Chapter 12 ~ Friendship.

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The library was silent as Maxine scanned the shelves for books she hadn't already devoured. To be honest, she wasn't looking for any normal book. Somewhere in her heart there was a ray of hope that thought there might be a book of Wesen upon these shelves.

Maxine sighed as she reached the end of the row and sat down upon the bench with a thump, her blueness increasing. Her sadness was not for the obvious reasons, the whispers and taunts, James and the Golden Twins. It was the boredom of it all. She loved magic, she loved lessons, you'd think she was happy there. After all, her days in the attic had been far note dull than this new school life. But that was just it, now she felt free from her fear of her Grimm abilities, she was itching to find out more. She wanted some contact with the Wesen world. 

And that's where stefan came in. She had spent a lot of time with him over the past weekend, and had enjoyed his company, but it exasperated her that she didn't know whether he was like her or not. Burkhardt was a common surname, wasn't it? Or was it just a coincidence?

Maxine leant her head and pressed it against the cool wood surface of the shelf. It was sunday evening, most people were hanging about with their friends in the great hall and feasting whilst the rain poured down outside. The first of the dreary autumn weather had come to visit. 

She knew why her heart so desperately wanted Stefan to be like her, for the same reason that school had become tiresome and exasperating. Maxine needed someone to sympathise with her, to talk to about Wesen, to help her and she would help them. It was a long shot, she knew, but that surname link kept echoing in her mind. Closing her eyes, she tried to clear out the rushing thoughts from her tired mind.

''Maxine?''

Maxine lifted her head and opened her eyes with a jerk to see Stefan himself standing there, looking slightly bewildered at the position in which he had found her. ''You alright?"

''Yeah, yeah I'm fine.'' Maxine gave a tight smile and turned round to face Stefan properly. ''It's just this rain, the winter light. It's giving me a headache.''

Stefan nodded and sat down next to her with a smile. ''I know how you feel. It's even worse in the great hall, everyone was talking so loud I felt like my ears were going to burst. That's why I came down here.'' Stefan swept a glance over the shelves. ''Were you looking for something?''

Maxine shook her head, trying not to think about her previous motives. Stefan walked to run his finger along the worn spines of the books. ''To be honest I don't know what to read either. I must have read every volume in this school.''

Maxine stood up, hope in her heart. Maybe if she could just let slip of what a certain book may contain, he would willingly comply to tell her whether or not he had the abilities of a Grimm. ''If that is true, can I ask you if you've ever found particular kind of book?''

Stefan raised his eyebrows. ''So...you are looking for something?''

Maxine blushed. ''Well, the thing is, I don't know what the title of the book is or anything, I only know the theme.'' Maxine swallowed. 

''And that is..?'' Stefan enquired.

''It should be filled with drawings.'' Maxine answered hurriedly. 

''What kind of drawings?" Stefan said it pleasantly but Maxine was beginning to feel stupid. God, now it was so hard that she wished she'd never mentioned it in the first place.

''Kind of, well, animalistic faces? Kind of creepy. And the writing should be german.'' Maxine managed to splutter in a rush.

Stefan gave tight smile that sadly gave nothing away. ''Nope, sort, I think I would remember a book like that.'' He moved to sit down next to her. ''Why d'you want it anyway?''

''No reason.'' Maxine replied in a smoother manner. Now she could forget about the process. She turned to look at a book behind her, not really knowing what else to say, disappointment taking hold for a second. She felt as if a thread of her could not let go to the idea of Stefan being a grimm. Well, her hope was loosing grip in that department.

''How's it going with James?'' Stefan entered another topic of conversations the suilnec lingered and Maxine felt grateful

Maxine shrugged. ''I've got used to the newly-found unpleasantness in my little bro. After all, I've had it for four years on a lower level before this.''

Stefan grinned in partial amazement and held a hand out as if to add to his feeling, making Maxine give a rather puzzled smile in return.

''See, that's what I don't get!'' He laughed. ''How can you be so light-hearted about all this? It's nearly as bad for you as it was for me when I got here. Everyone kind of hounds you, stares at you. Peace is hard to find with people like James and the golden twins around.''

Maxine blushed, glad of the praise and wishing she could tell Stefan the real truth behind her hard shell that deflected both insults and Jinxes. ''Home-education has a lot of plus sides. Because of it, I've never cared a bit about what people think of me.'' 

The truth was, the new-found confidence in Maxine had in fact remained dormant for the past five years. Before her first wesen encounter her strong character  had always shone through, but after the feeling of madness had set in, she had retreated into a mood of fear and hiding. But now she knew that she wasn't crazy, that she was just, well, she called it ''different'' - which always sounds good. Now she was Maxine again, and quite frankly was willing to bat them away with a few jinxes and get on with her life. No, what bothered her now was the complete lack of contact from Nick, who had claimed to have owned an owl and was going to send letters. But they had never come. And Maxine now felt completely alone, detached from a world she longed to learn more about, instead of being stuck in a castle full of people who didn't know anything about Wesen Grimms, or anything of that sort.

Stefan sighed in reply to her simple answer. ''Well, you're going to have to teach me a bit of that.'' He shook his head sadly. ''I tend to crumple under treatment of that sort rather than rise above it.''

Maxine smiled. ''If it comforts you I can act as an emotional shield.''

Stefan laughed self-conciously. ''God that would make me look awful. No, I just need a friend, Maxine.'' He looked at her   closely. ''Can I say that's what we are?''

Maxine grinned. Even if he wasn't a Grimm, he was empathetic and thoughtful. Over the weekend they had spent together she had warmed to the boy enormously. 

''It's Maxie, to friends.'' She answered.

Because that's what they were.

Friends.

For the first time in her life, Maxine Lestrange had a friend.