Wow, everyone wants to know what happened between Max and Iggy. I can honestly tell you that, right now, I don't know. But, as it always seems to happen, I'll probably think of something (brilliant) half way through the chapter.
Hopes you'll like this chapter! I'm so close to the magic ~300~(Three is my lucky number)
There was someone leaning against my car.
"Hey!" I yelled, walking quickly across the school parking lot.
The figure straightened up, "Yo, Max."
I shook my head at . . . Grr, was his name Seth or what?
"No touching." I muttered.
"Sorries," he shrugged, "I just needed to talk to you."
"Oh, um, okay . . ." No, wait it wasn't Seth, it was something with an "a" . . .
"My name's Sam." He said slowly.
"I knew that." I said, and scanned him over. He was part of my 'group', and okay, I really should've known his name. I'm, supposedly, our 'leader' and a leader should at least remember a simple name like Sam. Even if the guy the name belonged to was a plain Joe version of a rebel. Scuffed Vans, messy hair, studded belt, skull bone t-shirt, and ripped skinny jeans, baggy jacket.
He peered closely at me, "You don't remember me, do you?"
"Of course I do," I protested, "You sit at my table."
"My full name is Samuel."
Samuel.
Oh.
I'm so smart.
"Samuel E-" He started to add, but I finished for him.
"Ecker. Yeah, I remember you." My stomach knotted. The boy my parents would love me to date.
"Here's your invitation." He said, giving me a cream-colored, small, rectangular envelope.
"For the party?" I asked softly, still not believing that Samuel is the same guy that I've sat with at the same table, with all my other friends- for the past few years.
"Yep. It's Sunday night." He said, running his fingers through his hair, green eyes locked on mine.
"Um, I don't think I'm coming-" I started.
"Your parents already know about it." He stated.
"So? It's still my choice." I snapped, my anger rising up again.
"Well, if it means anything to you, I hope you come." He added.
"Of course you do." I sneered.
"Yes, because besides you, everyone else is just going to be annoying posh people." He sighed.
I looked away.
"I can't even decide who's going to come, actually. My parents make the invitation list." He continued.
My stomach knotted.
"And, I wont hit on you or anything. I know about you and Fang-"
"What about me and Fang?!" I cut in loudly.
"Um, never mind. But I hope you come. I uh, have to go now . . ." he glanced over his shoulder, where a fancy black car was slowly approaching us.
I nodded.
"So, um, bye. See you tomorrow." He called, and got into his car.
I watched as he drove away.
Then I finally let myself scream.
Calm down, Max, The Voice soothed.
"I don't want any of this! I don't want Fang, and I don't want Samuel, and I don't want to go to his party!" I yelled, knowing one of those things weren't true, but refusing to admit it.
Then don't go. The Voice said simply.
"Fine, I wont."
!~!~!
I went to sleep early, even though I usually go to bed around midnight. I don't know, maybe it was the fact that I just wanted dream about Max all night, or maybe it was because I couldn't do anything else.
Okay, I know she sort of, kind of , maybe 'rejected' me, and yeah, I get that she might need some space, but first, I wanted to know what the heck was up with her and Iggy and then I had to find a way to show Max I wasn't like him at all, and that . . . that I was falling in love with her.
The next morning started out like the morning before, alarm, me trying to sleep in, my mom yelling at me.
"Johnny's birthday is today." She said excitedly, as I hurriedly stuffed a piece of toast in my mouth.
I paused, "Oh yeah?"
"Yup, he's turning thirty one! It's a going to be a big one!" She said laughing softly to herself, "Imagine that, me, a woman almost forty, married to a man who's barely thirty!"
"You're not married to him," I reminded her.
"Well, not yet," She said, then added, "But I know he's going to propose soon."
"Uh-huh, that's the same thing you've been saying the past five years, mom."
She frowned, and said tightly, "Don't you have to go to school now?"
I nodded, rushing out of the house before a hung-over Johnny came downstairs.
!~!~!
I roamed the hall silently looking for Nudge. Nudge, the gossip queen, who I was sure knew what happened with Iggy and Max, and why they broke up.
There.
"Hey, Nudge, how's it going?" I asked quietly, hooking my hand on the crook of her elbow and steering her away from her friend who were staring at her in awe for knowing a senior.
"Oh, Fang!" She looked somewhat surprised, as if she hadn't expected me to actually talk to her again, "I'm fine."
"Okay, listen, I need to talk to you."
"About Max?" She whispered.
"Yep."
"Alright, library." She lead me down another hallway and into a huge room filled with books.
"I know you know." I started, sitting down on one of the surprisingly comfortable chairs.
"Know about what?" She glanced around carefully.
"Why Iggy and Max broke up." I sighed my patience wearing thin.
She smiled, "I told you-"
"I want the real story." I interrupted.
