WHO: Maximum Ride and Nathan Summers WHAT: Nate is representing Frost and Max is cleaning out her locker WHEN: Backdated: Thursday, June 20th. Afternoon WHERE: Laguna Beach High RATING: Family Friendly STATUS: Complete
Nate was at the school working on a project. He had promised Mister Frost that he would be a good representative and he had been presenting the school with Frost Enterprises’ donations of fifty computers in the new computer lab, all state of the art, all new, and all with instruction manuals and tutorials. It had been stuffy and with photographers and speeches and such. And he had even talked to Mister Frost after, who had been watching and been told he had done good work! Awesome! So now...
Now, once that was done, he was wandering a bit, his suit jacket discarded, and grinning as he walked around the school. He had never been in high school, having skipped it and gone directly to college, but he was curious, sometimes.
Max was at school, cleaning out her locker. It was the last day or school as well as Graduation for the Laguna Beach High seniors and students had been given the choice of spending time in the gym or whatever class they were supposed to be in or cleaning out their lockers early. Max had decided to clean hers out early so then later she could meet up with Fang and Iggy to help Iggy clean out his. Or they were going to wind up helping Fang clean out his, because god knows Fang’s locker was just as messy as his room at home.
She had just stuffed some papers into one of the trash bags that had been left in the hall when she spotted a kid, walking around in what appeared to be a suit of something. He was definitely dressed too well for the last day of school, but it was obvious that he wasn’t much older than she was. He seemed vaguely familiar, but she was almost certain that she’d never seen him around the school. Leaving her locker open a little, she crossed her arms over her chest, “Hey. Are you lost?”
Nate turned to her and smiled. “Hi! Nope. Just taking a quiet tour. I’m Nate Summers, just had some business here and wanted to walk around after. “ He glanced at her locker and at her. “Ready for school to be out?”
Max frowned slightly, brow furrowing as she watched him, “Business? What kind of business?” She almost said that he looked like he was about twelve, but refrained, because as strange as it was for him to be walking around the school like that, he was actually being nice to her, so she figured it was only fair that she be nice back, “Yeah, more or less. Just means I have to find other things to do to keep from maiming my brothers.” It also meant that she had to find ways to keep from having to go out on family outings so that she could spend her summer not being a target for paparazzi just because her parents were famous, “Max Ride.”
Nate smiled, and his eyes danced. He was eighteen, but he was told he looked younger all the time. “I work for Frost Enterprises. And I was here to represent them donating a new computer lab and computers for it.” He nodded back down the hall. Nate laughed at her comment about her brothers. “I know the feeling. I’m trying summer school and work.” He liked working. “Nice to meet you, Max.”
Right. The new computer lab. It had been a topic of conversation about the school for sometime and it figured that they would finally do it at the end of the school year, “Aren’t you kind of young to be a representative?” She asked, curious as to why a guy who probably wasn’t any older than her, was being sent as a representative of some big company. Didn’t they usually send the higher ups for things like this? People who would be recognizable in pictures? “I’m sure I’ll figure something out.”
“Well, Winston Frost wanted someone young to present it to the school, so they would not think it as much of a mucky muck. And he sent me mostly because he wanted someone to tell him honestly about what people said. And I never lie.” His mom might have been sent, but this time, Winston wanted someone young.
Nate grinned at her. “I’m sure you will. Do you like volunteer work?”
She supposed that made sense. It was a high school after all and he could definitely pass for a high school student, so it probably looked better to have someone young there, who could relate or something. “Sounds like you’re good to have around then.” At his question, she shrugged, “Never really did any volunteer work before.” Depending on what volunteer work it was, it could look really good on her transcripts as well as a resume in the future.
“Urdnot Ranch, here in Orange County helps out kids who haven’t had things very good go on in their lives, and there are always a lot of volunteer positions open. I try to help out when I can, but work keeps me away from it a lot these days.” Nate believed in the ranch.
"I've heard people mention that place on Valarnet," Max finally uncrossed her arms and turned back to her locker. She could talk and clean at the same time. "What kind of positions are there? Are they kids?" Max had always been rather protective of her siblings, considering she'd been the first of them to be adopted. Yes, Fang and Iggy were the same age as her, but Fang had been known to do some pretty stupid things in the past and Iggy was blind. Then the other three were younger then them, so she was pretty familiar with interacting with kids.
“There are jobs in the office there, jobs helping teach and help direct kids in playing, jobs cleaning up and helping to teach, and more. Most of those who work there are adults, but there are a number of younger people working there too.”
Max listened to Nate as he explained the various jobs at the ranch. It wasn’t something she had ever thought of doing, but it’d give her something to do for the summer, “If I wanted more information, who would I get in touch with?” She’d heard people mention the ranch on Valarnet, so she wondered if whoever was in charge was on there as well.
“The man called Wrex, who’s on the network. He’s in charge of it, and runs it. A simple message to him will get his attention. He’s a good man.” Billy owed him his life, from the three day orc war the previous month. He chuckled a little, thinking so much had happened in so little time.
“He’s a nice guy, and he’s always open to volunteers.”
Max nodded, shoving a few more papers into the trash bag on the floor then put a few other things into her backpack. All of her books had already been returned to their respective classes, so really the only things left in her locker were various papers, notebooks and pens. Lots of pens. She never seemed to have one in her bag, because her locker apparently ate them, “I’ll look into it. My parents will probably be happy to get at least one of us out of the house for a couple hours.”
Nate nodded. “And if that doesn’t work out and you want to try a part time job instead, let me know. There are a lot of entry level intern positions at Frost Enterprises and Mister Frost believes in employing young people to give them a chance.”
“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind,” Max stuffed her notebooks in her bag next, “I should probably finish this up though. Gotta help my brother with his locker after.” Besides, she figured that Nate probably wanted to continue on with his wandering of the halls.
“See you around. And I hope things go well for you.” Nate tipped his nonexistent hat to her and then turned to go.
Max laughed and nodded, “It was good to meet you. Thanks for the info.” It was kind of funny how someone could go from having no plans for an extended period of time to suddenly consider something they’d never thought of doing before, but volunteering at the ranch sounded like something she could definitely do. When they got home later that afternoon, she would bring it up to her parents and see what they thought; for now, she continued cleaning out her locker so that she could meet up with Fang and Iggy sooner.