I gaped, open mouthed at the women in the black suit sitting across from me. There was so much to process and my brain was nowhere near big enough to sift through all the information I had just been given. The lady gave me a quick smile, but she seemed rushed and frustrated because the smile didn't reach her eyes. But I wasn't too surprised, I'm not exactly known for my friendly and cooperative nature. I mean honestly, I live with my abusive father, and I have to protect my sister and myself from him 24 hours a day, I wasn't exactly going to develop a bunch of sweet and caring personality traits. Besides, he didn't care what I did for the most part unless it interfered with his drinking, so I never practiced my manners. But that's beside the point.

She gave me three options. Well basically two because I won't talk about the third because it was ridiculous. The only two realistic, yet depressing, options were to either try to get adopted and join an orphanage or become a foster kid. She was so annoying; she acted like I should be so grateful that I had these two wonderful options. I'd much rather be living in a cardboard box in the streets in a city right now than this. She pointed out that at least I knew my father for a large part of my life, but I made no hesitation in reminding her that I would much rather have never had a father than deal with Jeb for 8 years since my mom died. She had mentioned something about a house in the country, but when I asked she quickly dismissed the idea.

Oh yeah, in case you hadn't guessed I had been forced to talk to social services because of my unfortunate situation. "It's for the best," Mr. Roberts had promised. "I'll stand up for you, don't worry." But I couldn't help but worry.

Anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself. Fang finally regained consciousness for a little while and I was able to see him. As my only friend, I had experienced a lot of emotions lately. Normally I don't take the time to get to know someone well enough to eventually care about them, but Fang was different. He actually made me worried sick for hours, and I actually almost threw up I was so scared. I'd never wanted something more than I wanted Fang to be okay. But the first time he woke up was scary, and I'd never forget the look on his face when he saw me.

FLASHBACK TO FANG WAKING UP THE FIRST TIME

"Hi Fang, how are you feeling?" I asked, trying to keep my ridiculous smile controlled.

"Um…hello?" his eyes were glazed and he looked very out of it. He turned curiously to a nurse. "What happened? Where am I?" The nurses faces lost their smiles, and looked panicked. This wasn't supposed to happen. "And who is she?" He asked, pointing over towards where I was standing.

"Well Fang, honey," they tried to keep their cool but it was getting hard. His face was draining color and he looked scared and broken. "You got into an accident at your house, so now we're in the hospital. This is Max, she's your girlfriend…"

I turned the darkest shade of red imaginable. "Not girlfriend, just regular friend." I interrupted immediately. They looked over at me, and I just shifted my gaze towards the ground.

"Max?" he looked over at me, eyebrows raised in confusion. "How long have we been friends?"

"Well, we met at the beginning of this year," I explained, stepping close to his bed. "I helped you escape that girl chasing you and I showed you my tree."

His eyes flickered, and he seemed to remember for a second. "Did she have red hair and talk a lot? Like a lot, a lot, a lot?" He seemed very concerned that I understood she talked a lot so I just nodded. Then he looked confused again, "Wait, I forgot, what happened? Why am I here?" Fang asked again.

Another nurse scooted over to his bed, "Remember, you were in an accident at your house with your father. This here is your good friend Max who helped get you safe and we fixed you all up." She gave him a soft smile.

"I'm tired, can I sleep?" he asked suddenly, his eyes drooping. We all nodded, figuring that sleep was a good idea for him right now. Right before he closed his eyes, he looked over at me and pointed. "You're pretty. Can we be friends?"

I smiled, "Of course." He seemed content with that answer and he instantly fell asleep. The nurses came over and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Sorry, you had to go through that. It's always the hardest when someone forgets who their loved ones are," an older nurse told me, her blue eyes twinkled sadly. "He's probably just having a mental overload, meaning he can't process everything that's going on. It happens sometimes after a serious surgery, especially when they've hit their head. I wouldn't worry too much, I'm sure his memory will be good as new when he wakes up again. I sighed, but thanked them and offered a smile.

I must have looked stressed out still because they came over and patted my shoulder on their way out.

RETURN TO PRESENT

I replayed the scene in my head a few times, seeing the broken look in Fang's eyes when he didn't know what was going on. I wondered what it must feel like to be so confused and overwhelmed you can't remember who you are, or things that have happened to you.

I sighed, thinking about the nurse's advice to not worry. That was the second time someone told me that. I mean honestly, who worries for fun? It wasn't optional and I wish I could stop worrying. Mr. Roberts had gone home to check on his wife and make sure everything was okay with the school. Well that's what he told me at least, but I think this whole thing with Fang was hurting him more than he let on and he looked awful. I told him to go home and eat some food, sleep for a while and that I could take care of myself.

But thankfully, Fang had come to his senses when he had woken up a few hours later. It was probably 4 o'clock or so when they called me in to see him again.

FLASHBACK TO WHEN FANG AWOKE THE SECOND TIME

Fang was sitting up in bed, his scruffy hair hanging over his eyes as usual. A lot of the color had returned to his face and he looked much more at ease, but in pain. He winced a lot, as if each breath he took was causing him pain. But when I walked through the doors, his face lit up a little. Well, at least he remembered me this time.