She bit her lip, something I noticed she did often, "Actually, I talked to one of my friends . . ."
"And?" I prompted.
"She heard that Iggy was cheating on Max." She winced as she said it.
I thoughts instantly went to the champion, Iggy, sitting with his buddies, relishing over the fact that he had gone out with Max . . . the little bas-
"With Brigid." Nudge added.
I had one sane thought: I can understand liking Brigid, she was sweet and a little cute.
And then all I could think of was the freaking bastard. I stood up, all my thoughts now filled with pummeling Iggy, making him pay again and again for breaking Max's heart, for all the pain she carried, for the reason why she was scared to be with me.
"Fang!" Nudge grabbed my arm roughly, "Chill! It's just a rumor!"
I glared at her, "Is it true?"
"No! Or, at least, someone else told me that Iggy wasn't actually cheating with Brigid, but that Brigid tricked Max into thinking they were, and then Max had this huge fight with Iggy over it." She sighed, letting go of my arm, "And I think that Max believed him, but he broke up with her because she didn't trust her . . ."
I groaned. This was confusing, "So, which one is it?"
"Um, I really think it's the second one. Iggy would never cheat on Max . . ." She looked down, and I thought I saw that faint pink on her mocha colored skin again, "He just wouldn't."
"Are you friends with Iggy?" I asked pointedly.
"No-I mean . . . I used to talk with him a little." She shrugged, "But he never talks to me anymore. In fact, he never talks with his old friends at all. Once Max and he broke up, all their friends split up like, Andrea and . . . Forrest, right?"
I nodded.
"Yeah, I think Forrest and Iggy used to be like really good friends, but now- not anymore." She shook her head, almost angrily.
"Oh." I sat back in my chair, letting everything sink it. Brigid tricked Max . . . Brigid?
"Wait, I know Brigid, and she's really, uh, nice." I said.
Nudge snickered, "That's everyone thinks. She's not. She's a . . ."
"Bitch?" I asked, tilting my head to the side a little.
"Yeah, a bitch." She bit her lip again, "Please don't tell her that I called her that."
"No worries, I don't do gossip." But I do listen to it. I stood up, "Isn't the bell going to ring soon?"
"Yep. In fact, we'll probably be late. I'll see you?" she asked hesitantly.
"'Course." I smiled.
"Cool." She grinned, "See ya around!"
She headed off to her class, and I headed off to Science.
!~!~!
My heart thumped loudly in my chest, my hands were clammy. I was waiting for Fang to step through the door. Waiting for our eyes to meet, for me to see if he hated me, or not.
I stood up abruptly, and rushed towards the door. I don't know where I was planning to go, but I didn't get very far, because Fang was there, standing in the small hallway that led towards the door.
"Uh . . ." I stammered.
He stared at me with those midnight black eyes, and my knees almost felt weak for a second. There was something way back there, and I could almost understand what he was trying to say.
I know, they said.
Know what?
"Hey." He said, his voice sounded absolutely normal, and casual.
"Um, I . . . hi." I said feebly.
He pressed against the wall of the small hallway, "Need to go around?"
I didn't answer, but instead looked down at his deep purple shirt, at his black undershirt, at his leather bracelet that hung limply on his wrist. At his jeans that fit nicely against those skinny legs. At anything but his eyes.
"Max?" He asked carefully.
He wasn't exactly goth or emo, and I knew he didn't cut his wrists, I'd seen him with a just shirt on, and his wrist had been clean and smooth.
"Are you . . . okay?" His voice trailed off, sounding far away as I tried to decide what Fang was.
He was . . .
I finally looked back up. His black hair that, under these dimmed fluorescent lights, had a dark chocolate brown hue to it. His eyes that looked nervous and unsure, confused, but also pained. There was a small hesitant smile on his lips, his full, rosy pink lips.
"Are you going to go?" He asked, trying to catch my attention, but all I could see was-
Fang.
That was all he was. Not a cutter, or emo, or goth, or preppy or anything else that dumb high schoolers made up to categorize people.
Just, Fang. Fang that caused my hear to do summersaults, but also to wither away to nothing.
"Yeah, I'm going." I whispered, stepping away from the door and back inside.
The air seemed definitely colder, now that I was away from him-and his body heat- and I let it calm and soothe me.
I couldn't, and wouldn't have Fang.
He gave me a curious, wondering look, but sat down at his seat.
I was through with dating.
How was that? Yes, yes, Max is still hovering over my shoulder, but she let up enough for me to write the description of what Max sees when she looks at Fang.
And, I have a resolution- I'm going to really try to update twice a week. So, next time you hear from Max and Fang should be Saturday. But . . . If I get enough reviews, I'll update faster! (Instead of sitting sadly at my computer, waiting for more reviews to trickle in.)