Thank you for all the reviews and follows and favourites. You guys are just amazing. Utterly brilliant!
A special thank you too - orionastro, JustALonelySoul, xXbriannaXx, and GeekAZoid420.
Especially to GeekaZoid420 - right 1) your username is just awesome.
2) your review made me chuckle, and put me in a good mood for the day. I definitely hate Mary-Sue's to, and what you pointed out was what I was hoping for.
You are brilliant! :)
Right, so my little fan-girl-squeal is now officially over, so we can get on with the chapter! :)
Disclaimer: Don't own the plot or the characters. Well, as you know, the plot for the first three or four (now maybe in five and six) chapters are purely mine, and the only characters that are mine and mine only are Steve, Camilla, Charlie and Max.
Chapter four:
"Wanna watch The Notebook?" Lydia asked her, just as her nails had started to dry. They were a pale green colour, and Lydia had painted them well so none of it got on her fingers.
Max shrugged. "I don't mind."
"Or NCIS?" As Lydia held up the box set, Max sighed at the sight of Michael Weatherly. Yum. "You're sighing because of Mr Anthony DiNozzo, right?"
"Of course," Max replied, smiling and blowing on her nails some more. "You watch NCIS?"
Lydia popped in the DVD and settled on her stomach with her legs in the air and her head resting on her folded arms. "Of course I do. Everybody watches it. Even the ones that say they don't."
"I love this program. It's brilliant. It's a shame it wasn't actually filmed in D.C, otherwise I would have had a chance to meet the brilliant Agent DiNozzo."
"You lived in D.C?"
"Yep. Moved out of this town straight after the Hale fire and right up to D.C with my grandparents."
"You knew the Hales?" Lydia asked, generally interested.
Max nodded. "They were such nice people. It's a shame about what happened to them, I guess."
Lydia sighed. "Wasn't Derek Hale hot?"
"Lydia!" Max exclaimed, hitting her on her arm. "His family died."
"So? He was smoking."
Max sighed. "Okay, I agree. He was quite sexy. I think it was just the whole brooding thing he had going on, and the leather jacket. He used to play catch with me. Totally ignored me when his friends came around, but loved hanging with me when it was just me and him."
"Imagine what he looks like today with six years on him? Mmm…he's probably really tall and still rocking the broody, I'm-a-bad-boy vibe. He's what….twenty two?"
"Something like that."
They settled and watched a few minutes of NCIS before Lydia spoke again.
"So, there's a party next Saturday night at Tom's," she began, "want to come? I'll be there, and Jackson. You can invite whoever you want."
"Who's Tom?" Max asked, not putting the name to a face.
"He's on the Lacrosse team with Jackson," Lydia answered. "He's got short dark hair and blue eyes. Really tall, can't miss him."
"Oh," Max said, "him! He's not too bad looking."
"Want me to hook you up? I can do it, you know."
Max lay down like Lydia was and shook her head. "No way. I'm not very good when it comes to the opposite sex."
"You done it yet?"
"No! Lydia, what a question to ask…why, have you?" Max's eyes widen.
"Have you seen my boyfriend?"
Max rolled her eyes. "Of course."
After painting Lydia's toe nails – badly, which gained a glare from Lydia, after she thoroughly apologised - they moved onto curling each other's hair as they watched more NCIS.
"You know, I've never really had a girlfriend who would do this for me," Max said as she sat there patiently.
"Never? I've had it done once or twice, but the girl's I hang around with are bitches anyway."
Max sighed. "Every girl apart from you and Erica are bitches. All they do it glare at me as I walk down the hallway."
"It's because you're pretty and you're new and the centre of attention," Lydia said gleefully. Max really didn't know why she was so happy; maybe it was because Max seemed more hated then her at the moment. "It'll go away. Kind of."
"Kind of? That sounds reassuring," Max replied.
"What are you wearing tomorrow for school?" Lydia asked after a moments silence.
Max shrugged. "Depends. I might wear my skinny jeans, some heels and a shirt. I don't know yet."
"Oh, I'm wearing my green dress," Lydia replied. "Apparently it totally goes with my eyes."
"Jackson tell you that?"
Lydia smirked. "He doesn't look at my eyes. My boobs, maybe."
Max laughed. "He's a teenage boy. Who can blame him?"
Lydia chuckled. "Yeah, who could?"
Max, that night, decided to go for a run. Scraping all her curled hair back, she changed into her shorts and a sports bra and t-shirt before promising her parents she'd be back for Charlie's bed time at half eight.
