Making Contact

"Don't pick at them, Punkin'," Vanessa Caulfield said as she walked her daughter down the hall of Arcadia Elementary School, "Picking will make them hurt."

Little Max Caulfield looked up at her mother and frowned from the torment of her chicken pox; red spots on her face, neck, and arms, Max clenched her little hands into fists and sniffled. But they're itchy, Momma, Max thought to herself, They're itchy and I wanna scratch 'em. Too itchy! Like Daddy's beard! Max whimpered and sniffled again, head downcast as she let her mother lead her into what would be her temporarily new classroom.

The other parents and both 2nd grade teachers had met together the night before when Max had showed up earlier that day with chicken pox to Ms. Grant's class; while most of Ms. Grant's class had already contracted the illness, there were a few stragglers and nearly all of Mark Jefferson's class had yet to be exposed. Better to get chicken pox at an early age, they had all consented to Max being temporarily moved into Mr. Jefferson's class for the duration of her illness along with Danny DaCosta. Max had only been notified of this sudden change in her schedule and school life, again temporarily, before Vanessa had finished making them breakfast; Max's response was what one might expect when they're separated from all their friends at a young age.

"No!" Max yelled, swinging her feet high enough from her chair that the toes of her little boots smacked the underside of the kitchen table. "No, I don't wanna go to Mr. Jefferson's class! Chloe's not there, and neither is Katie or Vicky and you said he's creepy, Momma! You said!"

"I know I did, Max," Vanessa said, sighing at her daughter's little rebellion, "But it's only for a little bit, okay? Chloe and your other friends will still be there in a couple days-"

"A couple days? Booooo!" Max grumpily retorted, bottom lip jutted out, "This sucks!"

"Maxine Caulfield, how… Of course. Chloe," Vanessa put a hand to her head and sighed at how much of an influence Max's best friend had on her child, "Sweetheart, please don't say things like that. It is sort-of a bad thing."

Max's eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hands; she hadn't intended to say a bad thing. Bad things got her in trouble and she just mainly wanted to be left alone except for when she was with Chloe and her other friends. I don't wanna be bad, little Max thought to herself as she kicked her dangling feet, But it's not fair! Pouting, Max poked at her Eggo waffle and giggled when it skidded off the plate and onto the floor. Hearing a gasp from elsewhere in the kitchen, Max looked up slowly to see her mother scowling at her. Uh-oh.

"Maxine," Vanessa said, her tone alarmingly calm as she put her hands on her hips, "There are starving children in other countries who would love a waffle. Maybe… Maybe I should ship you off and get another child. Name her 'Max 2'…"

"Wha? No, Momma, no!" Max's eyes were wide in an expression of abject fear, "Don't trade me! I'll eat the waffle, I'll eat it!"

When Max climbed out of her seat and grabbed the waffle, Vanessa hurried over and swiped the food from Max's hand before her daughter could manage to take a single bite.

"Punkin', Momma was only kidding," Vanessa said, taking a knee to look her daughter in the eye, "Oh, Sweet-pea, sometimes you take things too hard and Momma worries."

"I-I'm sorry," Max answered, looking down embarrassingly, "I don't mean to, I swear."

"Honest to Dog?"

"Honest to Dog!" Max said brightly, the smile on her mother's face encouraging her.

Vanessa Caulfield walked her daughter through the halls of Arcadia Elementary once again, brow furrowed at the idea of having to take her daughter to that man. Max didn't know what Mr. Jefferson had done to make her mother upset, only knew that she shivered whenever he was around. Is… Is Mr. Jefferson a bad man? Max thought to herself, eyes narrowed in concentration at the notion of having to go to a bad man's class. Looking up at her mother, Max tugged on Vanessa's sleeve and pouted.

"He's a bad man," Max said, tactless at such a young age, "I see you, Momma, I see you shake and get cold. He's a bad man, isn't he?"

"Oh… Um, well, he isn't necessarily a good man, Punkin," Vanessa said warily, noting how attentive her daughter was listening, "He… He worries me, that's all."

"But why?" Max asked, head tilted slightly to one side.

"He makes Momma uncomfortable."

"But why?"

"Because he's… he's weird."

"But-"

"Sweetheart, you ask 'why' one more time and Momma's liable to say a bad thing," Vanessa said, her face masking the exhaustion and anxiety she felt at the notion of leaving her daughter in the hands of someone who had a habit of taking his students' pictures without their parents' permission.

