First two-digit chapter! Yay! –cue cheers, whoops, yells, shouts, shrieks, screams and whatnot –

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any other characters associated to the story.

Chapter 10: Shocks, Secrets and Surprises

The first thing I did when we reached the chalet was to call dibs on the toilet. Because, man do I need a shower! Come on, you weren't the one kicking witch butt before barely escaping a bomb. Try it some day when you're free.

After the nice warm shower, I proceeded to fold my clothes and dump them on the bed. I plodded downstairs to the general living room area with the towel slung around my neck. The television was on, but Fang and Iggy were talking to each other. Actually, Iggy was doing most of the talking.

"You smell good," Fang said as his eyes met mine.

"And you don't – so it's your turn to take a bath!" I threw my towel at him.

"Would you like to take a shower again, Max?" Iggy taunted. "Maybe with Fang this time…"

Fang went upstairs chucking quietly to himself as I hurtled towards Iggy and started whacking him upside-down and inside-out. How is it possible that Iggy can freaking dodge?! Blind? Please! That boy will pay for his perverseness one day!

Hold it! Did Fang just chuckle?

I stopped short, my hand frozen in midair.

"Wassup? Having second thoughts about beating me up?" Iggy said.

"Did Fang just chuckle?" I said incredulously. Okay, maybe not that incredulously. It's not like I haven't heard Fang laugh to himself before. It was on very rare occasions that he laughed like that.

The last time he did was during that time when he came over to my house and Ella had barged in shouting, "Max! I was in the elevator at the mall and this little boy just farted there and then! There was even the gross sound! And – " That was when she realized that Fang was in the room with me. He had been chuckling quietly to himself.

Little boy? Fart…Gas? Gasman? Gazzy! Maybe that was why he had laughed.

But anyway.

That very sound was music to my ears.

I went up to the room to rummage through my bag to see if I had brought something to pass time. Watching the television was boring enough and with Iggy switching channels every ten seconds because he can't see anything at all. I found Fang in the room, beside the bed. His hair was wet and slick, and his towel had been dumped on the bed.

"There're ribs in your pants," Fang said, wrinkling his nose and holding my pants up between his thumb and index finger.

"Say what?!" I exclaimed and grabbed my piece of clothing from him. I reached into the pocket, and pulled out – holy crap! – a few ribs!

"Hey! I smell ribs! Can I have one?" Iggy bounced in and grabbed a rib before Fang and I could stop him. We just stared at him in shock. Well, mostly I did and Fang just sort of gaped in his own way.

"It tastes weird…" Iggy muttered and furrowed his brows.

"Iggy, those are ribs from the barbeque that I stuffed in my pocket," I managed before bursting into laughter. For a moment, Iggy's face was blank. Then he dashed into the toilet and started spitting those ribs out of his mouth. It was so dang funny! That should teach him a lesson about taking people's stuff without their permission!

"Serves him right," Fang commented.

"Yeah!" I agreed.

"Why did you even keep those ribs?" Iggy exclaimed as he returned to the room, his face screwed up in disgust.

"I forgot, actually. I think I was hungry. Then Angeline wanted to do those pranks. And Fang found them in my pants just now," I remarked.

"And what was Fang doing in your pants…?" Iggy's voice trailed off. A smile began to form on his lips.

"Yeah! What were you doing with my pants?" My tone was accusatory as I glared at Fang.

"What is this I hear about people doing with Max's pants?" Zoe said as she bounced into the room. I jumped. It looks like everyone was back from the zoo.

"Hey guys! Dig this! Fang was doing something with Max's pants!" she shouted outside. The immediate response was the sound of thudding feet as everyone ran up and crowded our room.

"OMG! I never knew Fang was a pervert!" Carmen exclaimed.

"I knew this would happen sooner or later," Alvin sighed and shook his head.

"Fang! This is so not you! If Spongebob did it, then it's okay, but you?! Unforgivable!" Guess who? Right, the dork.

After everyone was done with their outraged comments, we all glared at Fang, waiting for an answer.

He shifted his weight uncomfortably from one side of his body to another. His eyes locked with mine, and they practically screamed Help me!

I bit back a giggle.

"So, Fang?" Iggy demanded.

"If you don't answer we'll just take it that you're a pervert worse than Iggy and you're obsessed with Max," Michelle proclaimed.

Everyone else agreed on that.

"It smelled," he finally said after a moment of silence.

"What kind of excuse is that?" Angeline immediately screeched.

"If you just had a soccer match and perspired a whole lot and put your shirt here I doubt Max would take it and do whatever you did with it!"

"I didn't do anything!" he protested.

"Okay guys! Let's take a chill pill and let Fang and Max sort this out by themselves, shall we?" Iggy said, shooting me an evil look. Everyone else caught on easily and trooped down the stairs, exchanging remarks about Fang's recent outrageous act of perversion.

"So?" I demanded.

"What?" he replied, impassive as usual.

"Would you care to explain what you were doing in my pants?"

"Something smelled."

I raised an eyebrow. He sighed.

