NOTE: I know that most (if not all) of you are creeped out by the forthcoming Miggy. Keep in mind that (1) This is just the 27th chapter and I have 13-14 chapters left, and (2) That my description and characters indicate FAX. Either I change it, or I stay true to it, and so far, no changes are made.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own MR.

"Seriously guys, no dramatic friendship breakup scene like they always do in those chick-flicks whenever the girl gets a new 'life'?"

Nudge, Ella, and Angel laughed. Then Angel shook her head. "It's not like we're going to rot here all summer while you go along with Iggy, Fang, and Tess. We have our own plans, too."

That was true. Ella had been talking non-stop about how she was going to visit a couple of relatives from Spain since January. Nudge's parents did promise her that they'd let her go to South Korea with her cousins if she ended the year with straight A's, which she did. And Angel's going to Canada for some reason that has something to do with her father's obsession of hockey.

Seems like I'm the only one staying in the states this summer. But as Nudge puts it, I do get to spend it with "my most favorite guy in the world" (definitely her words, not mine).

"So you're really not mad? Promise?"

"Promise." The three of them said at the same time.

Ella smiled and looked at her wristwatch. "You better get packing. You guys are leaving pretty early tomorrow."

Roadtrips, as awesome and interesting as they sound, aren't always that great. First, you have to consider how many people are coming. Then consider how much stuff you and the people coming along are going to bring. Also remember the dimensions of the car, how much space it has, and how much space that's left after you put all the stuff in.

Then there's the seating arrangement. Always consider the length of the trip and if you can put up with the person/item beside you.

The four of us, plus Iggy's dad, were piled up in their old family van along with a million other useless but-might-be-needed stuff. Mr. Griffith, apparently, is too much of a boy scout and practically packed all the excess furniture from their house "just in case". He's driving, and Iggy's sitting shotgun with his laptop, our most advance link to technology, on his lap. Tess claimed the first row for herself along with a bunch of pots and pans, even if most of the food we packed is mainly camp-fire appropriate. The middle had all our stuff in it, along with a couple of beach stuff. The back of the van contained some firewood. So that meant Fang and I shared the back row.

With the two of us being the only people, and with the stuff heaped up on the floor or underneath the seats, you would've thought that we snagged the separate ends so both of us could get some good view. But no, instead, we're at the very middle, inches apart each other, with tons of pillows on either side of us. I have my earphones plugged in, to pass the time, while Fang's busy either drawing a bunch of lines or writing something.

"You guys back there okay?" Iggy's dad asked. Fang, Tess and I chorused "yes", and he went back to focusing on the road.

"Max," Fang called out.

"Yeah?"

He said something, but I couldn't hear anything because of either the noise or how fast he talked.

"What?" I asked again, louder than intended.

Fang said something like "never mind", but then reached out across me and pulled out the left earphone. I thought he was going to say something, but instead put the earphone in his hear.

"Ed Sheeran?" He asked upon hearing the song that just ended.

I held up my iPod. "It's on shuffle. Deal with it."

The opening bars of a song by Marianas Trench started, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see his fingers tapping against his leg. I quickly checked my library, just in case the three girls decided to play a prank and put Ke$ha and Justin Bieber, or worse, Rebecca Black (Note to self: Find out Fang's opinion on Rebecca Black and her singing). Thankfully, there were none.

Meanwhile, I noticed that the notebook he was writing on a while ago was still open and on his lap. Seeing as he was distracted, I made my move and lunged for the maybe-man-journal.

"Hey!" Fang said, the earphone falling out in the process.

"Seriously, Fang, are you planning to be a doctor? Or is it supposed to be a lawyer?" I asked, eyeing the curvy lines on his notebook. None of them, unfortunately, were legible to my eyes.

"I'm not practicing or planning to be anything." He said, snatching the notebook. He picked up the earphone and put it back in his ear just as the latest song was about to finish.

We spent the rest of the trip listening and not talking.

"We're here." Iggy's dad said. The engine stopped and everyone got out, the three of us careful not to trip over anything. The Griffiths handled the firewood at the back, Tess grabbed all the pillows, I took all our bags, and Fang handled the rest of the stuff. Iggy's parents had this small beach house, and they gave him access for a couple of days while his dad was going to a high school reunion nearby.

"Max, do you mind getting the pocket knife in my bag?" Iggy asked. I quickly dropped the bags on the old couch inside and opened the pockets of his. There were a bunch of normal teenage stuff, but as I pulled out the pocket knife, a bottle with bubble soap fell out.

You heard me. Tess walked in just in time to see the bottle fall out. She picked it up from the floor and then looked at the pocket knife in my hand.

"Iggy needs that, right?" She asked.

I nodded. She grabbed it, saying that she was going to give it to him and ran outside laughing. I heard something that sounded like "I can't believe you're keeping this from us!" and a bunch of laughter. I headed out, and saw the Fang was sitting on a lawn chair in the porch watching, Tess blow bubbles at Iggy's embarrassed face, his messy, sort-of-spiked hair popping them.

"Those kids sure are crazy." He muttered.

"Yeah."

"Hey, anyone up for some football?" Tess asked, spinning a soccer ball on the tip of her finger. Iggy's dad had already left, and the four of us were enjoying the strip of beach to ourselves.

