hi people!

omg. thank you guys soo much for the reviews! you can't believe how happy i was! which helped me write quicker. so reviews are good! good good goodie goode good! ^.^

kay so heres the second chappie!

disclaimer: i am female. james patterson is a GUY. as for kieran scott..well, i doubt shes my age. and im still in school. so yeah...


Max

You don't belong here, Asher.

I've never taken any insults seriously like this. I've never went all teary-eyed or even looked fazed. But that, what Nudge said to me, for some reason felt like a handful of knives that had been stabbed into my heart repeatedly.

It hurt.

After I ran off that night, I felt empty. Like someone turned off the lights and it was just darkness. I couldn't believe my friends whom I've known since the time of diapers, would just reject me like that.

Curse you, dad. They all hate me.

I sighed. Enough of this drama. If the Lightys don't want me around, well, then I won't. I am an Asher now, as Nudge kindly mentioned. I got to start living the Asher life.

Though I'm not sure if sitting at a lunch table by yourself on the first day is a good start.

Huh. Oh well, I have to start somewhere. Looking around the cafeteria, I could see everyone with their friends, chatting away. I looked up to see the upper floor cafeteria, all shiny in Lighty glory. No Asher dares to go up, of course, since no Asher wants to get beat up or humiliated by them.

From my seat here, alone in a corner-ish area, I could see my old table, where I used to sit with my friends. This school is junior high and high school put together. That table they're at now was our table since the seventh grade. I could the Twins were jumping up and down with spaghetti on their heads, while Ella and Nudge tried to get them to calm down. A ghost of a smile appeared on my face. Nothing will stop the Twins one they get started.

My eyes flickered over to the mysterious currently-no-named guy at the table. He was wearing a very similar getup to what he wore the last time I saw him. Dylan was chatting away with him, Angel speaking a couple words here and there, while Mr. TDH just nodded, shrugged, or shrodded; my new amazing word for nodding and shrugging at the same time. Remind me to call up the dictionary people sometime.

Suddenly, in all his silent-ness, Mr. TDH glanced over at me, as if sensing me looking at him. Our eyes locked. Once again, my cheeks defied me, and I hastily looked away. Hopefully nobody noticed that.

Slam. "You. Blue or red?"

I blinked, snapping back to reality. WTF? I looked up from my seat to see a girl with electric blue hair sit down in front of me, with her lunch tray on the table across from mine. Beside her, a tall girl with long red hair, sat down. "I asked you a question. You're supposed to answer it. So, blue or red."

I'm still confused. "Uh, blue?"

The blue-haired girl grinned, her eyes sparkling. "You're clear."

"Of..?" My smart comebacks are being delayed, as I am still wondering what the hotdog is going on.

"She means you're cool." The tall red-head said. "She asks everyone, just to mess with me." She said, pointing to her own hair cherry red and the blue-haired girl's hair. "I'm Astrea. And this bum here is-"

"-Smurfie. Nice to meet ya." Smurfie held out a fist, in which I tapped my fist back.

Astrea rolled her eyes. "Her real name's Braelyn. But don't call her that. Not with her Smurfalicious blue hair on her head."

I nodded, letting everything sink in. Whoa. Since when do people come up and talk to me like we've known each other forever? "Maximum Ride. Max for short."

Smurfie looked up from her pizza; I didn't even realize she was eating. "Sweet name." She took a bite. "So Max, what's with the whole loner thing?"

Astrea shot Smurfie a glare. "Braelyn!" She shook her head and said to me, "Sorry. She's not normal."

I laughed. "Really? I didn't even notice, not with that blue-hair. Completely normal."

Astrea smiled, while Smurfie pouted. "Whatever. So Max, you play any sports?"

I shrugged. "Track and field. Mostly track, all distances. And I play forward in soccer."

Smurfie fist-pumped and grinned a wicked grin. "Dude. I'm loving you already. I'm a forward also. Plus, I'm a freaking rabbit on crack when it comes to jumping in track and field."