She decided to run the main roads for tonight – the way her mom freaked out the last time was enough to scare her on the roads – and decided not to listen to music and instead focus on her breathing. Track was tomorrow and she wanted to impress the coach enough to get on the team. She was as nervous as hell.
As she ran past the turning to go onto the trail through the woods, the rustle of leaves stopped her pace completely. There was no cool breeze tonight to cool her down. She edged towards the wood, the trees towering over her like giants. Damn. It was so dark.
"Hello?" Max asked, hoping that the creeper that was watching her would come out.
There was just another rustle of leaves before a shock of red took off towards the Hale house.
"Hey!" Max shouted after…whatever it was, but it just carried on running in the opposite direction.
Max stood there stumped for a second, before running back to her house.
"What a strange animal?" Max whispered as she leant against her front door.
Over the night, Max had a vivid dream about the Hale fire; just screams and fire and the wood crackling. She saw Derek and Laura as they screamed and mourned for their family. She had woken up to her hair messy as ever, and her eyes with black beneath.
Shit.
Grabbing a pair of mid blue high waisted skinny jeans, and her dad's old coca cola shirt, she threw it on and attempted to comb her hair but gave up and thrust it up into a messy bun, and hoped it looked good.
She looked like shit.
Clutching her black ankle converse to go with her red and black t-shirt and black bag, she made her way downstairs to where her family were gathered at the breakfast bar in the kitchen. Great, family gathering.
"Honey, you okay?" Steve asked, lifting her chin to see the bags under her eyes. "You look like sh-crap."
Camilla glared at her husband before taking her daughter's arm and sitting her down. "Did you have a bad dream?"
"I dreamt about the Hale fire," She said quietly, and sadly. "Can I just have a bowl of Lucky Charms like Charlie, please?"
"Certainly, Maxie." Grabbing her a bowl, her mother filled it up with Lucky Charms and milk.
"Maxie! I know where I'm gonna put my planes and trains! When can we get them? Can we get them tonight? Can we?! Can-" Charlie stopped when his mother lay a hand on his head and sshed him.
"Maxie is very tired, okay? So let's be quiet and not bug her, yeah?" Camilla said quietly, before kissing her son's ridiculously cute head and walking up to get changed.
The doorbell rang; Stiles was here.
"I'm off." Shoving another mouthful of Lucky Charms, she kissed her family's cheeks and ran out the door, not looking back at her mom and dad's worried looks.
"Hey, Stiles," she greeted her happy and excited friend. "You ok-"
She was interrupted by a hand on her cheek, lifting her face so her eyes were looking into his. Oh, his eyes. They were circles of yellow, coffee, caramel, honey, all mixed together to make the delicious amber colour of his eyes, that were now studying her face as if it was a masterpiece.
"What's wrong? You all right?" Stiles asked quickly, his delicious eyes filling with worry.
Maxie sighed, grabbing the hand that was resting on her cheek to hold it there. "I'm fine, really. I dreamt of the Hales last night."
"Oh, Maxie," Stiles sighed. He opened his arms wide and she nestled herself into them, breathing in his unique scent and sighing, content to go to sleep. "How about you have a little bit of a snooze on the way to school?"
All she could do was nod as he led her towards his jeep. He helped her climb in before going round to his side and setting off towards school. The whole way there, she was resting on his slightly boney shoulder, imagining what was underneath the jumper covering it – the pale skin being stretched deliciously over that firm shoulder.
Before she could think anymore, she was on her way to dream world.
Her last lesson of the day – and term – was history, and she ended up falling asleep all over her desk and being shocked awake by the bell. Erica had been sat there the entire lesson with a concerned look on her face – obviously worried about her new friend when she usually was so lively – and Isaac actually looked up today.
This was so not Max's day.
Stiles had practically carried her out to his Jeep, even going so far as to scooping her up bridal style and stick her on Scott's lap as they rode home, without music, lucky for her. But she was majorly tired, so when it came to that night when she was round Scott's for the weekend, she was asleep on Stiles' shoulder by half eight, a dreamless sleep where she could easily rest.
Even though she'd have to miss out on Bruce Willis with hair.
Damn it.
Waking up, Max saw that Stiles' head was on her lap, and that her hand was now buried somewhere in his longer hair, whilst the Die Hard title menu played over and over again, and she noticed that, when she craned her head, that Scott had fallen asleep in the armchair and his mom – she thought, because she hadn't actually met Scott's mom yet – was reading the newspaper in the opposite chair to her son. She was a pretty woman; she did not look old enough to have a teenager as a son, and she looked so much like Scott. Her dark brown hair was brown and curly – just like her puppy like friend – and from what she could she, the woman had the same dark chocolate eyes as her son as well.
