The day had been far from smooth at first, a few people seemed almost intent on reminding Max during classes or lunch of the incident the day before. Admittedly most didn’t know how to get through Max’s defences, so a majority of comments hardly bothered the stone shifting mutant… especially not when he could retort back to some of them about the essay Mr Summers had demanded. A few were freaked because they weren’t able to get 5000 words, some were smug because they’d copied and pasted paragraphs in certain points or rewrote things in their own words that were too similar to information sites they found on the web. The majority that looked exhausted after having stayed up doing not only Summers essay properly but homework from their other classes seemed pleasantly quiet and preferred to ignore having any more confrontations with Max at this point.

None of this was unusual for Max, the whole meeting a teacher after class thing, or at any point during the day, he was accustomed to it and for that he wasn’t overly nervous about what might happen… What Max was nervous about was what his father might have said to explain his behaviour the day before, usually Steven liked to explain or create cover stories for things that didn’t go as smoothly as planned. Only Max was torn between wondering if his father would tell the truth about his son, or lie, but doing nothing about it at all never crossed Max’s mind.
Especially with Max’s smart mouthing the day before…

Curious… Max rounded the corner to see the blonde haired boy leaned up against the wall just outside Mr Summers door… he looked more nervous then Max did at this point. Then again, Chadstone did have a rather fantastic ability to almost shove his problems so far aside that not only did he seem to act as if there was no problem at hand, but minimized the seriousness of many situations because of it. And this time was no different, in fact it would become far more noticeable as time progressed on that Max’s views on yesterday would not be shared by many, if any at all outside the Chadstone Estate.

"What’s got you all tied into knots?" It may have seemed like an obvious answer perhaps to Michael, and maybe to others too, if not for the same reasons, but for Max he really couldn’t figure what had this guy looking so anxious. Out of the incident from the day before Max saw nothing to cause this air of worry about him, so Chadstone wondered instead if perhaps something else had happened since then.

In reply to Max’s question, Mr Summers seemed to appear, the door pulling back and revealing a man who for as long as Max remembered had always seemed to remain the same, much like his wife, their age untouched by time. A sense of untameable beauty still resonated from his wife, and a deeper sense of… something… seemed to grow within the stone faced leader. There was a sense of authority about Scott Summers that came not from fear, which Max would understand, but something else, something great that left the youth strangely mystified, even if he barely gave the elder man much serious thought. There were moments like this, where he loomed all knowing and secretive that Max was reminded that this was a man who cared little for, and tolerated even less, half cocked tales and reckless behaviour. Somehow this never worried Max, it had never left him quaking in fear no matter the threats, today however there was something almost humiliating about being called here, and it was made even worse that it involved others.

"Good. I see you all made it then" An automatic curve tugged in the corner of Max’s mouth, though something lurked about the depths of the youths eyes for a moment before it was squished with a reckless disregard for the seriousness of the situation. "Matt, would you bring a chair from my office for Michael? Then we can have a talk. I’m afraid I’ll have to ask both of you to wait while I discuss things with Matt," For a moment the millionaires son let sapphire eyes drifte over to Matt, unsure on what exactly Matt was asked here for. Perhaps a part of Max was paranoid, but another part was curious, and a smaller part, just might be guilty, though the sensation inside felt distant and numb, difficult to figure out and easy to over look, so overlook it Max did. "Don’t worry.. we wont be long." A shift in Max’s shoulders was all he did in reply, the discomfort difficult to notice as Max’s mind rushed with thoughts on what exactly might not take them ‘long’, the thoughts irrational, yet flickered in a sense of awkward discomfort, barely a flame in the youths eyes before it was snuffed out with more rational thoughts. For the briefest of moments, for the glimpse of a heartbeat, during the instant of such thoughts, Max wondered in an afterthought of uncertainty, if he had perhaps momentarily been somehow jealous…of what? came the echo of a voice, one somehow detached and distant.

