The fire crackled in front of us and I leaned back in my chair enjoying the crisp breeze. It had only been a week since I had started at Harding, but I was surprised that I was already becoming adjusted. Fang had walked home with me after school each day and I met him in the courtyard in front of the building before class each morning, so we could walk into government exactly as the bell would ring. Mr. Davis couldn't hold anything against us, but it gave me great pleasure to see his blood pressure rise when we strode in not a second late. Fang and I wound up spending a large amount of time together between our walks home and having nearly every class together, so much so that we were beginning to become quite close despite our arguments that broke out nearly everyday.

"Max," someone called. I realized they had said my name a couple of times, and I was startled.

"Sorry what?"

"Enjoying yourself are we?" Derek asked with a grin.

"Very much," I answered with a cheeky smile.

Iggy rolled his eyes, "We were asking if you know how to ski."

Ski? I mean I had been skiing once or twice before when I was little, but spending most of my life in SoCal and Arizona, there wasn't exactly tons of snow for me to practice.

I nodded, "I can ski. I love to ski."

Ella snorted from across the fire. Busted. I forgot she was here. I had a feeling this would become, incredibly annoying if Ella and I took to hanging out together most of the time. "Yeah, right. You've been skiing like twice, Max."

"So," I countered. "Who says I wasn't good those two times?"

"Me!" Ella exclaimed laughing. "I watched you fall getting off the chairlift, and then refuse to ski for the rest of the day."

Everyone around me laughed as I scowled. "You don't have to be the best at everything, Max," Iggy said.

"Okay, so maybe skiing isn't my best skill."

"I'll teach you," Fang said quickly turning to me from his chair just next to mine. I gave him a skeptical look. "Honest, I'll teach you this winter. I've been on skis since I could walk."

Everyone around him nodded. "I would take that offer," Derek said whose face I could only see when the fire flared. "Otherwise I'll be stuck teaching you and I promise you won't want that."

I smiled, "That would be great. When can we go?"

Fang snickered, "We've got to wait until there's snow, Max."

I rolled my eyes, "No shit, Sherlock. Thanksgiving?"

"It depends on the year," Spencer said speaking up for the first time. He was quiet, incredibly smart and generally kept to himself whenever I was around them. "Last year, we already had about 34 inches of snow at Thanksgiving which is a pretty decent base for that time of year. I mean, only about 18% of the seasonal snowfall occurs before Christmas with the vast majority in late February and March. So, technically speaking, the best time to go would be early March because you have the highest snowfall paired with the warmest temperature. It makes for some pretty soft snow."

My eyes widened, how could he possibly know all of that? And just rattle it off from memory? No on else seemed even slightly surprised by his sudden outburst of information.

Derek nodded, "You got it, nerd." Spencer flushed, but Derek punched him on the shoulder with a grin. "Spring skiing is the best. Just wait until spring break, you guys will love it," Derek said addressing Ella and me. I grinned. Despite my traumatizing experience last time I skied and my dislike of being cold, I was looking forward to learning to ski.

We all chatted sitting around the fire, and Derek went inside and brought out a box of graham crackers, two packs of marshmallows and a sheath of chocolate. S'mores were my favorite.

Everyone crowded around the fire roasting their marshmallows until they were perfectly golden brown on each side. Everyone except Fang that is. He refused to remove his marshmallow from the flames until it was entirely black. Only then would he proceed to build his s'more.

"You know you're making your them wrong," I told him.

"Oh yeah?"

I nodded and showed him my perfect specimen. "Golden brown. This is A+ work right here."

"Sure, it looks more appetizing, but it's not soft and melted all the way through," he explained. "Watch." He then pulled his charcoal marshmallow out of the flames and broke it in half, demonstrating how it was entirely melted through the center.

"Wanna know how to tell if it's really ready?" he asked with a gleam in his eyes. I turned to him expectantly. "Like this," he said and he shoved his perfectly melted marshmallow up my nose.

My jaw had dropped forming a perfect O. Luckily, I still had two golden marshmallows in my hand. I took one in each hand and pressed them both against Fang's cheeks, leaving a trail of white sticky residue down to his chin.

"Food fight! Food fight!" I heard Iggy chant in the background. I looked up to see that Fang was laughing again and his eyes were light and happy. Everyone was laughing around us, including us.

"Come on," I grabbed Fang's hand lightly and led him towards the house, so we could get cleaned up. I found the bathroom, and dampened two paper towels and handed one to Fang. "This time it's totally your fault," I told him with a smirk.

