Heyo, here I am again! Thanks for the good feed back guest and xxsmileyme123xx
It encouraged me to write another chapter! Tell me what you think, RnR.
This chapter is longer, and ends on a little bit of a different note than the last one.
Maximum Ride: It's My Life
Chapter 2: So the Drama
"Okay, if I'm Frodo, you can be Sam," I say to Nudge as I drive her and myself to school.
"No no no….Max," she insists, "We have to be something cool for Halloween. So people will actually know what we are?"
"People know Lord of the Rings," I protest, "Lord of the Rings is cool."
"Max….." she practically whines. Okay, maybe Frodo and Sam isn't the best costume idea for two girls…it may or may not have been the first thing that popped into my mind.
"I knew I shouldn't have asked for your idea," continues Nudge.
"Well what do you think we should be?" I counter.
She sits up straight in the passenger seat with a gleam in her eye. I vaguely wonder if I should be afraid.
"Listen to this," she says, as if I'm not already listening, "You could be Cinderella, and I could be Tiana from Princess and the Frog!"
I nearly choke on my Caramel Hot chocolate from Dutch Bros, "Wha-what?" I sputter, "Princess's?"
Nudge rolls her eyes at me, "Yes, Max, Princess's."
"There is no way in heck that I am going to the Halloween Dance as a Princess. No way Jose`." Just a little fun fact for ya, our school doesn't have Homecoming or Prom or Snow Ball or whatever like normal high schools. We have Holiday themed ones. Halloween, New Years, Valentines Day, and Senior Ball, for Seniors (surprise surprise).
"Come on Max," she pleads, "it would be awesome, and you could look really pretty."
For some reason unbeknownst to mankind, Nudge thinks that she can get me into a big, sparkly, poofy Princess dress.
"I don't know what gives you the idea that I would ever let you squish me into a big, sparkly, poofy Princess dress," I say, voicing my thoughts, "I would rather eat dog crap." By now we have pulled into the school parking lot, and I park my silver subaru outback as she replies, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
"That's gross, Max," she says.
"So is a Princess dress," I reply.
I watch Nudge huff in frustration as I turn off the ignition and pull out my keys.
"We still have almost two months anyways. I'm sure we'll figure something out," I reassure her. But I most definitely am not going as a Princess.
We walk inside the school about fifteen minutes before first hour starts. I see Sam by his locker and Nudge and I go to talk to him. Sam is more of my friend than Nudge's, but you know what they say, my friend's friend is my friend…or something like that.
"Hey Sam, where you yesterday?" I ask him as we approach, "You left your seat wide open for poacher Dylan to swoop in and harass me for Fang." Eh, that's basically the truth.
Sam turns to me, "Sorry about that," he says, "I had to get my schedule changed. Apparently they switched mine and someone else's on accident. What did Dylan want?"
"To be near me, apparently," hint- if someone uses the word 'apparently' it usually denotes that the rest of the sentence is complete garbage or lies. That is the case here as well, according to moi. How stupid does Dylan think I am?
Sam get's this weird look on his face that I've never seen before-which is saying a lot since we've known each other since sixth grade. Must have indigestion or something.
"Did he ask you out?" He asks. I laugh and he looks incredulous. I briefly consider offering him some aspirin or something, but then realize that I don't have any anyways.
"No!" Next to me, Nudge almost shouts, catching the attention of some of the people at their lockers around us.
"Uh…what she said," I say, "I would've said no and kicked him in between his knees if he did though."
"Well well, this sounds like an interesting conversation," I hear a very familiar voice say from behind me. I shut my eyes for a second before turning around to face Fang.
"Eavesdrop much, Fang?" I ask quickly. Standing on either side of him is Rachet and Kate, two of his posse` members. Rachet's real name is Richard, and Kate is one of those tough girls who everyone (even me) respects. I choose to ignore them both as I engage in a petty argument with my arch foe.
" 'What she said' and 'In between the knees,'" he says, flipping his hair with a slight forehead movement while using air quotes, "didn't take you for the pervert type, Maxine."
