Max sighed as he had been at this school for a few days now yet it seemed like every other school he had been to. The bullying was not that bad yet but the fact no one was even trying to be friends with him was very disheartening. It was the end of the day yet for him the day was not over as many clubs ran after school, some ran during and after school as well. He had no idea what to join at this time, whatever the case he would try and visit some if not all the clubs that the school had to offer minus the football club. He gave a deep sigh before moving his ass from one spot to another. He walked through the hallways hoping to find a club on the way, it took about five minutes before he even heard let alone saw one. The first club seemed to be role playing club, it sounded interesting so he went in.

It seemed like something he was interested in, the people there accepted him but at the same time, they were already doing something so Max was not doing much. It took about 10 minutes before he left to find another club. The next few clubs were also geeky based clubs such as the video game club, the anime club, movie club, music club and cosplay club. The anime club was playing the usual we have all seen it, play something else already. He did sign up for it anyway. The video game club was pretty much packed but he did sign up for it. Today's games were Guitar Hero, League of Legends and some first person shooter, it was all brown and grey so he took no real notice of it. It seemed the consoles were brought from home and so were the laptops people were using to play LOL.

The cosplay club was not very big but it was very interesting as he saw people talking about cosplay as well as wearing stuff they made. The club leader was one of the female students from his classes, she was dressed up as a Sailormoon character, Sailormoon herself in fact. The others were various characters, though some people were not dressed up at all. They did have half made costumes to show. He signed up for that and several others. As he walked elsewhere he wondered if anyone would be his friend, so far no one had even bothered, was this some strange harsh hazing he had to deal with. "Man, everything is the same but this time, I feel even more lonely," he said before stopping.

Max read a sign which said something about crystal's, he was an open minded guy and so he walked into the club to see what it was about. His eyes looked, everyone, over though one person stood out, he did not stare at her or at least tried not too. Since he was going fail his task at not staring, he might as well go over to her and ask her some questions, the worse he could get was a fuck off. Though he hoped it would not come to that, he was a little nervous at first though he had a good reason for it. He resisted for a moment before biting the bullet. "Hey there, umm..... Could you tell me what this club is about, I know crystals are involved?" he asked. Now all he could do is wait for a reply, it seemed to take ages for an answer, his mind was playing games with him as time seemed to move faster for a moment. In reality, it had only been a second or two.

Taika was sat making a crystal bracelet for her mother using Rose Quartz and Amethyst. She was humming to herself as she usually did while crafting. She was pretty much sat at a table by herself, the other few students were sat around a table together talking about either their social lives and catching up from the previous week or catching up on the latest gossip around the school. Tai was happy to be sat alone to be frank.

Her alone time was interrupted as a new looking guy came over. She hadn't seen him around before. Her eyes fell immediately to his right arm. She was a sucker for body art. "Nice tattoos!" She said before smiling at him and meeting his gaze properly. "This club is about crystal healing. We also make a bit of jewellery too. Crystal healing is many things to different people, it depends on your connection to them really. I use them to help me meditate and feel more connected with the earth. I know, I know, sounds like hippy shit, but that's me." She chuckled and smiled at him. "I have hippy parents so that could possibly be why." She added.

Gesturing towards the piece she was working on. "This for instance is a Rose Quartz and Amethyst bracelet I'm making for my mum. Rose Quartz is a good crystal for the love emotion, can also help with healing of the heart. Amethyst is a general good all rounder healer. Plus purple and pink look cute together." She smiled again. She was a generally smiley person. You just had to talk to her to see that. "Oh...I'm Taika by the way, but I mostly just get Tai." She smiled, offering her hand out to him.

Max smiled back at Tai, it seemed she liked his ink though what she said about the healing crystals was very informative. "Thanks, I like them too, the school, however, doesn't," he said in response. Rose Quartz, Amethyst, and other types of rocks were being used. It sounded like something he heard before, were rocks like rubies used he wondered? He did not ask as it sounded somewhat silly to say plus rubies were expensive. The young man had seen the young woman smile again, she was probably the only person in this school to even do so. Soon the woman said her name as she offered her hand out to him. Max had always been a good person so he soon took her hand in his to shake it like most would do. The urban youth had some strange greetings as far as he could remember, half of it was silly to see or even do.

