The remaining weeks of summer passed in peaceful oblivion. I spent my last summer of not working discovering new running trails that wove up and down the mountains, having bonfires at everyone's houses (except Iggy) and spending time with Fang though we were still careful not to let anything slip. But undoubtedly, something was going to slip.
A week later, I found myself stumbling through my closet, blindly putting on jeans and a t-shirt before making my way downstairs.
"That's what you're wearing for your first day of school?" Ella asked with a hint of derisiveness that I'm going to assume was unintentional.
"Don't remind me."
"Don't you think you're being a little dramatic, Max?" my mom asked sipping a cup of coffee perched on the stool at her desk. "I mean it is only high school."
"Tell me something that's worse than high school," I snapped back. I had grown accustomed to my leisurely lifestyle of sleeping in, hanging out with friends and having no responsibility.
Luckily for me, and probably my mom, she chose to stay quiet rather than rise to the bait. Glad I'm maturing throughout my years. After inhaling the plate of chocolate chip pancakes which thankfully improved my mood significantly, Ella and I headed down the street to where we met Fang on the corner for the walk to school.
"What's Iggy doing here?" I asked Ella as I noticed the blonde head engaged in an animated conversation with the dark one.
She shrugged, "Must've been a weird coincidence."
"You two totally planned this, so that you could flaunt your relationship for the entire school to see," I said half amused, half grossed out as she kissed his cheek and they began the walk to school hand in hand.
"Hi," Fang said with a soft smile spreading across his face.
"What's up?" I asked as I approached, "you're practically glowing."
He shrugged with no response. What else is new? We began the walk in comfortable silence–I knew we were both thinking the same thing. If everyone knew we were a couple would we become the new Ella and Iggy? Constant hand-holding and lots of cuddling.
"We wouldn't be that annoying if people knew about us, right?" I asked clearly one for subtlety.
Fang shrugged, but at least this time he provided a verbal response. "I don't know. I want to say I hope not because they're slightly nauseating, but…"
"But?" I prompted.
"Well, I've never seen Iggy so outwardly happy. Yeah, he's always joking around and being goofy, but he's just so content and happy right now. I feel like people can't see how happy I am either." His voice trailed off to a mumble at the end.
"I know," I said giving him a small smile. "And that's the important part, right?"
He nodded returning to silence. He broke his assumed silence after a few more minutes, "Sometimes I wish everyone knew. Especially at school. I'd love nothing more than for Dylan to find out about us."
I sighed; I had been thinking the exact same thing, but about Lissa. She had been going after Fang for years and had finally started to give up once I assumed the role of best friend, but knowing we were finally dating would really put her in her place.
"And Lissa," Fang and I said at the exact same time and I laughed. The amount of times we were on the exact same wavelength was mildly concerning, but entirely amusing.
"Besides, if everyone knew, then I'd be able to do this," I stood on my tip toes and kissed Fang's cheek.
"I could do this," he said grabbing my hand. I'd always assumed that it would be more pleasant if guys moisturized their hands more often, so they were soft to hold, but I liked how strong his hand felt in mine. I felt protected. Taken care of.
At this point, Iggy and Ella were a few blocks ahead of us with their hands swinging in between them as they walked.
"And this," I said softly before placing a gentle kiss on Fang's lips. His hands grazed the sides of my arms and I felt a chill go down my spine.
"Come on," he said with a playful smirk grabbing my hand again and leading me in a swift jog down the street. "We're going to be late."
"As if I care," I muttered.
"Save it for the rest of the year."
Ten minutes later we were approaching the school and had made an explicit effort to let go of our hands and act casual.
"Oh, look at the lovebirds," Spencer smirked as he walked up to us adjusting his glasses.
I rolled my eyes, "We're still trying to keep this relatively secret. Well from everyone except you."
"And you know if Dylan and Lissa found out it wouldn't be the worst thing."
Spencer just rolled his eyes, "I'm not getting involved in any of this high school drama. But speaking of drama, I have an acting class third period. I might vomit." I watched as the color visibly drained from his face and he tightened the straps on his backpack.
"I'm sure it'll be totally fine, Spence. A lot of those classes don't even make you act; they just have you read lines from your seats and then analyze the rhetoric."
