Fangs PoV
The day passed by slowly, until I was once again lying awake in bed at like 3 a.m. I hadn't eaten or said a single word, and I rarely looked at anyone. This led me to be shaky and feeling like I'm about to come apart at the seams, and no sleep from fear of nightmares. Enough of this game. I was completely done. If they want to send me back, so be it.
I got up and padded silently out of my room, leaving the door open. I was in a tee, but I left my jacket upstairs. What was the point of wearing it in the dead of night when everyone was asleep? I made my way into the kitchen, much the way I had the first night here. I made it to the knife block and was reaching my hand out… when someone caught my wrist.
"I thought you might try tonight." Max said with no sign of her usual snark. "Goddamnit, Max." I muttered, yanking my wrist away. She had scared me nearly to death. How in the hell did she hide in the shadows like that without me seeing her? "Go back upstairs." I muttered angrily at her. I didn't want to talk to her. "If you really think I'm going to do that, then you must be a bigger idiot than I thought you were." I rolled my eyes at her. "Stop pretending to care." I snarled, reaching for the knives again. She smacked my hand away. "What makes you think I'm pretending?" she asked, seeming more confused than I've seen her so far.
"Because some people do." "Some people." "Yeah. The others don't even bother doing that much. Now go back upstairs." "No!" Her eyes were flashing, and she was standing firmly between me and the knives. "I will not go back upstairs and pretend that you aren't dying inside!" I blinked and stared at her. I certainly hadn't been expecting that. "You know what I think? I think we feel similar things, and-" "You don't know jack about how I feel." I snapped. It was like we had switched personalities or something. "I said similar, smart one! You're right, I don't know exactly how you feel and I won't pretend to. But I'm the best you're gonna get!"
I took a step back and just looked at her. My eyes narrowed as I searched her face. "If you really want to help me, you'll let me take a knife." "No, if I want to help you, I'll keep you as far away from them as possible." She countered, her voice oozing sincerity. "And that's what I plan to do." "Max." I said, giving her an almost pleading look. I'm not too good with visual emoting. "Come on, I want to show you something." I frowned and gave her a funny look, but I followed her back upstairs anyway, glancing back at the knives only once.
She led me up to the third room on the second floor and pushed the door open. It was painted all in deep red, with a black bedspread. Must be her room. She closed the door behind me. "Listen, no one else knows about this, so don't tell anyone, ok?" she asked nervously. "Who could I tell?" I muttered in a dark tone, glowering at the floor. She just rolled her eyes and walked over to her bed. Quickly, she braced herself against it and pushed the bed about two feet to the left, revealing a large collage of black sharpie letters on the wall. Transfixed, I slowly moved forward and knelt down to read the words.
Bitch
Liar
Psycho
Whats wrong with me?
Emo
Freak
Ugly
Anorexic
Horrible
Die
A disgrace
Failure
Hopeless
Screw up
They all hate you
Delinquent
I couldn't read any more. I turned to look at Max, shocked. "Max?" "See? We aren't so different." I was completely shocked. Who knew Max felt like this? "You said no one knows about this?" I asked. She nodded. "So no one knows how you really feel." I mused quietly. "No. I'm pretty sure everyone thinks I'm a bitch, actually." I looked sharply at her. "And that bugs you." "Well, wouldn't it bug you?" "Touché."
She smiled. "Now, will you promise me you won't cut?" "I've promised a lot of people that. And not once have I kept it." I said honestly. She sat back on her heels and looked at me. "Alright, don't promise. But at least promise to try." I bit my lip as I pondered. "Fine. I promise to try." "Thanks." She said with a smile. "Now you should probably go back to bed." I nodded and headed back to my room without another word. As I lay in bed once more, I thought over what just happened. Max had stopped me from cutting, not once but twice. And she made me promise to try, as if she actually cared. Was that even a possibility? Could she actually care?
For some reason, I really, really wanted to believe she did.
Maxs PoV
There was only one thing I could think about, and that was how dang cute Fang looked when he bit his lip like that.
Wait- no. No normal teenage girl thoughts. I lost that right when I went to juvy. No, I lost it when I started getting angry. No more normality. I buried my face in my pillows. What was I thinking, showing Fang that wall? Such a brain dead move. But despite how weird it was, Fang didn't freak out, like any of the others would have. I was grateful for that. And I cared about him, for some odd reason, which seemed to surprise him.
I don't know why I did. Usually I tend to avoid people, for obvious reasons, and even my relationships with the others in this house were distant and strained. But for some reason I cared for Fang, and I have no clue why. With a groan, I rolled onto my back and shut all of those thoughts out of my head.
Time to sleep.
(A/N Ta-da, chapter! Review!
UNC-
Silence)