Iggy and Fang ran up to each other and exchanged high fives. "Boys against the girls." Iggy called out. Tess nodded in agreement and grabbed a couple of sticks from the shore, then planted them on either side. Then the ball was placed in the center, and the game begun.

Not to brag, but I'm pretty good at soccer. But then I usually play on grass or concrete, and this time it was nothing but sand, shells, and maybe a couple of stray pebbles. All in all it was pretty slippery. Tess was better; she had been in a school team for a couple of years. Fang was way better than Iggy, so he played the offense while Iggy either stood or ran as their defense.

"Over here, Ig!" Fang shouted. Tess ran for the ball, but Iggy maneuvered it halfway and kicked it towards Fang. He easily got it, but he still had to do an about face to get it towards the goal. I, in the meanwhile, was literally behind him, ready to kick it back to Tess.

Instead of turning around, he just moved the ball while half walking/running backwards. He still wasn't aware that I was right behind him, moving in the same direction as he did, looking for an opening to kick the ball to our goal. But that was until he accidentally stepped on my foot. We both fell down within seconds.

You know how in those movies, the leads accidentally fall and the guy's on top, then he suddenly manages not to crash in the girl's face and they make eye contact for a few seconds before either one gets up? Our fall was, well, sort of like that. Yeah, Fang was on top, but he fell backward, and his sand (and sweat) covered back was crushing me. No eye contact was made, obviously.

"You okay, Max?" he asked as soon as he got off me. I leaned on my elbows and saw Iggy and Tess running towards us. Iggy helped me up, and then brushed some of the sand off my head like the sweet maybe-but-not-really boyfriend he was. Fang then made a questioning look on his face and pointed to his elbow. I pointed my elbows at him, which were free of any wounds caused by the fall.

"That was weird." Tess said. "But no way am I leaving this game unfinished."

We continued the game, and I heard Fang mutter "sorry" every time we were near each other, which was mainly every time he stole the ball from me. It wasn't really clear on what he was apologizing for: crushing me when we fell, or stealing the ball.

In the end, Tess and I won. All of us were sweating hard and wiping our faces with anything. Iggy even took off his shirt and used it to wipe himself, even if it was also damp. And, yes, I did eventually sort-of checked him out. Mostly because he was right beside me, and it was hard staring straight ahead for so long.

"I hope the water's cool." Fang said. He got up and ran towards the shore, stripping off his shirt and throwing it to the side in the process. Tess got up and followed, shouting in joy as the waves splashed against her.

"Wanna go for a swim?" I asked Iggy.

He said nothing, but he smiled, took my hand, and dragged me along to the water. I had to admit, it did feel cool. We all swam to a deeper part and splashed each other like little kids.

"It looks like it's going to rain." Tess said looking up at the dark clouds that took over the sky. "Do we have to get out of the water?"

The rain started pouring heavily. "Nope." Iggy said.

"Breath holding contest. I challenge you." Tess said, pointing at Iggy.

"Three… two… one… go!"

Both of them went under, so it was just me and Fang getting hit by the rain. We stared at each other for a moment, and then he got nearer. He was so near that I could see the water dripping off his eyelashes, and he could see mine. We just stood there for a moment, staring at each other.

And then he kissed me.

In a way, the kiss was really romantic. It was raining, and we were in the water, and this nice, romantic song was playing in my head. It was almost perfect. Almost. Iggy or Tess could've come up for air anytime.

Other than that, I had to admit I liked it.

Fang pulled away from me and blinked. Then he took a deep breath and dove under the water, just as Iggy and Tess came up for air.

"I win." Tess declared, splashing water at him.

"No way, I definitely saw you were already out when I came up."

They both turned to me. "Who came up first?" Tess asked.

I shrugged, and did the same as Fang. Even under the water, I could hear the rain splattering on the surface, and Iggy and Tess' argument on who held their breath longer. I could feel the little torrents on my back that the raindrops created. I could feel the waves that were the result of Fang swimming somewhere close.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned around and saw Fang. He seemed to be holding out a fist. I threw him an are-you-crazy-what-the-heck-is-that look, but he pointed to his fist with his other hand. I then realized that it was sign language for the letter S. I nodded, and he opened the fist and made a circle, the letter O. I nodded again. He held up both hands, and then crossed his fingers. Two letter R's. Before he could make the next letter, I held up my own fist and stuck out the thumb and the pinky to form a letter Y. Fang nodded, and then swam away.

Sorry. How come that word is the most overused when something like this happens between the two of us? I mean, not to sound weird and say I'm not sorry, but I'm pretty sure Fang has better words reserved for an explanation.

Bottom point is: he's getting even more confusing.

Hey, you. Yes, you. You better appreciate this, because yesterday I woke up at 2AM for a field trip that had a longer travelling time. Then I slept on the bus and had dinner at midnight. You better appreciate this, because this took all day. Which can also explain why it looks like that.

(For more weird stuff on my field trip, go ahead and ask me. I'm sure your monitor's thick enough to prevent me from any form of biting.)

So yeah, it's December, so I want to ask everyone from NaNoWriMo on how they did. If I joined NaNoWriMo, then maybe I would've reached less than 10K. I'm sure you guys did a great job. Good luck on National Editing Month (if you ever decide to join).

I apologize if I sound weird (which I'm sure I do). If you guys think there's something that's not worthy to be included, then just tell me and I can change it.

Review and tell me what you think! =D