A/N: Hey bitches! Sorry for the long break I took between updates. It's been CRAZY over here though. I'm graduating in a week! I is SOOOO excited! I'm gonna be a freshman next year! Whoot whoot.

Chapter 9: I Think I Might Have a Nickname Fetish

Max's POV

Today was going to be a good day.

You know when you wake up in the morning, and you just have that feeling? I NEVER feel like that. Not ever. But today...I felt like my planets were aligned or something. Everything seemed suddenly to not bother me as much as it would have before. I hadn't woken up sweating like I usually do, not being used to the strange weather patterns here in Arizona. I wasn't positively dreading school. Even my alarm, which regularly forced me to exercise self-control to not chuck it out of the window, didn't seem as annoying as usual. I quickly slipped into some jeans and a tank-top and scampered down the stairs towards the kitchen. Well...that was a new one for me. I don't think I've ever 'scampered' before in my life. Wierd.

Mrs. Martinez's house might seem like the kind of place where they sit down and eat a hearty home-cooked breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and orange juice. That is NOT the case. Mrs. Martinez is usually bustling around in the morning trying to get ready to go into work at the clinic, and me and Ella try to wake up as late as possible and still be on time for school. That normally only leaves time for a bowl of cereal with milk and maybe a piece of fruit if we're lucky. Today, however, everyone else seemed to be feeling the good vibes to, because when I got to the kitchen, Mrs. Martinez was making waffles on her waffle iron. Ella already had two and was munching on them at the table. I noticed her already-packed backpack propped up against the leg of her chair. She was flipping through a magazine while she ate.

Mrs. Martinez turned around when I came in, and smiled. "Had some extra time today, so I thought I'd make you girls some waffles. There's a plate on the island for you." She gestured to a stack of three waffles sitting on the middle counter next to a glass of milk and an orange. She must be getting used to my large appetite, for it looked like a pretty decently sized meal. All the time I'd been here, Ella had been gaping at me in amazement at every meal at the quantity of food I would eat. She'd grumble about how it wasn't fair that I could eat that much and still be so thin, though she looked perfectly fine herself. I grabbed my plate and went to sit down at the table with her. Mrs. Martinez looked at us, as though waiting for another wrestling match to break out or something. I tried to showcase our new pact on civility.

"Morning, Ella." I said, trying to sound goodnatured. I didn't have much practice with this tone unfortunately, and I felt like it came off sounding a little more Disney princess than I wanted it to.

"Good morning, Max." Ella said politely in return. Mrs. Martinez was watching us with an astonished expression by now.

"Can you pass the syrup?" I asked. Ella nodded and handed me the bottle of sugary goodness. I poured some ontop of my waffles and nodded my thanks to Ella. Mrs. Martinez looked stunned, but said nothing and returned to making the waffles. Me and Ella exchanged a small grin for the first time in...well...for the first time. Mrs. Martinez came to sit with us, positively beaming. Though she didn't mention, I knew that it was because we were making an attempt to get along. And that made it just a little easier. Ella may not be my favorite person in the world, but if making things a little easier on Mrs. Martinez (who I was beginning to feel very grateful for) took trying to get along with her, then I would do it.

We finished eating our waffles in a peacefull silence. And for the first time in a long time...breakfast with "the family" didn't seem like an atomic bomb waiting to go off.

I stepped out of the car and slung my backpack over my shoulder. I waved goodbye to Mrs. Martinez as she drove away in her car. I was practically shocked to find that the temperature seemed to be a little...cooler today. Probably only around the high sixties. It was a nice change from the heat that usually swept Arizona. I wasn't used to the blazing temperatures they normally get around here. I sucked in a breath to fill my lungs. Ahh...that's a good feeling. I suppose it was getting towards the end of October, though. I didn't know the exact date, but I was pretty sure I knew around where it fell. Come to think of it...Halloween was coming up pretty soon, wasn't it?

I was pondering this when I heard my name being called out from a little ways away. "Max! Hey, Max, over here!" My head snapped up and saw someone waving frantically at me. It took me a minute to recognize JJ. Her ginger hair was tucked away under a hat, and she was bundled up in an oversized jacket. Michael and Jeff were standing with her and they too looked a little chilly. I noticed Jeff had carefully gelled his strawberry blond hair into a mowhawk. I walked over towards the group of them and was confused when they jumped right back into their conversation as though I had always been there. "And yeah..." JJ said to the pair of boys, continuing off of something that had obviously been previously mentioned. " I was walking around the mall when I saw it happen. And everybody just stood there like a bunch of idiots while this poor kid tried to pick it up..."

