Disclaimer: James Patterson owns Maximum Ride. I own this plot.
Chapter 28
Date: Friday March 22nd
Location: Navajo High School
Its difficult to try and forget something when its constantly being brought into the spotlight by others. For instance, I wanted nothing more than to pretend the tension between me and Fang didn't exist but Ella had other ideas.
"Hey Max, what happened between you and Fang?" she asked me during Spanish class a week after Fang and my fight.
"What do you mean?" I asked weakly, continuing to stare at our current assignment in hopes of deterring this line of questioning. I'd been in a rut all week and knew it had not gone without notice within the Flock though I'd told nobody but Nudge. I did not want to start talking about it now.
"I mean the two of you have been acting so weird lately. All he told us is that you couldn't come to the finals. He didn't explain anything but I got the feeling that something bad happened."
"I…I was a lousy girlfriend," I admitted, giving up on the assignment to meet her questioning gaze. "I wouldn't tell him why I couldn't go."
"Oh…" she trailed off. "Why didn't you tell him?"
"It's complicated."
"You say that a lot."
"And that's why we got into a fight," I groaned. "I want to tell him, I honestly do I just…can't. Not yet, but I will soon enough. Once I get everything straightened out."
"Did you tell him that?" she asked me.
"I didn't get the chance," I admitted. Nor had I thought it would help the situation.
"Well you should….and you should tell him that you love him."
"What?" I spoke too loudly. Our conversation thus far had been conducted in near silent whispers to avoid unwanted attention, but at my outburst Senora Gillespie glared at us from her desk and motioned for us to get back to our work.
"Why would you say that?" I demanded, fighting to keep a straight face as I lowered my voice once again.
"Because you two obviously love each other but neither of you have said it yet." Ella's tone expressed her displeasure at the fact as well as her contempt for my insinuating her obliviousness.
"He's mad at me," I pointed out. "Plus, how would you know how he feels?"
She sighed in exasperation. "My brother may hide his emotions but I've lived with him long enough to know how he feels about people. Besides, he isn't mad at you, he's just hurt. If you explained things I think it would be fine."
"Shouldn't the guy say it first?" I asked meekly, I wasn't very good with relationship rules. I'd never learned them, never cared to.
"Max," she sighed. "In a perfect world, yes," she admitted. "But you and Fang are so different from everyone else and besides he's already told you he loved you by his actions! Do you think he'd take just any girl on a date to the lake? That spot is someplace only our family knows about. He shared it with you, that means something. He also let you come to one of his matches. And if what Nudge and I walked in on the other day means anything, then yes he has certainly told you he loves you."
"I didn't realize..." I trailed off, unable too even feel embarrassment at her reminder of the couch incident. She was right, Fang hand as good as told me that he loved me all along and I'd been too blind to see it.
"You may be good at getting Fang to express emotions Max, but you still haven't learned to read them completely. He sure as hell has been hoping you'd realize."
"How do I fix this?" I asked her.
"My suggestion?" she asked. I nodded. "Tell him the truth for once."
…..
Location: Max's apartment
"So you're really going to do it?" Nudge asked eagerly as we trounced up the stairs to our apartment. It was dark save for the occasional beam of moonlight making its way between the steps above us. All of the lights in the hallway seemed to have blown out. It was about time, too; they were always flickering and giving crap lighting anyway. Still, I felt uneasy in the almost complete darkness.
Our shift had run late tonight; it was the Friday before spring break and everyone had gone out to celebrate. Dan had kept us until eleven to compensate for being short staffed. "You're going to tell Fang you love him?"
"Yeah, I am," I admitted, butterflies stirring in my stomach as I said it. "I just need to figure out the rest of it. He wants the truth but that's dangerous too, not just to me but to everyone. Anyone who knows the truth is dangerous—and therefore in danger— to Garret. Not to mention he'd do anything and use anyone to get to me."
"Oh so you protect the boyfriend but throw me under the bus," she said sarcastically as we reached our level at last. Even one flight of stairs had been torture to our tired bodies.
"You're different," I said, shoving her playfully as we headed down the hallway. "There was already a connection between us before this happened. If Garret was going to find you he would have no matter where you were and what you knew. I'd much rather be here to protect you in that case." My playful attitude dried up and my tone of voice made my protectiveness evident.
"But the trial is almost here," she pointed out. "You've survived this long. What could happen between now and then? Its less than a month away."
"A lot can happen in a month," I said darkly. "Look what happened to me in one night."
"Point taken," she said, her mood dulling at the reminder.
I went back to my current task, fumbling to pull the keys out of my pocket. But as I finally succeeded and went to unlock the door I realized something that the dim lighting had made me overlook.