I ignore his obvious insult at my name and address his accusation in my choice of words, "Really? That's all you heard? Sounds like you're the one with the dirty mind, Fang. Although, unlike you, I'm not surprised."
"Hey," he says, holding his hands up in a shoulder shrug, "I'm just pointing out the obvious." He then shoves his hands into his black pants' pocket, forearms flexin- not that I freaking notice.
"Whatever, you just want to harass me *osel prikladom," I say, finding that any thing I call him in english will get me sent to see his mom.
"Ohhh Spanish, I'm so scared," he says sarcastically. I snort. Just then the bell rings, and I realize Sam and Nudge are no longer with me. Traitors (okay not really, my run-ins with Fang have been happening practically everyday for the past three years so it's probably pretty old to them now). I also see Kate and Rachet walking down the hallway away from us over Fang's shoulder.
"Well, not that I don't love talking with you, but the five minute bell just rang and I don't want to receive and invitation to see your mom," I take a step back (since when did we get so close?) and pick my back pack off the floor with my right hand before turning around. I start to walk away.
"Oh, and," I say to him over my shoulder, "That was Russian, not Spanish, *zaderzhka."
On Friday, we our monthly fire drill, and everyone is giving thanks to whatever religious dignitary they believe in since, for once, it's not raining. Except for me- even though I absolutely hate the rain, as soon as I saw that Fang had ridden his motorcycle to school, I prayed for hard, stinging, ice chunks to fall from the sky.
While the rest of us are bored out of our minds standing in line on the sidewalk, Fang and his gang (hah, get it? Fang's gang? Yeah…never mind) are standing around his motorcycle (which is conveniently close to the sidewalk compared to where he usually parks) discussing it's make or whatever. Of course he doesn't get in trouble for talking. I say one word to Nudge while Mrs. Bennion's taking attendance and get threatened with a referral. Sheesh.
I'm glad that after this I only have one more class before lunch, and I'm released from Mr. Principal's son's presence. Then I'm home-free for the whole weekend. It's not until we return to our fourth hour class that I remember that life hates me.
"….group project…" Is all I hear Mr. Low say, before I zone out into self-pity land. Cause I just know that Mr. Low is going to put me in a group with Fang. He's always thought our 'little rivalry' was kiddish and has been vainly trying to get us together since sophomore year when he realized that we had it out for each other.
"Someone looks a little murderous," Tess says when she walks up to me at my locker after school. I shove my science book into my locker and slam it shut.
"Yeah," I say gruffly, "you got a gun?"
"Who you out to shoot this time?" She asks, just a little too normally if you ask me. She acts like I've done this before.
"Myself," she raises an eyebrow, "Mr. Low put Fang and Iggy in a group with me for the history timeline project."
"Ah man," she says sarcastically, "In a group with two attractive males. That must suck."
"It does!" I say, ignoring her use of the word 'attractive,' "It's dumb and dumber on steroids. And I thought I could have a nice, relaxing Friday evening with you and Nudge."
This seems to be more serious to her now, as she frowns and replies, "You're missing our girls night? Can't you do the project work tomorrow?"
"No way," I say, "I don't care what either of them wants, we're getting the whole thing done today so I can have the rest of my weekend. I'll visit you guys tomorrow morning and we can hang out then." Did I mention that Tess and Nudge are cousins? Guess not. Well, you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at them. Nudge's dad (who is white) is Tess's mom's brother. They sleep over at each other's houses a lot.
Tess sighs, "Okay Max, hey, here comes Iggy. I'll see you tomorrow." With that, she walks off, and I'm forced to face the wolves alone. Luckily, when I turn around I see that it's just Iggy; Fang nowhere in sight. Iggy and I are slightly more civil to each other, since all I have against him is his stupidity.
"Hey," he says to me, "So where should we do our project?"
It takes me only a moment to answer, since I am definitely not going to either of their houses.
"My place," I say. Where it's safe and clean and my mom can make me chocolate chip cookies.
"Sweet, what time?"
"Probably around four. Soccer practice isn't done until three-thirty."
"Okay, I'll bring the paper," he says.
"You tell Fang," I want to prolong talking to him as long as possible.
"Yep. Okay, seeya then."