She continued to talk about what seemed to be an event that had happened in the mall, but it was too complicated to follow at this point. I shifted awkwardly and scoped out the rest of school yard, looking for a head of dark hair. I spotted many, but none belonged to who I was waiting for. Suddenly, behind me, a voice was talking quietly. "So do you think you can find your way today, or are you gonna have to follow me around again?" I jumped, slightly startled, and whipped around. Nick was looking right at me, his dark eyes cool and the only feature on his face that communicated emotion. I recovered from the surprise and found my vocal cords again.

"Yeah, 'cause you were SUCH a great tour guide." I said, laying the sarcasm on thickly. Of course...he really hadn't been that bad once he'd moved past using monosyllabic responses, but I wasn't about to let him think that I needed ANYONE for ANYTHING. I'd been doing everything myself since I was probably five years old. I wasn't about to stop now. But I secretly followed him on the way to homeroom when the bell rang, pretending to just be walking casually behind him as though I'd been walking the way for years. Infuriatingly, he seemed to see through my hoax and wore a smiting grin on his face when we sat down.

The teacher started off with roll call, and then let everyone talk as they pleased. I supposed he figured there was no hope in controlling a group of pissed-at-the-world-for-creating-school teenagers this early in the morning. We were far too gossipy and fidgety. He just sat down his desk and hid behind a large newspaper and a BIG cup of coffee. I pulled the books I'd recieved yesterday out of my backpack and made a vane attempt to organize them. While shuffling around with one of my notebooks, I knocked my whole container of pencils off the desk and they basically exploded onto the floor, rolling in every direct.

"Well, fuck my life!" I said rather loudly. The teacher peeked out from behind the paper, but didn't seem to care much about my foul language; he was back to reading a moment later. Everyone else was too wrapped up in their conversations to notice anything, so I was left to crouch down and try to collect as many as possible without accidentally grabbing somebody's leg or foot or something. Another pair of hands was soon helping me, though. Judging by how calloused they were, I guessed that they belonged to Nick. I looked up and confirmed my guess. I also noticed the peculiar necklace he was wearing. It was nothing special, I suppose, but it was still unique. Do you get what I mean? Yeah...neither do I. It was a single black loop and on it was a large off-white fang dangling against his black shirt.

I continued to stare at it for a moment, watching it swing back and forth while he finished grabbing up all of the pencils. They were suddenly being held out to me. I took them, and standing up, mumbled a "Thanks, Fang." before moving to put them back in their case. He stood up too and looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"What did you call me?" he questioned, coming a bit towards me. I thought for a minute.

"Umm...I don't know...I'm guessing that since your name is Nick, though...I PROBABLY called you NICK." I raised my eyebrows, but he shook his head.

"No...I think you called me 'Fang'." he said. I paused. Had I really? Then I turned it over in my head, and remembered what I'd said. It had indeed been a "Thanks, Fang." I shook my head as though to clear it.

"Sorry...I was just looking at that necklace you have on, and I guess it slipped out." I sat down and watched as a small smile formed on his lips. He looked like he was thinking about something.

"Huh..." he finally said softly, "I kinda like that." I could just see his ego inflating. Nothing flares up a man's ego more than receiving some bad-ass nickname like Fang or The Rock. I always seemed to be the one that came up with peoples' nicknames. It was me, actually, that came up with Mousey's back home. A picture of the rest of them...the gang...popped into my head, and I shuddered. I unconciously brought my fingers up to where they'd thrown my head against that wall, and I could feel a ghost of pain creeping up. I quickly tried to think of something...anything else. In my desperation, I ended up staring at my left thumb nail for the rest of class.

"All right, class. I'm just going to hand out some packets on the Galapagos Islands, and get this slid show started up. Everybody take out your notebooks and pen or pencil. I'd like you to take notes on this please." I was in Biology now. Nick...well, Fang I suppose now, sat at the table across the path dividing the desks from me. I sat alone at one of the lab tables and watched our teacher go around passing out packets of paper. She finally came up to my table and paused for a minute. "I'm sorry," she said, placing a packet on my desk, "I didn't catch your name yesterday. You must be new." She smiled.

"Umm...Max." I told her, wishing she would just move on. I hated being singled out for something.

"Well, I'm glad that you'll be attending Buena, Max. I'm Ms. Dwyer, but most everyone just calls me Ms. Brigid." Ms. Brigid was short, with small features. Her blonde hair was tied back into a long braid down her back, and her green eyes glinted under the fluorescent lighting of the lab. I had to admit she was quite pretty. And she seemed nice enough, I guess. A little cheesey and stuff, but it could have been worse. She gave one last smile and then moved on to give Nick, newly dubbed Fang, a packet. "Here you are, Nick." Brigid grinned at him. Fang nodded and gave a small smile.