"I'm Max, I have not been here very long," he said in a firm voice. At least someone was nice to him as he looked her over hoping to remember her as one of the nice ones. As soon as the handshake finished he withdraw his hand keeping the shake brief. He soon noticed her blend of red and black hair which was really cool to see. Her smile was warm that everything that happened today would melt in its presence. He really liked her boots which were close to her knees and had many buckles and straps on them. Generally, he liked her appearance, hopefully, her personality would be something he liked just as much or more. So far things were going OK. "Hippy parents, that is a first for me," he said. The young man soon scratched the back of his head for a moment where he then saw everyone else sitting elsewhere.

"May I ask why you are sitting on your own?" he said curiously. The young man soon moved a close by black plastic generic school chair so he could sit down for a moment. The sit's were horrible, it felt like torture sitting on them and the worse part was all the schools in the country used them, well maybe not the private ones anyway. It offered very little to no real back support due to how shoddy they were. Some people did not like people standing over them, he was not sure if she was one of them so he sat down to be eye level with her. Max was surprised he was not acting like an idiot, many females made him nervous yet somehow he was keeping his cool, hopefully, he would keep it that way.

Tai laughed as he mentioned how the school didn't like his body art. She nodded in an understanding way. "Yeah, the school doesn't really like anything I wear, or my piercings. I used to get weekly letters to parents about it but after a few months they just gave up. They finally figured out I wasn't going to change for them." She smiled softly as she spoke.

"Nice to meet ya Max, I like to meet new people. Especially ones who are new to the school. Try to make em feel a little more at ease, feel more welcomed. I know how it feels to be new and feel a little alienated." She added sadly, her first memories of being in a new country not speaking the language came in flashes. "It's not fun!" She sighed.

She chuckled as he asked her why she was sat alone then leaned in closer to him and whispered "Well that's because they think I'm a witch that practices black magic. Apparently being a Goth and a spiritualist makes you as such." She shrugged and whispered again "I use it to my advantage though, when people start annoying me I start reciting poems in Finnish, adding their names in for good measure while reading from my notebook. They think I'm casting black magic onto them and they run away." She snickered a little as she gave a little wave to one of the people staring over from the other table at her. They immediately put their head down and got on with their crystals.

Tai was amusing as she told him how people thought she was a witch. It was a shame people thought the wrong things about those in the Goth culture. She had a hobby, it was not a common one as far as he was aware but she liked doing it. Max found Tai very fun and clever to do what she does. Reciting poems in another language and adding a name to it and in English was rather creative. The young man soon spotted someone who was staring over at her. He had just caught the sight of someone looking over in the corner of his eye and though he could not make them out well he knew someone was looking over. However, they looked away as quickly as they began to stare. The new student then began to rub the back of his head for a moment.

"Sounds like fun, when will you curse me?" he said as a joke though some curiosity was in his words. He paused as he looked at a few rocks that were laid out on the table. The Rose Quartz, Amethyst, and other rocks looked pretty but he was sure they were cheaply made or something of that nature since this was a school club. His eyes looked over the Rose Quartz seeing how pink it was, it was a nice pink too. He laughed a little as he thought about what she said making him curious about her. "So, I take it you were born in Finland I assume?" he asked her. He placed on hand on the table while he placed his elbow near the edge of the table where he began to rest his face. He used his hand to do so but the elbow was giving all the support.

