Aj: Hey guys, lately I've been feeling you guys have liked me too much. I haven't gotten a death threat in a while. I decided to fix that. Enjoy the chapter! ;)

I was not a patient girl. I had come to accept that a long time ago. So, when I was forced to sit in a dull classroom and wait, I wanted to blow my brains out. Repeatedly.

Even though the rest of my first class of the day, Independent Living, was freely moving about the classroom, taking advantage of our absent teacher, I was cemented to my chair, motionless all except for the repetitive tapping of my foot. My gaze darted to every square inch of the room, occasionally watching the other kids in the room flittering back and forth in a frenzy, as if they were forced to keep moving under the threat of imminent death. Death, that's what my mood felt like at this moment.

My first class of the day was the first of the three classes I shared with Fang. After having the weekend to avoid him, I had no idea how this avoiding each other's existence thing was going to work. I had never dreaded having to go to Independent Living as much as I did at this moment. On the bright side, Iggy and Fang weren't even in the room yet, despite the bell ringing six minutes ago/

I could only hope the two had decided to ditch for the day.

Or a year.

Resting my palm on my chin, I studied the heavily adorned, albeit cluttered, room around me, like I had done a thousand times before. Colorful ribbons and posters hung limply along the walls, some overlapping each other. There was a large mahogany desk in the front of the room, hardly recognizable by the amount of scattered papers and coffee stains. In the back corner of the room, a large shelf displayed an assortment of trophies our teacher, Mrs. Carle, had collected during her lifetime. Whether it was Science Fair participation awards or annual bowling trophies, she had it. There were 107 ceiling tiles and 15 decorative rugs lining the floor, which the students took haste in stomping all over as they formed cliques scattered amongst the room, talking about pointless crap like who won the latest football game or what shade of nail polish goes best with Melanie's complexion.

Apart from me, the only other one not talking to anyone was the last person I would expect. With perfectly curled fiery hair framing a porcelain face, Lissa sat alone. Her large green eyes were downcast, transfixed on her fidgeting hands. Even from my spot across the room, I could see that her usually manicured nails were chewed off. This wasn't the Lissa that I was used to.

Sure, in truth I barely knew her. But I still felt guilty for abandoning Maya's friend, who had actually done nothing wrong to me. She had been nothing but nice to me, her only flaw was her devotion to staying Brigid's friend. I hadn't blamed her for choosing Brigid and avoiding war between who she thought were her two best friends. The last time I had seen Lissa had been at the dance, right before Brigid had disappeared. I hadn't spared much thought to Lissa's reaction to her friend going missing, leaving her entirely alone. I should have. I felt like a bitch—I felt like Maya—for just now noticing Lissa's deterioration. Had I really been so oblivious to everything going on around me?

"Daddy's home!" A loud voice that I knew so well announced, startling me from my thoughts. Iggy strolled into the classroom as if he owned the place, winking at a few girls huddled in the back corner. They giggled vapidly, staring in awe at the scrawny and pale charmer. I rolled my eyes as he came to sit next to me in his usual seat. Trailing in the aftermath of Iggy's grand entrance, Fang walked in unnoticed with our Independent Living teacher, Mrs. Carle, rushing him into the room. As Fang walked to his chair I front of me, his gaze met mine, no doubt wondering whether what happened between us was just said in the heat of the moment. I purposely looked away, turning towards Iggy who was smiling goofily at me, waiting to tell a joke.

"So you won't believe what Gasser and I did this weekend," Iggy began, waving his arms for added effect.

"Hmmm…was it illegal?" I pondered jokingly, finger stroking my chin. His grin faded.

"What are you, a cop?" I smirked, preparing to answer when a high-pitched chime—the sound of a bell—came from the front of the classroom.

"Sorry I'm late," Mrs. Carle apologized, "I hope you all enjoyed your weekends. But its time to get back to work."

There was a collective groan from the room, myself included.

"Don't worry, I've got a fun project for you. You're all going to be married!"

