“This is sooooo stupid!”

Max was throwing a temper tantrum all alone in her room. Well, not all alone: there was a single maid watching her with the apathy only a paid servant can know. The ability to sigh without making it audible, releasing the breath when your master looks away.

“Oh my god! I can’t believe this! So totally dumb!”

The early-twenties mistress was shouting into her pillows then throwing them across the room. It was a worthless exercise that didn’t even relieve her frustrations.

“Maid! Maid!”

At this, the maid named Luise stirred. She knew she was going to need to pretend to care. It was like a television drama, though Luise didn’t have time to watch many.

“Yes, mistress?”

“Can you believe it? This is so stupid! Dad is such a jerk!”

The frustration Max was releasing was understandable. Even if her maid didn’t really care one way or the other, she at least could sympathize.

The inciting incident of this drama was from dinner earlier: the entire Vasquez family had got together since her dad was going out for a short trip for business. That was pretty standard; he was a somewhat important politician and was requested for bureaucratic purposes throughout District 5. Usually just for an extra vote or for some political schmoozing. This wasn’t the important part.

It was what happened as everyone was finishing. A stupid move by Mr. Vasquez.

‘Maxine, honey, you know your mother and I care about you, right?’

‘Huh? Yeah, sure, did something happen?’

‘Yes, it did. The thing is, we’ve found you a husband. You’re getting married.’

‘I’m what?’

‘Getting married. He’s a nice fellow, Michael Locke. His parents are pretty influential business owners over in the 6th District. I’ve already talked to them and they sound pretty happy, and so does he.’

‘Wait, you can’t be serious, right? You’re telling me that I’m getting married?’

‘Yes. We’ll come visit you, and-’

‘SCREW YOU!’

And more or less, since then, Max had been cooped up in her room shouting and thrashing about. In this day and age, political marriages weren’t common with most people, but if you were in the upper class, it was basically a coin flip whether you’d have a choice in your companion. Even when Mrs. Vasquez tried to calm her daughter by explaining that her own marriage was arranged and that she fell in love with Lenore, Max wasn’t buying it. Actually, that just made it worse. Who would want a stuffy life like this?

When the tantrum eventually got to the point that a chair broke, Luise decided to step in.

“Mistress, please calm down,” she said, deftly taking a step in to put a hand on Max’s shoulder. “Calm down.”

Repeating herself actually worked and Max stopped struggling.

“They’re so stupid! Can’t they tell that I don’t want to just marry some random guy? I hate it,” Max said, her face already covered in tears and ruined makeup. “We live in 2014 for Lord’s sake! This is inhumane! Preposterous!”

“They’re stupid, so very stupid,” Luise agreed. “But what is complaining going to do? Has your father ever changed his mind from doing this kind of stuff?”

There was a pause as Max thought about it.

“Darn it…”

It was true. Even though Lenore was well known for being spineless in the political world, he was surprisingly draconic towards his children. Perhaps it was because of how his father had raised him? Nobody knew.

“Then what am I supposed to do? I don’t want to get married away…”

“I’m not sure, Mistress. Perhaps you could try and sway your so-called ‘fiance’ to cancel the marriage?”

“Hah! As if that would work,” Max said, snorting out air. “Come on. If my father sent this man a picture of me, there’s no way he would change his mind. I’m simply too beautiful. No man could resist my charms.”

Luise kept a straight face even though she was cursing her master internally.

“And his name too, so stupid! Michael! Mike! We would be Michael and Maxine...Mike and Max! That’s horrible! That’s the kind of stupid matching names that people think is cute even when you have no control over it. And even worse, his last name! Locke! My name would be Max Locke! That sounds like some kind of stupid product salesmen try to get you to purchase that would keep children from getting into your room! I hate this!”

“If you truly hate it, then you need to do something about it,” Luise said. “Just worrying and hating it won’t do much. You need to act.”

“I need to act…”

It was currently an age of gender equality. Max had completed a bachelor’s degree at university, something her mother would have been discouraged from doing. That meant she had an education, which should mean she could think of something.

Something did come to mind.

Perhaps it was just a stroke of luck that she hadn’t accidentally shattered her mirror, because the reflection of herself and her servant gave Max inspiration. If you factored out their clothes and makeup, the two women were pretty similar looking. Both had wavy brown hair, and both were pale white with dark green eyes. They were similar heights and weights, and both walked with the classically trained cadence high class women walked with. If the maid were to be dressed up…

“Actually, I have an idea,” Max said slowly, measuring every word. She trusted her maid, but didn’t want to offend her. Ah...if only Max knew her name. Well, she could pretend. “I have an idea, and I need your help for it. Maxine Vasquez.” She was staring right at her maid when she said her own name.

Luise was just confused.

“What?”