AN: 'Sup peeps. Tsparks158 here coming at you with another Fax filled fic.
But, uh, here's the kicker: It's all HUMAN! My first AH fic for MR. Hopefully, This will be another easily loved fic. It includes EVERYONE! Why you ask? *shrugs* Cause I felt like it, so Nyeh!
Disclaimer: Maximum Ride and the rest of its characters belong to the genius, or idiot (considering the newest book), James Patterson. Not me, ho-hum. Ahh whatever, let's begin shall we?
AN: Bolded words are Spanish translations
Dark Romeo: A Maximum Ride story
Chapter 1: Introductions
Max POV
"MAX! WAKE UP!!!" Ella, my younger half-sister, called from my doorway, "Finals are today!"
I groaned and rolled over to my side, taking my pillow and covering my head. I was so not in the mood to get up.
Last night, I found out my three year boyfriend, Sam, was cheating on me with the slut of the campus, Lisa Sylvia, aka Lisa the Boy Stealer. My friend Monique, who I call Nudge, caught them making out after one period and I didn't believe her. But when I confronted Sam, he didn't deny it. The asshole.
I thought Sam was different. At first, he seemed like 'The One'. He was perfect, he was easily 6' 1", a nice body, good head between his shoulders, and had the bluest eyes you've ever seen. I thought for sure he'd be the one for me, that we'd be together forever. I was wrong. After he flat out told me he was cheating on me, I slapped Sam across the face and then punched him in the gut. I'm not the type of girl that takes being cheated on well, or at least settling for a slap.
"Maxine Valarie Martinez!" Ella yelled my full name. I groaned and sat up.
"Okay, okay! I'm up! God!" I swung my legs over the side of my bed and stood up, glaring at my younger sister. Ella gave me a sympathetic look.
"I know you had a hard night, what with the whole Sam/Lissa thing," Ella said, "But your finals are TODAY! This will be the only day for you to take them! You gotta get dressed!"
"What's the point, Ella?" I yawned out and walked past her to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Ella stood behind me, dressed for the day in jeans and a yellow top, her hair in a ponytail and crossed her arms.
"The point, Max," Ella said, "Is that Mom, Dad, and hell, even Artie, are gonna be here Tuesday for the graduation ceremony!"
I choked on my toothpaste. Even Artie, little Artie Batchleder, is coming to my college graduation!? I thought. I coughed my toothpaste up and spat it into the sink. I grabbed the cup I use to rinse my mouth and took a drink of water to stop my coughing fit.
"Little Artie's coming too?" I asked Ella. She nodded. I shoved her out of the bathroom, "OUT! I've gotta shower!"
After a nice, cleansing shower, I rushed into my room and got dressed. I rushed out of the room, still putting my Converse sneakers on my feet. I was dressed to kill, my skin tight sky blue tank top and brown Capri's complimenting my Arizonan tan and my Mexican features.
My dusty blonde hair blew behind me as I raced to my homeroom, Advanced Biology. Yeah, I'm blonde and smart. So if you even THINK about making dumb blonde jokes near me, be ready for a black-belt roundhouse kick to the jaw as a response. I find dumb blonde jokes sexist as well, how many guys are ever teased over being blonde? Hardly any! I mean come on girls! Find a blonde guy, watch him do something stupid, and then pull a dumb blonde joke on him! How hard is it, I mean really?
I attended Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. I was on my fourth year and here on a scholarship. Today was my last Final exam and I couldn't get it over with sooner.
"YO! MAXIE!!" a familiar voice yelled behind me. I slowed to a stop and looked behind me to see Ella's boyfriend and one of my friends, Ian "Ignatius" Albertson. Iggy, short for Ignatius, was 6' 3" and built like a basketball player, but much thinner. He had strawberry blond hair and light blue eyes...almost foggy-ish. He was dressed in a plain maroon red t-shirt and tan cargos, and was wearing read and brown Etnies sneakers.
"Hey Iggy," I said acknowledging his cry for attention. All we've known him for, that's what he's been, one really attention obsessed kid. He started by making small fires, then it was stink-bombs, and then it was just plain old bombs. But all that aside, Iggy is defiantly a guy I trust. Hell, I'm letting him date my little sister aren't I?
"Are you ready for the finals?" Iggy asked. I smirked.
"No, Ig, you can't copy my answers," I replied. Iggy dropped his head and snapped his fingers dramatically.
"Damn," Iggy said with a fake sad tone, "And here I was, all excited to fail along with you. I guess I'll have to pass and move on with my life."
While he laughed, I shoved him aside and smiled. We approached our homeroom and stopped in front of the room. I took a deep breath. Iggy put a hand on my shoulder.
