Max shrieked as he tripped over one of Zoey's shoes that was left on the staircase. Down he went, tumbling to the bottom of the stairs.

The sound alerted his father to his existence and the man grinned from ear-to-ear. "Morning, Son!"

There was a beat of silence as Max fixed his hat, then "Morning, Dad."

Isaac stood on the other side of the counter, stuffing his money back into his pocket. "You!"

"You!" Max pointed as he stood, but fell flat on his chin immediately to which Isaac snorted and walked around to help him up. He set his hands on Max's arms and slowly Max began to stand. "You're a little early today."

Usually Isaac would show up about five minutes after Max got downstairs and Max would sit and wait for him. Of course- Max would always pretend he hadn't been waiting.

Isaac's eyes widened and he looked down at his pocket. "Well that's because I rushed here. Guess what Isabel texted me?"

"A sext?" Max's dad asked.

Max groaned and made a face Isaac snickered at. "I'm starting to think you know what it means and you're just embarrassing me with it!"

His father chuckled darkly and went up the stairs to make sure Zoey was awake.

"What did she send you that you felt you couldn't wait to show me?"

Since the entire fiasco with Conall, Isabel and Ed had become much friendlier with Isaac. On occasion they'd be bored in the clubroom after school with nothing to do while Spender did anything but teach. Max would be tired and using Isaac's shoulder as a pillow, Isabel would be twirling her umbrella on the tip of her finger and Ed would be slung over the armrest of the chair. Then Isaac would get a text, look at it, and get angry at Isabel or Ed about something 'not being funny' to which the two would laugh and Max would be really confused.

Usually when he asked to see the message, Isaac would get red in the face and hold his phone far, far away from Max. He would say "Don't worry about it!" and Max would never know what it said.

On their way out of the corner store, Isaac took his phone out of his pocket and handed it to him. "Take a look."

Max opened the message app, found Isabel's name and tapped on it. "God your phone is slow."

"Blame my parents. That phone is like three years old and they can't see I need a new one." Isaac shrugged but point at the device. "Look at what she said."

Max gasped.

"No…"

"Yep."

"No way!"

Isaac snickered and nodded. That had been his reaction, too.

"Ed has a girlfriend?!"

"Uh huh, and Isabel doesn't like her one bit." Max stared down at the phone, wide-eyed. "You're kidding me!"

"Well it was bound to happen sometime." As Isaac talked, Max suddenly became very curious. Poor, unsuspecting Isaac had handed him his phone- therefor all of the texts Isabel and/or Ed had sent him that he hadn't let Max see! With a sneaky smirk on his face, he scrolled up Isaac's messages to see if Isaac had deleted it.

He found it.

Aw u & max luk soo cut. I ship it.

Max felt his cheeks warm up. What?! Him and Isaac?! Together?! Isabel was even crazier than he thought she was. There was no way in a million years he would ever look at Isaac like that!

Isaac reached over and gently took the phone from Max's hands. As he did so, the tips of his fingers shifted against Max's. It was just enough for Max to feel the warmth of Isaac's hand and a bolt of electricity Isaac hadn't made.

Max flashed back to shutting down the machine in Man's Rise Cave and felt a drop in his stomach that wasn't all too unpleasant when he remembered how Isaac's hand felt under his own. Feeling Isaac return the friendly (affectionate) gesture, after the medium had tossed him every which way and threatened him, was almost therapeutic. He turned to Isaac to complain about him taking the phone too soon but when he'd looked, he found the medium's eyes already locked on his. There was a warm smile on his face that could melt the heart of the Vice Principal. He'd really started smiling more after the Conall situation. Now, it was becoming apparent that he was feeling more comfortable calling Max his friend. "I guess there's somebody for everyone, you know?"

Max's heart skipped a beat.

He couldn't stop staring. The blue of Isaac's eyes, shining in humor, had him trapped in a cage he couldn't excape, even if he wanted to.

Isaac frowned when Max continued to stare at him and not respond. He waved a hand in front of his face. "Max? Hello? Are you in there?"

His friend grumbled and stuffed his hands in his pockets, facing the rod ahead of them. "Yeah, whatever, I'm fine." Isaac pouted but shrugged and decided to leave it be. Max would talk to him about it eventually.

