A/N: I don't own anything. R&R, you know, the usual. See you at the bottom! :)

November 2, 2011-Max's Pov

I pulled my jacket closer to my body; Sevena forgot to mention that it was freaking cold over here. Maybe I'm just overreacting. Nah, I doubt it's that. I looked around for a woman I've never seen before, I mentally slapped myself. I should've listened to Alex when she told me who to look for! Maybe, I could just leave and live by myself. No one would miss me, there's no one left who cares…if anyone cared in the first place.

I saw a man in a suit approach me. Man in suits are always bad, avoid at all cost. "Maxine Ride?"

I shook my head, it wasn't a lie. My name wasn't Maxine, it was Max. He put a picture to my head and I whacked his hand away, "You look like the girl in the picture. Ms. Martinez's new adopted child correct?" Whoa, how'd he know that?

"OH! Daniel you found her!" Exclaimed a lady coming down the somewhat empty hall with a trail of kids behind her. She had long, wavy reddish brown hair with warm brown eyes.

He nodded, "No problem, miss. It's my job." It's his job to stalk teen girls in an airport? Some job. He walked away, to help some old lady with her luggage.

"Hello, Max. I'm Valencia; Alex has told me so much about you." She obviously forgot to tell you about my criminal record. "You can call me mom." I stayed quiet.

"She's quieter than Fang," The strawberry blond guy said loudly.

"James, be nice," Valencia snapped.

"Just stating facts," he shrugged. I shoved my hand in pockets, glad that I had kept my headphones in. I pressed play and Street Dreams by Hollywood Undead began playing.

"This is-"

"Hi, I'm Nudge! ZOMG! I LOOOOVE your hair, how do you get it like that? Did you dye-"

"Did I die?" I repeated shocking everyone. "Hmm, no, last time I checked, I was alive."

"It lives," the little boy whispered to James.

"NO! That's not what I meant! Iggy just decided to shut me up when I asked about dyeing your hair!"

Iggy? "I'm Angel," said the little blond girl with an angelic face, big blue eyes, and her hair curled perfectly, bordering her heart shaped face perfectly. Angel definitely fit the description.

I nodded, "I'm Gazzy!" I don't even want to know so I just nodded.

"Fang," said the quiet guy in the back. He was wearing all black but somehow I knew he wasn't emo. Let's just call it girl's intuition. Or he had no scars on his wrists. (I'm not saying all emo people cut themselves) I nodded yet again.

They stared at me expectantly. "Max," I whispered changing the song, god stupid Melissa hacked into my ITunes account and added You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift. I skipped the next ten Taylor swift songs and stopped when I heard the sweet music of Evanescence-Bring Me to Life (Wake Me Up Inside).

The ride home was filled with more Evanescence and more of Nudge's blabbing.

"Max you're on the third floor-" Whoa, three freaking floors? "Next to Fang's room." Oh shit, oh hell to the NAH! "Fang please show Max to her room, and Max tomorrow we're all going shopping." It took all my willpower to not yell ! THE HORROR!

It was awkward on the elevator ride; yes they had a freaking elevator in their house. Are You Happy Now by Megan & Liz began playing and I almost started humming, but then I remembered Mr. Tall, dark, and mysterious was in here with me. Finally the doors slid open, all to slow if you ask me, and he led me down a hall passing a dark door with his nams scrawled across it, the one right next to it was a white door. "Here we are." Wow 3 words, must be a new record. I nodded and went inside not really caring about Fang, who was sadly leaning against my doorframe right now.

"Do you ever talk?" I nodded; did he not hear me in the airport? I totally uttered like 12 words, hmm doesn't count. "So why don't you?"

Because every time I open my mouth, trouble is not far behind. I shrugged looking around, it was bigger than the one in my foster home, and it was pink. EWWWWWW! "Angel painted it." I nodded, it made sense that she would paint it pink. "Do you like it?" I shook my head. It's too freaking bright. He laughed and I put him under my 'I-hate-you' list.

He sighed, "Talking will be a lot easier for everyone." I turned and looked him in the eye, waiting for him to bug me again about my talking habits.

"I'm sure it would be," I hissed angrily.

"It lives."

Deja vu right there.

Max's Pov

"Fang, you do have to come, if you're going to stay in this house, you have to come." I was suppressing laughter. This was too funny, Fang was trying to convince Valencia to let him stay, but Ms. Martinez seemed more persistent than she looked.

"Fine," he muttered, stuffing his hands into his pockets and looked at the ground. I couldn't help it, I smirked, but it quickly faded. How can I be happy when Dawn is somewhere, gone, with him?

"No," I snapped, "absolutely not!"

"PLEASE! Oh, Max, you'll look so cute in this, it'll totally make your eyes pop!" Nudge, Angel, and Ella were trying to get me to buy a tiny dress (that I thought was a shirt) that was a bright red, how would that make my eyes pop? Only the sluttiest of the sluts would wear it.

"No." The guys were snickering off to the side and I let myself be myself for a second, "but from the way the guys are smiling, I'm thinking they'd love to wear it." I topped it off with my most dazzling smile that said that's-what-you-get!

The boys got really quiet, and Valencia was trying to hide her smile. "I can see it right now... And then top it all off with MAKEUP!" That sure got the girls attention. They huddled together and started talking. It felt good to be me again, but it was wrong, I only ever showed that side near Dawn. It was wrong to act normal and have fun when you know that your sister is somewhere in the world being abused by her own father, her brother following in his father's footsteps...

Fang's Pov

Whoa, did Max just totally pass her amount of words per day? She actually seemed alive for a second there, but then, as quickly as it came it vanished. A look of regret and pain passed her eyes, and then she was a brick wall again. No emotion, no sounds, nothing. I missed the Max I just saw two seconds ago. She seemed so alive, so invincible. The way her face beamed like she just won first place, the way everything about her seemed to turn on, like she was a robot that was just recharged. Okay, bad example. It's hard to explain what she looked like, but I knew that she looked so completely free, unlike her usual stay-away-from-me-or-I'll-hurt-you demeanor.

Iggy's Pov

Max seemed really cool just now, but then it was like she hadn't meant for that to happen so she shut up. She was hiding something, I just knew it, I also knew that she would never spill the beans. She was really...isolated from the world. It was like she was hiding from the monster in her closet. You think it's there 24/7 but deeper in your mind you know that nothing's there.

Nudge's Pov

Max just opened up. She felt trapped, so she spread her wings and flew away. Her wings being her actual true self, and her old self flying away. But only for a moment, I wanted to remember that moment. I wanted to remember that she wasn't a Fang, she was a Max. I wanted to know that I could open her shell, help her come out from her hiding spot, help her find herself, because I know that she's lost somewhere deep inside of her.

Valencia's Pov

Max could be a great girl, really, but she hides her personality from everyone. It said on her papers that she was bad with people that she didn't know for a long time, and it also said that it's her goal to get kicked out of homes. She doesn't like feeling safe, all she's ever known is danger. I needed to help her realize that she belonged under my roof, with my family. But it would be so hard. It had very little on her past, but from what I read, she's been abandoned more than once, and apparently the doctors say she has scars that show she was beaten as a child. The poor girl, no one should ever have to live like this. No one.

A/N: R&R (again) and that's about it. SO yeah...

~Maximum Forever out~