Soooo I really hope that you like the first chapter :). Thanks for the reviews.

Max POV Chapter Two

Fang smirked at me, unaware of the fact that I was horrified by the thought of having him as a partner for this personal of a project.

Everyone moved by their partners mutually. On the other hand, I stayed frozen like an icicle. The grin on Fang's face slowly faded as he saw the look of disappointment on my facial expression. He slid into the chair next to mine and got out a sheet of paper from his binder.

"What's wrong, afraid that you'll fall for me, Max?" He teased me, trying to lighten the mood a little bit, but failing epically.

I shook my head, coughing. "You wish."

"Hey, hey, hey, I'm not that bad once you get to know me," he defended.

I took a deep breath and took out a pencil. "Let's just get this project done as quickly as possible."

He looked like a lost puppy that had just been kicked in the stomach. "Okay, whatever."

This was the first time in my life that I had ever seen Fang so…human, so real.

Nudge greeted me at my locker after second period. She held out a piece of gum, the same kind that she was chewing loudly and popping bubbles with. I took it, grateful to have that nasty metallic taste I'd had in my mouth since I found out I was working with Fang on that goddamn project.

"Are the rumors really true?" She asked me, with those stupid Bambi eyes.

"Which ones?" I asked. There were the rumors that I'd just had an abortion…the one that said I was on crack…or the one that I was a prostitute outside of school.

"That you and Fang are partners for Mr. Dawson's project?" She clarified for me.

I nodded, not understanding why it should be such a big deal. I was also wondering how this had been spread to Nudge so fast. I mean I could understand the high school 'royalty' finding out such things so quickly, but it was way beyond me how it got to someone like Nudge this quick.

"They're saying that he put you two together because he's tired of all the tension between you two in his classroom and he just wants you to get together already," she explained.

I almost choked on my gum when she told me that Fang caught my eye. He immediately noticed me as well and made eye contact. But he didn't do anything about it and just looked back at his friends, thank God. I couldn't afford any winks or crap like that from Nudge.

"I don't think that's ever going to happen," I assured her.

"He's a jerk," she reminded. "I will kick your ass if you ever say anything nice about that player. But it will be for your own good."

"Please do," I begged, doubting that it would ever get to that point. I hoped it never would.

Home was a different story than usual. I wasn't greeted with a mad dad at home demanding his dinner and a beer from his 'exhausting day at work'. He was gone, with a note left on the counter about a 'business trip'. He was just going to go fuck another whore yet again. At least it meant that I wasn't going to have to deal with him tonight and maybe get some actual homework done for once.

I pulled out my laptop that I kept hidden in the bottom of my laundry basket. Dad had no idea that I had it, I'd gotten it from the Best Buy that my mom had worked at before she died last work. It was sort of a condolence gift. I didn't keep it hidden because I absolutely knew for sure that my dad would destroy it, but because I didn't know. The whole point was to play on the safe side.

My email was filled with Nudge's annoying chain emails, my aunt's new art projects and one from…

Fang?

How the hell had he gotten my email address.

Without thinking about it, I clicked to open it.

This grade's really important for me to pass the class, kay? So let's just try to make this work.

-Fang

I sighed. If his grade was so important to him, why didn't he do good on everything else so that he didn't have to depend on this single grade for his overall semester grade? Because males are stupid, that's why. They don't plan ahead, don't care, don't listen and most of all you don't trust them.

I closed my laptop shut and put it back in its place.

Maybe this was the chance to get over my fears.

Dad wasn't home that morning either. Thank God, I would be able to go to school without my usual lecture on my behavior and attitude. Looking at the cut on my head, I realized that I was going to have to wear the hat yet again today. At the rate that it was healing, I was going to have to wear it for at least a week. No doubt Nudge would start questioning it. Maybe if I asked to borrow some of her many hats, she would be distracted by her fashion advice too much to ask questions on why I needed the hats.

Surprisingly, I wasn't late for the bus today. Ron looked as shocked as I felt. Even more of a surprise; none of Fang's group were whistling, winking or licking their lips at me today. They did stare, however, making me really uncomfortable and awkward. Why the change of atmosphere so sudden?

I sat down in my normal seat, looking at the group suspiciously.

After two stops and five more kids, Fang made his way to my seat and sat down beside me just like he'd done the day before. I sank down even farther than I had been, as if I could hide from Fang by playing the 'if I can't see you, the you can't see me' game with him.

"What do you want?" I asked about three blocks away from the school.

"Is sitting next to you so wrong?" He asked, trying to act innocent. But he couldn't fool me, he wanted something more than to just sit by me. Maybe that's why his friends had been so calm with me today. Calm before the storm, right?

"Yes," I answered sharply.

"I was wondering when we could work on the project. You did get my email, right?" He implied.

I answered with no response, just staring straight ahead.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," he muttered, still sitting in seat with me. Our arms were pressed against each other. Every time I attempted to move my arm away he just pressed his against it that much harder

Silence lasted until we pulled up to the school.

"Okay, next Monday after school it is," he stated, not giving me much of a choice.

He was up and out of the bus before I could say anything against it.

So…next Monday, I was going to Fang's house.

Watcha think? It's going to be interesting to see what happens with Fang and Max. I don't even know what's going to happen yet. Any suggestions?