Chapter 2: Not So Bad

Fang POV

"FANG! Come back! We need to talk about this problem you seen to be having!" My mom yelled from the porch doorway. "Come back, Fang. NOW!"

Oh, please. Surely she knows if she wants me to come back she'll have to do more than just yell. I don't want to talk about my "problems." Sure, I go out and party, and maybe sometimes I get into trouble with underage drinking, but I don't see it as a problem. Its not like it matters anyway, right?

I've been told I'll die just like my dad did. But, I will never smoke. I wont die smoking and I wont get myself into drugs. I just happen to like to drink, is all. Its not an addiction. Im not an alcoholic, and I never will be. People don't seem to realize that, though.

"Mom, no. It's not even a problem. Don't try to tell me it is, because its not like im addicted to the stuff." I yelled over my shoulder.

"Honey Wait!"

"No, mom. I'll see you after school."

Then, saying that, I took off towards the school, hoping the day wouldn't be as bad as it started. My school, Richmond's Academy, was for rich people. Hense the name "Rich-mond." I honestly hated the school, or I guess the snobs in it, but at least it's close to my house. It's only about a mile away, so if I miss the bus, or can't get a ride, then I can simply walk to school. Mostly I just walk anyways, though. I made it to the humongous parking lot, and walked to the front doors, automatically seeing Iggy. He was waiting for me, like he was everyday. Iggy is my best friend. He's a hilarious guy and doesn't talk too much or too little. He got his nickname when we were in first grade. He said he loved penguins and that he wants to go to Antarctica when he's old enough. He also said he wanted to live in an igloo. Of course, we were in first grade, beginning of the year, so he couldn't properly say igloo. He ended up saying 'Iggoo.' I knew it wasn't 'Iggoo' So I tried to pronounce it myself, failing even worse.

"Igglyoo"

"No, it's not Igglyoo or Iggoo, It's Iggy!" Said 6 year old Iggy triumphantly, like he won a huge prize.

At that moment, the teacher, Miss Logan, decided we weren't cute anymore and said,

"No, you two, the way you say it is Igloo. Not Iggy, James."

Yes, Iggy's real name is James. He hates it with all his heart. Even back then he hated it. He'd tell everyone to call him Jay, because he thought that name was better than James, at least.

"Yeah, Jay. Hey… Iggy sounds pretty cool! Im gunna call you Iggy now!"

"Fine." Iggy said with an approving nod. "I like that better than Jay and James. Thanks!" and that is how James got Iggy as a nickname.

Iggy isn't the only one with a weird nickname though. My real name is Nick, nickname Fang. .Back then, I liked my name, but, like all friends, we wanted to make up one. It was the same day that I gave Iggy his nickname, that I got mine.

"Nick, I need to call you something other than Nick, since you're calling me Iggy now."

Iggy said, jumping off the playset we were playing on.

"No, I don't want a nickname! Nick is a cool name."

Iggy snorted, "No. Nick is a stupid name. You need something better! Like mine!"

I stared at him, shocked. That was the meanest thing he's said to me. I stood there for a minute, without saying anything, and then went over to him and bit him on the arm. Iggy shrieked in pain and cradled his arm in his hand tenderly. "What was that for? It felt like you had a Fang!" Iggy cried out, shocked I had bit him so hard. "I'm going to call you Fang, now!" He said with a sly smile.

"Fine" I said, grumpy that he actually made a good nickname.

We've been best friends ever since that day, hanging out all the time and having all the same classes. We're practically inseparable. Iggy is my brother, and I am his, but without all those brotherly fights and such. We even call each others parents mom and dad now, our siblings are our little/big sisters and brothers now. Oh, and we only live a mile away from each other. That helps too.

I walked up to Iggy and he immediately started talking to me. "Hey, Fang. How was home after the party?" He asked me, one eyebrow arched up in a look that said 'did-your-mom-kill-you?'

I groaned. "My mom decided she needs to talk to me about my 'problem'" I put air-quotes around "problem." "but I ran out the door before she could interrogate me on what exactly I did. I'm going to have trouble tonight, so im thinking ill stay out as late as I can and then go back when she'll be so worried about me, she'll forget our earlier talking plan" I said, smirking at my plan. It would work, I knew. She has the memory of a gold fish.

