Thanks for your reviews! I shall try to make this a short one… unless you don't want me to. Ha-ha. I guess I'll just wing it (the length not the story!).

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, but I still wish I did! James Patterson, if you are reading this (and I'm very thrilled and shocked if you are), I am very jealous of you!

Okay, back to the story. ; )

Max POV

It was Friday evening, the night before the all important and possibly deadly party. Angel and I explained everything to the flock, all the way from what lingered in Miriam's mind to who was going to that party. One thing's for sure: Fang was not going.

Miriam's instructions from the anonymous person who could possibly be our bad guy were to make sure Fang went to that party, and no one else in the flock. So if anyone was looking, they would keep their eye out for him, not for us. But first, he had to accept the offer in person, for it was an invitation only party. What would we do without a mind reader in the flock?

We set it up so that Fang would meet Miriam right before dinner and accept her invitation, claiming that he didn't want to accept in front of his girlfriend. I was surprised that it took him a little convincing. He really did not want to go, or at least have anyone think he was going. Lucky for him, he wasn't actually going.

Angel, Dylan, and I were. Originally, I didn't want Angel to come, being that the building could explode at any given moment, but she did give a good argument about why a mind reader would be useful in this situation. We needed Dylan because he was a good fighter and could practically see the future.

Just before dinner, Gasman placed a small video camera with a microphone on Fang's jacket so that we could see and hear what was going on from the girl's dorm room. How he snuck all this spy equipment with him, I had no idea. But at the moment, I was almost glad he did.

Fang's camera was smaller than a thumbnail, so it fit and blended with his black jacket perfectly. No one suspected a thing. We watched him go downstairs and into the dining hall, where a dozen dinner tables were filled with eating kids. Fang spotted Miriam walking in through the door on the other side of the room, and he met her half way.

"Hi, Miriam. Um, I just… came over to… accept your invitation to that party." Fang said, forcing the words through his lips.

"Oh great! Fantastic!" Miriam said, pulling one decorative party invitation from her enormous purple purse. "Here. The party is tomorrow at six. It's strictly casual."

"Thanks. Sorry I didn't accept at lunch. But with my girlfriend sitting right there and all, well, you know how it is. Um can I get two more invitations… for my brothers?" Fang asked, trying to coax her into giving them to her. Fang was usually very persuasive with me, but hardly with anyone else. He just didn't have Angel's sweet talk or mind control ability.

"Sorry, I'm only allowed to invite a certain amount of people. It's not my party, you know. But if it was, you know I would." Miriam blew him an air kiss and walked away, towards her spoiled friends who I also have no idea why they're at this school.

Fang sighed, and headed back to our room.

"Sorry guys, I guess two of you will just have to sneak in somehow." Fang whispered into the microphone as he walked up the deserted hallways, making his way back to our room.

He arrived at the door, and we let him in, since the boys weren't allowed to carry the girls' room key. We took off all of his equipment, discussing how this was going to work.

"Okay, Angel, Dylan and I will go to building one with the invitation," I said, taking Fang's camera off and placing it carefully on the dresser with all the other electronic trinkets, "and then Angel will have to use her gift to convince the guard or whoever is taking invitations that Miriam let one of us take friends-"

"Wait, you want me to use my gift?" Angel interrupted me, "You never want me to control people!"

I sighed. "Controlling people's minds is wrong and manipulative, but considering the circumstances, we kind of have to."

"So we get in, scope the place out, and Angel and Dylan will use their gifts to try and get all the information possible…?" I said, turning it into a question to see if Angel and Dylan would do it.

"Yeah, ok." Angel said, shrugging as if it were no big deal.

"Dylan?" I said, looking at him earnestly.

He hesitated a little, not really use to being asked a favor. "Sure, I guess." He said, repeating Angel's shrug with his broad shoulders.

I nodded in approval, and suggested we go to dinner. Everyone was more than pleased to finally eat.