"You wanna switch seats?" Iggy asked. I shook my head.
"Thanks but no thanks Ig," I said, "If he even tries to blow last night off, I'll give him a subtle reminder that I dumped him."
Iggy snickered and nodded his head, "I got your back if you need it, Max."
"Thanks Ig," I said sincerely. I opened the classroom door and entered casually. I smiled at our teacher Mr. Rowell, who smiled back and then turned his attention on Iggy. The first year Iggy and I were in the class; Iggy made a stink-bomb and set it in Mr. Rowell's desk. Mr. Rowell, being older and wiser and expecting a prankster in his class, found the stink-bomb and returned it to Iggy before it went off in the class. He and Iggy got along very well after that, so much as even making a "special" firework for the 4th of July celebration together. Boy oh boy, was Dean Charles Fitzgerald pissed off when that firework said, "SCHOOL IS FOR CHUMPS LIKE CHARLIE FITZGERALD"
I made my way to my seat. To my left, one of the smartest girls in school, Brigit Dwyer. She is a fri- No; she's an ally...for now. We usually get along, but lately, she's been ...weird. Well, weirder in her case. Brigit is a Rights-activist addict. She will go against anything that she sees as morally wrong: Cutting down the Rainforest, Oil dumping, and she's even part of PETA, the penguin division. Don't get me wrong, I love penguins as much as the next person, but really? There's a whole separate division just for penguins? That's a little weird.
On my right is the bastard I dumped last night, Samuel Reeds. He looked at me apologetically, but I shot him an evil glare. This glare, had it been the ability to kill on contact, would have erased Sam Reeds from the face of the planet. Possibly even the universe. Sam, being the smart boy he is, looked away to his desk. I smirked triumphantly and took my seat. I looked at Brigit and saw her flash me a smile. I returned the gesture and then faced the front of the class, while Iggy took his spot behind me.
"Okay ladies and gentlemen," Mr. Powell said, "Today is your, hopefully, last day in here. I want to remind you all that if I so much as think about the possibility of one of you cheating, I will excuse you from this classroom so fast, you won't know how you made it to the Dean's office. Mr. Albertson, on the other hand, would probably just sit back and enjoy the ride."
Everyone let a laugh loose as Iggy stood and made a small formal bow.
"And then for my next trick..." Iggy started, causing another round of laughs.
"All right, Ignatius," Mr. Powell said raising a hand, "Take a seat, Mr. Albertson. Now, as you can see, I've already took the liberty to pass the finals out. The rules are simple: You cheat, you fail. You may begin........Now."
After I finished entering my final answer for the Bio Final, I closed my test and answer booklet and walked down to hand in my test. I set my booklets on top of the others and gave Mr. Rowell a smile. He returned my gesture and pointed to the door. I smiled again and left the room.
"FINALLY!" Nudge exclaimed, "You were taking forever in there! Even Iggy finished before you! Come on, Ella told me to take you to the Starbucks after you finished. Seeing as it took Iggy a shorter amount of time to finish his test, they are already there. Do you think Iggy passed? I hope for Ella's sake he did. They make such a cute couple. Oh, sorry, I know you and Sam just broke up. I'm still sorry I was the one that broke it to you. But, now that I think about it, Sam was always sneaking around after gym. I can't believe he didn't even try to deny it! What kind of guy doesn't even try to lie about it to cover his own ass? I mean really? Ooo, speaking of guys, I heard Dylan Myers and Stacy Riches broke up. Why don't you go after him? He's had the hots for you for forever! He's cute, smart, blonde, everything you like in a guy! And then there's his–"
"NUDGE!" I shouted smiling. Nudge gave me an apologetic smile in return. I shook my head and started walking towards the Starbucks.
"Sorry," she apologized, "I didn't mean to ramble, Max."
"I know Nudge," I said, "It's who you are, and I forgive you for it. As for the whole dating thing, maybe I should just wait a few days. We were together for three years after all."
"Yeah," Nudge said simply, "But when do you think you'll get back on the wagon for other guys?"
"Not for awhile, Nudge," I said back to her with a smile, "Not for awhile."
"If you say so," Nudge said, brushing my comment off. She sped up a little in her walking, her dark curls bouncing with each step. She was wearing a skin tight forest green shirt with her white skirt that reaches her mid-thigh. She was wearing white Nike's, most likely because Ella was wearing her black Gucci flats. I told her to hold onto her flats, but no, she loans them to Ella and still expects to get them back. No, I'm kidding, Ella and Nudge always share clothes, because they're best friends. Not shocking, at all, considering they both are shopaholics. Iggy has refused to go to the mall anymore because of them.
