So yesterday, I was at the pool with some of my friends, and we were just about to leave when these two boys who were in about 6th grade came. We told them to turn off the pool lights when they were done (since we had turned them on when we got there) and they gave us some sarcastic remark. We just rolled our eyes, but they kept being idiots and shouting at us, which ticked all of us off since we were a lot older than them. We walked home, then realized that we had forgotten some stuff at the pool, so we had to go back. On the way, we came up with one of our rather brilliant plans. When we got back to the pool, I pretended to be a foreign exchange student. I talked in an obnoxious accent, and told the two boys that "Vere I come frum, ve send silly boys like you off to military school. You lucky you not live there. You vould be sleeping on cots and vaking up at six every morning to do drills. Not fun."

Let's just put it this way: I think we scarred those poor kids for life.

Chapter 7: False

I ran into Nudge and Angel's room in a frenzy, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Throwing open the door, I fell onto their bed and curled up into a tight little ball, the impact shaking them awake.

"Max, are you okay?"

"Max, what happened?"

"You look terrible!"

I'll admit: this was not what I was hoping for in terms of emotional comfort. "Nothing happened. Don't worry about it. Just go back to bed," I mumbled into my pillow.

"Oh, Max," Angel murmured, reading my mind. "Max, I'm so sorry."

"What? What?" Nudge cried frantically, hating to not be in the loop.

"Fang just kissed Max," Angel said sadly.

"But that's great! That's what you were hoping for, isn't it?"

"But then she ran away," Angel finished, shaking her head.

Nudge frowned. "Max, what have I told you about this? You can't run away from your feelings. You have to face them."

"Nudge," I said tersely, "I know. I just have a lot to deal with right now, okay?"

"I know, Max, but –"

"No buts. Now get back to bed, both of you. We don't want you to be nodding off in the middle of getting your nails done!" I said with false cheerfulness. Laying down my head, I felt my throat tighten up, and a trail of a tear trickle down my cheek. Argh! I couldn't keep breaking down like this all the time! The Flock depended on me to stay strong in tough times, not to collapse into tears. And I was Emotionless Leader Max – I wasn't used to sharing my feelings with anyone, except for Fang. And as of right now, it didn't look as if I would be having a heart-to-heart talk with him anytime soon.

I assure you, some very colorful words were dancing across my head right now.

Why did I always have to screw things up?

. . .

I dragged myself out of bed the next morning, feeling like a zombie as I had not slept a wink last night. Great way to start a vacation, eh?

"Well, don't you look snappy this morning?" Total said sarcastically, as I loped out of the room. I aimed a kick at him, which he was smart enough to dodge.

Entering the mini kitchen, I saw that Iggy was frying bacon, and the rest of the Flock was sitting around the table. Except for one.

Three guesses who?

"Where's Fang?" Angel asked conversationally.

"Went out for a fly," Iggy replied. "Seem kind of tense… I wonder why?" he asked in all seriousness, having no idea of what went on last night.

"No clue," I mumbled.

"Sooo…" Nudge started, breaking the tension. "I made a schedule of what we're going to do each day while we're here." I looked down quickly, glad for the change of subject. When I saw what she was showing us, though, I groaned. Nudge had written out a complex sheet of notes about each of the attractions on the boat, and exactly what day and time we would be visiting each of them. And by each of them, I mean all of them. This was just one day in our packed schedule:

9:00 – Breakfast in room, courtesy of Iggy

10:30 – Arcade

12:00 – Lunch in dining hall

1:00 – Fly

3:00 – Free time

5:30 – Dinner in dining hall

7:00 – Live music in gazebo

8:30 – Rent movie

"Um, wow, Nudge," Gazzy said unenthusiastically. "Sounds… great." She frowned. "No, really. You planned everything out really well. I'm sure having a schedule will help a lot," he said hastily, covering up his mistake.

"Yeah, thanks, Nudge." Everyone smiled at her, and she cheered up.

"So I was thinking we'd check out the arcade this morning, sound good?" she asked.

"Sure. As soon as everyone's ready, we'll head down.

. . .

Turns out, the arcade wasn't just one of the wimpy ones you find at water parks and hotels. This thing was massive. The room itself was about the size of your average movie theater, and it was chock full of games galore. Gazzy and Iggy hurried over to some army game, while Angel dragged Nudge over to the Dance Dance Revolution machine. Which left Fang and I standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. Neither of us had mentioned what had gone on last night – we were acting much the same around each other, if not being a bit more polite.

"Um…"

"So."

"Yeah."

"Well –"

"Maybe…"

"Sounds good."

I coughed uncomfortably, and Fang gestured to a race track machine, which had two sets of seats and steering wheels. Having assumed that Fang had just wanted a place to sit down, I leaned against the back of the seat and closed my eyes. But apparently, Fang had different ideas.

"Um… Max? Are you going to play?"

"Oh. Right." I slid a couple of coins into the slot, and it asked us to pick characters to race with. Not surprisingly, Fang picked a teenage boy clad in black, actually looking very similar to Mr. Tall, Dark, and Silent himself. I picked the only teenage girl there was – one modeling a frou-frou blouse, a too-short miniskirt, and sparkly pink pumps. Fang raised his eyebrows, but I just shook my head.

Next, it asked us to pick vehicles. We both chose sleek, shiny racecars – Fang's black and mine dark red. The machine entered our data, placed our cars on two separate tracks, and counted down to the beginning of the race. As the bang of a gun signaled the start, my car gave a feeble jerk, spun around a bit, and then slowed to a halt. It was obvious that I'd had very little driving experience in my fourteen years. On the other hand, I could see Fang's car cruising around the track – he was a pro! Grinding my teeth, I edged my car past the pole it had slammed into, and was startled to see how fast it was going already. I urged it forward, having a strange, unexpected desire to win this thing. It was understandable, though – I couldn't stand losing. Especially to Fang.

Quickly, I peered at the other screen. Still way ahead of me, it actually looked as if Fang's vehicle was about to lap mine! Stepping on the gas, I rose to maximum speed, but apparently that wasn't the best idea, because my car flew right over the edge of a bridge it was supposed to be crossing, and into the water below. I tapped my foot impatiently as my car was replaced, hating to see Fang beating me so badly. The rest of the game continued much in this fashion – Fang speeding around the track, me crashing into stationary objects, and Fang snickering at my lack of coordination. Finally, my screen flashed with a little "GAME OVER" sign, and I groaned in exasperation. Fang had won, and I still had to laps to go.

Gripping the steering wheel hard, I gave Fang the death glare. "I demand a rematch."