Chapter 11! Woo! So excited! I had a concert tonight, and it was amazing. Just telling you all. I absolutely love singing! Anyways, this is a cute chapter, I think.

Chapter 11

FANG POV

Once again, I awoke to my alarm clock blaring in my ear. As I laid on my bed, trying to wake myself up, I remembered everything that happened yesterday. "Ugh!" That sent Nudge running into my room.

"What's wrong, Fang?" Her eyes showed her concern.

"Everything. Do I really have to go to school today?"

"Yes! Iggy and Ella are spending the night tonight, remember? Besides, it'll be fine, I just know it."

"Ugh! Get out, I'm going to get dressed." I threw a pillow at her, but she was out the door and had it closed before it reached her. I got up and went to my drawers. I grabbed a black t-shirt and black jeans, like usual. After I got dressed, I went in my bathroom and brushed my teeth, and checked my hair to make sure it still looked messy. Then I pulled on my black converse and went downstairs.

"Don't you just look like a bundle of joy this morning, Nick!" Melanie said when she saw me. I just grunted at her and grabbed some cereal and a bowl.

A few minutes later and Nudge and I were in the car on our way to school. Much like the day before, when I got to my locker, Iggy came up behind me, but Ella and Nudge were with him as well. "Fang, we need to talk to you. It's about..."

"Don't say her name, I don't care, and she obviously doesn't care about me either." I reached into my bag and tried to hand Ella Max's homework that I still had. "Here, will you give this to her?"

"No, Fang. You do not understand what is going on. If you still want me to take it after we explain this to you, then I will. Deal?" Ella said.

What do they have to explain? "Max hates me and never wants to talk to me again. She made that very clear. What do you have to explain?" But I did take the papers back.

"How about during lunch? I don't think we have enough time now before the bell rings for homeroom. But Fang, she doesn't hate you." Iggy said. Right on cue, the warning bell rang and they all ran off to their homerooms. What were they talking about? They have got to be kidding, or lying. Max hates me. Right? Most of the rest of the day, until lunch, I spent wondering what they were going to explain to me. I bet Nudge already knew. We were working on our assignment, which was due in two weeks, in Creative Writing. All we had to do was write about ourselves. Mrs. King gave a list of questions we had to answer. We were told to write as much or as little as we wanted, but we had to include as many 'creative' words as possible. Then we also had to write an advertisement looking for a girlfriend, or boyfriend, respectively. Either talking about ourselves, or what we would look for in a companion. That sounded like the stupidest assignment ever!

Finally, lunch came! I walked with Iggy, and when we got our food, we sat down with the girls. "So, what's going on that you all know about and I don't?"

Iggy and Ella looked at each other, Nudge looked at them expectantly. "Come on guys just spit it out. If you don't say it I will, and I won't say it as well or as intelligent as either of you." She said.

"Fine, here goes nothing. Fang, how much do you actually know about Ella and Max's family?" Iggy said. Why do I need to know about her family, I thought this was just about her.

"I know that they are half sisters, sharing a dad. Max's mom died. Lissa and Brigid are their step sisters and Ari is their half brother."

"Is that it? Wow, this might take longer than I thought, El."

"Yeah. Okay, so Anne, our step mother, basically hates Max. She hates her mom, too, but we don't know why. Anyways, she's okay with me, because Valencia was not my mother. And Ari is her own flesh and blood, along with Lissa and Brigid. She treats Lissa and Brigid the best, because all they need is money." Ella said.

"Also, Anne taught Lissa and Brigid to hate Max as much as she does." Iggy continued.

"Okay, I don't understand what this has to do with me."

"Oh, Fang. Why are you so clueless?" Nudge said. I shrugged, starting to get angry.

"Lissa and Brigid are both in love with you. Wednesday night, while Max was at your house, we were eating dinner, and they were arguing, about you." Ella picked back up with the story. What why would girls argue over me? I will never understand them. "They were arguing over which one you were going to take to the Homecoming dance."

"Well, I was going to ask Max..."

