"What do you want?" I asked scowling as a certain lean, dark-haired figure leaned against the locker next to mine.

"I just want to say hi Maxie," he replied chuckling. I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore him as I shoved my books into my backpack. I just wanted to go home. It'd been a long enough day as it was. I didn't need Fang ruining anything else.

"Shut up. You should know better than anyone not to call me Maxie," I responded my voice like ice.

"Just let me talk to you Max," he answered the sarcastic tone from his voice was almost gone, but I knew it could come back in a heartbeat.

"Well too bad. You should've thought of that when you told me we weren't friends anymore," I answered coldly brushing past him. He turned to follow me out, but then stopped. Smart move Fang.

Flashback

Fang and I laughed as we raced towards the park, our bare feet striking the ground.

"I'm gonna beat you!" I called shifting into an all-out sprint. I wasn't going to let Fang win again. He always won. I kept running, but to my surprise Fang hadn't started sprinting like me. We always tried to one up each other, and be better than each other in everything. It was our thing.

"Yeah, I guess so Max," he responded slowing down even more. I wasn't sure what to do since this was so unlike Fang. I slowed down and came to a stop, turning around to talk to Fang.

"You mean you're actually gonna let a girl beat you? It won't be the first time," I smirked to myself remembering how excited I'd been when I actually won a race against Fang.

"Yeah. Whatever," he asked. His voice was different. He wasn't as carefree. He was changing.

"Whatever it is Fang, just tell me okay?" I asked starting to get frustrated. He was never like this. What was his deal?

"Look. We can't really be friends anymore Max. I'm sorry." He looked at the ground, not wanting to look me in the eye.

I stared at him in shock. "So you're too good for me now?"

"It's just that I'm changing, you're changing and we're just different. I'm starting to be popular. None of my friends like you Max, and you kind of bring me down. Look I'm sorry okay," he explained. As if that would count as an explanation.

My heart started pounding really fast, and I was afraid I'd cry. "Well I don't want to be someone's friend if I'm not up to their standards anyway," I replied trying to sound tough. I sounded a lot stronger than I felt. Fang. He'd been my best friend since we'd met in preschool. How could he change so much?

He opened his mouth to say something, but I turned away stormy faced and took off sprinting. Tears streamed down my face as I took off for my house. That stupid jerk. I hated him now.

At least Fang hadn't seen me cry. If he'd seen me cry, he'd know how much he hurt me. He couldn't know he'd hurt me. I couldn't remember the last time I'd cried, except for that one day when I was 9. But I don't think about that day.

That was 3 years ago. I was 11 and it was the day before seventh grade started. From that day on, I'd been different. I'd been stronger. I thought I was pretty strong then, but I was clearly mistaken. He hurt me so easily, but now he couldn't hurt me.

From that day on, I vowed to myself that I would never cry again. I vowed to myself that I wouldn't get hurt. I vowed that I wouldn't trust him the same way again. I just couldn't. I vowed I would be strong and tough. Stronger than before. Not unbreakable, but just better. I was still determined not to break those vows. It'd been 3 years since I'd cried.