The next day, we all slept in until noon, like we use to back at home. As a leader would, I got up first. I opened the shades, letting all the sunlight in, but that still didn't wake Nudge or Angel. I sighed, deciding to let them wake up themselves. I went downstairs to the kitchen, where a couple dozen kids were eating, dressed and ready for the day's events. I felt a little awkward, being down there in my pajamas, having everyone stare at me as I take six mini boxes of cereal from the closet. As I opened one of the refrigerators, hoping to find milk or something, I felt the stares and murmurs of the small group of students sitting at the table behind me.

I turned around sharply to them. "Do you guys mind?" I said harshly, just above a whisper.

They giggled a little, and one of the two girls said to me, "Sorry, we just found it funny that you spend the day in your Pjs."

"I slept in ,okay? Like it's any of your business what I do anyway? Get a life." I said smartly back to them.

"Yeah, but we found it odd how your entire family slept in." The girl said.

I rolled my eyes at them, got the milk and juice boxes from the fridge, and headed back to my room.

As I headed back to my room, I dropped one of the cereal boxes. I bent down to pick it up, only to find someone else grab it. I looked up to see Fang, with that grin on his face that I loved so much.

"Hey," he said, tossing the mini cereal box around in his hands.

"Hi. Um… thanks." I said back, taking the cereal box out of his hands.

He sighed. "Look, I'm- I'm sorry I… caused so much trouble. I didn't realize…. I thought things would be better."

"Yeah, well, they weren't. Actually, they almost went to worst." I didn't intend that last sentence to sound as mean as it did.

There was a long, awkward silence. Someone had to break it, so I decided it would be me.

"Why did you leave, anyway?"

He hesitated, probably trying to come up with something that wouldn't get his butt kicked.

"I left because… well didn't you read my letter?"

"Yeah, I did. Worst letter I've ever gotten. It broke my heart." I mumbled. How could he think that letter could do anything but brake my heart? Was I suppose to let him go and move on? Well, I guess that's what he probably originally wanted me to do for a little bit. But I could never get over something like that instantly.

"I'm sorry. But, you know, Angel was right." He said.

I was confused at this. Did Angel say something to him that made him leave? No, she wanted me to leave, not Fang. Maybe he was covering for someone else, using Angel's name because I knew she was upset with us anyway.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Max, we were too preoccupied with each other to notice the flock. Anyone for that matter. It was putting all of us in danger… I was putting you in danger."

"I can take care of myself, Fang. You should know that."

"Angel was willing to kill you. She pointed a gun at you. The house caught on fire once. Someone put some weird chemical in the water supply." Fang's voice was starting to rise now. "We didn't know what could have happened in reaction to those chemicals. And when Dylan came…. Well, I just knew it was for the better."

It hit me then. Dylan. Dylan must have said something. I knew he would. Ever since I found them arguing when the house was on fire. He thought he was my perfect other half. Or at least someone told him that. I didn't really know his life before he came to us.

"Well, I made a promise to the flock. And I intend to keep that promise." I said. Jeez, I've been making, and keeping, a lot of promises lately. "So there's no reason for you to leave again, okay?"

He nodded slightly, "Okay."

There was that awkward silence again.

"Here, let me help you with that." Fang said, taking some of the cereal boxes and milk cartons from my hands. I mumbled a thanks, and lead him to my room, which contained a still sleeping Nudge and Angel. There was no way they were waking up anytime soon. I placed two boxes of cereal and milk on each of their dressers, and Fang placed the other two boxes and juice on my dresser.

"So, am I forgiven?" Fang asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

I smiled warmly. "Yes. For now."

He took my hand, which made my heart flutter, and led me back out into the hallway, which was surprisingly privet since everyone was either downstairs or out at another dorm building. He put his hands on my waist, and pulled me into a warm, desirable kiss I so long deserved and missed. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he pulled me in closer. The kiss was warm, but not too light, and I loved every second of it. Our bodies were pressed tightly together, my left side and his right side leaning against the wall in the cream colored hallway. As the kiss went on, I slowly forgot everything. Was I upset earlier? I couldn't have been mad at Fang. Never. Not in a million years. After all, he was such a good kisser! Not that I've kissed many guys. Was there something I should be planning? Something important? I didn't know.

