Hello readers! It's been so long. I apologize. I've been so FREAKIN busy. So I got more votes than I thought I would get so I decided to continue the story! I immediately started writing and as you can see gave you a nice chapter. Enjoy!

"AHHHHHhhhhhhh!"

Everyone at our lunch table jumps simultaneously at the sound of Amie's loud shriek. I look up just in time to see her sleek black curls bouncing up and down with every clickity-clackity step towards our table. The hot-mess sight makes me want to giggle.

"Dammit, Amie, shut the hell up!" Gabe shouts, throwing down his spoon angrily.

This time I do giggle, causing Gabe to give me a playful glare. I stick my tongue out at him, enjoying my good mood.

It's been a week since Iggy and I have moved into the retched mansion we forcefully now call home. Although I'm thoroughly missing my friends from Dallas, I have been getting really close to my new friends here. The school actually isn't all that bad.

Luckily, I've been able to avoid Clarissa every day except the occasional nightly dinners. Of course what I call dinners are actually thirty minutes of eating the best meals ever (made by Clarissa's cook of course), avoiding all eye contact, listening to the adults attempt to make conversation with their two children, who actually hate them as much as Iggy and I do. I learned this through a conversation Megan and I had a few days ago.

"Were Clarissa and Jeb ever good parents?" I had asked Megan, trying to divert a thought of my dead mother.

"Jeb was. When he first moved here." Her response was empty, saddened. I don't want to know what it was like for her living here her entire life. A brother who doesn't care, an abusive mom, and a baby to take care of? It sounds like hell for a twelve year old.

"What happened?"

She shrugs, rocking Grace back and forth. "What do you think? Anyone who has to live with a bitch like Clarissa would lose their happiness eventually."

That had been a good enough answer for me.

But all of the terrible things that go on at that horrid house is out of my head when Amie stands in front of our table, hair wildly out of place, breathing hard.

"What happened?" Sophie asks worriedly. One of the things I liked about this new group of friends is how different they are from my other friends in Dallas. Sophie is the kind, caring one in our group. She can also be a bit of a worry wart.

Gabe is about to complain further when Amie cuts him off.

"William Morris just asked me to prom!"

She and Sophie both start squealing like 5 year olds while all the guys roll their eyes, disgusted.

"Who's William Morris?" I ask, causing both of the girls to whip their heads straight at me with a scary look in their eyes.

"No no please don't get them started!" Tad whines, placing his head on the table.

The other guys have similar reactions.

"Good job, Max, dear God." Gabe also shouts, pushing me.

I look around me, confused. "What? What the hell did I do?"

Amie scoffs, sitting in her usual seat across from me. "Don't listen to them, they're just jealous."

The guys groan in unison, Tad giving her a dirty look. She gives him a mock glare and then turns back to me.

"I cannot believe you've been here a whole week and still do not know who Will Morris is! He's only, like, the hottest, most popular guy in the school!"

That last tidbit of information immediately made me roll my eyes. "Oh dear God."

Both of the girls widen their eyes at me. "What?"

Gabe laughs and fist bumps me. "Finally a girl who isn't swooned by that douche bag. I'm so tired of hearing about him." He makes a high-pitched voice. "Ohmigosh William Morris, like, texted me and then asked me to prom! AHHHHHHHH!"

I laugh along with the guys and Sophie.

"I don't sound like that!" Amie screams. "Besides, Max just isn't swooned because she hasn't seen him yet. Just wait, Max. Just wait."

I roll my eyes.

Sophie gasps. "Look! Speak of the devil."

I look to where she's pointing. A group of very attractive teenagers are standing next to the door of the cafeteria. There are two guys, one of which is throwing a football up in his hands, and the other has his arm around a girl. I notice the girl from the house party that Derik threw the first night we got to the house. She, I have to admit, is very pretty. She could easily be an A-list star just by her looks.

"Which one?" I ask curiously.

Sophie, still staring at the gorgeous group, says "The one with the girl."

I think I hear wrong but I see Gabe nod with a look that says "Them girls are crazy."

I look back to get a better look and the guy is hot. He has dirty blonde hair and just enough facial hair to make you wonder if he's a carpenter but not quite. A little more than 5 o'clock shadow. His looks would make any girl drool.

Apparently, my liking shows on my face because the next thing I hear is Amie going, "I told you so! No girl can resist" to Gabe.

I quickly look back at the table to see Gabe giving me a shameful look.

I roll my eyes. "Okay calm down you guys anyone can see he's good-looking. It doesn't mean I'm going to fall madly in love with him and go to prom with him when he clearly has a girlfriend. What's up with that anyway?"

Amie's quick to defend herself. "Okay, this is just a date. It's not like I'm going to marry him or something!"

I give her a no-nonsense look.

She sighs. "Well his girlfriend Bridget wanted them to go to prom separately because she doesn't want to be tied down on prom day. She wants to dance with whoever she wants. So Will got to choose a date and he chose me." She says this last sentence with a sparkle in her eye.

I look at her like she's crazy. "What the hell? Amie! First of all, why would you be okay with this because clearly your mental health is off in some way. Second of all, since when is a girl going to let her boyfriend go to prom with another girl? This is not going to end well."

"Thank you." Gabe says, shaking his head. "That guy is a douche bag. Don't you realize what he's trying to do?" He directs this at Amie.

I know what he's trying to do. He's trying two score two girls in one night. I've never even met this guy and I already know he's an asshole.