It seemed today was getting slightly better thanks to Tai, the young man watching her as she did her craft. His hazel eyes watching her ever movement though he gave her eye contact for the most part. It was funny how the first person who was nice to him was an interesting one. Good thing he decided to stay and look around or he would have missed a chance to meet someone as nice as Tai. His ink was seen since he was using his elbow to support the weight of his head. One of his tattoos was a skull with a cigar in his mouth. It also had a pair of shades on with words below it saying the house always wins. A few poker chips were seen to the sides of the skull and three cards were below the skull. One was the ace of spades, the other the queen of hearts and the last a seven of diamonds, each card covered each other as they went left to right. The ace of spades had the whole picture while the other two did not.

That one was located just above his elbow, he had other tattoos as well.

Tai laughed as he asked as he asked when she'd curse him. She shook her head. "Maybe never, maybe I've already cursed you! Who knows for sure?" She asked wiggling her fingers at him all mysterious like and giggling. "But nah, I don't think you're the type that I need to curse. You seem pretty awesome thus far." She added in a more serious but sweet tone. "Yeah I'm from Finland originally, came here when I was around ... 5 I think, Couldn't speak a lick of English. It was terrible. Making friends was impossible because no one wanted to be friend with someone they couldn't understand. Which only made it harder for me to learn the damn language." she said sighing. Her accent still had a bit of a foreign twang to it but it wasn't overly noticeable.

She continued her crafting as she spoke about her past struggles to pick up the language and her lack of friends. Then as he placed his elbow on the table her eyes were immediately drawn to his ink. "It looks even cooler up close!" she said as she moved closer so she could have a look at it in more detail. "I hope you don't mind me being all up in your biz, but I just love body art, I'm booked in for the end of the month to get my first tattoo." She added excitedly. "So do these ones have any meaning or just because you liked them?" She asked as she poked at his seemingly gambling related tattoos.

From what the young man could tell Tai seemed to be enjoying his company and she was interesting as well. It was a shame no one gave her a chance because she could not speak English very well but look at her now. Even the Finnish accent was still about, it was not totally noticeable but it did make her sound somewhat cute. When she mentioned his tattoos all he could do is smile as she seemed to really be into them. It was proven even more than she mentioned she had a session coming up by the end of the month. Max could have inserted some made up horror story here but thought against it. When she asked him a question he began to look over his arm which had many tattoos on it for a young man his age. Some of it was even acted as if it was apart of the same tattoo when they weren't.

"Well the skull with the poker chips, playing cards, shades, and a cigar is just something goofy and fun," he said pointing at it. He then moved his right finger where he then pointed to another tattoo that was slightly lower down his arm and more to the right. "This one though slightly gross to some people reminds me of the time I had that accident that should have killed me," he said to Tai. The tattoo was of flesh ripping which would reveal the blood vessels, bone, and muscle. It had a rather realistic look as if it just happened. "I planned on having it on my chest but I may have a different one in mind for that," he said. With that using the same finger drew her attention to another tattoo. "This one is about wisdom, peacefulness, etc."

The tattoo was a cute yet demented and gothic looking owl which was mostly dark in colours other than the eyes and part of the chest. The eyes were red and yellowish while a part of the owl's chest had some white on it though was mostly black. "I have a female zombie cheerleader under my elbow. I did it that way for a laugh. The other is which can be seen on the other arm is of Medusa, you know the poor woman who turned people into stone. I was such a mythology geek a few years ago so I thought I would have something down to remind me," she said moving his right hand over to show her better. The medusa tattoo showed two sides of medusa. One of a young woman who was extremely beautiful and the other her snake like form. The face a mixture of the two as it divided right down the middle of her face. The rest of her body was normal, though.

The colours varied in brightness. "So what do you plan on getting if I may ask?" he said.

Tai happily listened to the stories behind his tattoos with full interest. Her eyes couldn't help but scan over his entire arm all the time. The artwork was very beautiful. He had certainly gone to a reputable artist. As he asked her about what she was getting she smiled. "Well, its a big thigh piece. I'm getting an oak tree done around here." She said and drew a circle on her thigh to show how bit it will be. "And it's going to have my parents names 'engraved' into the bark on the tree trunk. Big Oak trees I personally think are so old and if they could talk about the things they had seen they would be so, so wise. And it makes sense for my parents to be engraved onto the tree because I get most of my wisdom from them. That and they are hippies so they'll love it." She laughed at the last part as she smiled up at him.