"Hey, don't forget the goalie! Smurfie, we wouldn't have won last year's championship if it wasn't for my epic saves." Astrea turned to me. "I'm not a track star, but I'm soccer all the way. We should play a little shoot off, if you're done eating. I'll be in net, obviously, and you and Smurfie can try all you want on me." Her eyes sparkled.

Holy cow muffins. These people are amazing. I briefly glanced up at my former friends. Guess I can manage without them after all.

I turned to Smurfie and Astrea, smirking. "You. Are. On."


Fang

"I got Mr. Hiatt. He's the worst sophomore English teacher." Ella shivered.

Angel nodded. "My sister had him before. She had to transfer classes because her mark started dropping thanks to him. You should too."

"Definitely." Nudge said. She turned to me. "Fang, what do you think?"

I shrugged and turned away. Ignoring the girls', I looked around the school yard.

First day of sophomore year, over. The girls and I were headed toward the big front doors of the school to go home.

This school, Ash Creek School, is a pretty big school, and thanks to the Lighty's families, this school is also pretty rich. It's all First Class here; more for the Lightys. The Ashers get everything the same, minus the cafeteria spots and some clubs and stuff that basically scream out LIGHTY.

Speaking of Ashers…

Max. That party at Sam's was so not a good idea. I'm really stupid. What was I thinking? Offering a girl I barely know, to go to a party that she's not invited to? Damn, it was real bad that night. Nudge said some bitchy stuff, even for her.

Then there was me. Just standing like an idiot at the back. I could've done something. I should've done something. Defended Max, told Nudge to shut up, cause a distraction, change the topic, whatever. Anything would've been better than standing there while poor Max got verbally pounded like that.

But then, Nudge and the others would be all 'Why are you defending her?' They don't know about my little encounter with Max. And I don't plan on telling them.

I shook my head. All I've been able to think about lately is Max. Max Ride, the girl who I found hugging a tree in my yard. Max Ride, the girl with a wicked running record. Max Ride, sparkly eyes and-

Sparkly?

"Fang! Catch!"

I looked up just in time to see a furry thing hurdle toward me. I plucked it out of the air and noticed it's the swim team mascot: Frieda the Fish. I know, Frieda. Don't ask who came up with that. Not me.

Dylan came jogging up to me. "It's yours, man. You're our new team captian!"

No way. "For real?"

"Hell yeah! We need to celebrate. Ice cream at Cherry Top? It's on me. The Pathetic Pair and the girls are on their way there."

I nodded. I thought the girls were just with me a second ago..?

Dylan smiled. "One day, dude, you got to start talking more."

I shook my head, smirking.

Dylan just shook his head. "Okay Mr. Silent Guy. Let's go."

As I turned the corner with Dylan, I saw a flash of dirty blonde hair out of the corner of my eye. "One sec. Meet you outside."

I walked away from Dylan, before he could reply. I saw him headed towards the door, not facing me. Good.

I caught up to Max and tapped her shoulder. "Hey. Talk to you for a sec?"

Max looked a bit shocked, and kind of pissed, to see me standing here in front of her, but said, "Sure" and followed me.

Finally. This is my chance to apologize for being a silent jerk at the party. I didn't do anything, but I guess that's the problem.

I cleared my throat. "Um," Okay, not a good start. "I'm sorry." And a bit blunt there.

She raised a brow.

"At the party. When, uh," This is slightly awkward. "Nudge."

Max nodded and looked away. "Short, but okay. Yeah, that night…" She trailed off, looking a little uncomfortable. "Not my favourite party moment."

"Yeah." Wow. Even for a guy of many words, I could at least think of something other than a pathetic 'yeah'. "I'm sorry about that."

"Why are you saying sorry? It's not like you did anything. Just standing there like an idiot? Thanks for that, by the way." She snapped.

Ouch.

"I would've done something but-"

"But, you didn't." Max glanced around, then said, "So you done? That's it?"

My heart sank. I thought maybe if I apologized, she'd be a bit happier with me.

Which is probably why I'm continuing this conversation. "I was wondering if we could be friends."

She spluttered. "And how about your friends? My old ones? The ones that rejected me pretty harshly?"

