AN: yes, another AH Maximum Ride story. I've been itching to write lately and this is the only thing I've had a lot of ideas about. '-_- sorry. I appreciate reviews, anything you catch or feel should be improved DO TELL! I want to know what you think! Thanks!

BEEP BEEP BEEP

I rolled over and wacked my alarm clock off the nightstand, shutting it up affectively.

"MAAAXXXXX! TIME TO WAKE UP!" Ella called

I groaned and sat up, rubbing my stubborn sleepy eyes.

Slowly but surely I made my way to the bathroom.

Ugh.

The day was already looking bleak. Not only did my body just not want to wake up, but it was the first day of my second year at Hamilton High.

But then I remembered what was also happening today.

Iggy was coming home!

My best friend Iggy I had known for pretty much my entire life. He was the closest thing I had to a brother and I honestly couldn't imagine life without him. He had gone, unwillingly, on vacation to New York over the summer to visit his Aunt and I hadn't seen him for three whole months! Summer had been pretty boring and uneventful without Iggy to cause trouble with. Ella and Angel were okay, but they just weren't the same.

With that thought I nearly skipped through the rest of the morning, probably scaring Ella and my mom in the process.

Much to Ella's surprise I actually wore the outfit she had laid out for me the night before. It consisted of one purple lightning bolt tank top, dark skinny jeans, my favorite black converse, and a deep gray jacket.

"You look great Max!" Ella exclaimed

"Thanks Ells. Not let's run, moms calling"

When I was pretty young my drunk of a father Jeb had ditched my mom with Ella and me, leaving her to support a family of three all by herself. She never liked to talk about it, but I know it still upset her. She had to work a lot to take care of us so I ended up babysitting Ella most days. I didn't mind though. Anything to help. About two years after Jeb left my mom met Lucy, Iggy's mom. Iggy and I were instant friends. And so were Ella and Iggy's little sister Marie. We call her Nudge though.

I was grinning when we got into the car.

Ella laughed at my rare peppiness.

"Shush" I muttered grumpily

"Whatever you say Max" she giggled

Ella and I hopped out of the car and waved mom goodbye.

"I'm gonna go find Nudge," she said "See you at lunch?"

Ella and Nudge were both freshmen this year, but I wasn't too worried. You could say that I had a bit of a reputation, and no one would want to mess with Iggy's little sister.

"Alright, keep out of trouble alright?" I warned "And have a good day"

Ella smiled and ran off.

I sighed and walked off in the direction of my locker, might as well get rid of all this crap while I could.

I had just finished putting all my books away went I felt someone creeping up behind me.

"Iggy!" I yelled

Iggy grinned and returned my hug

"How was New York? Summer was a bore without you" I grinned

"It was okay" he laughed

I noticed how tall he had gotten over the months he had been gone. I had to look up to talk to him now.

"Well you got tall" I wrinkled my nose

"And you" he said "Haven't grown an inch"

"No fair, we used to be the same height" I whined

We smiled

"Come on, I want you to meet someone" he said, pulling away from my locker

He took me over to a small hoard of girls, whispering and giggling to each other. I raised my eye brow in question.

"Nick, come meet Max" he called.

Then, out of the center of raging fan girls came a tall, dark figure.

I'm not going to lie, he was pretty good looking. But I knew the type, probably a player and a jerk.

"This is my cousin Nick, we call him Fang though" Iggy explained "He'll be staying with us for the year."

I held my hand out to shake and he grabbed it.

I figured I might as well be friendly. He was Iggy's cousin after all.

"Max," I offered "Max Ride"

Fang nodded

"He's not much of a talker" Iggy shrugged

"That's okay I think Nudge's got that base covered"

Fang mouth quirked up into a half smile.

"Whoa did I just see a smile from Mr. Dark and mysterious? There is hope yet"

As soon as the words came out of Iggy's mouth Fang's smile disappeared.

"Alright hand it over" I said to Iggy, beckoning my hand.

Iggy rummaged around in his pocket until he supplied a small wrinkled paper, dropping it into my palm.

"You too" I said, extending my hand to Fang.

He looked to Iggy in question.

"Your schedule, Max likes to see if we have any classes together" Iggy said

Fang dropped his in my palm with Iggy's.

I opened both and scanned through both quickly.

MAX'S SCHEDULE:

1st: HISTORY WITH MR. SANCHEZ

2nd: ADVANCED MATH WITH MRS. LARREN

3rd: CREATIVE WRITING WITH MR. NORRIS

LUNCH

4th: SCIENCE WITH MR. PETERSON

5th: PE WITH MRS. WICK

6th: LANGUAGE ARTS WITH MRS. JOHNSON

"Looks like you have fourth, fifth, and sixth with me" I said handing Iggy's schedule back

"And you have everything but third and sixth" I said handing Fang's schedule back to him.

It wasn't really strange to get so many classes together at Hamilton, it were a small school.

"Sweet" Iggy said, then took my schedule out of my hand to look at.

"You got advanced Math this year? I got stuck in Algebra 2! AGAIN!" he complained

I grinned.

"Guess that just means I'm smarter than you Iggs"

The bell sounded loudly.

"See you later!"

Iggy waved.

Fang and I headed to first period in silence, but not awkward like was expected, but a comfortable, soothing quiet. It was nice.

Almost all of first period went by without a start; Fang sat by me, probably because he didn't know anyone yet. He didn't talk, but no one did in this class anyway. Mr. Sanchez was a nice teacher, but he was strict, and I even I didn't waste the time trying to get on his bad side.

A few minutes before class ended Mr. Sanchez told us we could pack up early, also giving the okay to talk.

And of course, HE walked over.

"What do you want Dylan?" I asked coldly.

"Oh come on Maxi, you know you love me" he said

I smacked his hand out of the air as he moved to play with my hair.

"Don't you touch me" I growled.

"I really thought we could work things out Max, I'm really am sorry about last year"

He reached out again and I pushed his hand away.

"Get. Away. From. Me." I said, a hardness creeping into my voice.

Dylan's face took on a familiar edge.

"God damn Max" he snapped "I swear to god I'll-"

To my surprise Fang was the one to come to my rescue.

"I believe she told you to leave" he said coldly

"This isn't your problem" Dylan growled "Stay out of it"

Fang stood up, towering over Dylan, and looking very intimidating in comparison.

Dylan seemed to sense this.

"Whatever" he said "See you later Max"

The tone he used when he said my name made me shiver.

I turned to Fang once Dylan left.

"Thank you" I said quietly, still shaken up a bit by Dylan's words.

Fangs face softened a bit.

"It's no problem, you sure you're okay?"

A genuine worry echoed in his voice, and I appreciated it.

"Yeah" I sighed "Let's talk about something else."

I honestly hated talking about Dylan. About our history. But I could tell he wasn't going to leave me alone that easily. I guess you could say he was my weakness.

"Tell me about New York"

So Fang did. He used shorter answers to most of my questions, but I could tell it wasn't to be rude, just how he was. Quiet, dark, and hated to draw attention to himself.

I saw potential in him yet.

AN: SO? What do you think? Drop a review and let me know my lovelies! ;D

Write on,

Jordy 3