Mrs. Carle was a strange teacher. She wore large, gaudy jewelry that jingled when she walked, a bright ornately patterned scarf over her bushy black hair and a gypsy like dress. But her declaration of our marriage was probably the strangest, craziest, most unbelievable idea she had had since I had gotten here. Was she off her pills or something?

"Um…like, Mrs. Carle, we're like way too young to like—"

"Okay, let me explain," She interrupted Tess, one of the cheerleaders Iggy had winked at, "You aren't really going to be married. I've been noticing a trend lately with more and more young people marrying early. Along with a rising divorce rate. Why do you think that is?"

"Chicks trying to turn a guy's man cave pink with doilies and cats?" Ratchet guessed, holding his hand up to Fang for a high five. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fang awkwardly returning the gesture with a loud smack.

My fists clenched.

"No, but if you keep up the sexist comments you'll be gone from this room before you can cry for your mommy. Did I make myself clear, Ratchet?" She snapped, eyes boring into his skull. Cautiously, he nodded, withdrawing his hand. I knew there was a reason I liked her. Bonus, she glared at Fang too.

"Because people realize they feel in love with someone that they didn't really know?" Her eyes snapped to Fang, a smile on her thin lips.

"Very good Nick. As a result of people just a little older than you marrying without truly knowing what they're getting themselves into other than a fancy dress and a nice ceremony, I have gotten permission from Principal Abate to give you and your partner a taste of how hard marriage can be." She explained, walking back and forth across the front of the room as she eyed us excitedly.

"Hey Batfang, will you marry me?" Iggy asked, reaching across for Fang's hand. Fang slapped him on the head.

"Thank you Jeff for bringing up a point. I will be choosing your partners for you. In fact, I already have the list." Mrs. Carle took out a piece of paper from her stack of clutter.

"That's discrimination," Iggy muttered, crossing his arms and pouting like a two year old. Holding back a laugh, I patted Iggy on the arm, while inwardly worrying I would be paired with Fang.

"Ratchet," she spoke his name in distaste, "You are going to be married to Kate." He grinned toothily, looking back at the small Asian girl hungrily. In that moment, I bean to truly worry this assignment would end badly.

As she listed off more names, my nervousness began to rise as more and more pairs were listed. Not only was this assignment an opportunity to slip up big time in the whole Max/Maya plan, Fang's name hadn't been called yet. The numbers were dwindling down, but he still hadn't been paired off with somebody that wasn't me.

"Fang," She paused. My heart froze. "You are going to be married to Lissa."

The heavens shined their light upon me, bathing me in the holy glory of not being stuck with Fang. The angels were singing and stars shone bright in my eyes, twinkling with the rebirth of my sanity. It was in my rejoicing that I failed to notice the way Lissa grimaced and twisted uncomfortably at her marriage assignment.

"Iggy, congratulations. You're married to Maya." I froze, turning to look at Iggy beside me, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Iggy and me. Married? Well, it was probably the best I was going to get. Iggy was one of my best friends, besides Nudge and (definitely) excluding Fang. I've probably grown the closest to Iggy. Yeah, this would be an easy project.

"Don't even think of trying anything until the honeymoon." I wagged my finger at him.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he pauses for effect, "Sweetheart."

I couldn't resist the smile tugging at my lips.

"Now that you all have your spouses, for the next two weeks you and your spouse will have to choose a home, jobs, insurance, bank accounts, and other necessities for everyday life. To get an A, you are going to have to show me you understand how married life works. Tomorrow you will choose careers and in a week we are going to add some extra conflict to your marriages. Any questions?" Mrs. Carle explained, writing a few key parts of the assignment onto the white board.

I looked once more at Iggy, smiling goofily as he thought of the honeymoon. God, he was an idiot sometimes. An idiot…whose best friend was Fang. My smile faltered, slipping downwards as the inevitable truth clicked in my head. How was I supposed to avoid Fang when I was married to his best friend?

