Max | After
"Come on, Max!" Carlos sighs. "We need to leave now!"
He throws a packet of sweets to me as I look up from my laptop. I have a horror film ready to watch on. Netflix, all I have to do is press play and lose myself in a story that doesn't seem nearly as scary as my own life.
"Do I have to?" I whine. "Vivienne's going to be there and I haven't really talked to her and—"
"Max, let me stop you right there," he interjects. "Vivienne is not the only girl in the world and you probably won't have to talk to her all night. You are going to find someone who accepts how insane you are and loves you for it and you can't avoid her for the rest of your life."
"Max, let me stop you right there," he interjects. "Vivienne is not the only girl in the world and you probably won't have to talk to her all night. You are going to find someone who accepts how insane
Violet | AfterMax furiously takes a drink of orange juice, glaring at Carlos who he seems to be having a staring contest with. Things have been tense since breakfast started, the two of them not talking to each other while Zeph, Kaci and I are in the dark about why."Alright, let's stop this childish nonsense," Kaci says. "What happened?""He knows what he did," Max spits."I don't!" Zeph wails. "I want to be in on the secret! You're making me feel left out!"━━━━━━━━Max furiously takes a drink of orange juice, glaring at Carlos who he seems to be having a staring contest with. Things have been tense since breakfast started, the two of them not talking to each other while Zeph, Kaci and I are in the dark about why.Violet | After"Alright, let's stop this childish nonsense,"
Max | After As soon as I'm far enough away from Violet, I pull out my video camera from my backpack. There has to be a church with a graveyard here somewhere. Thank God it isn't a Sunday and people probably won't be going to church. It's the perfect place to shoot the next instalment of my video diary of hell, also known as Max being a lunatic. "Found it," I mutter, seeing the sign informing me that this is the church. And right there is a graveyard. I consider going into the church just to see if a priest is there. Maybe I can go into confession. I sure have committed a lot of sins and admitting them to some guy I don't even know might help. But I shake the idea out of my mind and start walking through the graveyard. The graves near the front are new, not get covered with moss or overgrown grass with still fresh flowers laid on top. The gravestones are new, like Grace's, fr
Violet | After I approach the counter after finishing my fries. The guy who owns the place is called Logan as he told me and he's really nice. Asked me where I'm from, where I'm going, if I have my train ticket in order. Caring, like a dad. "Can I have a vanilla milkshake please?" I ask. "To go this time." "Sure," he replies with a smile. "But, kid, I just saw you drink a chocolate shake and too much milkshake ain't good for your health." "I know," I say, pulling out my money. "This is for a friend." When I meet Max back at the station, he gives me a weird look as I try to balance holding the shake and taking my suitcase onto the train. He sighs and takes my case, letting me carry his shake in peace. "What's that, Ace?" he asks as we take our seats. "This is for you." I hand it to him. "It won't get s
Max | After My first thought is quite shallow. What the hell does Ace see in him? This is Harvard, the boy who can make her blush without even doing anything. The guy we used as an excuse when she searched Keely's room. The guy who's stopping her from going out with another one. The mere thought of him makes all other guys inferior by comparison. But I just don't see it. The dark reddish brown hair is ordinary. His eyes are a normal green. He isn't particularly memorable. But she isn't blushing now. She looks stunned and quite horrified. He shrugs. "Dad's on a week long business trip, school got shut down because of scorpions and I'm here now. It's my last day and I thought it'd be nice to see you." "Should've stayed at school," I mouth to her. "Well, this just got awkward. If you want to work more on the project, you know where to find me, Ace." "I'll come with you," Nikki
Violet | After "Who was that?" Scott asks me as we walk into the kitchen. "A friend," I reply. "Do you want something to eat or drink?" "I'm fine," he says. "He's an attractive friend." "He's also recently broken up with a girl I'm told he was crazy about and a total mess," I say bluntly. "Why are you here, Scott?" "To see you. Isn't that obvious?" "You haven't called or texted for weeks and you show up here out of the blue," I point out. "And how did you even get the address? I didn't give it to you. I didn't get it myself until I was at school." "I called your sister. And technically, I'm on a business trip with my dad. Today's my last day and I thought I'd come see you," he says. "Don't be so surprised, Vi. I wanted to call, but I didn't think it was the right time. I wanted to give you space."
Max | BeforeIt doesn't take long for me to stop thinking of her as Grace and start thinking of her as Grace's body.Grace's body is laid out on a long table in the Assembly Hall, flat on her back. She looks exactly as she had on the beach when we had found her about four hours ago. Back when she was Grace and not Grace's body.She had been lying half in the sea and half out. Her hair was swaying in the water as the waves lapped around her. Sand clung to her damp legs, something she would never have allowed. She was always the image of perfection, like a model in a glossy magazine. She was on her front but her head was tilted to one side, her lips tinged an unnatural blue.It had taken me only a second to realise what had happened. She had drowned. Grace, the star swimmer who had taught me to swim when we were five, had drowned.Everyone else who had been there
Max | AfterExactly six weeks and one day ago, Grace Allison Covey died. Exactly six weeks and one day ago, my life fell to pieces. Exactly six weeks and one day ago, Max Enright officially went mad.But thank God (and science) for letting me keep my good looks. For not having me look like the spiralling madman I am. Or— as Carlos would say— mad teenager because I'm not eighteen yet. For now, I still look like Max. Perfect hair, not too perfect uniform, perfectly blank expression. I stand in front of the mirror in our bathroom, examining myself.Outside, rosy streaks have coloured the skies and a pale, watery sun shines through the glass of the window in a traditional English fashion. It's way too early for hardly anyone else to be up. At Rosewood Hall, you learn to cherish every minute of sleep you get. We're not like most boarding schools which keep you so busy you can't get a free minute to be
Max | AfterWe sit in Room Seven, an empty classroom. It's not a room I particularly like to be in. It was our Year Seven and Eight Maths classroom, so immediately associated with bad memories. Usually, I strangely love Maths. But the teacher I had those two years made me want to drive a knife through the subject. I have similar feelings towards Shakespeare. Only, I want to resurrect him with Grace's coven of witchcraft practicing highlighters just to kill him all over again."How did you become friends?" he asks. "If you remember.""Dad thought I was lonely. Her mum thought she was lonely. They brought us together for a play date and we were stuck with each other, I guess.""Just best friends?" Davidson raises an eyebrow."Boys and girls can be friends, you know," I snap. "It's the twenty-first century.""Did she have a boyfrien