Chapter 30 – Change of Heart
You see, when I told Fang that I was declaring war, I expected it to be a nice little prank on my behalf that gave me a good laugh, humiliated Fang momentarily, and then we'd go on with our lives as if nothing happened. Little did I know that, when I pranked him once in a lighthearted manner, he wanted to get me back. So after I'd photoshopped a picture of him into having guyliner, tattoos, and gothic clothing, he'd respond by drawing unicorns, rainbows, and fluffy rabbits on all my textbook covers, notebooks, and my book bag. Now when I walked in school, guys would smile strangely at me or hold their hands behind their heads to resemble bunny ears.
I was about ready to murder Fang.
But then again, I did declare war. And war was hardly ever a one-sided attack. Cause that would just be mutilation.
So of course the biggest bomb, which wasn't part of the prank, was thrown on me at my second attempt to get Fang.
Ha ha, Fang, very funny. Two can play at this game, I'd thought snidely as I was prepping for my next prank. Of course, when I was right on the verge of unleashing my own brand of evil genius, I had an interruption.
Max, the Voice had said in a condemning tone.
Voice, long time no annoy. I hadn't heard from the Voice in a while, and I was really enjoying having my mind to myself. To keep it somewhat-sane, anyway. I mean, now I could walk through walls! Talk about a kickass power! What brings you around on this finest of days?
You shouldn't focus your time on revenge and petty affairs. You have more important matters to attend to. More factors you must involve yourself in.
Well, I'm currently involved in some pretty important affairs, if you ask me, I had muttered mentally. Why did it have to be so annoying, especially when I was busying myself with a very important prank? I gauged the amount of load I was putting in and how much bleach would be needed. I wasn't completely heartless; I only put in enough to spot some of Fang's shirts. He'd be known as a negative-photo Dalmatian in school for a while.
I swore I'd heard the Voice sigh. You should pay more attention to him, Max. He's on the right track, and you're distracting yourself from your mission.
Screw my mission. I don't even know what it is. And don't give me that 'save the world' crap. I hear that enough on TV. I'd shut the lid of the washing machine, flipped a few dials, and began washing Fang's laundry. He always did his own, but I'd manage to scrounge up a few that he hadn't gotten around to.
You are really not seeing the Big Picture. There is time for play, and there is time to work. If you can balance the two than you can master anything. Right now I see you playing, and Fang balancing.
God, if you constantly praise Fang, why don't you annoy him? What do you want from me?
It's not what I want, but what the world needs. Fang's starting to put the pieces together, and you should pay attention to what he finds. He's insightful, but he's not the one who can save the world.
Than what is he? Why talk highly of him if I'm the world saver?
He's your accomplice, a helper. One you can lean on and trust. Keep him close, Max, and you'll be unbeatable.
"Ugh, go away!" I said angrily, just as Ella entered into the laundry room. Her eyes were wide with shock and fear, and I sort of felt bad. She'd thought I was talking to her. "Uh… I was, uh, preparing for the school play," I lied. "Trying out for a role. Ugh, go away!" I threw my fist in the air like I was reciting a line.
She'd raised an eyebrow, questioning my ever fading sanity. "Max, you hate acting. Unless… there's a boy you're trying to impress," she said mischievously. "That's totally cute, then. You're finally turning into a girl."
It had taken all my self-control not to snarl at her. I shook my head, frustrated, and pushed by her, muttering about "impressing a boy," the entire time.
When I had headed for the stairs, Fang stepped out of the hallway to block my path. "So, impressing a boy, huh? Who's your lover this time?"
"I'm not in the mood, Fang," I'd ground out, feeling a headache coming on.
Then he'd chuckled, which pushed me over the edge. In between him, Ella, and the Voice, my patience was a kid in an empty room with only a "Do Not Press This" sign on a button in front of him. You do the math. I shoved him out of the way and stomped to my room. I felt his gaze on my back the whole way there, but he didn't laugh again.
My prank had been pretty good. Fang was definitely pissed, but not as bad as Mom was when I'd accidentally slipped one of her lace camis into his clothing. So now whenever she wore it she looked like the night sky did at a campsite. She wasn't too thrilled.
The next day in school, Fang struck again, and I had to give him credit for the publicity this one got. We were in lunch; well at least it was my lunch period. He had the timeslot before mine. Anyway, when I walked out of the lunch line to grab a chair, right when I was about to take a seat, the chair magically disappeared from underneath me. I fell on my ass, and my food went flying everywhere, including hitting a cheerleader at the table behind where I was at. She screamed like I'd thrown worms on her.
Everyone in cafeteria laughed, and I'd never been as embarrassed in my whole life as I was in that moment.
Fang had got me good, and I really wanted to bring it to him.
I didn't know where to begin, and when I'd asked James for advice, he brought up some crazy scheme about an automated fart machine. I had no idea what that was, or even if I wanted to know, but I'm sure if he made it I would get in serious trouble. I wanted to embarrass Fang as much as he'd done to me. The only thing I could think of to acheive this was digging up some dirt on him. And obviously, he wasn't the type to broadcast his personal secrets to the world.
But this was me we were talking about, and I had a couple ideas about finding what makes Fang tick.
My first and easiest search for finding his secrets was through the great information dumpster, as I refer to it. The Internet. Yeah, I hated to admit that I was actually going to read his blog after clearly telling him that I would never be caught dead on it. Of course, he was more cautious about giving personal info through it, unlike some people I know in this household (*cough* Ella *cough*). There was nothing really to get from it. And I hated to admit it, but his blog was… decent. Okay, it was good, stop ragging me for it!
