Max

I could tell Fang was anxious as I snatched his hand and pulled him into the house. I tossed my keys on the table, grabbed a couple Gatorades for me and Fang, and then I made my way to the bottom of the stairs.

"Mom!" I hollered, holding onto the banister for support.

Fang was looking around as if this was the most uncomfortable he'd been in a lifetime. He looked like a deer in headlights. A bunny in view of a fox. One of those cute little baby seals when they see a... Okay, you get the point. He looked freaked.

"What do you need, Max?" Mom called back down. I could tell from the direction and volume of her voice that she was in the laundry room.

I didn't answer her, instead turning back to Fang. He was looking more scared than the last time I'd looked at him, if that was even possible. And trust me - it completely was. The dude looked just like the president after he slips up and says something he's not supposed to. Oops...let's not do that again.

"You told me the other day you were good with parents," I said, taunting him. I smiled teasingly, hoping to get him to relax and just breathe.

Tyler had always been my mom's favorite. Our parents were good friends, he was a nice football jock who could "protect me" when we went out, and he always made sure to keep all his mistakes and party photos out of the public view.

But I hoped so much that Mom would like Fang. As long as Iggy and Dylan hadn't said anything about the rumors, I should be fine. And trust me, when my mom doesn't approve, she is the-Hulk-growing-and-turning-green mad. Yeah. That mad.

She'd always been very...honest about her opinions.

"I meant mine," Fang finally replied. "What I meant was, I can always shove my dirty clothes under the bed so that my mom thinks my room is clean so I can go out. I have never - never in my life - been good with girls' parents. Plus if your brothers got to your mom and dad I'm sure -"

"My dad isn't around," I interjected quickly.

"Oh, is he working late?" Fang looked honestly relieved.

God. Why hadn't I explained the whole Max-has-no-daddy situation before bringing him to meet the family?

"He's, uh, dead." I looked down at my hands and started to fidget with a hangnail.

Usually when I broke the news to people, they would get this look like they just got ran over by a truck. Then they'd get all quiet, and they'd try to make polite conversation, but it would just be awkward, and so we would never really be more than buddies. That's why my only really good friends are ones I've had since childhood. I didn't want that to happen with Fang. At all.

With a big sigh, I looked up at Fang, and was surprised at what I saw.

He wasn't giving me that look of pity, of oh-I-feel-so-sorry-for-the-kind-of-orphan. He just had his arms crossed and his eyebrows raised, like he was waiting for me to say something.

"Well?" he said expectantly.

"Um." I popped my fingers. "Sorry, what?"

"I said, do you want to talk about it?"

"Oh, no, it's fine. It happened forever ago." I grabbed Fang's lower arm and started to pull him up the stairs. About halfway there, I said, "I mean, maybe later."

Fang

I tried not to think too much about Max's dad as we jogged up the stairs. Max gave me a mini-tour as we walked down the hallway.

"My room," she said, opening a door to a fairly plain room with lots of basketball posters.

"Iggy's room." A room with red walls, black and gold blankets, and a blue fan. The dude had to be colorblind. "Iggy's at his party," Max reminded me.k

"Dylan's room."

I peered in, instantly regretting it. Beyond the door, which had an "Army Strong" sticker on it, was a completely, creepily organized room. And the guy sitting on the bed on a laptop was completely, creepily huge.

Reminder, I thought to myself, never hurt Max. Or face the wrath of Dylan.

"Dyl, this is Fang," Max said to her brother, leaning casually against the door while I stood awkwardly in the hall.

"I know him." Dylan shut his laptop and pushed it aside. "Max, you go talk to Mom. I want to talk to Fang real quick."

I swear to God, my blood started pumping faster and I could hear my heartbeat. I felt like I had twice the adrenaline than I had right before a huge game. But not quite positive adrenaline. Not that there's any negative adrenaline, but...

"No," Max said to Dylan right away, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.

"Max -" Dylan looked...afraid in that second. Of Max.

Damn. This one's a keeper.

"No, Dyl! If you want to talk to Fang, you'll have to come into Mom's room and talk with all of us."

Max grabbed my arm and pulled me away, but not before Dylan flashed me a dirty look equivilant to the ones Max had gotten from my friends at the pizza restaraunt. And it's not like I didn't deserve it, what with all the rumors that fly around in high school.

Then I found myself facing Max's mom, who looked nothing - nothing - like Max. She was short and a little round, and she was clearly of Spanish descent, with the tan skin, brown hair and eyes.

When she looked up she gave Max a secretive look, and she looked surprised when she saw me enter right behind Max.

"Oh." Max's mom pushed aside the binder she was looking in, and stood up. "Hello. I'm Max's mom, but you can call me Val."

"Um. I'm Fang. Nicholas Walker, but I go by Fang." I shook Max's mom's - Val's - hand

After a little while, Max and I were sitting on the floor playing Slapjack while Max's mom was acting as the referee. I was getting smoked when Val brought up the rumors.

"You said you were Nick Walker?" Val asked, and she went on without waiting for verification. "My sons have told me some...not-so-pleasant things about you."

I tried to act nonchalant and uncaring as I shrugged. I tried to act innocent. Because most of the rumors - most, not all - were true.

"Well, uh, you know high school," I muttered, hoping we could jsut leave it at that.

We sat there in silence for a few moments, Max secretly sending me encouraging smiles and mouthing things that I couldn't quite keep up with. The game was at a standstill, and we were all waiting for the ref to make up her mind on the player.

"I'll let you off easy this once," Val finally said, "but only because I've done it with all of Max's other boyfriends. Just don't hurt my daughter."

"No trouble at all, ma'am," I muttered, and I squeezed Max's hand.

Sorry it's been so long, and sorry this chapter was so short. I'm not completely moved into my house in Georgia yet, but right now I'm at a cheer camp that is required to try out. I've been here for four days. And I'm soooooo homesick! But I don't know if I'm homesick for my house in California or for my family at the new house!

Sigh.

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