In a way, Yovan hadn’t really made up her mind whether or not Max was a good or bad person. She was stubborn by nature, and she felt her initial impression of the man, that cold, detached aura he carried, just felt fundamentally off. To her, people who stood that still and spoke that little were usually hiding something dark.
Maybe he was the one who had returned Talia’s ID card, but who knew if he had bumped into her on purpose? Perhaps he had even swiped the ID card from some other place just to create a reason to "meet up" with her later. Or, perhaps more likely, Yovan simply didn’t want to admit she was wrong and was desperately inventing elaborate scenarios in her head to avoid having to offer a sincere apology.
Still, this was a rare chance for them to hear about the mysterious Max from others who might actually know his history. Sitting directly behind Steve and Jono, the girls leaned forward just enough to catch the whispered conversation, their breathing shallow so as not to be noticed.
"Will you stop with those crazy stories?" Jono said, his voice cutting through the quiet hum of the lecture hall as more students filed into the tiered seating. "We all met him at the dorm party, and he’s as quiet as quiet can be. He spent half the night in the bathroom and the other half looking like he wanted to be anywhere else. There’s no way he did anything like what you’re suggesting."
Steve looked over his shoulder, peaking at Max for a split second to double-check his location at the far end of the room. He ducked his head back down quickly, almost making sure the other person couldn’t see him watching.
"I’m serious, though! Everyone was talking about it back at my high school," Steve whispered urgently, his hands moving animatedly to emphasize his point. "How there was this kid who had managed to unite all of the rival schools in Notting Hill. They said he managed to conquer and recruit the head delinquents from every single campus to form a giant alliance. He beat everyone who got in his way, and there are even rumors that his group went up against a real gang."
Steve leaned in closer to Jono, his eyes wide with a mixture of fear and admiration. "You know, the kind of groups that actually kill people and work in the deep Underworld? The legends say they managed to best them! They call the leader the ’Demon of the Streets’ or something equally terrifying."
Jono couldn’t help but let out a muffled, skeptical laugh that drew a few looks from nearby students. "And you seriously believe all of that? What you’re saying sounds like some type of urban fairy tale or a plot from a bad action movie. And for one moment, let’s say all of that is true, do you really think the Max sitting right there in this class, wearing a standard hoodie and reading a textbook, is that very same ’Demon’ capable of all that?"
The two boys, as well as the girls sitting directly behind them, turned to steal another look at Max. He currently had his head down, seemingly absorbed in the introductory business text. His build was certainly athletic, broad shoulders and a lean waist, but he didn’t appear to be a monster or a street-fighting legend. He looked like any other student trying to get through a boring lecture. Besides, if a person was truly capable of running a city-wide alliance, what were they doing sitting in a freshman business lecture at June Stone University? It simply didn’t add up.
"But the name matches perfectly," Steve insisted, his voice slightly shaky as he gripped the edge of his desk. "He’s called Max Smith. And it’s not just that, it’s the appearance too, especially with that blood-colored hair. How many guys do you know with hair that specific shade of red?"
Steve shuddered. He imagined that no one in the room should ever get on Max’s bad side; if they did, who knew what kind of chaos would be unleashed upon them all? In his mind, Max was a ticking time bomb wrapped in a student’s disguise.
"Do you know how many people are called ’Max Smith’ in this world?" Jono asked, rolling his eyes with an exaggerated sigh. "It’s basically the most common name in the English language. You might as well tell me he’s a secret agent named John Doe."
"With red hair? That come from this city? That match our exact age?" Steve countered, moving forward with each word until he was nearly directly in Jono’s face. "The probability is almost zero! It has to be him!"
"Again, I keep telling you, I don’t even think those stories are real in the first place," Jono said with absolute confidence, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back in his chair. He seemed determined to pin the conversation there and move on to something more realistic. "That guy right there is more likely to be a secret millionaire’s son than he is to be some legendary gangster."
"See? What did I tell you?" Yovan said, nudging Talia with her elbow. "He has a bad reputation. Someone who could do all of that... it means he would easily be willing to fake a chance meeting or lift an ID card just to make a girl fall head over heels for him. He’s a manipulator, Talia. A dangerous one."
"So you actually believe the stories, then?" Talia asked, a playful glint in her eyes as she watched Yovan’s internal struggle.
Yovan paused for a moment, suddenly feeling as if she had been caught in a trap of her own making. If she truly believed Max was a bad person based on Steve’s "facts," she had to accept that the stories were true, but the stories sounded completely ridiculous. If she called him a dangerous delinquent, she was validating Steve’s wild rumors, which she had just finished calling "crazy."
She thought he was a bad person, or at least she wanted to, but believing those legends would make her out to be an idiot who believed in ghost stories. She bit her lip, looking between the back of Max’s head and the animated Steve.
"You’re right... I guess I really should just apologize," Yovan sighed, her shoulders slumping as her stubbornness finally began to crack under the weight of the absurdity. "Who am I kidding? The stories are obviously just high school myths that got out of hand. He’s probably just a regular, awkward guy who happens to have weird hair."
"It’s a shame, though," Talia said, leaning her chin on her hand as she watched the back of Max’s head with a newfound curiosity. "If those rumors were true... I think I might actually fall for him."