"Oh, and I read your Science essay finally. It was excellent. A plus." she winked and started to walk up to the front of the room. I glared after her. Actually, she really seemed like kind of a bitch. I'll bet she is under that fakey "nice" performance she puts on. I didn't like this Ms. Brigid chick much after all. She flicked off the lights and pulled up a power point entitled "The Galapagos Islands". I sighed and put my head down on my desk. It was getting to be close to lunch, and I wasn't in the mood to take notes. Suddenly, though, the door banged open, causing me to pop up and turn around to see who it was. Jeff bustled into the room, trying to hold onto a clutter of books. He made his way over to my table with relative ease, and plopped everything down. "You're late again, Jeff." Ms. Brigid said from the front of the room.

"I-I know. Sorry. I just got confused on my way here. I obviously couldn't exactly see and took the wrong hallway. Sorry about that Ms. B." He grinned hopefully. Ms. Brigid seemed ready enough to let it slide, only cautioning him not to "let it happen again." Jeff sat down next to me and leaned in to whisper, "Ha...told you the blind card works every time." I rolled my eyes. THIS guy...had a bigger ego than anyone I'd ever met. He really needed someone to show him the ropes.

I looked at his spikey hair for a minute. "Nice hair..." I muttered sarcastically, "You look like a guido from the Jersey Shore, but paler." He turned to look in my general direction.

"Well it sounds like SOMEBODY forgot to take her Midol this morning." he whispered back.

"Is there a problem back there, guys?" Ms. Brigid was addressing the pair of us.

"No, ma'am." Jeff answered swiftly. "Just discussing the notes." Brigid raised her eyebrows but continued with her slideshow.

"Now one of the animals on the Galapagos Islands is the Marine Iguana." She pressed a button and a slide with the picture of the iguana popped up. It's body was gray with golden scales patching it in some places. A mowhawk of blondish looking spines ran up its back and onto its head. I almost burst out laughing.

"Haha...nevermind." I whispered to Jeff, "You look exactly like this iguana. It's actually freaky." He looked at me (sort of) with an exasperated expression.

"This iguana..." Ms. Brigid went on to say, "Is the ONLY color-blind iguana." This time I actually did snicker. This was just too good to be true.

"Don't say anything." Jeff said solemnly. But of course, I wasn't about to let him tell me what to do.

"Dude...you and this iguana both have the same hair, and you're both blind? You might as well be related." He sighed heavily.

"Well why don't you just go ahead and give me a nickname then. Just get it over with." This sparked an idea in my head.

"Well, now that you mention it. How about Iguana Man?" I pondered aloud. "No...that sounds to superhero-ish. Maybe just Iguana?" I was thinking when a piece of paper floated down in front of me. I looked over and saw Fang looking at me. I unfolded the note carefully and read it.

I see you're on a nicknaming rampage today. What about 'Iggy'? I agree...the resemblance is uncanny.

I snorted. Iggy was perfect. "'Kay, you're Iggy now." I practically informed Jeff. He threw his hands up in the air.

"Okay...I didn't realize that you could just go around renaming people, but alright." He obviously wasn't too thrilled about this whole nickname thing. I hoped he wasn't taking it as a blind joke or something. I nudged him with my elbow, feeling a little more comfortable now that I was basically dominant in the situation.

"Well, I suppose I could change it..." I said, hinting at my sarcasm, "Let's see...Guido, Snooki...Any of those appeal to you more?"

"Iggy it is." he said in a hurry. I couldn't blame him. I'd rather be named after an animal than a cast member of the Jersery Shore any day.

The end of the school day was approaching fast. I was in my last class of the day and everybody was getting anxious to leave. When the bell finally rang at 3:05 on the dot, everybody jumped up from their desks, grabbed up their books, and fought to get to the door first. The hallways usually looked like a freeway after a seven car pileup at the end of the day. Everyone was pushing and shoving and stopping at random intervals in efforts to get to their lockers ASAP. I eventually located mine and managed to stuff all of my books into my backpack before mixing in with the other children and finally getting shoved out of the front doors of school and onto the grounds. Students streamed out around me as I made my way towards the parking lot.

"Hey, Max!" a voice called out from behind me. I turned around and saw JJ and Caitlyn rushing my way. They skidded to a stop in front of me and JJ started to giggle a little bit. I stood there quite awkwardly, not sure what they wanted me to do in this situation. "Hey, since Halloween is coming up next week, a bunch of us were gonna get together and go costume shopping at the mall this Saturday. We were wondering if you wanted to come with us." I balked at the idea of walking around a strip mall for several hours with a group of people I hardly knew. Shopping wasn't my thing, and neither was human interaction of most kinds.

