"Ella attacked me for no reason," Maya claimed, glaring at the other girl out of the corner of her eye.

It was as if a fire had been lit in my throat, and if I opened my mouth, cruelty would spill out. My jaw unclenched and all Hell was let loose.

"What the fuck, Maya?! You provoked Ella! You were more than glad to claim responsibility for the damn microscope!"

"Language, young lady! You and Ella have gone too far this time! Maximum, your social worker will be here in two days to collect you and your things, and transfer you to another foster family. Ella, I will make a call to your social worker."

My eyes widened, and I stormed away, muttering, "Fucking bitch." I broke into a run, bare feet slapping cold pavement as I threw open the front door to the Batchelder's house and sprinted out into the road. Running past the preschool and into the town square, my heart pounded and my legs numbed, and I finally caught my breath when I reached Ian's Ice Cream. As usual, it was practically empty. The only person in there other than Ian, the man who owned the ice cream parlor and was the cashier, was a man who looked like his face was disfigured.

Once I ordered and received my usual, Cold Blueberry (which is vanilla, with frozen blueberries), I sat at one of the several empty tables and glanced at the vintage signs hanging on the light gray walls. I heard a chair scrape, and I glanced up.

The man stood in front of me, his muscular and hairy body shadowing mine. Don't get me wrong, I'm 5-foot-9, but the guy could've strangled me in an instant!

I scowled at him. "What do you want?"

"That's no way to speak to an old childhood friend, is it?"

"Do I know you?"

"Oh, Maxie, you don't remember me?"

Only one person ever called me 'Maxie'... "Ari?"

"Long time, no see. Did you know my mother commited suicide?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

"No, you aren't. You're the reason for it."

"What the... How?!"

"Don't you remember? You spread rumors. Rumors that she was cheating on my dad with the elementary school principal."

I bit my lip. I did remember doing something like that.

"...And now, I'm going to cause you the same pain I felt. But this time, physical instead of emotional."

Ari snarled and did a roundhouse kick, knocking me flat on my back. I scrambled up, sprinting out of the ice cream shop. As I ran, Ari was hot on my heels. I turned and kicked him in the balls, forcing him to bend in half. I ran inside my house, and slammed the door behind me, panting. I glanced up and was slapped in the face by Mrs. Batchelder.

"You can't just leave without telling me where you're going!" she shouted.

"I can do whatever the hell I want!" I replied.

"Go to your room, and don't come back out until your social worker gets here!" she roared.

I gasped... that wasn't for another two days! I punched her in the stomach (A/N: Max is one violent girl- haha), then ran to my room. I felt Maya's eyes on me as I jumped onto my bed, pulling my iPhone out to contact Mr. Reilly, my 'evil' social worker, but my social worker none the same.

A/N: So so so sorry for the delay! I've been crazy busy :( Will update again within the next two weeks, I promise! :)