Hey Guys!

Sorry about me not updating my stories but things are kinda getting packed at my house. Family can get quite annoying sometimes ya know.

So hopefully I'll be updating more quickly and everything.

And I just want to say thanks to everyone that has been reviewing! I definitely owe youse one!

Chapter 4

"Max. Will you go out with me?" he blurted out.

I sat there in stunned silence. I couldn't believe it! Fang asked me out! Me! Oh god, he must be so embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, that kinda came out un-expected, uh," Fang said sheepishly after I had said nothing for several long seconds.

"What? Oh, uh, well, um..." I stammered. God! I'm like a broke wreck.

"Listen, it's alright if you don't want to go out with me, I could understand...after you tell me why," he said and smiled nervously.

"Who do you want to go out with you?" Nudge said skipping back up to us.

"Great timing Nudge, really," I muttered under my breath.

"Uh, um, I asked Max out and she, um, hasn't replied," Fang explained. I swear I saw a hint of red in his cheeks. Well thank god; I'm not the only one blushing like hell here.

"Oh! Yeah, she'll go out with you," Nudge said without looking at me.

"WHAT!" I stood up and glared at her.

"What?" she said acting like it wasn't a big deal.

"What's with you two and the word what?" Fang asked. I was kinda glad that he changed the subject, but of course, Nudge being Nudge, went straight down the road of love.

"I just told him the answer that he wants to hear and what you want to say," Nudge said with a grin playing on her face.

"Yeah, I kinda figured that, but I didn't hear you ask me how I feel about him, I mean, I could think he's like my brother, and do you know how gross it would be if my best friend said yes to my 'brother' because he asked me out?" I was practically losing it now.

"Um, no, I wouldn't know how gross it would be, but I do know you don't think of him as your 'brother', because if one brother isn't enough to handle, than why would you want a second one?" Nudge said.

I just shook my head and closed my eyes.

"Uh, I'm gonna go," Fang said warily, "Sorry if I embarrassed you, I guess I'll see you two at school," he waved and turned around.

Oh Man! He must be soooo sad, even sadder than he was, so guess what, I did the unthinkable. Gave Nudge the pleasure of being right.

"Wait! Fang!" I shouted out before he could go anywhere far away. He turned around and I drew in a deep breath.

"I, um, I like you too," I said and felt an immediate blush creep up my cheeks.

"Really?" he asked his face lighting up with hopefulness.

"Yeah, so um, it would be awesome if we like, got together," I said. I can't believe it, I'm actually saying yes to him.

"Yeah, it would," Fang said and walked away with his skateboard in his hands.

I blinked. What the hell! Did that just mean that we were dating? Or was he simply just stating that he agreed with me? Questions, so many questions, especially when it's about Fang.

"OHMYGOODNESS! YOU'RE GOING OUT WITH FANG!" Nudge squealed, jumping up and down with excitement.

"Uh, I'm not quite sure I am, he didn't say that we are going out," I said and shook my head. Great, another thing Nudge can go on and on about for the next four years.

"So? It was close enough!" she said and frowned, "Do you reckon Lissa would be jealous?"

"From the vibe that I got today, yeah," I replied.

"Yes! Looking at the scoreboard right now, Lissa-zilch, Max-1!" Nudge jumped up and down happily.

"You just want to fight her don't you?" I asked and grinned, "Wait, don't answer that. Everyone does!"

We both laughed and high-fived each other.

"So do you reckon we've got enough clothes to last us a few years?" I asked sarcastically while looking at the giant, bulging bags that we were holding.

"They would last you a few years, but these won't even last me a whole month!' Nudge stated and we walked happily out the mall, making fools outta ourselves.

As I chucked the last of the newly bought clothes into the growing heap in my wardrobe floor, I thought about the events of today.