Technically, there wasn't anything really wrong about what Mark Jefferson did; it was just unnerving to walk into a classroom and see binder after binder of student profiles. It was a habit from his days as an art professor at a nearby prep school, the binders; an academic year was written in marker across the spine of each, with a plethora of different pictures of his varying students. Walking into the classroom with her daughter, both Vanessa and Max having arrived 10 minutes early, Vanessa told Max to go find a seat while she waited for Mr. Jefferson to return from wherever he currently was.

Max looked around the room. Everything's the same, but it isn't, Max looked at the inverted room, There's no Chloe here… Max sniffled at the idea of not being in class with her best friend.

"I miss Chloe," Max said in a quiet voice, standing in the middle of the room as she internally refused to pick a seat.

"…That's the blonde girl in the other class, right?" a voice asked from the back table, "The one who gets in trouble all the time… Oh, you're the girl who hangs out with her! You stay away from me. You're trouble, too."

Max looked over at the voice's source. Long, dark blonde hair tied in a tail, wearing a red flannel shirt and feather necklace, Rachel Dawn Amber eyed Max Caulfield suspiciously as she watched the girl approach. Max, meeting the other girl's stare with one of her own, stuck out her tongue and snorted when the other girl responded in kind. I'm not trouble! You're mean. Scrunching her lips to one side, Max narrowed her eyes at Rachel before walking over to her table cautiously and taking a seat next to the bashful girl.

"I'm not trouble," Max said emphatically, "…Why are you here early? I mean, I'm here because I'm supposed to get everybody sick-"

"Whaaaat?" Rachel asked, eyes open wide as she scooted her chair away from Max a few inches, "You're here to make us sick?"

"…S'what my momma said," Max shrugged, "All the mommas want us to get sick so we don't get sick later. See my spots? Chick'n pox."

Rachel leaned over a little, scrutinizing the red dots on Max's arm and face. Wary at first, Rachel poked one of the spots and Max whimpered at the sudden urge to scratch. I can't! Momma said no scratching! Frowning as Rachel continued to poke each spot, both girls cried out when a voice came from behind them in greeting.

"Good morning, kids," Mark Jefferson said, smiling at Max and Rachel, "Oh, you must be Max. Well, Max, I'm sorry we have to meet under these unfortunate circumstances-"

"Momma says you're creepy," Max blurted out, not noticing the look of horror that quickly appeared on Vanessa Caulfield's face immediately after, "Momma says you have binders full of kids' pictures and it's weird."

"That so?" Mr. Jefferson turned his attention to a now-embarrassed Vanessa Caulfield before looking back at Max, "Well, I guess you don't want your picture taken then, huh?"

"…I dunno," Max shrugged, turning to swat Rachel's finger away as the other girl continued to poke at Max's chicken pox, "Quit it! Momma said I can't touch 'em!"

"Doesn't mean I can't," Rachel teased before stopping, "…I'm sorry. I… Nobody really talks to me. Everybody tells me I'm pretty and plays with me, but nobody talks to me."

"Why?"

"…They think I'm weird because I have two mommies," Rachel said, her shoulders slumping a little as she frowned, "I don't understand. I have double mommies and it's awesome."

"…What about a daddy?" Max asked, her head tilted a little out of curiosity.

"Nah," Rachel said, shaking her head, "My mommies told me I don't need one, and that they love me more than enough to make up for not having a daddy."

"Well, I don't think it's weird," Max said, "Double mommies does sound pretty cool…"

"Really?" Rachel asked, scooting her chair towards Max's as she stuck out her hand, "Um, I'm Rachel."

Max shook Rachel's hand with her own, "I'm Max. Hi."

"Hi."

When the rest of the class began to show up, Max and Rachel scooted their chairs closely enough that they were nearly sharing one giant seat. The other two chairs at the table occupied by girls, Dana and Juliet, Max and Rachel both found that they were much more talkative when they were together. Explaining her spots to Dana and Juliet had gotten a cringe from Dana and a barrage of questions from Juliet; Max had no problem answering the questions as both girls were very kind.

"So, is it like cooties? Like, visible cooties?" Juliet asked, Dana looking at her like she said something weird.

"No, I don't think so," Max said, her expression inquisitive, "It's like I have a bunch of bug bites, only you're not supposed to scratch 'em."

"That must hurt," Dana interjected, cutting off Juliet as she was about to ask another question, "Are they… Are they really itchy?"

