A/N: Okay..please PLEASE PLEASE send in reviews! I need your imput. Tell me if you love it. Tell me if it sucks some major giraffe abortions. I don't care. I just wanna know what YOU think. According to one of my reviewers, the next famous person to die will be...Donald Trump. A reasonable assumption. This guy's old, and right now, the economy tanks, so he's probably more stressed than a six year old candyaholic in a dentists office. Tell me who you guys think is gonna die next. It'll be interesting to see some of the answers. Hannah Montana goes next FTW. On with the story.

Disclaimer!: Yeah...I'm still not ownning Max Ride. So yeah...

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Chapter 3: You Know You're Stressed When Girl Magazines Give You Nightmares

Max's POV

"Max...Max, wake up." My eyes snapped open and I lurched forward, knocking my cd player to the floor. It crashed onto the ground and the batteries popped out. The cd rolled from the opened latch and circled to a still. I whiped sleep from my eyes and was greeted with the sight of my sister, Ella. Her eyes were red and puffy and she looked drained and quite sad.

"Ella?" My voice was rough. I cleared my throat and tried again. "Ella? What's wrong?" She rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders.

"The first thing you say to me after seven months is 'what's wrong'? Yep...you're definetly Max. I just came to say hi. Sorry I got home so late. I--uh--had a bit of problem at one of my friend's houses." she said quickly. I sat up and pulled her into a hug. "Oww! Max...Max...you're crushing my ribs." I quickly released her.

"Sorry." I said meekly. "What sort of problems?" I asked. I didn't mean to sound nosy, but I'm a naturally curious person.

"Jeese, Max. Are my problems the only thing you wanna know about? Honestly...it was nothing." She shrugged it off like it was no big deal, but I could see the glazed, watery quality her eyes took on. I gave her that I-was-your-age-once-too look. "Honestly...it was really just a little squabble between two friends. Just a disagreement." she persisted.

"Right. Now...what really happened?" I said all knowingly. She shook her head. "Hmm..." I muttered, studying her eyes, facial expression, and posture. Her eyes were distracted...miles away. Her face was set in that firm, trying-to-hold-it-all-together look, and the way she slumped on the bed was a dead giveaway. "Let me guess...boy trouble?" She frowned immediately, and I knew I'd hit the jackpot.

"Is it really that obvious?" she questioned halfheartedly. I gave her a sympathetic smile and nodded. She sighed.

"Wanna talk about it?" I asked. She shrugged.

"It's just the usual, crappy boy stuff. Ya know...I caught my boyfriend kissing his ex and we got in a little bit of a disagreement over who saw what. Well...actually it was a big fight. A really big fight." She looked down at her feet. It was then that I noticed the red mark across her cheek.

"Oh my god! Ella! That bastard! What did he do to you?!" I shrieked. Who was this creep and what did he want with my baby sister?! She shrugged.

"Max..it's fine. It was an accident. A knee-jerk reaction. It won't happen again. It was all a stupid accident." Her words rushed out, nervous and pleading.

"Ella! He hit you! You don't slap someone right across the face on accident! Trust me...I would know." I was really upset. Who did this guy think he was?!

"No! It was an accident! He did it without thinking! We were both mad. It was an accident! You've gotta believe me!" She looked like she was on the verge of tears. I pulled her tight to me. "You can't tell anyone! It was and accident! An accident!" She burst into tears. Jeese. Either cupid died, or it was just not a good day for love. Us girls were kinda having a bit of a bad day.

"Shh...It's alright. I won't tell anyone. Are you sure it was an accident?" I asked quietly. She nodded in frantic earnesty.

"I could tell by the look in his eyes when he apologized. He meant it, Max. He loves me. He didn't mean to hurt me." she whispered. Her voice sounded tortured. I held her tight as she cried into my shoulder.

