Okay, first of all I apologize that this has taken literally forever to write. Thanks for sticking with the story, but I've finally got some new ideas for this story so hold onto your seats, it's gonna get good. Anyway, I realized that if I wrote 17 chapters for each year of high school it would probably get really old. For all of you in high school you probably feel me, all the days kind of blur together so nothing major happens sophomore year and the summer after. The story picks back up in the fall of junior year, and I'll just update however I feel the story should go. It will obviously be in chronological order but I'll let you guys know how old they are and all that jazz. Well thanks for reading this boring thing, and now, onto the story. Read n Review, and keep it real y'all. Oh PS I have two new Max Ride fanfics out and you should totally check them out. Trust Game and Secrets.

MPOV (Junior Year age-17)

I pulled the sleeves of my sweatshirt tighter around me as the October breeze blew, leaves flying down the street. It was a typical fall day and I smiled, autumn is by far the best season.

"Here," Fang said instantly, pulling off his jacket and placing it around my shoulders. He wrapped an arm around me and we kept walking. It had started out sunny and warm so Fang had driven us to a forest preserve in the area for the day. We had packed snacks and drinks and planned to spend the day together outside in the fall air. There were dirt paths leading into the depths of the wilderness and away from the highway, cars and noises of traffic. Reaching my hand up, I got a giant golden leaf and tucked it behind Fang's ear.

"Perfect, it brings out your eyes," I told him with a grin.

He reached down and grabbed a huge pile of leaves. Knowing he would put them in my hair, I dropped his hand and took off sprinting towards the giant stretch of grass ahead of me. I must have overestimated my speed because a second later, strong arms grabbed me spun me around. Laughing I turned around and grabbed his shoulders. Surprised, he tripped over his own feet and we both fell backwards and I grinned as the leaves crunched under our weight. Fang was lying on his back, and when we fell I landed on his chest. We were lying on top of each other and he couldn't help but let out laugh. He grabbed a few leaves from the ground and carefully placed them in my hair.

"You look like a princess," he told me. "Very classy."

"Thank you your highness," I told him with a grin. He smiled, and then pulled me down so our lips touched. His hands were locked around my back and my hands were pressed against his chest on either side of me. Our lips moved in sync as we kissed, enjoying the autumn breeze. He pulled away to breathe, but I pulled him back to me. I inhaled deeply, his cologne mixed with the scent of the leaves and trees and the freshness of being outdoors was more than I could handle. We rolled over so we were both lying side by side on the grass, arms around each other.

I pulled away and he held me close to him, just inches from his face. "I love you Max. More than anything in the world. More than you know."

I smiled. This was the first time he'd ever said that'd he loved me to my face, and not in a friend way. We jokes about saying but he's never said it like this.

"I love you Fang, since the day I came here." I brushed the few strands of hair off his forehead so I could see those obsidian eyes. The golden flecks were brighter than usual as he smiled.

"You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, I want you to know that."

Thinking back to my early days when I begged my parents to let me live in St. Louis. Looking back, moving was the best decision I ever made. He kissed me lightly. I jumped up. "C'mon!"

I grabbed his hand and we ran through the leaves that were falling like snow. We crumpled them up, throwing them back into the air like confetti. We raced across the field of green, throwing leaves at each other. He grabbed my arm in a tackle, and we lay together rolling around through piles of leaves bigger than we were.

Once we had calmed down, we walked through the trees on the dirt path. Still wearing Fangs jacket, we held hands taking in the comfortable silence.

"You won't ever leave me, will you?" I asked looking up at him. Over the past few years, he'd gotten taller and bigger all around. He'd gotten some more muscle and filled out, but was now quite a few inches taller than me. It was unacceptable.

"Of course not, well unless you get really bad at singing. Then I'm outta here." He gave me his cute lopsided smile. "Max, I promise I will never ever leave you. I would rather die, than live without you."

"I'd really prefer if you didn't die. It was too close last time..." I trailed off, lost in my own world of sadness.

"And dying twice for you was the best decision I've ever made. If you would've died, or even been slightly hurt, I never would've forgiven myself. You don't understand what would happen if I was forced to live without you."

"Well," I told him with a grin, "I plan on staying here as long as I can." I paused for a second but then a thought crossed my mind. "Fang, what about college? We only have a year left of highschool." Yes, I know you probably can't picture me going to school by choice, but I wasn't gonna just waste all of my time at school to flip burgers or live on the streets somewhere. See I'm educational and determined. How can you beat that?

"We'll just make it the best damn year we ever have." He paused, and we stopped walking and took in the breathtaking beauty and serenity of the complete silence. "Besides, it's not like were just gonna stop talking or being friends or we could do long-distance. I promise college won't ruin anything."

I grinned, deciding he was right. Psh, who needs to worry about the future? Worrying is way overrated if you ask me. And maybe we'd end up at the same college. I guess I have high hopes, but being optimistic never killed anybody. You should try it.