You could definitely see the resemblance.
She stretched to test whether she was sore in any places – her leg was sore, but that was probably because Stiles' big fat head had been on her lap all night – and her neck was sore from the fact it had been bent back on the couch back. She groaned softly, which gained the attention of Mrs McCall, who looked up with a smile and beckoned her to the kitchen for some coffee.
She gently lay Stiles' head down on the pillow that she slept on and went to the kitchen to meet Scotty Boy's mom.
"Hey, I'm Max Black, Scott's new friend," Max greeted softly, careful not to wake the boys sleeping in the other room.
Mrs McCall smiled. "I feel like I know you already. Scott talks about you a lot. Says you're great."
Max blushed red. "Well, I don't know about that, but you have an awesome son, Mrs McCall."
"Please, call me Melissa," The elder woman replied quickly, gathering the mugs she was making and placing them on the kitchen table. "None of that Mrs McCall business. Gosh, it makes me feel older than I am."
"Well, if it's any constellation, you don't look old enough to have a sixteen year old son," Max replied.
Melissa smiled. "It does help you get in my good books. God, I get flowers and chocolates from Stiles just so I can keep him around. That boy is something."
Max took a sip of her coffee and mumbled, "Tell me about it."
She had been talking to Scott's mom for about half an hour before Stiles woke up and stole Max's coffee and kissed Melissa's cheek.
"Good morning, ladies," Stiles said, slumping down in the seat next to Max.
Melissa smacked him on the head. "Give that coffee back to Max, now. I'll make you your own one."
"Thank you, Mama McCall. You know you love me."
"Don't have any idea why I do," Melissa jokily shot back, gathering all the ingredients needed for the coffee. "Max, would you like another one?"
"Yes please, Melissa," Max replied, handing the woman her mug before standing behind Stiles to stroke down his bed head. "Aw, Stiles, do you know you have the most adorable bed head?"
"Really? Aw, that's really sweet, Maxie. Do you wanna paint each other's nails and gush about it now?" Stiles sarcastically replied, accepting the coffee from Melissa gratefully.
Max smirked. "If you really want to, Stiles, but I didn't know you were into that kind of thing."
Melissa laughed as Stiles spluttered on his coffee, coughing and choking as Max started to chatter on about what different colours would suit Stiles' skin tone, even though she had no clue what the hell she was actually talking about. When Lydia had started chatting to her about what colours suit skin tones, Max had completely tuned out and focused on the NCIS episode they were watching.
"What's going on? Is there food?" Scott grumbled from the door way, his nose scrunched up in the most cutest way possible and Melissa forced him down with a hot chocolate instead of a coffee – Scott hated coffee, with a passion – and then slumped in defeat.
"Max, do you know how to make chocolate chip pancakes?" Melissa asked her, ignoring the boys, who were burping and putting marshmallows in their coffee/hot chocolate, laughing as they did.
Max nodded. "Do you want me to make them? I can show you the way how to."
"That would be great. Because, believe me, if these boys aren't fed, they turn into angry grizzly bears."
Max giggled. "Come on."
After an interesting morning at Scott's, Max decided that they should all go for a walk somewhere after being stuck inside all day. Scott, being the asthmatic one, complained and simply refused to, so he stayed at home with his mom while her and Stiles put on their clothes and went out.
Stiles led them to a trail they could take, and they set off. There was a little bit of pushing and shoving each other into trees, smacking arms after one of them insulted the other, before they were silent as they looked at the nature surrounding them.
"It's beautiful," Max commented, just as a branch smacked her in the eye. "Shit."
She hobbled around aimlessly for a moment, before her childish, sarcastic friend took pity on her and stopped her from looking like an idiot to all of the woodland.
Stiles started to laugh. "I have never known someone to be so clumsy."
"What, besides yourself?" she said dryly as she covered her eye, which was watering. "Shit, that hurt."
Stiles brought her hand away from her face. "Let Doctor Stiles see."
"Stiles, I'd be so freaked out if you were my doctor…ow, you jackass! You just totally poked me in the eye! What, the branch wasn't enough!"
"My finger was jealous of the branch – it wanted some of your eye juices too!"