"Shhh...You're okay now. I'm here. It's alright. Shh..." I whispered words of comfort, trying to quiet her so she wouldn't wake anyone up. I glanced at the clock on my bedside table. 12:30. That wasn't so bad. Fang would probably still be up. Oh...Fang. I had totally forgotten about him since I'd fallen asleep. I tried to shake the thoughts from my head. Ella slowly quieted. I heard footsteps in the hallway. The door cracked open, and Fang appeared in the door. What did he want? Was he finally going to tell me what was wrong? He just stared at the two of us for a long time.

"I--uh--just thought I heard somone crying. Just came to check it out. I'll leave you two alone. Sorry." That was all he said before walking out again. I sighed. He obviously wasn't going to spill anything tonight. Ella let out a couple of shuddering breaths before pulling away.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, her voice hoarse from crying. I shook my head.

"It's fine. Anytime you need me, I'm right here. Just..be careful. Don't let him push you around, okay?" I begged. She nodded. "If you want, you can spend the night in here with me, if you just want some company." I offered. Again, she shook her head. My night seemed to be filled with head shaking.

"I think I'll just go back to my room. I'm tired and I've got cheer practice tomorrow. Goodnight, Max" She slid towards the door.

"Goodnight." I whispered after her as she shut the door. I ran my hands through my hair and then bent to pick up the cd player. I shoved the batteries back in and tossed it in the drawer again. I slipped out of the room, cd in hand and walked down the hall. I hopped dowstairs and pushed open Nudge and Angel's door. Both were asleep. I kissed each of their foreheads and whispered goodnights, before slipping back upstairs and to Iggy and Gazzy's door. They were both awake, but Gazzy looked about ready to pass out. "Don't stay up too late, guys." I told them, almost too tired to care. "I heard Mom mention something about going into town tomorrow. Don't wanna be tired for that." Iggy rolled his eyes.

"Max..I'm almost 19. I think I can pretty much stay up till whenever, don't ya think?" he said.

"Yes...but Gazzy's only 13. So he can't stay up to all hours of the night." I told them, glaring at Gazzy.

"I can too." said Gazzy, stubbornly. But his head flopped back onto the pillow in exhaustion. I shook my head and placed a quick smooch on his forehead. "Eew.." he said weakly. I laughed quietly as he scrubbed at the spot where my lips had made contact with his skin. I glanced over at Iggy. Somehow, I doubted he wanted a goodnight kiss.

"Night, Iggy." I whispered. He nooded, too busy shuffling through his bag. They hadn't unpacked yet, the lazy asses. I walked to Fang's door having cleverly saved him for last. I could here 'Modern Swinger' by The Pink Spiders playing behind his door. Fang's music choice was a various collection. I knocked softly.

"Come in." he called. This surprised me. He probably thought it was someone else. I stepped in. He was typing away at his laptop. He looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"I just came to return your cd." I said, tossing it to him. The pass was a little short, but his hand shot out and caught it. I was about to walk out when he spoke again.

"What? No goodnight kiss?" His voice was joking again. I turned, surprised.

"I--I didn't think you'd want one." I stuttered. He climbed off the bed and walked towards me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and placed his lips to my forehead. We were still for a long moment. Neither of us dared move for fear of breaking the peace the room now held. Finally, he pulled back.

"I'd always want one, Max. No matter what. I'll always want you." he whispered in my ear. I could feel my cheeks heat up. Fang had a way of getting to me like that. "I'm sorry, Max. I treated you like shit. I was being a real jerk, today."

"Yeah..you were. But that's okay. I forgive you." I told him. I pecked him on the cheek. "Goodnight." He raised an eyebrow.

"That's my goodnight kiss? I feel cheated." he said playfully. I punched his arm lightly.

"Greedy today, are we?" I stood on tiptoe and pecked him on the lips. I pulled back, but kissed him again. Then again.

"Stop...teasing...me." he murmured stubbornly in between kisses. His hand went behind my head, holding me to his lips, the other one pressed me close to his chest. All of my senses were on some sort of high. That's what I loved about kissing Fang. Everytime was different and new, but not scary. It felt right. After a long time, I pulled away. He frowned.

"It's late. I wanna go to bed." I told him, yawning. He pressed the cd into my hands.

