A/N: I guarantee, this story is going to get weird.
But first, some general ground rules:
1. I don't really know how old the characters in this are. I'd say, probably around fifteen, sixteen, tops.
2. This is based loosely on Romeo and Juliet, as well as Maximum Ride.
3. There are two stories going on simultaneously. You'll see what I mean later.
4. Although I do not own Maximum Ride or Romeo and Juliet, I totally own Crisscrossed Twinings.

Chapter 1

"Are you done yet?" I ask M&M.

"I will be as soon as you quit asking me that question!" M&M shoots back. His fingers tighten on the keyboard, hard at work. His face is frozen into one of concentration and steely focus.

I back away a little, serious worried that M&M is going to get mad at me. And, if he gets mad at me, then that'll ruin any chance I have of having my own laptop.

TGIF – to the max. This entire week has been hectic and tense. M&M and I were assigned to work on some English report together and well – we don't really get along the greatest. The teacher who slapped the two of us in the same group honestly has no idea of compatibility among students. He would've had an easier time plucking the spots off a Dalmatian than trying to squeeze a decent report out of us.

See, the whole class was divided into groups of two – teacher's pick, of course. Each group's assignment is to choose a novel or play from a list the teacher tacked to the classroom door, read and analyze it, and then write an "insightful, though-provoking paper on the literature of your choice, the content of which will be presented to your classmates in a professional manner at the end of the week after the next."

It sounds just delightful, doesn't it?

There's a catch to the whole "literature of your choice" part, though. It's only your choice if you can make up your mind fast enough and trample over the other students to run over to the teacher's desk and tell him your pick. No two groups can do the same thing. It's to prevent cheating and plagiarizing, I think. Well, M&M and I have completely different tastes in just about everything, not excepting literature. M&M is more of a fantasy-dragon-quest kind of person – stories that are the pure embodiment of Minecraft. But I – I prefer books like Maximum Ride.

So, we were staring at the list of possible report topics, bickering about which one to choose. Each time I suggested something, M&M would say, "Seriously? That one?" The ones he had interest in, I just couldn't stomach. In the end, out whole class was done picking, and we were still pointing fingers and arguing. Geez, time flies when you're in full-out debate mode, you know? I didn't even notice everyone else had already sat back down. Neither did my despicable partner, M&M.

Our teacher then said placidly, "It looks like you're the last group."

M&M and I turned out heads at that.

"There's only one title left, so you'll be reading that…" the teacher continues.

M&M crosses his arms and mutters belligerently under his breath, "Thank god that's settled."

The teacher neatened up a stack of papers and said to us, "Folding Turtles, M&M, you two will be reading Romeo and Juliet."

M&M and I looked at each other, bewildered, and then at out teacher in disbelief.

"What?! No! Isn't there anything else?" I spluttered.

Of course, my classmates start snickering. "M&M and Folding Turtles, on Romeo and Juliet… This otta be gooood…" I heard someone say.

"I'm afraid not," the teacher said, peering down at a paper on his desk.

"Then, can't we switch partners? I am not working with that," M&M glared at me contemptuously. His words were more like poison than real words. I let out a breath indignantly and turn my head around, refusing to look at my partner.

"No," our teacher said. He was as calm as ever. "I explained to everyone before that there will be no switch-sies on this project."

Someone else behind me chuckled. "Hey, dude, can you believe the Teach said 'switch-sies'?"

"And," our teacher continued, "You will call that by her name."

M&M growled and looked at the ground.

"Okay, then can we not work as a group, and read the play by ourselves?" I pleaded.

And then there came another adamant, solid, concrete wall of a "NO."

"Please? We really don't…" I began, but the teacher cut me off.

"No excuses. You will find a way to get along. If things end in a bloodbath, you two will talk with me after school. For right now, you are holding up the class," the teacher said.

"Yeah, Folding Turtles, you holding up the class," someone hissed at me.

My ears turned red. I whipped around and told that person to shut up.

