Hey guys.

This story, for whatever inexplicable reason, always seems to make me feel better when I write it.

So I'll be writing more often :)

Plus, because I'm feeling nice, the next chapter is going to be a cute little scene where Max and Fang are texting each other from across their balconies. I'm excited :)

Enjoy ;3

MPOV

Metal hit metal as I slammed my locker door shut and melted against it, eyes sliding shut, mouth ajar as an almost silent sigh escaped me. The bell rang throughout the halls once more, making me tighten my hold on the sack lunch crumpled in my hand as a smirk curled up on my lips. My stomach growled and I pushed myself up from my position against the lockers to start towards the cafeteria.

I didn't know where the boy had gone. Which was odd, considering his locker was directly next to mine. One second he was standing beside me; the next, he was gone, leaving me with a crease between my brows and a loss of direction.

Until I saw the note. It was wedged under my sneaker, black scrawl on white paper. Bending down, I picked it up and scanned it.

Sorry for the unexpected leave. I'll save you a seat at lunch. But for now, follow these directions:

Go straight down the hall and take a left at the curve. From there, keep walking past the first turn until you reach the second intersection. Turn right, and you should see the double doors leading to the cafeteria.

See you there.

And so there I was, fumbling through the halls like a lost child despite the boy's easy directions. Thanks to my wonderful sense of direction, I managed to find myself all the way at the front of the school when I knew the cafeteria was at the back of the school. Sighing, I rubbed a hand over my face and leaned against a wall, wishing the boy was here himself instead of the tiny note crammed deep into my back pocket.

"Hey, Max, right?"

My head snapped up at the sound of the voice. When I saw no one in front of me, I warily turned and was met with a girl my age with short brown hair, green eyes, and a friendly smile. Since she didn't appear too evil, I nodded my head, curious as to why she was talking to me.

"My name's J.J," she said cheerfully.

I stared blankly back.

"I'm in your English class."

Still nothing.

"Very front of the room…," she continued. And then a light seemed to spark in her eyes as realization dawned on her. "Ohmygosh! I totally forgot! You don't speak much."

Amused, I shook my head and relaxed my protective stance a bit. She didn't seem all that bad.

J.J beamed at me again. "Well, that's okay with me. You can just do, like, hand gestures and stuff. I'm pretty sure I'd get the gist." She waited until I nodded before continuing. "Anyway, I couldn't help but notice that you looked a little lost. Trying to get to the cafeteria?"

I gave her a 'no duh' look, which made her laugh. It bubbled out of chest, and she did that weird thing that some girls do where they cover their mouths with a hand when they laugh. Although with her, the gesture didn't seem like a polite gesture to do, but instead a habit she had always had. It seemed natural.

"Yeah, of course you are. Want me to show you the way?" she asked.

I eagerly bobbed my head and J.J began to walk, leading us down the hall in a comfortable silence. I observed my surroundings: Very few kids were still milling around the hall, giving us complete quiet as we traveled. The ones who were around didn't seem to be going anywhere. They sat propped up against the lockers, head shoved in a book as they vigorously tried to catch up on some last minute homework they either forgot to do, or didn't care about doing up until this moment. No one regarded me as I passed, which was a nice change in things.

"So I bet you're wondering what my name stands for," J.J voiced, breaking the silence. Heads peered up from their books, but their gazes didn't linger long.

Now that she mentioned it, I really did begin to wonder. I never really met a girl who had initialed her name. But then again, I never met a girl named Maximum, either, so aren't I one to talk?

I cocked an eyebrow at J.J, confirming that I did, indeed, want to know.

"My birth name is Jennifer Joy," she stated blandly.

I looked at her, shocked.

"I know!" she exclaimed. Then laughed. "Yeah. My parents went around calling me Jennifer, but soon I felt that Jennifer just seemed a little…girly." She shrugged. "I tried Jen for a bit, but that didn't work for me either. And then my old friend Betty suggested J.J. It just had that certain…ring to it I was looking for. You know?"

I nodded vigorously, wishing I could tell her the story of how my actual name is Maxine, but I doe-eyed my dad into convincing my mom to let me change it to Maximum instead. No one noticed the difference because I still went by simple-ol Max.

And I almost did. My mouth hung open, suspended, air taken in to speak. But soon I came to my senses and quickly clamped my mouth shut. I noticed J.J watching me and ducked my head, color rising in my cheeks.

"Hey, it's cool. I don't expect you to just suddenly start talking for me," she said nonchalantly.

My lips twitched slightly in the remnant of what used to be my old smile. I was so grateful for her acceptance of me.

J.J nudged me. "Especially since you won't even talk to that hot guy you're always hanging around."

Gone was the gratefulness.

I glared at her despite the blush creeping its way back up my cheeks. J.J spotted it and started cracking up, placing her hand to her mouth again. Her laugh was so infectious, I almost busted out a chortle myself.

That's how we entered the cafeteria: J.J laughing boisterously, and me trying to resist the grin that was biting at me. A few head turns, but I didn't mind too much. After all, at least the entire room didn't turn to us to stare like usual.

I was really beginning to like this school.

