New

"Hi," a girl suddenly stepped into the room. She had a wide grin, bright brown eyes, and golden blonde hair. She seemed a little too happy for my liking. I smiled though to be polite.

"You must be my roommate," I told her. She shrugged.

"Nah, I'm just doing a survey. Would you rather die by rattlesnake venom or gun shot?" She smirked and suddenly, I realized I might just get along with this girl. I sat up from my bed and she shook her head, "Sorry, sarcasm is my main function. My name is Abigail, but don't call me that because it makes me sound like a sixty year old woman."

"So, what do I call you? George?" I asked. She laughed.

"Nah, Abbie is perfectly fine. So, where you from?" I nodded my head to my right. "Next door?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Looking closely, Abbie was wearing a blue, short sleeved shirt and jean shorts.

"No, east is what I meant to say. Sorry, I'm a bit discombobulated. The whole college thing is really getting to me." She nodded her head to show she understood.

"So, want to see what this place has for food? Maybe meet some other people and make them feel slightly uncomfortable." Now I knew, I was going to be good friends with this girl. I stood up and stretched my arms over my head.

"Yes," I replied, "It's the best idea of something to do that I've heard all day."

"Really exciting day you've been having then," Abbie replied with a laugh. I smirked and we headed out the door.

Fang's POV

Ring….ring…ring…pause… "Hey this is Max, please leave a short message (ah-hem…Nudge) and I might call you back. I honestly hate phones so I might not.' BEEP!

"Hey Max, just checking in, but if you aren't answering, it means you've settled in well. Talk later, bye." I shut my phone and sighed. Then, closing my eyes, I thought about her. It was kind of sad, the way she was always on my mind. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Standing up, I was preparing to head to my first class. Everything was too complicated for me already. The roommate, the coordinating of the schedule for social and academic time, and being away from Max—it was all too much. I shook his head, he had to do this. I could fight through this.

Out in the hallway, students were walking around, the day before they were all settling in and getting unpacked. I had managed to make only one friend and it was completely accidental.

"You guys are jerks!" A small, scrawny kid, who looked like maybe he was fifteen, stood against a wall. Maybe it was too cliché, but I knew it wasn't good to see the three larger guys.

"Just be quite pipsqueak and we won't hit you too hard," the tallest of the three said. He stood out in front and was clearly the leader. Now I knew I had to do something.

Honestly, it's Max's fault…she was always about helping the underdog, and her heroics sort of rubbed off on me.

"Hey," I stepped in casually between the boy and the guys, "What's going on?" The three large guys weren't fazed by my presence. In fact, I was pretty sure they were thinking I looked like a good second punching bag.

"Um," the kid nervously said behind me, "Well, I think they're trying to beat my ass into a pulp." I peered over my shoulder and shot him a look, which was read as 'Shut up, you idiot.'

"Listen guys, this is my friend's little brother and I need to get him home, like now, before his mom calls the cops. You don't want cops out looking for him and find you beating the crap out of him do ya?" The guys exchanged a look on whether or not they should believe me.

"Damn it, I forgot I was supposed to be home an hour ago. We've got to go, she's probably already dialing the number." I was thankful the kid was playing along.

"Fine," the leader grunted, "We'll get you later Stark, you've got to pay." With that, the guys walked off in the direction I had seen them come from. I heard the boy let out a sigh and I turned to face him.

"Thanks, I appreciate that." The boy replied. I swear, I think he pissed his pants, but I was going to be nice and not comment about it.

"What'd you do?" I asked him. We started walking, as to where I wasn't quite sure.

"Well, you see, I'm only fifteen but I graduated from high school last year and got accepted here, cause I'm a prodigy or what not," I raised an eyebrow. "Anyways," he let out a deep breath, "Those guys found out I was really smart and asked me for the answers to a test…so, I gave them the wrong answers and they all failed." I smirked. That's pretty cool. "So what's your name, anyway?"

"Fang," I replied.