"Dear Diary,

today Lissa, Brigid, and I went shopping. I think they're finally starting to really like me! OMG how cool would it be to be popular? Back before I moved here, I never thought I could be popular, but now everything is starting to—

Fang groaned, flopping down onto the top bunk with a heavy sigh. He had been flipping through Maya's diary for the past three hours, starting from when she had first moved here, figuring there wouldn't be anything helpful before then. Even though a part of him was curious to know what Maya and Max had been like away from prying eyes, he knew that just because he had the diary didn't give him the right to go through all her secrets. Unfortunately, that also meant having to go through hours and hours of Maya droning on and on about useless things. For the ten pages Maya wrote about her crush on Orlando Bloom, Fang felt slightly—really—uncomfortable. Additionally, he had been mentioned more times than he could count on one hand, and a foot, and another hand. While most guys would have a major ego boost if a cute girl was writing about them in their diaries, Fang was only reminded that Maya was gone. She had been gone longer than she had been missing and Fang never did anything to save her.

"Dear Diary,

I'm sorry for not writing in a while. Things have been…complicated. Thanks to Brigid and Lissa, I'm finally considered to be popular. People actually know I exist and want to say hi to me in the hallways. It's not easy though. I have to start working on my image. My mom has been happy to give me money to buy more makeup and trendier clothes, but a part of me feels like I'm dressing up for Halloween when I get ready in the morning. I'm also going to start running in the mornings to start getting in shape. I've felt so fat lately. I mean, I know I have a flat stomach, but if I don't have a thigh gap I might as well be wearing sweatpants and drinking barbecue sauce.

"Dear Diary,

Remember when I said being popular wasn't easy? Well, its becoming harder and harder everyday. Nudge and Angel and I have been fighting lately. A lot. Maybe its because I hang out with a so much cooler crowd while they're still stuck with the dweebs? Brigid told me it might be time to drop them, but I'm not sure yet. Maybe after a pedicure my thoughts will clear up.

"Dear Diary,

Fang and I have been drifting apart lately. We argue all the time and never just hang out for fun anymore. Ever since I got Nudge kicked out of school he looks at me as if I were a different person. Which I'm not! Why does everyone keep saying that and looking at me like I need pity! Even though I haven't told him or any of the flock what happened, Fang and Angel act like they know. I just want things to go back to the way they used to be, even though at the end of they day I go back and forth between hating the emo bastard and loving him. Somehow I know that things will never be the same again as long as I stay popular and friends with Brigid and Lissa. If I have to choose between the two, I think I have an idea of what I would pick.

"Dear Diary,

Today Brigid and Lissa introduced me to their new friend. His name is Sam—"

Fang slammed the diary's furry cover down with every ounce of strength he possessed. The room had turned dark without his knowledge, ghosts of the moons lights casting small rays of light.

A thin sheen of sweat had taken residence on his forehead. There was a reason he didn't like looking into Maya's diary. Not only was it a reminder of things he had tried forgetting, locking away into the deepest recesses of his mind, but there were some things Fang had never wanted to know about Maya.

Dealing with a bitchy Maya on the outside is noting compared to actually witnessing what went on in her head. For the past three months, Fang had allowed himself to put aside every rotten sin his girlfriend had committed. He had forgotten how he had planned out a breakup speech three months ago, practicing it in the mirror and everything, when he had realized Maya would forever be lost. There hadn't been anything of significance of the day Fang had chosen to end it with Maya, except that he hadn't broken up with her. Something about her on that day had seemed different and he liked it. Fast forward three months into the future and he found out why. It hadn't been his girlfriend.

Fang wasn't an idiot. He had known something was wrong with Maya the past three months. Deep down, he knew people didn't just change over night, like he had so willingly believed she had. Fang was smart, he was rational, he always seemed to be in control, so how was it that Fang never even bothered to think about Maya's sudden change in character.

Because he didn't want to. If he thought about it, he would know something was wrong. If he knew something was wrong, he would no longer have the privilege of reliving the good times in his relationship. Instead of acceptance he chose the path of ignorance.

His only regret was discovering the truth.

Max wasn't a total stranger to him, but after their sudden disappearance from each other's lives, she may as well have been. When he was younger, Fang was positive he had no trouble telling the twins apart. Lately? Everything seemed so fuzzy, like his brain had been turned to scrambled mush set on puree. He hated it and felt an empty fury grab hold of his chest when he failed to connect what he remembered as his best memories.

