Okay here's the junior year and I have a new character introduced at the end of this chapter and before you all get worried and concerned, she will not feel ANY romantic feelings towards Fang and vice-versa just because as soon as you meet her you'll all be worried. I like this character very much because she's... eccentric, like me. I don't know if you guys will like her but I hope you will. ^.^

Enjoy chapter two for today ^.^


A bright blue sky stretched overhead as I walked through the gates of my old, now new, highschool. The only thing I hated about this place was the uniforms. When Jeb was paying for school, I had private education instead of public. I stared up at the sky.

The rest of my summer holidays had been hard but it had gotten easier. The day after I'd gotten to Jeb's huge house the others had come to greet me. They were concerned that I was upset about leaving the others but still ecstatic to have me back. I didn't blame them, I was so happy to be with them again and that made me feel guilty. Sam was pleased to have me back and I tried not to be annoyed at his smug look.

Slowly I'd fallen back into my old routine with the others. I often caught Anna and Jessica watching me with worried expressions. I assured them that I was alright.

I'd sent Fang a birthday present and card. I didn't get a reply and Iggy told me that Fang hadn't even opened it but at least he hadn't thrown it away. His feelings for me went far enough that he wouldn't be a complete jerk.

Jeb was pleased that I settled into life with him easily and he enrolled me at my old highschool and they welcomed me back with open arms. On the eve of going back to school I sent Ella and Nudge emails wishing them luck for their first day at highschool. They replied back and we started a three-way IM chat and I answered all their fears and soothed them until they both went offline.

I noticed Fang was online and I spent a good half hour staring at his screen name and wondering if I should talk to him. I wondered if he was doing the same thing. And then I decided that he wouldn't reply and I should really go to sleep.

Now I was standing in the quad of my school looking around at all the people I remembered and the ones I didn't know. I spotted a few people that I'd been friends with and they looked at me in surprise so I just waved to them. I was feeling nostalgic, remembering my first day at Avondale Highschool. Fang ran into me almost straight away- he literally ran into me, remember?

I laughed.

"Something funny?"

I looked around at Sam and smiled.

"Yeah," I replied. "Inside joke."

Sam frowned but didn't press it. We walked over to the benches where the others were waiting and I dropped down next to JJ and smiled at her. She was holding hands with James and he grinned lazily at me.

"Good morning," Anna said brightly, her eyes warm.

"Morning," Sam replied.

"Did you see that new chick? Boy was she pretty," Chris informed Sam and Anna swatted his arm. He turned and kissed her cheek, making her blush. "But she's has nothing on you, sweetie."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Anna sighed and rolled her eyes. She smiled at me. "I got a message from Fang last night."

Sam scowled and looked over towards the gardens while I perked up but I wasn't hoping for anything. Fang still spoke to Anna, Chris, James and Jessica. Sometimes he spoke to JJ but not as often.

"What did he say?" I asked.

"Have a good first day," Anna shrugged. "He sent me some more J-Pop. That boy must have connections in the music world."

"He works at a music store," I said. "Did… did he ask about me?"

"Um…" Anna shifted. "He didn't ask me anything." I didn't miss the emphasis.

"Chris?" I questioned. Chris shrugged. Stupid males, not wanting to betray each other. "I swear if you're withholding information that I am dying for I will kick your arse and not think twice about it. Not even Anna will be able to stop me."

Chris rolled his eyes.

"He asked me if you were doing alright. He wanted to know if you were settling in and…" Chris trailed off and looked at me worriedly.

"And what?" I demanded. "So help me Chris-"

"For god's sake just tell her!" JJ sighed. "She's been dying all summer because she thinks he hates her."

"Yes, just tell her, we won't rat you out," Jessie scolded and James nodded in agreement.

"Alright he wanted to know if you were happy," Chris said.

If that question came from anyone else it would be a true concern for my wellbeing but coming from Fang it was two things. It was a concern to make sure that I was okay but it was also a timid question wondering if I was feeling better away from him. Fang was worried that I was happier without him.

I took a deep breath. Anna and Jessie would have known the double question. I'm pretty sure Anna would have told Chris if he didn't know. I hoped he'd said the right thing. Time to check.

"And… what did you say?" I asked. Everyone was silent, waiting for the answer. Sam was waiting hopefully, I knew he wanted Chris to have said the words that would have made Fang's heart break and hate me even more than he already did.

"I told him you were holding up okay, that the city wasn't too scary for you," Chris teased. I was glad he was building up to the happy thing. "I told him you'd settled back into our life okay. And I told him that you were happy in the sense that you smiled and you weren't contemplating suicide."

"Anything else?" I asked. I knew that that answer was half the right one but there was more. I could see it in Chris's eyes.

"I'm not sure you'll be happy with me," Chris mumbled.

"James, will you tell me?" I asked. James eyed Chris who sighed.

"I told him that I didn't know much else, you were closed off about your feelings," Chris mumbled and I sighed. That wouldn't have been what Fang would have wanted to hear but it would let him know that I hadn't skipped off into the sunset and forgotten him. He would have thought that. But I looked at photos of all of them all of the time and I had a framed photo of me and him right at the front of the group of them on my bedside table. I had his framed drawing up on my wall where I could see it when I woke up. I could never forget any of them. They'd changed my life.