"Cool, my name's Danny…Danny Stark. Where you going? Want to get some pizza? I know a place that has a mean slice of pie." I looked at him and he stood there. He was tall for fifteen with short black and large brown eyes with a rich dark skin tone. He gave me a grin. "Come on, it'll be cool and you look like you need a guide around this place."

"Yeah," I replied, "All right."

"Fang!" Danny waved his arms in the air and I walked over to him. "I'm heading to Computer Engineering 101 blah, blah and blah. What is it that you're up to?" He asked walking beside me. He adjusted the large backpack on his shoulder. Danny loved talking, he was the male version of Nudge pretty much.

"Um, class." I replied.

"Do you just not talk?" He asked.

"Yep, pretty much." Only when I need to.

"All right then," he continued. We were walking through two of the buildings which was decorated in thousands of plants and statues. "So, anything after that because we could always get some lunch. Hey, did you hear there's a concert going on tomorrow, open to everyone on campus?" No, I hadn't heard. "All right, well, I think we should check it out." I arrived at my building and I was heading in. Danny stood there, tall and skinny and all angles, pretty much still a kid. "Hey Fang!" He called out. "We're cool right? Like…friends?"

"Yeah," I gave him a smile, "Friends."

So went my first real day of college.

Max's POV

"All right, if you had to be a superhero, which one would you be?" Abbie asked. I had learned fast that she was on the nerdy, good side, which was great. At first look, she was a simple, blonde with a good sense of fashion, but in reality, she was cooler than I expected.

I was unpacking my things and came across Fang's CD, I hadn't the chance to look at it like I wanted to. I was thinking about Abbie's question. "I don't know, all of them seem to wear slutty clothes…well, at least the girl ones do."

"Well, then, if you had to be a superhero, and pick a different style of clothing to your fitting who would you be?" Abbie re-asked. I noticed now that Abbie had a shoulder bag and covered in it was a couple dozen buttons. One of which read, Well behaved Women Rarely Make History, which I had to admit, I appreciated.

"Supergirl," I answer, "But just for the flying." Abbie nodded her head with agreement. I opened Fang's CD and looked at the songs he had put on there. The soundtrack list was blank, which means I'd have to listen to it.

"Hey, I think you have a message." Abbie pointed to my phone on my desk. It's bright red light was flashing, meaning that I did. I went to reach over when there was a knock on the door.

Abbie opened it and standing there was a tall guy, maybe taller than Fang, with blonde slicked back hair and joking blue eyes. "Hey," he said, exchanging a look between Abbie and I, "I'm the dorm advisor. If any of you need help, I'm in that room right down there." He flashed a really wide, bright smile while pointing down the hall.

"Hi, my name's Abbie," Abbie reached out her hand. "That's Max. We're both fine right now so, no worries." She gave a smile in response. I went over to my lap top, ignoring the two, and put Fang's CD in so I could download it onto my iTunes.

"Hey, it's nice to meet you, my name's Dylan." I waved a hand in acknowledgment. "If you guys want to grab something to eat later tonight, a few of my friends and I would love to show you around."

"Sure," Abbie agreed, "That'd be great. See you later." She shut the door. "He was pretty hot." She noted.

"Really?" I asked, looking over my shoulder, "I honestly hadn't noticed."

"So, you got a boyfriend then, don't you." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. I nodded my head. "Is that him?" Abbie pointed to the picture. I set up a few on my end table near my bed. Out in front was the one Fang had given to me two Christmases ago. "He's cute too," she commented.

"Yeah, my little sister took the picture, when my brother and her snuck up on us. That was…my sophomore year. He gave me the picture as a present for Christmas our junior year. His name is Fang." Abbie raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. She knew when to ask questions and when not.

"I hope you don't mind me agreeing to hanging out with Dylan and his friends then." I shook my head. It wasn't a date and I didn't have any sort of feelings towards Dylan. This was just hanging out with people.

"No," I gave her a smile. I went to my phone to check the message just as Abbie's started ringing.

"My brother," Abbie announced and with that, she flipped over the phone and went, "Heeey brother." I went to my own message and listened in on Fang's voice. I smiled and decided to call him.

Ring…Ring…Ring… 'Fang. Leave message.'…Beep!