"That's what I said! And then they all three started yelling at me. Eventually, it was no longer about you. I knew that Anne never actually liked me, and Lissa and Brigid have always been jealous of me. That's when Anne sent the other two girls away, so it was just us screaming back and forth. Then, we heard a car pull up and heard the front door slam. We kept yelling. Then we heard it slam again and Max came in and yelled at us."

"Why did she yell at you?"

"Ari was sitting on the staircase, listening. Those no good twig brats didn't even think to take him up with them. So he ran out to Max when she got home, and she consoled him and sent him up to his room. Told him to put his headphones on."

Iggy picked up the story from there. "Then Max, Ella, and Anne were yelling for a few more minutes, back to it being about you. After she got the context of the fight, she sent Ella to her room. Then she and Anne became civilized. They sat down and talked it over. There were a few raised voices, but nothing too extreme that Ella could hear upstairs."

Nudge butted in now. "You guys are taking way too long, Fang, don't you get it yet?"

"No, Nudge. Now let them finish the story." The other three at the table all glanced worriedly at each other. "Please, just tell me what I need to do. I understand, Lissa, Brigid, and Anne hate Max, part of it is because I like her. What do I do? Why can't she talk to me?"

"She can't talk to you, because of Ari and me." Ella said quietly. "She's afraid of what Anne will do. Anne forbid her from talking to you and Max is worried that if she does, Anne will do something to her and she won't be able to take care of Ari and me."

"She said, and I quote,'I care about Ella, Ari, moving out, and getting my guitar more than some guy I just met!' But she didn't mean it, that's the point, Fang. Last night Ella texted me and I rushed over to their house. Max was in her room, sobbing her eyes out. Max hasn't cried since Jeb, her dad, died. You matter to each other, more than anything anyone can wish for from Max. You have a connection that I will never have with her, Ella will never have with her, probably Ari will never have with her, and certainly not Lissa, Brigid, or Anne!" Iggy finally hit it, I finally understand. But, Max cares about me? At least I would be able to help her with two of those things. Me buying the guitar for her would check one thing off the list, and help with the moving out part.

"What do I do? I can't just sit back and not talk to her until March!"

"No, you can't. And you won't, we have a plan, although we had to change it slightly since when we told Max last night she kind of flipped. It's going to be risky, Fang. How much do you want her to be at your house tonight?" Ella said.

How much did I really? Was it worth it? Was she worth it? Hell yes. "Really bad, what is this plan?"

And so, Ella explained the plan to Fang, with a little help from Iggy. At the end, she told him the problems. "Max won't be able to let you in, and I'll already be out of the house, because Anne expects me to be at your place tonight. Max also can't know you are there until the right time, or it'll all go down the drain. She's not the best actress and if anyone asks her who you are after she knows, she won't be able to say she doesn't know. Also, Lissa, Brigid, and Anne must never know who you are, or that you are there."

"Oh, everyone will know he's there. He has to be noticeable enough that Max takes note of him, and that everyone else does, but no one will know who you are, Fang. Leave that to me." Nudge said.

"Oh, no. Iggy, you can't let her do this! You can't let her play dress up with me!"

"How much do you want to be able to talk to Max, bud? Suck it up, it's only for a few hours. Once the clock hits midnight, you have to be gone, by one you have to be changed back to normal and in the window well, and by 2 you have to be back home, with or without Max. Do you understand?"

Nooooo! "Yes, I understand. When will you and Ella be getting to our house?"

"Good question. What time does the party start, Ells?"

"I think dinner starts at 6:00, so guest will be arriving at 5:30. I should probably be gone by 5:15 if I want to leave without having to sneak out."

"Okay, so I'll swing by and pick you up at 5:10, just to be safe, and Iggy, we'll be at your house at 5:15. Be ready so we can move this thing into action. I am not looking forward to what you girls will do to my head and what you will make me wear..." They laughed and the warning bell rang for the next period.

Yay! Fang is going to get made over! So exciting! I don't really have much to say that I haven't already. I'm still thinking about changing the title/summary, I think the summary is more likely to change, since right now it doesn't actually tell you what it's about. Let me know what you think. I'm asking YOUR opinion, and last chapter I didn't really get much. You don't have to post it for everyone, you can just PM me if you want. You guys are awesome, keep reviewing! Until next week, nerds!