Screw the police! I don't care whether this sucks or not anymore! I'm freaking posting it! And I really shouldn't keep talking, because I desperately need sleep right now but I have to put this freaking A/N in and blah blah blah Fang, make me shut up.

Fang: -covers my mouth with his hand- Earlier, before she was being Nudgey, she planned to say something about happy Thanksgiving and she's so lame because she didn't post this for six weeks. Oh, and also that I'm awesome and sexy and that I totally didn't just add that stuff in there.

EllaPOV

"Hey Mom, do you think we're gonna make it to Colorado for Christmas this year?" I asked, stuffing textbooks into my backpack and slinging it over my shoulder.

My mom looked up from the coffeepot. "Yes, of course we are. Your Aunt Tania and Uncle Chris have been wanting to meet everyone else."

Max seemed to stiffen a little. "Colorado?" she repeated. Mom nodded, and suddenly, Max seemed very, very interested in her Frosted Flakes.

Nudge's mouth opened as if she was going to speak, but then she closed it. "We're not… we're not taking a plane, are we?" Something about the tone of her voice made me glance at her. Nudge's eyes were wide, and for a second she looked terrified.

Mom gave her a strange look. "Why would we? It's only about a five-hour drive from here. It's not so long that we have to buy plane tickets." The drive had always been okay with me and Mom, but with eight people? Oh, boy.

"Great, five hours stuck in a car with you nutcases," Iggy said, cringing and pointing his fork at Max. She didn't even look up, too busy trying to bore a hole into the table with her imaginary laser vision. Ah, well. I was used to Max acting pretty strange.

"Nudge?" She was still frozen in place. "Nudge?" I repeated. "Are you okay?"

She snapped out of it almost immediately. "I… yeah. I just have to… um… go brush my teeth," she mumbled. She slipped out of the room, unnoticed by anyone but Mom and I; and the fact that she was speaking in less than twenty-five-word sentences alerted me to a strange difference in her mood. Mom shot me a don't-ask-about-it-it's-not-your-business-kind of look- the one she always gave me when the other kids were acting strange- and I nodded quickly, silently promising I wouldn't. Which was, of course, a total lie.

Sure, curiosity killed the cat. But the thing about that old saying?

I'm not a cat.

There came a knock on the front door, and Angel got up from the table to go let Brigid in. "Good morning!" the blond woman said brightly. Max scowled, and under the table, I saw Fang squeeze her hand and quickly let go before getting up and washing his dish.

Aw, those guys are so cute. Makes me wonder how long it'll be before they couple up.

"Ella and I are taking off. Be good," Mom emphasized. As if. She said that every day, and eighty percent of the time, it didn't happen. Natural troublemakers, these guys.

I have a feeling they're rubbing off on me.

Before I stepped out the door into the cool and crisp December morning air, I glanced up at where Nudge had disappeared up the stairs. I was worried about my talkative friend- well, actually, not-so-talkative this morning.

Which was reason enough for me to be curious.

MaxPOV

I rested my head in my hands, rubbing my eyes with my palms. I'd felt a headache coming on this morning, but I hadn't expected it to be this bad. Or exhausting. Or to last all through lunch. What sucked even more was that I couldn't find any aspirin. And combined with the chaos in my mind this morning, my day was just sucking so far. (I'll explain later. Patience is a virtue and all that mumbo jumbo.)

"Max? Max!"

Brigid's annoying voice broke into my thoughts. "I've been asking you to solve number twenty-five for the last five minutes," she said impatiently, indicating to a problem in my textbook. I frowned. Five minutes? She was exaggerating. I tried to focus on the tiny numbers, blinking a couple times to clear my vision, and Brigid tapped her foot. "Well?"

See why I have a problem with this chick?

I stared down at the problem. Right now, I was not going to be able to figure out whatever the hell "b cubed minus a if a equals five squared and b equals seven" was. An aspirin would just be awesome about now…

I looked to Fang for help. On the binder in his lap, he was tracing a number with his fingers, but I couldn't make out what it was. "Uh… twenty-four?" I offered. Even without the headache, I never was good at this algebra stuff.

"Wrong answer," Brigid said, giving me a disdainful look. Yeah, because she's Ms. Amazing. "It wasn't that hard of a problem. Iggy, can you answer for Max?"