She was right that he needed to know, albeit late as she was to tell him. It still didn't mean he wanted to admit he was lied to, betrayed, and used as a means to an end. No, she ha done her fair share of wrong as well. And Fang wasn't prepared to let her forget it.

Not until he could find Maya and rediscover his feelings—or lack of feelings. His memories and emotions had become so warped that he had no clue which feeling to trust. When he found Maya, then he could finally have his closure.

Until then, maybe Max's idea of seperation was good for the both of them.

"Did I miss it?" The frantic voice of Fang's best friend pierced through the silence, the door colliding with the wall as Iggy scrambled into the room, his legs moving faster than the roadrunner Wylie Coyote always chased. Without thinking, Fang hid the diary under his pillow. The possibilities that would unravel if Iggy ever found the diary were too much of a nightmare for him to consider.

"Miss what?" He asked slowly, just now noticing his headache come back. Ever since Fang had come back to the dorm after Max had revealed the truth and he had made some…questionable choices that ended with him getting a hangover and no memory of what happened, Fang had been stuck with a chronic migraine, He couldn't wait for the feeling of needled finger poking, prodding, and scraping along the inside of his skull to go the hell away.

"Shhhhh…." Iggy shushed, plopping onto the ground in front of their flat screen as he mutilated the remote buttons. A flood of artificial blue light spread into the room, enrapturing Iggy.

Images of two sleep deprived girls with too much makeup and messy hair materialized, getting ready for what looked like a catfight over a poofy white wedding dress bedazzled in sparkles.

"What the hell are you watching?" Fang grunted, holding his head together to keep it from exploding in pink goop across the wood floors.

"Bride Wars. Duh." He paused, staring glued to the screen longer as the girls began to weakly kick at each other.

"I'm glad my wife was never like that." He grinned, craning his neck back to look at Fang. Seeing no reaction, he decided to continue by joking, "Maybe we all should have a wedding party! What do ya think? Huh? Huh?"

Iggy's pestering was annoying the dark haired boy more than usual. Not just because it was weird to think of Max and Iggy as a couple—however fake it was—but the mention of a party was making Fang's brain squeeze, almost to the point of him crying out in pain, until—

He was at a party. That's all he knew. Lights were flaring, the luminescent glow that contrasted the starry night sky nearly drowning out the cacophony from inside the large house. With a classic architecturural appearance that looked like it could have been ripped right out of Paris, the immense landscape loomed over his form. Even though Fang wasn't in the right state of mind, he knew that he should have just gone home—he needed an escape.

He had just been allowed to believe his life had righted itself with all of his best friends reunited after years of isolation, his girlfriend suddenly morphing to how she used to be before—maybe even better. For three months he had grown used to his fantasy. And it was all her fault. He had just been able to admit to himself that he loved her only to find out she was even faker than her doppelganger. At least Maya had never taken on a fake identity. Maya was Max. Max was Maya. Fang was left to suffer the repercussions of her game, left to drown in the pit of her betrayal.

He wanted to scream. To cry out, to fall on the ground and rip the earth in two. He wanted to forget.

What better place than at Lissa's party?

He was in a haze, mind numbing with an icy chill, curling across the corners of his brain in a dull web. Blurs moved back and forth, jets of color that Fang couldn't seem to track. He was dizzy. He was confused. He was reignited.

"What the hell did you do to him, Ratchet!" A high pitched feminine squeal sounded from his right. Or was it his left? In his blur of light and colors, he could make out red. The color red. Without warning, red knocked the cup out of his hand that he didn't know he had. There was a plop as she set the cup away from him. The cup was also red.

"Relax, Lissa. Holden saw that our little buddy over here looked grumpy. We just decided to give him some long overdue payback and cheer him up a little." Cheering followed the gruff male's voice from a select crowd. The action seemed like the burst of individual fireworks going off one by one in his ears.

Clap, Boom, Bang!

Rattatat, Bam!