"Ohkay. Where do you want to go? I don't want to go home either, my parents are fighting again, and this time its about me." He made a guilty face and then went back to talking, "so yeah, where are we going? Zap-zone? Strip Clubs?" He licked his top lip and said, " That last suggestion would be fun" while wiggling his eyebrows.

Oh, Iggy. He is so perverted. I face-palmed. "Iggy, we are not going to a strip club."

"But why not!" Iggy whined, his expression looking much like a little kid who didn't get to have ice cream.

I shook my head disgustedly, "Remind me why im friends with such a pervert?"

"Because, Im Iggy, and Im amazing. Duh."

"Whatever floats your boat, Igs."

We walked to our lockers and stuffed our bags in and got the supplies we needed. Our first class was English so we walked there together and sat down in the back next to each other. When the bell rung, two people walked in, signaling that they were late. They quickly found a seat and sat down before the teacher could see them, and immediately pretended they were here the whole time. Paper airplanes were being thrown, notes being swapped, pencils being used as arrows and paper being wadded up and placed in a straw for spit balls. Sadly, our class was the best out of all five hours. Shocking, am I right? Mrs. Tyler, our English teacher, quickly took roll and asked who wanted to take attendance to the office today. Several hands shot into the air and she picked at random. She said she had very important news and that we needed to wait until that person got back, because she needed to hear it too. When the girl got back, Mrs. Tyler started talking.

"Now, class, listen up!" She sang in her heavy English accent. "We have exciting news today! Very exciting! I'm just going to cut to the chase, because I don't want to ramble about nothing important, so here it is; We're going to start pen-pals!"

Cue groans from half the class.

Mrs. Tyler made a face and said, "Now, now everyone, don't get too excited." in a sarcastic way, before she got serious again. "I have a friend, Mrs. Kylie, In California, who I've been talking to over Skype recently. She's also an English teacher and we agreed it would be fun if both of our best classes did an activity. Come on you guys! You get to meet new people from another country! C'mon, it'll be fun." We all looked at her, doubt evident on all of our faces. I don't like writing letters. Hell, I don't even like writing. Why would I write letters to a stranger, if I don't even write to my friends. It just didn't appeal to me, and I knew everyone in this class was thinking the same thing. Well, except for Brigid. She loved writing letters, and was the goody-goody of the school. She was also hot, though. She had red, waist length hair and green eyes with specks of blue in them, making then the most perfect eyes he had ever seen. He stared day-dreaming out the window until Mrs. Tyler shook him out of his daze by starting to talk again.

"Well, She's sent me the list of people who you are partners with. Heres how this is going to work guys. No switching of the people you get, and no whining about anything. It doesn't matter what gender they are, or what their name is or whatever. Just deal with who you get."

Everyone looked at each other, nervous at who they'd get. Warnings that they shouldn't whine, were always indicators that they have a reason to whine. "Abigail Foux, Tom Andes; Anthony Gonalace, Richard Boms-" The list went on and on until finally she said,

"Fang Todder, Max Ride; Shes a girl by the way." I wrote her name down so I wouldn't forget when I was writing my letter, and put the piece of paper in my pocket. Max Ride…. I liked that name for a girl. It's…. unique, for lack of a better word. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all, I thought.

Iggy walked over to me and said "Dude… I got a girl named Nudge. Who names a kid Nudge?"

Yep. This was definitely going to be interesting. I couldn't decide if it was a good interesting or bad, but I just knew something was going to happen. Something big, and I didn't like not knowing what it was.


A/N : Hey y'all. Well, here's the overdue second chapter. Not that a lot of people are reading this anyways;) I think it has something to do with the uninteresting title and summary. Honestly the summary sucks, but oh well.

It's like 1:00 here where I live and my mom's staring at me and waiting for me to go to bed and it's really quite irritating so I think i'll just go to bed...

Night! ~A

Oh yeah, wait. Review? Please? It's killing me. O.e