He shrugged. There he was, back with the shrugging. I wiped at the sticky mess on my face with the towel, peeling off the remaining marshmallow with your fingers. It was taking Fang even longer because even though my marshmallows weren't as gooey, he had to do both sides of his face. Oops.

I grinned at him as he finally pulled the last of the mess off his face. He smiled back at me. So many smiles tonight too. Man, what was with him?

"Thanks for giving me the tour of the school," I told him. I was trying to tell him how much I appreciated him bringing me into his little friend group and getting to know me, but feelings isn't exactly something I do well.

"Thanks for letting me escort you. And thanks for letting me walk you home," he added with a lopsided smile.

"I'm glad we're friends, Fang."

"Me too, Max, me too."

We headed back outside to discover that the fire had died down while we were inside, and the embers glowed in the bottom of the firepit looking solemn yet dangerous.

"Mom's on the way," Ella called. "Do you want a ride Fang?" He nodded and followed us out to the curb where my mom's van pulled up, and we all hopped in.

"Mom, this is Fang. He lives around the corner, so I said you could drop him off."

"Sure," my mom smiled at Fang in the rearview mirror. "Nice to meet you, Fang."

"Nice to meet you too, Ms. Martinez. How's the new clinic?"

"Good!" my mom exclaimed before continuing to jabber on about how friendly her new coworkers were, the cute dogs that came in today and how she even had to look at someone's pet iguana. If you can even call an iguana a pet. By the time she stopped talking, Fang had directed her to his house which was quaint and perched on the edge of a cliff that dropped off pretty sharply.

"Bye Ella, see you Max," he said tapping my shoulder with his hand as he hopped out. "Thanks for the ride." He hurried down his driveway, the moonlight reflecting his dark silhouette against the shadows.

"He seems nice," my mom said once we had gotten home.

"He is," Ella and I said in unison. I flashed her a grin.

"You should see him and Max together, mom," Ella continued. "It's like they're the same person. They're both competitive, stubborn, argumentative-"

"Those all sound like negative qualities," I cut in.

Ella ignored my interruption, "and they get along so well. It's a little spooky actually."

"Spooky?" I asked raising my eyebrows.

She nodded. "You've known each other for less than a week and you've already spent more time with him than me."

"Not my fault we have most of our classes together. Besides, you and Nudge have been inseparable since we've arrived." Ella grinned.

I had just gotten into bed when I heard my phone buzz. It was a text from Fang. He wanted to know if I wanted to go over to his house for movies and games with Iggy, Iggy's brother, and Fang's little sister. I had been dying to meet her ever since he started telling me stories about her, and it was heartwarming to see how much Fang swooned over his baby sister even when she wasn't there. I replied that I would definitely be there.

Incredibly content, I drifted off into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

The next day, I finished unpacking the rest of the basement and living room, ran a few errands with my mom and roamed around the house bored.

7pm finally rolled around, so I headed over to Fang's. As soon as I rang the doorbell, the door whipped open and a blonde-haired blur barreled into me. I looked down and who I assumed was Fang's little sister was hugging my waist with blonde curls framing her bright blue eyes.

"Hi," I said with a grin squatting down to her height. "You must be Angel." She gave me a big toothless grin and nodded. "I'm Max."

"You're pretty!" she exclaimed her face shining. I chuckled, but felt my face flush slightly. "Fang, your friend is pretty." She padded over to where he was coming down the stairs and gave him another hug, and I couldn't help smiling as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "He never has girls over," Angel informed me. She paused, "Just Iggy. And sometimes Derek. But not girls."

"Oh really?" he asked her his eyebrows raised. "What about Nudge?"

"She doesn't really count," she said thoughtfully. Funny how seven-year-old logic works. "We've been friends with her forever. She's more of a sister."

"Iggy and Gazzy aren't here yet," Fang said turning towards me. He got Angel a snack and then led me upstairs to his bedroom.

"Woah," I murmured as we entered his room. It was sick. The far wall of his room was all windows that faced towards the mountains and because their house was up on a cliff, it looked over a river that snaked its way down the mountainside. The wall opposite was exposed brick giving the room a very rustic feel and wooden beams ran across the ceiling. The wall was covered in trail maps for skiing, biking and hiking with a few interspersed pictures of the mountains or fresh powder on his skis.

"Impressed?" he asked with a smirk and I nodded, my eyes wide. The rest of the room was pretty bare besides his bed, dressers and large desk in the corner facing the view. There were a few framed pictures of Fang and Angel on his bedside table and desk and I smiled. "What?"