I grabbed an iced tea from my bag and tossed one to Fang. I saw a small gravel path that led away from the main path, and motioned to Fang to follow it. We continued down the path, and it ended in a small circle of green grass, surrounded completely by trees and bushes. It was completely secluded and even if you tried, there was no way to see the rest of the park. The trees were tall and sturdy, with plenty of places for climbing and sitting. It was perfect. Fang grabbed a sharp-looking stick from the ground, and walked over to the biggest, stronger tree of them all. He seemed to be carving words into the tree. He called me over to look: I LOVE YOU MAX. MAX AND FANG FOREVER. "Now even when were old and wrinkly, we'll be able to come here and see this tree to remind us of everything we had."

I nodded, smiling. Being able to come back here in 50 years and see those words carved into a huge tree...it just made me happy. There's no way else to explain it. I wrapped my arms around him, and his hands found their way around me. I leaned my head into his chest.

"What are you doing?" He asked with a small lopsided smile, as I stared at the tree.

"Remembering this," I replied. He looked down at me, and his eyes flashed with emotion. It was very quick, but I knew him too well to miss it. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing, I don't know it just seems sad to remember this, like it's the end or something."

"No you moron," I grinned. "I'm remembering this because everything is perfect right now. You told me you loved me today for the first time. We have our own special place we can always come to that no one knows about. You carved our names into a tree. I'm just...happy."

"Deep." He tried to keep a straight face, but it didn't work out so well. He ended up looking constipated or something. We both cracked up and sat down against a tree. He was leaned up against the bark, and I sat between his legs, resting on his chest. Just for the heads up, he was very comfortable. But don't get any ideas, Fang's all mine. I already had several enemies from school, most that I had never talked to. And then Lissa, my arch nemesis, who I had spoken with several times.

"What do you think will happen with everyone?" I asked with a sigh.

"What'd you mean?" He asked. I smiled, listening to steady rhythm of his heart and breathing.

"Well I mean The Flock, and all of our friends and Iggy and Ella. Stuffs just gonna be really different in a little over a years time."

"Don't worry, we'll all stay friends. At least you, me, Iggy and Ella will always be friends. We can live together in New York City. It'll be fun. Don't worry, we have time." He kissed the top of my head.

"New York City?" I asked astonished that was his city of choice.

"Obviously," he retorted. "Think about it. They have Broadway, all of Wall St and the financial district. The subway, and everyone knows that's just a blast. There's 24,000 restaurants on Manhattan so we could go to one restaurant a day and never have gone to the same one twice for 65 years. Even if we ate at 3 restaurants a day, besides getting very fat we would have 22 years of different restaurants. What more could you want in life?"

I rolled my eyes, "You're such a loser." I smiled, "but you're my loser."

FPOV

I could've sat there, in the middle of nowhere with Max in my arms for the rest of life. Alright I know it sounds stupid since I'm only 17, but Max was the girl for me. Despite the fact that I can't legally vote, drink alcohol or even be considered an adult I just had a feeling. The few years since Max had arrived in our little town had changed my life. Even at the beginning we just had a connection. We understand each other. We're just as comfortable sitting in silence as we are talking. I could spend days with her and never get tired of her smile. Her smile lights up the world, and removes any doubts I've ever had.

I looked down and she had fallen asleep against my chest. Her eyes closed, and mouth slightly parted she looked beautiful and peaceful and calm. The sun was slowly sinking and the warm colors of the sunset shone through the trees into our little hideout. The deep red and orange of the sun reflected off the golden leaves and I sat there in pure happiness. Okay I know this sounds super lame coming from a tough guy like me, but whatever if you were in my shoes you would do exactly the same thing.

"I love you Max." I whispered even though she wasn't awake to hear it.

I wished that moment would last forever. The girl of my dreams asleep in my arms. The one who told me she loved me today. The girl I took a billet for, and died twice in the process. She was the only one I wanted to be with. With any luck, she would be the girl I came back here with in 60 years with our wrinkly skin and white hair. We would look at the tree that says MAX AND FANG FOREVER and know that my wish had came true. We would spend all our time together, and I would be with her through the ups and downs.

But life doesn't work like that. The chance of us staying together through college was already risky. And people change. Things happen. Supposedly everything happens for a reason, but I still don't know the reason that Kaylie had to leave us. All I could do was spend the time we had now with my favorite person in the world, and hope it wouldn't end. I just had to hope and see where things go. Life moves pretty fast sometimes. If you don't stop and look around, you might miss it.

I know, what can I say? I'm a deep person with beautiful quotes. Well the quotes are from movies but that's beside the point.

By now, the sun had just about disappeared below the horizon and the sky was streaked with the remains of the sunset. Dark blues and purple streaks filled the sky as the moon filled the sky. Stars sparkled above, and I looked down at Max.

Gently shaking her, I told her we needed to get going. Both our parents trusted us enough to let us do whatever we want, and I didn't want to ruin that.