I don't bother giving him my address. I know for a fact that both him and Fang know where I live- even if the last time they'd been there was more than three years ago. Fang rode his bike to my house a few times the summer before high school, back when we didn't hate each other's guts. He used to drag Iggy with him. I also had a party once that summer that they both came to. Onidah's a small city, it's not hard to get places.
At soccer practice, I can almost forget about the events planned for later this day. I play defense, which I'm pretty good at since I'm fast. Coach tried to put me as forward, but soon discovered that my speed was ill-used since my shooting sucked. As defense, I can just run the person down until they pass out from exhaustion if I want.
I get home around three forty five and take a hot shower to warm my cold limbs. Of course it rains after school. I just finish dressing in some basketball shorts and an old t-shirt when I hear Ella call to me from downstairs. Mom is working late at the vet-clinic, so my dreams of melted choclate-y goodness are dashed to pieces.
"Max! Fang's here! Do you want me to get the shot-gun?"
I smile to myself. Ahh, Ella, at least you know how to cheer me up. Maybe if I'm lucky Fang will get scared and leave. One can dream.
I head down the stairs, jumping the last five and landing in a frog leap at the bottom. Hey, it's a habit. I look up to see the amused face of a jean and t-shirt clad Fang above me. I push some wet hair out of my eyes before standing up straight, leading him to the family room down the hall. I'm just about to break my vow of silence when the door bell rings, signaling Iggy's arrival. I skate back down the hallway floorboards in my socks and open the door, permitting him entrance. He carries a rolled up piece of poster paper in one hand.
Once we're all back in the living room, there's an awkward silence. Fang is sitting in my favorite arm-chair, but I pretend not to care. Iggy's on the floor by the t.v., and I opt to stand there silently, not helping the mood.
"Well," I finally say, "we can just divide up the jobs. One person can cut up the card stock while the other two write up the event paragraphs. My hopes in minimizing the damage done to me tonight to paper cuts are crushed when Iggy quickly calls the card stock cutting job. I give him a glare, and notice Fang do the same, but I can't let our project be jeopardized by letting the boys write up our info, so I grudgingly head over to the computer and pull my history textbook from my back pack beside it. Fang comes to sit on the ottoman beside the computer chair I am currently inhabiting.
"So," I say, showcasing my mad social skills, "Mr. Low said that we had to choose at least fifteen events to put on our timeline. And," I glance through the first portion of the textbook, "Looks like we have about fifty to choose from."
He nods. I roll my eyes at his helpfulness and flip my wet hair off my now water-spotted t-shirt with my hand. I then run the same hand through my hair just to further keep it out of my face. Fang stares at me, and I stare back.
"Take a picture, It'll last longer," I say, snapping him out of his trance. Creeper.
"Whatever," he scoffs, "your hair's a mess."
"Well excuse me," I reply, "I didn't realize this was a beauty contest. Does it look like I have anyone to impress here?"
"Hey Max, do you have any scissors?" Iggy cuts in, and I realize that he has just been sitting there watching us the whole time. I open one of the desk drawers for the scissors, but they aren't there. Sighing, I get up and walk over to the living room entryway.
"Ella?" I call up the stairs, "Do you know where the scissors are?"
I hear her bedroom door open and watch as she hops down the stairs.
"What-huh?" She asks.
"The scissors, wherefore art they?"
"You know 'wherefore' means 'why,' right?"
"Yeah yeah, I took Shakespeare sophomore year too."
"I think I left them in the kitchen," she says, and walks across the hall to get them. I go back into the living room and return to the computer, seeing that Fang is actually flipping through the textbook, writing in his notebook every so often.
"I'm making a list of all the events I think we should put on our timeline," he says, holding up his notebook so I can see. I take it from him and glance down at the list, assessing his choices just as Ella walks back into the room.
"Just give the scissors to Iggy," I say, giving an informal swat of the hand to the air beside my head. She hands them over to him, then proceeds to stand there.
"Do you guys need any help?" She asks. I look at her strangely, before realizing that it would be way more comfortable to have her here too, instead of just me with the guys. Man, don't I just have a great sister?