Crap.

"I-"

Max turned around and walked away. She stopped after a few steps and looked over her shoulder at me, paused, then just kept walking.

Ouch. X2.


Max

"Whoohoo! I got you! I got you!" Smurfie started jumping around, pumping her fists and cheering.

Astrea and I groaned. We've been playing Call of Duty for what, 2 hours? And Smurfie beat us every single freaking time. I didn't even realize how easy it is to lose like that.

And I hate losing.

I stood up. "Best 2 out of 3 rounds."

Smurfie stopped jumping and smirked. "You're on, girl."

Here we go again. I ain't losing this time, either.

Smurfie invited Astrea and I over to her place to hang out. Little did I know, we were gonna be creamed at CoD for two hours. But you know what? Even though Astrea and I are losing really bad, this is actually a lot of fun. Hanging with Ashers is a lot of fun. I'm liking the whole Asher-thing so far.

And these crazy people I now call my new friends are amazing.

"One more," Smurfie mumbled to herself.

Shoot, she's winning. Again.

"Yes! Winner! Again!"

Astrea and I shared a look, and then laughed along with the laughing Smurf.

For the first time since I moved here. . .

I'm happy.


Fang

"Reynolds! You're the caption now. Lead the warm-up! Now!"

I mentally shook my head. Sometimes, Coach is just… Coachy. Then again, he is a Coach.

"Okay!" I got everyone's attention. For a brief second, I thought of that big red Staples button that says 'That was easy'.

Since I don't talk, I just gestured the team to follow me. It turned out pretty well, actually. I guess I can make this team captain thing work. Sweet.

After about an hour of practice, we cut short for the day. Coach said he had some 'stuff' to do before school started for the day. Who knew, teachers have a life.

"Dude, nice work." Dylan said, walking beside me to the change room.

I nodded in thanks. He got what I meant.

We took a shower, got ready, and headed out to the soccer field. We still have time before school starts, and before anyone really decides to show up for school.

Dylan and I found a little surprise when we got to the field. We planned to just kick around and shoot, play one-on-one or whatever, but the field turns out to be occupied. By girls.

One of them being Max.

My heart sped up and my hands began to get sweaty. What the hell is wrong with me?

"Max!" Dylan called out. Nobody else is here, especially not the girls, so we shouldn't get caught. Good.

Max, hearing her name, turned around, causing her to get hit in the head by an incoming soccer ball.

She scowled at Dylan. "Thanks a lot for that!" She turned away, choosing to ignore us, and shot the ball into the net with the most perfect kick I have ever seen. This girl is gooooood.

Some redhead in the goal called out to us, wiping her forehead. "Hey boys! Wanna join?"

I looked over at Dylan. He shrugged and faced the redhead. "Why not? It's always fun to beat some girls."

Max faced us again, glaring. "Oh? Think you tough guys can beat up little girls? I'd like to see that."

I just smirked in reply. Though on the inside, my stomach sank to my toes. Everyone could hear the playful sarcasm, but only I heard the hard edge to her voice.

The blue-haired girl spoke. "Well let's get this show on the road!"

Dylan and I ran over the rest of the space between us and the girls.

Max glanced at me, a little spark in her eye. Jeez, she's confusing. And so attra-

"Names?" I asked, cutting my brain off (ha, that didn't come out right).

The blue-haired girl jumped with her hand raised. "Smurfie!"

Dylan snuck a glance at me with a look saying 'That chick's crazy'. And I couldn't agree less.

I looked over at the redhead standing in front of the goal and tilted my head to the side in question.

She smiled. "Astrea."

I nodded at her, Dylan saying a friendly hi. Then he said his name for the two girls who don't know him.

All eyes turned to me.

Oh yeah, my name. "Fang."

Max raised a brow, but said nothing.

"That's an epic name! Almost as epic as Smurfie!" Smurfie exclaimed.

I nodded. Okay. She's definitely crazy.

Max cleared her throat. "You two idiots know what my name is. So," She glanced back at Smurfie, who winked at her, then faced us again. "Let's go!" And with that, Smurfie passed her the ball, and Max dashed away.

