Disclaimer: I claim no right to the Maximum Ride Universe. Thanks for all your support. I love you. Keep supporting! BTW: I have had hella crap going on at home, so don't judge me by this chapter. And I have acquired an Advance Copy of MR3. Let me tell you. OMG.

The bimbo headed straight for the kitchen before I had even shut the door. This familiarity seemed like one of those 'not good' things to me. I followed her, determined to be civil. Maybe she and Fang were in a class together and they had a big project to do.

Denial is a powerful thing, Maximum.

She already had a glass of juice by the time I caught up. I tried to be nice and make small talk.

"So, how do you know…um…Nick?" I asked, trying not to be SO OBVIOUS as I sized her up. Her eyes lit up at his name. Fuck.

"Well, we met two years ago at school. We started out in the same class," she told me. "Moved up into the senior class almost right away. He's so smart." She smiled in that girly-girl way. Ugh. What does he see in her?

I heard Fang coming down the stairs. Well, I didn't hear him, I just sensed him with the prickle on the back of my neck that I had nearly forgotten I felt when he was nearby. "Sounds like he's coming." Time for me to make an exit before things got messy. "I'll leave you guys alone. Nice to meet you," I ground out. My hands were almost shaking with the need to crush her windpipe. I sup around quickly to escape and ran straight into t he devil himself.

He steadied me and his hands lingered a little too long on my waist. Our eyes met. He looked away first. Bad sign.

Another bad sign? The bitch had red hair. Apparently he's a sucker for red hair.

Suddenly I was back in the hallway at that school in Virginia, watching Fang pull that girl closer, watching his head tilt to kiss her better. I shook my head. Whoa. This was not the time for jealous flashbacks. And I was so not jealous. Just completely in love with my best friend who's preference ran toward normal redheads instead of genetically altered blondes. Or maybe it was just girls who didn't have such utter darkness in their soul…with red hair.

Ally's little cough brought me back to the present and I darted around Fang as she distracted him. I heard vague murmurings as I went upstairs. I felt hollow and empty, but filled with a terrible need to get away for a while. I reached the second floor and glanced down the hall. There was a large oak that stood just outside the window. I could climb to the roof. Perfect.

Total sat just inside Angel's room.

"I'm going to the roof if anyone asks," I told him. He just whined softly.

I pulled the drapes apart and pushed open the window. Excellent. I had forgotten about the wraparound porch, which gave me something to walk across to get to the tree. I had one leg out and nearly half my body out the window when a hand wrapped around my ankle and tugged, hard.

My body folded and the back of my thigh tore on the window track, my head hit the top of the window and something in my wrist popped in a way it shouldn't have. I tumbled onto the carpet in an angry heap and immediately jumped up to punch Fang in the face. "What the hell?!" I shouted. I glared death at him. My wrist hurt.

My punch had knocked him back a few feet, but he moved forward again, crowding me against the wall. "I told you that I was never letting you go again." His eyes were dark and wild.

I kicked at him. "Did I say that I was fucking leaving? You aren't my boss and you sure as hell can't keep me prisoner. I can leave whenever the fuck I want!" As soon as the words were out of my mouth, his eyes shuttered and went blank. I regretted it, but not much. He was the one messing around with little Miss Perky Pants. He straightened and backed away. He moved stiffly. I had really hurt him.

And just like that, I felt tired and shaky instead of pissed off. The back of my head and the back of my thigh throbbed. I pressed my hand to my leg, frowning when it came away with blood.

"You're bleeding," Fang said.

Thank you, Captain Obvious. "Yeah," I said lamely. "First aid?"

He opened the linen closet and tossed me the kit. My wrist protested the catch.

The steps at the end of the hall creaked.

"Oh, my God. You're bleeding," was the first thing out of Ally's mouth. Thank you, Sidekick Duh.

"Yeah. I know," I said shortly.

"What did you do?" What was this, twenty questions?

"Um, I slipped while climbing out the window." I glanced at Fang. He was impassive as usual.

"Why were you climbing out the window?"

I gritted my teeth. Inquisitive people SUCK. Especially when they are dating the guy one…never mind. "I wanted to reach the oak tree. I really like sitting on the roof and I needed some time to think. Alone." That was more for Fang's benefit than hers. I took the first aid kit with me into the bathroom that was conveniently located right in front of me.

"On the roof?"

Yes, on the fucking roof!

She is insignificant.

Oddly enough, that little phrase made me feel a whole lot better. And I remembered that I could crush her with my bare hands. That cheered me considerably more. I set the kit on the counter and popped it open. Band-aids, gauze, Ace bandage. Good, everything I needed.

"You should go," Fang said. My heart froze for a second, but then I realized that he was talking to Ally.

I glanced back to see her grab onto his arm in a grip that turned her fingers white. He closed his eyes, looking annoyed, and pried her hands off him. "Now."

Ooh, harsh. Her round face fell.

"But, Nick," she whined. So, my first impression of yuppie wasn't all that far off.

"No, Ally. I already told you. This is over. It's been over for a week. Give it up." Fang looked at me. I looked away. He shuffled her out of my line of sight.

I could hear her protesting all the way to the front door. My head didn't hurt quite so much.

He returned about a minute later and taped gauze to the back of my thigh before snatching the Ace bandage out of my hand and wrapping up my wrist with quick efficiency. Then, with the saddest look I had ever seen on him, he left me alone.

I leaned against the cool tile of the counter for unknown minutes trying to process the latest events in my crazy life. I had no idea where all of these feelings and thoughts of betrayal and stuff had come from.

It comes with the territory, Max.

I was confused. What the hell is that supposed to mean/

Adolescence. Hormones. Not to mention you're female.

I better have imagined that tone of long suffering. Excuse me?!?

Hormonal swings tend to be worse for a female of the species. Heightened moods, especially unpleasant ones, cravings, the whole bit.

I rubbed my lower abdomen absently.

You're finally free to experience everything that supposedly normal teen girls experience every day. Your body is relaxing after all of that abuse. It's functioning properly. Go with the flow and live. It's what you were built to do.

Well, I didn't feel better after that little talk. It was like the "birds and the bees" talk that I've heard parents give their kids. I still didn't get that and I still didn't get Fang. So, I'm in the same place I've always been.