I OWN NOTHING!!!
WHEN FANG AND MAX FOUGHT IN BOOK 2- CHAPTER 57
I almost gasped, stung. "I can't be both? You think I'm a lousy mom? What, because I'm not girly enough, is that it?" I was really mad, the tensions of the day boiling over in me. "Not like that girl with the red hair, stuck to you like glue!" My hands came up and, without thinking, I shoved Fang hard.
I didn't push him very hard. I barely knocked him off balance. I waited for him to push me back, but he said quietly, "You know I won't fight you when you're mad, so if you're waiting for me to push you it's pointless." He took a step forward and put a hand on my shoulder. "Come on." He steered me down the hall to my room and I didn't push him away. He pulled me over to the bed and we sat down. "Look Max," he said. He sighed and put a hand to his forehead like he had a headache. "You're plenty girly, but you shouldn't have to be a mom yet. Give it ten years or so."
"We could be dead in ten years idiot," I said, interrupting.
"And you're not a lousy mom," he said, continuing as if I hadn't spoken. "It's just that we're not your kids, you're our age. You shouldn't have to mother us. Besides, this is a good break for you. And you can be both, on your own time. When you're grown up and have kids of your own."
"If I grow up," I muttered. "And if I had kids of my own, which I probably won't. Who would marry me?"
It sounded like he said something else under his breath, but I wasn't sure. "You will. And someone perfect for you." He paused for a moment. "And that girl…" he sighed again. "I care about you a lot Max, I really do. But if you're not interested, I need to move on." He stood and left the room without looking back, leaving me more confused than any time before.
He didn't look at me at all through the next week. He acted as if I wasn't in existence. The whole Flock figured out we were arguing, but didn't know why. After a while I couldn't take it anymore. I went looking for him at school again, figuring he wouldn't have such an easy time of ignoring me. When I found him I almost wished I hadn't.
I found him kissing the Red-Haired Wonder again in another empty classroom. Only this time I didn't see it before entering. This time I walked right in as soon as she pulled away. "Nick- oh. You're busy. Well, when you're done sucking face I need to talk to you about something important." I walked up and slipped my backup plan into his hand, a note. Hey, it's worth a shot, right? "Talk to me later, if I'm still alive." I hurried out of there. No, I'm not being dramatic. In our lives, you never knew.
As I walked away I heard the Red-Haired Wonder say, "Was she crying?"
Fang muttered something and burst out of the room. "Max! Max? Shoot, where'd she go?"
In the girls' bathroom next to the classroom.
"She's probably in the bathroom. I'll go look for her." A few seconds later she was in the bathroom. "Max? I can see your feet. Come out and talk to me or I'm coming in."
I sighed, knowing there was no escape, and opened the door. Leaning against the wall casually, I said, "What? Done with your saliva exchange already?"
She shook her head and laughed. "You're tougher than Nick gives you credit for." He talked about me? She sighed, "You're not really related are you?"
I shook my head, wondering why I was bothering to tell her. "No. That was just what we told the hospital when he got hurt."
"You were dating?"
"No. I don't know. I thought he cared about me…I guess not though." I hoped he heard me because I sounded heartbroken even though I'd tried to sound like I didn't care. But for some reason I did.
She took a deep breath. "Okay. That's it then. Stay in here."
"What?"
She lowered her voice. "I'm backing off. I knew something was up between you two, but I didn't know what and now that I do, I'm done." She left before I could ask what that meant. I figured it out a few seconds later.
"I know about everything Nick! Max told me and I tried not to care, but it does matter! And now if you could just see her in there…I'm done. I don't want to see you anymore. Now, when Max is ready to come out and stop crying, give or take a few minutes because I just talked to her, you should probably tell her you're sorry. Unless she's right and you're not."
He said something I didn't hear. She answered loudly. "NO! I'm done with you! Max is my friend and if you're hurting her then I'm not interested. You know what, she's better than this." She stomped into the rest room and whispered, "Look upset." Louder she said, "Come on Max, I'll walk with you so you don't have to talk to any jerks in the hallways."
I smiled. "Thanks," I whispered.
"Welcome." She wrote her phone number on my hand. "Call me later." We walked down the hall with her arm around my shoulders. I think I looked pretty darn upset, but I felt bad about ruining his relationship. She didn't seem to care though. "Friends watch out for friends. Of course I don't care," she said reading my expression like Fang did.
When we'd passed him he'd looked angry, confused, hurt, and sad, but mostly angry. He thought I was just manipulating this girl, but she didn't have to break up with him. Just because she had the decency and class to come look for me and talk to me, he hated my guts. Some how, I just couldn't care.
She guided me down to my classroom and pulled me inside, even though it was empty. "Thanks again," I said.
She shrugged. "No biggie. Friends watch out for friends, and I'd known for a while that our relationship bothered you. When you came in today I knew why."
"I'm sorry. I didn't burst in to ruin the relationship. I burst in to prove something to Nick. I didn't realize you guys were kissing though."
"What were you going to prove?"
"That he couldn't keep ignoring me and not talking to me because he was pissy, that I'd just track him down at school. I didn't expect to find him making out though."
"What did the note say?"
"That he's either going to talk to me or he's never going to see me again. I assume he thought I was being dramatic but I wasn't." Well, sort of anyways.
"Would you have run off?"
"I might not have taken our brothers and sisters with me, but yeah, I was thinking about it. It's not like he needs me anymore anyways."
"He does. He hates to show it, but he was always more interested in you than in me. I'll check and see if he followed us."
He hadn't.
The rest of the day passed in a blur of classes and avoiding Fang. I walked separate from the Flock, glancing back every once in a while to make sure they were okay and he hadn't killed anyone. When we got home I asked Anne if I could use the phone. I called the Red-Haired Wonder, who's name was apparently Lissa, and we talked on the phone for a while. She was nice enough, I didn't plot her murder this time.
"How's Nick?"
"I'm still
alive, aren't I?"
"I think so. Are you?"
"Pretty sure. Why don't you see tomorrow?"
"I'll be sure to do that."
"Okay, I've got to go."
"Bye Max. Now, no running off. I need to make sure you're alive tomorrow."
I laughed. "Okay, bye."
"Bye. Again."
I hung up the phone and smiled. Nudge bounced up. "Did you make a new friend?"
"No, Lissa and I were already kind of friends." Well, she'd tried to be anyways. That counts, right? "We'd talked before, and she just helped my emotional sanity greatly. She gave me her phone number a while back and I just finally called her."
"Oh. Isn't she Fang's girlfriend?"
A sad look came across his face for a second, but it stayed on mine. "Not anymore, I don't think."
"Oh, sorry Fang," she put an arm around him.
"I'm fine."
She let go and ran to talk to Iggy about God only knows what, because God is the only one smart enough to dissect any of our brains. Fang turned to me, "What did you say to her?"
"I just answered her questions."
"You manipulated her into breaking up with me."
See? I told you. "No, she's just a classy person. Now, as Lissa said, I don't have to talk to people who make me cry. I agree completely with her at this point, so if you'll excuse me," I walked away.
I should have known he wouldn't back off. He grabbed my hand and spun me around. "You wanted to talk? FINE! Let's talk."
I yanked my arm from his grasp. "Fang…" I shook my head. "I won't fight you when you're angry, just like you won't fight me when I'm angry. It isn't safe. We're too good at fighting." I put a hand on his shoulder for a second, but pulled it away. "I do care about you. You didn't want to talk, and now I don't. Not right now, how about when I'm not on the verge of tears?" I pulled away from him and tried to leave again. There was a crushing blow to the back of my head, then there was just darkness.