"I-I don't know. Halloween's not really my thing..." Last Halloween, me and the gang had gone around looking for those random bowls of candy people set out so that you "Take one, please". We always took the whole thing, and then ate our stash around the fire we'd lit in some guys cornfield. I hadn't been legit trick-or-treating since I was probably seven years old.

"Oh come on. It'll be so much fun." JJ practically begged, "It'll be me, Caitlyn, Michael, Iggy, and I'll probably be able to force Fang to come along if he's in a good mood when I ask him."

"Yeah," Caitlyn added, "We just wear these random dumb-ass costumes, and we get loads of candy. Then we usually go back to someone's house for a horror movie fest while we devour everything. It's SO fun." I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. The last time I'd been over to somebody's house to just hang out was like...the fourth grade. It was then that I realized that I don't think I've had a good friend in my life. I mean sure, it's not like I'm a complete and total hermit, but most of the people I'd hung out with, I only hung out with them because that's just the way it'd always been, or I needed them for something of some sort.

"Please?" JJ prompted. This was the first time in my life that people seemed genuinely interested in having my company for something they were doing. It was a very shocking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"I-I suppose I could go and all..." I finally gave in, knowing they probably wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Awesome! Can I have your phone number so I can call you on Friday with the final plans?"

"I-sure." I fumbled a pen out of my backpack and scribbled Mrs. Martinez's number on the palm of her hand. I hadn't yet aquired a cell phone, so a home phone would have to do.

"Thanks, kay. We'll see you tomorrow then!" And the pair of them bustled away. I smiled after them, and another new feeling began creeping up on me. I was puzzled. Was I excited for this? I shook my head as though to clear it. So many new feelings in such a short amount of time. A horn honked at me from somewhere to my left. Mrs. Martinez waved at me from her car and beckoned me to come over. I readjusted my bag on my shoulders and ran over to hop in. Ella had left the front seat open for me this time. I wondered if this was another act of kindness, or if she had just decided to sit in the back. My question was answered a few moments after I'd climbed in.

"Hi. How was school?" Mrs. Martinez asked me, shifting gears and pulling forward. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Interesting." was the only response I could come up with. I looked in the mirror ahead of me, and saw that, along with Ella in the back, somebody else was sitting there as well. I spun around in my seat to see who it was. She was extremely beautiful with skin the color of coffe mixed with milk, and brown curly hair spilling down to slightly past her shoulders. Her brown eyes were large and animated with energy. She smiled at me brightly.

"Hi, I'm Monique Cooper. I'm a friend of Ella's. You must be Max. Ella's told me about you. You just got here a week or so ago, huh? It's nice to meet you. I hope you like it here. It's a little small, and their mall's not very big, but it's pretty easy to order your clothes off the internet. That's what I do. So how long are you staying?" I stared at her with wide eyes, trying to remember a single question she'd just asked. I was unsuccessful.

"Umm...hi." was all I could manage, before I spun back around in my seat and stared out the front window, wondering how it was humanly possible for someone to talk so much and so quickly without even stuttering a bit. I could hear her gabbing with Ella in the back as we drove home, and it was AMAZING how much her conversation covered. She had started talking about some info-mmericial she'd seen on tv that morning, and by the time we had reached the house, she was talking about the San Diego Zoo. Mrs. Martinez parked the car, and the two girls hopped out giggling and ran up to the door.

"Haha...she's quite the talkative one, isn't she." Mrs. Martinez said as we walked behind them. I just nodded, feeling overwhelmed again. "Don't let her scare you, though. She's so sweet. One of the nicest girls I think I've ever met." When I got in the house, I went straight up to my room to flop on my bed and get a minute's peace. I was just getting into a relaxed mode when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in..." I mumbled. Ella opened the door and stepped in, leaning against the wall.

"Hey..." she said a bit awkwardly. I looked at her questioningly. "Umm, Angel and Zach are coming over 'till 8:00 tonight so I can babysit again. They're parents are tied up at work. My mom just went to pick them up from school. Monique's gonna help me so..." I nodded. She grinned. "Let's just try not to light anything on fire this time?" she said. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, sure...just don't let me cook. I can barely make cereal in the mornings, and this girl had me operating a heated stove. You can hardly blame me." She laughed at this.