"Since when are you the expert on drama class?" Fang asked looking surprised.
"I got put in one too," I said as a scowl spread across my face. "I'm still trying to switch out of it, but the administrations insisting I stay in the class because I still need to fulfill my artistic requirement. This is so stupid. Why would I ever need to know how to act or draw or play an instrument?"
"It's called being well-rounded, Max," Fang said sarcastically. "A jack of all-trades. That's college acceptance stuff."
"Basically, a lot of high schools in the area are implementing a core curriculum to mirror that of a lot of liberal arts universities. They've been focusing on educating the 'whole individual' rather than just providing knowledge on your selected field."
"Sounds like a waste of time and money to me. I still don't see how dressing up as Juliet is going to help anyone aspiring to be a doctor practice medicine more effectively."
"Believe me, Max. I'm not arguing with you," Spencer said his eyes flickering about the inside of the hallway, no doubt absorbing countless details about the student body I would never know. "Well, I better go sit down before I actually do throw up," he said as Fang and I watched his navy clad legs disappear into the sea of bodies in the hallway.
"Poor kid," Fang muttered as we found our lockers.
"Is it that bad?" I asked Fang who was leaning over me as I shoved a few textbooks into my backpack. "On a scale of 1 to 10 how much am I going to hate it?"
"I mean it's unpleasant if that's what you're asking. But it honestly depends on the teacher. I had Mr. Erickson and she did not want to be there as much as we didn't, so we just watched a bunch of recordings of plays and then talked about them on occasion. Probably one of the easiest classes I've ever taken here. Huge bummer for the nerds that actually wanted to read and act out Shakespeare though."
"You don't like Shakespeare even though you have the largest assortment of books I've ever seen?"
"It's not Shakespeare I have a problem with, it's acting. Just being in the spotlight like that…" he trailed off and shook his head to clear his thoughts.
I decided that reminding him that ski racing was essentially the same thing just via exercise instead of song was probably not the best idea. "Fair enough. As long as I don't kill somebody in theatre, the rest of my classes should be fine."
-(page break – same chapter)—
Exactly 390 minutes later, Fang was waiting promptly at my locker. He opened his mouth, presumably to ask about how my day was, but I beat him to it.
"It was horrible. My theatre class? It's basically an acting class. Our teacher is literally the drama instructor – the one that leads all of the plays and coordinates everything. No thank you."
"At least she'll be engaging," Fang said trying to hide the smile on his face. He knew how much I detested acting.
"I'm not amused." With my luck I would be stuck playing the main role just because everyone wanted to watch me make a fool of myself.
"Max," he said with a poorly suppressed laugh, "I promise, it'll be fine. I'm sure there will be plenty of die-hard drama dorks to play the big roles. You can just be one of the background roles if you have to. Like a tree or something."
"You think I should be a tree?"
"You'd make a cute tree," he said before kissing the top of my head.
I was about to retort with a witty comment when I noticed Nudge staring at us with her eyes bulging out of her head.
I couldn't decide if it was better to not address the situation and pretend I didn't notice because I didn't think it was weird or if I should play the platonic card some more.
Before I could decide, Nudge opened her mouth and just pointed between the two of us spluttering like a drowning fish.
"I've never seen you so speechless before," I teased, and she still just stared at me.
"Are you two…?" she trailed off clearly too excited to speak in full sentences yet. The broken phrases were as far as she'd gotten at this point.
I pretended to look slightly confused, but Fang cut me off.
"Nudge, please just drop it. Don't you think that if we'd gotten together we would've told our best friends? Besides, we could finally live in peace, so I'm pretty sure we would've just told you."
Nudge's face fell and even I was somewhat impressed with Fang's performance. Either way, it got me off the hook from having to lie my way out of that one.
"But that was so cute. You kissed her head," Nudge said with her chestnut eyes widening and silently studying our faces.
"Saucy," I muttered, and Fang laughed. Back to normal.
Nudge just rolled her eyes, and I hoped she was at least somewhat convinced.
"So," I asked, eager to change the subject. "How was your first day back in this hole?"
