Oh my . . . Is this true? Am I really back? I don't know. I'm a pretty useless author when it comes to updating. The last review from this story is from waaaaaaaaaaaaay back in February. I don't know what happened. I haven't even been on fanfiction in a few months much to my surprise. I used to live on this site. It'll probably happen again now that I've remembered my stories. It actually got to the point where I had almost completely forgotten about them! I feel really bad about it so I'm just going to hurry up and write the chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any of the characters from that series. I also don't own any music used in this story.

Chapter 9: Talk About Déjà Vu

Max POV:

When it came to the end of the day I wasn't sure if I even wanted to meet Fang at the park anymore. First there was the whole my-dad-will-kill-me-if-I-don't-get-home-on-time thing to worry about. Though he'd probably be too drunk to notice. After making the mistake of telling the Flock I knew I had to go no matter what I wanted. Especially with Nudge desperate to find out why Fang had a sudden change of heart. She was the most likely one out of all of us to give him a second chance. Apart from the fact that I kinda, sorta, not really, already did. It wasn't as if I meant to. It just . . . happened.

As I walked from the school parking lot I felt the nerves eating their way through me. I hadn't been alone with Fang since THAT day. And whenever we saw each other the only thing we exchanged was insults. I hoped that wasn't going to happen today. I wouldn't be able to handle it. I was very conscious of the soft stinging sensation on my wrist every time my sleeve rubbed against the cuts. I had kept the hood on all day and I was going to keep it on until I was at home, away from prying eyes. The heat of the day was the least of my worries.

Fang POV:

I couldn't say what shocked me more: the fact that I'd asked Max to meet me at the park or the fact that she'd said yes. Either way there I was sitting on the same bench that I'd sat on every Tuesday, rain or shine, for the last four years of my friendship with Max. I was overcome with memories from all the times we'd spent here. There was the day I arrived late to see Max pretending to be passed out drunk just to scare me. And the time we came here on the day before Halloween and she kept scaring little kids pretending to be a vampire by drinking liquid red jelly that looked surprisingly like blood. Well, it did in the dark. There were so many more but the one that stood out the most was the day we made the decision to come here every Tuesday. I couldn't help but get sucked into the flashback that I knew was going to happen.

Max was frowning. At 12 she had decided that she wasn't a kid anymore and wanted more responsibility. Unfortunately her mom listened and made her take several dogs from the vet on a walk and then she had to help out the rest of the day. Max had been at school most of the day so in the few short hours she actually had to do all these things she made me go with her. She didn't realise that responsibility wasn't that fun of a thing to have. Max threw herself down on the nearest park bench in a rather dramatic manner. I laughed and sat down like a normal person. She glared at me. Not that I was surprised. Max glared at everybody. "We need to have a space for fun. Where we don't have to be 'responsible' or do anything that we don't want to." She had a determined look in her eyes that I knew well. "What do you suggest?" I asked, knowing there was no way to get out of this whether I wanted to or not. "We should meet here, at this very bench, every Tuesday. Rain or Shine. Summer or winter. No matter what." She held out her pinkie finger. "Do you promise?" She looked at me with pleading eyes. I wrapped my finger around hers. "I promise."

And that was the beginning of a tradition that I ruined. I have to admit; it took me a while to realise I could actually do something on a Tuesday. I was odd. Sometimes it still is. I was so used to coming here. Tuesday was the one day I didn't have to worry about anything.

I heard the crunch of someone standing on dry leaves. I looked up to see Max standing there. Her eyes no longer held the mischievous glint, instead they looked empty. Her face held a permanent frown instead of the smirk I had grown so used to. She sat down next to me and looked me in the eyes.

"Whatever I say to you today you can't tell anyone. Not a single person, or even animal. This is strictly confidential." The now 16 year old Max help out her pinkie finger, just as she had 4 years ago. "Do you promise?" I wrapped my finger around hers. "I promise."

Max POV:

No matter what had happened the last time we met here I still felt like I needed to tell him. Maybe then he'd cut me some slack. Give me a break. I don't know. It was that damn voice in my head telling me to trust him. As I explained what happens at home on an everyday basis, the abuse; physical and emotional, I could see the disbelief written across his face. I knew he wouldn't believe me, the last time Fang had seen Jeb he'd been too consumed by tears to turn it into anger. Jeb used to be gentle believe it or not. He always told me off for being so violent. To prove my point I took off my oversized hoodie and pulled up one of my sleeves. Thankful that it wasn't the one I'd cut this morning I showed him the bruises the dotted up my arm. Unfortunately he could still see the scars.

Fang's eyebrows were scrunched up in concentration as he gently took my arm in his hands and examined the bruises. Some vaguely took the shape of a hand from all the times Jeb grabbed me to make sure I couldn't leave. Fang's eyes flickered over to my other arm. Before I could do anything he had it in his grasp. "Max is this blood?" He was staring at my sleeve. Sure enough there was blood on the sleeve. Damn it. I was hoping against hope that he wouldn't notice. Before I could explain he'd pulled my sleeve up and was staring in horror at my wrist and forearm. I saw the blood drain from his face. He looked up at me and searched my eyes. I was an emotion in his that I couldn't remember seeing before. He was afraid. "Max!" Crap. "Um. . ." This was not good.

That took a while to write. Yea I know. CLIFF HANGER! Let's hope it doesn't take me so long to update this time. Write soon (hopefully)
~ eternalreader62