I waved to Ella as she walked off practically glowing. Nudge had invited her to the mall to go to shopping (yuck), and had promised to give her a tour of the quaint downtown. Like I said, they were already inseparable.

"Wait up," I heard a vaguely familiar voice call from behind me. I spun around as the footsteps grew louder. Fang had appeared as I made my way out. I turned to face him, and the confusion must have been clearly etched on my face. "I'm supposed to walk you home, remember?"

My mind was blank for a moment, but then I remembered I had told Lissa he was walking me home.

"I didn't realize you were going to cash in on that offer," I said with a smirk setting off down the sidewalk away from the schoolyard.

"You left me no choice. Well Lissa didn't anyway," he said darkly.

"Why don't you just tell her you're not interested?" He shrugged. "You shrug a lot. You know that don't you?" He shrugged again, this time with a smirk toying at the edges of his lips. "You're so annoying."

This time he laughed. I realized it was the first time he had laughed all day because it was such a pretty sound and contrasted sharply with his exterior. All black clothes, dark fringe that covered his even darker eyes. "You should laugh more," I told him and his eyes fixed on me curiously, and then he looked away again. "But, seriously. She clearly needs a more direct answer."

He groaned. "How much more direct can I get? I've made up excuses for the past year and a half."

"See, that's the problem. Just tell her you would rather light yourself on fire than spend any time with her."

Fang chuckled and gave me a lopsided grin. "I'm not a monster."

We kept walking, and Fang filled me in about more details about the town and his life growing up. He told me about his younger sister, Angel who was only seven, and his parents, Rick and Nancy. I explained about how we had lived in California for a few years while growing up, and had then moved to Arizona where I went to most of elementary school, middle school and freshman year. I decided to leave out the part about being expelled and triggering our need to move. I told him how my parents had gotten divorced when I was younger, and I had a half-brother named Ari living with my dad, Jeb, out east near Philadelphia.

By the time I had finished recounting the story of when I tried to sell Ella for candy because I didn't like not being the center of attention, I realized that we had approached my house. Unaware that it was my place, Fang had kept walking, but I turned down the stone path that led up to the front door.

I turned around, "Bye Fang! Thanks for showing me around today. I actually really appreciate it."

"See you, Max," he called giving me a half wave and then kept walking with his hands shoved deep into his pockets. I watched him for a moment, then turned to head inside.

"Hi Max," my mom called. It was nice now that she owned her own clinic because she had much more flexibility over her hours. She was able to go in early before we went to school, but she would be out by the time we were back from classes. "How was your first day?"

"Good," I called back. "Better than I thought, actually."

"Great. I'm really glad to hear that." She came into the kitchen where I was sitting with an open package of Chips Ahoy in front of me. "So," she paused to grin slyly at me. "Who was that boy you were walking with?"

"His name's Nick, but he goes by Fang," I smirked at my mom's raised eyebrows. "Supposedly he had a slight biting problem as a kid. But he seems cool. He and his friend showed me around a bit today. And, it turns out that he is really good friends with Nudge, the girl that Ella is already best friends with."

"He's cute," she said watching him turn the block and out of sight. I shrugged in response. I mean objectively, Fang was good looking with his tan skin, scruffy hair and especially his eyes. I had never seen eyes like his - so dark that they looked as though they would never end. "I'm sure you still miss Sam, though." I nodded, she could always tell what was going through my mind. She smiled at me sadly, "I do think you did the right thing. Who knows, you might even meet someone here."

I nodded again, dunking my cookie in a tall glass of milk. Nothing beat milk and cookies after a long day at school. She was right; I did miss Sam and his chestnut hair and piercing green eyes. He was the sweetest guy I knew, but our personalities had never clicked completely. I was always too stubborn, and he was always too nice letting people walk all over him. It really bugged me.

But, enough about boys. I leaned over and grabbed my backpack. Unfortunately, even though it was the first day of classes, I had work to, books to read and notes to take. I wasn't thrilled. I finished all my work right after dinner, so I decided to go run. I laced up my shoes, grabbed my headphones and headed out the door. One of my favorite parts of summer was that it stayed dark so long, and that meant that I could run later at night and earlier in the morning without being worried to be out alone. My mom refused to let me run once the sun began to set, something about "me being taken". It was total garbage if you asked me, I could take care of myself and I wasn't stupid.

