A/N. I have 280 reviews! WHOOP WHOOP! Haha! I am so psyched right now! You guys are seriously awesmazing! I made that up since awesome and amazing is not good enough to describe you guys! As a reward, instead of posting this tomorrow I finished it sooner than I intended so I could upload it today! Let's see if I can 300 but the end of this thing!

Max's POV

I bit my lip as I paced back and forth in my room. I asked Fang to come over because I had to tell him something, something very important.

I sat down on my bed and buried my head in my hands. All I could think was that this sucks, big time. How could I tell him without breaking his heart? How could I tell him without breaking my heart?

I remember getting the call from Agent Whittaker yesterday. She told me the one thing that I forgot in all the commotion of the past year. She reminded me of the one thing I hoped would never come.

I had to go back home.

Now that Dylan was behind bars there was no reason for my safety to be threatened so the FBI didn't have to fund my protection anymore since I didn't need it. That meant only one thing; I had to go back to California. California! Did I mention it was in Sacramento, California and I was currently in Phoenix, Arizona? Not exactly near to each other.

Going back to Sacramento would be like going back to another life time. I didn't want to go back but what other choice did I have? It's not like I could ask my mom to buy a house here and move to a different state permanently! I mean, she had her whole life there as a vet and I'm sure Ella missed her friends. Sure she'd miss Iggy but I still think she misses Sacramento more. Who wouldn't? If you asked me to pick between California and Arizona a year ago, I'd answer California in a heartbeat. But a year has passed and if you asked me now…well I wouldn't trust myself to answer.

In California, I was a nobody. The badass loner, the kid who nobody really had a problem with but the kid nobody really wanted to get to know. It wasn't like that here. Here I have friends; here I even have a freaking boyfriend! And here…here I'm happy.

Home is where the heart is and my heart isn't in California; it's here. It will always be here. But I can't think of myself now, I have to think of my Mom and Ella. I had to do what was best for them. I remember when I just got here and I was thinking about how much I missed California and I managed to convince myself it wouldn't be so bad.

"Knock, knock," Fang said, appearing at my door frame.

"Oh hey, Fang," I said and gave him a weak smile.

"Is everything alright?" he asked me.

No, everything is not alright. "Yeah, everything's fine. I just need to tell you something,"

"Okay," Fang said and sat down next to me. "So what's up?"

Besides my life falling apart? "Well everything' been going great but—"

"But what?" he asked me. I saw the look in his eyes and I decided to change route. If I told him I had to leave, he might do something stupid like try and stop me, tell me why I shouldn't and then I'd say yes because I just wouldn't be able to say no but then I'd remember my family and then I'd leave anyway and I'd have to do this again. I didn't want to do this again.

I have to leave, I have to leave but I want to stay. "But I want to go back to California."

"What?" he asked. I tried hard to keep up the act; I was breaking both our hearts.

I love it here but I have to. "Well, now that the whole Dylan thing is over I think it's best my family and I got back to Sacramento."

"What about everything we've been through? You're just going to leave?" he asked me, astonished.

Everything's keeping me here. "There's nothing keeping me here. My family's lives are in Sacramento. I mean friends move all the time, it will be no different. There's nothing keeping me here."

"I'm keeping you here! What about me? What about us?" He stood up now and I stood too.

You are keeping me here, don't you see? You're the anchor and if I either of us are to move on, one of us has to let go. "I'm sorry, Fang! But as much as I like being with you I want to go back to Sacramento more," I said.

"You don't mean that, you're tricking me. You're doing it because you think you know what's best for me," he accused.

You can see right through me. You're absolutely right. "No, I'm not. I want to go back. You'll find someone else, I'll find someone else."

He looked stung and I hate that I'm the one who did it but he had to let me go. The long distance would never work. It would just be breaking our heart slowly.

"I won't. I love you, Max. I'll believe you if you can look me in the eye and tell me you don't love me. I know you can't because I know you love me," he challenged and gripped my shoulders.

I avoided his eyes at first but he put his hand under my chin and made me look at him. "Look me in the eye and tell me you don't love me," he whispered. His eyes were pleading for me not to do it, he wanted to prove I was lying but I was better at acting than that.

I looked him in the eye and swallowed. I love you, more than you know. "I'm sorry, Fang. I don't love you."

He blinked in shock then let go of me. He stumbled backwards and I could see the hurt and the pain written all over his face. I hate this. I hated life. I hated myself.

"Okay, then. Go back to Sacramento. You won't ever need to see me again," he said and walked out of my room. Out of my house. Out of my life.

I had to do it. I made the right choice. I couldn't have him coming after me. It was for the best, right? Right. It was the best thing I could do…but then why do I feel so crappy? Wait no, I wish I could feel crappy because at least I would feel something but all I felt was this emptiness and numbness that cuts me to the core so I did the only natural thing: I collapsed in my bed, drew my knees to my chest and cried.

A/N. Aw, this was a pretty sad chapter but before you kill me I will tell you everything will work itself out. Thanks again for all the reviews! Let's hope for 300 by the time this story is over. Speaking of which, I think this only has 2or 3 chapters to go, maybe 4 but I already have a NEW story all planned out. If you want, I can post the summary on the next chapter. It's basically based on my life I guess and what I went through with Mr. Unnamed. Yeah, it was even sort of cliché-ish you could say but I like to look back on it, the memories always make me smile. Enough about me though,

Question of the day: What's the sweetest/most cliché/romantic thing that ever happened to you?

-Indy