- School -

Isabel rolled her eyes as she followed behind Ed and his girlfriend, Cindy. With a hand tucked in his, she obviously felt like she was the lightest thing on earth.

She'd feel really light when Isabel knocked her brains out- if she had any.

As Isabel stewed in her hatred, Ed was laughing and nodding along to the story Cindy was telling.

"I had no idea what to do, so I just let the puppy out the back door and waited until the bear was done eating."

"Wow! You're really quick on your feet, huh?"

Cindy blushed and twirled a strand of her blonde hair in her finger. "I wouldn't say that…"

Ed loved everything about her, from her flower dresses to her curly blonde hair to her laugh to her mary-janes. He was positive- he'd found the one. Ed sighed and tightened his hand around hers. "You're so pretty."

Cindy giggled and reciprocated his touch by leaning over and kissing his cheek, making his already-pink face fiery red. "And you are so sweet!"

Isabel silently mouthed her words mockingly and made kissy noises.

"Wow, you really hate her, don't you?"

"I don't think you even know." Isabel kicked the closest locker and turned around. "Hey, Max. Hey, Isaac."

Max waved coolly while Isaac smiled and nodded.

"Hey, so what's the deal with morning patrol?"

"Ed and I had it. It was nothing but the sister of that groundhog spirit we took care of a while ago. She wanted revenge for her brother's new home inside of a cooking utensil."

"I'd be pretty mad, too if my sister was going to be used to stir batter the rest of her life." Max snickered and he and Isaac separated to walk on either side of Isabel. The girl sighed and slumped as she walked. "Look at them. She's so soft and… ditzy! She could never hold her own in a fight! Why does he like her?!"

Isaac nudged her shoulder cautiously. "Isabel, don't you think you're a little um…"

"Jealous?" Max finished, raising an eyebrow.

Isabel sputtered. "M-Me?! Jealous?! What- bu- I- nau-!" Her face grew dark and filled with rage- terrifying enough that Max and Isaac purposefully fell behind her to avoid her wrath. "No. I am not jealous." Her frenzied gaze turned back to Ed, whose eyes were locked adoringly on Cindy. She'd never seen him look at anyone that way- especially girls who couldn't throw a proper punch. Upon Cindy leaning to whisper in Ed's ear, Isabel turned away with her arms crossed. "He's like a brother to me, that's gross!"

"I wasn't saying like that." Isaac got his courage back up after her focus wasn't on himself and Max anymore. "He's your best friend and now that he has a girlfriend, she's taking up all his time."

"So there's no more 'hey Ed let's go destroy this' or 'Ed let's go fight that', huh?"

Isabel flinched and the boys put even more distance between their bodies and her fury.

Isaac elbowed Max warningly. They both sighed and dropped the subject.

- The Clubroom -

Mister Spender grimaced as he watched the news from his computer.

Thousands dead. Beach is still open due to heavy tourism, but under investigation. Nobody knows what happened.

Everyone drowned.

He stopped the video and closed the tab before leaning back in his chair and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "It seems like we have our next spirit."

"That sounds a little dangerous." Isaac murmured, sitting on the armrest of the couch opposite of Max's seat on the actual cushion (much to Max's disappointment- HE DIDN'T CARE. WHY WOULD HE CARE ABOUT THAT?! NO REASON TO CARE THAT HIS PILLOW WAS SO FAR AWAY). "Well of course it is!" Isabel grinned and punched the palm of her other hand. "But that means it's going to be pretty fun!"

"I'm not sending you children to fight anything." Spender leaned forward so that he was sitting up against the desk. "I'm sending you to investigate a nearby pond. It's where the bodies were found but not where they were when they died. Ask their ghosts a few questions if there are any around."

"What do you think we'll find?" Max asked cautiously. Even though Spender sent them out on simple and safe missions pretty often, most of the time they turned out to be some of the most dangerous ones.

"I'm not sure. Look for any run-offs the bodies could have flowed in from."

Max quirked an eyebrow. "Aren't the cops pretty heavy over there? If that's where the dead bodies are then the pond should be under investigation, too."

Spender nodded. "You'll have to find a way around them."

"Great! Let's go!"

Isaac and Max simultaneously sighed and stood up, following her out.

"Boys?" They paused and looked back. Spender raised an eyebrow. "Where is Ed?"

They both laughed, looked at each-other, and shrugged.