Free Max Baker: Guardian of the Ninth Sector by Matthew Cronan Page A

cheerleaders in the opposite corner of the room.  Max could see Corey sit down, but Kennedy wasn’t at the table.  Corey high-fived one of the other football players and then stared back toward Max.
    “I mean you hit him in the shoulder,” Noah said with a laugh, “but you did it.  I can’t wait to hear what everyone says about this.  'High Noon at Forest Valley,' I’ll bet that’s what they say.”
    “Let’s get out of here,” Max groaned.
    “Half skip day?” Noah asked.  “I love the new and improved Max Baker!” 
    They left their lunch trays at the table and quietly snuck out the rear door of the cafeteria.  They kept low until they reached the edge of the student parking lot, trying to ensure that the school’s truancy officer wouldn’t spot them.  As soon as the wheels of their skateboards hit the blacktop, they knew they were safe.
    As they skated away from the school, Max wore a wide smile.  He couldn’t help it, nor did he want it to go away.  Yes, he had just been embarrassed for the third time in the past two days.  Yes, he had also been chased down the streets of suburbia by a crazed stranger, been attacked in his dream by some demon-hog-gorilla-thing, and had to clean up after another one of his mother’s drunken benders.  But he had also just punched Kennedy Coleman’s boyfriend in front of a sea of witnesses.  If that wasn’t making the most of an opportunity, then he didn’t know what was.
    “What are you smiling about?” Noah asked as they crossed through an intersection.
    “Nothing,” Max said, still smiling.

Chapter 8
Refuge
     
    Max and Noah knew it would be unwise to head straight home from school at that hour of the day.  They decided to kill time by going back to the theater and watching the scary, gruesome alien movie again.  After the movie was over, and it was an acceptable time to be seen outside of school, they headed home.
    Max had decided to sleep over at Noah’s house that night.  Partially so the two could recap the events of the day, but also because he needed a break from his mother.  After the day that he had, he wasn’t sure if he could handle seeing his mother obliterated on the recliner. 
    It was eight o’clock when Max snuck through the window of his bedroom. He had left the latch unlocked for years in case he needed to avoid his mother.  Evelyn’s car had been parked in the driveway, so he didn’t risk coming in through the front and dealing with her drama.  Max quickly packed his backpack with clothes for the next day, gathered up some toiletries and snuck out of the window again to avoid her.
    Max was cautious as he walked down the vacant roads of Forest Valley toward his friend’s house.  Noah had offered to come with him, but Max had declined, stating that he needed to be alone to recover from the events of the day.  He nervously checked his surroundings, suspecting that at any moment the stranger from the other night would pop out of the bushes and chase after him again.  The last thing that Max needed was another pursuit through the woods.
    The night air was much cooler than it had been the past few nights. Max pulled his hood up onto his head.  The eerie feeling from the other night had returned and was growing stronger the closer he got to Noah’s house.  He paused for a moment and stood in the middle of the street; the pale moon hung high above, lighting the blacktop.  Max did a 360 looking for the sedan through the shadows, but he was unable to see anything.  The horizon was still.  It was quiet.  He was alone.  He walked a block further until he reached Noah’s.
    * * *
    Max sat at the head of the large dining room table next to Noah.  Mrs. Allman sat at the opposite end of the table, sipping on a glass of red wine.  They were joined by Noah’s five older sisters: Amy, Beth, Rebecca, Emily and Norah.
    Amy was the oldest of the siblings at 25, and Norah, a year older than Noah and Max, was the youngest.  Beth,