"Damn it all" It wasn’t the voice which had pulled Max’s attention towards Michael, but the flurry of motion in the corner of his eye, the thud of the seat against the wall, a voice resonating in a barley tempered fury, "Damn it all to hell" There was no reaction from Max, no obvious sign of recoiling, eyes watched with as much verve to them as dulled stones peering lifelessly towards the commotion. A moment later they blinked, the breath still leaking in and out of Max’s lungs as he watched the other, who appeared distressed and angered even as his body slouched against the wall. "And the worst thing is that he’s right" The student, Michael, said to Max, drawing the largely known bully of the school into the scene instead of leaving him in the sidelines to watch. "I needed the chair." Eyes studied the Scottish youth, there was an anger and a pain and Max wasn’t stupid enough to miss it, but for the life of him the stone shifter couldn’t figure out what on earth was causing so much upset, it was only a seat. Some people got upset when the show of their weakness was shoved in their face… maybe Michael was one of those people who really didn’t like being singled out like that, it was a theory Max could understand most readily. However… something nagged inside, deep enough that Max could brush it aside consciously, but still it remained hidden, warning him, telling him, something inside that Max rarely gave voice to.

"Everyone has needs," The voice trailed slightly, as if Max’s mind was wandering through the door and into the office, wanting to sit there and listen in and figure out what all this fuss was really about, "I hope that doesn’t mean he’ll be in there for ages," There was an air of a sigh in his tone as he glanced down the hall, not entirely aware that some would realize his habitual need to skirt the anger that had previously flared before. Anger was easily tolerable if Max was in control of it, however when it came from others he didn’t care to push it, avoidance was the easiest thing, that or meeting their anger with a fury of his own. This wasn’t one of the times for angry retaliation though, especially not to someone who had dared to stand up to his father, as stupid as that had been, even Max had figured it was done out of a twisted sense of… admittedly Max couldn’t figure what word to use next, a twisted sense of something, whatever that something was remained a mystery at this point to the Exile member. But if being on the teams had been important then why risk it for someone you don’t know, and over something not of his business, why everyone got so involved and heated over it just mystified the young Chadstone even more, but being dragged down here was beyond his ability to comprehend, none of it made sense.

"All this because I didn’t get into a stupid car," the groan was mumbled as arms folded over Max’s broad chest, thoughts swirling unbidden as Max realized it had little to do with the car and everything to do with what his father considered ‘revoltingly filthy’. A moment seemed to melt the youth’s defences as a sense of awkwardness seemed to flood through his veins. Words washed back from the previous day as Max’s eyes grazed over the slightly yellowing skin where his father had grabbed his wrist so very tightly, not that Steven meant to hurt Max, as always the youth thought with such excuses, like how it was Max’s own fault for resisting in the first place.

“I have no idea what your issues are exactly but there’s one thing you need to know. Here at Xavier’s it doesn’t matter if we’ve met before or not. We look out for each other. And I’m truly sorry but until I’m sure that Max will be safe with you…. then there’s no way I’m moving.” Michael’s words returned like echoes, and Max let his eyes flicker up at the boy who still look less then pleased and perhaps Max’s previous comment so shortly said before was not one that would lift anyone’s moods, least of all Michaels, who was suffering all this because of Max and his actions alone… After all, it was Max’s own deeds that drove his father’s anger and brought the powerful man to the school.

"Look, I can see this whole team thing means a lot to you, and I figure there’s more going on then I realize between you and Mr Summers," Max started, his body shifting to return to a more casual stance, leaning against the wall opposing Michael and looking back at the other with an expression blended somewhere between soft and guarded, "I’m sorry if yesterday caused all this, I made things worse then they needed to be," he thought a moment, though doubted his next offer would really be of any use, "do you think there’s anything I could say to him to get you off the hook? It’s not like you guys tried to start a-," He wanted to say fight and yet part of him clawed desperately at the fact that his father never meant for it to turn into such a thing, "-scene," they tried to stop it, Max could see that, it’s just that he wondered if it would have been easier to just have gone with his father instead of making things so much worse as they had done.