A/N hi again. This chapter has sliiight faxness. It's mostly Max and Fang getting to know each other and stuff. Sorry if it's a little boring but they have to get close before the real faxness can start. Sorry for switching povs so much here, and I did Fang first person. Here it is…

Max POV

Fang and I sat on the couch in comfortable silence until Gazzy and Iggy came barreling in having a heated conversation about their latest bomb. Nudge and Ella soon followed and started talking (aka shrieking) about the latest Justin Beiber song. Blah. I grimaced and glanced towards Fang.

"Let's get out of here." he muttered. I nodded quickly and followed him down the hall and out the back door. We walked across the beach and into the nearby forest. We were about a quarter mile in when he suddenly stopped and gestured upward. I looked up and at first I didn't see anything. Then I noticed a tree house nestled way up in the high branches.

"Think you could climb up to it?" Fang asked me.

"Of course." I scoffed.

He smirked as if expecting my answer and started climbing. I followed quickly and soon we were both crawling through the small entrance. I looked around. The tree house was one main room, about the size of a bedroom, and was bare except for a stack of books in the far corner. I liked it.

Fang POV

I sat against the wall and watched Max look around the tree house, her large brown eyes taking everything in. She came and sat directly in front of me, our knees almost touching.

"This place is really cool." She said, "How did you find it? I never would've noticed it if you hadn't pointed it out."

I shrugged and said, "I just looked upo and noticed it."

"Someone's observant." She remarked. It was true. That was my thing: sit back and watch.

"Do you come here a lot?" she asked me.

"Yeah." I admitted, "Almost every day. Just to get away from everything. I don't stay too long though, or they worry. But of course, they'd never find me here. You're the first person I showed this place too." Her eyes widened a little at how much I'd talked. I knew with anyone else I would have stopped after 'yeah', but for some reason having Max's wide chocolate colored eyes boring into mine made me go on. I coughed uncomfortably.

"Well," she said smiling, "Thanks for showing me this place." Her eyebrows scrunched together and she said, "But why show me? You just met me."

Truth was, I didn't know. She just seemed like someone I could trust. "I don't really know why," I told her, "It just seemed…right." There. That explained it better. Something about being with her felt right.

She smiled and I felt a surge of emotion, something I couldn't identify. Then her expression turned serious, "Tell me the truth," she said, "Will Dr. M or anyone here….would they hurt me?"

I was surprised. "No." I said firmly. "Not ever." She looked relieved. Then something occurred to me, "Max?" I said, "Have you been abused at other foster homes?"

"No." she said quickly, "But I know a lot of foster kids who have been. I've been in all relatively good homes, but I just wanted to make sure."

I felt relieved, "You definitely won't be here." I told her, "And hopefully you're here to stay." I added with a half smile.

"If this is too personal you don't have to answer," she said, her tone solemn and curious at the same time "but what's your mom like?"

I flinched. I didn't like talking about either of my parents, but I found myself saying, "She's out of it most of the time. She's always either drunk or sleeping." I shrugged, acting like it didn't bother me.

But of course, being her, she saw right through it. "I'm sorry, Fang." She said softly, placing her hand over mine. I felt a jolt of electricity run through me from her touch. She quickly met my eyes looking surprised for a split second before she covered it, and pulled her hand away. Had she felt it too?

"It's okay," I said, "We've always had Dr. M."

She nodded, a small smile playing on her full, pretty lips. I inwardly shook the thought away. Sure she's gorgeous, but I shouldn't be thinking of her that way.

Max POV

"Tell me about everybody." I told him.

He half smirked and said, "Well, as you can tell, Nudge is a chatterbox. Ella's a lot like her except more quiet. They're both obsessed with fashion, shopping, and that werewolf guy from twilight. Iggy and Gazzy are pyros, which explains their bomb. Sam and Dylan…they're not around quite as much as me and Igg, but we're still pretty close. Sam's kind of a player, I don't like him that much. But Dylan's actually a nice guy. Angel's sweet but she can be manipulative."

I felt my mouth open slightly, "A whole paragraph" I said, "I feel special." I added sarcastically.

He rolled his eyes, "I talk." He said defensively. I gave him a look. "I talk…sometimes." He conceded.

I laughed and he gave me a full smile. I blinked and felt my cheeks turn pink. No wonder he didn't smile a lot, people would be falling all over him.

Then the moment was ruined by a shrill voice screeching, "Faaaaaaang! I know you're out here! Iggy told me you went in the woods. Faaaang!"

"I'm gonna kill Iggy." Fang muttered darkly.

"Who is that?" I asked him, crawling over to the entrance. I looked down and saw a short, skinny girl with long red hair stumbling through the forest.

"It's Lissa." He muttered angrily, "She's practically a stalker."

"Why's she here?" I asked, my nose wrinkling in distaste.

"She lives down the street. She walks over here every once in a while." He told me. He didn't sound very happy about it. Just then I saw her look up. I took in her pretty, delicate face.

"She's pretty." I said grudgingly, watching as she headed farther and farther away.

Fang looked at me like I was insane. "No, she's not." He said firmly, "You're pretty. She's awful." I felt a blush heat up my cheeks. He said it so nonchalantly, like it was a simple fact. Truth was, I wasn't pretty at all. But I didn't say anything, not wanting to delve into an awkward subject.

"She's gone." I said, and moved to sit next to him.

He half grinned, "She'll probably be wondering around for an hour. She's not the brightest crayon in the box."

"Oh crap," I said, remembering something, "I was supposed to call my friend J.J. yesterday when I got here."

"Let's go back and you can call her." He said. I nodded and followed him as he climbed down the tree. I jumped from about twenty feet up, landing nimbly and silently on the ground. I felt like a ninja.

Fang reached the ground and did a double take when he saw me already there. "How'd you.." he said, "You jumped." He sounded almost reproving, but not quite, something different I couldn't put my finger on.

"Not from the top." I said, rolling my eyes. I'm not suicidal.

He muttered something I didn't catch and we started walking back towards the hosue.

Fang pov

As we walked back I thought about Max. She was a risk taker, and not just with climbing trees. I was good at reading people's personalities and I could tell. That bothered me a little. It was weird, that was one of the things I liked about her, but I still wanted her to be more careful.

And there's the chapter. I don't know where I'm going to take this next, but I have a few ideas to decide from. Review! Seriously! Review!