"It won't change anything," I sighed. "He still won't talk to me."

"Don't give up hope," James urged. "He can't ignore you forever."

"I hope," I sighed.

Then the bell sounded and we had to head off to class. I would probably get in trouble in class on my first day because I couldn't stop thinking about Fang. He would be on my mind all day now and tonight I would once again, without any reply once again, email Fang and beg him to stop ignoring my existence. He would just delete it without reading it. I could tell.

--

Fang drifted through the first day without a single word to anyone. He'd been like that a lot lately, never talking, always silent. He knew he was a sad person to be around and he knew that he often spoiled the Flock's fun and he felt bad for that but he couldn't help his mood. When he tried to fake happiness, it worried the others more than everything else that he did.

"Yo, Fang! Move it!" a voice said and he looked behind him at Justin. He was standing still in the cafeteria line, staring at the salads.

"Sorry," Fang muttered and just grabbed the first thing his hand touched. He went to the table and sat down with Iggy, Steve, Damen, Nudge and Ella. Nobody took the seat to Fang's left where Max used to sit. It was sort of an unspoken consent that that seat would stay empty. Fang didn't care. He barely noticed anything.

"Mm, tuna and tacos, nice mix," Ella said and Fang looked down at his tray and scowled.

"I'm not hungry anyway," he muttered and pushed the food away. He didn't care that he'd paid for it, he didn't want anything to eat but he grabbed the apple off the tray anyway, afraid of the others staring at him worriedly.

"So… Miss Alike thinks that we should do Wicked for the school production this year," Iggy said.

"I told you, I'm not doing to production this year," Fang muttered.

"You promised you'd be in it, last year," Damen reminded him. Fang hated this. He didn't want to talk to any of them but they were forcing conversation out of him.

"Fine but I'm not being the lead, they can find somebody else," Fang muttered and bit into his apple.

"Whatever," Iggy muttered. Fang scowled at him and looked away. His eyes landed on Justin who was sitting with his best friend Claire. They were laughing together. They were sophomores and had been in Les Mis the previous year. Fang and Max had gotten along with them because they were another pair of best friends but the difference was that they had been next door neighbours their whole lives and had grown up together.

Fang ignored the ache of loneliness in his chest that came from the empty spot in his life that Max had filled and instead watch the way that Justin looked at Claire. Another classic tale of the girl or boy next-door for those two. Fang knew that they would be perfect for each other and one day they would finally be together. He hoped it would work out because he knew that his own best-friend-love-story would never work out but he would never wish that on anyone else.

"Fang? Fang!" Nudge was calling his name and Fang glanced over and realised that he'd been playing with the ring that he'd put on the chain with his dog tags. It was the ring Max had given him and he wore it with her dog tags every day. People questioned it because he was so angry but no matter how upset he was with her she was still the best friend he'd ever had and he was still deeply in love with her. And he missed her and her gifts made him feel close to her.

He wondered if she missed him too. Chris had said so but he didn't know if he believed it.

"Yeah?" Fang asked.

"Have you gotten a reply yet?" Damen asked. "About the competition?"

"Oh yeah, the first round is in two weeks," Fang replied, remembering the email from last night. "Then we have round two in the next fortnight. Then the judges decide who the five finalists are and we get to play on MTV a month after the finalists are announced."

"Awesome," Steve grinned. "We're going to own."

"Sure we are," Damen agreed but something in his tone made Fang looked at him in confusion. Damen looked worried and Fang knew he was thinking about how much better the band had been when Max had been a part of it.

Fang had quit playing guitar for a lot of the songs because playing the guitar Max had gotten him made him sad but he still sang. Fang was good at acting so his stage persona never slipped but Damen missed having a female singer and they all wished Fang would still play guitar for them.

Fang felt bad for letting them down that way but they never said anything which made him feel worse. He tried to ignore that feeling.

Fang glanced back at Claire and Justin and then looked away because it hurt too much. He looked at Nudge and Ella.

"How's your first day going?" he asked and everyone blinked, shocked. Fang never started a conversation but they took it in their stride and relaxed, trying not to scare off the hope that he might be coming out of his shell. Fang didn't want to disappoint them but he knew it wasn't going to happen. He just wanted to distract himself.

"It's great," Ella replied.

"It's more fun than you guys ever made it sound," Nudge agreed.

"That's good," Fang said.

"I only wish…" Ella sighed but then she froze and stared at Fang, afraid that her slip up would anger him. Fang had gone rigid and his eyes turned hard and his face cleared of all emotion.

"Wish what?" he asked through his teeth.

Iggy glared at Fang.

"This is ridiculous!" he almost shouted and Fang turned his eyes to Iggy, a dark expression on his face.

"Yes, Ig?" he asked.

"Stop taking it out on all of us that you miss Max," Iggy snapped. "Just because you refuse to mention her and act like she never existed doesn't mean that we have to! We miss her too Fang but none of us have become arseholes over it!"

