Disclaimer: I don't own any Max Ride characters.

Chapter 2

After dinner, Max showed me the rest of the house before we came back to the living room. She down on the couch beside me as we watched TV, eventually, she turned to me.

"Can I ask you a question?"

I wanted to point out that that was one but I nodded.

"Well, actually..." Max fidgeted with her fingers, "do you mind if I guess your name?" I looked at her quizzically but shook my head. She smiled, "Okay," she started. "Aaron."

I shook my head.

"Jack. John. Peter. Matthew. Luke. Jonathon. Jake. Brian. Taylor. Terrance. Troy. Zane. Louis, even though you don't look French. Ummm… James. Christopher. Anthony. Tyrone. Carmichael. Barry. Jonas. Miguel. Dylan. Michael. Prince. Dominic. Samuel. Joseph. Logan. Jesse. Adam. Chester. Steven. Stephan. Timothy. Zachary. Jimmy. Dean. Isaac. Ivan. Gilbert. Lenny. Andrew. Hubert. Henry. Jacob. Robert. Bert. Bob. William. Nicolai. Khaleel. Jahleel. Randy. Dijon. Deeshai. Tajay. Tarran. Kai. Lando. Kareem. Delano. Tori. Brandon. Khaleem. Zaniel. Danzel."

The names were getting more and more ridiculous, but I didn't stop her. Each one was rewarded with the shake of my head.

About 7 more names later to make a grand total of 73 names (and yes I was counting), Max was looking annoyed.

"Okay," she sighed, "I think I'm done. Later." Suddenly, I felt guilty.

"Hey, Max," I called, only so she could hear. She whipped around so fast she nearly fell on her face. Her eyes were so full of wonder, I almost laughed. "Don't stop."

"But, I've said and thought of every boy name I can," she frowned thoughtfully. "It's as if you don't know your own name."

I looked away, she'd hit the nail on the head.

She looked sadly at me. "Well," she said. "I'm gonna tell daddy, and make sure that we march down to that orphanage tomorrow and find out your name."

That night I slept on the couch, even though Max's mom told I could sleep in Max and Ari's room. I had been put up on the top bunk of Max's bunk bed, but when the lights went out, I snuck up on the roof to think. I mostly thought about my name. I wondered what it was. My mom died in childbirth, and my dad took me to the St. Helen's Orphanage when I was one before he committed suicide. So no one thought of giving me a name. I was either 'him' 'Mr. Indestructible' or 'that one'. Kinda sucks.

I didn't want to wake up Max or Ari, so I went to sleep on the couch when I came back in from the roof. The couch was still comfier than my bed at the St. Helen's, so I slept peacefully.

The next morning, Max's mom was surprised not to see me in the bunk bed and walked around the house looking for me. She eventually found me on the couch, wide awake for her noisy looking.

She gave me a pair of Max's sneakers, and explained tha Ari's clothes would never fit me and that she assumed I wouldn't want to wear a girl's clothes. I nodded profusely. She led me upstairs to the children's bathroom, and told me to clean up as best I could. I looked in the mirror and saw a mean, hungry-looking 10-year-old with long, filthy black tangled hair that fell to the middle of his back. He had cold, black eyes and was in ripped black cloth that barely resembled a shirt. These people must have had huge hearts to take me in if I looked like this.

After that, we all drove to the St. Helen's Orphanage in their car, a white Toyota Sienna. They said they were going to find out my name and try to adopt me. I thought Max had been joking about that last night. She flashed me a smile.

When we got inside the Orphanage, Mr. and Mrs. Ride went to the front desk, leaving us in the lobby. Max looked around, interested in the people rushing about. Ari munched on a chocolate chip cookie his mom had given him. I stared at nothing.

One of the current bullies from the dorms came up to me. He must have been new, 'cuz I while I was here I'd never seen him. There was a whole pack of boys behind him, most of whom I recognized. They didn't look at me.

"So, I've heard about you, Mr. Indestructible," the boy said with a sneer. He was shorter than me, with blonde hair that stuck up in every direction and angry green eyes. I didn't know his name and I didn't want to.

"You came back," he said.

"So?" I snapped dangerously.

He looked taken aback. Max's eyes flicked between us nervously. She pulled Ari close to her.

"Aren't you scared that that lady will come and get you?" he asked.

I shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. "She's already whipped me a bunch of times, and she can't kill me," I said. But I knew the whipping could get worse. Much worse. I'd heard about people who she locked up for 3 days without food or water before whipping them.

The boy glanced around trying to find a way to make me feel uncomfortable. It wasn't gonna happen. He was smaller than me, but about my age, plus half his back-up had either been my friends or were afraid of me.

At that instant, he grabbed Ari by the collar and lifted him into the air. Are screamed, spewing cookie crumbs all over the boy. This would have been funny, under any other circumstances.

Max and I, at the exact same time, punched the boy in the face. He dropped Ari holding his bleeding nose. Max caught her younger brother who cried into her shirt. The group of boys dispersed as they saw Drs. Ride coming around the corner.

"It seems nobody knows your name here," Max's mom said, looking puzzled as the boys ran away from us, around her and into the corridor.

"And no one wants you here," Max's dad said, just as puzzled. I could have told him that. "We are free to take you." I nodded thanks.

"First things first," Max's mom said. "You need clothes." She gestured to my ripped jeans, barely-holding-together shirt and non-existent shoes.

"Didn't I give you shoes?" she asked.

I pointed towards the car.

"They're in the car," Max translated flatly. Her mom sighed.

Ari, who was still sniffling, cheered up when his mom gave him another chocolate chip cookie. Does she keep cookies on her all the time?

"Can I have a cookie?" Max asked like a 3-year-old.

Her mom nodded. I watched as Max took a huge bite, almost finishing the cookie. Her mom saw me watching and chuckled handing me a cookie as well.

I took it suspiciously, turning it over and inspecting it carefully in my hands before shoving the whole thing in my mouth. It was heaven in cookie form. Max and Drs. Ride laughed at my antics.

So we went shopping.

I don't see why people like shopping. You just try on clothes, pick styles you like, look at the prices, exclaim at how high the prices are, look for a sale in the clothes you like, don't find a sale, and end up buying the expensive one anyway, still grumbling about the price. As in, waste of time, much?

The Rides took me to one of those all-inclusive mall places so they could get my hair cut too. Like they could get me to cut my hair. Instead, they washed, combed and trimmed it, leaving it just below my shoulders. The combing hadn't hurt much more than the whipping that that woman had given me, so I was alright. Even though the hairdressers and barbers kept checking on me.

The Rides and I walked about from shop to shop, asking me what styles and colours I liked. In the end I got a bunch of black and grey t-shirts, two pairs of black jeans, some black boxers, and a pair of blue jeans that Max had forced me to buy.

She's like the annoying twin sister I never had.


Hope Y'all liked it. :)

-S