HI EVERYONE SO SO SO SO SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING. But I'm out of school now so I kind of have time to update more now. Yay! (I'm going to be a junior. That's a scary thought!)

Enough about my life and onto the story. This chapter is kind of a filler chapter because the way I was going to put it would have skipped a month and been kind of awkward. This chapter is kind of awkward and confusing too but hey, FANG'S POV AND NO HATING MAX MAYBE YAY!

Disclaimer: I don't own MR stuff

Enjoy!

9. FPOV

Max and Ella had come over one afternoon, and I had decided I would clear on out. I couldn't stand Maximum Ride. She was a rich, spoiled brat. She acted like she wasn't. Angel and Nudge admired her for whatever reason, and Iggy and Gazzy thought she was pretty cool. It was an act. I was certain of it. I was fine with Ella since she had been friends with Iggy for a while. So as I was clearing out, my new mother, Valencia Martinez came to the door.

"Fang, dear, why don't you go spend time with Max and Ella?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "I have other things I want to do."

Valencia sighed. "Fang, you need to spend time with more people besides Iggy and Lissa."

I didn't answer her. I just looked down at her. She looked genuinely concerned. Sighing, I went back toward the living room where everyone was. Crowds always made me uncomfortable. I considered my parents and I to be more than enough people in one room at a time. My life was different then. We were poor because my parents were drug addicts, but they cared enough about each other and me to keep us all alive and fed and whatnot. The Martinez household was a huge change for me. There were 3 kids and a mother. That's four whole people, plus myself. Everyone in the house was loving and caring and talkative. No one in my family was talkative. We avoided each other for the most part. Not because there was like bad stuff going on between us. We just were antisocial people. Here, I got actual cooked food because Valencia was the best cook ever. I already knew this because Iggy and I used to hang out here, and Valencia was the nicest person ever. She always wanted to make sure everything was okay with me, occasionally taking me out of the room to talk to me. That's how she found out that my parents had died and decided to take me in.

After I first entered the room, I stood in the corner listening to everyone and watching them, and tried to get to the bottom of Why I Hated Maximum Ride. She was different. That was for sure. Different from any other girl I had dated or met. Not girly, but also not tomboy-y. She was tough. Kind of angry at times like me. I went on and on for 5 minutes and tried to find a good reason for why I hated her. I came up with nothing decent, so I decided to try and become friends with her at some point.

Nudge then noticed me, and signaled for me to come over to the table where they were talking or playing a game or whatever.

"Hey, Fang! We were just talking about Max's birthday and her boyfriend. And like we were gonna play some board game but they're called board games because they're boring so we decided not to. Oh, and mom is gonna make us chocolate chip cookies cuz they're hevean and Max needs to experience them and—"

"Hey, Nudge, how about we, uh, stop talking for a minute?" Max asked, kind of smiling over at Nudge.

I gave a little half grin at the comment. She glared back at me, but not with as much intensity as usual.

Maybe she would stop hating me someday as I had decided not to hate her.

A few days later, Max came back over by herself when I was home alone. The girls and Gazzy had gone out to some event. She looked hesitant when I answered the door.

"Um, I was wondering if Nudge or Angel was here? I was going to give them something…"

"Well, no, they're out with Valencia." I answered.

"Oh. Well, these are the things." She handed them to me carefully, as if I might blow them up or something crazy.

There were a few moments of awkward silence between us.

"Um, do you wanna come in and get something to drink or eat or something?" I asked her.

She looked like she was about to refuse, but then asked, "Are there cookies?"

I nodded.

"Well, then I'm in for sure."

I gave her a half smile and closed the door behind her.

I don't think she planned on staying the whole hour and a half that she ended up staying, but we had a good time. (Not in that way, in the friendly, getting-to-know-you-and-not-hate-you kind of way.) We started talking about interests and parts of our lives and stuff. I think the cookies helped a lot in the progression of our relationship.

By the time she realized that she should go home, she was laughing and I was smiling in the way I like to smile. She even gave me a hug on the way out, maybe as a joke since both of us weren't really touchy-feely people.

"I'll see you guys later!" she said as she was about to leave. "Say hi to everyone else for me."

"The flock." I said, and then realized that it made no sense. "We call ourselves the flock." I added for clarity.

She nodded, looking at me like I was slightly crazy. "Okay then. Have a nice day."

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