Compartment 14

Max was sitting in the compartment, talking with Nick, his whole face bright and animated. He pretty much looked the same, except for a few minor differences. His curly hair was getting long, he was tanned and freckly from the summer, and now sported purple braces. And, he was in the middle of telling Nicky a story.

"...And so, Matt's in the sandbox, right? And he says 'Max, look at these Lincoln Logs I found!' and he holds them up to show me, and I say 'Uh, Matt, I don't think those are Lincoln Logs...'" and then Max burst out laughing at his own punchline.

"AHAHAHA-isn't that funny?!" he exclaimed, between gales of laughter.

Nicolas laughed a little, obviously not thinking the joke was very funny. He actually thought it was pretty gross, but he may as well not say that now. He kept glancing out the window, looking for the familiar blonde he had known for as long as he could remember. "That's a great story, Max, haha," Nicolas said weakly.

"I know, isn't it?! Ah, Nick..." Max reached over, and rumpled up his hair. "How was YOUR summer? I talked about mine way too much."

Eric walked by Nick and Max's compartment, eying inside shyly. He tapped on the glass weakly. He had a giant bag nearly the size of him, and he had big, wide and nervous eyes.

"Hey, Nick, do you know that kind?" Max asked him in a low voice, glancing at the boy.

Nicolas, rather than staring at him or something, grinned widely. He jumped up, opened the door, and gave Eric a big MAN HUG RRRR.

"Eric! How are you?!" Nicolas cried as soon as he let go of Eric. He looked over his shoulder at Max. "Hey, Max, this is a good friend of mine, Eric. D'you mind if he sits with us?"

Max shook his head, and smiled at Eric, though it seemed to be frozen for a minute.

"Oh, no not at all!" he said brightly. "Come sit down!" But in his head, he was thinking something along the lines of "Oh God, ME, Max Silva, is about to become the third wheel."

Eric grinned. "Yay, thanks!" he said and plopped down next to Nicolas. He looked at the two of them nervously, and then down to his giant bag. "What were you two talking about before I interrupted?"

"Oh, what happened over the summer I was telling Nick what happened over the summer, with my little brother Matt, you see..." And Max proceeded to tell the whole story again, including laughing over it all over again.

"Ah... I've talked too much. What did you two do?" he asked.