DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride

Chapter Six – Same Game

Fang's POV

Fang had always been careful about the things he said. But he'd gone and practically proven to Max that he thought sex was meaningless. He'd told her the truth about other things, but as soon as the issue of his sexual partners had popped up, he'd been a complete bastard. He had wanted to tell her that he had been waiting for her. He'd wanted to say that he didn't date because the only person he wanted to be with was her. He wanted to say that the first girl he'd slept with had practically raped him and that things had gone downhill from there. He'd needed a way to take out his frustrations and found that sex worked quite well, especially when he was frustrated with the lack of Max in his life.

Now, he'd screwed everything up.

She was a virgin! How was he supposed to know that she'd saved herself? If it would have changed anything, he would have saved himself as well. He'd wanted to, that was for sure. He couldn't think of anyone else he'd wanted to make love to. But Brigit had been so demanding and he was a teenage boy. How was he supposed to refuse? And then he'd gotten this notion into his head that there was no way Max would stay a virgin for long. She was beautiful and smart and funny. She would have a million suitors wherever she was. So he'd let himself go down the road to his own self-destruction.

He should have just told her the truth. But now he'd gone and made himself look like a bastard that didn't think of sex as meaningful. Well, it was partially true. The only sex he could think of being meaningful was sex with Max. But he'd never know; she'd made herself clear about that.

But that wasn't the thing that had him so angry with himself. He didn't just want sex with Max - far from it. He wanted everything to do with her. He wanted to wake up with her. He wanted to listen to her talk for hours. He wanted to be the one she came to when she was in trouble or when she needed someone. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to spend the day with her. Hell, he just wanted to know her.

God, he sounded like a complete idiot. He knew that he would never say any of this out loud.

He'd completely broken down in front of her last night. She'd told him that she was a virgin and he had realised that she just might have been saving herself for him. It was a ridiculous thought, but he couldn't get it out of his head. What if she'd waited for him? He had wanted to wait for her, but he hadn't. That's what really got to him.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. His life was so screwed.

He finally convinced himself to get out of his car and enter the school grounds. He'd been debating whether to go to school today - or skip - for half an hour. Finally, he decided that he would try and set things straight, even if it just meant helping Max out.

When he arrived at the usual space that he and Iggy occupied in the morning, he was surprised to see Max chatting with Iggy. They looked like they were getting along great and Fang couldn't help the stab of jealousy he felt pierce his heart.

"Fang!" Iggy said with a grin. His huge glasses glinted in the sun. Anyone would think the guy was blind – his glasses were that big! But he only had to wear them when he was reading. By the look of the textbook in his pale hand, he'd been studying (nerd!) before Max had come along.

"Hey," Fang said by way of greeting as he leant against the brick wall next to Max.

She smiled at him and he knew that she was going to pretend the kiss they'd shared last night had never happened. He made sure his emotions didn't show on his face and decided that he didn't really have a choice but to follow her lead.

"What happened to your eye?" Iggy asked.

Fang shrugged. "Fight." The skin was still tender to touch, which was understandable. He hoped everyone just ignored him today.

Iggy frowned, but didn't say anything.

"Iggy was just telling me about his date last night. Sounds like they hit it off," Max supplied after a moment's silence.

He forced himself to stop thinking about last night and turned to Iggy. He also had to force down the weird feelings he was having about their old friendship group suddenly being together again – minus Nudge.

"It was pretty nice. You know," Iggy said with a shrug, obviously trying to downplay it.

"You going soft?" Fang asked with a teasing tone to his voice.

Iggy blushed.

"I think it's sweet. It's certainly more healthy than any relationship you ever have," Max stated.

He looked at her. So she was going to play dirty? Two could play that game.

Lowering his voice so that only she could hear, he said, "At least I have relationships."

Max's eyebrows slammed into a frown. She glared at him and he was pleased by her reaction. At least she was trying to act like her old self. After all, that was the whole point of their re-kindled 'friendship'.

"Fang, I said I haven't had sex, not that I haven't had a relationship," she told him, voice low and sultry. He swallowed at the new tone to her voice. He could've sworn she was trying to be sexy. Maybe she was practising for her stupid plan to take down Lissa. He tried not to focus on the fact that she was very sexy indeed.

Her uniform – white blouse with a navy skirt – actually complimented her in a way that it was uncomplimentary for all the other girls at school. Her skirt was a bit shorter than he remembered it being the previous week, showing off her gloriously long legs. She'd done something different to her hair – piling it on her head in an amazingly sexy and rumpled way. Her tie was loose around her neck and her glossy lips shined in the morning sun. He stared at her lips for a moment, wondering what her lip gloss would taste like, before he remembered that they'd been talking.

He smirked and decided that the best conversations were silent. So he locked his gaze on hers before he made a show of looking over her entire body, pausing at her legs. When he made it back up to her face, he stared at her lips for good measure. Finally, he met her gaze again and raised an eyebrow at her. Like he suspected, she was flushed all over, adding a nice colour to her cheeks. He decided that he wasn't going to make this 'business arrangement' easy for her. If she didn't want him, so be it. But he was going to make it damn obvious that he wanted her.