We entered the Starbucks and headed to our normal table, where Ella and Iggy were... ugh, sucking face.
"Nudge?" I said casually as we stood watching my sister and my friend make out, "Do you know how do dissect a biological impossibility?"
"Why, no Max," Nudge responded, "I don't. How do you dissect a biological impossibility?"
"You SHOUT INTO THE IMPOSSIBILITIES EARS!" I shouted into Ella and Ig's ears, making them jump apart.
"Sorry, Max," Ella said blushing.
"Yeah, uh, sorry. We already ordered your usual orders, guys," Iggy said. Nudge and I took our seats across from them and we began talking about the hottest subject of the hour: our Finals grades.
"I think I did fairly well, if I do say so myself," Iggy boasted. I took a sugar packet and threw it at his head. He pouted playfully, causing Nudge, Ella, and I to laugh. I stopped laughing when I saw three people walk into the coffee shop: Two guys and one girl. They were dressed like bikers, but their actions easily showed they weren't a gang.
The girl was easily my height and had my hair color, but hers was longer then mine reaching halfway down to her back. She was wearing black jeans and a leather jacket. Boots were noticeable on her feet and she was holding onto a guy who was easily 6 foot easy. The guy had weird pants on, they were grey with a flame design going down and side pockets that made them look like cargos. He was also wearing a black jacket, but his said "Harley-Davidson" on the side. He had brown hair that was really short and was wearing riding shades. Like his girlfriend, he was wearing black biker boots.
The one that got most of my attention though was the one wearing a black leather jacket and black jeans. His hair was black and was a length that made him look really, really good. It looked like it was blown everywhere, so I was guessing he didn't wear a hat or helmet when he rode. He took his shades off to reveal onyx black eyes underneath. Yeah, remember when I said blue eyes were my favorite color? I was wrong. This guy's eyes were so gorgeous. He walked up to the counter and leaned forward, scanning the menu. His two friends walked over to the booth next to ours.
"Max!" Nudge hissed, getting my attention.
"What?" I asked her in the same tone. She looked at me and glanced back to the guy and then back to me.
"You were totally just checking him out," Nudge accused. I blushed when I noticed the suggestive tone in her voice.
"No I wasn't," I denied. I was, but I was way too embarrassed to admit it to my friends. Iggy and Ella snickered, making me send my glare their way.
"Oh, you defiantly were checking biker boy out," Iggy said. I was going to continue my denial but a figure moved next to us, blocking out the sun.
"Are you girls and guy talking about my friend?" A voice said. We looked up to see the shade wearing guy standing with his hands in his pockets. He was smiling a full blown grin as he waited for our response.
"Maybe you shouldn't eavesdrop," Ella said. The guy let out a laugh and took his shades off, revealing hazel eyes.
"Sorry, I can't help myself," The guy said, "The name's Tomas Boreanaz. Like that actor, but no relation. You can call me T or Bones. I answer to both."
Tomas held his hand out to Ella, but she just stared at him like he was crazy, as did the rest of us. The girl that looked like me came up behind him.
"T, what are you doing?" She hissed. Tomas shrugged.
"I overheard their conversation and thought they were talking about Alex, so I introduced myself and then you walked up, Sammy," he explained.
'Sammy' rolled her eyes and grabbed his shoulder tightly. She looked back to us and gave us an apologetic smile.
"I'm so sorry," she said, "Tom usually keeps his nose out of other peoples business. Don't you, Tom?"
"Ow! Crazy girl!" Tomas exclaimed in pain when she tightened her grip, "That hurts!"
"What do you say to the people you bothered then?" Sammy asked him. She added more pressure on his shoulder.
"Ow! I'm sorry! There I said it! Now let go!" Tom said again. Ella and Nudge were giggling at the display in front of us, Iggy was sending the poor guy a "Wow...that's sad, Dude," look, and I was biting on my lip to keep from laughing at Tom's pain. Sammy released his shoulder and Tom began to mutter in Spanish, while moving his shoulder around.
"What'd you call me?" Sammy said. Tom raised his arms in defense, but he had a nervous smile on his face.
"Nothing, I didn't call you anything!" he said, "I swear."
Sammy looked him in the eye while he continued to smile back at her. She dropped her glare and grabbed his arms moving them out of the way; she leaned closer to him and smiled.
"Good," she said, "Hate to have to kick you ass in front of your new friends."
"Yeah, well, they'd probably enjoy it anyway," Tom said. They kissed and then Tom whispered something to her in Spanish, "I introduced myself as Tomas Boreanaz, should I tell them my real name?"