"It's what Ari would have wanted. Among other things." The male crooned. Feeling a spark of energy, the haze began to lift just enough that Fang could make out a semifamiliar buzz cut covered by large, expensive looking headphones belonging to a figure wearing shades too dark to see his eyes, a wide jawline, and baggy jeans that sagged too low for comfort.

"Ari? You mean that nut job who got sent to the psych ward after he attacked one of my friends? You can't honestly be friends with him, even with your poor taste." Red's face wrinkled in disgust, her soft nose creasing upwards.

"You know, sweetheart, that's tough talk about friends coming from you." The gruff male leaned in close to Red, leering at her discomfort, "From what I've heard, Maya abandoned you for our little buddy over her and her old friends. She chose them over you and Brigid ain't coming back. She's probably been gutted by now, her organs and intestines riiiiiiiiiiipped from her body, sliced clean—surgically—"

"Shut up you dipshit! If you think you can waltz right in here uninvited and talk about my friends like that without knowing anything then you are wrong and I will personally kick you and your band of druggies out and stab you with every stiletto I own if you even think of saying another word from your fat, slimy, mouth. Are we clear, asshat?!" Red threatened, her scathing tone colder than ice and stronger than steel.

There was a collective silence in the air. Not in the talking, or the music, or even in Fang's pulsing blood that seemed to be in synch with the music's beats. No, the silence was the animalistic male's dumbfounded loss for words to taunt Red. He was finished.

"Fine, gorgeous. We'll leave your lame party. But before we go," A wide predatory grin formed, taking on a resemblance to a rabid hyena.

His gaze locked on Fang. That much Fang could tell, even in his stupor, the man seemed to solidify. The only clear image Fang could make out was Ratchet.

"I want you to know that what I said would happen to Brigid…don't feel too safe. My friend Ari, they don't tell you this in school, but that's how they found him. Mauled. Slaughtered. Dead."

Ratchet whipped out his burly arms, now addressing the entire room, the entire party, the entire world.

"Listen up children!" He crooned, "The reckoning is upon us. We're all dead men walking! Let's see who's next!"

"How are you feeling?" Red—who Fang had discovered was Lissa—asked, handing him another cup of her secret detox concoction. Luckily, this drink wasn't spiked. Fang took it gratefully, still on a buzz from the alcohol in his system as he scanned the environment. Through much pushing, shoving, and grinding Lissa had lead Fang to her nearly empty backyard, sitting him down on a rickety plastic lawn chair while she had pulled out a few ingredients from a hidden cellar to whip up her potion. Fang was no longer in danger of passing out, but he was still not exactly in the right mind.

"Better. And Worse." Fang replied, earning a curious look from Lissa. It was obvious she expected him to elaborate up front, but Fang only looked past her at the expanse of large trees that almost created a barrier from the outside world, a barrier from the reality of truth. He wanted to return to his prison of ignorance. Much like her house, Lissa's back yard was big. Even though most of the space was filled by a swimming pool, there was still room for the patio they were sitting in, a shed as large as Lissa's living room, and an acre or two of freshly mowed grass to run around in. Like he used to run in when he was a kid with Nudge, Maya, and…Max. A million notes of pain sung out, blinding his senses with a stabbing reaction that couldn't be cured.

He wasn't distracted enough. He couldn't think about her; what she had done.

"Fang? Are you okay?" Lissa asked tentatively, warily raising her hand as if she were going to rest it on his shoulder, but too afraid to complete the action.

"I'm not about to drop dead if that's what you mean." He deadpanned. Looking at the dejected expression on the fragile girl's face, he decided to go further.

"That…um…whatever it was. You know what I mean, the drink that cancelled out the other drink. It was good, I guess. Not bad. I'm not as loopy." It was times like this that he realized just how awful he was at talking to people outside of the flock. He sucked at it.

To avoid thinking of his prior awkwardness, Fang busied himself by staring at the reflection of string lights reflecting across the calm surface of the pool's chlorinated waters, twinkling brightly. Little lights dancing across the bleak night air.