"Nope," he said in that someone-get-me-outta-here-I'm-so-bored tone of voice. His head was flat on his book. "Don't feel like it."

"You realize this will bring down your grade, right?" she asked as if she thought it actually mattered to him.

Iggy seemed to be resisting the urge to crack up. "Yeah, and I care."

Brigid's nostrils flared in her special I-hate-you move; the Nostril Flare of Total Rejection. Goes well with The Cold Shoulder, the Frenzied Eyebrow, the Grimace of Doom, the Sneer of Despair, the Crippling Wince of Guilt, or the Scowl of Impending Wrath. She turned to her 'star student', Fang- are you kidding me? There are only six students! And she annoys him almost as much as she annoys me. But, hey. "Favorites" is her favorite game to play.

Mine's "Messing With Brigid", but I digress.

"Fang, can you tell me the answer?" she asked him in that stupid cotton-candy voice. My gender disappoints me sometimes.

He looked up and stopped doodling for a second. "Seventy-three." Well, I was way off.

Brigid smiled brightly. "That's right! Good job!"

All I wanted to do right now was get away from Brigid, go downstairs, curl up in the giant La-Z-Boy, and sleep for a while. I mean, I don't even go to regular school and I still have that Oh god, I'm so tired, I just want to go to sleep mentality during school.

And plus, I was trying really hard to not think about the time I lived in Colorado. No, your eyes do not deceive you. I did. Since I was a kid, up until I got shipped out to my first foster home in New Mexico.

But don't get me wrong; there were good and bad memories. The good ones were mostly of Mom, fuzzy fragments- her warm smile, her blond hair just like mine, the nights when she came into me and Ari's room and read a book to us. Some were of Ari, and some of Jeb before he- well, before he got all wacko in the head.

And then there were the creepy-flashback-inducing ones that chilled me to the bone.

The night of the crash, holding tight to Ari and trying not to be overwhelmed by the bright, glaring hospital lights and all the voices around me- I could still remember the doctor who told me that Mom didn't make it. I remembered packing up the cardboard boxes the night after Ari ran away; Jeb made us move just in case Ari ran to the cops.

And many, many more memories of Jeb I was not going to allow to surface.

Then I felt something nudging my leg under the table- Fang's foot. I looked up, my train of thought thoroughly crashed. When Brigid's back was turned, he leaned over to me and whispered, "You okay? You seem kinda spaced out."

I shrugged. "Just internally going nuts," I muttered back. "Tell you later."

Fang looked slightly amused. "Stay sane for me, all right?" he murmured.

"No promises."

"Max, quit talking," Brigid ordered and Fang and I quickly sat back up in our seats. "I'm sick of you acting like this. Maybe if you'd actually listen once in a while-"

"Oh, will you just quit bitching at me?" I broke in snappishly. My head was aching worse than ever, and Brigid was always nagging at me. And you know what? I did listen a lot more than once in a while. My grades weren't too bad (which surprised me, because Brigid hates my guts.) "I just don't like you, and your voice is giving me a freaking migraine. Just. Shut. Up."

There was silence for a bit. I'd meant to stop cussing in front of Angel, I really had, but I couldn't think of a better word at the time. Which is just sad, but oh well.

Iggy broke the silence. "You just got burned."

The moment Dr. M walked in the door, I knew she was going to give me hell for today.

But she didn't know anything I'd done yet- Brigid hadn't had a chance to talk to her- so if I ran now, I might be able to escape Dr M's Scowl of Impending Wrath.

I started to edge towards the back door. "I'm going to go… uh… feed Total," I improvised. "And you-" I grabbed Fang by the arm and dragged him along with me- "are coming with me, meat shield."

Right before I escaped out the door, Fang's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait. What do you mean by meat shie-" I didn't give him time to finish, and shut the door behind us just as Brigid started speaking to Dr M in the kitchen.

"I mean," I began as Total trotted up to us, "that if she gives me the Look, I'm going to hide behind you and you are going to get the full impact of it. Better start writing your will, boy. Dibs on your iPod." Mine was pretty beaten up.

"Hell no. You got yourself into this mess- I'm not going to hide you," Fang objected as I opened the bag of dog food.

