~∞ ROSES ∞~

Chapter Two: Sketching Roses

"And that will conclude your morning announcements! Have a terrific Monday, and enjoy the rest of your school year!" The intercoms blared loud and clear, waking up several of the drowsy students who had slinked into class late, only to fall asleep. One of these people was Maximum Ride.

The teacher began her drone of the names in her homeroom. Her voice was a monotone that made it unbearable to listen to. "Maximum Ride?" Her scratchy voice called as she read from the paper. "Maximum?"

All heads turned to look at the sleeping girl in the back. The blue hood of her sweatshirt was pulled over her head, shrouding the class' view of her dirty-blonde hair, but her face was still visible. It was scrunched up, her light eyebrows furrowed, as if she was annoyed.

Considering the loud classroom environment, combined with the teacher's pestering voice, she most likely was annoyed.

"YO MAXINE!" the boy sitting next to her yelled. It was Fang, the hot "bad-boy" of West High. He was a player and a jerk, to say the least. Fang didn't talk much to Max, but he was aware of who she was.

Max shot up, her head now high above her desk, and slapped Fang across the face. "My. Name. Is. Not. Maxine," she grounded out, her teeth gritted tightly together. Fang blinked at her, surprised that she had slapped him, for he always called her Maxine.

"She's here, Ms. Wilhelm!" Fang called to the front of the class.

"Yes, yes, thank you Nick. Maximum, I don't want you falling asleep in this class and drooling all over my desks!" Mrs. Wilhelm scolded her. Max opened her mouth to snap back at the teacher, but Fang quickly covered her mouth with his hand.

"Teh-or-and-ff-i-mout-befr-oo-d," Max said eerily calm, although her mouth was still covered.

"Excuse me?" Fang questioned teasingly.

"A-sad-eh-or-and-of-me-moh-bfor-oo-di!" she hissed, now glaring at Fang.

"Pardon?"

"Oo-sho-odv-jus-akn-it-off…" Max muttered, her words again distorted, before she licked his hand. Needless to say, Fang quickly removed it.

"What the hell was that for?" he grumbled, disgusted by Max's actions.

She shrugged. "I told you, you should've just taken your hand off my mouth…" Then, Max turned away from him, and took out a clean sheet of paper, as well as a pencil, before she began doodling. Fang watched her silently draw, as Mrs. Wilhelm began going over the rituals and routines of West High.

Roses. All roses. Max shifted in her seat, bringing her paper farther away from Fang. He leaned closer to get a better look, and Max moved the paper even further. Yet he still bent over, trying to look at the most recent rose she had drawn.

Until he fell out of his chair.

Everyone laughed at Fang, but Max was the first one. And hers was a different laugh too. Mocking him. Her brown eyes glared at him through the laughing, smiling façade.

Sitting himself right again, it was Fang's turn to scowl at Max as she continued on with her doodling as if nothing had happened. Fang snorted mentally. Sure, nothing happened. Just the most popular dude in their year was the laughing stock of homeroom with Ms. Wilhelm. Definitely nothing.

"Do you know what you just did?" Fang asked menacingly. The whole school would know about this by the end of the day; that was how West High worked.

"Uh, yeah Nick," Max responded in a 'duh' tone, clearly not affected by his angry tone of voice. "Do you know what you just did?" she shot back, as she began the stem for the rose she had finished.

"I fell out of my seat, because of you," Fang growled. "Everyone laughed at me, because of you. I was the center of attention, because of you."

Max snorted. "Aren't you always the center of attention? Aren't all the pops and jocks the attention-loving snobs? Besides, I didn't do anything. But you invaded my personal bubble."

Fang opened his mouth to retort something back, but the bell rang. Homeroom had come and gone in a snap. Max picked up all her books, and shifted the weight of it onto her hip.

"If you really wanted to talk to me, all you had to do was say hi. But nooo, you almost fell on top of me. You should really work on your social skills." And with that, Max walked out of Ms. Wilhelm's homeroom class.

Fang had her next, for history, and so he remained in his seat. Max had left a piece of paper on the ground, and he snatched it up from the tiled floor. It was the rose that she hadn't finished. The rose looked done, yet there was something off about it that made Fang have a sense of "incompleteness". Something missing.

The sketch was neat, yet detailed. The shading on each individual petal had been lightly applied on the paper that made it appear to be three-dimensional. A drawing like this was not one created from the head. They had to of experienced the flower first-hand, and for an extended period of time.

There was something peculiar about Maximum, just like that rose. And for once, Fang actually agreed with Max. Maybe he really did want to talk with her. But first, he'd have to get rid of this week's girlfriend.

The door to the classroom burst wide open.

There she was, her hair curled perfectly like her white smile. Fang's current girlfriend