"It isn't a very difficult read. You both are great readers, so comprehension should not be an issue. If you really get into the play, it's actually kind of fun," the teacher said with a little laugh. "Take your seats now. I'm going to explain the project."

M&M and I glowered at each other. We shot a nasty look at our teacher, but it wasn't of any good because he was too busy straightening up a stack of papers on his desk to see it. When I got back to my seat, I slammed my head down into my arms. That's it, I thought. We have officially been sentenced to eternal doom.

That was four days ago. Since then, M&M and I have tried to be civil during the times that we work together, but the fragile diplomacy never holds out very long. Pretty soon, we're both at each other's necks. I don't see how this project will ever work. We're simply too different – too combustible next to each other.

Then yesterday, when we starting on a prewrite/planning paper for our essay (The teacher was right out that part. We do read fast.), things did not go well. M&M has a laptop; I don't; so M&M always brings it to the library, where we go to work. During the planning session, I wanted to type one thing and M&M another. A few fights and a really messed-up Word document later, the librarian kicked us out with strict orders to not comeback until we are "capable of respecting library etiquette".

That little mishap means right now, we're at my house.

But, back to the story.

Outside, we started blaming each other for who's responsible for getting us both tossed out of the library. That argument never came to an end, but we decided that most of the blame rests on the fact that we only have one laptop to share. Since sharing with each other isn't part of our vocabulary, M&M and I decided things might not be so rough if we each had separate workstations.

"Then, you can do what you want, and I can do what I want, and we'll morph them together at the end," was what M&M told me.

That was the only time we will ever agree on something.

We parted to walk home. I knew we would be stalled until I could scrounge up the money to buy a laptop. I wasn't really concerned about the time, though. We were ahead of schedule, anyway.

So I was walking and walking…

The day was getting dark. I saw a shadow behind me. Sometimes, it would disappear behind trees and buildings, but there was no denying the fact that I had a stalker on my tail. I steeled myself to punch that guy's living daylights out if it really had to come to that.

Then, a bush rustled, and a man jumped out in front of me.

I skidded on my feet and curled my hands into fists. Don't mess with me, I thought.

The man approached me, hands held out. He looked like a strange, mutated combination of Shakespeare and James Patterson. He had Shakespeare's frilly collar and hairstyle thing going on, and also Patterson's under-chin wobble and wire-frame glasses. Okay, now this is plain weird, I thought.

"Are you in need of a laptop?" the JP/Shakey guy asked me.

"Ummm…" I backed away slowly one or two steps.

The mutant guy produced a chrome-gray laptop from thin air and held it out to me. "Take it," he said without any trace of menace.

"No, that's… you can keep it," I said cautiously.

"No, it's yours. Take it," the mutant guy insisted.

"Really? Geez, that's…"

"It's yours. It's free."

I blinked. "Whoa, really?" Come on, who doesn't like free stuff? I snatched the laptop out of mutant guy's hands "Thanks!"

"This is the key to unlocking both of your potentials – to healing an ancient wound. Use it well; use it wisely. And with that, I depart. {Note 1}" The mutant guy's voice echoed creepily in the air.

I was about to ask him what meant by that fortune cookie omen, but then the guy started fading away right after he finished talking. Then, it was just me, my strange new laptop, and the descending night.

Naturally, when I got home, the first thing I did was turn the laptop on. The guy said it was mine, right? I thought. Startup was fine, but then the laptop asked me to log in. I was like, okay… And I tried a couple of combinations I usually use (which I will not reveal to you), but they didn't work. But the guy said it was mine, I thought.

Frustrated and spooked, I turned my new laptop off and went to bed. Then, I got an idea. There's one person I know what can break into that laptop, I thought. I'll have to go to that person for help, as much as I detest the guy.

Earlier this morning, I showed M&M my new acquisition and told him what happened last night.

"So, can you break the password?" I asked.

M&M is great with computers, so I figured I had this one in the bag. Instead, I got:

"Are you out of your mind, Folding Turtles?! Who knows what that guy you met did to bug it? Of course I could break in, but I'm not doing it!"