Max smacked at him, before carrying on walking, angrily, as she cursed tree branches and stupid best friends and their stupid fingers – even though she thought Stiles had beautiful hands (pale skin was stretched deliciously over bones that made the deft, lean fingers that were attached to a rough but smooth palm – overall beautiful) – while checking her eye in her iPhone screen.
"Damnit, it's red and watery and sore. You're an idiot, Stiles," Max snapped, glaring at her buddy as he sheepishly walked along next to her.
"I'm sorry, Maxie! Your eye was just in front of me and your eyes kinda look beautiful when they water – wait! Not they don't look pretty and beautiful normally, but…"
Max smiled, poking her best friend's beautiful eye. "Ha. Payback's a bitch. Thanks for telling me I have pretty eyes, though. No one's ever told me that before."
Stiles, whilst clutching his hand, reached out and tickled her side, making her jolt and laugh, trying to shove his hand away. Stiles wouldn't budge though; his fingers were dancing gently on her ribs through the soft material of her long sleeve t-shirt, and she laughed again, trying to poke him in the eye again.
"Ah, no, stop it!"
"You shouldn't have poked me in the eye then!"
"You poked me first, asshole – Stiles, STOP THAT!"
"Payback's a bitch – shit! Look out for that-"
There was a thud before Max started to laugh loudly – in pain.
Melissa finished wiping away the blood from the small gash on Max's forehead, sustained from walking into a tree on the trail her and Stiles were walking. Stiles had picked her up and had carried her back to the McCall household, trying to wipe away the blood with his shirt sleeve, but not succeeding, and basically getting his shirt drenched with her blood.
Melissa chucked the last of the tissue in the bin and took the gloves she had on off. "Just look out for trees when you go running – I hope that's true. Scott said you ran."
Max tried to look at her, but the one eye that had gotten poked by a branch and Stiles' finger was blurry and the other eye was covered by the icepack she held to her head. "Yeah, I run for the track team."
"Well, take it easy," Melissa said. "You don't have a concussion, so I've just put a bandage on and I'll give you some from this posh first aid kit to take home, so when you want to shower and stuff, you have fresh new bandages to put on." She stopped to look at Max's eyes, and raised her eyebrow. Tipping Max's head back to get a better look, Melissa frowned at the redness of it. "What happened to your eye, Max?"
"I got poked by a branch and Stiles poked me with his blasted finger." Max's left arm was getting tired, so she had to switch, meaning that her right arm was now right up in the air, in front of her bad eye.
"That kid. I hope you got him back."
Max proudly showed her left index finger. "Right into those brown eyes of his."
Melissa held up her hand for a high five. "Well done, girl."
Max chuckled before standing up to grab her bag, having to go because of a dinner she had to go to with her mom's old friends – The Whittemores. And yes, she had to spend the night with Jackson and his big giant ego, and his parents talking about their son's success in Lacrosse.
She was not looking forward to it.
"Are you off, my friend?" Stiles asked, grabbing her bag and putting it into his jeep before she could even argue.
"Obviously, I am," she chuckled. She hugged Scott goodbye, ruffling his hair as she pulled back. "Goodbye, my puppy."
"Bye bye, Maxie," Scott said, smiling. "You can stay round whenever you want – you make awesome chocolate chip pancakes."
Melissa hugged the girl too – surprising the hell out of Max – and patting her back. "I applaud you for taking on not only Stiles but Scott too. And my adorable son is right – you do make awesome chocolate chip pancakes. Come back anytime."
"Thank you, Melissa. Bye, Scott. See you whenever I see you."
"Tomorrow for breakfast, maybe?"
Max smiled at him. "Maybe."
"Come on, Maxie! Don't want to be late for your dinner with the Whittemores!" yelled Stiles from his jeep.
Max waved one last time before hopping down the steps and up into Stiles' jeep.
"How's the head?" her brown eyed friend asked.
Max glared. "It's on the mend. No thanks to you."
Stiles put his hands up in innocence. "What, I didn't do anything!"
Max stared at him opened mouthed. "Are you kidding me? If you hadn't been tickling me in the first place, I wouldn't have walked into that fricking tree!" She threw her hands up. "Just drive."
"I'll buy you some coffee as a sorry, how's that?"
Max took a moment to think about it before smiling a toothy smile at her friend. "That'll be a start."
And the ache in her head was worth it – just to see the happy smile she got in return.
Hope you liked it! Sorry it took so long to update - got the stress of exams and looking around for sixth forms and stuff - stressful shit! So, sorry ;)
Update soon, my little baked beans.