"Yeah, sure," I say, "you can help Iggy, here," I hand her the paper trimmer from off of the desk and she sits down across from Iggy. I watch for a moment as they begin to cut squares together.
"Do you want to type or narrate?" I ask Fang.
"We could switch off," he proposes. I shrug and pull up a Word document on the computer. Behind me, I hear Iggy start a conversation with Ella, and hope that he won't poison her mind too much. Fang begins to read a paragraph on a European monarch and I paraphrase with bullet points on the computer. Part of me vaguely notices that this is the longest amount of time Fang and I have acted civil to each other for all of high school.
After we finish five, we set them into note card format and print them out so that Ella and Iggy can glue them on to squares of blue card stock. Fang and I switch spots and continue our routine when my phone starts to ring:
*And I don't want the world to see me, cause I don't think that they'd understand…
I quickly pick it up and answer, "Hey mom."
"Max, I'm not gonna be home until around ten tonight, so you guys are gonna have to fend for yourselves for dinner."
"I have some…" I struggle to find the word to describe Fang and Iggy, "….classmates here working on a history project. Can we order out?"
"Sure Hun, I left some cookie dough in the fridge this morning, so if Ella wants she can bake some up for you and your friends."
"Really?" I squeaked, and then remembered that Fang was right next to me, "I mean, uh, okay, cool. Thanks Mom."
"Of course Dear. I'll see you late. I love you."
"Love you too. Bye."
I turn to Ella after I hang up the phone, "Hey, Mom says that we can order out…and…uh…make cookies."
Ella looks at me, incredulous, "She wants you to burn the house down?" Her eyes are wide.
"What? No…she said she left some dough in the fridge and that you can bake them."
"Oh, okay," she looks relieved, "that makes more sense." I hear smothered laughter from Fang beside me and choose to ignore it.
"Hey, er, I'll help," says Iggy, standing, and I notice that he and Ella have finished cutting up squares.
"Yeah, okay. Where should call for dinner?"
Fang shrugs, Iggy looks thoughtful, and Ella answers, "Probably just get some pizza."
"Okay, pizza?" I ask, pointing to Iggy. He nods. "Okay, It's settled then."
"Thanks for asking my opinion," says Fang. I scowl and look at him.
"Hey, if you don't want any, then more for me."
He rolls his eyes, muttering something that sounds strangely similar to 'big appetite. how attractive' sarcastically. We continue working on our project, and it isn't until we've printed out the remainder of the paragraphs that I realize the radio on loud in the kitchen, maniacal laughter pouring out from the doorway down the hall.
"What the-" I say, setting the papers down by the timeline before walking towards the kitchen.
What I see from the doorway astounds me.
Flour.
Everywhere.
Ella and Iggy halt in their flower spewing war to see me staring at them. Both of them are covered from head to toe in a thin layer of flour. Lady Gaga's Bad Romance is playing in the background, French echoing around the kitchen.
"How the- what the heck? You didn't even need flour to begin with! The dough was already made!"
"Yeah…" said Iggy.
"We wanted to make more, since there's four of us, and you know how you eat, like, thirty cookies," adds Ella. I hear snickering behind me and notice that Fang is looking over my shoulder at the spectacle before us. I'm about to yell at Ella for the mess, but then realize that she said more cookies, and my anger is sated.
"Okay, whatever," I say, "Just make sure you clean this all up before Mom get's home. And make sure you use the outside shower to rinse off."
I walk back to the living room, hearing Ella giggle back in the kitchen, along with a muffled 'hey' and what I assume is more batter being thrown. I turn and smile at Fang next to me, before realizing what I'm doing half a second after he freezes in his tracks.
"Ehem," I say, oh-so-smoothly regaining my composure and walking ahead of him to the living room,"Yeah, we should probably keep working on the timeline."
I turn back to look at him and see him still there, staring at me. The doorbell rings.
"Ope, well, that must be the pizza," I say, but before I can take a step towards the door, Ella slides out of the kitchen to the front door, Iggy hot on her heels.
She grabs the handle and flings it open, shouting, "I win!" At the top of her lungs, "Oh yeah, hey Max, you have any cash?" She says, still yelling.