"Yeah? Well she was the one who decided to leave!" Fang snarled and stood up. "I think I'm allowed to be angry!"

"Yes but not for this long!" Iggy replied and Fang turned on his heel, grabbed his bag and left the cafeteria, a few people staring after him. In reality the confrontation hadn't been that big or loud but to Fang it was like a slap in the face, like a tonne of people were shouting at him. He knew that they all thought that about him but they'd never said it and now it really hurt that Iggy had said it to him.

"Idiot," Fang hissed under his breath. He went to stand outside the science labs. He'd had this class with Max last year, he wondered if he would have had it with her this year too. Fang folded his arms. There was still ten minutes until class began but he was furious and wanted to be alone.

He heard footsteps and looked up, hoping it was Iggy and they could have an all out where nobody could stop them but his eagerness was diminished when he saw that it was just a girl. A girl that he didn't recognise.

She had light brown hair pulled up in a pony tail and her dark brown eyes were focused on the timetable and map that she held in her hands. Her skin was pale and she had a light scattering of freckles across her nose. She was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. She also had glasses but they didn't look dorky, they were the right shape for her face so they made her look kind of pretty.

She stopped and frowned when she saw Fang.

"Hi," she said.

"Yo," Fang replied. "Are you lost? Class doesn't start for a while."

"Ah that's why I'm up here," she explained. "So that I can get lost before class starts." She looked up and smiled. "And it looks like I didn't have to worry, I'm in the right place." She folded both pieces of paper up and slipped them into her bag and smiled at Fang.

"Hi again, I'm Ellie," she explained, holding out her hand. Fang left his arms folded and nodded.

"I'm Nick, call me Fang though," he replied.

"Fang? That's weird. I think I'll just call you Nick, if you don't mind." Ellie withdrew her hand, not offended at all by his lack of etiquette. Fang was usually very courteous to girls but he couldn't be bothered lately, it took too much effort, too much acting.

Fang was taken back by her abruptness with his name. He was so surprise that he just nodded his head and frowned. "Sure, I guess you can if you want." He'd never met anyone who didn't want to call him by his nickname because it was weird.

"Good," Ellie replied. "So, I guess we're in the same science class."

"I guess we are," Fang replied, still too shocked to keep up his bored monotone.

"Are you alright? You seemed devoid of emotion before and now you look like you're having trouble remembering how to use your voice." Ellie was eyeing Fang as though he was insane or mentally handicapped.

Fang was shocked again. How did she know all that just from looking at him?

"I am having trouble, I haven't used expression in my voice for a while," Fang admitted and then glared. Not at Ellie but because he was annoyed for just blurting that out. Ellie giggled and he looked at her, surprised.

"Don't worry, I have that effect on people," she assured him and Fang raised one eyebrow, another gesture that he hadn't used since before Max had left. Ellie rolled her eyes. "I mean people just tell me things. It's like they can't help themselves. Even people who hate me just blurt out their life story to me. Their every problem and concern is mine too."

"Wow." Fang whistled and the sound was off so Ellie burst out laughing and Fang felt his face muscles twitch as though he wanted to smile. How long had it been since he had really smiled? His birthday. He'd smiled then because Peter had bought him a sleek black motorcycle.

"Go on, you'll feel good," Ellie said, as though knowing his thoughts.

"I can't," Fang replied. "I don't like smiling."

"Right…" Ellie frowned at him and then the bell sounded and Fang opened the door to the lab and walked in. Ellie followed him and stopped by his desk. "Can I sit with you?"

Fang turned and stared at her. Who was this girl? Her mannerisms were so strange. She was so abrupt, straightforward and to the point. It reminded Fang of those people who described themselves as 'what you see if what you get'. Fang was suddenly intrigued. Why would this girl, who seemed so nice want to sit with him, the jack arse of the year?

"Sure," Fang replied. "But why? Surely you must have people to sit with."

"Ah, people find me hard to get along with," Ellie replied, pulling up a stool and sitting on it. "Dad says it's because I had a strong personality and people find it intimidating or something like that."

"Oh, okay," Fang replied. Like Max, except she made it hard for people to get along with her, it seemed to be a natural thing for Ellie. The way she spoke the truth, so matter-of-factly, made Fang interested in talking to her. Something that he'd been lacking lately.

"So, can I ask why you don't like to smile?" Ellie asked him suddenly as more people trickled into the lab. The shock on some faces was evident. Fang barely spoke to his own friends and now he was talking to the new girl? Yeah, they found it weird.

"Um…" Fang frowned. He didn't want to talk.

"Okay," Ellie said, smiling good naturedly. "You'll tell me eventually."

"We'll see." Fang turned his attention away from Ellie and focused on the front of the room. The teacher was beginning their class and outlining the topics for the year. Fang tried to ignore the growing intrigue that Ellie was creating in him. The last thing he wanted was to talk to someone and the last thing he needed was another friend giving him anxious looks all of the time.

It would be better if he stayed away from Ellie.