First it started with Fang staring at me, then Fang staring at me again, and then Fang talking to me, well, after that there was the Fang hanging out with me. Basically it spelt out with Fang. Then to top it all off, Fang asked me out! Am I missing anything else? Oh yeah, the Voice decided that it would show itself. At least I think it was a Voice. I might have imagined it.

Oh God, what if I did! What if I was just talking to myself? And they say the first sign of craziness if talking to yourself! Oh No! What if I'm going crazy! I thought to myself. I couldn't take it any longer.

I ran downstairs and into the kitchen where mum was probably cooking dinner, and was about to shout out if I was crazy when i heard the doorbell ring and saw my dad, Jeb, walking into the door.

I stopped in my tracks and was almost knocked over by Ella, who was rushing down the stairs yelling ,"I'll get it!" which meant that she thought it was her new boyfriend, someone a rather. But then when she saw Jeb, her eyes basically popped out of her face.

I'm sure my mouth was touching the ground because I so surprised.

"Hey Max, Ella," he greeted and shut the door.

"Uh, what are you doing here?" I asked not meaning to sound rude or anything. I think.

"For you information, I live here," he said and took off his jacket and hung it up on the coat rack.

"Not really, we kinda thought that you ate and slept at your work, which if memory serves, was more important than family occasions," Ella said and stomped off into the kitchen, probably to confront Mum about our little situation.

"Ah, my little girls grown up," Jeb said wistfully shaking his head and staring after Ella.

"Keep it to you," I said disgustedly and walked off into the lounge room and turned on the TV with the remote.

"You know, I thought that you guys would be happy to see me, because you know," Jeb said following me into the room and dumping his briefcase on an empty chair.

"No, actually I don't know, I don't know anything about you because I don't talk to you, I don't see you and I don't want be happy to see you for obvious reasons, you know," I said and went into the kitchen, where I saw Ella giving Mums back the bird.

"Yo Mum, have you heard about our guest?" I asked sarcastically.

Mum sighed and turned away from the oven where she was checking if the chicken was ready. "Yes, in fact I have, rather loudly actually, and think I might be temporarily deaf for the rest of the day,"

"Oh, well, I wish I was you, plus I'd add in the blind bit from Iggy," I said and turned to Ella, who was grinning.

"Yeah, same," she agreed.

"Why would you want to be deaf and blind?" Jeb said while walking in and moved next to me, while I grabbed a glass and a bottle of orange juice and poured myself a drink.

"I wonder," I said sarcastically and walked off to my room.

"Hey, I'm gonna come with you," Ella said and followed me into my room.

"Arghh, what is with him, "I groaned and fell onto my bed.

"He doesn't get it," Ella said and picked up a pen and started writing on a piece of scrap paper.

"Yeah, we can all see that," I replied and sat up. "Do you reckon Mum is happy he's here?"

"I don't think that she's especially angry, but I can't say she's especially happy either," Ella answered we both laughed.

"Let's hope she's not happy coz maybe then we'll see her kickin him out to the streets," I laughed and stared at my poster of Alex Pettyfer (A/N He is soooo frickin hot! If you don't know what he looks like then Google image him).

I didn't know that Jeb and Mum had even been happy together. I mean, they're the most unusual couple ever. Mum is the head of a Vet Clinic here in New York, which is called Veterinary Hills, I know lame name but she couldn't think of any better names to call it. Jeb was a scientist, but I have no clue what he specialises in, probably finding a cure for dickheads.

"I don't think that'll be happening tonight," Ella said unfortunately, fiddling with a page from my magazine that was sprawled out on my fluro orange bedspread.

"Damn, I was kinda wishing for it," I smiled and stared up into the ceiling.

"Ok, change of subject, I heard this from a friend, but, is it true that you and Fang are going out? Because if you are well, that's cute," Ella said and glanced up at me from the page.

"What! Where did you hear that? Who told you that?" I sat up immediately. Damn. Wrong move. Now I've got dizzy spells happening as well as a migraine that was starting to appear.