"Great! I have four classes with Ella and two with Derek. The ones with Ella are mostly lecture based which is annoying because we can't talk really, but you know I have no problems with that. But, we do have yoga together which is hype because we can get fun and fit! And we all have lunch together again which is phenomenal because, then I can keep an eye on you two."
Clearly, she wasn't done with us. I opened my mouth to protest, but the motor-mouth plowed on.
"And even better, Derek is in my chemistry class. Everyone knows that's the best class to have with a friend because there are so many labs and projects, so we'll probably spend a lot of time together. Plus, it's Mr. McConahugh, who is like a total bro and lets us sit where we want."
"So, you're into Derek still?" I asked feeling slightly overwhelmed. Fang and I exchanged glances and he flashed me a quick lopsided smirk as Nudge's rambling began again.
"I haven't decided yet. Is he cute? Yes. Is he funny? Yes. Is he boyfriend material? I'm undecided. Besides, there's so many girls fawning after him, I'm not sure it's worth my time."
"Nudge, he's one of your best friends. Don't you think it would be better if you just told him how you really feel? Besides, you're a total catch," I asked trying to get this matter cleared up, so I didn't have to deal with it anymore. I tried to be a supportive friend, but this was Ella's area of expertise – not mine.
"I'll tell him when you and Fang tell each other how you really feel," she said thinking she had us cornered.
"Fine," I said doing my best to sound irritated. I had to suppress a smirk as I realized our hidden relationship could potentially work to our advantage. We suddenly had a new form of leverage.
I felt Fang's body shifting his weight behind me, and I could tell he was thinking the same thing. We just needed to bide our time until we needed something.
"Besides, I got asked on a date for Friday night anyway."
"Then why are we even having this conversation, Nudge?" I asked exasperated after having to endure seven hours of torture and then this 30 minute conversation which was arguably worse than my 55 minute theater class.
She just rolled her eyes, and shook her head undoubtedly thinking about how useless I was in these kinds of situations. But, in my defense, why would she be contemplating other male suitors if she already had a date in three days? I realized I should try to be more supportive again. "Who's your date with?"
"His name's Gray."
"Like the color?" I asked.
She nodded, clearly unphased by my uncultured nature. "He's new and just moved here from Rhode Island because he used to go to an academy for theater, but then he realized he wants to pursue medicine and go to medical school."
"Nerd alert," Fang mumbled, but quiet enough that only I could hear.
"He's beautiful," Nudge said with a soft smile. "Light brown hair, green eyes and the best smile."
"Oh, I think he's in my acting class," I blurted out recalling the kid who had been introduced by the theater director before reading through the syllabus.
"Ugh, really? I'm so jealous. You should totally talk to him, Max. Find yourself a boyfriend," she said, and I felt Fang tense up ever so slightly behind me. No one else would've noticed, but I could notice even the slightest change in his body language.
"Nudge, you're going on a date with him this weekend. Why on earth would I try to get in the middle of it?"
She shrugged. I will never understand girls. "You're way prettier than me. I'm pretty sure this date is like a networking event for him. He knows I'm friends with pretty much everyone, and this way he can scope out the playing field."
"He's all yours, Nudge. Theater kids aren't really my type."
"I'll put a good word in," she said with a wink before walking off to go find my sister to discuss date options, clothes and their weekend plans.
"Shall we?" Fang asked, motioning towards the door and we started the walk home.
Before we even made it across the parking lot, we were intercepted by Lissa and her posse.
"You're still here? You weren't kicked out for not being an asset to the school?" Lissa asked with a perfectly timed hair flip that showed off her perfectly manicured nails.
"I'm just impressed you passed enough of your classes to come back for another year," I told her with a bright smile.
Lissa scowled, and two of her makeup covered friends behind her looked confused. Maybe they were the ones who should be proud for not flunking out.
"This isn't over, Max," she said, her sparkling green eyes were narrowed in what I would assume was an attempt to look menacing.
"I didn't even though this was started," I retorted.
"Come on, Max," Fang said, draping an arm around my shoulders and gently steering me away from Lissa's path. "She's not worth it."
In the back of my head, I knew Fang was right, so I let my body be directed by his and we started walking away from the school.
