Hi all! I'm sick today, and have to stay home from school. I thought I'd update while I had the time.

Ch. 11:

Max POV

"You're a street kid? Max! How could you not tell me? I would've let you stay here! We could've lived together! We'd be like a asithihvbb!" Fang clamped a hand over Nudge's mouth to quiet her before she really got going.

"Although I think Nudge would've gone on forever with those questions, she has a point. Why didn't you tell us?" Fang asked, face stoic as ever. I looked down at the brown, carpeted floor of the apartment and the smooth, pleather couch I was sitting on.

"Well," I said, looking up. "Would you have told your boss that you were under 18, an illegal runaway, and currently in an alley?" I asked, crossing my arms in the process.

"Fine." I saw Fang's mouth twitch in irritation. "What did you think I was going to do?"

"I don't know." I said sarcastically. "Fire me, maybe? Take away the money I had already earned? And what about you? How did you learn to recognize a Raphael so well?"

"That's none of your business." Fang said, his lips tightening in the process.

"Oh, so you can know my story, but I can't know yours?" I asked, adrenaline charging through my veins in the form of anger.

"I-" Fang began, but was cut off.

"You two still know we're here, right?" Gazzy asked from where he was sitting on the sidelines with Iggy and Nudge.

"Yes." I glared at him, making him flinch. I sighed, "Sorry Gaz, it isn't my fault my boss is a huge pain in the ass."

"Yeah, and it isn't my fault that my personal assistant is a freaking runaway." Fang said, his usual void-of-emotion voice taking on a twinge of irritation.

"So, go ahead." I said, turning back to him. "Fire me. Right now."

"No." Fang said firmly.

"Okay, I'll pack up my stuff tomorrow, tell everyone what a butthead you are, and – what?"

"I said no." He repeated. "You may be from the streets, but it doesn't change the fact that you're the best personal assistant I've ever had." My mouth fell open at his complementary statement. "You might want to close your mouth. You'll catch flies." Fang said, lips twitching – this time not from irritation, but from the want to go into a smile.

"Omigod! Omigod! Omigod!" Nudge squealed. "You all can stay here! We have a guest bedroom, you know. We have ever since Dylan decided to move out and get his own place. This is amazing, Max, we can do each other's hair! I always wanted a sister, you know…" I stared at her, but her face morphed into that of JJ's, her girl talk only bringing back happy memories of me back in Hunter Creek.

"And it'll be awesome!" Nudge finished.

"Stay… here?" Iggy asked. "Really?"

Nudge nodded, smiling and looked to Fang, who seemed to be having a mental tug of war.

"Okay." He finally muttered, the compassionate side of his brain seeming to win.

"Max, can we stay?" Gazzy and Iggy asked, so in unison that I think they must've been planning it while Fang was contemplating his decision. "Can we? Can we? Can we?"

I blinked repeatedly, but I probably shouldn't have been surprised at the two teens actions. "You two sound like you want a dog." I took on a faux British accent for reasons unknown. "'Can we keep him, mother? Can we? Can we? Can we?'" I mimicked the words of Iggy and Gazzy.

They looked at me expectantly, still waiting for my decision despite my obvious stalling. "Fine," I said, "but you two are the ones who have to go back to the alley and grab all our stuff. I, for one, am too exhausted to leave."

"Yay!" Iggy cried like a 10-year old on Christmas. I raised an eyebrow, but didn't speak as Iggy and Gazzy ventured off to the alleyway.

"So, where did you say the guest room was?" I asked Nudge.

"It's in there." She pointed to the door straight at the end off the hall. I took off to examine it, but as I stepped inside, I realized that there was, in fact, only one bed. It was a large queen bed, but it held only room for two, and no way in hell was I bunking with Iggy or Gazzy. I could not count on either of them not to blow me up in the middle of the night. We had slept in close proximity before, but back then, they had not had access to any of the wires contained in a TV, a microwave, or a toaster.

"Nudge!" I yelled, walking over to where she said her room was located. I stepped inside to seem a mostly yellow room, with splotches of pink here and there. "I need to room with you." I told her. She looked up from her position on the floor and raised an eyebrow. "Max, my bed is a twin. It can barely hold me. If you don't want the one in the guest, you had better grab the sofa bed."

I huffed in annoyance and walked back to the living room. Pulling off the pillows covering it, I finally revealed the sofa bed. Once pulled out, it looked small and uncomfortable. I laid down the springy mattress to find that coils stuck out everywhere, digging into my back.

After at least 30 minutes of lying there uncomfortable, I heard someone step into the shower, presumably Fang, because Nudge was in her room and Gazzy and Iggy were still not back yet. With a major need to leave the mattress of hell, I began to explore the apartment. There was a small kitchenette and two bathrooms. I began to venture past the bedrooms I had already seen into a door on the left side of the hall. It opened to expose a calming blue room that seemed to be unoccupied. It was so clean, there couldn't have been anybody staying in it.

Why hadn't Nudge told me about this one? There was a queen bed in the middle of it, and there was no one staying in it. I walked over to the mattress and when I laid down, I immediately sank into the fluffy material. With a sigh of content, I drifted off to sleep in no time.

I think we all know whose room that is. ;)

Last Chapter's Song: Haunted by Taylor Swift. It was widely guessed by all.

This Chapter's Song:

Let the rain fall down, and wake my dreams.

Let it wash away my sanity.

Cause I want to feel the thunder, I wanna scream.

Let the rain fall down, I'm coming clean.

~Cake.