Max bursts out laughing. “They would probably say damn straight!”
I laugh, too, but not for long. "Thanks for the offer for the day off, Max, but I would rather work."
“There is such a thing as burnout,” he reminds me.
“I’ll be careful and evade anything that’ll lead me to burnout,” I assure him.
“This job isn’t for the faint of heart.”
“Definitely don’t have a weak heart.”
“So you say, but that’s easy enough to say. What’s the truth? What’s your truth?”
“I’m still working on figuring that out,” I mumble.
“You don’t have a lot of time for that.”
“What? Why not?”
“People start to become more complacent as they get older, lazier too. People stop growing and changing. They become lazy and just accept that the world is as it is, so why should they bother to change? Easier to just accept things and let the cards fall where they may. People just deal with whatever shit life hands them.”
“Not always in healthy ways,” I mutter.
“Maybe not, but the sooner you learn to just do whatever you can to get by and not get caught up in other people’s bullshit, the better off you’ll be.”
“Ah, so I should just do whatever I can to get by here with this job?”
“You do that, and you’ll find yourself fired.” He blows out a sigh. “Ah, what do I know? Yes, I’m making a livin’, a good livin’ at that too, here with my dream job, and it’s still not enough. I mean, why did I have to go and choose California of all places to live? It’s so expensive here, and for what? Yeah, the sun’s always out, but I could go to southern Texas if I want that.”
“You don’t want to live in Texas,” I say automatically.
He eyes me funny. “Oh, yeah? Why not?”
“I expect a bunch of assholes live there. Especially the guys. ‘Everything’s always bigger in Texas. Want me to drop my pants and show ya?’ No thank you.”
He laughs. “’Pect you’re right about that.” He sighs again. “Still, anywhere else, and I could’ve already had the rock for my Emma.”
“Anywhere else and you wouldn’t be close enough to her, I bet.”
“True. Look at me, moaning to ya! I need to take some of my own advice! Buck up and deal with whatever life throws your way.” He juts his chin toward me. “What happened with the test?”
“I told you. The teacher changed her mind and wouldn’t—”
“Why do you need to retake it in the first place?”
“A guy screwed me over. He erased some of my answers, and he changed some of my numbers.”
“Are you going to take that lying down?”
“I tried to retake the test.”
“There has to be another way of handling things.”
“Maybe, maybe not. The guy is treated like a god by the faculty, by the other kids. No one dares to rattle him or his friends.” I think about mentioning Tyler and his connection but opt not to.
“You want to take down the kingpin? Fuck, girl. You’re a senior, right?”
I nod.