Chapter 14
Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, but I do own Leonard and Xander, no stealing! Especially Xander *holds Xander close*
Warning: I didn't edit my A/N's so they may be a bit sloppy, I only went over the story part which is 3,189 words, enjoy!
A/N
Me: Hey guys, sorry for disappearing for so long. My grandparents' dog died last week, but they say she went peacefully, I've been pretty sad about it, but I'm glad that she isn't in pain anymore. Thank you guys for all the support.
I was planning on writing more this week and having a chapter out by now, but writer's block hit me like a battering ram. Blah! I can't tell you how much I hate writer's block!
Well, Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I hope you all had a wonderful day!
Hope you like this chapter! It's my longest ever!
Max's POV
Fang arrived to his first period just seconds before the bell. He wasn't running or anything, in fact he walked as slow as a turtle to get there. It was quite obvious that he didn't care.
"Nick, please take your seat." The teacher says, not impolitely, but not too kindly either. I had a feeling Fang and this man had gotten into an argument or two in the past.
Fang sat down in his desk rather noisily for such a quiet guy. He seemed to be doing this on purpose. The teacher pointedly ignored his silent outburst and walked over to the board, pulling down a map of Europe.
I made my way to the back of the room and climbed on top of a tall filing cabinet. I sat down and observed the classroom. There were probably thirty students, I would guess. At a glance I could tell who the troublemakers and the kids who actually wanted to learn were. Most of the attentive students were in the front of the classroom, watching and listening the teacher as if their lives depended on it. Then, further back, in between those kids and the trouble makers were Fang and Iggy who sat behind him, a few kids around them were texting away on their Smart phones. Finally in the very back, there was a group of boys playing spit-ball and Lissa and her followers who were shamelessly flirting with any male in sight.
One boy reciprocated Lissa's advances and brought her into his lap, whispering in her ear and then nibbling on it. My face scrunched up in disgust as I over heard some of the things the boy said he wanted to do with her. She giggled.
I was just about ready to vomit when the teacher interrupted the pair.
"Mr. Leonard, Miss Rheming, could you please refrain from public displays of affection and speaking of prepositions to sexual encounters in my classroom?"
Somebody make that man a saint!
"Yeah, Liz, can you stop being such a slut." An anonymous student called out.
"No, cursing or name calling in this classroom." The teacher demanded. Everyone ignored him.
Lissa glared in the direction of the voice. "I am not a slut!"
"Bullshit." Iggy coughed, trying to cover it up. Several students burst into laughter. I saw Fang smirk a bit.
"What was that Ignoramus?" Lissa shot back.
"What? You can't speak correctly either? I thought it was just your spelling that was at a third grade level. It's Ignatius, by the way, not ignoramus, which I might add would more accurately describe you." Iggy retorted. I couldn't help but smile, I liked this kid. I can see why Fang is friends with him.
Lissa screeches out and everyone, including myself, covers their ears.
"HOW DARE YOU! YOU LITTLE ASSWIPE! I'M GOING TO MAKE YOUR LIFE MISERABLE! I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU WISH YOU HAD NEVER BEEN BORN!"
"Liz, the only scary thing about you is that your voice can go that high without cracking and you still can't sing." He replied calmly.
Lissa screeched even louder.
"Ig, quit antagonizing her, dude! She's making my ears bleed!" I looked over at the green eyed, black haired guy sitting next to Iggy, and sure enough, his ears were bleeding.
That only seemed to piss her off even more and she started throwing books, spirals, pens, and anything else she could get her hands on at the pair.
"LISSA RHEMING! If you do not stop your infernal banshee screaming right now I will put you in detention for the rest of the year, do I make myself clear?" The teacher yelled over the noise. Lissa begrudgingly ceased her screeching.
The students one by one started yelling out their thanks to the teacher, to the gods, to heaven, to the angels, to the aliens who had bestowed upon the teacher a voice that could be heard over the cries of a banshee. Yes, somebody actually said that.
How do humans come up with such ridiculous things? And why are they, somehow, absolutely, strangely, hilarious?
"Quiet down, class." He called out. His students' newly found respect for him granted him utter silence.
"Ignatius, Miss Rheming, Mr. Leonard go report to the principal's office." The teacher commanded.
"Sweet!" Iggy cheered, pumping his fist in the air. "Free candy from the office!"
At the same time Lissa protested:
"What? But I stopped! You said I wouldn't get in trouble if I stopped!"
The teacher looked at her with an are-you-really-that-stupid expression.
"What I said, Miss Rheming, was that unless you stopped I would put you in detention for the rest of the year. That does not, however, mean that I do not plan on giving you one for your unruly and shameful behavior. Nor does that prohibit the principal from giving you detentions for the year."
