Leah and Tessa had dragged me off for a walk as the boys were packing their stuff into the car. 

We had already done that but I was still reluctant to go with them. 

Things that morning had been not awkward, and so incredibly awkward at the same time.

I had a feeling that what we had said wasn't enough. Now I knew something about him and he knew something about me that wasn't something either of us just went around telling anyone. It was this way for me and I knew by the way he was acting this morning that he was the same. 

He had been careful around me, but he was still trying to put on the mask. 

And may I say he was epically failing at that. 

Every time I looked at him, he would say something like "Can't keep your eyes off me, can you?" 

Everyone laughed, but everyone knew there was something off, no one wanted to point it out though. 

"Rylie." Leah was snapping her fingers in front of my face, snapping me out of my reverie.

"Sorry, what?" I asked apologetically. 

I truly was sorry, I was so caught up in my head that I had missed any conversation, if there had been one. 

"i said," Leah said, rolling her eyes but smiling. "What the hell is up with Max?"

I frowned purposefully. I didn't want anyone to know about my masks so I figured Max would feel the same. "What do you mean?"

It was Tessa this time that rolled her eyes. "Seriously? He's been acting weird since you two came back from the dare."

I wasn't about to remind her that it was her dare, because it really hadn't mattered. And anyway, it was better off this way. 

In my brain I was going through the reasons for and against telling them what happened. They were my two closest girl friends and I was pretty sure it was in the unspoken rules of friendship between girls that had you dissect every kiss you had with a guy. 

It didn't give anything too big away on Max so I resolved that I would tell them. 

"So? Did anything happen?" Leah prompted, puting her hands on her hips. 

We had stopped walking and she was tapping her left foot impatiently on the ground with irritating speed. 

"Well we kissed?" I said but they didn't buy it. 

"Before you get excited, nothing major happened." I told them, but it was too late, they were already beyond excitement. 

I recounted what I had told Max about Zane the other night, and how he said he was nothing like Zane and that he would never pressure me into something I didn't want to do.

To be honest, I had to edit that story a fair bit. As far as everyone knew, Zane had made me feel uncomfortable and was trying to make out with me at a party with heaps of people watching. 

They had no idea what actually happened. 

"So, then we walked to the forest and," I was about to continue but their excitement was getting on my nerves. They were on the verge jumping up and screaming. 

"Will you two calm down??" I shrieked but they shook their head simultaneously. 

I rolled my eyes but continued. "He said that I didn't have to kiss him. He said he wasn't going to pressure me into something I didn't want to do and said we didn't have to..." I trailed, dreading the part that would come next.

"But you said you kissed," Tessa said, her brow furrowed in confusion. 

Leah's face brightened as she realized. "You kissed him," she said as if were some great revelation that needed to be shouted to the whole world. 

"Holy shit you actually did, didn't you?!?" Tessa exclaimed, and now they were actually jumping with excitement. 

"Ugh will you two be quiet?" I asked, but they blatently ignored my request. "Look, I said a dare's a dare and kissed him. So what?" 

A knowing smile crept onto Leah's face. She thought she knew anyway. "You like him!!" She squealed and this time I rolled my eyes. 

"And he so likes you!" Tessa added. 

"What? I don't like him! And he doesn't like me either!" I protested desperately. "We don't like each other!"

"Oh come on Rylie!" Leah emphasised every word carefully. "No guy would get out of kissing a girl for a reason like that unless he really liked her. No guy would probably even remember something like that. It was really sweet of him, actually."

"The guy should have been using your excuse," Tessa added gently. 

And that's how our arguments always worked. 

Leah would be loud and get out everything she was saying while Tess would add something gently to make sure I knew that they weren't out to get me. 

I was Tess when Leah and I were arguing with her. 

And no one argued with Leah. 

"Whatever guys, it doesn't matter." I turned to walk back down the driveway but they kept up with me every step of the way, thankfully not saying anything.

When we finally got back to the cabins, everything was packed up and the boys were waiting outside beside their cars. 

"Ready to go?" Nate asked us, opening the door to one of the cars. 

I was vaguely aware that the seating arrangements had been changed but I couldn't care less. 

I was all of a sudden exhausted. 

Tired from keeping up the mask, tired from lies, tired from trying to figure out Max, and simply just tired from the lack of sleep. 

As soon as I climbed into Seth's car I had fallen asleep, vaguely aware of a boy with black hair sitting beside me. 

.

I was gently woken up by Max's hand on my shoulder, shaking me awake. 

"We're twenty minutes away," Seth said from the driver's seat. 

It took me ten minutes of the rest of the trip to fully wake up - 5 minutes of that with the three boys singing very loud and obnoxiously I might add - then I just looked out the window.

