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Perhaps, Maybe, Possibly...

Chapter 07: Not All is Fair in Love

Throughout my afternoon classes on this eventful Tuesday, I could heavily feel the tension in the air. It seems the hatred of the school's female population had increased considerably. I should be heading to classroom 107 for some tutoring from Mr. Le Pew, but I have more important things to do. Still, I doubt I could come up with a believable excuse not to show and I do need to be tutored. I drag myself over to room 107 and with my most sincerely hopeless expression I ask, "can I be excused?"

"We, mademoiselle, if you are busy today, you may be excused." Professor Le Pew cheerily agrees as he fluffs up a bouquet of wilted roses. "You only live once and must make the best of it, love is in the air!" I think he was looking for an excuse to bail out on the tutoring today; it looks like he might have a date. "Here are some useful notes for you; you can study them at home. Now if you'll excuse me, mademoiselle Penelope awaits," he picks up the bouquet and starts to walk out of the class room.

I walk along too, with no reason to stay behind, as I stuff the notes in my bag. A few passerbys outside of the classroom in the hall turn pale and run away while others faint. Then I notice it, a semi-transparent smoky stream coming from Mr. Le Pew's tail. As an avid collector and user of perfume, I can barely smell anything past my own scent. I guess that if Mr. Le Pew's er... natural odor, is acting up, he must be pretty excited about meeting Penelope.

As I watch Mr. Le Pew disappear down the hall with the semi-transparent smoke of his scent slowly dissipating into the atmosphere, I realize something. Love will not come if one does not actively seek it and what's more, all is fair in love and war, which includes anvils, right? Right! If Max has a split personality, then I'll just have to make sure the one I like becomes the dominant personality!

With such determination in mind, I head out to find Max and actually find him with surprising ease. He has chosen to rest for the rest of the day and fell asleep at the nurse's office. I greet the elderly nurse quietly and go sit by his bed behind the white curtains, watching him sleep.

I hear someone else entering the nurse's office, but I cannot see the person from my angle, and they cannot see me. A female voice than speaks. "Sorry I can't help you clean the infirmary today after school; the tennis club is having an... emergency meeting."

I peek out discretely from behind the white curtains and see her, Elmyra, the girl who ran away from the nurse's office before. She seems to still be in distress, though she's fighting to hide it. "Oh, that's alright, you help out a lot as it is, go to your tennis practice with your friends." After the nurse sent Elmyra away my thoughts shifted back to the boy sleeping on the bed, then the nurse spoke again, this time making her way to stand beside me and looking at Max. "Let's let him rest a bit longer. It's been quite a day for me, I could use an afternoon snack, I'll be back in a little while."

"Okay," I nod, glad that she's leaving so I can carry out my plans. As soon as the nurse is gone I consider the idea of hitting Max on the head with an anvil and doing so whenever it looks like he's going to turn mean. Yet something is stopping me, the image of the sad Elmyra keeps resurfacing in my mind and I can't help it but to feel bad for her. Acting almost automatically I leave the nurse's office and go search for her. I don't even notice as I leave, that Max has begun to wake up.

I see Elmyra down the hall; the school is mostly empty since classes have ended for the day. There are still students around, but they're mostly outside practicing various sports, or just hanging out. "Wait!" I call out to her before I even know what I'm going to say. "I'm... Max... he..."

She gives me a sad look, "it's okay bunny," then she pats me on the head as one would do to a dear pet. "If Maxy likes you best there's nothing I can do about it. He always has a temper and yells, but I thought he liked me deep down."

"You... put up with all that?" I ask in disbelief.

Elmyra nods, "I love my Maxy just the way he is, he doesn't need to change for me, I just want him to be happy."

I'm invaded by a strong guilt. I don't like the real Max, I like the nice and charming Max that exists only when he has received a hard blow on the head. "I won't get in your way," I finally voice. To further establish my point I take an anvil from thin air and toss it over my shoulder as if throwing it away while declaring, "I won't be needing this anymore." The sound of the anvil colliding with something echoes in the empty halls as I turn around to realize my mistake. I had accidentally hit Max on the head with an anvil again; I didn't even see him approaching down the hall behind me. "Oh no! I'm sorry, that was an accident!" Elmyra and I rush towards him.

Max rubs his aching head and returns my anvil, "this is yours, Bani." He smiles sheepishly almost as if he's glad I hit him on the head.

"Max?" Elmyra looks into his eyes, gently taking his chin to cause him to look at her. "You're not Max," she concludes to my astonishment. "This is Max's face, but the look in your eyes... Who are you?"

I watch the scene play out unsure of what to say or do. As Elmyra releases her hand from his face, Max looks away and confesses. "You're right, I'm not Max, but this is Max's body and he's still here."

For a moment my eyes grow to three times their size, but I stop myself before the expression can get too wild and my face snaps back to normal. I wouldn't want to get stuck that way. "There are two of you in there?" I inquire unsure. Two people in one body? How did that happen? I have a feeling that everything is about to be revealed.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Tiny Toons. It's the time for the big revelation!