’t see Narhi again. He figured that the delinquent would still show up every now and then, but he must’ve been serious when he said he wouldn’t if he had Max's number. A part of him wishes he hadn't given Narhi his number but another part of him is already used to Narhi texting him every night.

It's too soon to say they're friends. Friends understand each other. Max is pretty sure he doesn't understand Narhi at all.

Okay, all of that's fine and whatever, but none of it matters right now because it's Monday morning and Max is really regretting not picking out his clothes the night before. What was he thinking? That should've been the first thing he did to prepare for school. He's never been so scattered. One does not simply prepare their backpack and not their outfit. Get it together, Max.

He picks up a plaid green shirt with subtle red and gold lines and feels satisfied until he puts it on and then he feels like he might as well be a Christmas tree. How can we cover up this festive nightmare? He picks up a tan sweater and silently pats himself on the back for sticking to this choice. It's subtle and won't draw attention to him, plus it's comfy and it'll cover up most of the shirt. This is good. Things are coming together. Today doesn't have to be a disaster. All he needs now is some jeans and sneakers and he's golden.

Finally, with a crisis averted, Max heads downstairs. He feels surprisingly rested. He's still rejoicing when he sees Narhi at the table with Keelie and his breakfast.

"Narhi?"

"Oh, Max!" Keelie's in front of him now in her uniform. She suddenly looks like a serious adult. "I have to go back to work today, so Narhi offered to take you to school. I hope that's okay. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

She seems like she's going to keep talking but then Narhi's there too and Max is wondering why he hasn't gotten to the bottom of the stairs yet.

"It's not her fault, I just kind of showed up."

Max furrows his eyebrows. Normally, this kind of spontaneity would unnerve him but he's surprisingly okay. Today is actually going well so far and having someone familiar walk into school with him on his first day sounds much better than going alone.

"You guys." Max finally makes his way to the bottom of the stairs. "I don't mind." Max doesn't realize he's smiling until he sees their expressions. Surprised? Maybe something else? Oh, well they're all smiling now so who cares.

Narhi turns around and sits at the table before Max can see how flushed his face is. Breakfast is also comfortable because Narhi keeps the conversation going better than Max. This is the best Max has felt in a while.

In the car, Narhi's Spotify playlist is an Electric Guest station that Max can get behind. They don't talk much but it's comfortable and Narhi's singing to almost every song anyway so Max just doodles cactuses on the cuffs of his jeans with a permanent marker.

Then they're in the school parking lot and Max remembers Narhi telling him that he'd be right there with him and he had no reason to believe him but here he is and Max might actually be starting to trust someone.

"Are you nervous?"

"Actually… I'm okay."

"For real?" Narhi looks at him like a curious puppy. Wow, he really does remind him of a dog.

"Should I be?"

"No!" Narhi looks away. "No, I should be the nervous one…" He says it low and Max doesn't quite catch it.

"What?"

"Nothing." Narhi's smile is a bit off. "Let's go."

They get out of the car and Max can see the crowd of teens starting to swarm into the large iron gate out front. This school looks a bit like a fortress, Max thinks.

"Wait." Narhi's hand is suddenly on Max's wrist. He looks nervous and he's watching their shoes. He says nothing.

"Narhi?"

Bright blue-green eyes swim with apprehension. Then resignment. Then confusion. Then Narhi scratches the back of his head with his free hand and his smile is not convincing in the slightest.

Wait. Max is feeling something. Like he's nervous again? But he's actually not nervous and he has tons of energy for some reason.

"Sorry, you probably have enough anxiety without dealing with mine." Narhi lets go and Max doesn't feel it anymore. He seems a little calmer now, but it's obvious he's worried about something. He locks his car and starts to walk when Max finds himself in front of him.

"What are you anxious about?" He surprises himself with how much conviction is in his voice. Maybe Narhi's rubbing off on him.

"Listen, Max. You're probably going to hear some stuff about me today." Narhi sighs. "I don't really know what to say but…  I consider you my friend and I don't take that kind of thing lightly, okay?" He's looking Max in the eyes and Max can feel something like energy flowing into his body. He knows Narhi is genuine. He just knows.

"Okay."

It's like in a split second they're officially friends and Narhi's smile is much more convincing this time. "Cool, now let's stop this super awkward convo and find your locker."

"Okay."

After that, it's normal again, like nothing happened. Narhi is back to his quirky self, but Max finds himself noticing the stares and the whispers. He gets the feeling Narhi notices them too but he's really good at ignoring them.

They find Max's locker easily and it's nowhere near Narhi's but he sticks around anyway. He's giving Max directions to his first class which is algebra 2 and, honestly, it should be a crime to make anyone do math first thing in the morning.

"Don't worry. Mr. Delaney is easy. He walks you through all the exercises and you can use a calculator at home because he's not super anal about showing your work."

"Oh, Usko, don't tell Max to coast through school. He'll end up a slacker like you."

Both boys turn with a start to see Russell leaning against the lockers. His head is tilted and his hair is falling out of his face. He's so graceful.

"What the hell do you want, Rusty." Narhi combats with a mocking tone and Max can't help but make a face at the nickname. To his surprise, Russell stands up straight and looks pretty mad.

"Don't call me that, fleabag."

"What're you gonna do about it, you walrus?"

"Oh, that's so funny. Did you come up with that all by yourself?"

"Yeah. I did. And it is hilarious. Because you're ugly and fat. But unlike a walrus, you couldn't grow a mustache if your life depended on it."

Russell glares so hard at Narhi, Max feels a chill at his side. Suddenly this day doesn't seem so great and Max still has tons of energy but he's feeling kind of sick and… paranoid?

Then Max is being pulled behind Narhi and the two of them are still arguing but Russell doesn't look so mad and he's leaning against the lockers again.

"What the hell is your problem, Miller."

"It's not my fault. You pissed me off."

"You don't need to be such a dick. Max hasn't done anything to you."

"Yeah, like I said. It was an accident."

Max perks up at his name. "What?" He's so confused but he's starting to come to his senses and he's realizing that sick feeling had something to do with Russell. He's looking over Narhi's shoulder and his stomach is settling and Russell is looking at him with a guilty expression which looks really out of place on him.

"I'm sorry. Max." He says. "It won't happen again."

"Um… it's fine… but isn't…" Max doesn't get to the end of his sentence before the bell rings. That's when Max loses hope for anything going right on his first day of school.