"These pictures are sweet," I said picking up another picture of him and Angel. She was on Fang's back with both her arms wrapped around his neck.

"People are always surprised we're siblings."

"They must be surprised that someone so cheerful and sweet is related to you. I'm kidding!" I added when he looked slightly hurt. "It's because she's blonde, has such blue eyes and is adorable and you're all black everything."

"It's not my fault black is the only thing that matches black when I get ready in the morning."

I rolled my eyes as I walked over to his dresser in the corner where there was a pile of medals. "What are all these from?" I picked one up, examining the heavy metal circle. They were all engraved with 1st Place or 2nd Place with someone skiing down a mountain.

"I used to do a lot of ski racing," he must have seen the clear confusion because he continued. We didn't exactly have ski races or a ski team in Arizona. "I did slalom skiing which is where you ski down the mountain and race while turning through gates." Ohhh. I nodded. I had seen them do that in the Winter Olympics. "And I also did mogul racing. But I preferred slalom."

He must have been an incredible skier. There were at least a dozen medals on the desk and a bin on the ground was overflowing with the colored ribbons. "Why?"

"There's nothing like the feeling of skis riding the ice, carving into the curves around the gates. It's exactly what I imagine flying would be like. Smooth. Effortless. Carefree." It sounded like how I felt about running. Feet pounding on the pavement. Wind whipping through your hair.

I glanced over at the bookshelf near his bed. Books were stacked on top of each other on the shelves, bookmarks sticking out haphazardly. There was a decent amount of the classics: Sherlock Holmes, the Great Gatsby, the Catcher in the Rye, 1984. The list went on and on. He also had the full set of Harry Potter books lined up in order each looking incredibly worn and well-red. Those were my favorite types of books – the ones where the spine was already bent to your favorite page and the cover was bent showing the signs of a good read. I noticed he also had a fair amount of non-fiction books most of them detailing historical events and a few that were on famous murders and how detectives solved them.

"I hadn't pegged you as a reader," I told him still scanning the titles.

He shrugged. "Always have been. It's a nice way to escape when I'm not on the mountain."

The doorbell rang, and we headed downstairs to greet Iggy who introduced me to his brother Gazzy.

"Hi Max" he chirped. "I only had two ice cream sundaes today." His face twisted into a mischievous smile that looked so much like Iggy highlighting their matching blonde hair and pale blue eyes that had a touch of gray.

Iggy and Fang groaned. "So, what are we watching?" I asked as he headed downstairs.

"Gazzy picked Star Wars: A New Hope. He vetoed Angel's suggestion of Moana for the fifth time this week," Iggy said as he headed into the basement. Iggy, Gazzy and Angel instantly threw themselves into the matching leather recliners facing the TV leaving the small couch for Fang and me.

"I've actually never seen Star Wars before," I said casually, leaning back onto Fang's legs that were bent on the couch.

"What?" he and Iggy exclaimed in unison both gaping at me. "How?"

"I never went and saw it when I was little and it's not like Ella was ever into it," I said. "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal!" Fang spluttered.

"It's the best movie franchise in history!" Iggy added his mouth still hanging open.

"You're telling me that Star Wars is better than-"

"Yes!" Fang and Iggy said interrupting me before I had even finished my sentence.

"Fine," I huffed. "I'll do my best to enjoy it. We can discuss after." I leaned back against Fang's legs which were surprisingly comfortable and less bony than I was expecting. I felt his eyes boring into the back of my head as the words began floating across the sky, and I turned around. "You can't watch me watch it the whole time! That's too much pressure. Just watch your movie."

"Okay, okay," he muttered settling himself back against the couch. Once the movie began, I was quickly intrigued, but immediately also had about a million questions. I opened my mouth to ask why Darth Vader wanted to sabotage the Leia's starship in the first place, but Fang kneed me in the back. "Just watch," he hissed. His eyes were glued to the screen, and I tried to get comfortable again and focus. It was clearly important to him and Iggy that I liked this movie or at least tried to watch it.

Exactly two hours and five minutes later, the credits began to roll, and as if on cue, the lights in Fang's basement turned on. At first I was rattled, but then I realized that it was just Fang's parents coming down to bring Angel up to bed.

"Hi," Fang's mom said coming over with a radiant smile. She had Angel's blonde curls, but her eyes were dark and mysterious, an exact replica of Fang's. "You must be Max."

