Fang

"What's your story?" I ask.

"I was supposed to be a boy; that's what my dad wanted. I was born to either replace or save my older brother Ari. Since I ended up being a girl, my dad expected me to save my older brother. I went through surgeries all the time because my brother always needed blood or bone marrow or a kidney or something. My dad had my younger sister Ella just in case I failed. My dad was happy so he wanted another kid just because so my parents had my little sister, Angel. Then my brother died when I was eleven because his body didn't respond the right way to one of the transplants from me. Dad says it's my fault Ari died." Max explains.

Poor Max, she couldn't save her sibling either. I think.

"My dad started hurting me a week after Ari died. He'd elbowed me in the face and said it was an accident. I believed him until a lot of 'accidents' started happening. It seemed unreal because he's my dad, he should be helping me, not hitting me. I guess he never really thought of me as his kid. I mean, I don't look too much like him anyway. I'm glad I don't think I look like him. Did you think I looked like him?" She says.

I shake my head. He was bald and had a dark mustache, she had dirty blonde hair. He had crazed blue eyes full of fury, she had chocolate brown eyes full of kindness. He was overweight, she was thin but not too thin but she isn't fat either-she's perfect. Um for her height I mean. Anyway, Max looked nothing like her father.

"I'm glad you don't think I look like him, considering the fact that you two got into that fight." Max says, sounding a bit relieved.

"Even if you looked exactly alike, your eyes would still be different." I say, surprising both Max and myself.

"What do you mean?" Max asks.

"Your eyes would still be different because his are cold and full of hatred but yours are warm and full of kindness." I explain.

Max blushes and I mentally punch myself in the face for being stupid. Way to go Fang. I think. First the tears and now that weird attempt at a complement? Are you trying to scare her away?

"At least your foster mom didn't notice your black eye." Max says, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, I've never been so grateful to a make-up carrier in my life." I agree.

"Yea, who would have thought Nudge would be prepared for such an occasion?" She laughs.

"That was weird. I just hope Ms. Monroe doesn't give me the boot for getting into a fight. A lot of people don't take things like that lightly." I say quietly, thinking about the foster homes I was in and then kicked out of for defending myself because someone attacked me.

"She won't do that. She seems to really care about you." Max tries to reassure me.

More like she feels sorry for the poor, unwanted boy who was abandoned by his mother, hated by his father and lost his sister. I think skeptically.

"I'll talk to her with you if you want. You know, to further legitimize your story." Max offers.

I shake my head and then ask, "Do you have a cell phone?"

"Uh, yeah, why?" Max asks, looking confused.

"I was wondering if I could have your number." I say, trying not to sound nervous.

Dude! Get a grip! She sees you as a friend and nothing more! That's how you should view her too! She could never care about you! A voice shouts in my mind. Well, it's not wrong. Max couldn't care about me because she's awesome and fun. Unlike me, I'm unwanted, too quiet and boring.

"Sure." Max hands me her phone and adds, "The number's on the home screen."

"Do you want my number too?" I ask.

Max smiles at me. "That sounds good. Can you add yourself to my contacts?"

I add Max to the contact list on the phone Ms. Monroe gave me. She said it had unlimited text and talking minutes so I guess I'll actually put it to use now. Then I add myself to Max's contacts.

"You can call me if he comes back." I tell her quietly, handing Max her phone. "Or you know, if you just wanna talk."

"Thanks Fang." Max smiles at me. "You know, it works both ways. If you just wanna talk, feel free to call."

"You're welcome and thank you Max." I smile back at her. I don't smile too often, but in the small span of time I've been around Max, I've smiled nearly every day. She gives me a reason to smile and I hope I get to stay here.

Max's phone starts to play a song and the name 'Ella' flashes across the screen.

"I need to take this; sorry." Max says.

She answers her phone. "Hello?"

Max looks bored. "Yes, I know him." She says.

Max's eyes go so wide they look ready to pop out of her head. "You what?" She gasps.

"Did Angel see?" She asks.

"Oh that's nice. Well, you get to explain it to her or maybe you should just have Mom explain it to her." Max says.

What are they talking about? I wonder.

"Did you at least enjoy it?" Max asks.

Enjoy what? I wonder.

So here is what I'm picking up from the conversation: Max's younger sister Ella did something with a boy and it sounds like Max's youngest sister was involved somehow.

"Really? Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it because you're gonna have to wait for months until you can do it again. Anyway, I'm at Fang's house so I need to go." She says.

Max's face turns red. "What? No!" She hisses.

I've never heard a more confusing conversation in my life.

"By the way, Fang heard this whole thing." Max informs Ella.

"No I'm not going to lie to him about this. He's gonna find out soon enough anyway so what difference does it make if I tell him?" She says.

"Gotta go. Bye Ella." Max says and then she hangs up.

She looks at me and I raise an eyebrow.

"Well, my six year old sister Angel dared Iggy to kiss Ella. They're all at my house playing Truth or Dare and it was Iggy's turn so Angel dared him to kiss Ella and Iggy did it. Then Nudge dared Ella to kiss Iggy so the two kissed again. Then Gazzy told the two lovebirds to get a room. So, yeah...That's what that was all about." She states.

I chuckle, of course Iggy kissed Ella for a dare. He's wanted to kiss her for weeks. It was pretty obvious. Everyone knew they liked each other, (except maybe the two of them.) "I'm surprised Nudge didn't play matchmaker sooner than your little sister did." I comment.

"Yeah, the only problem is that my mom has this rule where we can't date until we're sixteen and Ella's only fifteen. She and Iggy will have to wait a few months before they can date." Max says.

"So they have a bit of a Romeo and Juliet scenario going; huh?"