I felt the familiar, reassuring pounding of my feet on pavement and my heart pounded with each footstep, hammering in my chest. I paused once I had reached the top of the hill; my hair had fallen out and running with loose hair was one of my biggest pet peeves. I quickly pulled it back into a long french braid and was about to take off again when I was interrupted.

"Hi," a boy who looked about my age said coming into my line of sight. He had sandy hair, bright blue eyes and the weathered look of someone who spent a lot of time outdoors. "You're Max, right?" I just stared at him, a little unnerved but also rattled by his striking good looks. I stuttered for a moment, but he cut me off. "I'm in your first period class. You didn't look familiar when you walked in, so I figured you must be new, and then Mr. Davis said you were. I'm Dylan," he held out his hand and I shook it briefly.

"Oh, hi," I said, still slightly out of breath. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," he said with a bright smile. "So, where did you move from?"

"Arizona," I said briefly and then gave him the brief version of my background. My mom, my sister blah, blah, blah. He nodded, seemingly hanging on my every word. I was torn. On one side, I was irritated that he had interrupted my run for this little meet and greet; there wasn't much sunlight left and I had wanted to get a hard run in tonight. But on the other hand, it was nice that he had gone out of his way to introduce himself. I generally wasn't the first to introduce myself, especially to cute boys. Oh my gosh. Forget I said that.

"Well," he said several minutes later after he had welcomed me again. "I'll let you get back to your run." I gave him a quick smile. "It was really nice to meet you, Max. I hope I see you around again. If you ever need anything or want a tour, give me a call."

"Thanks," I said with a what I hoped was a bright smile before turning and heading back out to my run. For some reason, I wished that I hadn't been wearing and old t-shirt and shorts with my beat up running shoes.

I headed back about an hour later, content with my eight-miler. After I had rinsed off and gotten everything ready for tomorrow, I hopped into bed and flipped open my laptop smiling at the background picture. It was a picture from over the summer when we had taken a day trip out to Sedona, and the beautiful rock walls were peeking through in the back of the photo. In the picture, Sam had his arm wrapped lazily around my shoulder, and my arms were wrapped around Sam and Ella. I had seen my old friends two weeks ago, but they seemed so distant despite their faces grinning back at me from the screen. I sighed before pulling up Netflix where I happily watched reruns of Friends laughing along with the taped over audience even though I had seen each episode about a half dozen times.

When I woke up, I was pleasantly surprised by the minimal dread that normally possessed me each morning. I threw on jeans, a white striped shirt and the Converse my mother loathed before heading downstairs. My mom had offered to drive us on her way to the office this morning, so I even had time for a quick bowl of cereal before ducking out the car door and waving to my mom before entering the school.

"See Max, this isn't so bad," Ella told me happily. She had thoroughly enjoyed her time yesterday with Nudge who had shown her the shopping mall, the best nail salon and her favorite brunch place.

I sighed. I hated admitting I was wrong. "As much as I hate to say it, you might be right."

"I am right," she responded heading down the hallway with her chin up and head tall. I rolled my eyes and then headed to my locker for the daily switch up of books I needed for the morning.

"Look who it is," called a dark-haired boy approaching my locker. "Surprised you made it all the way to your locker without getting lost this time."

"You're the worst," I said, shoving him into the oncoming stream of people hurrying to class. He jumped back, muttering apologies under his breath at all the people he bumped into.

His eyes narrowed, "You're the worst." I grinned cheekily at him and he shook his head as we walked to first period.

"Hi Max!" a bright and vaguely familiar voice said.

"Hi Dylan," I responded trying to sound as cheerful as he was. It clearly didn't work because I heard Fang choke back a laugh behind me.

"Do you want to sit my friends and me at lunch today?" Another smile. Geez, what was with this kid.