"Come on! He said it was mind. I don't think anything bad is going to happen," I tried to persuade him.

M&M stared at me for a long time, arms crossed. I stared back. Staring contest! I thought. Our gazes were unrelenting. Finally, M&M turned around and started up my laptop.

"Fine. Let's see what happens. If this place explodes, it's all on you."

I don't think M&M was actually letting me win, though. Secretly, he must have been curious about what was inside that laptop.

A few minutes later, I started bugging M&M about when the laptop would be ready. "Are you done yet? Are you done yet? Are you done yet?" That probably wasn't nice of me, but a minute can feel like an hour when you're waiting for something.

Let's see… I think you're all caught up now, so let's continue.

"I think I got it!" M&M says giddily. His index finger hovers a millimeter above the enter key.

I rush over and stare intently at the screen. We hold out breaths, and M&M presses down on the key.

The screen turns black.

M&M is about to faint, but then two words flash across the screen: Access granted.

We both let out a sigh of relief.

"We're in," M&M says.

"Yeah, see, and it didn't blow us up or anything," I say.

M&M squints at me from behind his thick glasses. "Uh huh… Not yet, anyway. I don't know if there's a time bomb inside or something."

"What're the chances of that?" I ask.

I motion for M&M to get out of the chair so I can see. M&M glares at me.

"I got it to function," he says simply.

"And I'm the one who gave it to you to get it to function," I return. "Move it."

M&M grits his teeth, but he complies. I slither in and open up Word.

While we wait for Word to finish "validating" and "processing" M&M taps a fast beat on the floor. I feel his eyes boring into the back of my skull. With a sigh, I turn around and look up at him.

"What?" I ask.

"Aren't you going to thank me?" M&M asks pointedly.

I look at him square in the eye. I don't blink. M&M doesn't either. Great, another staring contest.

The angelic consciousness pops up in my head. "M&M is right. Even if you don't like him, you should express your gratitude."

Then, the devilish consciousness makes its appearance. "Aw, don' listen to lil' angel here."

The angelic consciousness elbows its counterpart in the ribs viciously. "Beat it! I'm trying to tell Folding Turtles something."

" 'Ey!" the devilish consciousness protests. "Aren' you the one who's always saying…"

The angelic consciousness claps a hand over its mouth. "Don't listen to this guy. Do what I say," the horribly annoying, always-right voice chides me.

I groan inwardly. "Thank you, M&M." I thought the words would taste like acid on my tongue, but surprisingly, they don't feel that bad.

M&M smiles. The moment is fleeting, and it could have been my eyes playing tricks on my, but I think M&M actually smiled – at me! Is the world ending?

There's a beep from my laptop, and I turn around to face the screen again. I expected a blank document, but this one already has test on it. M&M sees the mysterious, out-of-place words and leans in close to the screen.

"What the…" M&M says wonderingly.

The heading to the document catches my attention:

The First Installment of the Story Woven by: Shakespeare's Quill and James Patterson's Typewriter

As soon as my eyes read the words, I jump back, making the chair I was sitting in clatter to the floor. What the heck is going on…? I try to calm myself down.

"Folding T? What…?" M&M begins to ask.

I cut him off. "Those were the guys following me around last night."

"Huh?" M&M is confused. "I thought there was only one guy."

"Yeah, but he was like – a Shakespeare and Patterson mash-up!" I exclaim.

M&M is about to ask me something else, but then my laptop trembles on the table. We both take one step back, fearing for our lives. Then, my laptop starts glowing with an otherworldly light.

Suddenly, a hologram pops out from the screen. At first, it's fuzzy, like the snowflakes on TV. The sound isn't too great, either. Slowly, like it is being tuned, images and voices come into focus.

We see an empty stage, the curtains drawn. The hologram starts zooming in on the center of the stage as the curtains open.

Once the scene in the entirety is revealed, I gasp.

So, whaddaya think?
Folding Turtles, out! ;)

{Note 1} In the actual play, right about when Romeo is killing himself, he says, "And with a kiss, I die." I know. He's a total drama queen.