Thank you so so so much for the 20 reviews! I have three things to say. First, I'm really really sorry but updates are going to be really irregular during the summer. This one was really late, but I won't be updating at a constant rate so yeah... I'm so sorry.

Second, about the confusing part last chapter, it wasn't in Fang's POV, sorry about that. It was in past tense while the rest of the story is in present tense. You should know what it is now ;)

Third, this chapter is dedicated to my wonderful beta, Haley (Fluffy Bunnies Are So Cute), and my best friend Jenna! Haley's birthday is today and Jenna's birthday is Wednesday. I love both of you! Since I wanted to give Haley a rest on her birthday this chapter isn't beta'd… so sorry about any errors xP

Max POV

After four days, I have come to a conclusion: it's extremely hard to avoid your best friend.

Especially when they live next door to you.

I've been making excuses to Iggy — who's not sick anymore, by the way — about not working with them on the language arts project, even though it's due soon. I'm also ignoring Fang's many calls and texts. Well, at least it's Saturday, and I won't have to see him at school.

A knock on the door startles me, and I roll over on the bed. "Come in," I say, my voice muffled by my fluffy pillow. (Not as fluffy as Fang's, though, I think. Ugh, Max. STOP.) Ella walks in and her eyes are bright with excitement.

"Max! Max! Guess what? OMG! I'm so excited!" She's bouncing up and down, and annoyance runs through me. I haven't been in a good mood since Tuesday, when I read Fang's blog, and anyone who is in a good mood just bothers me. But then again, this is my sister, who I like to see happy.

"No, really?" I reply dryly. "What is it?"

"It's Nudge's birthday next Saturday, and she was originally gonna have her birthday party then, remember? But then something came up and her parents said she couldn't have it then, so she's having it today! And everyone's invited! You, Fang, Iggy, Angel, Gazzy, Emily, and Jenna! And me, of course!" She giggles. "It's gonna be sooo much fun and there's gonna be cake and ice cream and I'M SO EXCITED!"

I stopped listening at 'Fang.'

"Wait, so let me get this straight." I prop myself up on my elbows. "Nudge is moving her birthday party to… today? As in, today today?" And Fang's going to be there? I add silently.

Ella nodded fervently. "This afternoon! At two-o-clock!" Her expression changes. "Oh my gosh, Max. We have to find clothes to wear!"

"Uh, correction. You have to find clothes to wear. I'm just going in jeans and a t-shirt." Ella starts to protest but I'm not really listening, I'm panicking. How am I supposed to avoid Fang at this stupid birthday party? I groan and Ella pauses, tilting her head slightly.

"Wait, you want to wear a skirt?"

"No! That's not — NO!" I shake my head, facepalming mentally.

Ella blinks. "Okay, Max. Well, see ya later!" She grins and skips out of the room and I collapse on my bed, not wanting to go at all.

But of course I have to, you know. Nudge is one of my few best friends. Well, she's really Ella's best friend, but you know what I mean. Come to think of it, all of my good friends are going to Nudge's birthday party. Plus it's not like Ella really gives me a choice.

"Hey, girl, look over there. I see someone in their underwear!" Angel and Ella chant, turning the rope for Nudge. I lean back in my chair, watching them with amusement. "You can do the flip, you can do the splits, but I bet ya fifty bucks you can't do this. Close your eyes and count to ten; whoever messes up has to marry him!"

They start to count, laughing as the rope catches Nudge's ankle at "nine."

"So close," Angel says. "Now it's my turn!"

"They are so cute," Jenna laughs, beside me.

Emily raises her eyebrows at her. "They're only two years younger than you, Em."

"Oh, be quiet," Jenna grumbles.

"I taught them that chant, by the way," Emily says.

"Apples on a stick just make me sick…" I tune out their chants and focus instead on the boys. Fang has to be here for his sister, but I highly doubt Iggy would be here if Ella weren't coming. He probably dragged Gazzy along with him. The two of them are currently engaged in a competition of "who can catch the most goldfish in his mouth." Iggy's pretty good, for a blind guy. Fang is watching them with amusement in his dark eyes as he leans back in his own chair, a soda in his hand.

I roll my eyes. Then my heart skips a beat as Fang lifts his gaze to mine. He says something to Iggy and Gazzy, who ignore him, and gets up from his chair. My heart pounds faster. Oh no please no don't come over here please please, I think frantically. And then he's standing right in front of me.

"Max," he says softly."Can I talk to you? In private?" he adds, with a glance at Emily and Jenna. I sigh softly and get up, leading him to a spot away from the others.

"Max." I stare at a very interesting blade of grass beside my right foot. "Max," Fang repeats, more sternly this time. "Look at me."

I lift my gaze from the blade of grass and glare at him. "What is it, Fang?" Why is he so hard to avoid?

Fang sighs and doesn't say anything. It's his turn to stare at the ground. I seize my chance. "If you don't have anything to say, I'll just, uh, go grab some more punch." I try to sneak past him but he grabs me by the arm.

"No, Max. Just… listen, alright?" His dark eyes, unreadable, bore into mine. I lose my train of thought for a second and nod meekly. He lets go of my arm and it tingles where he had touched me. "I don't want this to happen to our friendship."

I try to pretend like I don't know what he's talking about. "What? I don't —"

"Max, you know perfectly well what I'm talking about," Fang cuts in. He knows me too well. My eyes return to the blade of grass. "Did you think I wouldn't notice you avoiding me at school? What about the excuses you kept making to Iggy? How about all the texts and calls you've avoided answering?" Okay, so maybe I was a bit obvious. But seriously, what did he expect me to do?

