A/N: Really weird. This document I'm currently typing on was supposed to be Just Another Year's. Naduling ata ako nun... Ha-ha!

Fang: What?

Max: Huh?

Iggy: Oh, never mind.

Chapter 9

Max POV

What is he?

I bet he's an alien or something. Or a supernatural freak? Like a vampire!

Pshh.

That aside, how's it going?

Me? Well, it's been going fine. Dylan has been sentenced to three weeks of agonizing adjournment from his non-damsel alma mater. AKA: suspension.

That's what you get for trespassing to Deveraux in a school night. Doesn't anyone read the student handbook anymore? (Yeah, right. Look at me!)

GUESS WHAT?

Aya just gave a weekend off! That means I get to go back to my awesome home and no longer be a prisoner in Hades's academia for two days!

"What do you mean I can't go home?" I ask Aya loudly. THIS IS PREPOSTEROUS! (Imagine me saying that in a British accent. No? Well, then.)

Aya just shakes her dark head. "That's not what I meant-"

I slam both my hands on her desk. The pencils on her pencil jug rattle. Aya winces. "What did you mean? Huh?"

"You will have the weekend off. But," Aya holds up her pen at me to shut up. I do. "You can't go because the founders are coming this weekend."

I pull back. I cross my arms across my chest. "What's that got to do with my vacation?" I question her harshly.

"It means this weekend is the Curriculum." Aya loosens up her jacket and takes it off. She slings it around the back of her chair and looks at me.

I still don't get it. "So. . ."

J.J. strolls in the SC room. She grabs a throw pillow and is trying to balance it on her point finger. Fail. She groans. "It means Max," she picks up the pillow and tries again. "That all the parents of each student in this academy will come this weekend."

Why can't they talk straightforwardly? "And?"

"No students are leaving this school until the Curriculum is over."

I drop Homer to the floor.

Does that mean. . . No, it can't be. . .

Face it, Max! You will not be able to go home and stay there forever!

I slap my forehead because the Voice is acting up again. (The Voice is my conscience. And I hate it sometimes. It gets in the way of my decision-making.)

I turn around and bore holes on Aya's olive-skinned forehead. "You set this up. I know you did." There are tears starting to form in my eyes. I blink it away. I just wanted to feel my soft mattress under me again.

Aya grins wickedly and shrugs. "I just can't let you go. Besides, you have a tough job. It's like getting a job at the CIA. You don't ever get what you want."

"Kaichou, don't describe the Student Council as the CIA again. It's getting creepy." Lissa complains and grabs the pillow J.J. was failing to balance on her finger. Lissa does in a way that J.J. almost starts to cry.

Aya sighs. "You're right. I should think of a new metaphor!" She taps her pen on her chin and starts to brainstorm.

Now is not the time to do that!

"Hey, Aya. Can you make-"

I turn around and the Larenston Student Council walks in.

He catches my gaze and I look away. I suddenly remember my dream last night.

"I'm Max!" I said, a kind smile growing in my face. I waved at the boy with the dark hair standing just a few feet away from me. He stares at me (or is he?) and I saw his mouth twitched.

I grinned and ran to him. "What's your name?" I asked him. I studied him while he fumbled with his shirt. His dark hair was almost covering his face.

"I'm Nick," he replied in a small voice in his British accent. There were goosebumps all over his skinny arms. Is he cold? I thought.

"How old are you?"

"Five."

I grinned at him. "Me too! Where do you live? Can I play with you? My mom said that I should make friends and not just play with her patients. I think it's unfair. Don't you think so?" I realized I was babbling so I stopped talking.

He nodded and pushed the hair out of his face. He has almost-black eyes. They were twinkling in confusion. "Play?"

I nodded. He shook his head. I frowned. "Why won't you play with me?"

He shook his head again. I began to feel frustrated that I turned around and began to climb the steps to the top of the slide.

I was almost at the top when Nick yelled at me. "Emmy!"