"Hey, how you feeling?" I knew better than to ask him if he felt good, it was obvious he was in a lot of pain: emotionally and physically. He had to deal with the fact that his dad had hurt him bad enough to kill him, and hadn't even bothered to care whether he was alive or not. That was a lot to put on a high schooler who had basically raised his sister; he was just a kid. He also had a hard time sitting up, and he had needles sticking out of him at every angle. An IV drip was feeding him a steady supply of food and water, and there was an oxygen tank and mask next to his bed if he needed it.

"I've been better," he said with a shrug, but then started coughing up a fit as if the effort of lifting his shoulders was too much for him right now. It killed me to see him like this. Despite the little time I had known him, he had always seemed so tough. Don't get me wrong he was the bravest person I knew, sitting in the hospital bed like that, but with everything going on he looked helpless and it killed me inside.

I wasn't totally sure what to say. I didn't feel like offering any cliché advice right now because he would probably have a seizure just from the effort of rolling his eyes. Fang wasn't exactly a cliché type person. He seemed to understand what I was thinking, and slipped his hand off his bed and into my hand. He gave me a small lopsided smile, and I couldn't help but return it. "I was so scared you…" I couldn't say dead. I just couldn't bring myself to think what would have happened. He grimaced.

"I know your life would've been pretty miserable without my inspirational words of encouragement," he managed a smirk and I was glad to see he had it in him to pull of some typical sarcastic remark.

"I don't know what I would have done without your motivational quotes. I probably would've had to quit doing my homework just so I could dedicate some time to trying to come up with inspiration for life." He grinned, nodding as if saying 'You know it's true, don't deny it.' I laughed, and he squeezed my hand. It was obvious that Angel and Ella were both the motivators that kept us going every day. If Ella didn't need me and if she didn't need to stay at home and go to school and live the most normal life possible, I would have ran away long ago. There was no benefit to staying at home, and I had hopes I could work somewhere and provide for Ella on my own but I knew it was unrealistic. Fang had once confessed that he had tried running away with Angel, but his father had realized it and alerted the police who had found him walking near a highway. He had made up some story to get out trouble, but it was not fun once he got home.

Fang and I were quietly talking when the door burst open, and in stormed an angry looking red-headed girl, about our age.

"Fang!" she demanded. "What on earth happened to you?" He opened his mouth to either explain, or hopefully tell Lissa to get her unwelcome butt out of his room, but she cut him off. "And why in God's name would you hold hands with Max, let alone let her in this room with you. You should spend your time with people who are actually good enough for you." She added a hair flip to emphasize her point.

I rolled my eyes and groaned inwardly. "Well if he should spend time with people that are only up to his standards then why would he bother talking to you?"

She pretended she hadn't heard me, but rushed over to Fang's bed on the other side from me, and put her hands on his face.

He grimaced, "Can you please not touch me."

She turned dark red, but batted her eye lashes, giving a flirtatious grin, "I can't keep my hands off of you." She gave him a wink, but he just stared blankly back at her. I stifled a snort of laughter.

"I'm actually not kidding, your hands are killing my face. I can barely sit up and breathe, please move your hands." He just looked at her with an annoyed expression. She removed her hands, but scooted her chair impossibly close to Fang.

"But Fangy," she purred, "You're hurt! I promise I'll get whoever did this to you, I promise. Anything for you."

Fang made a revolted expression but Lissa ignored that too, passing it off as pain. "I'm not surprised you don't know who did it," I muttered under my breath.

"Oh and you do?" she glared angrily at me, nostrils flared.

"Um yeah, I actually talk to Fang." I replied coldly, not removing my hand from Fang's.

"Oh my God!" she shrieked, "It was you! You just admitted that you tried to kill Fang!"

I clenched my free hand so hard I was afraid my nails would break the skin and it would start to bleed. But before I could speak, Fang broke in. "No you idiot. Max saved my life." I couldn't help myself and I let out a small laugh, it was just so wrong. Me ever trying to hurt Fang? It was just crazy and never going to happen. I was here to save him, not hurt him.

She opened her mouth to speak, but the same nurse with the kind blue eyes appeared and cut her off. "Excuse me, I'm sorry I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Because Fang is in the ICU he only has a limited number of visitors allowed at once. And well, frankly, no one here likes you and you're taking up the space of someone who could be visiting Fang that he actually likes. And honestly, your voice is so annoying it's giving me a headache." She looked up at Lissa, who's flaming hair was pushed behind her ears. Lissa looked so mad she would have had steam coming out of her ears. She looked freakish, with her beady little eyes narrowed like that, and her nostrils flared constantly. Her mouth was set in a firm straight line, and if looks could kill, we would all be dead.

Lissa tried to kick me on her way out, but I moved slightly and instead she tripped and I burst out laughing. She stomped out the room, her fiery hair flowing after her.

"Well thank god she's gone. I really could not deal with her one second more," the nurse said giving us a grin.

"That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen," Fang said with a small gasp. The nurse chuckled, it was a warm sound that filled the room with happiness, and we both grinned.

"Sometimes you gotta do, what you gotta do," she tucked a piece of her brown hair behind her ear before turning and returning to the adjoining office.

"Well that was fun, you should add that to the list of your inspirational quotes," I added with a grin and Fang let out a light laugh. I couldn't help but smile. That was probably one of the best moments of my life.