"Right...well...see ya then." And I was left in the room alone again. My eyes traveled to my backpack. I had a bit of homework tonight. I pondered the Math and Biology sitting in my bag. I never used to do my homework back home. I had better things to do. Well...maybe not always, but grades had never been my priority. I thought for a minute. What had been my priority then? My gang? I suddenly felt pathetic. Had it really affected my life so greatly? The backpack was staring me down.

"Time to move on, Maximum." I muttered to myself, stooping to unzip the bag and pull out several books.

"Check and mate." Little Angel was saying with great satisfaction as she pushed over Ella's king on the chessboard. She and Ella had already been at it for a previous two games, and Angel had absolutely demolished her every time. I was watching mostly out of boredom as I picked at the core of an apple I'd just eaten. Ella was shaking her head.

"I don't know how she does it." she said, sweeping the pieces back into their box, obviously ready to retire from getting her ass kicked for the night. "It's like she can read my mind or something."

"Or you just suck." I offered nonchalantly. Ella shot me a death glare but then went to put the game away. Angel and Zach had gotten here probably an hour ago and weren't destined to be discharged from our care for another two and a half. It was only 5:23. While Ella was busy trying not to be crushed under an avalanch of games in the closet, Angel came over to the chair I was sitting in and hopped up on my lap. It took me by surprise, but after a moment I relaxed and allowed her to sit there. I swear, this is the only child in the world that I would let do things like this without the urge to run screaming in the opposite direction.

Ella came back a second later carrying a large white board and some dry erase markers. "Look what I found Angel." she said cheerfully. "Now you can draw something for us." Angel hopped off of my lap excitedly and ran to examine the supplies. I chuckled under my breath.

"Cool! I'm gonna draw the Eiffel Tower! Come watch, Max!" I slid slowly off my chair and walked over to where she was now drawing a perfect replica of the famous tower. "It's alot cooler in person, but it looks sorta like this." she said, holding it up when she was done. I just nodded. She swept her hand across it to erase the picture. "Here, now I'll draw Big Ben. That's pretty cool, too." Me and Ella were watching the little girl draw away when Monique came bustling in from the living room, Zach behind her.

"Oh my god, you guys!" she squealed, coming over to join our little group. "You'll never guess what just happened on Dancing With the Stars. Mark and Crystal got voted off. Can you believe it? They were my favorite! Well, right after Shane and Regina, of course. But I mean, really? Ooh, is that Big Ben? I've always wanted to go to England. I think it would be amazing. I really want to try fish and chips. I mean, sure they have them here, but they can't possibly be as good, can they?" My head was spinning at the tornado of sentences flashing out of her mouth. She continued to talk for a few more minutes, and then realized that Ella wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to her.

"Ugh...Ella, did you hear what I just said? I said...my aunt got a nose job last weekend and she looks SOOOO different. I don't think I would ever get a nose job. Ella? Did you me? Are you listening to me?" Ella swatted away Monique's prodding hands.

"Yes, Monique, I heard you. Now stop nudging me!" Angel paused in her drawing. She turned to look up at Ella.

"What's 'nudging'?" she asked with great curiosity. I was a little bit interested too, having never heard the term used like that either.

"It means to annoy." Ella said, glaring pointedly at Monique. "And Monique does quite a bit of nudging if you ask me." Monique shrugged.

"What can I say? I like to talk." Ella snorted.

"No...you can't STOP. We might as well call you the nudge channel. Because we CAN NEVER CHANGE THE CHANNEL. It's chat, chat, chat all day long." Angel started to giggle.

"Yeah, nudge channel. Let's call her Nudge, Ella!" Ella was giggling too.

"Fine, I guess you're Nudge now. What a suiting name." Monique rolled her eyes.

"You guys are SOOO immature." she said in a fake posh accent.

"Hey, I want a nickname, too!" Zach piped up. I'd almost forgotten he was there. Ella turned to him.

"Hmm...well, let's think about that." she said. Angel erased her current drawing and started to write something across the board. When she held it up to us, it read Gassy.

"What about that?" she suggested. I stared at it in confusion. She seemed to know I wasn't getting it because she started to explain a second later. "He ALWAYS farts. ALWAYS."

"I do not!" Zach defended himself promptly. But just as he was saying this, a large noise filled the air and the kitchen soon smelled like rotten cheese and garlic. I nearly gagged on the stench. Zach just blushed and chuckled. My eyes were watering.

"You were saying?" I wheezed sarcastically. He grinned sheepishly.

"Okay..." he said, relenting a little. "Maybe I fart a little here and there." Another loud noise ripped through the atmosphere.

"That's it..." I said, pulling up my shirt to cover my nose. "Everyone evacuate the kitchen." We all hurried out to the living room, Angel clutching her whiteboard and markers to her side. Ella grabbed Celeste for her. Once we were safe from the terrible smell, I turned to Zach. "I think you've earned your title, buddy. He sighed.