"Put it back for me, will ya?" he asked with those damn puppy dog eyes. No..not bambi eyes, but these were almost as bad. I stumbled to the box of music, still entoxicated with Fang. I heard him chuckle. I stuck it back where it came from, but being my graceful self, I simply had to knock something over. And by something, I mean the entire contents of the shelf. Something tells me I wouldn't get very far in anything that involves any sort of fragile item. A demoliton artist is more like it.

"I'm sorry." I said, stooping to pick up the stuff I had knocked off. I shoved cds back into the box and stacked some notebooks back on the shelf. I scooped up a brown paper bag and a small plastic bag tumbled out of it. I picked it up. "What's this?" I waved it in the air, about to open it. Fang lunged forwards. I jumped back, slamming into the wall. He ripped the bag from my hands. My eyes were wide with shock.

"Jesus, Max! Would you stay out of my stuff?! This is personal! You can't just go looking through people's stuff!" he shouted.

"I--I'm sorry. I--I just--" I stammered.

"I think you better go back to your room." He grabbed my shoulders and steered me to the door, lightly pushing me out. "Goodnight." he said before shutting the door in my face. "Goodnight?" I said in confusion. What? Was Fang, like, bipolar or something. Normal people don't kiss you passionatly and then shove you out the door. Except in soap operas. I was soo confused. What was with Fang? One second he's begging for kisses and the next he's attacking you over a little plastic bag. I wandered back to my room mechanically and sunk into my bed. I stared up at the ceiling for what felt like hours, then finally squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn't get to sleep. I rolled over, flicked on my bedside light and opened a drawer at random. An empty wallet, blue plastic bag with nothing in it, two Nickelback cds, a newspaper article about some sort of car accident, a broken calculator and a pile of old teen magazines inhabited the messy drawer. With nothing else to do, I grabbed a magazine and began to flip through it. An article on hair styles (yeah...I definetly need that.), some article on a chick who's boyfriend posted topless photos of her on the internet, and then an article titled 'Ten Signs that Your Boyfriend Wants To Split Up'. I glanced around guiltily, like I shouldn't be reading this, and then dove into the article.

Sign #1: He does not seem to have anything to talk about with you anymore, and when you ask him what's wrong, he says its nothing.

Sign #2: He has a very prominent change in his behaivior around you. Such as awkwardness, nervousness, and ignorance.

Sign #3: He spends quite a bit of time alone and/or avoids you.

Sign #4: Is very protective of phone calls, his room or anything else.

Sign #5: He seems eager to get away from you in alot of situations.

Sign #6: Your fights are getting more and more frequent.

Sign #7: He is careful to avoid talking about any future plans and gets nervous when you or anyone else mentions it.

Sign #8: You just have the idea stuck in your head that maybe he doesn't want you.

Sign #9: He seems distant when he's with you, like he's constantly thinking about something else.

Sign #10: He is reluctant to spend time alone with you.

By the time I had finished reading the article, I felt like I was about to puke. Fang was guilty of all those things. How depressing is that? "It's okay, Max." I tried to reassure myself. "What do these stupid girl mags know anyways? He probably just had a bad day." But I couldn't get the thought out of my head. Shit! Wasn't that one of the signs?! "Max..calm down. This is just a stupid article. He still loves you. He even said so." Well...then why would he be so pushy and hostile towards me. That's not love. I'm pretty sure. I whisper screamed into my pillow. "Just stop thinking about it." I commanded myself firmly. So that's exactly what I tried to do for the next hour and a half before falling into a restless sleep filled with brief, frightening thoughts and images. The thought of being alone and abandoned. Of no one loving me. Of everyone leaving. It haunted me all through the night.

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A/N: Yay...my favorite chapter so far. Not bad...This chapter featured the song "Modern Swinger" by the Pink Spiders. It's an excellent song, and I invite you all to check it out. Taking requests for future chapters. I'll update soon. I'm really getting into this story. I know its a little intense with like Ella and stuff, but the next few chapters should be a little more lighthearted. See ya soon! REVIEW!