"Oh I um," I had no idea what to say. I felt Fang's eyes boring into the back of my neck, and could feel my face heating up. "I told Fang I would sit him today," I quickly lied on impulse. "Iggy said he had something important he wanted to talk about." Another lie. The smile fell from his face as quickly as it appeared there, "But, maybe another time." He nodded, flashed a quick smile but it was less vibrant that the previous two.

"What was that about?" Fang whispered staring at me as I slid into my seat.

"What?" I asked casually. "Dylan?" I asked again, lowering my voice. He nodded impatiently. I noticed his eyes narrow as he glared at Dylan while I grabbed my books out of my bag. "I ran into him last night. Literally, I was out jogging. He just introduced himself. It was nothing," I shrugged.

He turned to look back at me, but his expression was stony and his jaw was set. "What's the big deal?"

He just shook his head. "Nothing. He's just not my…" he paused, "favorite person here." He looked away. "You sure seem to run into people a lot," he said, his lopsided smirk returning to his face and his eyes looked less angry.

"Hey!" I countered, but I was glad for the change of subject. I surely didn't want to get mixed up in anything between Fang and Dylan. "You ran into me!"

"Did not," he whispered back.

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did-"

"Mr. Ride, Ms. Martinez. Would you care to join us?" We both stopped arguing and returned our attention to the front. "If you two are unable to focus, I may need to separate you. I have a lovely open seat right up here," Mr. Davis gestured at a vacant chair in the front row. No thanks. "Miss Martinez, I would be happy to seat you up here, so that Mr. Ride is not distracting you from your studies. I know how easily distracted the female mind is," he trailed off muttering something about his wife. I gaped at him. The female mind distracted? Seriously?

"Max, cool it," I felt a calloused hand grab mine which I hadn't noticed was moving frantically across my desk moments from being raised into the air to interject.

I glared over at Fang whose hand was still clamped around mine, "Seriously? The female mind?"

He let go of my hand and it fell limpy to my side. "I'm not agreeing with him," Fang quickly murmured, "but I am saying that it's not worth being sent in trouble for contradicting a teacher." Fang must have seen the anger still etched on my face because he continued, "Look, I know he's a jerk. Just try to get through this class without being stupid."

"I'm not being stupid," I said glaring at him. Fang just sighed, pulled out his notebook with a pen and began to take notes. I had finally calmed down by the time we had walked to biology with Iggy. Fang explained why I was still seething when I came out of the classroom to Iggy who just chuckled.

"Oh Max."

Fortunately, my mind was taken off the matters of sexist teachers when KVD began her lecture. For the second day in a row, I was enamored with everything that came out of her mouth. Besides the fascinating content, I liked her class because she encouraged conversation during class and she was young and interesting to listen to unlike my friend Mr. Davis the dull, monotonous moron. Today, she went over the syllabus for the class and began discussing our first unit: Behavioral Ecology.

Classes began to blend together as I went to philosophy and trigonometry before meeting everyone in the cafeteria. I was relieved that everyone seemed genuinely excited to see me as I sat down at the same lunch table as yesterday. There were a few more people sitting with us than yesterday, and I tried to smile as I looked over at them. No one seemed to be paying enough attention to introduce us, so I nudged Fang with my knee under the table.

"What-oh. This is Max," Fang said gesturing to me. "This is Spencer, Derek and Emily."

They all smiled and nodded, and Emily gave me a bright smile, "Iggy told us all about you when we were over at his house last night. We were told it was the first friend Fang has made since he met all of us way back in elementary school a million years ago." I was taken aback, but very pleased to know that Iggy and Fang had taken to me as much as I had taken to them. They definitely weren't bad options for my first friends at a new school.

"Did he?" I asked with a laugh. I looked over at Fang who was glaring at Iggy with so much annoyance that I was surprised he didn't just drop dead then and there.

"C'mon Fang, we're just teasing you," Emily said smirking looking back and forth between us. Why did everyone just assume that the only reason I was friends with Fang because he was male? Stupid. Fang rolled his eyes, but returned to his normal demeanor.

