As soon as the words tumbled out of my mouth Julian looked taken aback. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and when he looked at me again, his face was completely void of any emotion, which had me panicking. I was beginning to regret asking him anything, did I even want to know an answer?

"You know Max," he stated more to himself than me, but I answered anyway.

"Yes."

"And you don't like him."

"Try hate. I hate him."

"What did he do?" His boyish features were crowded with concern, and I almost forgot everything for a second. Almost.

"Stop dodging my question and answer me. Now!" I snapped.

He sighed and looked away before answering, "We go to the same school. He is my senior and my neighbor. Well sort of, I mean he lives a few houses away from mine."

"You are from Edgewood high?" Though it was pretty clear, I still felt the need to ask.

"Yes. And judging from your reaction I guess you go to AVM?"

"Yes. You didn't answer my other question," I reminded him.

"What? If Max is the reason we are friends? Why would you even think that?" He looked incredulous.

"Because that guy is a piece of shit. And I don't know you well enough to trust you when it comes to him. It might look crazy to you, but I have to know!"

He didn't say anything for a while, which got me pissed. 

Why couldn't he just get it out already? What's the fucking buildup for? 

"No," he muttered and looked at me.  "Us getting to know each other has got nothing to do with Max, alright? Trust me." He sounded genuine, but I was still debating if I could trust him so I didn't answer him right away.

As if he could read my mind he continued to convince me, "Look I know you hate him, and if it helps, then you should know that I hate his guts too."

Huh? What?

"Do I have stupid written over my forehead?"

He looked at my forehead and shook his head. "No."

When I didn't respond to his stupid attempt at a joke, he added more seriously, "I'm being honest. I really do hate him."

"Yeah, it sure did look like you hated him." I scoffed.

"You don't understand Veronica. You don't know me or my life. So quit judging and trust me for once." He sounded pretty pissed, so I zipped my mouth and decided to hear him out completely.

When I didn't hit him with another comeback he continued, "He has some leverage against me, something he could use. Something...I want to be kept a secret. And being in his good books is the only way I can get my job done."

Yep. That's not suspicious at all. 

"What leverage? What grudge?" I asked.

"You know very well that I'm not answering that. Moreover, you didn't answer my question regarding why you hate him so much either," he pointed out.

"Fair enough." I shrugged, but internally I was dying out of curiosity.

"So are we good?"

"Can I trust you?"

"Yes," he said without any hesitation. And I knew that I did trust him. No logic, just a belief. A belief in someone who was still a mystery to me. A belief in someone I just met. I could just hope that he wouldn't prove me wrong.

"Okay." I sighed.

"Was it that bad?" he asked. When I shot him a confused look, he clarified, "Was whatever he did so bad, that you lash out at everyone who's even just talking to him?"

When he put it like that, it sounded bad. Maybe me lashing out at him for just talking to Max was wrong. But in my defense, I had a bad history with Max, and Julian was still practically a stranger to me, someone I had got to know in a very unconventional way. Who could blame me for being cautious?

Right?

"Yeah, I guess. I have trust issues when it's even remotely connected to him," I mumbled and he nodded.

"Hey, but if he has something against you, doesn't he suspect that you being all lovey-dovey to him is for a reason?" I asked.

"I'm NOT all lovey-dovey to him." He rolled his eyes and continued, "And no he doesn't suspect anything. Because he doesn't know who I am."

Why does this dude have to be so cryptic? Can't I get a straight answer for once?

"What? So are you like some anonymous kid to him too? Keeping all your personal details a secret from everyone you meet...WAIT! Is that kind of like your thing? Because it's getting creepy now."

"Will you just listen to what I have to say completely for once?" 

"Okay." I held up my hands in surrender.

"I was in a boarding school in Boston up until last year. I came back here and joined Edgewood high this year for my high school. So nobody knows much about me yet. Not even Max."

"But how--" I started before he held up a hand and interrupted me.

"Your questions never stop, do they? Stop prying, that's all you get for now. Remember our pact? Secrets on both sides." He smiled.

"Whatever. A girl can try." I shrugged.

My phone buzzed indicating a text from my mom- *Where are you? Did you get lost on your way back home?*

I smiled at my mom's text and replied- *Your daughter was abducted by some aliens!*

I looked at the time and realized I had spent much longer than an hour here, and quickly got up to leave, when my mom replied with another text- *Before or after she got the groceries? If after then could you drop them by? The aliens could keep my daughter if they want.*

*And the best mother of the year award goes to..? Nevermind, I'll be home in five.*

"I gotta go." I got up and looked at Julian who was now reading the prologue of the book I was holding.

"Oh okay," he said, looking up at me, and got up. I collected the books and went up to Mrs. Jenson and bought the book I was reading.

"So you are a regular there?" Julian asked as we got out of the store and made our way to my car.

"Yeah. She's sweet. She sometimes even just lets me hang out and read without even buying any of the books."

"She seemed nice." There was a beat of silence before he said, "So it's a bye then?"

"I guess? Until we bump into each other again." I laughed.

"Yeah. Or maybe we could exchange numbers? That's fine right? At least we can talk sometimes if we don't run into each other for long."

"Sounds good."

We exchanged our numbers. And promised to not dig into each other's secrets now that we knew we both had some of them.

"Do you need a ride?" I asked.

"Nope, I'm good."

Does he even drive? I wondered. He was just fifteen.

"Sometimes I forget you're 3 years younger than me," I said, as we reached my car.

"Is that a bad thing?" 

"I don't think so, I just didn't expect you to be so...matured."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Good, because that's up to you, I was just stating a fact." I shrugged and turned to unlock my car. "Bye. I'll see you next when I see you next."

"Bye." He smiled and walked away, disappearing down the busy street.

It was already dark when I got home. And my mom did not look happy.

"Sorry," I said, as soon as I spotted her. "I went to the bookstore, and Mrs. Jenson handed me a few books and I lost track of time." I skipped out Julian from my story because that would raise another set of questions that I didn't want to deal with right now.

"You should have at least sent a text to inform me, I got worried!"

"You didn't sound too worried when you heard about my abduction."

She smiled. "I was relieved." 

 I stuck my tongue out at her playfully and followed her into the kitchen.

"Ma, I have something to ask you. And please just consider it seriously."

"Okay?" She turned to look at me, slightly worried.

"It's Neil's birthday this Sunday so we were all planning to throw him a party at Avi's beach house."

"That sounds fun. But what's the catch?"

"It'll be on this Saturday night and we were hoping we could all spend the night there up to maybe Sunday afternoon," I said, nervously, hoping to convince her. "It'll just be me, Avi, Ash, Neil, and Sam, for the sleepover. And I'll be back by Sunday evening I promise."

"You girls will have a separate room from the guys?" She asked.

"Of course, Ma."

"Will you be drinking?"

"Uh..." I faltered. "Maybe a little. That's cool, right?"

"Yeah, but it's my duty to ask questions and make sure it's all okay."

"Okay. I get it." I nodded. "Please, I really do want to go. It's our senior year and it's time to make some memories, right?" I made my best puppy dog face.

She sighed. "Fine. You inform your Dad tonight, if he says no then I'll convince him but don't make me regret it."

"Yes, yes, yes, thank you so much!" I hugged her and turned around to run out and let Ash know.

"You'll be doing the dishes tonight," she called out from the kitchen.

"Okay."

"And I mean just cleaning them, not breaking them," she added.

"Hey! I don't do that." I walked back into the kitchen, wearing a wounded expression.

But when I saw my mom giving me a look, I quickly added, sheepishly, "At least not twice in one week."