Sammy broke the small hug and smacked his chest, making him wince, "What kind of dumbass question is that? Of course you should use you're real name, moron."
I narrowed my eyes at 'Tomas', if that was even his real name. I don't like being lied to; it's a strong dislike for me. 'Tomas' smiled sheepishly and then sighed when he realized Sammy wouldn't let this go.
"Okay so my real name is Thomas Stevens," Thomas re-introduced himself, "Tomas is my stage name."
"Stage name?" Nudge asked, "What? Are you in a band or something?"
Thomas nodded, "You're looking at the drummer for Dark Romeo. And Sammy here is our bassist, and my fiancé."
Sammy nodded and lifted her left hand, revealing a solid gold band around her ring finger. Ella and Nudge gazed over the ring with awe, and I'll admit, I was pretty impressed with the ring, too. It was detailed around with small markings in a beautiful pattern. I think I heard Iggy mutter, "I hate this guy..."
The four of us introduced our selves and asked what their band was like. Tom and Sammy said they weren't at liberty to tell, seeing as their first actual gig was at the graduation ceremony, instead of at a mall or some coffee store. When we said Iggy and I were graduating this year, they congratulated us and Sammy asked if college life was any fun. We got into a nice conversation talking more about our lives. My recent break-up was brought up and Sammy and Tom shared their condolences.
"Yo! Sam! Tom!" The guy with gorgeous eyes called from the door, "Got the goods, let's roll."
"You got it, Alex," Sammy called back. 'Alex' made what looked like a scowl, but then he went out the front. Tom tossed a card in front of me onto the table. I looked up to him confused. He smiled and moved his shades back to position.
"Drop us a line," Tom said, "We'll be around for the graduation ceremony if you're attending. Hope to see you guys again."
"Nice meeting you, too," Iggy said standing and holding his hand out. Tom lifted his own and gripped Iggy's in a handshake, Iggy winced a little from Tom's grip. Sammy sent a smile to us and led Tom out the door. We looked out the window to see them both approach a really nice looking motorcycle. It had custom blue flame designs covering black body paint. 'Alex's bike was Black as well, but had blue lightning designs covering it. Sammy got on behind Tom and moved he sunglasses to cover her eyes. She leaned forward to wrap her arms around Tom. Tom and Alex pulled their bikes out of the parking spaces they were taking up and then rode away.
"Did you see that ring?" Ella asked Nudge and I, "It was so beautiful... Iggy?"
"Oh, no... We aren't talking about this now," Iggy said, "God, now you're going to go browse over rings at the mall aren't you?"
"Nudge, possibly Max, and I, yes. You, on the other hand, no," Ella said. I groaned. I absolutely despised shopping with Ella and Nudge. They pulled me up and walked me over to Ella's car; Iggy was left with the check. That's not even that unusual. We do it to him often, he doesn't mind. The reason being it gets him out of shopping with us...lucky bastard.
"So what did you think of that Alex guy?" Nudge asked me from the backseat. I turned and glared at her.
"I was not checking him out!" I said again, completely lying to my friends and to myself. I turned back around and faced forward, glaring into space.
"Oh this is exactly what you need!" Ella said, "He's a cute bad boy, part of a band, he's defiantly single...Makes you wonder why Sammy didn't dump Tom for him."
"Yeah, but they make a cute couple," Nudge said from behind me again, "And they get along so well."
Ella sighed, showing me she was thinking about the possibilities with Iggy again. I snapped my fingers in her face.
"Focus on driving, Ella," I said to her, "I'd like to live for my graduation, thank you."
"Shut up," Ella mumbled. Another ten minutes later, we were parked and heading into the mall. Nudge stopped us and pointed to where a group of motorcycles were parked.
"Look, that's Tom's bike!" She said excited, "and there's Max's crush's bike! They're here too! I wonder why? Do you think they have a gig? Are they here alone?"
"NUDGE!" Ella and I shouted. Nudge gave us a shrug of apology and we continued inside.
"How do you know that was Tom's bike?" Ella asked.
"I memorized the license," Nudge explained. As we walked through the mall there was no sign of Tom or Sammy. But we did run into a certain blonde douche bag of an ex-boyfriend. Sam.
"Max? Hey what's up?" Sam said approaching me. I sent him a glare and crossed my arms.
"Come on Max," Sam persisted, "Can't I apologize? Please? I thought we had something special..."
"Yeah, so did I," I said, still glaring, "But apparently I wasn't giving into your hormonal needs enough."
"Yeah, but that can change," Sam said, smiling suggestively. I noticed the beginning of a bruise on his cheek when he smiled. I cocked an eyebrow.