Nudge, Ella and Emily immediately began discussing their plans for the weekend while the Iggy, Spencer and Derek were heatedly arguing about whatever game had been on last night. I think it was football.

"So," Fang turned towards me. "I see you chose to eat lunch with us again and not with that airhead over there." His eyes flickered to where Dylan was sitting with a group of big guys. They all had a similar outdoorsy look to them, and I wondered if they were part of a hiking or cycling team.

I shrugged. When I met his gaze, his eyes were difficult to read. His eyes were so dark, it was hard not to get lost in them because it felt like they went on forever. Iggy cleared his throat pointedly and I jumped where I was sitting, and Fang coughed then turned towards everyone else.

"We were just wondering if either of you two wanted to hang out this weekend. We were thinking a bonfire at my house," Iggy said staring between us again. What was with him?

"No, absolutely not," Fang started. "Last time we had a bonfire at your house, you almost burnt the whole place to the ground."

Derek and Spencer chuckled. "I'm with Fang," Derek said. "Besides, Iggy and Gazzy are a deadly combination when fire is involved. My parents are going out to dinner Friday night though, we could do it at my house."

"Ok, ok," Iggy said laughing lightheartedly. "I give." I had officially been invited to my first social event for the year, but I tried not to let the smug smile tugging at my mouth be visible. I had Fang in all of my afternoon classes except one and Iggy in the other, so at least there were some perks to a small school.

"Come on shortie," Fang called to me from where he was waiting at the end of the cafeteria. I glared at him as he smirked, clearly amused by himself. "We're gonna be late for gym." Yes, unfortunate as it was, I was still stuck going to gym for 50 minutes everyday. As if I didn't get enough exercise on my own. I scowled as I headed into the girl's changing room and through on the shapeless gold shirt and navy shorts that were my heinous gym uniform.

Decked out in navy and gold, I headed into the gym to wait for the rest of the classes and teachers.

Fang stalked out of his locker room looking very strange in his colorful shirt. I cringed, "Missing your black?" He glared at me sourly with a nod.

"Yellow is not my color."

"I don't think yellow is anyone's color," I said with a sigh. "Besides, it always shows sweat."

"Planning on sweating today?" he asked me.

"Depends on what we're doing," I said. Hopefully not something stupid. If I was going to sweat, I wanted it to at least be worth it. But it was the end of the day, so we were free after this period was over.

I was about to ask him a question, when I was cut off by the booming voice of a large man who had come bounding around the corner. "Okay! Today is, wait for it," he gave a dramatic pause during which several people rolled their eyes, "fitness testing day! I'm sure everyone has been anxiously awaiting this day since last September," everyone groaned. "So, we will start with the pacer test. For anyone who doesn't know, the pacer is a test designed to test your endurance." We didn't have gym class at my old school, so I was intrigued. "You will run from the white line there across the gym to the black line over there. The key is to make it across the line before the buzzer, and the time between beeps will decrease as the test continues. Thrilling, I know."

Everyone groaned as they dragged their feet to the opposite side of the gym and waited for the first beep. An automated voice came on over the speaker, "The FitnessGram™ Pacer Test is a multistage aerobic capacity test that progressively gets more difficult as it continues. The 20 meter pacer test will begin in 30 seconds. Line up at the start. The running speed starts slowly, but gets faster each minute after you hear this signal. [beep] A single lap should be completed each time you hear this sound. [ding] Remember to run in a straight line, and run as long as possible. The second time you fail to complete a lap before the sound, your test is over. The test will begin on the word start. On your mark, get ready, start."

Everyone jogged slowly to the other side of the gym with time to spare. The dings continued, and everyone jogged in sync. By the time we had reached level 13, most of the girls had dropped out, but I hadn't even broken a sweat yet. Level 13 was technically passing, but I wasn't someone to quit early.

By level 30, most people had dropped out besides a girl with crazy long, muscular legs who looked like she was on the basketball team, a group of guys who were muttering about their soccer practice later, Fang and me. At level 30, we had technically ran 135 "laps", and three of the soccer boys dropped out leaving two of them, basketball girl and Fang next to me.