"I plan on getting sleeves myself but I haven't yet planned them out. I already have a tattoo on my foot... Its from a video game I really enjoyed -and still enjoy- playing" She laughed a little. "Its from Mass Effect...You ever played it? Well one of the romance options is Thane Krios. The green alien guy? I LOVE him. and he calls you a cute nickname if you romance him. 'Siha' So I went and got that done on my foot in fancy calligraphy writing." She smiled as she talked about her tattoo. "It is my only tattoo so far and I still love it after a year of having it." She grinned.

The Teacher then decided to tell everyone to start packing up as it was almost the end of the class. She looked at the time slightly shocked. Time had flown quite quickly while she had been talking to this new guy. Once she had packed up her things she turned to him again. "Hey are you busy after this? Because I know a really cool place that does the tastiest ice cream sodas. They are SO delicious. Since you're new around here, I consider it my duty to show you the best places in town!" She smiled as she pulled her bag onto her shoulder.

Max listened to Tai who mentioned the tattoo she wanted to get, she mentioned something he had never thought about considering for a tattoo. A tree theme, the idea based on the bark was interesting. From what she told him and even showed clearly showed she had thought about it for a while. When she mentioned Mass Effect and one of the characters name he thought back for a moment. He had played that game after a moment remembered such a name came up in Mass Effect 2 and even in Mass Effect 3 for a small period of time. She had told him that she had his name on her foot. Max seemed a little surprised by it. Soon he heard the teacher begin to speak up so he could not reply to what she had told him.

He watched and even helped her pack away just not to seem lazy or give a bad impression to Tai. However, when she brought up getting some ice cream sodas he smiled at the idea. "Sounds like a good idea, I am sure you are an expert of weeding out the cool places," he said with a smile. Max soon moved the horrid generic plastic black school chair and placed it to the side. He was glad he was not sitting in it anymore but as he was talking to Tai he had forgotten he was sitting in it. "Has anyone ever told you that you have a lovely smile," he said. He grew slightly embarrassed as he was not used to giving compliments to people. With that, he began to leave the room the two and the other students were using.

The two would be in the hallway by this point. Max watched as some of the students left in two different directions. With the small human traffic out of the way, the two were free to move around and at their own pace without having others get in the way. It was here where he could answer her back. "Oh, yeah I know what Mass Effect is, the character was in the second and third one if he survived. The dying guy right? Also, you have some nice ideas for tattoos, mine seems kind of random after hearing about your ideas," he said. He would have led the way but he did not know where this ice cream soda was made. "I guess I will be tailing you," he said with a bit of a laugh following it.

Tai looked at Max and looked happily impressed as he had some knowledge on one of her all time favourite games. She was a bit of a sucker for role play games. "Yeah...The dying guy." She sighed sadly. "Its such a shame. With all the future tech they have how can they not fix his illness?! It gets me really mad..." she sighed once again. She was quite passionate about this particular game. She blushed slightly as he complimented her smile. She didn't receive many compliments, unless they were coming from her parents. "Can I count my parents? They tell me." she laughed a little. "Thanks." She added a little more shy than she was previously.

She soon shook off the feeling as she left the classroom and began leading the way out of the school and down the street, they had about a 10 minute walk to go through. As they walked down the street she kept glancing at Max. "Has anyone ever told you that you have a lovely face?" she asked and giggled a little as she continued to walk. She was certainly enjoying his company thus far. He had been one of the only people to really stay in her company out of his own free will. It was nice.

As they drew nearer to the place they were intended for she pointed it out. "Its right there, on that corner, you see it? Have you ever had an Ice Cream Soda before?" She asked grinning. "My favourite has to be... the vanilla in lemon and lime I think. Its quite ...zingy" she paused slightly as she thought of the best descriptive word for it.