My shoulders rose and fell. "Sure you aren't. Hey, watch this- Total's looking at me like, 'Food. Food. Food.' " I poured some into his bowl and picked it up, the cold metal chilling my hand. The little black Scottie was circling around my legs, tail wagging. "And when I almost give it to him, he's like "Have it? Have it? Have it?" Total stood up on his hind legs for a second, and I set the bowl down on the ground. He instantly attacked it.

"Mhm. No matter how many times you change the subject, I'm still not gonna be your meat shield."

I shrugged again and crouched down next to Total, scratching him behind the ears as he ate. "It was worth a try."

"Not really. How's your head?"

I made a face. "Little better since I stole some food from the fridge. But not much, really. Before Dr M murders me I'm going to have to ask her for some Advil or something."

"I'll bring some to your funeral."

"I'm sure you would," I said dryly.

"Hey, you still owe me an explanation for- what was it you said?- something about internally going nuts," he said, out of the blue. Well, now look who's changing the subject…

I sighed. No point in not telling him, anyway. "You know how Dr M said we were going up to Colorado?" Fang nodded in assent. " Yeah, well, I used to live there," I said wryly. "Up in Aspen. Before Jeb- uh, before I got put in foster care."

Fang seemed to think it over. "I see."

"Said the blind man," I commented.

"Don't let Iggy catch you saying that."

"Whatever. But… I mean, it brings back memories. Not all bad ones, but they're there, you know?" I said, shivering a little. It was the cold. Totally the cold.

And then Fang was crouching next to me, lightly squeezing my hand and then dropping it. "Yeah, I know."

I looked down. "Ever since Mom got in that crash, things just got worse and worse, even after Jeb went to prison. I sometimes feel like things are gonna be like that again… and I couldn't do that. I don't know how much more I can take losing."

And I'm damn sure that that was the most touchy-feely, heart-on-my-sleeve thing I'd ever said.

I seriously need to shut up.

When I looked up, Fang was studying me with those intense, dark eyes. "I'll be here, come hell and high water. But I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you- because life's screwed us over so many times. Maybe by now… maybe by now it's done."

And then... get this:

He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead.

I was surprised because I didn't go absolutely nuts over it. My mind wasn't going at one hundred miles a minute. It felt... it felt like I just wasn't scared to be touched. What's the word I'm looking for? Secure. Safe. I met his eyes and offered him a small smile in return.

Silence fell, and I was extremely aware of how close Fang and I were. In fact, I was hyperaware of everything around me. Fang's hand still lingered near mine unintentionally, just because of the way his arm hung by his side.

Our proximity made me shiver. It wasn't the cold. Totally not the cold. And I wasn't sure how I felt about that. In fact, I didn't want to think about how I felt.

So I stood and brushed off my hands on my pants, choosing to ignore the buzzing voices in the back of my mind. "Come on, meat shield," I told him. "We're going inside."

Warily, Fang followed me to the back door. Through the window, I could see Dr M and Brigid still conversing, and neither of them looked happy. Especially not Dr M.

Oops?

As I cracked open the door as quietly as ninja-ly possible, I shoved Fang in front of me and put my hands on either one of his shoulders to make sure he stayed there. I crouched a little just for extra protection, even though he was about six inches taller than I was. (Which irked me greatly.)

With him in front of me, we shuffled through the doorway unnoticed. I heard Brigid arguing with Dr M, saying, "You know I have great respect for you, Valencia, but she has none for me! I can't deal with her anymore."

Dr M frowned. "Please, stay. You won't have to deal with Max much longer."

Well, that sparked my interest.

I stood on my toes and looked over Fang's shoulder. "What do you mean, she won't have to deal with me much longer? Is she quitting?" I almost smiled at the prospect. The possibility that I and not Brigid would be leaving didn't even cross my mind at the time. But then again, it was only a possibility.

They both jumped. "Max, you startled me!" Dr M exclaimed. I quickly ducked behind Fang again, waiting for her glare to incinerate him and then me. "Ah… why are you hiding behind Fang?"

" 'Cause you're gonna kill me," I said, the sound muffled by Fang's black jacket.

"Why on earth would I- oh, that. Yes, I'll speak to you about that later." Her voice contained a steely edge. "But for now, I assure you that you'll live."

That 'for now' was just so reassuring.

