Okay, I know y'all probably hate me, but really, don't blame me! Blame my muse, Cato (yes I name various objects of my life after Hunger Games characters. Don't judge) because he decided to go on vacation and leave me with a huge writers' block. RAGEEEE. Trust me, you do not want to read what I attempted to write :P I still have a little bit of writers' block, so this chapter is really crappy, but I decided to stop making y'all wait. xP Onto review replies (thanks for giving me so many, btw! I was really happy :D)
Faxlastsforever ~ Yay for happiness! Awwh you don't :P Fax will probably take a chapter or two more.
16DREAMerz ~ Sorry your name didn't show up on the last chapter. o.o So I shortened it. Hope you don't mind, hehe. Thanks for reviewing :3
Jenna ~ thanks hun. :)
IggyIsAwesome13 ~ Thank you so much! I'm sorry I took so long :(
Ang ~ Yes they are, and yes I know(;
jordygirl ~ thank you thank you thank you! ^^
BanksieMalfoy ~ DRAMOINE FTW j/s. Haha yeah I needed someone with those personalities in the story, just 'cause I felt like it :P
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Maximum Ride. Or Fang, although I wish I did. :(
After dropping by my house to tell my mom where I would be (she said yes, of course, because I am such a responsible child) I led Iggy to Fang's house. He'd already called his mom and gotten her permission, so we just walked casually into the house. I breathed in the familiar smell of burnt food (Fang's mom is convinced that she is an amazing cook, and no one has the guts to tell her that she really isn't) and called out a greeting. "Hey, Mrs. Collins!"
"Wha—oh, hi, Max," says Fang's mom, appearing in an apron. Her face is flushed and she hastily wipes her hands on the apron. "And Iggy! What brings you two over today?" She's used to the two of us often dropping by randomly. I love Fang's mom—she's really cool and lax about stuff, just like my mom. The two of them are best friends, by the way; I'm pretty sure they gossip about Fang and I.
"We're working on a project," Iggy pipes up innocently. I hold back a giggle at his expression—Iggy knows how to play the adults, but nothing fools Mrs. Collins.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Iggy. I'll just let the three of you do whatever," she says, waving her hands at us. "Will you stay until dinner? I can cook, if you'd like," she offers, eyes wide and hopeful.
"Erm, thanks, but that's fine, Mom," Fang replies, ushering us up the stairs. "We'll just go out for dinner like we planned." The three of us enter his room and close the door, chuckling.
"So, uhm." I take off my backpack and rummage through it, drawing out a piece of paper and a pencil. "Any ideas?" I write Poem Brainstorming neatly at the top of the paper.
"We could write about war and its effect on people," offered Fang when Iggy just sat there with a blank look on his face. "You know teachers always gobble up that type of depressing stuff." I nod and write down War.
"I call dibs on writing about the bombs," Iggy says helpfully.
"Oh, I see, now you talk. I'm rolling my eyes, Ig," I say, rolling my eyes.
"Fine, fine. We could do... explosives? Nuclear bombs?"
"Yeah, uhm. Maybe you should go back to being quiet." I stop myself from snickering as he frowns slightly. "Let's think of more stuff on the depressing theme. Maybe we could do a story sort of poem? Like... some kid gets beat up at school, and uhm..." I trail off, not sure where I was going with this.
"And then he sets off a bomb in the school!" Iggy chimes in. This time Fang and I don't hesitate to inform him that we're both rolling our eyes.
Fang shifts in his seat. "Okay, so he's getting bullied." I start to write. "Then he decides to tell the bullies how he feels, and they decide they're sorry and everyone..." He pauses when I stop writing and make a face. "Too cheesy?"
"Cheesy doesn't even cover it, Fang," I say. "It's like dipping a slice of cheese into a bowl of cheese fondue and then sprinkling Parmesan on it and eating it with some macaroni and cheese." He blinks and raises his eyebrows slightly and I smirk.
"Okay, okay. I like the story idea though," Fang says thoughtfully.
"We don't have to do the bullies." I cross out what I've written and tap the pencil against my chin, frowning slightly as I think. My thinking process is interrupted as I hear Fang's mom calling us.
"I have some brownies made for you guys, if you're not too busy!" Fang and I both exchange amused glances, silently agreeing to act busy, but Iggy bounces up from his chair and runs downstairs.
