8 reviews.. Wow. Thanks so much! ;P

Disclaimer: I don't think JP has to run a mile in gym tommorow. So IDNOMR.


Summary: Fang and Iggy could both easily win Max's heart. Iggy, the ex-best friend. Fang, the heartthrob. Too bad Max hates them both too much to bear… But all girls meet their match in the end. The question is, who's hers? AH.

Ch. 2: Max and Iggy

These morons. These utterly (shut up) moronic morons. They think with their eyes. I see what they think. They think the can waltz back into my life and rebuild the relationships we had. Or, in Fang's case, the relationship in his head. But, I'm not telling you anymore than that.

I'll just give you a brief... profile?... of each.

Ignatius 'Iggy' Night, my ex-best friend. I've know him since the first grade, when I stood up to the third graders picking on him for his abnormal height. Strawberry-blonde hair and electric blue eyes. What you might call attractive. Oh, and abandoned his best friend for 'the chance to get away from everything and everyone in Pithier', which included the said friend, know as yours truly. Alias being James Knight.

Angelo (how hard it is not to laugh...) "Fang" Night. I'm not telling you enough to give it all away in five quick seconds. Hair and eyes as dark as Stephanie Meyer's soul (she started Twilight, enough said). Hates anyone who gets in his way. It's his way or no way. Conceited. Arrogant. Annoying stupid comment for everything. Easy to want to choke. Met him at age ten during winter break at Iggy's house. Hated him ever since. Alias being Nick Knight. (alliteration!)

Satisfied? No? Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it.

And, of you've been following along dearly beloved, you will realize I am Maximum Ride. And that will be my entire 'profile'. My name.

Enough of the greetings, time to figure out my feelings.

Lord, I sound like a therapist. A rhyming, demented therapist. And don't make any rapist jokes.

They were standing in front of me. Fang was clueless, stubborn, and clearly cocky. Which is ironic, because from what I remember, he has no balls. Iggy was astonished, hurt, and confused. Serves him right.

I need to go upstairs, only to clear my head. How did neither of them fully understand why I hate them? Are their manties too tight and they can't think straight?

As I was thinking, I backed down a few steps. I heard a muffle, and then both Fang and Iggy said, "Ibs."

Ibs? Was the muffle just my conscience trying to make me think?

Nibs? Eww. Libs? Why would they say libs? Bibs? Fang must've given the worm to the bird. Get it? Worm? Spe— Oh, nevermind. Maybe they said Dibs? Man, those are the best ice cream snacks ever. Besides M&M ice cream cookie sandwiches. Those are just pieces of Max heaven.

As I was trying to decipher what they had said, I banged my head against the stairs' railing. It hurt, I'm not going to lie. So I didn't scream, I bit my lip as hard as I could. Which hurt more. So then, I screamed. "FU—!"

"I know a song that get's on everybody's nerves!" Iggy sang, covering what he thought to be a 'CK'. "Everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves! I know a song that get's on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes!"

"—dge?" I said, fighting a laughing fit. Gazzy apparently wasn't fighting hard enough, and burst into giggles. Yes, giggles.

Then, I about died laughing. Not because of Iggy's singing. Not because of Gazzy's giggling. No, no. It was Fang's reaction. He smirked. Woo, big whoop. Then he chuckled a bit. Then... He... Snorted...

Not like that cute girlish one where everyone's like, "Whatever." It's the one where you're like, 'Ah, crap. I just did that in front on twenty people... I'm ruined'.

Oh, shit. Now they're all staring at me.

"What?" I snarled. "I can't laugh?"

They all looked away. Hmm, rude.

The three guys were all talking about some new song.

"Should we do a cover?" Gazzy asked. "MCR's been letting their songs go."

"No! We should do the one we neglected on the last album!" Iggy said.

"Cover," Fang agreed.

"Um, none of the above?" I suggested. "Why not write one yourselves?"

