This chapter is long and boring yet totally necessary so just bear with me! Because this chapter is so boring and because I love you all so much, I will probably be updating again today….. Anyway, I will skip my long rambling today and just head straight into the story. REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! And tell me what you think!
KarleeRay
"Yo! Up and at' em!" I yell, walking into Fang's room with an enormous plate of breakfast. I know he hears me, but he doesn't stir. Annoyed, I walk over to his bed and lie the plate down on the night stand. "Doctor called. My results are back," I tell him, knowing that this will be enough to get him up. Sure enough his head jerks up. I shrug. "You coming or not?"
He rolls his eyes. "Coming."
I nod, my eyes trailing over his bare chest while last night's events come rushing back to me. A smile reaches my lips. "That's for you." I point to the breakfast tray I brought in. "We're leaving in thirty." I stand to leave, knowing that he's still naked under the covers and not wanting to be around to react to that sight. He catches my hand though and I swear, that boy grinned. Fang does not grin. He smirks, he half smiles, and he frowns. He does not grin…. And yet here he is, grinning at me.
"Last night…" He starts.
I cut him off, smiling. "I know." Leaning down, I press a kiss to his forehead.
"How are you? Any pain?" Fang asks, suddenly concerned.
"Just a little sore. Nothing I can't handle." I flash him one last smile and then turn and walk out of his room.
"You are a very tricky case, Max," The doctor tells me while I sit on the checkup bed. Mom and Fang are leaning forward listening attentively in their waiting chairs. "We have to remember that you are enhanced and diseases that affect humans might not affect you in the same way….. That being said, this diagnosis could be wrong, but we're going to try you on treatment for something called Idiopathic Stabbing Headache. After running several tests on you while you were still unconscious, we are fairly certain that your ahh… 'voice'…. Has nothing to do with these episodes. We believe that, were you an unenhanced person, you would have a normal case of Idiopathic Stabbing Headache, but because you are enhanced, your body has enhanced this disease."
"Is there a cure?" Mom pipes up. "I mean, there has to be something we can do to keep her from that kind of pain."
"Ahhh well yes, there must be something, but we might have to try out a few things before we get the right one. You have to understand… we've never seen anything like this…. Our first treatment option is simple…. Melatonin has been known to severely calm the effects of this disease. We're going to put Max on a large amount of this and we'll have you come in for regular checkups…. In the meantime, the other doctors and I will be reviewing your case and making sure that we have diagnosed you correctly…. How does that sound?"
I shrug, secretly relieved that my "disease" isn't life threatening. My eyes meet Fang's and he gives me a reassuring glance.
The doctor hands me a piece of paper with a prescription scrawled on it, tells us a quick goodbye, and leaves the room.
Silence fills the air. "Well…. At least I'm not dying," I say, simply.
My mom balks while Fang lets out a low chuckle.
"Of course you aren't dying! What ever would give you that idea?" Mom cries, obviously upset.
"Just a joke, Mom." I hop off the checkup table and lead the way out of the room.
"Well, it wasn't very funny," Mom mutters, trailing behind me.
I have to laugh. She is so protective sometimes. "I told you I was fine! And now you know I am."
"So I'm on Melatonin for now," I tell Trent as we sit in our first period Basic Math class.
He nods, slowly. "So now you can stop giving me heart attacks with your random overdramatic death scenes?"
A laugh escapes my lips. "Can you ever be serious? You are quite the character, my friend."
"And you love me that way, don't you Maxie?"
I groan at his dumb nickname for me. I don't know if I ever told you this, but I just love Trent, love how he can lighten any room with his sense of humor. "I told you to stop calling me that."
Suddenly, his expression sobers up, a rare occasion. "You really did scare me, Max."
"I know," I murmur, giving him a soft smile.
There's a moment of silence as Trent sits with the information I gave him about my diagnosis. He joked the whole way through my explanation, but I knew that he really was relieved that it looked like I wasn't suffering from anything life threatening. Then, his expression brightens back up and he's back to being Trent. He gives me a goofy smile. "Hey do you wanna come Christmas shopping with me after school?"
Christmas shopping? Say what? Was it really December? Already? Thoughts whirl around in my head. The flock and I have never really celebrated a Christmas. We never had the luxury of exchanging gifts and eating until our stomachs were about to burst. No one ever cared enough to lie to us about some fat man who breaks into your house in the middle of the night and leaves you gifts… which I think is really weird. If I ever woke up to friggin 'Santa' breaking into my living room, I would beat the crap out of him and send him on his way. I've never been Christmas shopping either. The thought warms me. My flock would be ecstatic.
"Christmas shopping, eh?" I ask him.
He nods. "The only person I have left to buy for is my mom…. But if you need to do some shopping for your big ole family, then I'm happy to help."
I find myself, grinning, thinking of all the things I could get my flock that would make them happy. Celebrating Christmas with my family for the first time sounds amazing. "Well…. Kind of forgot about Christmas so yeah I've got some shopping to do….. What's the date?"
"December 10. You got 15 days left. You better get to trucking," He tells me.
"Yeah…. I suppose so. Um can you pick me up at my house around 5? I have to go home and get some money."