Once they got outside she opened the door to an almost empty ice cream parlour. "Its perfect when its like this. No screaming kids because they have already been and gone." She grinned happily. "I brought a friend to try out your Ice Cream Sodas Frank!" She smiled, as a greying old man around who looked around his sixties greeted her with a smiled. "Ahhh Taika! It's always lovely to see you! And a friend? You have put a spell on him have you?" he laughed. She shook her head at him and laughed herself. "No, no, he's here of his own free will, I promise." she smiled, which caused the man to chuckle. "So will it be the usual for my favourite witch?" He asked. She nodded "Yes please Frank." She said politely. She usually comes into the parlour every other day so she has had chance to get to know the owner quite well over the years. Frank is someone she generally goes to vent to after school while she cheers up with an Ice Cream Soda. She turned to look at max and ushered him in front of her. "This is Max anyway, he's totally new, so has never had one of your Sodas before!" She exclaimed as she introduced him. Frank gasped "Well then, the first one is on the house for you, son." he said smiling. "Pick any flavour and I'll make you one up in a jiffy." he gave a kind smile as he handed Tai hers.

"I am sure they could of have saved if they did not plan his death out. At least he went out with a bang. Yeah your parents count," he said laughing a little. He knew a lot about that when his mum would compliment him all the time with your lines like you're handsome, good looking, and all that other crap she would say. The two had left the school grounds and the two were walking down the street. The young man noticed she kept looking at him though he did not say anything and even pretended not to notice either. She asked him a question about his face and he went red. He had heard it but it was not from someone you wanted to hear it from. "Umm, my mother would say it time to time.... OK, maybe a lot," he said getting rather embarrassed by it.

He enjoyed her company, she was not like the others who either ignored him or were too busy to do anything with him. She was very interesting making him want to know more about her. His train of thought was soon interrupted when she spoke up. He heard the one she liked making him think for a moment. "I don't think I ever had one. Is, is that weird?" he asked her. When they were outside he noticed how almost empty the place was. It seemed she knew the person who worked here, she was probably a regular here. Even Frank mentioned something about putting him under her spell. All he could do is smile when he heard that. Just like that, Max was suddenly greeted by the old man who even mentioned his first one would be free.

He had to pick a flavour but he was not sure what to say and so just said the first thing that came to his mind. He remembered Tai mentioned lemon and lime. "Uh, blueberry, no wait cherry...." he said and sounded rather nervous for some reason. It also sounded like he could not make his mind up and so he stopped saying something hoping Frank would just go with one of the flavours he said. All he could do is smile at this point and not make himself look more like a jackass. He was not sure why he suddenly got all nervous either. His eyes looked over to Tai for a moment before returning back to Frank's. 'Way to go idiot, make yourself look stupid. Perhaps if she laughs it won't be so bad,' he thought to himself.

Tai giggled as Max couldn't make up his mind. She got it though. "I'd sayyyy... Go with blueberry! I find its sweeter and more tangy than the
cherry one!" She smiled as she laughed a little. "The first time I cam in here I had no idea what to go for first either." She smiled as she sipped at the drink in her hand as she waited for Frank to make max his soda. "I don't like choices. I get flustered and confused." she laughed at herself as she took another sip.

Frank laughed at the two as he handed Max his very first Ice Cream Soda. "Enjoy young man." He said with a wink as he went back to work. Tai ushered Max over to her usual table and took a seat. She sat quietly for a few minutes as she did some people watching as she looked out of the window while she sipped. "I like to people watch sometimes. Its so strange to think sometimes that everyone else is going about their busy lives while I'm sat here relaxing and drinking. I often wonder what they are going through. Like that guy there." She said pointing. "Hes got such a worried look on his face while hes talking on his cell phone. Hes worried but not rushing off so what could he be thinking about and going through at this very moment in time? While we are just sat here watching. Its kinda surreal when you really think about it." She said softly as she took another sip before looking back at Max.