"What happened to your face?" I asked him. He brought a hand up to his face.
"I thought someone else was you and I was trying to apologize and then out of nowhere a guy just throws a punch at my face," Sam said. I looked back at Nudge and Ella, they nodded thinking the same thing as me. Sam saw Sammy, thought she was me, made a move on her, and Tom clocked one on him.
"The guy that punched you," I started, "was he about 6 foot? With a weird set of pants, about as built as you and had another black haired guy with him?"
"Yeah," Sam said surprised, "How'd you know?"
"Oh, just a guess," I said, shrugging it off. We turned around and headed a different way, leaving Sam confused no doubt.
"So," Ella said, "Tom's on my good side."
"Yeah," I laughed out. Because of a little mistaken identity, Sam was now bruising a little. That defiantly gave Tom some major points, even if he didn't know he did anything. We were still window shopping and walking around towards the food court when we heard music playing.
"Where do you think that's coming from?" Ella asked. I shrugged but followed the music until we hit a crowd forming in the middle. On the stage was Alex on guitar and Sammy on bass. Alex was still wearing his jacket, but Sammy removed hers and was wearing a visible blue top. Tom was playing drums like he said he would, and a microphone was set up in front of his face. His jacket was also off and his white teshirt was much more visible. There was another guy playing back-up guitar. We stopped and listened as Tom and Alex resumed the song.
'cus i wont let go
and i won't say goodbye
tell me you wanna try
tell me you'll stay the night
all in time
in time
'cus i won't let go
and i won't say goodbye
tell me you wanna try
tell me you'll stay the night
all in time
don't you say goodbye
i won't say goodbye
don't you say goodbye...
The audience clapped and released a few whistles Alex walked back up to the microphone.
"Thank you, you can see us perform live at the Arizona state graduation ceremony on Tuesday. Thank you," he said. Ella and Nudge tried to get one their attention. They got Tom's. He saw them waving as he was stepping off the stage. He smiled and waved us over.
"What are you guys doing here?" he asked with a smile when we approached him.
"Believe it or not, it's all your fault we're here," I said. Tom's expression became confused. Sammy walked up to Tom and wrapped a hand around his.
"Max, Ella, Nudge?" Sammy asked. We all nodded.
"What are-?" Ella cut her off.
"You're ring was so beautiful," Ella said, "I had to go window shopping, and I dragged these two with me."
"Oh, so that's how it's my fault," Tom said understanding. Then his brow knitted together.
"Was your ex around 6' 2"? Blonde? Dressed like a jock?" He asked me. I nodded and smiled.
"Yeah, that was him you punched," I confirmed his thoughts, "How'd you give him the bruise, though?"
"That would be this," Tom said raising his right hand. I noticed a black ring on his middle finger. It had a silver Harley-Davidson logo on it. taking a quick glance, I saw movement behind Tom. Two more guys were walking up behind Tom and Sammy. It was Alex and the other guitarist.
"Guys, ready to go yet?" The other guitarist asked. He was dressed in normal jeans and a black T-shirt. He was a darker skin tone then Nudge, and he was built. From the corner of my eye I saw Nudge lick her lips a little.
Oh boy, I thought. When Nudge gets her eyes on a possible boyfriend, she doesn't give up until he is either with her or a different girl.
"Nope, ran into those college kids we told you about," Tom said. He raised his hand to gesture to us, "Dave. Alex. This is Max, Ella, and Nudge. Girls, this is Dave. He's secondary guitarist. And this talkative fellow is Alex."
"Fang," Alex spoke up with a gruff, sexy-No, bad Max. I scolded myself.
"Fang?" I asked incredulously. Fang nodded. Dave chuckled.
"Yeah, you can call me DV. It's our own little nicknames," Dave said, he gestured to Tom and Sammy, "Tom is called either T or Bones. And Sammy is called Xam, with a X."
"Like Max, but backwards," Sammy explained, "I gave myself that nickname when I was three."
"Cool. Hey, you guys wanna grab a bite to eat?" Nudge asked, "We can get to know each other better and it'll be our treat."
Tom and Dave were sold. You could tell by the looks on their faces. Fang on the other hand.......Not so much. In fact, he looked like he didn't even have a facial expression. He was just, calm. No, I take that back, there was tension in his jaw and his eyes were alert and aware...and they were black with little gold flecks! Wow...Bad Max, Bad!
"Okay, let's go," Ella said. We headed over to the food court after Fang, Tom, Sammy, and Dave finished packing their stuff up.
AN: Well, what'cha think? The next AiD perhaps? ...Nah, nothing will ever beat that.
Keep on Keepin on
Tsparks158