AN: Hey guys! I was told my AN's are too long, and frankly, I agree. So it's gonna be short and sweet for here on out, unless an important message arises. And I'm sorry, I can't shorten the bottom one cuz it has the important stuff and the RRT (Review Response Time), and you awesome guys deserve responses. Okay. That's longer than I hoped. I'm gonna shut up now. Here's the next chapter:

Last Time On SIHOOOT:

The reporters laughed with us, and everything blew over as a prank.

Max saved me, even with what I did to her.

Man, I screwed up bad.

MAX POV

Fang is a lucky dude.

He's so lucky I decided to be Miss Nice-Girl and save his sorry arse from being blackballed to death. I guess I'm just a great person that way. Yeah. Sure.

Anyways, we finally escaped the reporters, and he walked me to my door.

"This was fun, minus the giant fight in the middle." Fang said.

I sighed, half-smiling, and ran a hand through my hair. "Yeah…" I trailed off. I did have fun. Just the stupid fight in the middle kinda ruined it. Fang finally nodded, the silence becoming so awkward it was unbearable.

"Uh, yeah, so… goodbye." I said, slipping in my door. I closed it, and leaned back against it, sinking to the floor. I ran my hand through my hair again, and leaned my head back on the door. I shook my head. Stupid Fang. I loved him so much, it made me hate him for making me so controlled by him.

I walked into the kitchen, sat down, and saw the note that said:

"Dear Max,

I took Ella and Nudge to the mall. Text me when you can and I'll tell you when we'll get home, since I have no idea of when that might be now. Love you, honey. Have a good rest of the day.

Mom

I stood up, and wandered into my room.

I looked around. Now that I had come to think of it, I hadn't been in my room to do something other than sleep recently. Poor room, I hope it doesn't feel sad. I flopped on my full size bed with an awesome black comforter with purple and gray swirls. I loved my room. The walls weren't color painted, but instead painted by posters that covered the walls. Paramore, Linkin Park, Doctor Who, All Time Low, Mortal Instruments, a Darkness Redness Whiteness poster, etc.

I snuggled into the sheets and sighed. Stupid Fang. I hate him so much, but I love him so much. How did we get here? I used to know him so well. We had so much, but noooo, SOMEone had to go and crumble it to bits.

I finally made a decision. I needed a break. I couldn't handle all the drama and emotional crap. Hmmm… let me think. Who are some of the most light-hearted people ever?

I dialed the familiar number and a few seconds later a breathless Iggy answered the phone. "Hey, Maxers, what's up?"

"Hi, Igs. Can you come over?" I asked.

"Yeah, 'course, Max. I'll be there soon." Iggy replied excitedly. I rolled my eyes and hung up.

The next two phone calls went pretty much the same way. Belle and Alex both readily agreed to come over and we were all gonna hang out together.

The doorbell rang not that much later and I opened it to see three grinning people busting into my house. "MAX!" Iggy and Belle shrieked together, hugging me. I choked a little, and that made them release me. Alex then stepped forward, and hugged me gently, like I was a fragile piece of glass that might break with the slightest of touches. "Hey, Max." he said huskily, pulling away.

I smiled at him. "Hey, Alex." I leaned against the doorframe, and he smiled back, standing there. "Uh… can I come in too?" he asked, laughing a little.

I blushed. "Uh, yeah, I was just, um, yeah." I stammered like an idiot. Alex smiled, and I moved, letting him in.

"So, what do you guys wanna do?" Belle asked.

Iggy shrugged. I shrugged. Alex shrugged. Belle sighed. "You guys are so uncreative!" she facepalmed. "How about a… video game tournament?" she suggested slyly.

That suggestion was met with agreements from everyone, and we all gathered in front of the flat screen, controllers in hand, Xbox on. "Halo Reach?" I asked. They all nodded enthusiastically.

I found the box, and put the disc in the console. I set it on Match-Making mode and clicked on the Living Dead game. Alex and I were humans, and Belle and Iggy were zombies.

"You guys are going DOWN." Iggy declared.

Alex rolled his eyes. "In your dreams, Ig." He said.

"Yeah, well… your face." Belle stammered. We all laughed, and she smacked our arms. "Whatever, guys, just start the game, Max." she grumbled, glaring at the screen.

I hit start, and the map was Powerhouse. Instantly, both Alex and I and the some other humans ran for the bathroom. Weird as it seems, it was a perfect spot, because there was only one entrance and you had to be pretty good at Halo to be able to get a human who was camping out in the bathroom with other players.

Eventually, the last survivors were Alex and I, and we continuously slaughtered zombie after zombie. Iggy and Belle both turned the corridor at the same time and lunged towards us.

"I'll get Belle!" I yelled, while Alex yelled "I'll get Iggy!" It ended up with us winning, surviving the attack. We played for a long time, and finally decided it was snack time.

"Oh guys, you grab the snacks, I gotta grab something from my room." I said. I wanted to grab my phone and text my mom to find out when she was coming home.

I looked for my phone, but it was playing the disappearing act again and didn't show up. I was crouched on the ground, looking under my bed for it, when a knock sounded on the door and a voice called, "Max, it's Alex. Can I come in?"

"Yeah." I replied, standing up. "What's up, Alex?" I asked as he came in.

"Well, you took a while, so I came up to see if you were all right." He admitted. I smiled at him. Sweet.

Alex looked me up and down, and smiled, shutting the door softly behind him. Nerves crept out and butterflies burst in my stomach. "Why.. why did you shut the door?" I stuttered. He walked closer, still smiling. I took a step back. He was acting weird.

Alex was really close now. We were only about a half a foot away, and I could feel his cool breath hitting my face. It smelled good, like mint.