I nodded, "It's so nice to meet you." I got up and went to shake his mom's hand and then his dad's who was standing behind her. His features were dark and chiseled and would have been a mirror image of an adult Fang if it weren't for his piercing blue eyes and big belly.

"We've heard so much about you," his mom continued, and I smirked at Fang who just rolled his eyes. "How have you been liking Centennial so far?"

"It's been good. Everyone is so nice. Fang took the liberty to show me around on the first day, so I wouldn't get lost," I told her. She smiled warmly. Fang must take after his father; his mom smiled every other word. It was a little startling to see the familiar obsidian eyes sparkling so much.

"Aww. Well I'm just glad Fang has finally made another friend. It's been about 11 years."

Iggy gasped dramatically, "Am I not good enough for you any more, Mrs. Ride? I see how it is."

She chuckled and shook her head and I instantly saw the resemblance between her and her son. "You're as good as a second son, Iggy. I'm just surprised to see Fang branching out at this point in his life. And happy," she added ruffling his hair as she picked up a sleeping Angel. Iggy had left too because he had to bring Gazzy home at a reasonable hour.

"So," Fang asked pointedly once his parents had gone back upstairs. "What did you think?"

"I liked it," I said. I truly did.

"Yeah?" he asked, his eyes wide. "Favorite part?"

Hmmm. "I liked when they battled the Death Star."

"Interesting."

"Okay, but I have a question. I don't get the bear guy." Fang looked at me with his eyebrows raised. "How do they understand him? He just grunts and growls at them and then they're all like 'Of course, Bear-Man! Why didn't we think of that?' Because he definitely has a fully functioning brain that is comparable to a human's."

"Okay, first of all, his name is Chewbacca," Fang said watching me with a strange look on his face. "Second of all, I think you're over thinking the whole part about him being smart and capable of communicating."

"But he's just some wild animal!" I insisted.

"He's not an animal!" He protested. "He's a wookie warrior. And co-pilot."

"Okay fine, maybe I can get over the whole Chewbacca thing. Other than that, I really did like it."

"Good," he said with an air of finality in his voice. "You'll have to come over again and we can finish them."

"I'm confused. How many are there? They keep making new ones, but they're not all in chronological order."

"Technically, there's ten movies. The one we just watched was filmed first and began the original trilogy. Then, they made three more which are technically prequels. But now, I kind of lost track. I don't like to watch the new ones because I don't want them to ruin it for me. It was a huge part of my childhood."

"Well it sounds like we have five movies to finish then."

He nodded emphatically. "Want me to put the next one in?"

I checked my watch. It was already 10:30. It wouldn't end until nearly 12:45 and I figured my mom wouldn't be thrilled. I shook my head, "I should probably head back soon. But soon?"

"Soon," he promised.

"We can have a full-fledged movie marathon. Lots of snacks, lots of blankets, and we can just watch them all night."

"Deal."

I laughed as I remembered the last deal I had made him. "You still owe me a race after that blatant cheating I witnessed in class last week."

He shook his head smiling and his black fringe fell over his eyes. "You just like to lose, don't you Max?"

"I'm not so sure about that. Beat by a girl. That won't sound so good to your loyal admirers now will it?"

"You know on second thought, maybe I let you win," he said softly chuckling.

"We'll see about that."

"Come on," he said leading the way upstairs. "I'll get my mom to drop you off."

"No Fang, it's totally fine. I can walk."

He shook his head. "No way. It's dark out. No sun, no walking."

"Who are you, my dad?" I asked glaring at him. "It's literally right around the corner."

"Which is why my mom won't mind driving you." He was so stubborn, and it was irritating me. I realized that the only other person I knew who was consistently that stubborn was me.

"Fang."

"Max," he responded. "Just do it. Please."

I huffed. "Fine." My life would be so much easier when I had my license, and I only had to wait six short months.

"Thank you so much for driving me, Mrs. Ride," I told her as she pulled into my driveway.

"Not a problem at all. It just gets so dark out here with no street lights; it's really not worth walking even though you're just around the corner," she said reading my mind. "Also, tell your mom I said hi. I would love to meet her. I've heard great things from our neighbor who brought her dog into your mom's clinic."

I grinned, told her I would inform my mom and then waved to Fang before heading down the driveway into the garage. This week had turned out so different than what I had been expecting of my first days at Harding and in Centennial.

Here's a little insight into Fang's character. Please keep reading and I love hearing feedback from all my readers! I'm always interested in what you think, what I can improve and staying to true to the story.