Dangerous Wishes Full Summary: Max is a normal girl, living a normal life. She's been waiting forever for her life to take an interesting turn. So when things start happening, she wants nothing more than for it never to stop. But when the occurrences start getting unexplainable and potentially dangerous, Max has to decide: is this what she really wants? If she was given the chance, would she wish it all away? Would she give up what she's been longing for for her whole life to hold on to what she really loves most? Max/Fang no wings OOC
So here it is. Hope you enjoy. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon. I was going to upload it right after this one, but when I tried to my computer decided to be stupid and delete it all. I have to go back and retype it, but hopefully the new version will be better. It should be up soon, hopefully. Anyway, enjoy the first chapter!
My legs burned. Everything burned, and my heart felt like it was pounding a thousand times per second. My chest ached with building pressure and lack of oxygen. My body was on fire, but I couldn't stop. Not now.
Keep going, I told myself. You're almost there. Just a couple more feet, lean forward, and-
Whoosh!Time slowed down. I could faintly see, through the tears that blurred my vision, that Coach Bryant was standing next to me, a satisfied smile on his wrinkled face as he looked at the time on his stopwatch. I heard in the background the congratulatory cheers of my teammates from the bleachers.
I slowed to a jog, then came to a stop a couple feet after the finish line. My hands were shaking as I reached out to take the stopwatch from Coach Bryant's extended hand. When I saw the time displayed there, I just about fainted with joy.
12:08. Almost a whole second faster than my previous record in the 100-meter sprint.
After a pat on the back and a "Good job" from Coach Bryant, I collapsed on the bleachers where my friends were squealing with excitement. Shawn jumped up and down energetically, and Michelle handed me a towel to wipe off my face.
"Holy shit! You were so frickin' fast!" Shawn exclaimed, her bright blue eyes wide.
I smirked, setting the towel down beside my navy blue Eagles bag and grabbing my Nike reusable water bottle.
"I know, I know. I'm pretty damn incredible."
The truth was, and my friends knew it, I had never run that fast before. In my whole life. Ever. The whole self-absorbed, egotistical thing was just something we did for laughs.
"But seriously. I can't believe how fast you ran. It was crazy. You keep that up, and you'll be the number one choice for MVP this year."
"That's my goal," I said, giving Shawn a hopeful smile.
"Ohmygod. You should've seen the look on Dylan' face, Max. He was in awe. He couldn't stop staring at you," Michelle gushed.
I snuck a peek at the super-hot senior where he sat with a couple of his equally-hot friends. They were laughing and goofing off, not even acknowledging my existence. I had been hopelessly mesmerized by Dylan from the moment I laid eyes on him. He had just moved a few months ago from New Jersey, and already he was fitting in, part of the popular crowd. All the girls swarmed around him, trying to get his attention. So far he had gone out on a few dates, but he hadn't made any commitments. I didn't get my hopes up, though. Based on the pattern of girls he'd dated so far, he preferred tall blonde seniors with single-digit IQs, huge boobs, and at least one non-ear piercing. Well, except for that one flat-chested redhead...
Yeah. I had it bad.
Shawn and Michelle caught me looking and giggled, exchanging looks.
Shawn piped up, "Rumor has it, that last date he had with Shelby didn't go so well. I think he's looking for someone new."
Michelle wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at me.
I rolled my eyes at them and told them I'd text them later, then I was off to my locker to get the 70 pounds of textbooks I need for homework.
I had just turned the lock to the last number of my combo when I heard-
"Hey, Max!"
I turned around, expecting to see one of my teammates, stopping me to talk about the next meet. But it was Ella, my brother Iggy's girlfriend and my absolute BFF.
"Hey, girl! What are you doing here?" I asked, reaching forward to give her a hug. Until March, she was attending an extra-curricular photography class from five forty-five to seven at the community college. Track practice ended at six-thirty.
"I thought I'd ditch that stupid class and come hang out with you. Besides, I'm going to catch a movie with Iggy in half an hour." Ella looked at me with a mischievous grin and a sparkle in her beautiful long-lashed blue-violet eyes. I could see why my brother was so hopelessly in love with her. She was really beautiful, with gorgeous auburn hair and full, raspberry-red lips. Her nose was what some people might call a button nose, all round and curved at the end.