"That's good. I haven't had to make that in a while." She muttered, tucking a stray piece of her curly red mane behind her ear. Fang didn't want to pry, but he couldn't help himself.

"How did you learn to make that?" She bit her lip, looking away from him.

"I got used to fixing up little remedies for my dad. He would come home some nights barely able to recognize me, with the worst smell on his jacket. I don't think he meant for it to happen…getting a drinking problem. He's a good guy. He loves me and my mom, goes to church every Sunday, has a nice job, it just happened. I didn't like seeing him in pain so I merged a lot of things together to create a super remedy." She laughed awkwardly, her voice shaking from her inner demons clawing free and escaping into the night.

"It's a little too good." Fang didn't want to tell her he was sorry. He barely knew her. When he thought of her, his mind associated her with one of the girls who stole Maya's soul. He couldn't help himself, even if he was witnessing an entirely new layer of the cheerleader.

"How so?" She quirked her eyebrow, seeming relieved to have moved on from the subject of her father.

Fang leaned in closer to her where she was sitting across from him and whispered, "Because now I'm almost sober."

She scoffed, "Why would that be a bad thing? You didn't come here to get wasted, did you?"

"I came here for a distraction. One that I needed. Didn't care how I got it."

She pursed her lips, a sad, almost pitying look on her face as she studied him. She saw his messy hair, the bags under his eyes, the scuffs of dirt on his jeans and t-shirt. Most importantly, she saw the look in his eyes. His eyes weren't dead, not by any means of the word, but they held a pain within that knew no release, only more pain.

"How's Maya? Maybe she can help you with whatever—"

"That's not going to work. It'd do the opposite." Fang clenched his jaw, searching with his eyes for any nearby distraction. Almost to the point of desperation. Fang's eyes landed on the red cup he had managed to bring with him as Lissa had dragged him away from the party. It was about half empty, still laced with whatever Ratchet had spiked it with.

Hello, distraction.

"Fang, what happened? Let me help." Lissa pleaded, just as she saw him lean down to pick up the cup.

"Fang, c'mon. The last time you drank that stuff you were totally out of it. Who knows what Ratchet put in it!"

He looked at her, completely serious, "So split it with me. We both need to be distracted. Your best friends are gone. Don't you just want to let loose?" It was a low blow, but he couldn't live with the memories of the previous hours scalding his brain, constantly replaying over and over again. So much had been left unsaid, yet too much had been revealed.

"Give me the cup."

"I'm not joking! She really said that!" Lissa laughed, her hair had taken on a purple sheen in the dark. Even in his new state of drunkenness, he had noticed the way her hair bounced when she laughed. Not remembering what she had even been talking about, he laughed along with her. He laughed and drank until the moment her tight polka dot patterned dress seemed to particularly stand out to him and he was reminded of how much he liked redheads. Although he liked a certain blonde more.

Feeling the morose irritation of remembering wash over him, he knew he needed a larger distraction. Even in his drunken stupor, it wasn't long before both Fang and Lissa noticed how close to each other they had gotten. With only inches apart, they made no move of separating. Their eyes met in a battle of yes or no, right or wrong.

"Fang, I may be drunk, but—" She trailed off, only seeming to lean in closer.

"I know you're hurting. I am too. But—"

"You have no idea." He breathed, now even closer. The droning music from the party seemed another world away. Here they were, all alone. Two people in pain that were searching for a way out.

"I can't. Maya's my friend…" She seemed to only be arguing to herself. Her gaze never left his eyes, except for when they traveled to his lips.

"She's not our friend. She's just a liar."

The barrier broke in a chaotic mesh of the two, lunging towards one another as if they were the air they breathe.

Fang had gotten his distraction with a blood kiss founded on betrayal that equaled his own pain.

Aj: Okay, now before you yell at me, put your weapons down in an orderly fashion. Thank you. So it's almost Thanksgiving and there's a chance that if the next chapter comes out soon enough, Anika can help with it because she's coming out in a few days. The only way that's going to happen is with reviews, and lots of them. Feel free to include death threats.

See you guys soon!

-Aj.