A/N: This chapter is dedicated to those people who have had very bad days in the past. I hope this makes you feel a tiny bit better. :)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maximum Ride

Chapter Nine – Evident Evidence, Part 1

Max's POV

Max had always known who she was. When she was younger, she was a tomboy. When she left the town of Ari, she became what her mother moulded her into. Now, she had no freaking clue. One moment, she was pushing Fang away and deciding to just fit in. Then, she was getting involved in a stupid little bitch fight with Lissa. Now, she had kissed Fang for no real reason and acted like it never happened. She was so confused, it was insane.

The teacher was saying something, droning on and on about molecules and whatnot. Max wasn't listening – she was daydreaming.

Argh! Why did her daydreaming keep returning to kissing Fang? She was trying to forget all about it. She'd already rationalised that she wasn't a slut for kissing him, but the fear was still there. Would she randomly kiss other boys in the future? Was she destined to never have a proper relationship?

So she shouldn't be thinking about Fang. Not at all. She shouldn't remember the way his lips felt on hers, or the way he'd smiled at her. She definitely shouldn't be touching the huge hickey he'd given her. She'd had to hide it under a bandaid and pretend her cat had scratched her.

She didn't have a cat.

But if anyone really cared, she could create some other lie to back it up. She was good at lying on the spot now; much better then when she'd been an innocent tomboy. With a sigh, she let her hand drop away from her neck and refocused on the class. She would not think about Fang.

When the bell rang to signal the end of class, she couldn't have been happier. She jumped out of her seat and was the first out of the room. She made her way to her last class for the day, gym. They were playing soccer today. It was usually something fun to do. Even the most uncoordinated people could play, though they tended to be placed in a separate team from the usual sporty people.

The grassy field was greener than usual; probably from the spout of rain they'd had a few days ago. She remembered a shirtless Fang and abruptly stopped walking. Then she shook her head and continued, trying not to think about it.

She was one of the first people to arrive at the soccer field and started stretching to warm up. She wasn't exactly heavily into sports. But she was very competitive and naturally athletic. She hadn't truly played a sport in a long time, and she was looking forward to kicking some ass. She wanted to see everyone's faces when she proved she wasn't just some useless rich kid.

When the rest of her class arrived, she was chosen to be a captain. To her annoyance, Lissa was chosen as the opposing captain. But then she remembered that she would get a chance to personally kick Lissa's ass, and that made her happy. She was imagining different ways in which she could tackle Lissa without getting in trouble when a deep voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Hey, Coach. Our teacher is away and we were wondering if we could just join up with your class," Samuel Worthington said. Max looked over and spotted the senior boys all grouped around Sam. She immediately spotted Fang, but forced herself to act disinterested.

"Sure, boys. We were about to start picking teams."

"I choose Fang," Lissa said loudly, much to Max's chagrin.

Fang looked pained as he took his spot behind Lissa.

"Sam," Max chose.

"Julia," Lissa said with a smirk.

And so the teams were decided. Max ended up with half of the boys, including the Worthington twins and Kurt, one of her admirers. She also had Nudge and Iggy, which she was happy about.

When the players had taken their positions, with some people sitting on the sidelines, waiting for their turn, Max threw a death glare at Lissa. Lissa flinched, making Max grin from ear to ear.

When the whistle blew, the game commenced. Max took off, playing excellently. She managed to score a goal in the first five minutes, much to everyone's surprise. The game continued with Fang scoring a goal for the other side. Max's team was clearly better, but Fang was amazing all by himself. He was graceful and fast. He could perform tricks that left you wondering if he could somehow fly. It was basically her team against Fang - he was that good.

Somehow, even though they were on the same team, Julia managed to trip and land on Fang, pinning him. She acted embarrassed, but a blind person could see she'd done it on purpose. The amount of time she took to get off of him was ridiculous and Sam managed to score two goals in the time it took for Fang to get back into the game.

But it wasn't as if Max was jealous. She was just angry that their only real competitor was out for the count. What was the point of playing this game if they had no real competition?

That's what she told herself, anyway.

Finally, Max and Fang came face to face. She had the ball and there was no way she was going to let him take it from her. Her face was red from exercise and she could see that he was breathing normally despite the amount of running around he had been doing. That made her think about his fitness and endurance – which made her cheeks turn pinker. She quickly banished those thoughts lest she lose concentration.

Their feet met in a dance, but she managed to pass the ball before he could take it. Nudge took the ball away effortlessly, heading towards the goal. Max and Fang's legs became entwined, however, and they both fell over. He was on top of her, looking confused, as she struggled to regain her breath.

"Get off," she said, shoving at him ineffectively.

He grinned, regaining his senses, and leaned in closer to her.

"You didn't have to throw yourself at me," he said with a cheeky grin.

"I wouldn't dare lower myself to Julia's standards," she retorted.

Fang's eyes flashed and his grin changed to a smirk. "Jealous?" he asked.

She groaned in disapproval and kept shoving at him. He took his time getting up, making sure to let his hand wander up her thigh and under her gym shorts. When he was off her, she made sure to stamp on his toes. Sometimes he could be so frustrating.

The game continued until Max finally came up against Lissa. Lissa was hopeless with the ball. She would be easy to overwhelm. But Max wanted to prolong the moment and maybe inflict a bit of pain. So it surprised her when Lissa lashed out first and tripped her. Max broke her fall with her wrist and was glad when it didn't break. When she righted herself, she turned to face Lissa, aware that the whistle had been blown.

"Bitch," she seethed, spitting near Lissa's feet.

"Barbarian," Lissa said scornfully, her face twisted into an expression of hate.

Max gave her a toothy grin; then punched her in the face.

By the time the coach had reached them, Lissa was lying on the ground and Max was massaging her knuckles.