"I'm right here Ella, and yeah," I reach into my back pocket and pull out a fifty dollar bill I grabbed from our family's TakOUt box when I ordered the pizza earlier. I hand it to the still-shocked delivery guy and take the five pizza's out of his arms. Ella picks up the two liter root bear bottles next his feet and shuts the door.
"I think you made that guy wet his pants," I say to her, bringing the pizza's into the kitchen and setting them on the table.
"Okay…" I start listing off each pizza while subsequently handing them to their owners, "Cheese for Ella, Hawaiian for Iggy, pepperoni and sausage for Fang, Veggie Lovers for Mom," I put that one in the fridge, "and green olives, mushrooms, and sausage for moi."
"Wow…a whole pizza per person?" Says Iggy.
"Well yeah," I say in a 'duh' tone of voice, "we all wanted different toppings."
"Yeah, but I thought you could just split them down the middle or something, with different toppings on either side."
"Yeah, but that would be lame," I reply, "And besides, why are you complaining? You can't eat a whole pizza?" I taunt.
"Is that a challenge," I hear Fang say beside me. I turn to him and look him straight in the eyes- my brown ones versus his nearly black ones. I raise an eyebrow, "Depends. Are you man enough?"
"Bet I could eat more pizza than you," he says smugly, "after all, I am a guy."
I open my mouth, feigning shock, "Wow, Fang being a sexist pig? You are so on."
Needless to say, we spend the next hour eating our pizza's whole and than the two after that in a food coma watching Fairy Tail on t.v.
"I can't believe we're watching Anime," says Fang, groaning as he tries to sit up.
"Is there something wrong with Anime?" I ask with much less fire in it than I intended. Food vs. Max. Food: 1, Max: blaaaahh.
Just then, Ella starts laughing at nothing in particular, making the rest of us start laughing just because we are trying so hard not to. We all end up wheezing for air and then laughing some more because we all sound like dying chickens. Or cows. Or whatever.
"Why….Ella…" I choke, tears coming out of my eyes as I start hyperventilating.
"Oh yes, that's attractive," Fang says to me.
"You just be quiet," I threaten him, "Or I'll…."
"Or you'll what?" He shoots back.
"Uh oh, things bout to get down and ugly," Iggy says, trying to imitate Oprah or something.
"We better escape while we can!" Ella says, and her and Iggy get up and hobble out the sliding back door to the patio.
"No, Ella! Don't leave me!" I cry out half-heartedly.
"Yep, very attractive," Fang says again sarcastically.
"Ok, that's it!" I shout, "You're asking for it!"
"Oh no! I'm so scared!" He fake yells in a girly voice, "Seriously, what are you gonna do."
"I'm going…" I stand up slowly, "…to…" I take a step forward "…sit on you!" And with that I pounce, knocking him off of the couch and onto the floor. He lands on his back, with me sitting sideways on top of his chest.
"Ahh!" He gasps, "…Can't…breath…too…heavy…"
"Hey, you should have thought of that before you challenged me to an eating contest, now I weigh ten pounds more," I say, but slide off of him anyways. He sits up, so we're both facing each other now, cross-legged.
"You must be so proud, you finally hit your goal of two-hundred pounds," he teases.
"What?!" I shove his chest and he falls back a little, catching himself with his arms so that his torso is diagonal from the floor. His hair brushes back from his forehead a bit, and I am about to reply, when I realize he's grinning at me- full on. I also realize that I'm smiling back like an idiot, and that he's still waiting for my snarky come-back. Slowly, our smiles slip off our faces, and the look he gives me is way more intense than any I've ever seen.
"Heyo!" Ella calls, stumbling back in, dragging Iggy behind her by his hand.
"You guys still alive?" Asks Iggy. Then they spot us, "Oh boy, I can see that you too are very much alive!" Him and Ella cackle maniacally, while I comprehend just what it might have looked like when they walked in on us.
Not that they walked in on us…it wasn't like we were doing anything…wait, what?
"No way!" I say, coming back to myself, "He just called me fat! He is so dead!"