"So, how come you came into the crystal club? You don't look like the type to be overly interested in that sort of thing." She smiled as she looked him over. "Was it a 'dayum she fiiine imma go talk to her!'" She laughed as she finished her strange interpretation.

"Thank you, Frank," the young man said when he got his ice cream soda. Max quickly joining her as she took a seat with him taking a seat on the other side of the table. The chairs here were much better than those horrible plastic ones the school had. The frame for the seat itself was made properly, other than being a little hard it gave the support he needed. Since Tai was being quite for a moment the young man looked at his ice cream based drink watching it. He could see the two different colours beginning to merge with one another. His ears soon picked up on her voice when she began to speak, what she said was rather interesting and Max never thought what other people were doing with their lives like the person on the phone she pointed too.

Tai was a deep person or so he thought as he continues to listen to her. His eyes looking at her most of the time, though, time to time would wander off towards his drink or to someone else in the shop even though it was mostly empty. Eventually, the young man picked up his ice cream soda and drunk a bit of it. He could taste the blend of the chosen soda and the blueberry flavour which mixed together. It was rather sweet, the cold glass now creating many water droplets outside the glass which dropped every so often. A bit of the ice cream was on Max's nose forcing him to wipe it off using the back of his right hand. He soon stopped when he heard her ask why he went to the crystal club.

Quickly moving his hand he spoke up. "Well, I thought I would try things and see if I liked them. Maybe I could find a friend in the process. The school has its groups that are tightly knitted together so I have not managed to get one. Then I came to the crystal club after trying some stuff and then I saw you and I were like dayum she fiiine imma go talk to her," he paused for a moment. "No, I just thought I would talk to you since you were on your own and I guess it was just easier for me to talk to one person than many. I mean you are how do you say dayum fiiine. I suppose I was just naturally going to approach you anyway. Does that make me weird?" said the young man.

Tai giggled as she saw the ice cream on his nose. She was tactfully drinking from a straw. As not to mess up her lipstick. She pulled a straw out of the holder in the middle of the table and plopped it into his drink for him. "That way you don't get any more ice cream noses. Though it was cute." She added the last part giggling again.

She listened to him as he spoke about trying other clubs and not finding a friend yet and she nodded in agreement. "Yeah most of the other clubs are fully formed and tightly knit, the best time to make new friends in groups is obviously at the very beginning of the year but you cant really do that with you starting a few months after people have settled in. You'll find people generally don't walk outside their comfort zones here." She said sighing as she took a sip from her straw. "Talking to someone who is alone is much easier than approaching a group, so I totally understand you. Its not weird." She smiled as she looked him over again. He really was cute though. "Though if I am gonna be honest I do find it hard to believe someone who looks so cute finds it hard to make friends!" She smiled. "Thanks for the compliment though." She giggled with a slight blush.

The young man blushed when she thought it having ice cream on one's nose was cute. No one had ever said that to him other then his mother but it would sound really sad if he said that. Max nodded his head as he listened to her speak, his left hand rubbing the surface of the table they were sitting at. His eyes were looking right at Tai so she knew his attention was still on her. "Groups have this weird thing where that make you feel alien or if you are a murderer when they glare at you. You know when you walk up to a group or pass them and suddenly they looking at you as if you are weird or crazy. Then maybe it is just me or maybe I am crazy," he said laughing a little at the last part.

The young man soon touched the glass feeling the cold temperature and cold droplets that came down and formed on the glass. For a quick moment, his eyes darted down to the straw so he knew where it was as he put his mouth around the dual coloured straw. The straw was white and blue and it was not very thick either, it as still better than the ones that came with the small cartoons the kids would have to use. He could feel the cold liquid against his lips and the flow of cold liquid entering his mouth and going down his throat. The straw was poked at the start of his lips resting just at the edge of them. His eyes not leaving Tai though the did look around her time to time so he would not freak her out. The straw soon leaving his lips as he sat back feeling a nice support for his back.

"So do you like arcades? If so what is your favourite arcade game, if not why not?" he asked trying to beat his shyness.