We walked back to the car and I pulled out and headed back toward the rush of traffic. Not surprisingly, Max had fallen asleep again in the passenger's seat. Once we had arrived at her house, I gently scooped her up and walked up to the doorstep and rang the bell. Mrs. Martinez came to the door, with a warm smile on her face. Her brown eyes sparkled as she smiled up at me. I'm just quite the gentleman, can't you tell?

"Want me to bring her up?" She asked, smiling down at her 17 year old daughter in my arms. I shook my head, and slid off my shoes before taking Max upstairs to her room. Carefully I pulled back the covers and then set her down underneath and pulled the sheets back over her. Softly I kissed her forehead. I was about to leave when her eyes fluttered open.

As I stood up to go, she grabbed my hand and pulled me back down to her bed. "You promised you would never leave me."

I nodded, smiled and laid down next to her, with her hand still holding mine. Max was soon out cold, and I noticed I was getting tired myself. Briefly I closed my eyes, and then I must've fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, the morning light was flooding through Max's curtains.

-LINE BREAK-

MPOV

I was lying on my bed strumming my guitar when I heard it. Everything had been fine, and I was just working on my new song that Fang and I had started writing when I heard a loud thud come from downstairs.

"Mom?" I called. Ella was at Nudge's house working on some scrapbook thing for God knows what. She had asked me to help her first, and I pretended to throw up. I mean cutting and glueing and using glitter. Barf. Fang was probably at home working on this math essay. Honestly, what math teacher assigns math essays? It was pointless and annoying and stupid in my humble opinion.

I hadn't heard an answer back, and tried again. "Mom? You okay?" Still nothing. Uh-oh. I jumped off my bed, sprinting down stairs to the kitchen. No one was there so I raced over and checked her office. My heart stopped in my chest. Her face was white as a sheet and she had collapsed on the ground. I ran over to her, and put a hand to her forehead. It was cold as ice. Instantly I grabbed the phone off the desk and dialed 9-1-1.

"9-1-1, what's your emergency?"

"My mom just collapsed on the ground. She's really cold and her face is really white. I'm sorry I don't really know how long she's been laying here, I didn't know she had collapsed." The lady on the other end gave me a few instructions, and I knelt down and I could feel a stream of air coming from her nose. But what scared me most was how thin the air stream was. Even unconscious, she seemed to be having trouble getting enough air.

Soon enough, an ambulance with sirens blaring came screeching to a stop in front of our house and a bunch of paramedics came rushing out if the ambulance and to the house. They lifted her onto a stretcher and behind the ambulance I saw someone run across the street towards me. As he got closer I could tell Fang's face was white and drawn in concern. As soon as he reached me, I threw my arms around him, and he held me tightly before pulling back and asking what happened. I briefly explained what had happened, before one paramedic came over to me and started asking questions. "We need to leave immediately, can you ride in the ambulance with us." He noticed Fang by my side looking just as worried as I did. He motioned at Fang, "You can both ride in the ambulance if you like, as long as your quiet and don't mind sharing a seat." We nodded quickly before hopping in. My breath caught in my throat as I saw my mom strapped to the stretcher, with an IV in her arm and oxygen hooked up through her nose and mouth. Her face was still deadly white and there were blood pressure cuffs hooked up to her arms and some other machine was tracking her heart beat. Another paramedic was holding one of those defibrillators that will restart their heart if it stops beating. As of now, her heartbeat was still going but it seemed really faded out and unsteady.

The sirens were still blaring as we pulled into the hospital and the paramedics said a bunch of stuff to the people waiting at the doors. I didn't hear most of what they said, but I heard them say "condition unstable" and "immediate attention" and a bunch of other stuff that sounded bad. Fang grabbed my hand and we walked out of the cold January chill into the hospital, following the sound of mom's stretcher. I felt my eyes get hot and I willed myself not to cry. Especially not in front of all these people around us and Fang.

"Hey," he told me quietly. "It'll be alright. Everything will be alright." He let go of one of my hands and brushed away the few tears that had slid down my cheeks. "I'll be here the whole time, anything you need." I nodded and tried to smile my thanks but it came out as more of a grimace.

Despite his comforting words, I noticed that Fang looked really upset and worried too. He's just part of my family and my mom is like his second mom. It's the same way for me, except I like his dad more than mine sometimes. But don't tell Jeb I said that, I doubt he'd be thrilled to hear that.

A good while later, after we had called Ella and Fang's mom, the doctor came out of the metal doors in his white operating coat. Ella had instantly came from Nudge's when she heard the news. Mrs. Ride was coming later once Fang's dad got home from work. Ella, Fang and I all stood up and hurried over as the doctor called her name, Valencia Martinez.

"Would you like the good or bad news first?"

"Bad," Fang and I said together but Ella said "Good."

The doctor ran a hand through his graying hair. "Well the bad news is..."

To be continued next chapter! Read and review! Hope everyone liked this new chapter and I promise the next few chapters will be up soon!