A New Voice Chapter 20, a maximum ride fanfic

AN: Sorry it's taken so long! I just wanted to let you know that I won't be able to post much during the holidays. :( Sorry.

Oh, and like I said, I will not post chapter twenty-one unless I get up to 100 reviews! I'm at 96, so you guys are doing well, but I need at least 100 reviews per 20 chapters, so review a ton, guys:P

DISCLAIMER: Maximum Ride belongs to James Patterson.
CLAIMER: Any new plot ideas and characters in this story are mine, unless otherwise noted.

Chapter Twenty

"Max, wake up," Fang whispered halfway through the night. I opened my eyes, allowing the light from the moon to flood into them.

"Yeah?" I asked. It wasn't time for a watch change, was it?

"It's your watch," he whispered. Oh, right; Iggy wasn't here. Great, now I have watch for half the night instead of a third! Fun!

"I say we let Nudge start doing watch, since she keeps insisting that she's so old," I mumbled, sitting up on the bed. Fang chuckled softly, and lay down on the bed, quickly letting sleep capture him. I didn't blame him for falling asleep so soon; half a night's sleep defiantly was not enough.

I stood up slowly, careful not to wake the slumbering Fang by my side. I walked over to the kitchen area and searched through the cupboards in the dark for a midnight snack.

"Good-morning," Jayden whispered, walking into the room. I ignored him and opened the fridge, an eerie glow filling the small room.

Jayden perched on a stool next to the part of the counter that sticks out, resting his chin in his cupped hands,

"It's not morning," I told him, still rummaging through the fridge.

"Well, according to this clock, it's 12:06. So technically, it is morning." I sighed, took my head out of the fridge, and turned to face him, which was probably his goal all along.

"What do you want, Jayden?" I asked him.

"Just to talk. We areliving together now, no matter how much Fang hates it, and I barely know anything about you.

"Not much to know," I told him, shutting the fridge door and walking over to the other side of the counter to face Jayden. They really need to start stocking these fridges for hungry mutants like us.

"Well, then, let's talk about the infamous Fang."

"Why's he so infamous?" I asked, suddenly feeling protective.

"Because I'm pretty sure that he has something I want."

"And that would be…?"

"You." He stood there, just looking at me, for a good five minutes before I was actually able to open my mouth and respond. Of course, being the amazing Max, I had the perfect response planned out.

"What?"

"You two are together, aren't you?"

"I…I don't know," I told him, lifting my arms off of the countertop and standing up straight. "We've never really talked about it."

"You're basically either friends with benefits or a couple," Jayden insisted.

"There's not third choice?"

"Nope."

I sighed; he couldn't make this easy, could he? "Then the second."

"Oh…" he said, his voice low and hurt. I turned away, not wanting to look at him. I pitied Jayden, but I didn't feel the same way about him.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" I asked, trying to get him to leave.

"Can't sleep. Guess I'm stuck with you for awhile," he replied, a smirk on his face.

"Well, if you're going to be up, at least be entertaining. Think of something to talk about.

"Is Fang usually this protective?" he asked, returning to the awkward discussion of Fang.

"No," I replied. I looked over at Fang's sleeping body, trying to remember when he changed. The past few weeks seemed like a blur in my mind now. "He was always protective, but he's been even worse ever since he got captured by the School again."

"What did they do to him?"

"I'm not sure. He said that they made him kill a clone of me, but I'm sure there's more than that."

"It could be all that they did. Being forced to kill anything that looked like you would certainly make me more protective," he whispered, his dark blue eyes looking right into mine, silently begging me to fall for him instead of Fang.

"Well, Fang's been through a lot more than you and is much stronger. It would take a lot more than that to make him change so drastically," I shot at him. Jayden looked down into hands, his face impassive.

"Right," he said, softly tapping the counter with his clenched fist. "I'm actually getting pretty tired, I think I'll head back to bed. See you in the morning."

"I thought it already was morning?" I called out quietly to his retreating back, regretting being so harsh with him. He was only trying to be sweet; it wasn't his fault that I didn't like it. He looked over his shoulder at me, a small smile lighting up his face.

"Right. See you later, then." He turned to continue to his room, when I felt the Voice shove its way back into my head. I let out a grunt of pain, clutching the counter with one hand to steady myself, and my throbbing head with the other.

Hello again, Maximum Ride.

AN: Dun dun dun...the Voice is back:P

Oh, and for those of you who don't read the top AN's because you just need to read the chapter the second the page opens because it's so good (lol):