But don't tell him I said that.
The only other way to find out about Fang would take a ton of trickery, luck, and skill on my part. I could possibly be risking my life by doing this, too. Not sure yet. Either way, it was all in the timing, and I was going to have to be patient. Although it was gonna be a lot harder sneaking into his room because he spent most of his time there since we were grounded, or locked in "solitary confinement" as he called it in his blog. But I wasn't giving up all hope yet, and I needed to strike quickly before he declared himself the victor of this war.
And the first good news came after we'd finished our chores today after school. Mom called to say she was coming home late since she had to rush a dog into immediate surgery and she as the only surgeon on call. This doesn't seem like big news to you guys, but knowing she was gonna be gone for a few extra hours meant that her rules practically didn't apply. Which also meant that Fang didn't want to stay inside.
The score was tied 2:2, and this was my chance to go for the win.
I watched with a giddy grin as Fang walked past the stables, The Pen, and riding ring out to the forest by my house, doing God knows what. I didn't care at this particular moment. He was gone and now I had to take advantage of the opportunity. Sneaking by Ella, who was glued to the TV, I headed toward his room…
The door was closed, but not unlocked, which was a good sign. The revenge-crazed part of my brain was begging the sane side to bust in and begin my search. However, the sane side did wonder if I was going to be regret snooping, and also regret finding something that may be disappointing. What could I find in his room that would upset me? Unless I found weapons coated in blood. Or maybe dresses. Hmm. Actually that'd be pretty good blackmail.
The revenge-crazed side won, and I opened the door as quietly as possible, peering in to make sure he didn't suddenly develop the power of making copies of himself. He couldn't, so it was pretty much smooth sailing from here. Even the window in his room looked out into the backyard so I could watch in case he decided to return early from whatever he was doing. Sometimes I really didn't want to know what went on in his head.
His room wasn't too different from when he'd first moved in. A poster of the Blues Brothers was on the wall, but on the floor was a bunch of dark clothing. Ugh, men are such slobs, although I hardly keep my room clean either. I tiptoed over the randomly strewn t-shirts, jeans, and jackets to the Promise Land, or rather his nightstand. What secrets lie inside? Machetes? Pornography? Maybe condoms. Ew, okay, that's gross. I really hope I don't find those or else I'll never be able to look at him the same way ever again.
I started with the top drawer, seeing as it was closest to the bed. It wheeled open easily, and I examined its contents curiously. There was nothing here to use. Inside were some books, his iPod, a wallet, and a couple 4x6 photos buried underneath everything. I examined his iPod for a bit, scanning through the artists. All his music seemed to be either acoustic or indie. His taste was okay, I guess. I kind of preferred country myself.
I picked the photos next, looking through them carefully. Then of course, after seeing them, I felt bad for looking. They were pictures of a little boy with dark hair, olive-toned skin, and dark eyes with a woman who looked around her thirties with brown hair and blue eyes. In each photo they were grinning, looking extremely happy. Fang's eyes lit up in a child-like way, and I'd never seen him like that in my life. He was always so guarded, so closed-off. He never let his emotions through to people. But seeing him like this, with a goofy five-year-old grin on his face, made me look at him completely differently. What happened to this child?
Oh yeah, his mother died. I guess that would do it.
Feeling like someone had just driven a steak into my stomach, I placed the pictures back where I'd found them. I felt so bad for snooping, especially seeing that Fang wasn't always as tense and dark as he was now. I never really understood what it would be like for him. I didn't want to find out either. Losing my mom would be the most traumatic thing I could think of happening, and he was five when it happened. Oh God. What's that feeling I'm experiencing? Remorse? Condolence? Why did I have to come into his room? Now I was actually feeling sorry for the kid.
I hated to admit it, but I suddenly wasn't thrilled by the idea of getting even with Fang. I wanted to know him better, this kid that was in these pictures. Find out about him by having him tell me, and not through sneaking around his room. Suddenly disgusted with myself, I returned everything the way I'd found it before. I exited his room without opening the door, using my handy-dandy new skill, and ran straight for my room.
I didn't understand why I had this sudden change of heart, but the one thing I did know was that Fang would never let this down when I told him.
This may look like the end of our war, but I'd get him when he least expected it.
The second half of this isn't as good as the first half, but this is what I'm offering right now. Listening to too much Nightwish while writing. :P To those of you who read Ghost of Me and saw that I was going to NYC, the trip's changed dates due to circumstances that are out of my hands. Now I'll be gone Labor Day weekend, which is just right after my birthday. (Dt, mine is the 28th, so you beat me, although I'm probably older than you are.) I start ice hockey tonight, yay!! I miss the ice soooo much, and today is super hot so it should feel amazing. :)
Congrats to Kiliro for being reviewer # 300!!! Cookies to you, kid!! ReadWriteRide, we've tried signs already. I'm afraid it's too late for mojo. *sniffles* Flapjackpancake, yeah so I've read on wikipedia. I'm almost done with When the Wind Blows, although I've been reading various scenes from The Lake House anyway. :P Thank you Blissful-x-Optimism for commenting on the poll. That brings up what I want to talk about next.
So far I've had 2 people tell me about their poll choices, and the other various options and their opinions of that, too. It's very important that more people do so. I'll be closing the poll soon, and when I do I'll tell the results, and also my opinions on the options. That'll be a long A/N. :P Most of them I've never considered and just threw on because it seems like a lot of people write about them, and others are definite considerations. So again, please be sure to give me your feedback.
Review please!