Fang sighs. "Nothing keeps Iggy from food, even if it's made by my mom..." I laugh and we both get up, walking slowly downstairs. Yeah, I know that Iggy's part of our group and it would be unfair to brainstorm without him, but I kinda wish that it could be just Fang and I in the room, working together.
Wait. What?
We're best friends, so naturally I enjoy spending time with him, but I've never minded Iggy's presence before... so, uh, just pretend I never said that. Shaking my head slightly, I join Iggy and Fang at the table. Looks like we won't have any work done today.
~Timeskip~
Ella glances up as I enter the house. "How was it?" she asks almost bitterly. I have to keep myself from physically jumping back at the coldness of her voice.
Before I speak, I have to clear my throat a few times. "Wh-what?"
"How was hanging out with Fang? And Iggy?" she added. Then I realized what was wrong and almost laughed.
"Is my little sister jealous?" I smirk at her sheepish smile. "Don't worry—Iggy's all yours."
"He doesn't like me," Ella retorts angrily. "If I could hang out with him more, maybe he would, but we're in different grades and stuff—"
"Ella." I look into her eyes and see that behind the blazing "anger" is hurt, frustration, and despair. "I know for a fact that Iggy likes you. It's kind of obvious. Both of you are just too . . . scared to admit it, and too stubborn to believe that it's true."
Ella frowns. "Thanks, Max, but I can tell that you're just trying to make me feel better. It's not working," she adds flatly and walks away. I blink a few times. This is the first time Ella's acted like this; what's going on? What happened to my happy, bubbly little sister?
After resolving to find out what happened, I walk into my room . . . and collapse on my bed, falling promptly asleep.
~Timeskip~
"Where's Iggy?" I ask the next morning, after we get off the bus. A sideways glance at Ella tells me that she's pointedly looking away. Fine, then.
Fang shrugs in reply. Puzzled, I walk into the school. He's usually waiting for us, but maybe he just overslept or something. I glance at my sister again. "Uh, Ella? Do you happen to have any idea where Iggy is?"
Bad move. Her eyes flash as she spits, "Probably hanging out with Lissa." Wait. What? Where the heck does Lissa come into this? I don't even know that Ella knew Lissa. Well, apparently she does, and it's not a great relationship either, seeing how my sister storms away in the direction of her locker.
"What's up with Ella?" Nudge pipes up, brown eyes puzzled. Hmm. So her best friend doesn't know what's up, either. That's strange; the two usually tell each other everything.
"Yeah, what's wrong with her?" Gazzy asks. "She's usually all over-excited. Like Nudge and Angel," he adds, and they both scowl at him.
"I dunno. Nudge, try to find out, 'k?" She nods, a puzzled expression still on her face, and we part ways. I'm distracted throughout French and when we get to Language Arts, we find out that Iggy is absent today. Hopefully Ella will cheer up with that information; why would Iggy be hanging out with Lissa instead of us, anyway?
Anyway, we're working on our poems again, so I take out the brainstorming list from my binder and go join Fang. We sit in an awkward silence for a while, both lost in our own thoughts—I'm still puzzling over Ella, and Fang, well, who knows what's going on in that brain of his?
"Hey, Max. You look nice today."
Wait. What? I blink and shake my head slightly. I must have misheard. "Excuse me?"
He smirks, of course. "Nevermind." Shrugging, I return to the brainstorming list and try to think of a topic.
"Hey, Max," Fang says again.
"Whaaat?" I growl. "I'm trying to concentrate here." No ideas have been popping into my head for the past half hour (A/N: Much like me. T_T).
"Do you wanna come over again today? I know Iggy's probably sick or something, but that doesn't mean we can't work on the project anyway . . . besides, it'll be easier without him yelling about bombs and being distracted with food and we probably won't get anywhere this class period." I sigh and he smirk, both of us knowing that he's right.
"Fine."
I'm so sorry. This chapter sucked and it took forever to write. ;-; Forgive me and leave a review?
Random note: we were taking a reading test and there was this story about a guy who dressed in black converse, black jeans, and black shirt. My friend and I were discussing it afterward and we were both like FANNNG. Yeah anyway. Bye. xP