She rolls her eyes. "Whatever guys, I'm honored to be chosen by the hottest guy in school, who is a year older than us by the way, to go to prom! No one can ruin this for me, okay?" After this, she stalks off. Sophie hurries after her.

Gabe turns back to me, shaking his head. "Don't worry about her. She has little tantrums every once in a while. She'll get over it."

I sigh, turning back to my food dejectedly. "Why would she do this? I mean sure he's hot but I would never agree to being his date while he has a girlfriend. He's shady."

Gabe nods but goes, "Yeah but I mean it's her decision. I've tried to talk sense into her a few times but she won't listen. If she gets screwed over, it's her fault."

I've grown accustomed to Gabe and Amie's relationship. Even though they're twins like Iggy and I, they are certainly not as close.

So I shrug and let it go. Gabe is right. We can't really do anything about Amie's choice.

Gabe lightly pushes my shoulder. "But hey, on a lighter note, how do you like art class?"

I smile slightly and nod. "I really like it. The art department at my old school is not nearly advanced as yours. I've already learned a lot."

"That's great! But hey, I've seen your work and I have kind of a proposition for you." I look up at him and he's kind of smiling mischievously. "How would you feel about working in an art studio with me? My friend owns it. You'll get paid and everything."

I look at him with surprise, thinking he's playing some kind of joke on me. But he seems completely genuine. The thought of being somewhere else besides that horrible house sounds awesome. And I'll get paid doing something I love.

I quickly smile and go, "That sounds awesome! What do we do there?"

He looks incredibly happy about my approval. "Well, we hold art classes for seniors and children. You'll be in charge of the children's classes. How does that sound?"

I'm not sure how I feel about teaching a bunch of kids art but honestly I need something to do during the day after school. I'm tired of going back to the house from school and just waiting for Fang to get on Skype.

"Dude, you have no idea how awesome that sounds," I say to Gabe. He chuckles and gives me a high five. "But what about Amie? She's good at art. Why doesn't she get the job?"

Gabe rolls his eyes. "She's too worried about getting a date from Will asshole Morris. She, quote, doesn't have time for a job, unquote." He rolls his eyes a second time.

"Okay then, I guess I'm getting a job," I say happily.

Gabe nods and goes, "Sweet! So how about I take you over to the studio to see how it is? I'll introduce you to Jarrod, the owner. He'll be excited I finally hired someone."

I agree but the bell rings, cutting our conversation short. I leave the cafeteria, excited for what this job can do for me.

Jarrod's Wild Art Shop is a small but stylish art studio about ten minutes away from my new house. I make a mental note that I can always walk here if I can't get a ride from Gabe.

By the front of the building, you can definitely tell it's an art studio. There's a huge mural of a Chinese dragon flying through a night sky on the windows of the building. The work is beautiful. It must have taken weeks to do this.

"Awesome, right?" Gabe asks from my right as I gaze at the intricate art.

I nod, speechless. Gabe chuckles and pushes me towards the door.

"Come on, I'll introduce you."

Gabe and I walk into a brightly lit room that has about twenty large art desks spread across the room. There's a standalone dry erase board in the front of the classroom along with tons of artwork scattered across all 4 walls. I can't even tell what color the room is.

Gabe leads me through the classroom into a back room that looks like an office. A man, presumably Jarrod, is turned around in his office chair, working on a large poster upon an easel.

"Hey man, what's up?" Gabe says, causing Jarrod to turn around swiftly.

You wouldn't know by the looks of this guy that he owned a legit business. He looks like he's still in college. He's wearing a baggy shirt that has paint splatters all over it and skinny jeans. I suddenly am not as intimidated as I was earlier.

"Hey dude," he stops short when he looks at me. "Whoa whoa whoa, who's this, hmm? Came to introduce your new girlfriend?" Jarrod gives a sly grin and elbows Gabe in the ribs.

Gabe and I roll our eyes simultaneously. "Dude calm down. Is this a way to greet your new employee?"

Jarrod makes a face like an "o" and goes, "Oh, sorry. Hi there, I'm Jarrod!" He shakes my hand.

I smile at him. "Hey. You've got a nice place here."

"I know!" He exclaims. "And thanks so much for the help. You won't regret it. I assume Gabe told you what you'd be doing?" Without waiting for an answer from me, he continues talking animatedly. "You'll be teaching the kids from 4pm to 6pm every Tuesday and Thursday. On other days, you can help sell art supplies. It's pretty laid-back around here. I don't really do schedules. As long as you're here for your class and then part of the rest of the week, I don't really care. You get paid by the hour."

I nod, surprised but pleased. I could really get used to this.

The guys finish showing me around the art studio. The back portion of the building is the store part where we sell art supplies. The front is the classroom that has a supply and wash room on the side of it. Lastly, there is a basement that has the big supplies like extra easels, desks, pottery equipment and a big couch and vending machine which is where us employees can hang out.

It turns out there's only one more employee who works here, who is another college student named Brandon. I wasn't thrilled at the thought of only working with a bunch of guys but I figure Gabe is already one of my best friends in Houston and Jarrod seems nice enough.

"Hey, you ready to go?" Gabe asks when we're done working out my employment. It turns out I start immediately.

"Mhm!" I say happily and after a quick wave to Jarrod, we're on our way to my still-new home.

Please review and tell me what you think!

OK, I have a hunch about what about 80% of you will say: "where's the fax, I want Fax, FAX FAX FAX!"

Yeah, well. I'll try to pack some in in the next chapter.

Anyway, review pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Thanks guys!

Peace~