"You know," Fang said in between kisses, "I've really… missed you… so… much."

"Probably… not even close… to my missing… you." I said, my fingers entwining in his too long hair. He obviously didn't get a haircut while he was gone. "Jeb had to come and use the 'your flock needs you' speech to even get me out of bed."

"Really?" Fang said, pulling his head back a drop, his eyes filling with sadness and sorrow. "I'm so sorry I put you through that."

"Well, it's over now." I mumbled, just above a whisper. "Don't worry about it, okay?" I leaned my head against his shoulder, and he rubbed my back in the spot between my wings. It felt so good to have someone do that again.

We stood there for a couple minutes, our lips meeting every once in a while, until one of us had to be responsible.

"The kids will be waking up soon, and someone's going to find us like this if we don't move." I said, with a small grin at the end.

"Yeah, okay." Fang said, giving me one last, warm kiss. Then we broke apart and went back to our different rooms. Responsible. One of my absolute least favorite words.

What do you wear to a party that was set up to kill one of your own? Aren't you just suppose to look casual? Well, our casual usually wasn't very common when you think of "casual". Our casual was considered below casual standards. But I didn't want to get dressed up in party clothes when I had to be ready to fight. I borrowed one of Nudge's neon shirts, one that she ordered from a fashion catalog, and a pair of jeans that were relatively clean of stains. Angel just wore anything she could move in. Nobody expected a seven year old to get all girled-up for a dorm party. Dylan wore a blue T-shirt and jeans. Was that party-worthy for a boy? I did not know.

Angel took the invitation and stuffed it into a small, pink, empty mini-purse. That way, after she got rid of the invitation, she could ditch the purse when necessary.

If anyone was going to give in the invitation, it was going to be the one who would convince them (whoever they are) to let Dylan and me in. The only thing I was worried about was… what were we going to do once we found our crazy psycho stalker? Beat him (or her, for that matter, but saying 'he or she' all the time is a waste of time so I'll just assume it's a he) up? What if he has weapons? I don't think we can go up against a bazooka, if he has one. Threaten him? Yeah, like that has ever gotten anyone anywhere in a situation even remotely close to this. Kill him before he kills us? It was possible. But we weren't known for murder. If anyone involved with us died, it was never technically caused by one of us. But maybe we could….

Plan. I needed a plan. I was always known for having a plan no matter what situation we were in. But how could I come up with a plan when I really had no idea what was going to happen once we entered that party?

Dorm building one was not very far from building four. Well, for us it wasn't. The lights were visible, and very bright, from outside, and there was a song with a heavy bass guitar playing that boomed throughout the campus. As I suspected, there was a guard standing outside the door collecting invitations.

Angel handed him the invitation, and attempted to lead us in.

"Hey," the guard said in a deep voice, putting his large arm in front of Dylan and me, blocking our way, "no one goes in without an invitation."

"They're with me," Angel said, looking into his eyes as his expression went from stern to entranced. "I was told I could bring two friends, and they're allowed inside."

"They're allowed inside." The guard said, putting his arm down.

I had to admit, Angel was scary sometimes. Her acting skills were incredible. Or was she really acting?…

We walked quickly through the entrance hall before he realized what just happened, and walked right into a living room and dining room transformed into a multicolored world of music, dancing, and free snacks. I did a quick 360 of the place. I didn't see anyone that looked the slightest bit suspicious. Everyone was having a good time.

But don't let that fool you. Someone grabbed my forearm, and in the next two minutes, all hell broke loose.

Okay, I guess my plan for making this chapter short pretty much failed. But I guess if you all can handle reading a 400 page book like Maximum Ride, you can handle reading this. Please review! Every review counts! ; )