"We have writers?" Gazzy answered.

I shook my head. "It gives the song less meaning. It's more you if you wrote it."

They gathered in a huddle. Football, much? When they separated, the turned to face me. "Idea taken!" Iggy said. "But there's a catch!"

"You have to help us write it," Gazzy said coyly. Smart boy.

"Mm, no," I answered.

"You will," Fang ordered.

I cocked my head. "And why is that?

"Because," Gazzy said, grinning. "It was your idea!"

"So?" I countered. "I don't need a song, you do."

"What's that thing you used to say, Maxie?" Iggy asked. "'It doesn't matter if you need it. All that matters is that you said it, so you're in'."

"You know what Iggy?" I smirked. "You're right. I'll write the song with you. But there's a catch." I paused. "I get 20% of all profits the song makes."

Gazzy and Iggy were about to argue. But, Fang interrupted. "Sure."

"What?" Iggy and Gazzy were confused.

"I said, 'Sure'."

Blanking, Iggy walked away. Gazzy, however, said, "Then it's your fault if Delia kills us!"

I secretly crossed my fingers. My stepdad soon returned to the room. "Okay, guys. Delia needs you at your house. Rules, or something? Well, yeah. So... Adios."

Iggy returned as well, and the trio left.

I rejoiced.

If Fang and Iggy think they have a chance of getting back into my life, they better write a song about it. Then, it would at least look real.

It's almost funny. Life is like rubber balls. It bounces back at you every time you toss it away. You want something gone, it's only a temporary bye-bye. It comes back one way or another, if that makes any sense at all.

It's almost ironic, too. They all come back now. During the weirdest time, they come back.

Oddly enough, my life turned around before Iggy and Fang jumped back into it. With them here and what already happened, it'll soon be spinning in circles.

I'm screwed, to say the least.


Walking away in defeat, I trudged to Max's room. Yes, I am indeed pulling an Edward Cullen.

Yet, Edward Cullen can't be as amazing as me while doing it.

Max's room hadn't changed much since a few years ago. The only thing that changed was the memories inside it. Funny how life comes back at you. For making one mistake, you get cold shoulders and glares.

I remember a few years ago, when the question was up there. No where in reality, but it was that mental question. That what-if.

A million screaming fans, and leave behinds the ones you love. Or, stay with the ones you love and have a million people never know your name. In some ways, it's obvious. But in others, it's... conflicting.

There's a new question, but it isn't only in my mind this time. It's in Fang's too. Will we be forgiven? I know Fang loved Max. He must remember that I did too. Fang doesn't remember her... And it makes no sense. I can't forget her. She's just... stuck. Stuck in my mind. If I wanted to forget her, I couldn't. Unlike my dear brother, who has no memory of Max at all. Neither of them.

Funny.

Max just always had this... appeal. An undeniable attractiveness. If you lived in Pithier, having a crush on her was a part of growing up. You never liked her, you were either a (straight) girl, gay, or younger than three.

She wasn't perfect, of course. I could name all of her flaws if I had an hour to spare. But, she didn't deny her flaws. She didn't flaunt her skills. She was imperfectly perfect. There's a difference.

Is it creepy I've spent all of this little interview story thing ranting on about Max? Probably. But is there a point? Definitely.

I know what I did. I know how she thinks of me. Fang has no clue what he's in for. Max is different then just another hook-up. You hurt her, she kills you.

You may think it's sad I wrote this whole excerpt about why I'm better for Max, but it's not like that. It's just me trying to get across my understanding of things.

And that is not too much. What I understand, that is.

With that thought, I sit on Max's bed. Oddly enough, it smells strongly of cookies. Chocolate chip, her favorite.

"Iggy," I heard a gasp behind me. It was Nudge, Max's adoptive sister. She was fourteen, a few years younger than most of us. Gazzy's thirteen, so's she's older than him.