I laughed. "Sure, just hang on a minute while I get my stuff." Ella nodded and waited as I loaded up my backpack.
We had met when my brother first started dating her, almost two years ago. Right away I had felt a connection with her, and soon we became inseparable. Iggy was jealous at first of all the time she spent with me, but she learned to balance time between us. She was like part of the family now. Both Iggy and Ella were seventeen and seniors in high school, and it was obvious they were madly in love. Everyone knew it, and I was secretly hoping they would get married. Then Ella and I would be real sisters.
As we walked to the parking lot, I told Ella about my success at track practice. She was so excited, you would've thought she was the one who had accomplished it. That was one of the things I loved about her; she never got jealous or angry, bit instead she was always supportive and happy for me.
When I saw her red Mini Cooper parked by the curb, it's personalized licensee plate reading LIL RED, I remembered I had gotten a ride from my dad this morning, so I didn't have my car. Ella must've noticed this, and she asked, "Need a ride?"
I nodded gratefully and got into the passenger seat. Once she started up the car, I turned on the radio to our favorite station: the '80s station.
I recognized the song immediately. It was "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran, one of our all-time favorites. I turned up the volume, and Ella and I started singing along, totally out of tune, as we got on the highway.
"In touch with the ground, I'm on the hunt, I'm after you. A scent and a sound..."
All of a sudden, the car swerved onto the dirt by the side of the road, spinning uncontrollably. Lights flashed in front of my eyes, even after I cinched them shut in fear. My chest was fluttering. I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. An image of a body, laying in a pool of blood on the side of the road, came unbidden to my mind. I held my breath and waited for the spinning to stop, the spinning in my head as well as the car's. With an abrupt jerk forward, the car crashed into a nearby tree, stopping us just in time and barely saving us from toppling over the edge of the highway.
A black van flew by and honked.
I closed my eyes, trying to catch my breath, before asking, "What happened?" My voice came out uncertain, quivering ever so slightly.
Ella just shook her head, her hands still on the steering wheel. She was breathing heavily, too.
We both just sat there for a minute, trying to wrap our heads around what had just happened. We had been in a car accident. We could've been killed.
Finally Ella spoke. "That car came out of nowhere. It just appeared, in the middle of the road. It almost looked like it was heading straight for us. I mean, how could I not see that car coming? I swear it just came out of thin air. It was going so fast, and I-"
She stopped, calmed herself down before continuing. "I tried to swerve around it, but then I just lost control of the car. We started spinning, and then the tree..."
She trailed off. I looked at her, then unbuckled my seatbelt and examined the damage that had been caused. One of the headlights had been smashed, and glass was sprayed everywhere. The license plate was a little crooked, and basically the whole front of the car was ruined. The windshield had a small crack in the bottom corner, but it otherwise looked intact. Poor Lil' Red.
Ella got out too and came to stand next to me. After a few moments of silence, she said quietly, "That is one huge-ass dent."
I couldn't help it. I started laughing. I started laughing and I couldn't stop, and pretty soon she was laughing, too.
Once we sobered up, she called a tow service and I called Iggy, telling him what happened so he and my mom wouldn't worry.
By the time the tow truck came and all the insurance got sorted out and I was finally back home, it was dark out.
My mom was in the living room pretending to watch TV. She choked back sobs of relief when she saw I was okay, and hugged me tight and told me she had been worried sick and that I should be more careful.
Iggy had gone out to check on Ella, and my other three siblings were either asleep or in their rooms doing homework. I still had a ton of work to do for the next day, so I said my goodnights and grabbed an apple before heading upstairs. I stayed up all night alternating between doing homework, texting Shawn and Michelle, and wondering what would've happened if Ella had been just a little slower in seeing that van. I fell asleep at my desk halfway through my algebra, my clothes and shoes still on.
That night I dreamt about speeding cars and shattering glass. And blood. Lots of blood.
So that's it. You like? Review! Any criticism as well as ideas to use later in the story is welcome. Hope you liked it!
-Nicki