Crap. I almost forgot about her running status: Superhuman fast.

I raced after her. I'll admit, I'm a pretty awesome runner, so I managed to catch up to Max.

She flicked her eyes toward me for half a second, before deking me and dashing toward the net.

Oh damn she's good.

I briefly looked around to see where Dylan went, and saw that he was covering Smurfie. And by that, I mean chatting her up. He seemed to be looking at Max every so often, too.

I mentally facepalmed.

Shaking my head, I continued after Max.

We kept going like that for awhile, her trying to get around me and running off, me catching up and trying to steal the ball.

Somehow, an hour seemed to have past, and we got a bit of an audience.

I froze and looked over at Dylan. He seemed to be thinking the same thing, and quickly started walking off the field. Not before sneaking a look at Max, in a way that made me want to punch him.

I followed quickly after him, glancing back to see Max myself. I could tell she understood, but I think she was disappointed.

I quickly looked away, not wanting to feel guilty, even though I am.

Someone tapped my shoulder. I froze, again, thinking it's Nudge or Ella or Angel. But no, thankfully it's just Max.

"Hey. Uh, thanks." she mumbled.

My eyebrows raised.

She looked down at her muddy sneakers. "Thanks for playing around. It was fun."

I couldn't help it. I smiled. "It was." I looked over my shoulder to see Dylan waving frantically. I looked at Max again. I hope I can hang with her again. "I gotta go." I muttered. "The girls. . ."

She nodded. "Don't wanna be seen with the reject. I get it. You're a Lighty. I'm an ex-Lighty-turned-Asher. No biggie." She turned around and said over her shoulder, "See you around, Fang."

I watched her walk back to her friends. It could just be my imagination, but I swear I heard a "I hope." from her.

Oh god. This is good, right? Right?

Dazed, I walked over to Dylan, just as the girls came running over.

"Ew! You're sweaty!" Nudge shrieked.

I stared at her. "Yeah."

Nudge rolled her eyes at my lack of words.

Angel giggled. "You guys ARE really sweaty. What did you do?"

"Just some guy stuff. You know, running around, getting sweaty, stuff like that. You girls should join us next time." Dylan teased.

Nudge and Ella wrinkled their noses.

Angel just giggled again. "I'll pass."

Dylan grinned and put his arm around her waist.

Yes. In case you're wondering what's going on between the two, yes. They're together.

The girls led the way toward the school doors, Dylan still at Angel's side. I stood back a bit, and snuck a glance at Max. I had to.

Oh, look at that. She's staring at me too. Hm. And there's that cute little blush that's just so-

I just lost whatever manliness I had left.


Max

Fang. Ohmigod. Fang.

That is hot.

I mean, it's too vampire-ish. Like, is he obssessed with creepy pale dudes in retarded capes, who go around sucking blood out of people, speaking in a weird accent?

That's nonsense. He's nonsense. He's a-

"Hm?"

I blinked. "Hm?"

Astrea frowned. "Hm?"

I frowned. "Hm?"

Smurfie frowned. "Hm? Wait, what are we 'hm?' -ing for? I'm lost."

I agreed. "So am I. Astrea?"

"I asked you a question."

I facepalmed. "Ask again?"

She rolled her eyes, but did anyway. "Do you like Fang?"

I backed up into my locker. Okay, whoa. Where'd that question come from? It's not like I'm in love with a super attractive guy with a name that still makes no sense to me. I don't even know this dude!

I laughed. But even I admit, it sounded weak. "What? You're kidding, right? Why would I like Fang?"

Astrea raised a brow, the corner of her lips curving up. "Oh, I don't know. Just by the way you look at him, it just seemed a bit.. More-than-friends like."

I don't usually react like this, but I gasped. My jaw dropped. My eyes bulged out like those chihuahuas. I stared at Astrea, as if she has four heads in different shapes.

She smirked. Smurfie smirked.

I shook my head. "Nah-uh, no way, mm mm, nada, nope, nuppers, NO. I do not like Fang Whateverhislastname."