Nevertheless, I raised my head again. Fang was still standing there, unmoving and silent as ever. He reminds me of a brick wall occasionally. "I raise my question again: what do you mean, she won't have to deal with me?"

Dr M ran a hand through her hair. "I think it would be best, Brigid, if we continued this tomorrow. It seems I have some explaining to do."

Brigid gave her a curt nod, collected her things, and left out the front door. Moments later, I heard the low rumble of her car starting and the crunch of gravel as she left the driveway. Dr M turned to face Fang and I. "Could you tell the others to get down here?"

I was curious as to what she wanted to explain, so I went about getting everyone's butts down the stairs as quickly as possible. I poked my head in Angel and Nudge's door and delivered the message, Fang taking care of the rooms on the other side of the hall. I followed Gazzy back down the stairs, resisting the very strong urge to trip him for no reason. I'm already in enough trouble with Dr M.

Soon enough, we were all collected in the kitchen. I leaned against the fridge next to Fang, and the twins were seated on the counter, long legs dangling off the edge. Ella leaned over the counter, chin in her hands, and Nudge and Angel stood by the island. Dr M herself was standing at the far end of the kitchen.

"I was planning on telling you all later this month," she began, "but circumstances changed." Yeah, yeah, now get to the point! "I think you've all done very well lately, for the most part-" she stopped and gave me a stern look- "and I think you can handle behaving at least slightly well around a large amount of people. So… I've decided to enroll you in school."

Chaos erupted.

Seriously, I'm not even kidding. It was absolute chaos.

Imagine this: Lots of yelling. Lots of people saying "WHAT?" And I'm pretty sure someone yelled, over the din, "Is mayonnaise an instrument?" (See, Gazzy watches too much Spongebob with Angel for his own good. But when she begs, how can he say no?)

Nudge and Ella, of course, were ecstatic that they would be going to the same school, in the same grade. Angel, too, was happy that she was finally going to be able to play with kids her age and make friends, and the twins looked as devious as ever. Fang was indifferent- as he is to most things- and I…

Well, I wasn't that happy about it. Not that unhappy, but still.

I mean, I was absolutely in love with the fact that I would never have to see Brigid again after December. (We start after Christmas break is over.) And Dr M was right, my attitude towards people in general had improved a lot. As in, I don't dislike everyone I happen to talk to for more than five minutes. I give people a (small) chance now.

But I seriously still do not have any people skills.

In fact, after everyone left and I was slipping out the door, Dr M had me stay behind. She took a seat at the table and patted the chair next to her, inviting me to sit down. At first I couldn't call to mind why she would have me stay, but then I remembered that I was in trouble, and the klaxon alarms in my head started going off.

I sat down uneasily and gave her a wary glance. "Yeah?"

"Max…" Dr M sighed wearily. Well, this wasn't the Scowl of Impending Wrath I'd been prepared for. (Good thing, too, because Fang wasn't here to shield me from it.) "I don't know how to get through to you. You really can't act like you did today when you're in school in January. And that's less than a month away."

I opened my mouth, planning to say something like, "I REGRET NOTHING!" and run for it, but then- to my dismay and disgust- guilt washed over me. See, guilt is almost a foreign concept to me. I just sat there, unsure of what to do or say. Dr M ran a hand through her hair.

"I've seen your records from old schools. All the trouble you've gotten into doesn't look good on your file. How many schools have you gotten kicked out of? Four? Five? This is your chance, Max. Your chance to clean up your act. You just have to control your temper."

My nails dug into my palm, and I looked down. "I was frustrated, okay? And my head hurt."

She shook her head. "You can't just let your outbursts happen like that. I want you to do better, Max, I really do." She gave me a pleading look. "At least try. Promise me you'll try."

I knew that if I made that promise, I could never keep it. It's not something I like to admit, but I have only a more diluted version of my father's temper. A short fuse that burned out quickly, and when the flame got lit, I couldn't put it out easily.

Counting to ten just didn't work for me.

I thought about it for a minute, and then took a deep breath. "I'll try not to beat anyone up."

She smiled softly at me. "Thank you, Max."

Dun dun dun duuunnnn…. Couple hours later 'n stuff….

ThirdPersonPOV

"Nudge?"

