First of all I don't think anyone's really surprised that it's taken me so long to update. I'm so sorry. This year school has been really hard. I decided to do history class and the homework for that is a monster. My English teacher has also decided that the more homework she gives us; the better. Anyway what is all of this I am hearing about SOPA. I mean what the hell? Is that going to affect FanFiction? Anyway, you have all waited long enough for this chapter so I'm just going to get on with it...

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any of its characters. They belong to James Patterson. This is purely a work of fanfiction and I am not looking to gain anything (like money) from it.

Last Time In Chapter 10:

Fang POV:
Rain was pouring down on me but I was too entranced in my thoughts to notice. There was one thing she was defiantly wrong about.
I did care.
Max POV:
Our stupid science teacher thought it would be fun to make us review the horrible dissection we had to do today and apparently we had to come up with ideas for a project. We had to do it in partners and I sure knew who I didn't want to end up with.

Chapter 11: The Project Begins

Max POV:

The next morning I woke up on the couch. Wait, the couch? Standing up I looked around me to see my homework spread along the coffee table. It took me a while to realise that I must have fallen asleep. My next question was about Jeb. Why the drunken mess hadn't woke me up. Or punched me when I couldn't protect myself. Checking the time on the wall I saw that it was 7:30 in the morning. I still had time before I had to get to school. Without checking to see if Jeb was gone I packed my bag, changed my clothes, did my make-up and was out the door by 8:30. I had a long day ahead of me and I really wasn't looking forward to it.

When I reached my locker I was met with the eager eyes of the flock. They all wanted to know how it went. I didn't know what to tell them so I just shook my head and returned to dealing with my locker. "I told you guys not to get too excited about it. They're both to stubborn for their own goods." I forced a smile as I turned to face Iggy. "Iggy?" My voice was overly sweet. He looked at me feigning ignorance. "Yea?" I slammed my locker door making everyone jump. "Shut up." My voice wasn't sweet that time. "Okay."

I couldn't help but think it was the truth though. Fang and I were all too stubborn. At least he was too stubborn to apologize and I was too stubborn to give him the chance. But the day I admit Iggy says something right . . . well . . . I can't see that day coming unless I need advice on how to blow something up or bake and cook. I might cook for Jeb but that's just microwave meals. I have no skill in the kitchen.

"So what were you guys expecting to happen?" I asked. I had to know. "Well we were hoping that you'd become best friends again." Angel said in a small voice. I looked down at her and smiled regretfully. "Well, I'm sorry guys but that's not going to happen. And it's all because he - " I was cut off by someone clearing their throat.

Fang POV:

"You know Iggy you were right. We are both too stubborn for our own good." The look of shock that showed on the flocks face was startling. I think it's the first time I have seen them all generally surprised. Except of course Max.

"Where are the red-headed twits?" She feigned ignorance but was obviously annoyed. Let her be annoyed I thought to myself. Now that I knew what was going on I was going to try my best to make her safe again. Despite what she thought I still cared enough to do that. "Don't know." She rolled her eyes at me. "Iggy, can we talk for a minute?" Max's eyes widened probably thinking I was going to tell him. I looked at her and shook my head. She relaxed a little but I could tell she didn't believe me.

"Me?" Iggy asked in confusion. I nodded my head. "Okay. . ." He still sounded confused but walked with me anyway.

When we were a safe distance away he started the conversation. "What's up? Why are you suddenly so interested in the flock again?" He sounded defensive, expecting me to offend them in some way. "I'm worried about Max. Has she been acting strange? Other than wearing make-up?" He looked at me for a while as if deciding whether or not he could trust me. He must have decided that he could because he answered me. "She doesn't hang out with us out of school anymore. Not on weekends or after school. We haven't had Friday night movie marathons since her mom died." I could understand that. Her dad probably wouldn't want people to see what he does to her now would he. "Anything else?" He thought for a moment. "Oh yea, she won't eat chocolate chip cookies anymore. It doesn't matter if they're homemade or store bought. She hasn't eaten a single chocolate chip cookie in months. She says it makes her think about her mom too much." I nodded. I knew Max had a weird way of grieving but to give up chocolate chip cookies? That was just a little bit over the top. Max would eat about twenty of the things a day. To just stop would have been hard.

"Hey loser! Get away from our Fangy-poo!" Lissa squealed clinging onto my arm. I took a deep breath as Iggy walked away. Time to brace myself for another day of this.

Max POV:

Before I had a change to question Iggy about their conversation the bell rang. Of course it did. Why would I get the chance to ask such a question? Checking my timetable I groaned in frustration. Are you kidding me? I had Science first period. Again. It was seriously dropping lower and lower in my list of Things I Deal With. Pretty soon I wouldn't be dealing with it anymore.

Walking in the classroom I scolded myself in my head. I didn't think of any ideas on what I could do my stupid project on. Oh well, I can only hope the person I was paired up with did. Looking up at the board I automatically looked straight back down. It was the same as yesterday except instead of saying DISSECTION PARTNERS it read PROJECT PARTNERS. That meant that I was paired up with Fang again. Great. He was the last person I wanted to be working with.

My head was on the desk when I felt a presence next to me. Looking up I saw the familiar silhouette of Fang dressed in all black.

Fang POV:

I didn't know how I felt about being partnered up with Max. It sure made it easier for me to find excuses to talk to her but it also made her hate me even more. She didn't want to be anywhere near me and now she had to work on a project with me. She doesn't have the best luck now does she.

"Do you have any ideas on what we could do our project on?" The sound of her voice shocked me out of my thoughts. Then I registered her question. After giving it some thought I shrugged. To be honest I had no idea. I hadn't even thought about school in the chaos of yesterday.

"The life cycle of birds . . ."

That's all for now. I'm surprised how long it took me to write this. I normally write the whole chapter in one go or maybe over the course of a day. This took me two days. I'm sorry if it's really bad. I have been on a serious lack of creative ingenious lately. I also apologize for any spelling, grammar or punctuation mistakes in any of my writing. I don't edit. If I do I do it after the whole story is written. Anyway, see you guys hopefully sooner than before.
~eternalreader62