Trent grins. "Anything for you, Max."
As if on cue, we arrive home to my mom hanging up Christmas decorations all over the house. Christmas lights hang on our roof and on the fence outside and there's a bare Christmas tree sitting in our living room.
"Yeah I thought we could all decorate it together. You know because it's our first Christmas as a family?" Mom says, looking excited and hopeful. Nudge, Angel and Gazzy's faces are alight with wonder.
"Zomg! This gonna be so fun! We've never celebrated Christmas before have we Max? OMG! I have to go shopping! Wait… we are doing presents right?"
Ella laughs. "Of course we're doing presents, Nudge."
Nudge squeals, and grabs Angel's hand, pulling her upstairs. Gazzy cheers loudly. "Wooh! Christmas! Isn't this great, Max?"
I grin, leaning down to kiss him on the forehead. "It is pretty great, huh?"
He nods vigorously, making me laugh and then dashes into the kitchen.
"I'm gonna go Christmas shopping today…." I say to my mom. Fang looks at me in surprise. "I'm going with Trent. I won't be too late getting home."
"Take my credit card," Mom mutters, searching through a box of Christmas decorations. "Get as much done as you can."
I nod and then look at Iggy. "Iggy…I'm hungry."
"Oh you're Hungry? Well, I'm Iggy. Nice to meet you."
"Ugh!" I growl, marching into the kitchen. Turning back, I see Fang has followed me and I look at him hopefully.
He rolls his eyes. "Fine. What do you want?" Fang wasn't as good a cook as Iggy, but I'm not picky and I'll take what I can get.
"Something quick. Trent will be here any minute," I tell him.
As soon as Fang sets a mounded plate of nachos in front of me, the doorbell rings. "Could you get that?" I ask him, shoveling food into my mouth.
Fang returns a minute later, Trent in tow. "I would love to see you get fat, Max," Trent jokes, watching me eat like the savage that I am.
"Never gonna happen," I retort, though a mouthful of food. Trent laughs and even Fang lets out a low chuckle.
Gazzy enters the kitchen and he and Trent carry on a conversation about guns while I polish off the rest of my food. "Done!" I call, getting up and dropping my plate in the sink. Trent starts toward the door and I follow, stopping to give Fang a quick kiss on the lips. His hands linger on my hips and I push him away playfully. "I'll be back later," I chirp over my shoulder and then head outside and climb into the passenger side of Trent's truck.
We head to the mall, going into Kirkland's first to pick up Trent's gift for his mom. It's a really beautiful picture of him and his family blown up and put into an expensive, elegant frame. Then, it's just me, lugging him around from store to store, trying to find the perfect gifts for my family. Nudge is super easy and extremely expensive. I struggle with putting down that much money for something that I thought was so stupid, but I decide that, ultimately, the look on her face when she opens the gift and sees those two hundred dollar pair of Ugg boots will be priceless. Gazzy is pretty simple too. I buy him the black Nike hoodie that he begged my mom for the other day and a big case of Leggo and Bionicle. You would think that because I am shopping I would be having a horrible time, but I'm not. Trent is golden with his jokes, making me laugh constantly and he is really helpful, taking me to the appropriate stores to find the gifts I want. I'm still not very familiar with store names and what they sell. I have bigger and better things to worry about….. like my irresistible boyfriend, my family, and my two best friends, Carter and Trent. Stores don't make my list of things to remember.
Trent leads me to Toys R Us to shop for Angel and what I find there takes my breath away. On the second aisle, on the top shelf, there is a stuffed bear…. But not just any bear…. It's the exact same bear that Angel had mind controlled that woman into buying her way back when we were in New York. It is Celeste, down to the tiny angel wings stuck on its back. Memories come rushing back to me. My breath hitches in my throat as my hand closes around the bear. Celeste had meant everything to Angel, but being on the run, Celeste wasn't practical and Angel had, understandably, ended up kind of forgetting about her and losing her. She had bigger things to think about while on the run, like if we were going to eat that night or when the erasers would find us next. Now, though, things are somewhat normal and Angel could have her Celeste. The gift is absolutely perfect and holds so much sentimental value. I feel tears springing to my eyes, thinking of the way we used to live and how fast we all had had to grow up, but I quickly wipe them away.
"Hey what's wrong? It's just a bear," Trent says gently.
I smile at him. "This is not just a bear." I don't bother explaining to him why the bear is so important. I just head over to the counter and purchase it.
Deciding that I am tired of shopping, we begin to take the long walk back to where we entered the mall.
"I'm definitely happy with what I -"I break off as my eyes roam inside of a cooking ware store. It is then that I know what to get for Iggy. I buy him an extremely expensive set of cooking materials… mixing bowls, pots and pans, spatulas, and a blender. I feel slightly awful about the magnitude of money I have spent, but my mom makes a ton of money, owning one of two vet clinics, and I know she won't mind at all.
We finally make it out of the mall and I pile my gifts in the backseat of Trent's truck.
"So where to now, Princess? Home?" Trent asks, pulling out of the mall parking lot.
"I'm starving," I moan. "Let's go eat."
Trent shakes his head, chuckling. "Always hungry."