"Okay, what the hell is going on between you two?" Iggy demanded, drawing their attention.

He grinned and shrugged, feeling uncharacteristically sheepish.

Iggy's eyes narrowed.

"He's going to help me take down Lissa. You in?" Max asked, ignoring Fang completely.

Iggy laughed and grinned. "Can I blow something up?" he asked, always up for some mischief.

Max cracked a smile. "Maybe."

"Count me in," he said.

Max seemed relieved and Fang nearly chuckled. He was wondering what he could do to make the tension between them even stronger. He was beginning to think that this would be fun.

"So, what's the plan?" Iggy asked.

Max bit her lip in thought. "Well, she hasn't started her attack on me yet, but I have it on good authority that it will start very soon. I think she'll be surprised when I can take whatever she's going to throw at me. We'll meet back here this arvo after school? Then we can go over the plan."

"Okay," Iggy agreed, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "But why don't you just hang out with me and Fang and not worry about this whole mess?"

"Because, this is personal," Max muttered.

Iggy grinned.

"Okay, I'll catch you guys later," Max said with a wave. Then, she was disappearing into the crowd of milling students.

Fang noticed that they'd been getting quite a bit of attention from the sheep surrounding them. Students were eyeing him like he held all the answers to the universe. He knew that hanging out with Max was going to draw some attention, but he didn't think it would be so obvious straight away. He sighed and accepted his fate. From now on, he was a player in this weird game going on between Max and Lissa. He just hoped he didn't screw up. He owed Max as much.

Fang decided that since he was already going to be getting unwanted attention, that he might as well embrace it. So, for the first time in a long time, he ate lunch in the cafeteria. He chose a table closest to Max's and sat back to enjoy the show. He smiled to himself when he realised that all the tables near his were empty. So, people were still scared of him. At least he wasn't going completely soft.

Lissa, Julia, Kathy and some girl Fang had never seen before – although it was obvious she was a freshman – sat down at the middle table first. The freshman had blonde hair shaped in perfect curls and was pretty in a doll-like way. He wondered what she was doing with the ruthless Lissa and the slutty Julia.

The Worthington twins arrived soon after, joining the table and starting a conversation about God knows what. He didn't think that the twins would have enough brains to even make a complete sentence.

Fang was surprised when Nudge bypassed the middle table and walked over to him directly. He sighed inwardly as she sat down across from him with a glare on her face.

"Yes?" he asked.

"What the hell are you doing? Everyone is talking about you. Where's Iggy, anyway?" she demanded.

Fang repressed a smile. "Iggy's with his girlfriend."

Nudge blanched. "He has a girlfriend?" Her voice was smaller than usual and she definitely looked hurt. Or maybe it was surprised.

"Yeah, as of last night. I think he really likes her," Fang said, gauging her reaction, knowing that Iggy was going to pester him about it as soon as he found out.

"Oh," was all she said in a very uncharacteristic way. Usually, she could never shut up; although, she had learned to control herself over the last few years.

"Nudge," he started, hating the fact that he was suddenly the middleman between her and Iggy. "If you like him, you should tell him."

"I don't like him!" she exclaimed.

Fang sighed. "Fine. Whatever. I'm not good at this whole thing anyway."

Nudge sank into her chair. "Why are you here, anyway?" she asked.

"I got sick of eating outside. Thought I'd shake things up."

"Sure," she said, disbelieving.

His eyes shifted to the table behind Nudge, but Max hadn't shown up yet. His attention returned to Nudge and he tried to tune in to what she was talking about. Luckily, it was just mindless chatter. Anyone would think that she was nervous. Perhaps she was thinking of Iggy and Ella.

The chair next to him moved and he glanced up to see Max plop into it. He was surprised and immediately looked over to the middle table to see their reaction. He found that the middle table – and everyone else in the room – were staring at them.

"I need Lissa to know that I'm friends with you," she whispered as she made herself comfortable. She smiled at Nudge, who had stopped ranting in the middle of a sentence, and then leaned closer to him. He had to remind himself that she was just using him. He hated his hands at that moment for wanting to reach out and touch her.

He couldn't help himself: he leaned towards her and breathed in her scent. He smirked when he heard her breathing hitch and gently touched her leg under the table. She jumped. He was impressed when she didn't glare at him. Instead, she smiled and laughed flirtatiously. He blinked.

She leaned toward him until her mouth was against his ear. "Wish me luck," she whispered as she stood up and made her way over to the middle table. He watched her hopelessly, wondering when she'd decided to play the same game as him.

"What. The. Hell."

"Nudge, mind your own business," he said as he leaned back in his chair and finally began to eat his lunch.

She gaped at him, and then smiled.

"I'll mind my own business. But only because I have faith that you and Max will eventually realise you were made for each other."

He ignored her.

A/N: Who do you think is going to win this game of seduction between Max and Fang? The rules aren't really clear, but it's fun all the same. ;-)