"Max!" Coach roared. "10 laps, right now."

Max didn't need to be told twice. She started jogging without looking back. She decided that she liked physical fights much better than bitchy ones. Maybe Lissa would back off now.

Somehow, she didn't really believe that.

On her fifth lap, the bell rang and everyone was packing up. Soon, there was no one else on the field except for the Coach, who was glaring at her. When she was finally done, she confronted her teacher and hoped that Lissa had a black eye.

"Max, what the hell came over you?" Coach spat, looking murderous.

"We have history," she replied.

"I don't care if she kicked your grandma; you do not just punch someone. It's very unladylike."

"Exactly," Max said with a grin. "Plus, if she kicked my grandma I think you would care. She was a very powerful woman when she was alive. She owned half of the town."

"That's not the point-"

"I'm going to have a shower. Anything you have to say to me you can say to my mother."

The Coach watched with an open mouth as Max sauntered towards the showers. She felt sticky, dirty and disgusting. There was no way she was sitting in her car feeling so gross.

"How's your hand?" someone called from near the locker rooms.

She saw Fang approach her and shrugged her shoulders. She was touched he'd waited for her, but was still pissed at him for some unknown reason.

He caught her hand and studied her knuckles. They were bruised and she was surprised when he kissed them better.

"You were good today," she said reluctantly.

He smiled. "Coach offered me a spot on the team. I didn't give him an answer. I thought it might ruin my reputation."

Max snorted. "Since when do you care about your reputation?" she questioned.

"Since this girl I know made me a pawn in her little game," he said, not unkindly.

Max didn't know what to say.

"It's okay, Max. I'm kidding. I just don't know if I'd be any good."

"You would be amazing," she said sincerely.

"You think?" This new uncertain side of Fang was unnerving. She didn't know what was going on, but it was something big. Fang wasn't usually so indecisive. He had always known what he wanted.

"Fang, are you ever going to tell me what's going on?" she asked him, resigned.

"I don't want you to get involved," he answered sweetly.

"But I want to help you. Something really bad is going on."

"You can always kiss me better," he joked.

"This isn't funny," she admonished. "I don't know what I was thinking when I did that, but it was a one time thing."

Silence reigned as they both sized each other up.

"I'm going for a jog," he said suddenly, tearing off onto the field without looking back. She sighed and made her way into the showers. They were empty, so she stripped off and threw her clothes on one of the benches. She took a long shower, making sure to wash off all of the grass, sweat and dirt that covered her body. When she was done, she reached for her towel…that wasn't there.

She searched the shower but couldn't see her towel anywhere. She could have sworn she left a towel on the hook. She carefully ventured out into the locker room, making sure no one was there. When she went to where she'd left her clothes, she found nothing.

"Shit," she swore.

Suddenly, she knew exactly what had happened. Lissa had gotten revenge. She had been clever, choosing a time when Max hadn't expected anything. She should've known that Lissa or one of her cronies would have acted quickly.

Apprehensively, Max made her way to her locker. The lock had been broken off and the contents were missing. She was now naked without even a towel to cover her. She even checked the towel cupboard, but her tormentors had thought of everything. She suddenly felt like laughing, so she did.

She was screwed.

Max thought of the walk to her car. She would have to pass numerous people, no doubt.

Faintly, she heard the sound of thudding feet and remembered Fang. Maybe he was still jogging.

Quickly, she ran to the locker room door and carefully peered outside. She could see a figure jogging towards the building and held her breath. When she recognised the gait and body language as Fang's, she waited until he was close until she yelled his name.

He didn't hear.

"Fang!" she yelled even louder.

This time he paused and looked around. When he saw her head sticking out of the door, he cautiously made his way towards her.

"Take off your shirt," she demanded as soon as he was close.

"Really, Max? We could at least find a bed somewhere first," he joked.

"Just do it," she growled.

He seemed to grasp that something was wrong, because he peeled his shirt off and gave it to her through the door. It was sweaty, but she didn't mind. She pulled it on over her head and checked to make sure it covered her butt. She thanked God that Fang was tall.

When she opened the door wide, she felt extremely self-conscious.

"What happened?" he asked. She noticed the way his eyes roamed over her body; no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

"Someone took all my clothes and anything I could cover myself with," she explained, her cheeks pink from his examinations.

He gulped.

"What?" she couldn't help but ask.

"You look so sexy." His voice was strained, as if he was speaking against his will.

She blushed a deeper shade of red.

"Can you just walk me to my car?" she asked.

He nodded jerkily.

For the entire walk Max felt like she was being watched. No one was around, but she felt so embarrassed that she kept imagining what people would say if they saw her. A girl walked past and she had to hide behind Fang so she wouldn't be seen.

When they reached her car, Max nearly sobbed in desperation. The tyres had been slashed to ribbons. Her whole body slumped in defeat. Where Max fought out in the open, Lissa fought dirty.

Fang grabbed her hand and massaged calming circles on her palm. "Don't worry. We'll call someone to tow it and then I'll drive you home, okay?"

She nodded, not trusting her voice. She realised that although she acted tough, that sometimes she was sensitive. She was having trouble understanding how someone could be so mean as to trash her car. She knew that not everyone was good or nice, but sometimes she was faced with evidence that made her sad.

Fang dialled a number on his phone and talked for a while. Max didn't pay attention. Instead, she stared at her car like it would magically fix itself.

When Fang was done, he led her to his car and opened the door for her. He rummaged around in the backseat for a moment before he produced a pair of sweatpants. She gratefully put them on and settled into the passenger seat.

"I'm really sorry, Max," Fang said with sincerity.

"You didn't do anything," she said, a little hollowly.

"I know, but you're not going to get an apology from Lissa. You might as well get one from someone," he explained.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

A/N: What would be your revenge on Lissa if you were Max?