It must have been late afternoon as the sun had begun to set behind the horizon. 

I smiled as Seth pulled up at my house. It was easier to drop me off before they went to the twin's house, so I happily got out of the car. 

As I was digging my bag out of the boot I heard a car door open and close, and I suddenly found Max beside me, pulling his bag out as well. 

Frowning, I asked. "What are you doing?"

His most annoying smirk lit up his face. "Having dinner with you!"

"So you're just inviting yourself over for dinner?" I asked. 

Wasn't that considered rude in some places?

Oh well, I was too sleepy to care. 

Max nodded as he closed the boot, then the car drove off. "That's what friends do."

"Somehow I think I'm going to regret making this bet with you..." I trailed quietly, earning myself quite the laugh from Max. 

I opened the already unlocked door and waited for Max to walk in before closing it behind him. 

I dropped my bag in the entry and Max followed my lead, then we headed to the kitchen where all the sound was coming from. 

I smiled to see my family sitting at the counter while Dad was cooking something that smelled like pasta. 

Mmmm...

They turned when they heard our footsteps and I went to sit beside Kye at the counter. 

Max could do whatever he wanted, I wasn't going to tell him what to do and where to sit. 

This was his idea anyway. 

After an internal debate I decided to at least be polite and introduce him. 

"Everyone, this is my friend Max. Dad and Charlie you've already met him. He's staying for tea." I said simply. 

"I thought he wasn't your friend," Dad smirked, looking at me with an eyebrow raised. 

Charlie and Kye laughed while Max still stood awkwardly in the doorway. 

"I lost a bet," I shrugged, then turned to Max. "Are you going to stand there like an idiot or sit down?"

He laughed but never the less came to sit beside me. 

"So Max, how on earth did you win a bet with my sister?" Kye said, fidling with a pen that was on the bench.

"I bet her in poker," Max responded. 

Charlie and Kye's jaws dropped open simultaneously while Dad actually dropped the spoon he was using to stir the pasta sauce on the floor. 

A small smile lit up Max's face but I could tell he was confused by the reaction. 

I just rolled my eyes. 

"What? How?" Charlie cried, leaning across me to look at Max in full view. 

Dad recovered himself and picked up his spoon from the floor, frowning at it then putting it on the sink, getting a new one out of the draw. 

"What do you mean how? It's not like she's that good!" I could tell the last part was teasing but I decided to elbow him in the ribs regardless. 

"Owch," he rubbed where I had hit him and smiled. 

Karma's a bitch. 

"Are you kidding? No one in this house has ever beaten her!!" Dad exclaimed, now pouring the pasta into the strainer which was in the sink. 

"Not even you?" Max asked and Dad laughed. 

"No son, I am shit at poker," he responded truthfully. 

It's true, he was absolutely awful at poker. The only type he could play was Indian poker and we only really played that when we were kids. 

He's always preffered games like snap, spit, spoons and sevens. 

Maybe it has something to do with the letter S. 

"What card games do you like then?" Max asked, genuinely interested. 

It was strange seeing him away from everyone else but still around people. 

I had seen the cocky, arrogant, teasing, annoying side of him that he was around his pupils, and I had seen the quiet, listening, kind side of him that he was when we were alone. 

But I had never seen this side of him. 

It was like an in between of either version I had seen. 

He was kind but teasing. Annoying but kind of quiet. 

It was different. I liked it. 

What what? No! I did not just think that.....

I got cups and filled them with water as Dad dished up the pasta and told Max what card games he liked. "Well, my favourites would be spit or spoons, but I also like solitaire, snap and sevens."

Kye got up to get the cheese and parmesan out of the fridge, then set them on the counter. I got the grater out because it was near I was. 

And this was a type of system of ours whenever we had dinner. It flowed perfectly this way because Charlie was out of the kitchen. 

And it should stay that way. 

Dad handed out the bowls - now filled with pasta - then sat down. We all put on cheese or parmesan and started eating, the conversation carrying easily. 

When we were finished Dad invited Max to stay to play some cards. 

Why oh why did he have to like the guy I didn't?

Charlie and Dad decided to clear the table and I had to get the cards out of my room. 

Considering I was already going there I picked up my bag from the entry and took it to my room. 

I opened the door to my messy room and dumped my bag beside my desk. I opened the desk draw and and rummaged around for the pack of good cards. 

"Wow you certainly don't like to keep your room tidy," a voice said from the door, making me jump and scaring the shit out of me. 

"Holy shit can you not do that!?!?" I asked, unaware that Max had followed me here. 

As he stood there, looking around my room with curious eyes I realized how much a person's room can tell you about them. 

