Disclaimer: only ideas are mine.

Chapter 5

About half an hour after Max and her mom left, there was a knock on the door.

"Fang…?" Max opened the door a crack.

"Yeah," I answered, "What's up?"

"I brought you an iPhone and some comics," she handed me the comic book and a small dark rectangle with a pair of black head-phones sticking out of it.

I stared at it blankly, turning it over in my hands. I would never admit it to Max, but I had no idea how these things worked. She smiled and turned it on for me, then she opened a music tab, an internet and showed where the games were.

She turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" I asked

"I left Ari at home," she said.

"And your mom…?"

"Went back to work."

I frowned, "So how'd you get here?"

"Bike," she answered. I raised an eyebrow.

"I'll look for a job," we said in unison.

Max looked surprised. I waved the iPhone at her. She smirked, "K. Later." She creaked the door open and looked either side, like was crossing a road, before sprinting into a corridor.

I watched her go from the window before pushing in my earphone and setting to work with 'Falling inside the Black' By Skillet blared in my ears.

I glared coldly at the Doctor who had stopped and woke me up. It was a totally different doctor from last time, in personality and appearance. He cowered away from me, trying to hide behind his crazy mop of brown hair. He was obviously an idiot, a trainee, or both.

"Well?" I asked

"100% recovery," he read from a clip-board. "Free to leave at anytime."

I nodded then looked out-side. The sky was dark, with faint purple streaks of light at the horizon.

"What time is it?" I asked, turning back to the doctor. He hadn't moved, but he was starting at me in horror. Suddenly I had remembered that I taken of my scrubs before I went to sleep, leaving my scared stomach and back visible when I sat up.

I glared at him again, "Oi!"

He jumped and tore his eyes from my stomach.

"Yeah, what time is it?" I growled, "And can I use your phone."

He looked puzzled, taking a cell phone slowly out of his pocket and checking his watch.

"Its 7:00…" the doc said stretching out the phone he had taken out.

"Not your phone, idiot!" I snapped; this dude really was stupid. He jerked back, looking stunned. I sighed and got out of bed, heading for the door, sticking the iPhone in my back pocket and Max's comics under my arm. I was almost there when the door flew open, hitting the doctor in the head. It was entirely his fault tough. I mean who stands beside the hinges of a closed door? Max stood in the doorway panting.

"I found a job!" Max yelled, then she frowned, "Where are you going?"

"Home," I answered nonchalantly, "And maybe work tomorrow." She took comics as I passed her. "Did you bring a bike for me too?"

"No. You were supposed to be in bed."

I sighed.

"Plus I walked here."

I looked at her, her cheeks were cherry-coloured and her breathing was rugged. "No you didn't!" I said as we walked past the front desk. Doctors had recognized us, running around us, trying to stop us. One stood in front of us; without breaking our strides, the man got a free double gut punch from us. It was clear he was just a regular doc, but he did his best to try and ignore the pain.

We both stopped abruptly and glared at him.

"You are not allowed to leave…" He said weakly.

"Why not?" we both asked fiercely, the doctor winced.

"Max?" we turned to see a boy our age with blond movie-star hair. He was in shorts, an Aéropostale shirt and black converse. Suddenly, I felt self-conscious in my tattered black jeans and sneakers.

"Dylan," Max said flatly.

The boy smirked. "Seems like you're in a bit of trouble."

"Why do you care?" Max asked.

"Well, 'cuz we're such close friends," he said sarcastically, "I'll pull some strings and get you off the hook."

She glared at him. "Whatever."

Dylan called off the doctor standing in front of us, and Max stalked out the door without a second glance. I was right behind her.

"Friend of yours?" I asked as we walked down the road.

Max snarled at me.

I grinned. "Just joking."

"Fang, don't make me strangle you."

"Yes ma'am."

She cheered up a bit at that. "He's Dylan Hertz, a boy in my- well soon to be our- class. He's pretty much a prep school jock."

I nodded.

"Don't worry," she assured me. "Maybe he'll get kicked from school, or go to boarding school or something."

I laughed. "Does he need it?"

"Yup," Max replied. "Biggest bully I know."

We walked the rest of the way home in relative silence, avoiding the cars which splashed past us like we were invisible. Apparently it had rained while I was in the hospital. A lot of rain.

When we got in the front door, Max's mom was pacing in the living room. Her dad was sitting on the couch, looking just as worried.

"We're home," Max announced as we entered.

"Max, Nick, thank God!" Dr. Ride (female) said she jumped towards us and enveloped us both in a hug. Awkward.

"We're fine Mom," Max said, feeling as uncomfortable as I did.

"Okay, okay," she said softly. "Go ahead and get ready for dinner."

We went upstairs, walking right past Dr. Ride (male), Jeb I called him in my head. Suddenly I realized, he hadn't said a word to us since we had come in. Weird.

Dun Dun Dun (Belt from Croods)
BTW Croods is a REALLY stupid movie.

-S