~∞ ROSES ∞~

Chapter Seven: Black Roses Equals Hate; But He Doesn't Know That

"You should totally get him a rose!" Nudge exclaimed, as ideas on how Max could subtly act as if she didn't totally hate Fang came spilling out "I mean, like apologize for that other rose that he got you, and you destroyed!"

Max shook her head wildly, as she leant back onto her bed in the dormitory the two girls shared. "I did not destroy the rose!" she screeched. "Why in the world would I do that? You know me! I just… Freaking misplaced it, by not accepting it at all!" Max refused to admit the fact that she left an admittedly perfect flower go to waste. "Besides, he never physically gave it to me," she huffed.

Nudge shrugged, as she too collapsed on her bed. Unlike others, the two girls had decided to keep the beds in the same room, and have an extra room for storage. Their dorm was actually much more decent than the norm, and was more of a mini-apartment, rather than a dormitory. That was one of the reasons why the school was so expensive. "Well then," she sighed, "you come up with something! 'Cause I'm out of here now," Nudge said, as she stretched her limbs out, uttering one of the shortest sentences — for her — known to West High.

"Wait, where are you going?" Max suddenly asked. "You come up with this 'Oh so brilliant plan' and ditch me to activate it alone? Seriously? Maybe I don't want to be part of it anymore!" she exclaimed, now sitting straight up, her arms crossed over her chest.

Her roommate scoffed. "Puh-leaze, darling. We both know you want to do this plan more than I do. And if you didn't… Well then, everyone can say how Maximum Ride and Fang Walker made-out in front of the entire grade, without Max getting revenge. Think about it! Your reputation is at stake here! So is Fang's!" With this, Max raised her eyebrows. "Because if you play him, he'll get showed up and everything; you'd be the boss, figuratively speaking!" Nudge said, making wild gestures with her arms.

Max pondered Nudge's outburst for a moment or so. Pros of Nudge's Plan: A, I'd be 'the boss'; B, Fang would get 'showed up'; C, my reputation would grow; D, who would want to date that douche-bag anymore, meaning no more freak-shows!

But Cons… A, I'd have to actually date him, no matter if it was fake or not. EW; And… He's butt-ugly?

Lies, Max, another part of her mind said. You know that's a lie! She waved it off, a bit disturbed at her conscience, as Max once again fell backward onto the bed groaning.

"Uh, Max? Are you okay?" Max made no movement to respond to Nudge. "OH MY GOD! MAX! ARE YOU OKAY? OH NO, IT'S ALL MY FAULT; I MADE MAX GO INTO SHOCK! I'M SOO SORRY MAX! CAN YOU HEAR ME? I'M SORRY!" she wailed frantically, running over to Max's bedside.

Flipping over, so she was now lying on her stomach, Max looked up at Nudge weirdly. "Are you okay? 'Cause I'm perfectly fine, besides the fact that I have to date — fake or not, still the same thing — the biggest player on the face of the Earth. Like I said, besides that, I'm a-okay."

Nudge let out a sigh. "Idiot," she muttered under her breath. "I'm leaving for real now! And don't try and pull another stunt like that again!" she said.

"What stunt?" Max asked innocently, although in reality, it was far from innocent. Nudge rolled her caramel eyes, and walked out the bedroom door. "Hold up Nudge! You never answered my question! Where are you going?" It was too late. The slam of the dorm door was audible from the distance, and Max got up.

"Roses… Roses… She wants me to give him a freaking rose. That's like a death wish to my rep. Who knew Maximum Ride would ever apologize — especially to a guy like Walker?" Max grumbled, as she paced the length of the room, where the beds were not assembled. "And why a rose? I know that's what he tried to give me, and that she knows I have an obsession to them, but what Nudge doesn't know is why!" she complained. "No one knows why! No one knows about how my dad —," Max was cut off by her phone buzzing.

Walking over to the nightstand separating the two beds, she picked up her phone, and entered the pass code in.

From: Nudge

Don't forget the rose!

Max groaned, and threw her phone down on the mattress. It seemed as if her life revolved around the scented flower; the only thing that reminded her of —

From: Nudge

I'm warning you Max!

Seconds after reading that text, she received another one.

From: Nudge

GET THE FREAKING ROSE!

From: Nudge

AND THEN GIVE IT TO FANG!

Max didn't bother to reply. However, she did know one thing; Max would have to get Fang a rose.

And she wasn't one bit happy about it. Well, that is, until a brilliant idea popped into her equally brilliant mind — if she said so herself.

…

Fang heard a knock on his door of the dormitory he shared with James — or Iggy, as he was also known as — and he got up from his slouched position on the leather sofa in front of the T.V.

He strolled to the door slowly, knowing that if it was girl, they'd wait, and if not… Well, let's just say it wouldn't be important if it wasn't a girl. Preferably a sexy one, but Fang wasn't necessarily picky, unless it was just way past his boundaries.

But why was he thinking these things that came to him normally, when he couldn't stop his thoughts from overflowing with pictures of only one girl?

Silently walking to the door, Fang opened it, and spotted a golden box lying on the ground, unattended. He looked on both sides of the corridor, but no one was in sight. Shrugging, and picking it up simultaneously, Fang headed back to his room.

He stared at the long golden box, trying to figure out what it was, and why it had been left for him. It obviously was a girl who had left it — or a gay guy — due to the almost perfect wrapping skills and color coordination. In all, it looked perfect.

And as Fang lifted the cover off the box, he deemed the contents of the golden box perfect as well.

It was a dark black rose, which let out a perfumed aroma. The midnight petals had a shine to them in the sun, making it look fake, but it wasn't.

The rose reminded him of a girl — not just any girl, but Max, the girl that had captured his attention.

He took the rose out of the box, and laid it down softly on his bed. A note fell out as well.

Fang —

I'm horrifically appalled by the fact you asked me out. I mean, Maximum Ride, dating… Monstrosity No. 1? Us folks come up with the weirdest pairings these days.

Anyway, here's your rose back. It's black, because A: Nudge forced me to "return your rose because I ruined it", and B: It would match your outfits better if you were to put it in your hair and such.

I suggest you do. Your fashion sense would be upped a bit more.

All my love saved for jerks like yourself (NONE),

Maximum Ride.

Fashion sense? Fang couldn't believe Maximum Ride just critiqued him on his fashion sense.

Fang whipped out his phone and scrolled through his long list of contacts. It was one of the ways he kept track of who he's dated, and how many there are. After all, it was labeled, "Girl 1," all the way to… "Girl 107"? He deleted them at the end of every school year, so those 107 — more or less, some didn't give him their phone numbers — girls were purely from this year.

After passing all the G's he reached the M's, where he found Max's phone number. Don't ask how he got it. Just know Fang Walker has connections. Connections to Lissa, that is. Lissa was the one who really had the connections, and that girl Nudge, Max's roommate.

To: Maximum Ride

Thanks, doll ;)

How he'd love to see her face when she read that. But only if he knew how much Max longed to see his own face when he read the back of the note:

C: Black means something. Of course you wouldn't know what.