"He done told you!" A kid from the side of the room called out in a gangster voice.
Some snickers were heard from all over the room.
"Now off to the principal's office, the three of you." The teacher said, dismissing them.
"CANDY HERE I COME!" Iggy yelled, causing several people to burst out in laughter, as he sprinted out of the classroom and toward the office, followed by a somber-looking Lissa and an indifferent Leonard.
"Now, Nicholas, would you please take Xander to the nurse's office to get his ears checked out?"
Fang gave a short nod and got up from his seat. I jumped down from the cabinet and followed the pair out of the classroom.
The walk to the nurse's office was silent, apart from the murmured curses of Xander as he dabbed blood from his ears. I trailed behind Fang and Xander a bit since I had no idea where to go and let them lead me to our destination.
Finally we stopped in front of a wooden door. Fang knocked and about two seconds later the nurse opened up. She was a grey haired woman with few wrinkles that made her looked aged, but not ancient. In fact she seemed like a lively old woman with much vigor and a big heart.
"Oh, goodness! What happened?" She exclaimed as she saw Xander's ears, grabbing onto the boy's head and turning it this way and that to assess his injuries. He gave a yelp of surprise.
"Lissa's a banshee." Fang said, as she herded her new patient into the office.
"Fang, that's not very nice to say." The nurse reprimanded softly, leading the pair inside the office.
"It's true, she started screeching and then Xander's ears began to bleed, if that doesn't say banshee what does?"
"Even Mr. Coleson said she was a banshee, ma'am." The injured boy spoke up.
"Coleson is a very tolerant man. It takes a lot to rile him up." The nurse mused, motioning for Xander to get up onto the observation table. "How loud was she?"
"Loud enough to make Xander's ears bleed." Fang pointed out.
"I'm pretty sure she broke the sound barrier." I murmured to myself, remembering Lissa's screaming.
I saw the tips of Fang's mouth twitch upward, he had heard me. I smiled at the thought.
"Okay," the nurse said. "I'll check out Xander here and see if there's any damage. Fang, you best head back to class."
Fang nodded and headed out the door, leaving Xander with the old woman.
"And stay out of trouble, will you?" The nurse called after him.
Fang opened the door and left the room.
"No promises." He replied.
The nurse shook her head. "That boy…" She said under her breath, just as the door closed.
O
0.0
O.o.O
0.0
O
(The figure above will be a time skip from now on)
Fang and I had gone back to his class and for the next couple of class periods, school was peaceful. Iggy, Lissa, and Leonard had all come back from the principal's office with detentions. Lissa got two from complaining so much about the one. Iggy was bouncing off the walls from eating a ton of candy and Leonard had promptly torn up his detention and thrown it in the trash when the teacher wasn't looking.
Lunch had gone smoothly. Iggy and Fang had joked around with Gazzy and Xander. They sat at a table with this girl named Monique who didn't speak to the others much at all. She had a Star Wars Boba Fett jacket on and ate French fries covered with cheddar cheese and hot sauce she had brought from home. It actually looked really appetizing, and I wished I could try some. I wondered whether or not the hot sauce would burn me if I tried it. I'd never really built up a tolerance to it, so I guessed that it probably would.
The bell had rung soon after Fang and the others were done. They all went to separate classes, and I, obviously, went with Fang. His next class was math, in which, five minutes after roll-call, he promptly fell asleep.
"Oh, come on. You slept in this morning. There is no excuse for you to sleep during your classes." I said to him, he didn't get up.
I looked around and noticed a couple other students had dozed off as well. So, being the huge advocate for education that I am, I went over to the thermostat and turned it to fifty degrees.
A couple minutes later the students were all up, including Fang, shivering and complaining. The teacher, in her warm clothes, didn't register the temperature change as much as the students dressed in lightweight material did, and refused their pleas to turn the thermostat up. I saw Fang shoot a glare in my direction, but he couldn't see me, so it must have been somebody else he was glaring at. I looked around and saw Leonard. He was looking straight at me. I jumped back, startled, until I noticed that his eyes were unfocused, there was a grin spreading across his face, he was daydreaming.
Ugh, I do not want to know what he's thinking about. My face crinkled up in disgust and I made my way back over to Fang, whose body seemed to relax as I sat down in the empty seat behind him. Strange.
Fang shrugged his jacket onto his shoulders, trying to stay warm.
The rest of class went by quickly, but not quickly enough. Even I was bored by the teacher's monotone voice. I guess I understood why kids fell asleep in her class, but still, it was no excuse.