"How ya feeling Maxie?" Fang asked me with a sideways glance. I could hear the smirk in his voice even if I couldn't see it.

"Never better, Fangles," I responded and he glared at me. I glared back at him. The beeps were just distant noises in the background that I ignored as I continued running. This was nothing. By 165 laps, basketball girl had dropped out along with one soccer boy, so only three of us were left. "This is just my warmup," I said with a devilish grin and picked up my pace, crossing earlier than expected.

"Oh yeah?" he asked. I was surprised to hear that his breathing wasn't heavy either. We had only run about two miles by my guess, but each 20m interval was nearly at a sprinting pace now. "I could do this in my sleep," he said powering past me.

We were at lap 190 and were the only two people still running. I didn't know why I was still running; everyone was staring at us and waiting for us to finish, but for some reason I couldn't let Fang beat me. Besides, I wasn't even tired yet. I'm Maximum Martinez, I do what I want.

"Okay, you two," Mr. Jovell, our gym teacher, said coming back into sight with his clipboard. The recording had counted to 215 laps and then shut off. But neither of us stopped running. Fang looked at me for a second and instantly we were both spring towards the line. My arms pumping rapidly next to my strides, but I felt Fang's long legs rush past me and he hit the mat against the wall just a second before I did.

"I win," he said with the trace of a smile on his face.

"No fair," I complained. "You totally had a head start."

He smirked. He knew it. "You knew what I was gonna do, just as I started anyway."

"That doesn't count!" I exclaimed. "I was reading your body language, not sprinting away."

Fang chuckled as we walked over to Mr. Jovell surprising me. "Very well, Mr. Ride. Full marks as per usual. And who's your friend?"

"This-" he started.

"I'm Max," I said interrupting Fang. "Martinez."

"Very impressive, are you runner?"

I shrugged, "I like to run."

"Well you should consider joining our cross country team. It's coed because the school is so small, but I'm sure they would love to have you try out," he said giving me a reassuring smile. "Nice to have you here," he muttered with a chuckle as he walked away. It always struck me as ironic that gym teachers tended to be the ones that weren't in great shape themselves, but were yelling at others to run faster and participate more.

Ugh. Yellow really did show sweat. I shoved my uniform back in my gym locker and made a mental note to bring it home Friday for a good wash.

"You're faster than I expected," Fang said as he headed out the school doors together after gym. Ella and Nudge were staying for the first meeting of Fashion Club, whatever that was, so Fang and I were walking home together again. Iggy lived far, so his mom picked him up and Emily, Derek and Spencer all rode the bus. Thank God I didn't have to deal with that nightmare. I rode the bus in middle school and it was a traumatizing experience between all the shouting, singing and shoving to get the best seat in the back to feel all the bumps.

I grinned. I was tempted to race him home, but didn't want to lose. I was wearing skinny jeans, converse and a heavy backpack and I wasn't exactly the most graceful loser. "I challenge you to a rematch."

He raised his eyebrows. "Alright, but just remember this was your idea. We can go to one of the open fields next week, if you really think you want to race me again."

"You're on Ride."

"Bring it Martinez."

We shook on it. We talked a bit about classes, school and mindless other things as we finished the walk home.

"See you bright and early!" Fang called after me as I turned towards my house.

I gave him a quick wave before turning inside.

"So, was that Fang again?" my mom asked waiting to greet me at the front door. More like spying, but whatever.

I nodded but didn't say anything. I didn't want her getting any more ideas than she already had. Thankfully, my mom knew me well enough not to say anything else. "Ella said you two were invited to a bonfire this weekend. That sounds very nice. Who's going to be there?"

"Yeah, I think it'll be a lot of fun. Turns out her new friend is super close with my two friends, so we'll all be one big group I suppose. But it'll be Ella, Nudge, Emily, Spencer, Derek, Iggy, Fang and me."

"Well, I'm just glad you two have found a group of friends so quickly," she kissed the top of my head before leaving the room

Yeah, I thought, me too.

Thanks to everyone who's started by new story Unexpected. Read, review and let me know all suggestions and criticisms – I'm open to everything!