"You really want to know?" he asked and took a step closer to me.

"Mhmm," I replied, taking a step back.

"It's not like I could help it," he explained and took another step.

"Huh." I took a step back.

"What would you do…" Fang took a step forward and I took one back again. Geez, was this turning into a tango or something? Then I felt the wall against my back. Crapola. "…if I left my pair of pants…" he paused and leaned forward. "…on the bed?"

"Dunno," I said too quickly. He looked at me with a glint in his eye. This was so not Fang!

"Who are you and what have you done to Fang?" I asked and ducked to the side away from him.

He shrugged. I threw my pants on the bed.

Why does he have to look so dang good?

"Ugh, why are you doing this?!" I exploded.

"I'm in love," Fang whispered.

"With who?" I said blandly. "Brigid?"

"You," he said so quietly I could barely make out that single word.

Me? I almost laughed hysterically. Then I looked at him and realized that he was serious.

I was robbed of words.

On a whim, I turned around on my heels and fled downstairs and into the night, leaving Fang behind me.

I found comfort on a cliff that overlooked the sea. Plopping down, I started to ponder about stuff. I'm just making things harder for myself.

Sigh.

Fang.

Fang.

Fang.

Dang. I'm in denial.

My mind flashed back to the past day.

"I'm looking forward to it cos you'll be there," he said to me. I looked into his eyes and could see that he meant it sincerely.

"Uh. Okay."

"Weirdo," I said and punched him lightly on the shoulder.

"Weirdo in love," he whispered and pulled me into a warm embrace.

"I can't imagine life without you," I muttered.

"Ditto," he said.

"Um, okay. Yeah. Okay. Good. Yeah. Uh. Yeah."

He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me.

I hadn't really given those moments much thought. I knew that possibly, I could be in love with my best friend. Actually I am, I guess. But I was never able to face the fact. And it seems that I still am.

Fang was more of a brother, actually. Ew. Would that be like, incest? And then I had wondered what kind of people he liked. But before, he'd never really told me about how he felt about me. Maybe all I was to him was just a best friend. But –

"Max?" I heard Carmen's voice say timidly.

"Hmm?" I muttered, distracted. Come on, I was trying to think things through.

"Do you mind if I sit down with you?" she asked.

"Nope," I said and patted the ground. I stared into the distance. Just to be able to fly… I'd be able to feel so free. Escape from problems.

"What's up?" she asked as she sat down beside me. She crossed her legs and looked out too.

"Wouldn't it be so great to fly?" I suddenly said to her. "Running away from problems would be so easy."

"You see, we can't escape from reality," she said realistically. "They'll only come back to haunt you, larger than ever."

I thought about that.

It was kind of true, actually.

"Yeah…" I mused.

"So what happened between you and Fang?" she asked again, gently.

"Nothing much. We just talked." What? I'm not one to explain things.

"And you ran away because…?"

"He said he loved me," I said quietly.

"And why is that a problem?" she asked. I heard confusion in her voice. "Shouldn't you be happy?"

"What do you mean happy?" I asked suspiciously.

"Come on, give up the act. We all know that you and Fang are like totally made for each other," she said simply.

"Yeah," a male voice piped up. "Fangy and Maxy are a purrrrfect couple." I turned around stiffly as I registered the voice.

"Ari!" I said, shocked. I immediately stood up and pulled Carmen up. Ari was a few feet in front of us. I pushed Carmen behind me, trying to protect her. Our backs to the ocean, we were cornered.

"Hello Max," he grinned in a menacing way. "You've grown. And who may your little friend here be?"

"Hi! I'm Carmen! You must be… Ari?" the unsuspecting girl said. Ari smiled and his teeth glinted in the darkness. I flinched.

"Yes, yes. Has Max been talking about me? I feel honoured." I gritted my teeth.

"Actually, I just heard her saying your name just now." Carmen smiled sheepishly. I groaned inwardly. Time to cut the crap.

"On the count of three, run back to the chalet and call Fang, you hear me?" I muttered urgently into Carmen's ear.

"Okayyy…" She shot me a confused look.

"Sharing secrets now, are we?" Ari said. Hell yeah.

"3!" I shouted and lunged at Ari. He snarled and Carmen stood stock still for a moment, obviously stunned.

"RUN!" I screamed. She shook her head and ran as fast as she could (I hope), leaving Ari and I a punching and kicking mess.

I aimed a kick at Ari's head and it met the target with a rather disturbing crack. After blocking a punch to my face, I felt one go to my stomach. I dug my heels onto the ground, preventing myself from flying off the cliff. Ari obviously had the advantage because of the position we were both in. One push, and goodbye Max! However, I was stronger and faster than him. But I was freaking cornered!

"So, Max, just like old times, huh?" he uttered, panting slightly after exchanging a few more blows. I growled.

"You… Are… Going… To… Pay… You… Freaking… Pedophile..." I said as I punched him with every word. He blocked them with ease, but neither of us were spent yet. I wiped the blood off my mouth with the back of my hand.

Ari was going down.

And I mean it.