"Yeah, but can we make it a little cooler? It looks sorta boring." I thought for a moment and then requested the board and a writing utinsel from Angel. I erased the name and rewrote it with a little more pizazz.

"How about this?" I asked, turning it around to show everyone. It read Ga$$y. They all studied it.

"No, that makes him sound like a pimp." Ella informed me swiftly. I snorted at her observation. How old was she? What were they teaching her in school?

"What's a pimp?" Angel asked, genuinely curious.

"Er... nothing, honey." I answered quickly, erasing the board to try again. "How about this?" The board now read Gazzy. Immediately, Zach's eyes lit up.

"Sweet! I like it!" He puffed up his chest. "Gazzy the Great! Awesome..." We all rolled our eyes.

"See, Monique." Ella pointed out, "You should be grateful for your nickname. At least it doesn't have anything to do with any of your bodily functions."

"Amen to that." the newly dubbed "Nudge" agreed. Suddenly, there was a loud rumble coming from several of our stomachs. Apparently, we were all getting pretty hungry.

"I think it's probably time for some dinner." Ella said. "Any suggestions?"

"We could make some grilled cheese!" Nudge chirped happily.

"NO!" the remaining four of us shouted. Nudge looked taken aback.

"Whoah...if you don't like grilled cheese, all you had to do was say so." She held her hands up in surrender.

"Hey, Ella?" It was Gazzy who spoke this time. "Can we go to Dairy Queen?" Ella looked ready to reject the idea, but then reconsidered.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea. It's a bit of a walk, but I think we could manage." She looked around to address all of us. "Dairy Queen?" Everyone made noises of approval. Ella walked over to the stairs and called up to her mom. "Mom! We're taking the kids to Dairy Queen!" There was a moments pause before Mrs. Martinez responded.

"Okay!" she called back down. "Just be sure to be back a little before eight!"

Ella nodded. "Looks like we're good to go." She glanced at me. "You coming?" she asked. Before I could even open my mouth, my question was being answered by the little blonde girl to my left.

"Of course she's coming with us! Max is awesome!" Angel squealed and took my hand, eager to get going.

"Apparently, I'm tagging along..." I said, giving in and allowing myself to be pulled towards the door.

The door of the Dairy Queen jingled as we entered, announcing our arrival. It'd taken us about twenty or so minutes to get here on foot, and I was STARVING. Angel had wanted a piggy back ride, and I had found it hard to resist. I let her climb down from my back as we entered the store. My nostrils were greeted with the delicious scent of icecream and corndogs. My mouth began to water. We were making our way up to the counter (there was thankfully no line) when Angel, who was walking in front of me, stopped suddenly.

"Nick!" she squealed, running towards a table to her right. I stepped forward in confusion, wondering what she was doing. Nick turned out to be the Nick I knew. The name had confused me for a second, because I kept associating him with Fang. That's what was so hard about me giving nicknames to people. It's like once they have a nickname, I start to forget their real name. It's a rather odd thing that happens really. Even now, I found it impossible to remember Mousey's. Nudge's was slipping from me. It took me a couple seconds to come up with the name Monique, and I was PRETTY sure that's what it was. Jeese...I always felt like I had alzheimers when I did that.

I'd forgotten that Fang sometimes babysat Angel. She had jumped up on the seat right next to him and nearly tackled him in a hug. He was awkwardly patting her back, but grinning slightly. It seemed that Angel was able to work her magic on just about anyone. "Nick, I'm here with my babysitter! Her name's Ella." She pointed to my half-sister who was standing a bit to my left. Angel continued with introductions. "And that's Monique, but we're calling her Nudge, now. And you'll never guess what Zach's nickname is. Gazzy! Cause of his...well, you know..."

Fang nodded gently at her as she pointed everyone out. "And you already know Max!" she said, hopping off the seat and running over to stand by me. I gave a small little wave and saw the corners of his mouth turn up.

"Aww, how cute!" Nudge started to say. I almost groaned, for I knew now that she would probably never stop. "We all know eachother. We should all sit together. Here, Max, you save our seats while we go up with the kids to order. I want a corn dog and some fries, and some ice cream. What do you want, Max? Is it all right if we sit with you?" She directed this last question at Fang who was looking a little flustered.

"Umm..." was all he said. Nudge seemed to take that as a yes.

"Great! We'll go up and get the food then. What do you want, Max? I like the corndogs here, but the chicken strips aren't bad either. They're REALLY good if you get them with BBQ sauce! Oooh, that reminds me of this one time when-" I held up my hand to cut her off.

