The rest of the day isn't too bad. Max makes it to every other class on time and he has Art as an elective right after lunch, which is great because he can't really concentrate after eating and it looks like they mostly draw from observation. Not that Max is huge on art, but he's not bad at it and, according to Russell, he could get away with drawing plants for the rest of the year.

He has Marine Biology and English with Narhi who does not shine in either and World History and Art with Russell who seems like a straight-A student. He's alone in Algebra, clearly, and no one talks to him during gym, but it's mostly running and you're allowed to wear headphones so it's not too bad. Plus, there's an astounding lack of guys in his gym class so the locker room is pretty empty which is a win for literally thousands of reasons.

Russell sits at a full table at lunch, not that Max expects to sit with him, but it kind of seemed like they had all had a moment before. Expecting Narhi and Russell to spend lunch together is probably too much to ask for. Narhi and Max have English just before so they walk to Narhi's spot together afterward. Max tries not to think about how it's their spot now. There's no denying that he wants to be Narhi's friend now. According to him they already are, but Max feels like there hasn't been enough time for that. Either way, besides the first-period-fiasco, it's surprisingly not a complete failure of a day.

Keelie's not home when Max gets back. There's a note on the table about the leftovers and how to heat them up. Max sets it back down next to the vase of Daffodils on the table and goes upstairs. He has no appetite today and he still feels kind of wired.

Come to think of it, a large portion of the students didn't eat any lunch. Weird. Max hasn't been hungry all day.

His pocket buzzes as he plops down on the bed but he buries his face in his sheets for a long time before he looks at it.

Narhi:

tell me a plant funfact

Max looks at the ceiling and notices it's wooden, too. Strange. Everything is strange here. He thinks for a minute and watches the Black Prince on his side table. The breeze from his window is nice and there's an orange hue throughout his room.

Max:

By definition, oranges are berries.

Narhi:

You gotta stop that man...

Narhi:

So oranges r a lie tooooooooo??????

Max laughs a little at that but he doesn't really feel like having a conversation. Normally he'd feel exhausted after a day like this but he still has tons of energy and he doesn't know why. Then he's thinking about all the supernatural bullshit he's been tossed into and, of course, it makes sense that he must've absorbed all of that energy from Narhi, right? This is all so confusing and maybe he should stop trying to figure things out and just go for a run.

Back in his mint hoodie and tennies, Max decides to go through the back door this time. He had seen the field in the back briefly while exploring the house but when he finally opens the door it's even bigger than he thought. The backyard is a huge grass field surrounded by a bunch of shrubs and trees. It looks mildly taken care of, with random wild plants peeking through the manicured ones. He makes a mental note to do a scavenger hunt later when he has his notebook on him and starts running, picking out a few common ones as he runs along the edge of the field.

Photinia, Oleander, and more Arbutus. The leaves of the Photinia stands out the most as they reach up toward the sun and slowly turn from green to red. It's like they're absorbing the suns energy and Max feels a kind of kinship with that.

He runs for some time before he reaches the back porch again, except, it isn't the back porch that he came from. Confused, he looks all up and down the house until his eyes meet someone else's in the second story window. It's Russell. He's leaning on his palms on the windowsill and he looks like he's been there for a while. They stare at each other for a moment until Russell opens the window and leans over the edge.

"Stay right there, okay?" He calls out, and he doesn't wait for a response so Max is forced to wait for him.

A part of him is expecting Russell to simply jump out of the window because that's probably what Narhi would do, but Russell seems far more human than him and, of course, he doesn't do that. Instead, he disappears from the window and appears again on the back porch, through the door, like a normal person.

"Hey." He says casually and leans against the porch railing. He's suddenly pretty close to Max, who hasn't broken much of a sweat, despite the running which is really weird. But the closeness is still enough to make him take a couple of steps back.

“H-hey…”

“I never properly apologized for being an ass when we met.”

“Oh… it’s fine… I didn’t think you were being… rude… or anything.”

“But I was.” Russell has kind of an intense stare when he looks you in the eyes, Max thinks. “So I’m sorry. Do you forgive me?”

“Oh… um… yeah. Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

Finally, Max looks at him, with furrowed brows. Why is he being so persistent about this? Like, boi, everyone has a limit to their patience. “Yes, Russell... I forgive you.” He feels like he had to say it, but a part of him wanted to say, ‘if you ask me again I won’t forgive you.’ Not that he has the guts for that.

Russell laughs that unapologetic laugh again and leans his head on his palm, elbow resting on the railing. “Sorry. It’s so easy to tease you.”

“Alright… well…” Max starts to walk away, but Russell puts his arms out after him.

“Okay, okay! I’m sorry.” He’s still laughing, but Max turns back around anyway. “I won’t do it again.”

It's silent and Max doesn't know what to say so he just looks at his shoes and Russell seems to revel in the cringe of the moment.

"You don't seem like the type to run, honestly."

"It helps with… um… you know…"

"Oh, your anxiety?" It feels a bit like he's being made fun of, but it's hard to say if he's just being sensitive. For a moment, Max thinks about walking away again, but he decides instead to use Russell as an opportunity for some answers.

"Why did Narhi call you a walrus?"

"Because he's a stupid dog."

"Why do you hate him so much?"

"Because he ruined my life and nothing good comes from being friends with him." The answers were both quick like he had them prepared. Max decides to take them with a grain of salt because, honestly, he can't make heads or tails of this guy anyway. Obviously, he needs a different approach. Russell's poker face is too powerful and that's too much information to unpack in one sitting.

"What happened... in the hallway today? The thing you… um, apologized for."

This time he didn't answer right away. Instead, he took the time to stare, stretch, sigh, and then lean back on the railing.

"It's an unfortunate side effect of my species. We can make people see the thing they're most afraid of and, sometimes, if we're not careful, we can push negative feelings onto people by accident."

"You seem… like someone who's… normally careful."

"Do I?"

Now Max is questioning himself. Russell is not easy to talk to and he's already unsure about his judgment. Maybe this was not the place to go for answers.

"So…" Max changes the subject. He can feel himself getting more and more superficial as the conversation goes on. "Are the backyards… connected? Or…"

"The backyards? Our backyards? You know that's your house now, right?" Russell laughs a bit at that, but Russell laughs at everything, it seems, and Max decides not to respond. "They are connected, yes. Originally these were farmhouses. You know, back when humans lived here."

That's interesting. "What happened to the humans?"

Then Russell smiles a devilish smile. "Give you three guesses."

"They were… chased out?"

"That's a pleasant version of the story for the kids."

"They were killed?"

"Oh, that's too vague. Come one. One more."

Max pauses and stands back from himself. What does he know about Russell? That he hates Narhi. That's it. He notices that there are rose bushes around the edge of the wooden porch that are clearly meticulously cared for. The flowers are pink and flat with a wild yellow center and don't look much like roses at all if you ignore the structure.

"Who takes care of the roses?" He watches them, not seeing Russell's smile drop.

"What, those? They're my stepdads." He says and even though Max isn't looking, he can tell that Russell isn't pleased by the change of subject.

"Do you know… what those are called?"

"I don't know. I didn't even know they were roses."

"They're called Dog Roses." Max looks back at Russell's sour face and knows immediately what answer he was looking for. "So… the people. I'm guessing… they were eaten by wolves?"

Russell smiles at Max but it doesn't reach his eyes. His warm, soft exterior had fooled Max before, but he can see now how cold his eyes are. There's something unrelenting in them like no one could ever decipher him and that's clearly by design.

"Don't be late to first period tomorrow," Russell says before going back inside.

It's safe to say, these two are a long way from being friends.