The bell rang once more, releasing the students to their last class, Physical Education (P.E. for short) or Sports. Fang was in P.E., I'm not really sure why, he's in great physical condition… I felt myself blush at the realization that I was thinking about his physical condition, though I wasn't quite sure why that was a source of embarrassment for me.
Fang went into the locker room to change with the other guys. I didn't follow him inside. I didn't want to see a bunch of guys changing. I was on edge, however, not knowing how he was, if he was okay, outside the protection of my spells. Let's just say when he came out of the locker room, I was very relieved.
The coach blew the whistle once the boys were done changing, gathering them to him.
"Okay, girls," The coach began. Why is he calling the boys, girls? I'm pretty sure these boys are boys. "Today, we're gonna play a little dodge ball."
Half of the boy/girls cheered while the other half groaned. Fang didn't voice his opinion with neither a cheer nor a groan, he just stood there, stoic. I'm 99% sure that Fang's a guy, but he is pretty dramatic, so he's definitely at least 1% girl.
The coach split the group in half. Iggy and Fang ended up on separate teams. Leonard and Gazzy were on Fang's team, and Xander, who had come back from the nurse's office during lunch, was on Iggy's team.
The whistle blew, signaling the start of the game. Fang ran forward and grabbed a ball, tossing it and taking out the kid standing next to Iggy.
"For Sparta!" Iggy yelled out and ran forward aiming for Leonard while his wingman shot his ball at Fang.
Fang easily caught the ball, taking out the boy who threw it at him as he caught it. Iggy tossed his ball at Leonard who just barely dodged it in time, which irritated me for some reason. I guess I must just not like the kid. I didn't really need an explanation for why I didn't, it was quite obvious. He was a jerk who used people to get what he wanted.
I made my way to the sidelines to watch the game from afar. They couldn't hurt me, but the thought of a ball whizzing through where my head should be wasn't a pleasant one.
Fang threw the ball and it hit Xander's leg.
"Aw, man, come on!" He yelled at Fang playfully, throwing his hands up in the air. Fang just smirked.
Suddenly a ball came out of nowhere and hit Fang in the back of the head, knocking him down on his knees. I gasped and ran over to him even though there was nothing I could do to help.
I followed the ball's trajectory back to its source. A brown haired demon with blue eyes. Leonard. Well, he wasn't a demon, but he was as close to one as a human could get. He was grinning smugly from ear to ear. He had aimed for Fang.
A kid from the other team took the chance to get Fang out while he was down. The coward.
Gazzy made his way over to Fang, dodging balls as he went.
"Hey, dude, are you okay?" He called out. Fang nodded and got up, glaring at Leonard as he made his way to the sidelines. He sat down and I took my seat beside him.
The game went on for a few more minutes. A kid from Iggy's team got Gazzy out and now Iggy's brother was sitting down on the floor by Xander. They were both speaking about a book series called "The Hunger Games" with great enthusiasm.
Fang continued to glare at Leonard, there was a dark shroud that seemed to encompass him. I wanted desperately to comfort him, but I wasn't sure how.
"Fang?" I whispered nervously, wringing my wrists.
He gave a small nod of acknowledgement.
"Are you okay?" I asked him. He nodded again, but his mood didn't lighten. He must still be mad at Leonard.
Suddenly loud cheering sprung up from the court. I looked over to see what the commotion was. Iggy was cheering and Leonard was fuming. I guess Iggy must have won.
While Iggy cheered and demanded candy from the reluctant coach, Leonard marched over to Fang.
Oh, this will not go well.
"Nice going, Walker, you lost the game for us." Leonard said, knocking Fang out of his chair. Fang nearly fell to the floor but caught himself.
"Why you pig-headed, self-obsessed moron, you're the one who got him out!" I yelled at Leonard.
His eyes widened with shock.
Oh, crap.
I projected my voice.
My breath caught.
He heard me.
Crap!
Leonard then shook his head and resumed his earlier stance. I breathed a silent sigh of relief. He wrote me off as a figment of his imagination.
"Your reflexes were sloppy," Precise. "inaccurate," Pinpoint. "and weak." Powerful.
"Don't listen to him, Fang. He's just a bully." I told my ward as his friends gathered around him, protecting him.
"Shut up, Leonard, you're just sore because I beat your ass at dodge ball." Iggy scorned as he, Fang, and the rest of the group began to turn away.
"We wouldn't have lost if it hadn't been for you, Walker, you're reflexes were horrible." Leonard insisted. "I bet they're the reason why your girlfriend is dead too."
Fang flipped around so fast I barely caught the action before Leonard was down on the ground clutching a bloody nose. Fang jumped on him and started pounding on him till his fists were bloodied.