"I just wanted to tell you how good you looked today, Max." he murmured, stepping even closer, if that was possible. He reached out and gently grabbed my hand. I looked down at our hands, and then returned my gaze to his face.

"Thanks." I breathed. Was he going to kiss me? I mean, I wouldn't mind, but it came as a surprise. For a second, an image of Fang, hurt and disappointed, flitted across my mind's eye, but I pushed the image away. Right now, I only wanted Alex. I didn't want to think about Fang. I took the next step forward and trailed my fingers down his arm. Maybe if I kissed Alex, I would forget about Fang. Even a moment of forgetting the pain and feeling of rejection and sadness would be worth it.

Alex's breath quickened, and so did mine. We took the final step together and suddenly his lips were on mine and we were kissing. It wasn't as good as Fang's kiss, but still good. I mentally slapped myself. I cannot mentally compare their kissing skills! It would be mean to Alex. I suddenly felt shamed. Who was I, to take advantage of sweet, wonderful Alex just for me to forget his brother? What was my problem? I knew one of them; I couldn't seem to pull away. His arms came up around my waist, and even though I mentally screamed at myself not to, my hands disobeyed and raised up, winding my fingers in his hair. It was shorter than Fang's and more spiky. It was soft, though, too. He came closer, and if I thought we were as close as possible before, I was certainly wrong. Every inch of our bodies were pressed against each other. I could feel his heartbeat through his chest.

Maybe that was why I didn't hear the door open. Maybe that's why I was so shocked when a gasp shattered the room's silence like a gunshot. I ripped myself away from Alex and turned to see Fang standing in the doorway with a bouquet of roses in hand. He dropped them, and an expression of pure agony and pain flashed on his normally expressionless face. I felt his pain like a knife, tearing me open and slicing away my insides. I ran to him, but he backed away before I could touch him.

"I thought we were mending, Max." Fang said, his voice filled with pain and sadness. "I guess I thought wrong." He turned away and sprinted down the hall.

"Fang!" I cried after him. "Come back, let me explain!" He ran downstairs and I heard the door slam behind him. I froze, and then suddenly remembered Alex. He stood behind me.

"Why did Fang bring you roses?" he asked hoarsely.

"I, well, we-" I stammered.

"Spit it out, Max." Alex's voice was no longer gentle and sweet and caring, but cold and distanced. I could already feel him slipping away.

"Well, Fang and I had a fight and-" I struggled to explain, but he cut me off.

"So I was your rebound?" He asked. "I thought you were better than that, Max." Alex shook his head and started turning away from me. I lurched forward and grabbed his arm. "No, Alex, it's not like that." I begged, tears threatening to spill over.

"I think it is." Alex jerked his arm out of my grasp, and left. I heard the slamming door again, and I sat on the stairs, burying my face in my palms. The tears fell then, in terrible streams of pain. What was wrong with me? Why did I poison everything I touched? What was wrong with me?

AN: Oke-dokey! That's a wrap! So, I tried to write a happy, upbeat chapter, but it kinda went downhill, and ended up like that. Oh well. But I need you guys to vote again on the story ideas in the last chapter, because I had a lot for both. And also vote if you want me to stop the RRT or not, cuz I don't want to be bothersome. So this may or may not be the last RRT, so here ya go!

RRT:

MusicIsMyLife14: Maybe now, you don't want to injure Fang, considering what Max did in return, but I can see why. :)

Mosspool123: OK! Oh, and, do you read the Warriors series? Cuz your name… so yeah. :)

Boxtoplad999: YEAH! Ravens! Thanks! Smosh is pretty epic, huh? Thanks again! Reddit is mah jam. I know right? And they're so amazing too… *shakes head in exasperation*

Triplechocolatte: OK! :D

FangAKat: Thanks!

13Swifty: I wish they weren't too, so hopefully I addressed the problem as you see fit. :) But I didn't get most of your review, a lot of it didn't show up.. so I can't respond to it. Sorry.

Thecoloroftheskymakesmehappy : Haha, nice. See PM. Way to go. :D

Rachel123: :D

IYRGirl: Thanks! Ok!

Disney'sGurl: *bows back* Yes, indeed. *hurt voice* Why are you mad at me, Alex? What did I do? *pout face* I vote Jalex. Definetly. XD Or nothing, I suppose that works, if it must. Thanks. Boss. Aw, Alex, now you probably made Jamie feel bad! Jamie, I'm sure you're attractive. Wait.. that sounds REALLY weird. You know what I mean. It's a girl thing, they're allowed to say others are pretty. Great. I'm gonna just stop digging my own grave now. Thanks! I hope you guys have dreams of bacon too! :D

SunsetOrange12: Thanks! Yeah, those are both amazing bands.

MissSemi-Dependent: Sorry about the 49-ers. Ok, you keep working on that. GASP! I'll probably do that, but it'll be a while because of this twist that I just threw in. :) Thanks!

Sunshone: Cool.

Percy-jackson-fan-4ever: I'm sorry, I wish I could. Just had a long month. Thanks!

MySilenceIsInfinity: I know right!? Sometimes I just want to smack them both back to reality.

JesseJ0906: Thanks!

Guest: Ok!

Chairwomanmeow15: Thanks!

SOTC:

Now you've been talking in your sleep, oh oh.

Things you never say to me, oh oh.

Tell me that you've had enough

Of our love, our love.

Last SOTC was Friday is Forever by We the Kings.

QOTC: What is your favorite TV show?

Last QOTC answer: the Ravens.

VOTC: Any Harlem Shake (the Miami Heat one is good).

TOTC: (TV show of the chapter): Doctor Who (the 2005-present version, not the 1960's version)

SOTC: (Band/Singer of the Chapter): All Time Low

BOTC: (Book/Series of the Chapter): The Mortal Instruments series.

That's it! Until next time!

Fly on,

Sky