Astrea and Smurfie shared a look.

"He's not even a vampire!" I blurted. What the hell did I just say?

Astrea's eyebrows shot up, while Smurfie laughed her butt off.

"Max," Astrea gave me a look.

Uh oh...

I ran. They chased me.

Not good.


Fang

"Fang, so you know how-"

Ella was cut off by a blur of movement crashing into me.

Oof. "Excuse me?"

The blur turns out to be Max. Max Max Max. THE Max. The Max of Max. MaxiMaxiMax. Maxo. Maxilio. Maxa-

"Get off him!"

I turned to Ella, who stared at Max.

Max got off me and straightened up. She gave Ella a fake cheery smile. "I did. Enjoy you're happy meal!"

Ella stared. Then she shook her head, grabbed my arm, and said, "Let's go, Fang. She's just an Asher. We got better things to do."

Once out of Max's earshot, I said, "What did she do?"

"Hm?" Ella replied, not really paying attention.

"Max. What did she do to piss you guys off so much?"

Ella stopped walking and turned to face me. "Her dad."

I got a bit angry. "That was her dad. Not her or her mom."

Ella rolled her eyes. "There're more things. Things you don't need to know." She walked off ahead of me, leaving me standing here alone.


Max

Astrea and Smurfie finally dropped the whole Fang topic.

Now they're blabbing about my stupid mistake.

What did I do? Well, I signed up for the Swimmies club. Really crappy name, but it's supposed to be a fun club. My old friends and I dreamed of joining once we got to the high school grades. I didn't get a chance to yet since I moved, so now I'm joining.

I gave Astrea her pen back, after I signed my name on the sign-up sheet.

"Are you kidding?"

Astrea, Smurfie, and I spun around.

Nudge, Ella, and Angel came up.

"You have got to be kidding me. You can't join." Nudge said, glaring.

I glared back. "I'll do what I want."

Angel spoke. "It's a Lighty club. I don't think you would want to join."

"And last time I checked, you're not a Lighty anymore." Nudge sneered.

Ella rolled her eyes. "It'll just be awkward. You'll be left out of it."

I raised a brow. "It doesn't say it's strictly a Lighty club anywhere. There's no rule against Ashers joining."

Nudge narrowed her eyes. "Who cares? We don't want you in."

Wow Nudge. You're nice.

Ella grabbed Nudge's arm and started dragging her down the hall. "Leave the Asher alone. I'm done with her."

They started walking away. Angel glanced back with a look in her eyes. I couldn't tell if it's a good look or a bad one. Whatever.

I turned to Astrea and Smurfie, who somehow managed not to be noticed.

"Well. That was fun. Let's go." I started walking down the hall.

The first meeting for the Swimmies is after school today.

And before I knew it, school was over for the day, and now I'm sitting on the bleachers in the pool atrium.

I sat at the back, away from Nudge, Ella, and Angel.

There were a good number of girls here, all Lightys. Great, I'm the only Asher.

"Girls! We are gonna have a great swim season!" said Laura, the leader of this club. "You will all be assigned to one guy one the swim team. You will be responsible for encouraging them throughout meets, and give as much support you can. The first thing you girls have to do is to decorate the boys' specific wall here by the pool. There will be a specific wall space with their picture. Their first meet is coming up soon, so we need to cheer them on! The decorations will be up then, to show our spirit!" Laura clapped her tands together. "Okay! Line up! You will all choose a random name."

All the girls scrambled to line up.

Laura recorded everyone's names and the guy they got.

Nudge. "Ew! This guy is such a loser! Can I repick?"

Laura shook her head. "Sorry Nudge. You're stuck with Steve."

Nudge steamed and sat down on the bleachers.

Ella was next. "Reese Lase? Who's that?"

Laura smiled. "Not a loser."

Ella shrugged, but smiled. "Okay."

Angel's turn. "Dylan G-H! Yay!" She smiled a bright smile and skipped over to Nudge and Ella.

I'm next. I picked a name and opened the slip of paper.

Oh. My. Cheesefish.

I gulped. "Fang Reynolds."

