AN: This chapter is longer than the first two. And there is a lot of dialogue. Sorry if it's a bit OOC. Please REVIEW!!

I was would have been thrilled with the idea of leaving. But I was unable to feel anything anymore. I was numb. Which was better than what I was feeling before.

I grabbed my things and followed Nudge out the door. "We're meeting Fang in the woods outside of the city. He went to a movie." I heard Iggy tell Nudge when she asked where Fang was. Nudges eyes flew to me he moment the word 'movie' left his mouth.

A movie. With her. He's probably sitting in the dark now. Holding her hand. Kissing her… My thoughts trailed off. A half dozen memories flashed inside my head. The beach. The cave. On the dock. Brigid. His smile. Him kissing Lissa. It all burned.

I knew what was going on. I finally accepted it. Jealously. I was jealous. I wanted it to be me. I wanted to be the one to make him smile. I wanted to laugh with him. I wanted to be the one to hold his hand. I want him to kiss me… I couldn't believe I was even thinking these things. It took so long for me to see this. I guess all I needed was some competition to realize that I… loved him. And now… He's with her. Why does this happen?

I could hear a shaky breath behind me. I turned to see Angel staring at me. She was reading my mind. She heard everything I was just thinking of. She saw it all. She heard me say I loved… "Oh Max." Her cracked voice cut into my thoughts. She ran up to me and hugged me. I held her tightly to me. It felt good holding someone, comforting someone else. Not being the one crying.

We were standing in the middle of the hallway. If anyone saw us, they would have thought we looked insane. I didn't care anymore. I just wanted to get out of here.

We flew to the woods, just like Iggy said. I sat on the ground below a thickly leaved tree. There was no sunlight beating down. I was completely in the shade. And I mean that in more ways than one. I heard a rustling sound from behind me and saw Fang walk into the woods. My eyes narrowed. All the anger and fury and hostility came back in a wave the second I saw his face.

He was smiling. Smiling because of Lissa. He was chatting with Iggy, filling him in on his date. My hands dug into the dirt below me. I tried to steady my breathing, but nothing worked. He was just so… happy. I wanted him to be happy. But I wanted to be the one to make him happy. AGH! I'm such a sap! What's going on with me??

As if hearing me scream at myself, Fang looked in my direction. He saw everything. He saw that I was broken. He saw that I had been crying. He saw my anger. He saw it all. His eyes softened as he looked at me. I didn't want him looking at me like that. It was pity. No one looks at me with pity. No one. I glared at him. I could feel the fire in my eyes. He looked taken aback. He must have felt the flames too. Good.

To my surprise he returned the glare. His was just as furious as mine. Since I had obviously lost my sense of hiding my feelings, I probably looked shocked. His glare was hard, dark, and scary. I looked away quickly. Everything was hurting. What was wrong with me? Why was this this happening? I hated it! I wanted this over! Someone save me. I just wanted it all to be done.

I want to go back in time. I should have listened to Fang. We should have left when he said. He knew this would happen. He was trying to warn me. He was trying to protect me. My heart broke all over again. He tried. He didn't want this to happen. I could be imagining this. But I hoped I wasn't. I wanted him to care. I wanted him to hope I was fine. I never wanted to see that glare again.

Fang looked victorious. Then guilty. He walked over to me. He stood next to where I sat on the ground. "Max…" I jumped up immediately.

I stared him right in the eye. I tried to make my glare as fierce and as vicious as his.

He laughed. "I can't believe your so mad about this."

His laugh was like a slap in the face. He didn't take me seriously. "Well I am!"

"Its nothing to get so worked up about." He gave me a skeptical look.

"Oh really? At least I don't handle it like you do!"

He looked confused. "How I handle it?" He raised an eyebrow at me like he expected a stupid answer.

"Yes. Like you. When I chose someone that you didn't like, what did you do? Oh yeah, you ran. You split up the Flock just because it wasn't all about you anymore. Because you were second best." My voice had ice in it. I was all fired up.

I could see in his eyes that I struck a nerve. "That is completely different!"

"Is it? I wanted to be with Ari. My brother. And you couldn't handle the fact that there was someone here to threaten your 'superiority'." The second I said Ari's name, the image of his funeral came into my head. It just fuels the fire.

He stuttered a bit to try and find the right words to come back with. I crossed my arms across my chest and looked at him with an eyebrow raised. The same look he had given me minutes before. I was winning.

"I-- You-- it's not the same! At least I didn't have a complete mental breakdown like you did! All I did was go on a date with Lissa! Its not like I chose an Eraser and KILLER over my flock!" His words stung.

"YOU WILL NOT TALK ABOUT MY BROTHER LIKE THAT!!" I was furious now. Ari died defending me. I was going to defend him.

Fang's face looked slightly guilty. "Max… I didn't mean… AGH! Why do you always do this!" he went from sorry to angry in one swift movement.

"Do what? Have feelings? You wouldn't know. It wouldn't kill you to show some emotion once in a while! You don't even seem like you care!" I knew that would hurt.

"I don't care?! Do you think that if I didn't care, that I would be here arguing with you?! No, I wouldn't be!" He was yelling right in my face now. His eyes were full of hate. I was almost afraid of him. But now, I had to be stronger than him.

"If you cared do you think we would even be having this argument?! If you cared we wouldn't be even having this problem! You did this even though you knew it would hurt me!" My voice cracked on the word 'hurt' adding a nice effect. "You hurt me… and you didn't even care. It's like you tried to…" My voice wasn't angry now, it was sad. He did try and protect me. But he still went. And he knew that it would hurt me. He didn't care. I'm so stupid.

His face looked so sorry. I wondered if he was faking it. It wouldn't surprise me. He was already angry as heck. "Max… do you honestly think I… that I did it on purpose? You think I wanted to hurt you?" he looked as if I had just stabbed him. Like I had been the one doing this to him, instead of the other way around. I had never seen Fang look like this.

"It sure seemed like it…" My voice was cut off by my sudden tears. "You knew this would happen…" I couldn't stop the tears. They fell fasted and faster. And soon I was bawling in my hands. I was looking down, the ground blurred by the water in my eyes. I shut my eyes. Darkness was better.

I felt Fang's strong but gentle arm snake around me. He held me tight to his chest. I cried into his hoodie. I didn't care that he was the one making me cry. I just wanted him to hold me. I wanted him to make this all go away.