"Like I said, a friend," Ella replied and looked at me confusedly, like she couldn't understand why I had a major reaction.

"God! What is it with people and gossip these days! Can't they just keep their bloody annoying beaks out of everything? Seriously," I threw up my hands and got off the bed.

"What is it with sisters and getting weird whenever you ask them about their boyfriends?" Ella muttered under her breath, obviously hoping that I didn't hear her.

I did though. "What did you say?" I spun around and gave her a challenging glare.

"Nothing," she quailed and shrank back.

"That's what I thought," I said and started marching around in circles like whenever I get anxious.

It was like that for about ten minutes, me pacing around, probably losing about two kilos every three minutes and Ella flipping through pages of a magazine. Occasionally I would stop and open my mouth but close it straightaway.

"Ella! Max! Dinners ready!" Mum shouted from the kitchen.

"Ready to face the pain-in-the-ass mass?" I asked Ella as we both headed out of the door.

"Nowhere near ready," she replied and we both walked down the stairs grimly.

I gasped when we reached the dining room. Normally we would never use this room.

"Uh, Mum. What's the occasion?" I asked. Mum had really outdone herself. She had pulled out her finest china and glasses and her mums silver ware and they were neatly placed on the white and pink laced table cloth.

"Nothin dear, just thought we should eat together like a proper family," she replied and pulled out a large tray of chicken out of the oven.

"This doesn't look like any week day meal, it looks like your wedding feast," Ella said, goggling at the table as well.

"Don't be silly," Mum bustled around the room and checked all of the seats and the cutlery.

Ella and I looked at each other and smiled. Mum is actually happier than usual. Maybe it won't be so bad anymore.

Our smiles disappeared when Jeb walked into the room. I looked away when he smiled at us and I'm pretty sure that Ella was making rude gestures behind his back. I stifled a laugh and we walked to one side of the table. Jeb smiled at us again and when we didn't do anything but give him frosty glares, Mum made a sound at the back of her throat so we both planted fake smiles on our faces and smiled at him.

"C'mon sit and let's eat,' he said and pulled out Mums chair for her.

Mum giggled and I rolled my eyes while pushing back my chair and sitting in it. He decide to sit the opposite side of the table from me and I was tempted to chuck a glass of water in his face but thought better of it.

"What a loser,' I leant over and whispered in Ella's ear. She nodded in agreement and we both stared at our parents.

The whole way through dinner was unbearable. Jeb (there was no way I was calling him dad, he doesn't deserve it) kept saying stupid jokes and trying to make Ella and I laugh but not even my mouth twitched whenever he said anything. In fact, every joke he said made me have a totally different reaction to what he wanted. I wanted to yell at him. Scream and rage around, asking him where the hell has he been all these years? Did he expect to come from nowhere and be accepted? Why wasn't he ever here for my tenth birthday? Or when Ella went to school for the first time? Huh? I thought fathers were dependable! How come he never was here when I first learnt to ride my bike, to be able to come home and tell him that I got an award at school? Where the hell was he?

Mum saw that I was losing my nerve but she just gave me warning look and I stared at the clock, hoping that it would go faster so that Jeb would realize that it was getting late and his dinner was getting cold but oh no, god wanted to kill me slowly.

Finally I couldn't take it no more and I scraped my chair back and stormed out of the kitchen in a huff. I grabbed my jacket and walked out of the front door and nearly slammed it through the walls.

I didn't know where I was going; I just needed to get out of there quickly as possible. Dozens of emotions coursed through me and I felt my hands tremble with rage. How dare he just walk through the door like he owned the joint! If I wasn't afraid of being kicked to the streets, I would've punched him by now.

I guess I was too caught up in my rage that I didn't notice that I had bumped into a person until I was knocked flat on the ground.

"Hey watch it-"my voice caught up in my throat when I looked up to see a tall male version of me looking down.

"Ari?" I asked, too shocked to say anything else.

"Hello sister," he said and grinned evilly.