Nudge and Ella stood up and shrieked. "What?"

Nudge stormed over. "Laura! She can't have him! He's our friend! Not this freaks!"

"Sorry again, Nudge. She picked him. Rules are rules."

Nudge shrieked in anger and sat back down with Ella and Angel.

Hehe. She is piiiiissed.

I sat back down at the back.

"Alright girls! We will be decorating the walls tomorrow after school! Make sure you bring your stuff! See you girls then!"

We all scattered away slowly.

"Poor Fang. I'm gonna have to warn him to expect the worst decorations. It'll be so embarrasing for him! Everyone's gonna see the wall at the meet!" Nudge pouted.

Ella rolled her eyes. She seems to do that a lot now. "Yeah, he's gonna have to expect dollar store worthy decors. We'll have to cheer him up afterwards."

I fumed. Come on, sure, I don't have much money. But I can decorate a freaking wall. I'll just need to get some money somewhere. A job would be nice. I'll have to talk to Astrea and Smurfie.

Nudge called to me. "Aim for Walmart. It's better than the dollar store!"

I glared at her, but walked away.

Fang, you are not gonna believe you eyes when you see your wall.


Fang

I think I just shit my pants.

The stupid Swimmies club decorated our wall. It's some tradition, since our school is hung up on spirit.

I could see all the other guys' walls decorated with stickers, glitter, streamers, and whatever.

But mine...

My whole section of the wall was painted, streamers all over the wall (some attached to the ceiling), glitter, freaking balloons, fish cutouts, and so much more. And above my picture, it said in big sparkly letters:

Go Fang Go! Good luck! You can do it! You're the best! Fang Rules!

Once again, I'll repeat:

I think I just shit my pants.

I heard that Max was my Swimmie. They girls told me not to expect much, or anything, since she doesn't have much money.

So this is not what I expected. I can't believe Max went to all this trouble to decorate a wall. For me.

"You like?" Max stood there smiling behind me.

"You did this?"

"Well duh. I'm you're Swimmie."

"How? The girls-"

Max rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah. I got Astrea and Smurfie to help me get some money. They found a job for me and I worked all afternoon yesterday. All this crap is kinda pricey. Especially since I had to buy a ladder. Astrea doesn't have one, and neither does Smurfie."

I just blinked. This is unbelievable. To think she did this all for me? Maybe she does care. Maybe-

I put my hand on her shoulder. I would hug her, but I don't really hug people.

Max stared at me weirdly. She put her hand on my wrist and brought it down. "Okay. Your welcome. But I did this because I had to. And to prove a point to the girls."

"Oh." I think my face fell.

And I think she saw that.

She stammered. "Um, uh, I gotta-"

"Maxie!" Gazzy came up and jumped on Max.

"Ow." She looked at Gazzy, who was clinging onto her back. "Wanna get off?"

Gazzy grinned brightly. "Nope!"

"Woah, did you do that?" Iggy said, coming up and trying to peel Gazzy off Max's back.

"Yeah." Max said, struggling to get Gazzy off. "Jeez Gaz, you're heavy!"

He pouted. "You're just jealous that you're not strong like me!"

"If I was, I wouldn't be able to do this," Her eyes sparkled for a second, before she shoved Gazzy into the pool behind us.

Max and Iggy howled with laughter. Iggy managed to get out, "Sucker! She got you bad!" while laughing.

Gazzy climbed out of the pool, dripping water everywhere. He came to stand in front of Max and Iggy with a mischievious smile. He turned around... and dropped the bomb.

"Ugh! Gross, Gazzy!" Max groaned, covering her nose.

Iggy nodded. "Can't. . . BREATHE!"

Gazzy cackled, and jumped and shook around, splashing water at them both. "That's what you get!"

Then we heard a shriek. An all too familiar shriek.

"Gazzy! That's sooooo gross! Let's just get outta here." An arm hooked itself around mine and dragged me away.

The Terrible Twins ran after the girls, shoving each other on the way.

Leaving Max alone. Again.


:'(

review? it'll make me very happy ;)