"Uh-huh," Max nodded, "Momma said they'd go away in a few days but I'm here in this class to-"

"Max!" a whispering voice called out from the hallway. Turning to look through the doorway closest to her, Max spotted Chloe motioning for her to leave the classroom and join her in the hall. Looking back at Dana, Juliet, and Rachel Max spotted a look on Rachel's face and shrugged before getting up and cautiously walking toward the doorway. When she'd reached the entrance to the classroom, Max had giggled when Chloe grabbed her and they ran for the girls' room with Chloe giggling the entire way. I'm not trouble, Max thought, and neither is Chloe! People… People are just butts!

"Why are you in another class?" Chloe whispered in the restroom stall they were both occupying, "Are you in trouble? Max, a-am I in trouble…?"

"I dunno if you're in trouble. Rachel says you are trouble," Max said, frowning before hugging her friend, "I missed you."

"I missed you, too," Chloe held onto her best friend tightly, eyes narrowed at how casually Max had talked about this new girl, "I wish Rachel were here. I'd punch her in her face and-"

"C-Chloe!" Max pulled back and pouted, "Don't be mean! She's nice and just doesn't know you like I do. We've been best friends forever, so she doesn't understand."

"…I'm sorry," Chloe looked down at her feet and fidgeted a little, "What are you doing in the other class, though? Did you know that Mr. Jefferson takes pictures of all the students? Daddy says it's because he did that for a living once, taking pictures."

"Mr. Jefferson's a photographer?" Immediately, all traces of fear about her temporary new class vanished at the idea of a photographer being her teacher, "Why'd he quit?"

"Daddy said it was adult stuff and he couldn't tell me," Chloe shrugged, then both girls looked up at the sound of the class bell going off, "Ohhhh, I don't wanna go to class if you're not there! Max, you're my only friend in there so you can't go!"

"I hafta, though," Max pouted, "I'm supposed to get everybody sick. With my spots, the ones you gave me after my birthday party."

Chloe's lips scrunched over to one side of her mouth and she looked past Max's shoulder to the stall door, Max watching anxiously, her eyes darting back and forth as she bit at her lip. I don't wanna get in trouble with Mr. Jefferson. I don't wanna get in trouble at all! Tugging on Chloe's shirt sleeve, Max whimpered when Chloe brushed her hand away while lost in thought. It wasn't until Chloe seemed to come to a conclusion towards some that she looked at Max with a mischievous grin.

"I have an idea," Chloe said, leaning in with one corner of her mouth curled upward in a smirk, "Listen…"

Mr Jefferson taught the same material and same lessons that Ms Grant did; with his status as a photographer known, however, Max was keener on listening to what he had to say. Unfortunately for the teacher, she was also wanting to know anything about photography. Getting nudged by Rachel every time she asked a question about taking pictures, Max started to nudge Rachel back whenever the girl would look to raise her hand.

"Quit it," Rachel grumbled, eyes narrowed at Max with Max returning the expression.

"You quit it first," Max would retort, nudging Rachel with extra effort, "You started it."

"I'm finishing it," Dana said, a little louder than Max and Rachel. Thankfully, Jefferson was too absorbed in his lecture to notice the small in-fighting at the back table, "Rachel, go sit by Juliet. Max, I'll sit by you. Stop. Fighting."

Max huffed but didn't say or do anything when Rachel stuck her tongue out at her; instead, Max looked up at the clock and raised her hand with a suddenness that caught Jefferson's attention.

"Yes, Max?" the weary tone in the teacher's voice conveyed how Jefferson felt about being asked another photography question from the little girl, "What is-"

"I hafta go pee!" Max stated, the entire class giggling at the word "pee", "Can I go to the bathroom?"

"…Yes. Yes, of course. Go," Jefferson motioned to the hall pass by the open door and Max ran toward the exit, "Walk, Ms Caulfield, do not run. Don't need you slipping and hurting yourself, okay?"

"Okay," Max replied sheepishly before running into the girls' room just as the door closed. Heading for the back of the room, Max found exactly who she was looking for.

"Chloe!" Max squealed in delight as the blonde girl smiled warmly and hugged Max, "Class without you sucks."

"…It's hella lame without you, Bat-Max," Chloe said as she nodded in agreement to Max's statement, "We… We could always run away together…"

"Chloe, we're too old to think like that," Max said with an incredulous look on her face, brows knit together with her eyes leveled at Chloe's, "Besides, I still have to get everyone sick. Momma said."