"Uh, pretend like it never happened?" Fang replies. I'm confused; then I realize I said that last part out loud. Oops.

"Easier said than done," I mutter quietly so that he doesn't hear me.

"I wanted to talk to you about that," Fang continues. "You're my best friend, Max, and I don't want to lose you. I really don't." His voice is earnest and I glance up against my will, seeing the truth in his eyes. "I want to start over. Just forget about it all, okay? I won't bring it up again, I promise."

I don't respond for a few seconds. "Max?" My arm is still tingling. Slowly I nod. "Thanks," he breathes and slips away. It's then I realize that was probably the most words I've ever heard him say. He must really want to go back to what we were — best friends, no more or less.

I'm not sure if that's what I really want.

"A piñata?" Gazzy stares at Nudge incredulously. "Nudge, you're thirteen."

Nudge shrugs. "Well, it's always fun to hit stuff, right? I mean, it's like POW and BAM and it's broken and it's not as if you're actually hitting something real… I thought boys liked to destroy things, anyway," she says with a raised eyebrow. Gazzy opens his mouth to reply but Nudge, being Nudge, continues. "Besides, there's candy inside. It's like, free candy! Only it's not really free, because we had to buy the piñata, but for you guys it's free. Who doesn't like candy, free or not free? I sure do. If you don't like candy, there's definitely something wrong with you —"

"Okay, we get it, Nudge," Angel cuts in gently.

"She has a point, Gazzy," I tell the boy. "Candy is always good." He shrugs, defeated.

"I get to go first," says Nudge. "Since it's my birthday party, after all." She grabs the bat, grins, and whacks the piñata — which is in the shape of a chicken. Poor thing.

"Me next!" Angel grabs the bat and attacks the chicken.

"Aren't we supposed to do this blindfolded?" Fang's voice sounds close to my ear and I jump.

My first instinct is to back away, and then I remember that I'm not avoiding him anymore. "Whatever." I shrug one shoulder. "It doesn't really matter, does it?"

"I guess not," Fang says, amused. He watches as Gazzy whacks the piñata, then Ella, Emily, and Jenna.

"Max! Your turn!" Ella chirps, handing me the bat. I don't want to be the one to break it open, so I purposely hit it lightly, and then hand the bat to Iggy.

"Yeah, give the blind guy a bat. Real smart," he smirks. Ella giggles and he hits the piñata hard. It breaks off partially, swinging wildly. "Alright, Fang, you're last," he says as he hands the bat to Fang with a pat on the back.

Fang flexes his arms, causing Angel and Nudge to break into giggles. I roll my eyes. That show-off. There's a huge smack as his bat connects with the piñata, and then it breaks apart, candy showering the ground. Everyone dives for it, grabbing as much as we can. Yeah, we're greedy.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Nu-udge… happy birthday to you!" Happily, the brown-skinned girl blows out the candles. Cake is served. Two slices later, the cake is gone, and none of us are quite full yet, even after pizza, ice cream, candy, and cake. We all eat a lot.

"Okay, let's play another game," chirps Nudge, getting up from her chair. "Anyone have any ideas?"

"You know that game, where you have partners, and you tie your legs together and try to get across the finish line first?" Gazzy pipes up. "We could play that!"

"Lame," mutters Fang. I laugh softly and shove him.

"Good idea, Gaz," says Angel, and Ella and Nudge agree. Emily and Jenna say that they don't really care what we do next. So it is decided.

Nudge finds some random string she happened to have lying around and tells us to get into partners. Fang taps me on the shoulder and for some reason, I'm reluctant to become his partner. "Max?" he says in his husky voice.

I sigh. "Fine," I reply tightly. He blinks at me, startled at my tone, but I don't have any explanation, so I turn away and find another interesting blade of grass to stare at. He shrugs and goes to ask Nudge for some string.

"Ooh. It's the Ride—Collins pair! Better go easy on us." Nudge giggles and tells us to put our legs together so she can tie them. "You guys are so fast, I'm sure y'all will win," she chatters. "Or maybe Emily and Jenna. Emily's really fast, too. Well, good luck!" She finishes and moves on, leaving me with my leg stuck to Fang's.

Right now, I'm just trying to ignore the tingles running through my right leg constantly.

"On your mark, get set, GO!"

Fang and I push over, moving our legs carefully so that we don't trip. Usually something like this would come naturally, as we do almost everything together, but for some reason today I keep messing up. "C'mon, Max!" Fang teases. "Inside, outside, inside, outside! Hurry!"

Emily and Jenna pull up ahead of us. I risk a glance behind us; Ella and Angel are close behind, while Iggy and Gazzy are… what the heck? They're on the ground rolling toward the finish line. Okay, well, there wasn't exactly a rule that said you had to be on your feet, but… that's just awkward.

"Max!" Fang groans as I trip slightly.

"Sorry," I mumble and try to focus. Inside, outside. Inside, outside. Inside…

We're so close.

So close. And then Fang glances up at me, a small smile on his face, his eyes staring right into mine. I lose my focus and trip, bringing Fang down with me. "Oof," he groans as I land on top of him. Ella and Angel pull past us, coming in second, but I couldn't care less at the moment — I'm splayed out on top of Fang, those dark eyes capturing mine again.

At the moment, I knew for sure that I couldn't go back to being simply friends with him again.

Horrible chapter, I know, I know. Review? Even though it's horrible and I kept you waiting? ;~; and be sure to leave a happy birthday message to Haley and Jenna! :D I'll try to update quicker next time, although I have a piano competition from Wednesday through Friday and I'll have to practice hard for that. So, maybe the week after next. Sorry xP Reviews = motivation!

~Stunningfire