"Thanks, Nudge. I'll just have a corndog, some french fries, a coke, and a small Banana Cream Pie blizzard." Nudge mouthed the words to herself, then smiled brightly and scurried over to the counter, already babbling out her order the poor cashier. He frantically pushed buttons as she ran off the list of food everyone wanted. Ella, Angel, and Gazzy were standing next to her, sometimes interjecting the order with things they wanted or didn't want. I laughed as everyone behind the counter began running around, trying to sate our large appetites. It was a minute before I noticed that I was standing in the middle of the establishment awkwardly, and that Fang was looking up at me. I hesitantly slid into the seat across from him in the booth.

"I...forgot you were her babysitter." I said, looking for something to talk about. He just nodded. I cleared my throat, which was oddly a little constricted. "So...may I ask why you're in a Dairy Queen all alone at quarter past six at night?"

"Oh, I'm actually here with my little sister. She's in the bathroom." he nodded towards the girl's bathroom door at the back of the restaurant. I started to fiddle with my hands when we fell silent again. "I see you've given everyone else nickname's today." I looked up at him and he was smirking.

"Yeah...it's sorta my thing. I mean...well, you know what I mean." I don't think I had ever been so tongue tied in my life. Even if I felt awkward in a situation, I could still manage to keep a level head. His eyes kept distracting me though. They're so dark it's crazy. Suddenly, I heard the bathroom door swing open and I swiveled in my seat to see who it was. There was no mistaking the girl for anyone other than Fang's little sister. She too had that pretty olive skin, and her long dark hair fluttered to the middle of her back. Her eyes were just as deep as his, but framed with thick lashes. She looked to be about ten, but her eyes looked more mature than the rest of her.

Though I could tell the girl would grow up to be extremely beautiful, she currently looked a little sickly. I couldn't tell if it was just shitty lighting or what, but she seemed to have dark circles under her eyes, and the olive tones of her skin were looking a little sallow and papery. And she walked with what appeared to be a slight limp. But she smiled when she caught sight of her brother, coming over to sit down at the table. She stared at me with wondering eyes. Fang finally spoke up to introduce us. "Shayla, this is Max. She's a...a friend of mine from school. Max this is my little sister, Shayla." She smiled at me sweetly, and nodded.

"Hi." she said softly, "I like your shirt. It's pretty." I looked down at myself in surprise. She thought it was pretty? It was just a simple navy blue tanktop. Sure, there was a little bit of a thin lace lining at the top and at the bottom, but other than that it was pretty plain and thrown on over jeans, with sneakers. That's a good way to summarize my wardrobe, actually. 'Thrown on over jeans, with sneakers'.

"Umm...thanks." I said quietly. Maybe she was just nice like that. Hmm...I might have met another kid I could handle. Of course, she wasn't really a kid. She was probably in fifth or sixth grade, but still. It was rare that I was able to stand people much younger than I was. It was then that Ella came to the table carrying trays with our food.

"We'll probably have to split up tables, 'cause there's so many of us. Me, Nudge, and Gazzy..." She stopped to laugh a little at his nickname. "We'll sit across you from you. You and Angel can sit with Nick, and..." She paused when she saw Shayla, looking a little confused since Shayla seemed to have popped out of nowhere.

"I'm Shayla. I'm Nick's little sister." Ella nodded.

"Well, here's your's, Max." Ella handed me my food and then went around handing out food to everyone else. Nudge soon followed with everyone else and the rest of the trays. She caught sight of Shayla and almost dropped the tray.

"Shayla! Oh my gosh, I thought you still had the flu! You've been out of school for the whole week so far! Are you feeling any better? Did you get medicine or something? You look tired. You okay?" I felt so bad for poor Shayla. She was indeed looking a little under the weather, but now she had to be verbally attacked by the Nudge Channel? Poor kid.

"Umm...yeah, Monique. I'm just getting over it." She and Fang exchanged a barely detectable glance. "I'm not sure if I'll be back in school tomorrow though. I've got some doctor's appointments I have to go to." Shayla answered the questions carefully, as though she were walking on thin ice. "Thanks for asking though." Damn, this girl was nice. She had perfect manners. Monique pouted.

"Aww, girl! Well, I hope you feel better! Get some rest. You know what really helps me rest is-" But Ella pulled her away to sit down before she could say any more. Angel slid in beside me, pushing me over into the booth some more so that I was directly across from Fang. I quickly pulled my legs up onto the bench to sit cross legged when my knee accidentally brushed against his. I felt his legs pull back slightly as well.