"Hey, Winky," I smirked. I called her Winky because her signature used to be '..!3'. She was a genius, so she was in mine and Max's grade.

She ran up to me and squeezed. "I missed you!"

"I bet you did, Winky," I grinned.

She slapped my arm jokingly, but hard enough to hurt a little. "Oh, don't act like you didn't miss me." She giggled.

"It's acting when you aren't serious," I retorted. She rolled her eyes.

"So why are you in a band?" she commented.

I grinned. "Touché, Winky."

"Nudge!" someone called, not too loudly. "Come here!"

Nudge grabbed me by the wrist and brought me to the mysterious voice. "Yeah?"

"Iggy!" The voice yelled. The voice soon became the face. Not just any face, but the face of Ella Martinez.

"Hey," I said calmly, a slight smile on my face.

You know that one person you knew had a crush on you and after you knew that, it was hard to look them in the eye?

That's Ella. She ran up towards me jumped up, wrapped her arms and legs around me, and squeezed.

"I haven't talked to you in years!" she exclaimed. I cracked a faulty smirk.

"No, guess you haven't..."

She laughed. Did she think I was being funny?

"Okay guys!" I overhear Isaac say. There's my escape.

"Delia needs you at your house."

Ella released me.

"Rules, or something?"

I headed downstairs.

"Well, yeah."

As I neared the bottom, the whole room seemed to freeze. The whole Earth seemed to just... stop. At the bottom of the staircase was a picture of a blonde boy and a toothless brunette girl smiling together. The moment captured was as clear as day in my head. The flash of black in the background made it even clearer.

It was the day Max met Fang.

"So... Adios." The words snapped me back into reality. I entered the room, and followed the guys outside, hiding the uncomfortable feeling that was consuming me on the inside.

There are some things you do in life that you just can't help but regret.

Lalalinebreak.

We stepped into the house. There before us was Delia.

"Hey guys!" she said perkily.

The three of us muttered a "Hey" in response.

"Well, here are your rules!" Wow. Blunt much, Deles? "No telling people who you are, no drawing attention to yourselves, no people coming over here, and definitely no girlfriends."

"No girlfriends?" I asked. "What?"

"Too much attachment. We're leaving at the end of the quarter, so I don't want three hormonal boys in tears. And besides, Fang will be set up with Lissa Kruz. Iggy will be with Tess Allmind. And Gazzy will be with Courage Starr."

"Wait!" Gazzy interrupted. "You're assigning us girlfriends?"

"For show, of course," Delia added. "But why add a jealous girlfriend into the mix?"

None of us agreed. Delia, noticing our silence, moved on.

"Now, your grades must at least be a B-plus average for Woods to keep sponsoring us. They have intel at the school that will know of everything and anything you're doing. But, don't stray too far from being yourselves. Except for you Fang, stray really far." We snickered. "Now, here are the rules the school sent us."

While she rambled, Fang and I exchanged a glimpse. We both were thinking the exact same thing, I was sure of it.

Fang and I, sometimes, have the same mind frame. We were in sync, whether we wanted to be or not. This time, it was obvious what we were thinking.

That no rule would break us from

our bet. None. Because Nights don't stop driving when there's a little bump in the road. The drive right on

over it.

No matter what it takes.


A/N; Mwahaha. Twists :]. Sorry I took a while I update. I have four projects due this week, so I've been in a rush lately. So, I have eight reviews now... How about we bring make it 17-22? I have a plan for this story, but any suggestions will probably be used. I am personally a Fax fan, but Miggy fans will get their share. And Nudge and Ella... Well, just wait. :)

QOTD: Best quote from an FF? "Money can't buy happiness." "Not true. I once met a very nice stripper named Happiness." -Diary of a Lovesick Mutant, Pheonix Fanatic (I think that's her penname).

Oh, and for anyone who wants to know my previous penname, here's a hint. Discombobuled, WMO/WFO. 2/3 of my stories. :)

-Alli