The girls spent the next few minutes playing with a deck of playing cards Chloe had swiped from her sister Lizzie's room, trying over and over to make a house of cards. Never getting more than two stories built, Max and Chloe focused less on the game with each turn and more on just enjoying each other's company. Giggling and snickering at each other's jokes, they hardly noticed how much time had gone by until a knock at the door made both girls jump. Seeing two pairs of feet at the doorway, Max and Chloe cautiously peeked from around the corner of where they were hiding to see Ms Grant and Mr Jefferson looking right at them.

"I should've known," Ms Grant said, grinning as she shook her head, "Told you they were likely to be together. Can't separate these two if you tried, Mark."

"…I'm sorry," Max said, holding onto Chloe's hand as her friend walked behind her, "We… We just wanted to-"

"Play during class time?" Jefferson cut Max off, Max and Chloe whimpering at his tone, "You should know better-"

"We just wanted to see each other!" Chloe yelled, angered at how hurt Max looked from the tone of her albeit-temporary teacher's voice, "Don't be mean! She's my best friend!"

"U-Uh…," Jefferson stammered, surprised by how defensive Chloe was of Max when it had appeared the opposite only a moment ago, "I… I'm sorry, Max. I didn't mean to frighten you, but your mother agreed for you to be in my class today so that the kids there would get sick now and not later on when it'll hurt more. You want to help, don't you?"

"Uh-huh."

"You want to do as your mother asked, don't you."

"Uh-huh."

"Well then, come back to class and I'm sure Ms Grant and I can find some way of you and Chloe not missing out on having time together during recess or lunch, maybe."

"…mm-kay…," Max said, looking over at Chloe with worried eyes, "Will you be okay?"

"…I d-don't want you to go," Chloe said, her bottom lip jutting out as she pouted, "But if your momma said so then I guess you gotta."

The walk back to Mr Jefferson's class was slow and painful for Max, the little brunette pouting as she would look over her shoulder to see Chloe doing the same. I don't wanna leave Chloe…but I gotta. Momma said, Max thought to herself as she re-entered Mr Jefferson's classroom and took her seat next to Dana. Propping her elbows up on the table, Max rested her chin in her hands and sighed; entirely unaware, Max didn't notice the sad look on Rachel's face.

The class went by without further incident, Max keeping to herself until lunchtime when they all lined up to join the other second grade class for their trip to the cafeteria. Max felt someone tug on her sleeve from behind and looked over her shoulder only to frown in disappointment at the sight of Rachel Amber walking behind her and not Chloe.

"Where's Chloe?" Max asked herself aloud, ignoring the pained look on Rachel's face until the blonde girl asked her a question.

"W-Why won't you be my friend…?" Rachel asked, "You were nice to me, you talked to me. Nobody does that, not really."

Max looked over her shoulder at Rachel in confusion. You want to be my friend? But why? I'm not even in your class…Uncertain as to whether Rachel was telling her the truth, Max looked at Rachel with narrowed eyes.

"You really want to be friends with me? No fibbing?" Max asked, pointing at herself. When Rachel nodded, Max continued to eye her suspiciously, "You're full of poop."

"Wha…?" Rachel asked in a hurt voice before shoving Max, "Am not! You're being mean!"

"I-I… I am not," Max insisted, "It… I don't have many friends, and some of them…"

"Yeah…?" Rachel asked inquisitively, eyebrows arched up as she leaned in when Max motioned for her to come closer.

"Some of 'em are butts."

"Oh," Rachel said, Max sighing at the memory of how off and on her friendships were. Even Chloe's mean to me sometimes, Max pouted at the thought even though she knew it was true.

"Well," Rachel continued, "I'd still like to be your friend."

"…Really?"

"Mm-hmm," Rachel nodded. Sticking her pinky out, Rachel thrust it toward Max, "Pinky swear friendship."

"…Okay," Max stuck out her pinky and linked them together, oblivious to Chloe watching them as she approached from behind. Holding onto Rachel by her pinky, Max led her along the line to the cafeteria with Chloe monitoring them.