"You know Fang, if you ever want to know what it's like to be with a real girl, you have my number," she called after us.
I gritted my teeth but managed to keep my cool. Fang, on the other hand, spun around. His temper was always very well controlled, but when he lost his cool, it never ended well. His arm flew off my shoulder, but I grabbed his hand.
"Fang let's just go. You're right. She's not worth it," I said, echoing his advice from moments earlier.
He opened his mouth to retort, but his hand went slack, and he succumbed to my gentle pull.
"Thanks," he mumbled after we had made it a few blocks from the school. "I just can't stand when she insults you like that."
My anger subsided at his comment and I felt warm chills tingle down my back. I grabbed his hand softly in mine and felt his fingers tighten as we kept walking. Everything about us felt so natural, so normal.
We walked in comfortable silence for another block before I sensed the presence of another person. I dropped Fang's hand and spun around, silently scanning the street and trees that were densely packed along the sidewalk. Fang mimicked me, and our gazes scoured the scene behind us, but neither of us saw anything. Eventually convinced it must have just been a deer crossing in our wake, we continued the walk home, but I didn't grab his hand again just in case.
We were about a block from my house when Fang pulled me around the corner and we walked another block until we were a fair distance from my neighborhood and the prying eyes of my mom and sister.
"This is harder than I thought," Fang said softly, his dark eyes catching the sun that was still high in the sky. "Nudge setting you up on dates, Lissa making comments at you…it's just a lot harder now."
I felt the corners of my mouth twitch into a soft smile. "I know. Believe me, Lissa makes me even angrier now – something that I didn't think was possible. But she's still going to go after you either way. What do you want to do?"
He gave a noncommittal shrug. Great. Very helpful. I opened my mouth to continue the discussion, but he took a step closer and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. "We don't have to decide now," he whispered. I wanted to protest that this discussion was his idea and not mine, but before I could interrupt he leaned in and caught me in a deep kiss.
The fact that our relationship was supposed to be hidden completely slipped my mind and all thoughts of this talk were erased. I instantly jumped back when I heard the sound of a twig snapping, and Fang's eyes went on hyper alert as my breath caught in my mouth. This time, I knew I heard something, or someone. I scanned the trees and the clearing surrounding us but was unable to pick out any signs of life. But, it would've been easy to hide behind one of the trees or brush that covered much of the ground.
"Did you hear a click?" Fang asked softly.
"You mean the twig snapping?"
He shook his head, "No it was much quieter than that. It sounded like the shuttering of a camera lens."
I shook my head, but chills ran down my back for the second time today, but this time it wasn't the good kind. Was someone following us around and photographing us? I tried to shake the thought from my mind as Fang and I began walking back to my house, both of us clearly a little spooked.
Fang bade me good-bye as he he dropped me off at my house and waved at my mom in the window who was clearly spying along with the rest of my friends on my relationship with Fang.
"What were you doing waiting at the window?" I asked casually as I left my Converse on the doormat.
"A mother can't wait for her daughter to come home from her first day of school?"
"Mom, I'm seventeen."
She laughed. "Fine, I was watching for Ella and Iggy."
"Oh," I said with a laugh. Wow, I was paranoid and maybe a bit self-centered. "Why? You like Iggy, right?"
"You know I love Iggy. I just can't picture him being in a relationship with anyone, especially my youngest daughter. He's a goof and Ella is, well let's just say a little high-maintenance."
"That's one way to put it," I said with a smirk. Iggy and Ella were definitely an odd, but surprisingly cute pairing.
"You know what I mean." She ruffled my hair as she walked into the kitchen laughing. "So, you and Fang are still just friends?"
"Why would we be anything different?" I asked trying to sound casual.
"Oh, come on Max," she began as I plopped myself at the counter. "You two are both more than friends and we both know it. Whether or not you're choosing to label yourselves in a romantic way is up to you too, but the sooner you admit that you have feelings for him, the easier your life will be."
I opened my mouth to protest, but she continued. "Fang has feelings for you too, honey. I'm not saying you need to date or even act on these feelings, but you at least need to acknowledge them. If you choose to date, great. If you choose to stay friends, also great. That's all I'm going to say. Now, what do you want for dinner?"