Daniel: Daniel changed into his clothes, and then put on his tennis shoes. He grinned at himself at a last minute check and went outside to join his classmates.
Max: Max continued down the first flight of stairs and found herself at the top of the second flight. Not wanting to continue just yet, she sat down and put her head in her hands. She wasn't crying. Max never cried. She was stressed though. The professor hadn't contacted her father, but Max was paranoid that he knew about today. Her father always found out when she'd done something, even when the professors didn't tell him. He would be displeased that she'd gotten detention two days in a row. Normally Max didn't do that to herself, normally her intentional detentions were more spread out. But Max had to show River that nothing had changed and nothing would, and she had to scare Toby off. Normally the first day meant people backed off, but this was Toby's first day, and there was always the few interested parties that had to be warned off again. She couldn't exactly do that with River, but Max was sure there were others. There always were.
There was a lot of pressure on Maxine Patterson, and it hadn't gotten any better as she aged. Quite the opposite really. You'd think there was more danger in the younger years, because people would likely pay more attention to little kids. But, as a little kid, the misbehavior was seen as immaturity, a phase that she'd grow out of. That assumption wouldn't work now. Max was getting older. And with age, without the assumption, it was far, far easier to make a misstep, and far, far harder to protect herself, to stay hidden in the shadows where she belonged. It was so easy for things to fall apart as a teenaer. Max had seen it before.