I was really beginning to feel like I might belong somewhere.

But I tried not to let myself get carried away. In a few months, I'd be packing up and leaving this town. And with it, I'd be leaving the boy and J.J and Iggy. Although I didn't care much about Iggy yet. I would have to get to know him better considering the fact that he seemed to be cozying up to my sister.

"Well," J.J said, a grin still easily resting on her lips. "I gotta get going to my other friends over there." She jerked her head in the direction of a table. I didn't care enough to look. "Unless you want to come with? I'm not sure if you have a place to sit at yet, or…," she trailed off, appearing deep in thought.

I hesitated, thinking of what to do. God only knows where my sister is; same with the boy. I supposed I had nothing left to lose—

"Max!" Ella's voice called out to me over the steady roar of voices in the room.

J.J and I both whirled to see Ella beaming at me, hands waving frantically, Iggy and the boy surrounding her. I turned back to J.J and shrugged, gesturing with the wave of my hand to the table. J.J smiled.

"Alright, then. Well, I hope to see you soon! We must get together some time!" she gushed.

And then the most shocking thing happened.

J.J threw her arms around me and gave me a squeeze so quick, I didn't even have time to respond. I only blinked and stood there stupidly before she released me, said a quick good-bye and flitted off. My eyes remained wide for a bit as I walked towards the table Ella was at.

That was the first hug I had received in 9 months. And it was from someone I hardly knew.

Still a tad perplexed, I settled myself into the chair beside the boy, landing my lunch on the tabletop with a small thud. Ella raised her eyebrows at me.

"Made a friend?" she asked.

I shrugged off-handedly, though I could hardly believe it myself. Ella muttered something that sounded like, "Ain't that a first," and had we been alone, I would have retorted back at her. But since we weren't, I settled on shooting her a glare across the table before leaning back and crossing my arms over my chest.

I felt the heat of a gaze on my neck and swiveled my head to see the boy watching me. His head was cocked to the side, dark hair swooping low to obscure almost all of one eye. He regarded me without judgment and in the most blatant way possible. I self-consciously fidgeted with a lock of my hair, feeling odd under his scrutiny. Finally figuring there was nothing wrong with my appearance, I re-crossed my arms and arched an eyebrow at him.

Then, get this, he smirked and then winked at me before whirling around in his seat to face Iggy.

My jaw dropped slightly, my eyes wide. I was bewildered beyond belief. And yet, I felt oddly…good. A warm, fuzzy sensation was working its way through my veins at the thought of him taking even the slightest interest in me.

I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.

"Looks like we got some love birds over at this table," Iggy commented, not letting the little scene that had passed between me and the boy go unnoticed.

I glanced between Ella and Iggy a couple of times before giving a meaningful glance to Iggy. They both blushed, but Iggy failed to find this the end of the battle.

"Thank you for being so perceptive, Max, but no. I believe I was referring to you and Fangy-poo over there."

My eyebrows shot up into my hairline as I turned to view the boy—Fang. He glared at Iggy and refused to meet my eyes. Instead, he took another angry bite out of sandwich, reminding me of a shark. Haha, sharks have fangs. And his name is Fang.

Oh, I crack myself up.

After lunch, the day passed pretty much uneventfully. Fang was still slightly upset with Iggy for sharing his name, but soon got over it halfway through sixth period. From there, we sat in that comfortable silence of ours and tried to tune out the consistent lectures we received.

Fang and I walked home together that day, just a few paces shy of Iggy and Ella. The two of them were really hitting it off. It made me happy to see Ella all love-sick and what not. It was adorable.

As per usual, neither Fang nor I talked the whole way home. The only interaction we had was when my house came into view. I waved absently to Fang and began to start up the walkway when I felt something being pressed to my hand. Confused, I looked down in time to see Fang taking his hand away. He gave me one final look, then headed for his own home.

By the time Iggy and Fang entered their home, Ella had come up behind me, peering over my shoulder.

"What's that?" she inquired.

"I—I don't know," I stuttered, my voice raspy from an entire day without use.

"Well, open it."

Shrugging, I heeded her command and unfolded the piece of paper Fang had left in my hand. Scribbled onto the scrap of paper was a number.

"Text Me. –Fang." Ella poked me. "Awwh!" she squealed.

I rolled her eyes and jabbed her with my elbow. "Like Iggy didn't give you his number?"

She smirked. "Actually, he did. And I'm going to call him tonight and speak to him like a normal girlfriend would do."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes again and shoved the key in the front door. "Well, lucky for me, I'm not Fang's girlfriend." I glanced at her out of the corner of my eyes. "And since when are you his girlfriend?"

"Well, I'm not yet," she admitted. I slammed the door shut and kicked off my Converse. "But it never hurts to show that I have good girlfriend potential."

I gave her a look. "Riight."

She clucked her tongue and bumped her hip against mine as we hung up our coats. "You'll see"

"I'm sure I will."

It's storming out terribly o.o

And it's 3 AM, so I should get some sleep ;P

Review to make Fang less Emo!

[-.\\]-Fang without reviews.

[^.\\]-Fang with reviews.

Hope you have a great weekend! ;D

*Shiver*