"Yeah, but I'd like to think that Romeo would have the guts to kiss Juliet because he felt like it, not because of a dare made by a six year old."

I chuckle and Max laughs.

"This is off-topic but you're your ringtone?" I ask.

"Oh, it's a song called 'Be My Escape' by a band called Relient K. It's been my favorite song since we moved here." She replies.

"It sounded pretty cool." I tell her.

"Knock knock." Ms. Monroe says.

"Hello." Max and I say at the same time.

Ms. Monroe takes one look at my face and asks, "Oh Nick-I mean Fang, what happened to you?"

"It was my fault. My dad tried to kidnap me at the bus stop this morning and Fang saved me." Max explains.

Ms. Monroe looks at me and asks, "Is that true?"

"Yes ma'am." I answer.

"Oh, I'm so proud of you! Good boy Fang! You saved your little friend!" Ms. Monroe hugs me and I shoot Max a shocked look and she just covers her mouth to hide her laughter. People don't generally hug me so, I don't know what to do when I'm being hugged. Max gestured for me to hug Ms. Monroe back so I do.

Ms. Monroe pulls away and says, "Well, I'll just leave you two kids alone. Have fun."

"What do you wanna do now?" Max asks.

"Do you wanna play Never Have I Ever? It's like Truth or Dare without the ridiculous dares." I suggest.

"That sounds cool. Funny enough I just downloaded an app for that this morning." Max says, taking her phone out again.

"Do we wanna raise our hands if we've done the stuff?" I suggest.

"How about we eat a piece of candy instead?" Max grins.

"Okay, you can read it first." I agree, smiling back at her.

"Never have I ever been suspended from school." Max reads with a small frown.

We both eat a candy.

"What did you do" I ask.

"Some idiots were messing with Ella outside of school one day so I taught them a lesson." Max shrugs.

"I thought you wanted to learn self-defense." I say.

She blushes. "I mostly just wanna learn a few fighting moves that you know but I don't." She admits.

"That's fine. I'll still teach you." I tell her.

"Thanks. What did you do?" She smiles a tiny bit.

"I don't look very big or strong now but I looked even scrawnier when I was twelve so, one day some senior tried to beat me up. It didn't work out too well for him. He looked worse than I did by the end of the fight so I got suspended and he didn't." I explain.

"Yikes. Your turn." Max hands me the phone.

"Never have I ever played with fire." I read.

Max eats another piece of candy. I can't help but smirk at her, of course she's played with fire because doing something that normal smart students do is so not Max.

"What? It's not the first time Ella invited Iggy over." Max says sheepishly.

I keep smirking as I hand her the phone. "Your turn."

Max

I read the next one and think, Oh, what nice memories.

"Never have I ever hit someone in the face." I read aloud this time.

We both take a chocolate, looking at each other solemnly as I hand Fang the phone.

"Never have I ever blackmailed anyone." He reads.

I eat a candy and Fang smirks at me again.

"You've done everything. You're gonna have a stomach ache by the time we're done." He tells me.

I take my phone and push the button so I can read the next one. "Never have I ever talked to a dead person about my problems." I read, taking a cautious glance at Fang.

Fang eats half a piece of candy and then he chucks the other half over the railing. "I believe she's in Heaven so she's not really dead. She's living on, but she's not on Earth anymore." He says softly.

We both know who he's talking about: Maya, his dead twin.

"Your turn." I say softly, putting the phone in his hands.

"Never have I ever thrown a stone against a window." He reads.

We both silently eat a piece of candy, neither willing to tell that story just yet.

I take the phone and read, "Never have I ever ran away."

Fang silently takes a piece of candy and gestures for the phone. "Never have I ever shaved my face." He reads and then shoves a Milly Way into his mouth.

I smile at him and take the phone.

"Never have I ever eaten anything with mold on it." I say. Then I eat a piece of candy.

"It was blue cheese-my mom made me eat it!" I blurt out.

Fang's still smirking as he reads the next one, "Never have I ever been skydiving."

Neither of us take a candy.

"I wish I could, I'll bet it's like flying." I say wistfully.

"Yeah, that would be pretty sweet." Fang agrees, passing me the phone.

"Never have I ever been kissed in the rain." I say, feeling my face begin to burn with blush. I don't dare look at Fang but he hasn't taken a candy either. Then of course it starts pouring down rain.

Hacing fun up there big guy? I think to God. (Yes, I'm a Christian if you're wondering.)

Fang and I run into his room, being sure to take the candy with us. We go back to how we were except when I hand Fang the phone he's looking at me with a really intense look that I don't understand. I just look down, waiting for him to read the next one.

"Never have I ever showed the finger to another car driver." He reads.

I eat another Hershey's and smile sheepishly at Fang, noticing that he isn't eating a piece of candy.

"Really?" He asks, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

"I'm not as quiet and sweet as I act around the teachers at school." I admit.

"I'm starting to pick up on that." He grins, "How many times have you done it?"

"Three times while I was driving and I've lost count of how many times I've done it when my mom was driving. Ella might know though." I grin at Fang.

Well, this chapter's over. Sorry for the long wait. I know I'm not very consistent, I just have a million and one things to do right now and sometimes I don't have any ideas.

Thank you for reading! Please review!

Anyway, here's a sneak peak to next chapter:

Max

Fang looks at my phone. "So Ella knows huh?" He grin at me and there's something about the way he's looking at me that looks...mischievous.

"Yeah, she probably knows." I say slowly, trying to figure out why he's looking at my phone that way. Then it hits me but Fang's already standing up.

"No! Fang! Give me my phone!" I say, jumping up.

Fang shakes his head and runs out the door. I follow him and we race down the stairs, being sure to slow down when we pass Ms. Monroe. Then I run after a laughing Fang in the rain, trying to keep up so I can get my phone back.