Not having noticed or spotted Chloe anywhere, Max slumped into her chair at the cafeteria table with Rachel joining her. It was cheeseburger day, Max's favorite because sometimes the lunch lady would give her extra pickles. A single cheeseburger, side salad, and a cookie were laid out before Max on a plastic tray, bottle of chocolate milk sitting next to it. Leaning an elbow on the tabletop, Max poked at the salad with a fork while Rachel greedily devoured her cheeseburger. It wasn't until Rachel was down to just her cookie and milk that she noticed Max had only eaten half her burger and nothing else.

"What's wrong, Maxie?" Rachel asked, putting a hand on her new friend's shoulder. Max shrugged and looked despondently at the extra pickles given to her, "Aren't you hungry?"

"Nuh-uh," Max sighed, now poking at the half-eaten burger with her spork, "Don't wanna."

"…Can I have it?" Rachel asked, smiling widely in appreciation when Max handed over her burger, "Keep the cookie. S'yours an' you might want it for snack time."

Wrapping the cookie in a napkin, Max stuffed it into the pocket of her hoodie and laid her head down on the table. She missed Chloe, and was afraid she might have done something wrong. Max knew this was one of the things that she needed to work on, her momma had told her so; Max would get so serious about the slightest things that her anxiety would cause her to hyperventilate. She was overly sensitive, which in turn brought about her shyness. Near to the point of crying, Max abruptly got up and walked over to the class monitor.

"May I use the girls' room?" Max asked Dana, Dana looking up from a small cup of tapioca pudding. When Dana nodded, her mouth full of dessert, Max walked carefully to the doorway leading out into the hall and sprinted toward the restroom as fast as her little legs would take her.

Running to the stall furthest from the door, Max locked the door behind her and sat on the toilet seat. Her legs pulled up so that her knees were under her chin, Max let the tears fall freely as she tried not to hyperventilate. I wanna go home, Max thought between choked sobs, I wanna go home and I wanna scratch my spots. Chloe… What'd I do? Why didn't you-

"…Max?" a voice called out from the restroom doorway, and Max's head snapped up in attention as she immediately recognized who that was. Chloe.

"Wh-What d'you want?" Max asked between sniffles, "You didn't meet me for lunch. You're a jerk."

"I saw you with someone else, so I ate alone," Chloe said from outside Max's stall, "You left me."

"No, I didn't! Rachel just wanted to be my friend," Max said in an imitation of the reproachful tone her mother sometimes gave her, "I'm allowed to have other friends. You… You don't want anybody to be my friend but you!"

"Th…That's not true," Chloe's tone had become anxious and Max pressed further.

"You don't like any of my other friends. You don't like Katie, you don't like Vicky-"

"She's a secret friend, so she doesn't-"

"No!" Max dropped her legs down to stomp one of her feet, "You want me all to yourself! You do, you do, you do!"

"What's goin' on?" another voice asked quietly. The sound of small footfalls echoed through the restroom until Max heard the sound of Chloe and whoever the other girl was shoving one another, "S-Stop it!"

"…Rachel?" Max asked hesitantly before she opened the door to see the girls glaring at each other. "Stop it! Stop fighting! Why are you both being so damn mean?!"

The restroom was unearthly quiet, Rachel and Chloe looking at Max wide-eyed at her use of a bad thing; too upset to care, Max jabbed a finger into Chloe's shoulder before doing the same to Rachel.

"If this is how you're gonna be then I don't wanna be friends with either of you!" Max shouted before she began to cry. "W-Why can't I have friends? Why?"

When Ms Grant and Mr Jefferson entered the girls' room with Dana and Victoria, each girl a class monitor, the sight before them nearly brought Ms Grant to tears. Sitting on their knees on the restroom floor, Chloe and Rachel were both hugging Max as all three girls cried and told each other they were sorry. Their voices hoarse from crying, the girls on the floor were holding onto each other so tightly that Ms Grant had to coax them to let go of one another.

When lunch was Lunch being over with, an extra seat was brought over to Mr Jefferson's class and for the remainder of the day; for the remainder of the day; Chloe sat on one side of Max and held one of her friend's hands as Rachel did the same on the opposite side. Max, Chloe, and Rachel had become inseparable.

Author's Note –

I did it. Lil Amberpricefield. Eheheh :)

This actually concludes Arcadia Elementary. Such huffs. Very wowser. So hella. Wow.

There is a follow-up planned, but I'm going to be working on Metamorphosis and Press Play for the time being exclusively…save for an upcoming project that is CLASSIFIED.

Read, review, and I'll see you later!

Stay Hella, Cinnamon Rolls!