A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates. I'm a first year uni student this year, so I'm trying to get my bearings. But you don't want to hear about me, you want to read my story (hopefully)...

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride.

Chapter Eight – Might Bite

Fang's POV

Fang, Iggy and Max had met after school that day to talk about their mission. Iggy had come up with the inventive name of 'Mission: Kill Nasty Rich Bitch'. Max had opted to forgo a name for now. She thought that 'Kill Nasty Rich Bitch' was too conspicuous. And rightly so. They'd decided to be defensive for the time being. They were waiting for Lissa to initiate something.

The meeting was short and they all went their different ways when it finished. Iggy had a date with Ella, Max had to get home and do something with her mother, and he had to go to work.

"Fang?" Theo, the manager of Burger Fervour, asked as Fang entered. The big man looked angry and Fang's guard was immediately up.

"Hey," Fang greeted casually. He hadn't worked since he'd punched Sam, so he wondered if he was about to get in trouble.

"Can I speak to you in my office?" Theo asked. The tiny office was mainly for show. Theo hardly used it and it was basically just a place to dump the paperwork.

Theo took a seat at the desk and Fang stood across from him. There was only one seat in the untidy office.

"You upset quite a few people when you punched that young boy the other day. I can't let you go unpunished for the assault you committed. You're lucky that the young man didn't press charges."

Fang stayed silent.

"I don't think I can keep you on, son. You've been a great employee, but I can't tolerate any violence in my business. I'll have to let you go."

Fang swallowed. "Sir, I don't think you understand how much I need this job," Fang said, hating the pleading tone in his voice.

"You should have thought of that before you entered a brawl."

Fang felt crushed. It had taken him so long to get this job that he didn't think he could go anywhere else. Everyone knew his family's reputation and no one wanted anything to do with him. What was he going to do when his money ran out?

"Sorry, son. I'm sure you'll find somewhere else to work." There was doubt in Theo's eyes and Fang knew that it was going to be extremely hard to find honest work after this transgression.

Fang didn't say anything as he stood and exited the small office. He ignored the looks everyone was giving him as he left his former place of employment.

He drove home, thinking murderous thoughts about Samuel Worthington. When he pulled into the driveway he wasn't surprised to see his father's car wasn't there. He was surprised, however, to find things missing from the house. The only thing left in the house was the furniture. All the little trinkets his mother collected were gone.

He searched the office and found the room empty except for the big ugly desk and chair. His parent's bedroom was devoid of everything worth taking. At first, he thought they'd been mugged, but his room was exactly the same as he'd left it.

When he returned to the kitchen, he found a note stuck the fridge. In clear writing that was clearly his mother's, the note read:

We decided it was time to move away. We've moved some money into your bank account to keep you going for the moment, but we think you're old enough to look after yourself. Have a good life.

-Rex and Roxy.

Fang stared at the note for a long time, trying to comprehend it. His parents had decided to ditch him on the same day he got fired. He ran to the ancient computer that was in his room and booted it up. After it had taken a year to load, he finally checked his bank account. They'd given him five hundred dollars! He had to live off five hundred dollars? His father was worth hundreds of thousands! He sighed. He was royally screwed. Without a job, five hundred bucks wasn't going to last very long.

He gritted his teeth and set about typing out a new resume. He was going to have to find a new job. He couldn't even afford to be picky.

He spent the rest of the afternoon printing off resumes and delivering them to every possible place he could think of. When he'd depleted his stack of resumes (and paper for his printer) he made his way home. A ham sandwich sufficed as his dinner before he retreated to his room to wallow in his misery. He found his last cigarette and twirled it in his fingers. If he finished it off now, would it make him feel better? Would anything make him feel better?

He lit it up and inhaled the sweet smoke. Changing his mind, he quickly put it out. With shaking hands, he carefully placed it back into the packet, as if it would fall apart at any second. He spent another half an hour staring at the packet and fighting his urge to smoke. Finally, he fell into bed and hoped that tomorrow would be a better day.

Why did the world constantly bite him in the ass?

The next day wasn't any better. After waking up with a splitting headache and finding that the bread had gone mouldy, he knew he was in for a rough week. He couldn't even make toast for breakfast! Instead, he found an apple that looked like it had already started to decompose. He ate it anyway, wishing he could have smoked his way through an entire packet of cigarettes instead. He couldn't even remember why his was quitting. Something about his health?

To make his day even better, it was pouring down rain and his car was nearly out of fuel. He had to stop at a station and fill the tank up, which ate through a chunk of his savings. But it was either that or walk for forty minutes in the pouring rain. He wasn't quite up for being miserable and wet just yet.

When he finally managed to get to school, he found Max and Iggy hanging out on the steps to the school, semi dry and happy. Max was eating something warm and toasted for breakfast that he couldn't help drooling over. He didn't really want to admit to himself that he was partly drooling over Max as well.

She was pure torture; that was sure. Her hair was curly from the weather and completely gorgeous. He tried not to focus on her shirt or the fact that she was wearing a black bra when it was pouring down rain. From the way she was acting, he assumed that she didn't know her shirt had gone see-through.

