Max sat at the almost empty cafeteria when he glanced at the time. It had already been twenty minutes and Caroline hadn’t returned from her bathroom trip and he was getting worried. ‘Why isn’t she back yet?’ Max thought to himself turning around in hopes that he may see Caroline walk in which turned out to be fruitless.

‘where are you?’ Max had texted Caroline a few minutes ago and there was no reply. He stood up and picked up his bag that was just by his side and went out the door hoping he may see Caroline on his way to class or even in class.

Walking to his classroom, Max saw no sign of Caroline which made him even more worried. Bridget was in a different class he went to her class to ask her about Caroline which also turned out fruitless. So finally he decided to check the bathrooms.

Meanwhile after her panic attack, Caroline sat back rested on the bathroom wall with little blood stains on some part of her clothes. She had fallen asleep there and she had no clue of the time. Picking up her phone inorder to check the time, she found several text messages from Max.

‘where are you?’, ‘Lunch break is almost over’, ‘Hey’, ‘Are you there’, ‘Where the hell are you?’

Caroline read the text with a frown on her face. She knew she had upset Max and was going to pay for it later. She dialed Max’s number and waited for it to ring which got an immediate reply.

“Line?!” Max voice sounded from the other end of the phone almost screaming “Where are you?” He continued.

“I’m still at the bathroom, you don’t have to worry” Caroline replied trying to hide her shaky voice.

“What?” Max asked “You’ve been there for thirty minutes now” He said still walking towards the right wing of the school where the bathroom was.

“I fell asleep” Caroline said with a grimace on her face expecting a reaction Max

“WHAT?” Max asked in utmost disbelief when he heard Caroline’s last statement. “I’m on my way there” was all he said and he hung up, quickening his steps as he headed for the bathroom.

Max walked hurriedly passing classrooms on his way when he saw Christ with a friend and as if on cue he turned around and started walking the other way but Chris had seen him and was now calling his name across the hallway.

“Shit” Max cursed under his breath and almost started running. He hadn’t intended on walking away from Chris but he didn’t have the confidence to talk to him yet after what had happened on their date.

Not long after, Chris caught up to a breathless Max who had eventually stopped running. He found it useless as he still had to walk back all the way in search of Caroline.

“Why are you running away” Chris asked

“I don’t have time for this” Max replied immediately trying to get away but Chris stood unmoving in front of him.

“I’m sorry but I really want to talk” Chris continued, his face looking a bit apologetic. He still wasn’t able to figure out what he did wrong the last time he was with Max.

“Me too but not now” Max said impatiently not wanting to speak with Chris at the moment. He didn’t want to show it but he was extremely nervous.

Chris sighed and thought for a while. “Ok. At least let me get your number” He finally said stretching out his phone to Max who took it at a painfully slow pace before tapping some numbers in.

“I gotta go” Max said and speedily left Chris and once again headed for the bathrooms but he luckily he bumped into Caroline on the way. He was about to ask her a lot of questions but kept quiet when he noticed the bruises on her arm. He knew immediately what had happened and why she fell asleep in the bathroom.

Max remained quiet the whole walk to their classroom, which made Caroline curious as to why he wasn’t already screaming at her as usual but she decided not say anything about it.

The day stretched on, Max refused to say anything more than a sentence to Caroline which was starting to get strange. She mostly only got a one word reply if she asked for anything. They both walked down the hallway and even though there were a bunch of other students around it felt quiet not until Bridget came along and broke the silence

“Hey” she said walking into the both of them, her hyperactive nature taking the best of her. “You guys going home already?”

“Yeah” Max replied as they all got outside and headed to the parking lot where his car was. Bridget already made it a routine to follow them home as her place was on the way and Caroline never complained and just like that they all went in and Max drove out of the school still quiet.