With that, Fang leaps up from his spot on the ground and sprints towards the kitchen
"Whoa bro, really?" Iggy asks, "Have I taught you nothing about women?"
"What are you talking about?" Fang counters as we face each other, circling around the island in between us, "You don't know anything about women!"
"You both suck!" I say when I realize that I am quickly running out of breath, relieved when I see Fang the same way. Just then, I hear a key unlocking the front door.
"Dive for cover!" I yell, as my mom walks through the door.
"What in the…" I hear as she enters the living room. She probably spotted the pillows and pizza boxes on the floor, along with the t.v. playing the end song on Fairy Tail.
Ella and Iggy somehow escaped into the backyard at the last second, leaving Fang and I inside, huddled down on one end of the island.
"Oh crap, your Mom's here," Fang whispers.
"Well thank you, captain obvious," I whisper back. Footsteps can be heard drawing closer, and I press a finger to Fang's lips just as he looks about to reply. 'I'm going in,' I mouth to him.
Just as I'm about to stand up, my mom's shadow appears above us.
"Max? What in the world hap…" she trails off when she's see's who's beside me.
"Fang," she says shortly. We both stand slowly. Fang looks about ready to say something, but she cuts him off.
"I think you should leave," she says. I stare in shock. Her voice was cold- really cold.
"Look, Mrs. Martinez, the mess is my fault-" he stutters.
"No. I think you should leave," she repeats with a glare that could kill rabid wolves (okay I'm not the best at metaphors).
"I, uh," he tries again.
"Mom-" I start.
"No, Max," she says hotly, turning to me, "He needs to get out of this house, right now. I can't believe you let him in after all the pain he caused our family- after all the pain he caused you…did you forget how he-"
"No Mom!" I yell back at her, "No! I didn't forget! But-"
"Then why is he here?" She interrupts, "I told you guys like him don't get second chances."
"What?" I say, momentarily confused, "What- oh, no, Mom, he's here for our history project! No other reason! You think I'd be stupid enough to go for him again? Seriously Mom? It's great to know you have so much faith in me."
It's so quiet then you could have heard a pin drop. I realize what I said. I realize that Fang is still here and that he just heard all of that. I turn to stare at him, shocked at the whole freaking situation.
"Fang- I, uh-" I stammer out.
"No," he says, running a hand through his hair, "Your Mom's right. I should just leave."
I stand still as a statue as he walks to the living room, the sounds of his backpack zipping up echoing in my ears. The front door shuts with a finality, and I cringe at the sound. It's a few minutes before either of us says anything. I'm the first to speak.
"Well, that was embarrassing," I look around the kitchen, at the mess we made and the one Ella and Iggy didn't clean up, "I should probably clean this up."
"I'm sorry," says a quiet voice next to me. I turn to look at my mom.
"I'm sorry," she repeats, "I did't mean to snap like that. It's just been a hard day at work, and I'm exhausted, and when I came home to see him here, all I could think of was how much pain he caused you in the past."
"Mom-"
"I guess I was just afraid he would hurt you again."
I am quiet.
"I do trust you honey," she continues, "I'm sorry."
The epic change of emotions I have undergone in the past five minutes almost make me cry. Almost. I turn to my mom an hug her close. I hear the sliding door open and turn my head to see Ella walk in. Just Ella, no Iggy. I decide I better question her about it later.
"Sorry about the mess, Mom," Ella starts, "I was about to clean it up…"
Mom waves her hand in a dismissing matter, pulling away from me, "It's alright, it's alright. I just had a stressful day at work is all," she takes a deep breath, "I'm just going to head to bed."
Ella and I are both silent as Mom walks up the stairs, waiting until we hear her bedroom door shut before Ella says, "Iggy left. I let him out the side gate when I saw Mom yelling at you."
"Yeah…" I say, still a little out of it, "Fa…Nick left too." I look around me. "I should probably finish our project. I'll help you when I'm done."
Ella nods and I walk back into the living room, turning off the t.v. and staring blankly at the half-finished timeline.
* Osel prikladom: donkey butt
Zaderzhka: retard
Max's ringtone: Iris by Googoo Dolls