I self conciously scanned my room. Every surface was littered with my favourite books, my drawing pencils, my sketches pinned to the walls along with photographs, medals I'd recieved, fairy lights and clothes. 

But I wasn't actually the slightest bit worried about any of those, - except for the clothes. There were a few bra's peeking out from underneath other clothes. I prayed he wouldn't see them - I was ridiculously worried and aware of the quotes. 

I had an entire wall of my room dedicated to quotes I had gathered over the years, and of course this is what Max was gravitating towards. 

Max frowed at one and started to read it aloud. "I've heard there-"

If someone ever read a quote from that wall, I would join in. So I did join in, from the opposite side of the room, checking my phone for messages. 

"Are troubles or more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some from behind. But I've bought a big bat, I'm all ready, you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me."

Shit. 

I did not just do that. 

My cheeks flamed in embarassment as Max burst laughing, obviously noticing. "So this is the realy Rylie Peyton, hey?"

I frowned. "What you mean 'the real Rylie Peyton'?" I asked, quoting his words. 

Max looked like he was thinking about how he was going to explain what was on his mind. 

"No, you know what? Never mind," he said, shaking his head and turning back to the wall. 

"No come on! Tell me," I told him, preparing to beg if I needed to.

I really wanted to know what the hell that meant. 

Damn this boy was so confusing!

He turned back to face me with a playful look on his face. "The real you. The one that recites quotes absent mindedly. The one who reads a shit ton of books. The one who actually gives a shit about something."

I smiled angelicaly. "What makes you think I ever seem like anything else?"

Max's face lit up with a knowing smile. "For one, that smile is bullshit." He called me on it and I frowned. 

How did he know that?

"And you can tell which people have been hurt in the past or are hiding something, or both. It's written in the careful mask they wear, creating the illusion that they are, in fact, fine. Happy. Good. But no matter how good the mask is, it never reaches their eyes."

Wow, what?

I was actually a little breathless. 

How had he known all that? Surely he must have gone through something. He had a mask too, I reminded myself. 

"And your mask is fucking impenetrable," Max raised his eyebrow as he took an unconcious step towards me. "I nearly wasn't sure you had one until Leah interrupted our conversation at the bonfire on Friday. You went from miserable to perfectly fine in a snap second." I frowned when Max added as an after thought. "Good job, by the way."

This whole situation was flipping me out. 

How did the most popular guy in school - yes, in a week he had managed to swing that title - end up in my room on a Sunday night, talking about emotions and masks and stuff that most people wouldn't understand. 

"You are so weird," I told him once I had regained my composure. But then I added once I flipped the playing cards into my hand. "But you have one too."

I walked out of my room before he could ask me any questions or say something else that was bizzarely accurate. 

He was too observant. 

Just as we were nearing the end of the hallway he leaned down and whispered in my ear. "Nice bra's, by the way."

My cheeks flushed and I'm sure it was obvious as he burst laughing. "I hate you so much."

"Well maybe you shouldn't leave stuff you don't want people to see out in the open?" He suggested, grinning that stupid, dorky grin of his. 

How could someone so damn attractive have such a dorky grin?

Aaaand I just called him attractive. 

Well, it's not like it wasn't a known fact anyway. 

But I suppose the dorky grin rarely made an appearance at school. Or around anyone else for that matter. 

This guy was confusing the shit out of me and I didn't like it. 

Dad smiled when he saw us come into the room. "So, spoons?" 

.

We ended up playing spoons until late. Because Max had never played before he sucked at it, which made me feel better for losing to him in poker. 

But I still couldn't get over how freaking bipolar he was!!

It was almost as if he was a completely different person when we were alone. 

He wasn't loud or obnoxious or annoying.

Well, he was a little annoying. But it was just subtle teasing. 

What was his problem?

Was he really bipolar or was it something else?

He left after ten, telling us his older brother was waiting out the front for him. 

Oh of course. He doesn't have his car here.

My family walked with us to the door and they all waved goodbye until his car was out of sight. I just stood behind them and watched. 

"You guys are insane," I told them as Dad shut the door and turned to face me.

We all walked back to the kitchen as they laughed. 

"What? I like that kid, he's nice!" Dad exclaimed and my siblings agreed. 

Charlie smiled at me. "I don't really see what your problem with him is."

Kye nodded in agreeance. "Yeah, he's cool!"

"Why don't you be friends with him then?" I asked them, huffing in slight annoyance. 

The three of them all shared a look that I clearly didn't understand. 

"What?" I asked them, getting frustrated. 

My friend and now my family?

Why was everyone so content with keeping me confused??

"It's obvious the guy likes you and you don't even want to be friends with him!" Dad explained after a minute and I just shook my head, leaving them behind to discuss my non-existent love life while I went to bed. 