"Don't you guys want anything?" Angel squeaked, tearing up a chicken strip.

"Actually, we kind of already ate." Fang said, smiling at Angel. "We were about to leave when you guys showed up." Shayla looked down at the watch she was wearing on her skinny wrist.

"Nick, it's 6:30." she said, sounding a little anxious. Fang grabbed her arm gently to examine the device for himself. I heard him curse quietly under his breath.

"Well, we've got to go." Fang said, waiting for Shayla to climb out of the booth so that he, too, could stand up. "I'll see you around, Angel. Max." He nodded in my direction. Shayla walked gingerly towards the door, and Fang trailed after her. I looked out the window and saw her climbing delicately into one of the seats on a double-seated bike. The second seat did not appear to have a set of pedals. Just a seat to ride on. I rose my eyebrows. I could NOT EVER imagine Fang on one of those. But sure enough, he soon hopped on, making sure his little sister's helmet was on securely, and then started to pedal.

Ella leaned over to me from her table and said, "Hey, was his little sister okay? She looked...sickly." I shrugged.

"I think Fang said she was getting over the flu or something." Ella looked puzzled. I too was skeptical of the story. And I wasn't sure why. Like I said before many times, Fang's eyes are very communicative. He had looked weary when Shayla started to explain to Nudge. Maybe I was just being overly-curious and making things up to avoid boredom, but...

"How's the corndog?" Angel piped up, a little BBQ sauce on her chin. I tried not laugh and offered her a napkin, showing her where to wipe by pointing to my own chin. I realized that I hadn't even touched my food, which was odd because I was starving. I took a bite of the corndog.

"Good..." I said through a mouthful of deepfried meat product. Angel laughed at this, seeming to be entertained. Everyone soon began to finish their food, and we left soon afterwards, stepping out of the airconditioned haven and into the air, which was now sticky and warm. I braced myself for the walk home.

It was about nine o' clock at night now. Angel and Gazzy had left slightly less than an hour ago, and Nudge was gone as well. The last time I had seen Ella, she was curled up on the couch downstairs reading some book for school. Mrs. Martinez was at the kitchen table sorting through papers and occasionally writing things down. I was laying in my bed, running my fingers over the cool, violet gems of the taaffeite necklace.

I was lost deep in thought about...well, life. I remembered how back home I would sometimes, when I was laying in bed trying to get to sleep, think to myself "Where are you going in life, Max? What are you doing?" And a part of me would answer back: "Well, what does it matter. You're having fun being a teenager. Who cares where you're going as long as you enjoy yourself, right?" I had always trusted that little answer. But now I was beginning to second guess myself.

Had I really been having fun? Fighting constantly with my family and feeling so anxious all the time? Worrying about living up to the gang's expectations. Putting my life in danger by associating with people like that? Looking back on it now, it seemed crazy. I felt like I was thinking about a movie I'd seen or something when I was actually thinking about my own life. And then I considered what I'd been doing since I got here.

I mean sure, the first few days were miserable, but was it really that bad now? School wasn't so awful I couldn't bear it. It was kind of boring, but that's the way any school was. And the people here weren't ALL hicks like I'd imagined them being. I didn't worry that any of the people I knew would at any moment beat the shit out of me. That was a plus. And Mrs. Martinez made me feel so...loved? Was that the right word for it? I decided not to try and put a label on it. It was less confusing and frightening that way.

But whatever the feeling was, I knew it was something that I had been resisting for the longest of times. I sighed, deep and heavily, feeling my eyes getting a little bit droopy. It was still only around nine o' clockish, but my day had been a long one. And I had to get up at six tomorrow. Which reminded me...I had to set my alarm on my clock. I rubbed my eyes. Eh...I'd do it in a moment. I twisted my fingers once more around the necklace before letting in fall onto my stomach. Everything was going to change. With me being here, I mean.

I didn't know if I liked it or not yet, but I supposed there was nothing else to do other than just go along with it. Let the chips fall where they may, or whatever it is they say in situations like these. I grazed my fingers over those plum gems once more before my lids got too heavy and slipped down to cover my eyes, everything fading to a hazy, dreamy, black.

A/N: Whoo...long chapter. Hope it lives up to everyone's expectations. A little lengthy, but I don't think it turned out absolutely gruesome or anything. Oh but guess what? I only have two more days of school! Oh my gosh, I can hardly wait. I go to this weird puritan school. The students are awesome in my grade, but some of the teachers are ridiculous. Sigh...sometimes I hate my religion. LOL, not really, but still. Anywhoo, would it be very inconvinient for you to review? I'd greatly appreciate it. ^.^