"I'm stuffed," she said as he arrived, completely wet despite driving to school. Maybe he should have just walked. "Do you want the rest?" She offered him the toasted wrap in her hand with a smile that made her face light up. He considered turning down her food, but then remembered he was starving and probably not going to eat all day. With a casual shrug he took the meal from her and took a huge bite. The taste of proper food almost sent him over the edge. It felt so good to eat something that wasn't stale or something from the back of his fridge.

"So, we think Lissa is going to bide her time. There have been no rumours of any plans to do with Max just yet," Iggy announced.

"Can we talk about something else?" Fang asked; sick of hearing about some petty plan that he was somehow involved in. His mood was going in all different directions. He didn't know if he could hide these emotions from his friend and the girl that set out to torture him.

"What's up with you?" Iggy asked, real concern in his eyes.

"Nothing," he said in a tone that clearly told them something was up.

"Dude, you okay?" Iggy probed. Fang finished off the last of his toasted breakfast and felt pity for himself. His life was pathetic, and now he felt pathetic.

Fang abruptly turned his back on his best friend and headed back out into the rain. He couldn't keep himself together for much longer, and he didn't want to let his emotions loose on his friends. Or friend. He wasn't sure if Max was really his friend or not.

He could hear them talking about him as he walked into the rain. He wondered who would follow him, knowing that neither of them could leave well enough alone.

He reached his smoking spot, which was thankfully covered from the rain, and leant against the wall. He pulled his only cigarette out and placed it in his mouth, but didn't light it. He waited, and sure enough, Max appeared around the corner.

"When someone leaves, they generally don't want to be followed," he said, just to strike out at her.

"What the hell is going on?" she demanded, hand on her hips.

He decided he really needed a smoke. His trusty lighter lit the tip and he inhaled, determined not to let her judging eyes get to him.

"It must be pretty bad if you're using your last cig," Max said, stepping closer and losing all of her fight. She leant against the wall next to him and let out a big breath.

"It doesn't concern you," he said, taking a long drag and holding the smoke in. Slowly, he let it escape his mouth. It kind of felt like he was expelling all of his emotions out with the smoke, but he knew that wasn't true. His emotions never left him – they were just suppressed and locked away. One day, he knew they would all find their way out at the same time. He wasn't looking forward to that.

"You can tell me, you know. I'm still your friend," Max said.

"Really? Last I checked; we were 'strictly business'."

She stiffened and he felt bad for attacking her.

"Okay. I'll leave," she said, straightening up and walking away from him.

Without thinking, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him.

"I'm sorry," he said, eyes downcast. "I'm being a prick. I've just been having a rough time. I shouldn't take it out on you."

She stared at him and gently put her hand against his forehead. "You don't seem to have a fever, but something must be wrong for you to actually apologise," she murmured.

He laughed, which surprised both of them.

With a sigh, she placed her hands on either side of his face and looked him in the eyes. She was even more beautiful up close. Her skin was glowing and her hair was messy from the rain. Her lips were the perfect shade of pink. Was it so wrong of him to want to kiss her?

"I'll always be here for you," she said.

For a moment, they were quiet. He knew that she was thinking about the time she hadn't been there for him. The melancholy on her face was enough to drive him crazy. She shouldn't have to feel bad about something her parents forced her to do.

He smoothed her tangled hair with both of his hands and gave her a smirk. "I know."

Then he kissed her.

She didn't react as he placed a chaste kiss on her sweet lips. He lingered against her lips for a moment before he pulled away. He knew that she wouldn't return the kiss, but he felt the need to do it anyway.

She looked at him for a long moment, studying his features. He desperately wanted to know what she was thinking at that exact moment.

She placed her lips against his ear and he felt her warm breath on his neck.

"This doesn't mean anything, okay? You just look sad."

Before he could ask her what she meant, she was kissing him. Really kissing him. For a moment, he didn't react, and then he smiled against her lips and kissed her back. She was trying to make him feel better.

His hands went to her waist as one of hers went into his hair and the other grabbed onto the front of his shirt. He pulled her flush against him and hoped that she wouldn't get scared and pull away. Instead, she pushed her tongue into his mouth and started to explore. He was surprised, to say the least, but didn't hesitate to go along with her.

Soon, he was pushing her up against the wall. Her leg hitched around his waist seemingly of its own accord. He grinned when she moaned against his mouth. He let his hand travel up and down her smooth leg as he deepened the kiss.

Eventually, they pulled apart to catch their breath. Their breathing was ragged as they stared at each other, kind of sheepishly.

"Do you feel better now?" she asked with a playful smile.

"No," he said, and kissed her again.

This time he hoisted her against the wall and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He kissed her mouth and moved down to her neck. Soon, she had a huge hickey that she wouldn't be able to hide very easily. He felt her fingers caress his chest through his soaking shirt and shivered. He let his fingers travel under her shirt and caress her spine. He was careful not to venture too far up, knowing that he wouldn't be able to control himself if he went there.

When they pulled apart for a second time, they couldn't help but grin at each other.

"All better," he said with a gentle kiss to her nose.

She giggled.

With that, he let her down from the wall and they straightened themselves out. They were already late for class, but neither of them seemed to mind. Fang knew that nothing could really change between them. Her parents weren't going to stand for it if he was back in her life and he wasn't really in a position to have a girlfriend. With that knowledge – and Max's earlier words – he knew that nothing was different between them.

But maybe he could get in some more sneaky kisses in the future.

A/N: Have you ever had a really bad day where everything has just gone wrong? What happened?