A voice sounded throughout the quiet room, and the mocha-skinned girl twisted around to face the speaker. Ella stood in the doorway, biting her lip.

Nudge blinked in surprise. "Ella? What are you doing up? It's, like, really late."

"I could ask you the same question," Ella said, gesturing at the desk Nudge was sitting at. Books, crumpled sheets of notebook paper, and several pencil stubs littered its surface. A small desk lamp emitted a warm glow, casting shadows and leaving all but the corners of the room unlit. "And it's really not that late. Only about ten."

"Oh. I guess I, um, lost track of time," Nudge said, shrugging. Ella noted that there were bags under her eyes. "I had to finish some homework. Brigid really likes to dump it on us when Max makes her mad, you know?"

"Moody teachers suck," Ella agreed.

"Hey, what did you need again? I just kinda forgot. Fail." Nudge facepalmed a little to prove her point.
And Ella was back to chewing a hole in her lip. "I- you were a little… uh, distant this morning," she hedged.

"Distant how? Because, like, you know I'm not a morning person. Well, unless I've already eaten, because then I'm-"

"No, not like that," Ella cut in, shaking her head. "I mean like I could actually count the number of words in your sentences. Later, you seemed fine, but…" She frowned. "Nudge, you looked absolutely terrified when my mom mentioned taking a plane."

Nudge froze like she'd been suddenly dropped into a negative-fifty-degree environment.

Ella took it as a bad sign, but continued on. "And I thought it might have something to do with…" she faltered, barely daring to say what she was thinking. "I hope this doesn't offend or hurt you in any way, but Nudge, did your parents die in a plane crash?"

Nudge still looked like an icecube for about a minute, still not saying a word. In any other circumstances, Ella would have thought it a miracle. But finally, when the silence was unbearable and Ella was about to ask if she was okay, the curly-haired girl spoke.

"Yeah," she began, slowly but deliberately. Nudge looked like she might be blinking back tears. "Yeah, they did. I was nine, and my parents were going to New York for some big corporate convention. They left me to stay with a babysitter… but the plane crashed on the way back. Not too many people make it out of plane crashes."

"Oh, Nudge," Ella said softly. "I'm so sorry…"

Nudge wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She hadn't been crying, but there was definitely the threat. That ache behind her eyes, that lump in her throat that made it hard to talk. "It's not your fault. Don't be," she mumbled. "People always say they're so sorry. They're so sorry. Sorry doesn't fix jack shit, you know? Pity gets you nowhere. I hate it when people say that," she said blankly. "The first person who said it to me was the person who told me my parents were dead. I remember perfectly what day it happened, where I was, who told me, and exactly what she said."

"I didn't mean to offend you," Ella apologized, turning slightly red. Nudge didn't swear often, but when she did, it meant she was pretty worked up. "You aren't- you aren't mad, are you?"

The glimpse of Nudge's other side was gone as soon as it was there. "No, I'm not mad," she denied quickly. "You were curious. I get that. Although sometimes being curious ends pretty badly…" A thoughtful expression appeared on her face. "Like that one time when I was little and I wondered what would happen if I stuck a fork into the toaster, and-" She cut herself off, grinning a little. "I was about to ramble, wasn't I?"

Ella smiled back. "It seemed like it," she admitted. "So… you good?"

"I'm good," she assured her.

Ella exhaled in relief. "You know, we're watching a movie down in the basement. Napoleon Dynamite. Screw homework, it's Friday. Wanna come watch?"

Nudge stood up and shut her textbook, stretching. "I'd like that," she said, nodding, and walked with Ella out the door. As they continued down the stairs, Nudge grinned and got a devious look on her face. "You know, I bet you'd like to see Iggy dance like Napoleon does, but without a shirt on-"

She was silenced by a light smack on the shoulder from her best friend, and just stayed content with the expression on Ella's face.

Me: Night, guys. Thanks for being so awesome and reviewing. Lol, tomorrow's Black Friday and I'm dragging Fang shopping with me...

Fang: Help. Me.

Me: So many sales! I think I'll buy him a My Little Pony T-shirt. You know, that one that says "I'm gonna love and tolerate the SHIT outta you!" By the way, what didja think of the Fax? If it sucked... I just... FUCK IT I'M GOING TO BED.

-Sierra