"What?" I yelled back to him. I was so angry at him for not playing with me.

"The bars are gonna break!"

As soon as he said that, I looked at the bars, and sure enough, they were making a cracking noise. I looked down; I was five feet up in the air. My eyes widened in fear. Tears sprang to my eyes.

"NICK!" I yelled and the bars broke. I fell, but did not feel the hard gravel on my back. Instead, I felt another human being underneath me.

I scrambled off him. I took his shoulders and shook him. "Nick? Nick! Are you OK?" I was still crying.

"Boo!"

"AAAHHH!"

Fang sat up and laughed at me. "I startled you! You should've seen your face!" He was laughing so hard that there were tears escaping from the corners of his eyes.

I glared at him, but I couldn't help but laugh with him. I stopped suddenly and sniffed. "You scared me. I thought you were dead." I rubbed my eyes because the tears kept on coming.

Nick stopped laughing and looked at me with his worried dark eyes. He took my hand and squeezed it. His right cheek was bleeding. "I'm not going to die until I'm older."

I laughed and hugged him. He hugged me back.

"How do you play with your mom's patients?" He asked me when we left the playground hand in hand.

I laughed at him because he thought my mom's patients were humans. "No, silly. They're animals! My mom's a vet!"

His mouth twitched and his cheeks were red. I pulled on his hand and we ran back to my house.

I made a new friend in London and he's so nice. And he's so stupid too.

Why the sudden random reminscing? What's up with that?

I feel my cheeks getting hotter so I suddenly leave the room. I don't stop walking until I step foot on the grass. I drop to the ground and take deep breaths until my heart beat returns to normal.

I drop my face to my hands and try to stop my cheeks to feel a hundred degrees Fahrenheit above normal temperature. I shake my head and slap my forehead.

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? WHY?

"Had a sudden retrospect?" asks a deep voice in a crisp British accent to my right.

I turn my head and of course, he's there leaning back on a tree bark. He half-waved at me and smirks. UGH!

"How did you know?"

He shrugs, his blazer crinkles at the shoulders. "You always had that look when you're remembering something." His dark eyes beneath the clear lenses are sparkling in mischief.

"How did you know I had Katy Perry stuck in my head?"

"You hummed. You always do that when a song is suddenly playing in your head."

Oh. I actually do that. "Oh," I say weakly and look away."Right."

"Your mom's coming?" He asks, and I hear him coming closer. He crouches two feet away from me and ruffles his hair. Why does he always do that? It's already messy.

I nod.

"Sad you can't go home?"

I nod again.

He snorts. "Stuck here in this prison, huh?"

I laugh. "Yeah. Here I thought my wish will be fulfilled. So much for hoping," I turn and catch his stare. "Are your parents coming?"

The sparkle vanishes from his eyes. So does his accent. "No."

I want to know why they aren't coming, but I can't do it. "What is the Curriculum anyway?"

He sighs heavily. "Just a complete waste of time."

I smile warmly. "Hate it that much, huh?"

He sits on his butt and stretches his long legs in front of him. "Pretty much. No point in doing it anyway."

"So, what is it exactly?"

The sparkle comes back. "Open House."

"Ah. Why are you guys here anyway?"

"Iggy was too lazy to plan one in Larenston."

"He's always lazy, isn't he?" He nods. "Knew it. How's Dylan?"

He grins. "You don't know how much you tortured him."

I laugh in a carefree way. "I feel sorry for him. But I don't regret it."

His accent comes back. "Spawn of the Devil, are you?"

I wiggle my eyebrows at him. We laugh together.

I stand up and brush the excess grass from my pants. "I have to go. Aya's gonna need me to get ready for the Curriculum tonight."

He nods and I walk back to my dorm room.

Out of the blue BFO! (Blinking Flash of the Obvious)

Did I just flirt with him? Did he just flirt back?

Oh. My. God.

A/N: I learned what BFO is from my French teacher. She's so awesome.

Max: RnR?

Fang & Iggy: What's an egg pie?