"Fang! Fang! Stop!" I yelled at him. Not for Leonard's sake, he deserved a good whooping, but for Fang's sake, he was in enough trouble as it is.
Iggy and Xander grabbed Fang and ripped him off of Leonard.
"Dude, calm down, that moron doesn't know what he's talking about!" Xander said, trying to sooth the rage-filled Fang. I'd never seen his eyes so full of hate.
All the commotion brought the attention of the coach.
"What is this? What happened here?" He demanded.
"Walker attacked me!" Leonard yelled out through his bloody nose so it sounded more like 'walbur abacbed be!'
"What the heck is this kid saying?" The coach said irritably. "Who is this anyway? I can't tell through all that blood."
"It's Leonard, sir." Iggy spoke up with thinly veiled contempt.
"Oh, well that makes sense." Coach said, and then turned to the boys holding Fang back. "And am I right to assume that Fang here is the one who roughed the slime ball up?"
"'Bey!" Leonard protested, his speech still disfigured by his bleeding nose.
I laughed. Coach doesn't seem to like Leonard much, I think I like this man.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Fang visibly relax, but only slightly.
"Yes, sir." Fang said in reply. I felt proud that Fang was holding himself accountable for his actions, even though I believed that his actions were justified.
What was happening to me? I used to never believe in any kind of violence.
Fang stood up straight and stopped all struggling. His friends backed away, giving him his space. The coach placed a hand on Fang's shoulder.
"As much as I don't want to, you know I have to send you to the principle's office for this."
"Yes, sir."
"'Bey! Whatb aboub be? I'mb de bun dat got hitb!" Leonard complained.
The coach turned to Leonard with a raised eyebrow. "Your friends can carry you to the office, after all you were the instigator of the fight."
"S'bo whatb?"
"So, you are just as much at fault for your broken nose as he is. I was listening the whole time, dipstick." The coach said poking the boy in the chest.
He turned and called Xander, Iggy, and two of Leonard's goons out to accompany Fang and Leonard to the office. I followed them there and after a lecture from the principal Fang's mother came to pick him up.
Fang stopped by his locker to pick up his backpack before he left for home. Taking his black backpack, he threw it over his shoulder and headed down the hallway.
I went to follow him when something white caught my eye as it fluttered to the floor. I bent down to pick it up. A piece of folded paper. My curiosity was perked and I opened it up.
You can't protect him forever.
-Sam
A/N
Me: What did you guys think about the chapter? Review worthy? *bambi eyes*
In the future: Many answers will be answered in the next two chapters.
Chapter 16 will be Fang's POV
Onto the reviews: (Sorry if I repeat! I'm really tired!)
Psychotic honeybadger of death- *hug* Thank you!
Shiver282, Fang can hear her outside of his dreams for certain, whether or not he can see her has not been confirmed or denied yet, that will be cleared up in the next chapter. I kind of lost your original question, so I hope that answers your question.
Duskingdawn, I'm sorry you didn't like the last chapter, I was trying to build up the relationship between Max and Fang. I'm trying to be more realistic and in real life there are some boring chapters. Thank you for your constructive critism. I hoped you liked this chapter and don't worry, I plan for much more action in the future, though it will be coming in slowly.
I love Fang (Guest), Sad Demon (Guest) and Guest, I'm planning to make one, the chapter after the next one will be from Fang's POV.
Guest, I'm so sorry about your pets, it makes me really sad to hear about their passing. I didn't get you're full message, but I understand what you went through, it's really hard to loose pets because they are like family. The only way I've found that makes it hurt less is to think that they are in a better place.
DntlessAnnabeth, It's okay, I'm glad you like the story so far and I hope that the problem with favoriting stories gets fixed!
Lulu (Guest), when Fang called Max an angel he was joking. I'll make sure to answer your other questions in the next chapter. Don't worry, I'm pretty sure it isn't just you, and I think the others will appreciate some more background information. I do plan on putting more action in the next couple of chapters.
BrokenSky49, I'm glad you like the story and thank you so much! It means a lot to me! ;D
That is a very good question and I plan on answering that question in the Fang's POV chapter that's coming up after the next chapter.
I also plan on explaining that in chapter 16
Also, chapter 16.
Haha, looks like all your questions will be answered by Fang, Max is oblivious to those answers lol.
BiteMeBro522, I'm so glad you liked the chapter! That was so fun to write! I hope you like this chapter too! I'm so glad you got over your head cold, but that sucks that you got it again ;(
That's all the reviews! Have a happy Thanksgiving everybody! Looking forward to writing the next two chapters! I've been planning these chapters for a long time, especially Chapter 16, which will be the first Fang's POV chapter! ;D I hope you guys will like them too!