~∞ ROSES ∞~

Chapter Five: A Rose for You

The line went on for an unimaginably long amount. All the girls in the entire campus of West High must've heard about Fang's break up with his ex-girlfriend. They probably thought that since it was the fastest he's broken up with someone, Fang has someone in mind to date next. Of course, the numb-skulls believed it was themselves.

It wasn't. The reason for the quick break-up, was that he was annoyed. Purely annoyed — sometimes disgusted — by his girlfriends, no matter how hot they are. Clinging, is "not cool". Giggling like a maniac, is "not cool". Restricting freedom to look at other girls, is "not cool".

And this was most of the traits in the girls before him. They look up at him with shining eyes, hoping it's them. Can we say desperate, or what?

He began strolling down the hallway, looking over each girl in line.

"No. No. Hmm… No. Ye – No. No. N-O. Definitely not. Maybe… Not," Fang muttered to himself, looking at all the girls. Too big smiles, too eager eyes. He knew the look in every single one of them: lust.

Yeah, he knew he didn't care much for "relationships", but all those girls wanted were to get into his pants. Sure, fooling and messing around a bit was fun, but there were those times when Fang actually wanted to talk. Amazing, right? And none of these girls seemed like the type to talk to him, or someone he'd willingly talk to.

When did I raise my standards so much? He scowled to himself, chuckling though. There was one girl he did want to talk to. The flower one; Maximum Ride. She didn't seem to like him much, and so he took that as a good sign of her character. At least in comparison to everyone else, namely the bimbo's.

He finally got to the end of the line, where Lissa, queen bee of the school stood, holding a compact as she made kissy faces in the mirror. Fang raised an eyebrow. When Lissa took notice of him looking at her funny, she blushed. "Oh, hey Fang."

He nodded. "'Sup?"

She smiled. "Oh, nothing much. I see your desperate-I-love-Fang-despite-the-fact-I-don't-know-him-wanna-be-girlfriends line has grown bigger. Becoming more popular with the ladies, eh?" Lissa teased playfully.

Lissa and Fang's parents were friends, so she was closer to him than all the girls in the incredibly long line Lissa had described. Although she was overly self-conscious, Lissa was okay to hang out with. They didn't talk much anyway.

"What are you doing in the line? Did Sam break up with you?" Sam was her boyfriend.

"Nah, I counted all the girls in line, and now I'm at the back waiting for more to arrive," she replied, stashing her mirror back in her purse. Fang waited patiently for her to proceed. "There's forty-seven currently."

He nodded. It was a lot more than before. "Well then, I'll see you at lunch!" Lissa chirped cheerfully, as she walked over to where Sam was waiting. Looking back at the line of forty-seven girls waiting for him to ask them out, he shook his head.

None of them seemed right. No one that he could talk to.

Well, there was one. Except she absolutely abhorred his player ways, and wittier comebacks than her own. Except she wasn't popular, nor dressed like the other girls. Except she wasn't in the line. Except she was Maximum Ride.

Now that Fang thought about it, wasn't one of the reasons he broke up with his girlfriend was so he could talk to Max, and have a decent conversation?

Yeah. It was.

But was he man enough to ask her out?

…

She sat beside Nudge at her table. "Did you know that Fang declined every single one of the girls in that line we saw on the way to lunch? Every single one of them! And Sydney was in that line! Can you believe it? Maybe he really does have someone in mind, like Maddie said!" Nudge bubbled excitedly.

As much as Max hated to admit it, that was quite interesting and peculiar. Fang Walker, chasing after a girl? Wasn't it usually the other way around?

"Did someone call my name?" Maddie called from behind the two girls, holding her lunch tray. She laid it on the table, and plopped down next to Max.

"Hey Maddie!" Nudge cried. "We —,"

"-cough-cough- YOU –cough-cough-," Max interrupted, earning a glare from her friend.

"Anyways! We were just discussing how Fang declined all those girls in the hallway, and how you could've been right, and how Fang might actually factually have someone that he's actually going to ask out!" she continued, all in one breath.

"Really? I just heard from Lissa that there were forty-seven and counting girls in that line. It's so un-Fanglike, especially sinceSydney just broke up with her boyfriend! And we all know that Fang's had his eye on her, every since James went out with her. What was that, two months long?" Maddie exclaimed.

"She has?" Max wondered curiously. It wasn't that the subject was interesting, but the fact that Fang Walker, school's number one player didn't get Sydney to cheat on her boyfriend with him. Now that was surprising.

"Well yeah!" Maddie replied, beginning to eat the pizza on her plate. "And look! Here he comes now!"

Max turned around, in the same direction Maddie was looking in. Shouldn't Maddie of meant she as they were just talking about Sydney? But it wasn't Maddie that was wrong; it was her.

Fang, looking as casual as ever in his black attire and scruffy black converse was striding over to her very table. There was only about five minutes of lunch left, and so Max quickly tried to get up, throw her trash away, and leave. Fang Walker coming to their table was not good.

"Wait, Max!" he cried. Nudge hopped out of her seat, grabbed Max's shoulders, and steered her back to Fang. Wasn't she on my side? Max thought. Didn't she hate Fang and his ways like me?

Max scowled, looking Fang directly into his dark eyes. "What?" she snapped.

He blinked, but didn't show his surprise, for he kept up his opaque façade. "A rose for you, milady." Max rolled her eyes.

"You already gave them back. What do you want, a thank you? Seriously…"

"No. Seriously; a rose for you." And extracting his arm that was hidden behind his back, he revealed a perfectly trimmed and red rose. The petals weren't wilting, and it was free of thorns. In other words, absolutely perfect. "Maximum Ride —,"

"If you know my name, why'd you call me Maxine this morning, you moron?" Max glared. All the attention of the cafeteria was on Fang and her.

It didn't bother Fang, for his ego was large enough to give him the last bit of confidence he needed to continue on. "So you'd wake up and stop drooling on the desk," Fang deadpanned, and continued before things became worse. "Maximum Ride," he began, staring into her eyes as he said this. "Will you to the honor of being my girlfriend?"