.

.

"Hey Isaac!" I greeted him happily when I spotted him in the hall. He looked a little bit... Off. "Are you okay?"

Isaac's head snapped up, his blonde hair sticking out at all angles like he had just woken up. "Oh hey Rylie," he smiled faintly. "What's up?"

"Are you okay?" I repeated because he clearly hadn't heard me the first time. 

Isaac took a deep breath, held it, then let it out. "I told my family."

It took me a minute to figure out what he was talking about, until it finally clicked. 

He had told his family about him being gay. 

"Ooh how did it go?" I asked, falling into step beside him as we headed down the hall, pushing through the many people littering the corridor. 

"Uh, pretty well?" He phrased as a question as if he wasn't sure. 

"Oh God," I said. "What happened?"

Isaac frowned while turning a corner, presumably going to his locker. "Well," he paused, the crease between his eyebrows becoming more evident. "They said, 'and'?" 

I couldn't help it, I laughed. 

"So they're totally okay with it?" i asked, stopping as he turned to what must have been his locker and opened it. 

"They said they had already figured it out and they didn't mind, as long as I was happy. They're happy if I am."

He was still frowning. "Then why don't you seem happy?" I asked. 

Isaac looked up at me, his blue eyes looking confused. "I don't know. I guess I'm just really surprised." He said. "Look, they're really strongly Catholic. They had more of a problem when I told them I was an athiest than when I was gay."

That officially made no sense what so ever. The Catholic church was strongly against same-sex anything, which is why it made no sense. 

"You're right. That is surprising." I told him.  

I realized I had less time that I thought so I rushed off to my locker then went to double Bio. 

I hated science with a burning passion. 

I didn't understand what anything meant and my brain just couldn't wrap itself around the scientific concepts. 

Lunch could not have come soon enough. 

I was walking back to my locker when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. "Hey there sexy lady."

I rolled my eyes and kept walking, hoping Max would just leave me alone. 

"What? Not even going to talk to me?" He asked, jogging to catch up with me. 

I looked beside me and saw the smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth with that flirtatious look in his eyes. 

"What's with the mask?" I asked, happy when I saw him falter. 

He kept the smirk plastered on his face but I could tell he was surprised. "W-what do you mean?" 

"Whenever we're alone your mask is gone and you're you. But when you're around everyone else you put it straight back on."

I was meant to phrase that as a question but I just couldn't fathom my thoughts into words. 

"Are you asking why I don't pretend around you?" Max asked, frowning. 

That's not what I was asking but I wanted to know that too. 

I nodded and he smiled half of the dorky smile which made me want to smile too. 

"I think you know the answer to that. It's the same reason you don't have to pretend around me."

Of course. "Because we understand the other."

Max nodded as I opened my locker, thinking about what he had said. 

It was true. We didn't have to pretend around each other. And as much as I hated to admit it, it was nice. It was nice to have someone who finally understands. 

For the first time since I met Max, I found myself glad that I had. 

"I have an idea," Max said, brows furrowed as if he was still thinking about it. 

"Shoot," I told him, closing my locker. 

He looked at me and smiled again. "Let's have a real day. No bullshit, no masks. One hundred percent real." He suggested. 

That was actually a fantastic idea. 

"When?" Was all I said. 

Max perked up as he knew I agreed. "How about Saturday?" 

I smiled. "Great."

"It's a date," Max smirked and before I could hit him or yell at him or do something else like that, I noticed two people hooking up against the wall of the hallway. 

It was thoroughly disgusting. 

The girl was pressed with her back against the wall and she had her legs wrapped around the guy's waist. 

I nearly vomited in my mouth while Max made a gagging sound. 

It would have just been one of the bimbos and one of the popular guys. 

We were about to pass them when they finally pulled away from each other. 

If I was holding anything, I would have dropped it. 

"Hey guys!" Brooklyn squealed, her lips puffy and her dark hair messed up. "Have you met Tim? He's my new boyfriend!" 

I winced at her incredibly aritificial tone and her incredibly more artificial face. 

Wow, she really had become one of the bimbos. 

"No, I don't think we have," Max said when he realized that I wasn't about to say anything. 

Max went to hold out his hand to shake but from the look on this guy's - Tim's - face, he thought better of it. 

"Come on babydoll, let's go," was all Tim said, grabbing Brooklyn fairly roughly by the hand and nearly dragging her away. 

It was silent for a moment until I looked up at Max and burst laughing. 

"Did you see that?" He asked, laughing so hard he had to stop walking. 

I couldn't stop laughing so much to the point that my cheeks were starting to hurt. "Damn," I said in between breaths I was trying to take to get back to normal. "She got over you quick."

And we burst laughing again.