The door was ajar.
"Nudge," I said quietly, my heart pounding furiously in my chest as numerous implications ran through my head, "stay here."
"What? Why?"
"Just do it," I said as I carefully pushed the door open further, just enough for me to fit through.
Angry neighbor, drunk kids, burglars, vandals, rapists. The possibilities were running through my head in a never ending chain. A break in was nothing new to me; in New York a break in happened every five minutes. But this was Navajo where car accidents were a rarity. A break in? Practically unheard of. Which meant that this most likely wasn't something that originated in a Navajo native, but from someone I had brought to Navajo. And that someone might still be in my apartment.
I slipped inside.
The lights were off and the apartment pitch black. I shut the door and waited for a minute, ready for anyone to attack me. But nothing happened. I reached towards the wall and flipped the light on.
"Shit," I swore as I took in the devastation before me. The sofa cushions were strewn across the floor, the coffee table was flipped on its side and every paper, and every book in the apartment seemed to be littering the floor. In the kitchen all of the pots and pans had been dumped onto the floor, plates and cups smashed, and the water had been left running in the sink; overflowing and onto the floor. I turned off the water and picked up a frying pan. Gripping it tightly I proceeded to clear the rest of the apartment.
"What happened?" Nudge's voice rang from within the living room.
"I told you to wait outside," I called, not taking my eyes off of my surroundings. I headed further in, checking around every corner, behind every door, and any other good hiding spots for any unwanted guests.
Nothing.
"I did wait...for a few minutes. Then I came in. Who would do this?" she sounded appalled.
"The same people who've been watching me for the past few weeks," I said with certainty as I returned to the living room. Nudge stood among the piles of paper, looking lost and confused. I felt a twinge of guilt. I'd practically forced her to live with me and now I was putting her in danger.
I started to look for anything missing.
"Are you sure?" she continued on, unaware that my thoughts had taken a tangent. "I thought that was just your nerves, I didn't realize it was real."
"Sometimes we need to trust my instincts. I didn't tell you before but I thought someone was following me home from work the other night. I ended up calling a taxi. I'm sure that whoever was following me did this. I bet I could tell you who hired them, too."
"Garret," she breathed.
"The one and only," I said glumly. "I don't think anything's missing," I said after a few minutes. "Just torn apart. Maybe it's a warning about the trial…" I trailed off as my eyes raked over the kitchen and I realized something was indeed missing.
"My pictures," I gasped hurrying over to the counter and searching among the scattered papers for a sign of my treasured pictures. They weren't there, nor where they anywhere in the main rooms of the apartment.
"Why would they want pictures?" Nudge wondered aloud.
"I don't know but— shit!" I all but screamed. I made a bee line for my bedroom and crashed through the already ajar door. Like the rest of the house it was disheveled. I'd already checked under the bed and in the closet for anyone hiding and there had been nobody, but what I hadn't checked was to see if the one thing I valued above all else was still here.
In my haste to check I flipped the mattress off of the frame completely. It crashed to the floor with a resounding bang. My neighbors would probably make a noise complaint to the landlord in the morning. I could care less.
"No, no, no, no this can't be happening. Shit. Shit, shit, god damn fucking shit!"
"Max?" Nudge called from the doorway, watching me worriedly as I pulled apart the bedding in search of it. "What's missing?"
"My picture," I whispered. "Of us at Coney Island. It's gone! That's what they came for," I groaned, flopping down onto the mattress that was now on the floor beside my bed frame. "They came for proof. And they got it! A picture of Maximum Batchelder in the residence of Maximum Martinez. Its proof to show that they found me. And fuck!" I shot up, eyes wide as I started to put the rest of the pieces together. "They took the other pictures too! Of the Flock, of me and Fang! Maybe to show Garret what I look like now...but that wouldn't matter because he saw me back in November..." I mused to myself, trying to puzzle the last bit out. And then it hit me. "But he hasn't seen the Flock!"
I felt like pulling my hair out, like screaming until my throat bled, like punching someone until they stopped breathing.
"What does that mean?" Nudge asked, coming to sit next to me on the mattress.
"It means," I moaned, "that the Flock is in danger."
VERY IMPORTANT CHAPTER! Things are coming to a head! Oh god, what's Max going to do now that the Flock is at risk? I couldn't resist the quick update! Now you all are left in even more suspense!
Question: How many alternate POVs will you do? When will they come in? Answer: I'm not quite positive, probably just a few of them starting chapter 32.
Next chapter is 29! You know what that means...
Review and let me know your thoughts! We're at 523 reviews, think we can make it 555?
Peace!