"Hey, you need to fix that message, sort of cavemanish. Well, anyway, things are great, I'm sorry I missed you, I guess you're in class. Tell me about it and I'll talk to you later. Bye." I hung up and smiled. I hated that all I did was think about Fang, yet I wouldn't have it any other way.

Two hours later…

"The campus around here is beautiful, I really love it," Abbie stated. She was talking to me as we followed Dylan and three of his close friends to the local pizza place. The four of them were all tall and extremely good-looking, even Hannah, the only other girl besides Abbie and I.

"Yeah," I whispered, "Me too." Just then, Dylan looked at me again for the fifth time, which was really annoying me. "So Abbie, I never asked what your major was?"

"Accounting," I made a face and she laughed. "I know super exciting, but it's what my mom does and it's a decent job." I nodded my head and agreed. Again, Dylan looked over me while we were talking. I was ready to punch the kid. "You know, I just thought of my superhero…I'd totally be Poison Ivy."

"She's not a superhero." I pointed.

Abbie's face dropped as she thought about it, "Oh…right. Then I'm still undecided." Dylan's eyes drifted over to me again and caught my eyes. He smiled.

"Why do you keep staring at me? It's extremely creepy." Abbie stifled a laugh next to me as we all stopped walking.

Dylan was clearly staring at me and he smiled even wider. "Well, I like what I see…I guess." He shrugged.

"Well then…" I paused for a moment before saying, "At least you like what you're looking at." Abbie burst out into laughter. I swear, if we weren't in the middle of a sidewalk, she would've fallen on the ground and started rolling with fits of laughter.

"That…was…the…most…epic…burn!" Abbie wiped away invisible tears as Dylan's mouth hung open. She was chocking now, "EVER!" I started laughing and shook my head. Even Dylan smiled, which was pretty high of him seeing as how I just seriously dissed him in front of his friends. Abbie finally calmed down and stood up straight, "All right, let's get moving. I'm hungrier than a supermodel on an all-cracker diet." I smiled as Abbie walked on. Dylan's friends started with him, leaving Dylan and I following up the rear.

"Did I offend you before?" He asked.

I shook my head.

"What I do then?" He probed.

I shrugged, "I'm just not interested."

Dylan's stare was suddenly very intense, making me shiver, "And why is that?"

"Well…it's like baseball."

"Baseball," he said slowly.

"Yeah," I replied with a nod of my head.

"How is it?" he asked again, not getting it.

"Well, if you've got the best outfielder in the league than you're not going out and looking to replace him." Dylan was still confused. "I already got the best outfielder in the league." Again, not getting it. I thought sport analogies were supposed to be easy for guys to understand. I sighed, "I've got a boyfriend."

"Just a boyfriend," Dylan replied, "That's all."

"More like that's everything. I'm not interested in replacing him." I snapped back, getting a bit frustrated.

"You'll see, eventually." I stopped. We were standing outside the restaurant now. Everyone else was inside. Dylan gave me this cocky, arrogant grin. "You spend a long enough time away from him and you'll start to feel lonely. Eventually, you'll start looking to find someone else and…I'll be waiting." I would've hit him if there wasn't a large, glass door right next to me where everyone could see me slap him.

I rolled my eyes, "You'll see."

"See what?" He asked.

"That you're wrong."

"I doubt it," he replied, entering the restaurant and ending the conversation. He was so convinced that he would get me, just like that.

But the thing is…

Fang already had me.


Hey, sorry for the long update. I can explain. First, last weekend, I went up to Syracuse because my brother and his wife had a baby. Then, between Tuesday and Thursday, I had midterms. Then, yesterday, SATS...blah. So, anyways, guess what. My library got an advanced copy of Fang and I read it just this past Thursday. I have to tell you, Patterson is stepping up because I felt 1-3 were great, 4 could just be cut out, and 5 was great too. 6, well, he's definetly making a statement. The book comes out in March and I'm already writing my follow up to it so a few weeks after Fang comes up I'll post it.

So, I'll update again when I can,

flyerac1029