The school's interior was extremely warm; he almost considered taking his hoodie off. Max checked his phone, and saw that it was only 7:00 AM.

Seeing that he still had time to eat Max made his way to the cafeteria. As he got in line, he recognized a lot of the students that had crossed the railroad tracks earlier.

If you were from South Eden, odds were you relied on this food; and while Max was lucky enough to have food at the orphanage, he still preferred school food.

After grabbing his breakfast, he sat down at one of the tables and started to eat. Under normal circumstances he would eat outside, and down by the beach, but the chilly weather ruled those options out for him.

As Max ate, he considered the schedule for the week. He'd like to get to know Draco, and Ava a bit more. If they were going to be working together, he needed to know what they wanted, and what they were trying to accomplish. Max had never been in a position of leadership, so this was going to be a real challenge for him, especially Draco.

There's also Draco's mannerisms and allusion to committing felonies which concerned Max. It's not that Max cared about what Draco has done it's what he does now, and in the future that could cause problems; Max would need to reign him in somehow. Ava on the other hand seemed much easier to handle, but everyone has a weakness she's just better at hiding hers than everyone else, Max wanted to know what it was. If Max could figure out what makes both of them tick, he'd be one step closer to becoming Azrael.

Suddenly Max felt an electrifying jolt to his sides causing him to burst out laughing, but before he could react the perpetrator pulled away, and sat right next to him her thigh rubbing against his.

"That's what you get for not texting me all summer."

"Damnit Gabby, someone could've seen," Max said regaining his composure. Luckily for Max the cafeteria was mostly empty, but kids were starting to pour in.

"I don't care about your cool guy image. You know I break that down every chance I get."

"Besides, I told you I wouldn't text you anyway," Max countered.

Gabby shot her fingers straight for Max's ribs, but luckily, he was prepared this time and grabbed her hand, and then with his free one he jabbed his fingers into her ribs. The moment they made contact the girl let out a loud yelp that echoed through the cafeteria, but this time there were students who looked in Gabby's direction.

"Yeah, not so funny now, is it? You sound like a dog," Max said, "it's almost cute."

Gabby yanked her hand away, grabbed a glob of egg from Max's tray, and proceeded to smash it into his face. Not wanting to embarrass her further Max let it happen.

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He knew Gabby would not stop until she got the last blow, and not wanting to prolong things he figured this would be a decent ending to their scuffle; he had finished eating anyway.

After the food fell from his face to the ground, he finally got a good look at Gabby, and if it weren't for her finger jabs earlier, he might have blushed.

Max had never had a crush on anybody, but there was something about Gabby that lit a fire under him, a fire that he desperately wanted to extinguish.

She was a small girl at 4'10, and her skin was light brown with hair long and wavy, but she wore a half bun that was supported by a blue and white headband.

"Not gonna fight back huh? Smart move," Gabby teased.

"I know a losing battle when I see one."

Gabby started to pick at Max's leftovers eating what she could.

"You know you could get your own tray."

"And what? Waste food, I'm not that hungry."

"How considerate."

"You know the name Gabriella means selflessness, right? So how could I not be?"

"You say that while eating my food. You're just a vulture."

"Vultures wait for other animals to finish eating before stuffing their bellies, still pretty selfless."

"Did I say I was done with my food?"

"Are you?"

"Shut up," Max said with a heavy sigh.

"Exactly."

Max watched as Gabby continued to eat in front of him; in truth he knew he'd run into her, but he was hoping to put that off until it was time for lunch at least.

She was close, shoulder to shoulder, and her thigh was still touching his. It was nice.

"You still working that job Maxito?"

Max wondered how many more nicknames he'd hear before the day was over. There was Big Max, Maxie, Red, and now Maxito. There was going to be at least one more he could feel it.

Max didn't mind as much though; he liked that she gave him a nickname, and he liked that no one else called him that. A part of him wished that he was the first one to call her Gabby, but it was a common nickname, so it didn't surprise him that everyone called her that.

"Yeah, I was working overtime all summer."

"Pretty sure minors can only work up to 40 hours a week Maxito."

That was fast. Max suddenly remembered how quick witted she was; he couldn't get away with lying to her so casually, he'd at least need to put some thought into them.

"Please don't tell anyone, I just really need the money."

"Oh, come on you know me better than that, I have lots of cousins that do the same thing. I'm not gonna throw you under the bus."

"Thanks Gabby."

Max knew that Gabby cared about him, and he was going to use that to his advantage.

There was a brief pause between the two.

"Unless..."

"Unless...?"

Just then the first bell rang indicating that the two had about ten minutes or so to get to class.

It was at that moment Max realized he'd yet to find out his school schedule. If it weren't for Gabby, he would've left at least ten or so minutes ago to find out, but she caught him off guard.

Without a word Max got up, emptied his tray, and made his way toward the exit.

Before he got too far, he felt a light tickle on the back of his neck. He turned to his side, and saw Gabby walking right next to him.

"Let me guess, you forgot to check which homeroom you're in." Gabby said smugly.

"I wonder who's fault that is."

"Well, you're with me in Mrs. Kilbert's class."

"You checked for me?" Max asked stunned.

"Course I did, see I can be useful."

"Oh... Thanks Gabby."

The school was bustling at this point, there had to be at least a couple hundred students hurrying to their classes, opening, and slamming lockers, and the halls were filled with loud voices drowning out other loud voices.

Max made his way up the stairs with Gabby following close behind, and straight to room 207 which belonged to Mrs. Kilbert; the time was 7:52, the two had made it with eight minutes to spare.

Without hesitation Max started to make his way toward the window seat in the back of the class, but he was stopped.