Chapter 5- MAX
I threw my blankets out between Angel and Iggy on the floor. We were at Nudges house, getting ready for a comedy marathon, waiting for the rest of our group to show up.
When my mom had found out I was invited to a sleepover at a friends house, she went mute for a few minutes, before being super happy and hugging me. Maya just rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath.
"I'm going to Lissa's for a party then, too." My mom looked disapproving, and the smile faded from her face.
"I'll have to check what you wear before you go and you need to be home before curfew." My mom told her firmly, but she had just rolled her eyes and went back to picking at her lasagna.
Nudge ran screaming into the room.
"Angel! Lets do Max's hair!" Angel nodded, her fluffy blonde waves flying around her face.
"But its a sleepover, no one will care about my hair." I said, I wasn't wearing my hood up, but I did have a white beanie on the back of my head, my hair falling out around my shoulders.
"Exactly! No one will care!" Nudge said as she pushed me towards the stairs. Iggy sent me a sorry glance from where we was lying on the couch watching T.V. before Gazzy showed up and the pizzas came. Nudge pushed me into her room, with purple walls and purple and gold bedding, a small balcony and a huge makeup/desk/ mirror thingy, Her room was undeniably Nudge. I went and sat down in the still thing in front of the mirror, and looked up at my reflection. I didn't think I was that ugly, but I had been told so many times that I was, so I had covered up all the mirrors in my room with jackets, so I wouldn't see my own reflection.
Nudge turned on a curling iron and swept bottles of nail polish and makeup away from the front of the desk thing.
"Can I put some mascara on you?" Nudge asked, and I gave her a small smile.
"Sure." Nudge squealed and sorted through the makeup scattered all over. I didn't mind being made up, but that was too a point. I think I only like it because I never had anyone to fawn over me before. She swiped a thin layer of brown mascara over my top lashes, emphasizing my brown eyes and making them shine. I watched Nudge as she wrapped pieces of my long hair around the barrel of the of the iron and dropped the shiny, curly pieces of hair. My hair now fell down to below my chest in messy brown and honey colored curls. I watched my reflection carefully, hardly believing that the girl in the mirror could look so pretty with just a tiny bit of makeup and her hair done.
"Now lets change your outfit!" Nudge squealed, and I snapped out of my trance.
"uhh, no." I responded blandly, and Nudge huffed, going to her closet, clearly not taking no as an answer.
"I think either forrest green or red, you wear too much grey and black." My eyes flew open, I was not about to change in front of Nudge, let alone lose my hoodie for a possible v-neck or short sleeve.
"Please, Nudge." I begged, but she ignored me and tossed a dark red, you guessed it, v-neck out of the closet, where it lay, a sad, crumpled mess on the floor.
"Just try it Max." Nudge responded, crossing her arms over her chest and looked at me with an evil glint in her eyes.
"But I'm wearing a sports bra." I responded desperately, and her eyes flew open.
"Oh my gosh! Why didn't you say so sooner!" She yelled and dove back into her closet, and I slumped back against the desk, relieved. She reappeared in a few seconds with a dark green shirt in her fist above her head. I stiffened, but relaxed when I saw the long sleeves dangling down by her face.
"I found something! Its sooooo you!" Nudge said, and tossed it to me. It was soft and thin, the sleeves a darker forest green than the body panel, and a small triangle in the middle of the collar the same dark green as the sleeves.
I shrugged and Nudge grinned and covered her eyes with her hands and turned around to face her closet so I could change. I pulled off my hoodie and pulled the green shirt over my head. It was long enough to bunch up on my wrists and the hem of it t on my hips, but was still loose enough to be comfortable.
"I like it." I said, and Nudge whipped around, and bounced around a little more.
"You look, like, nutso good Max!" She yelled and steered me by the shoulders to a full length mirror hanging off the back of her door. I looked at my reflection, not quite sure how I felt about the made up Max. The shirt made me look less frumpy and more girly in a reserved way, the color of it going well with my dark blue skinny jeans. I looked down at my toes, my big-bang socks the only thing that still felt familiar about me.
Iggy burst into Nudges room, and he looked at me for a second before talking calmly to Nudge.
"There is a stranger in your room." He remarked, before smiling playfully at me, and I looked back down at my socks, feeling a little embarrassed. I only had a second before I was snatched up off my feet by Iggy and thrown over his shoulder and he ran down the steps.
"Iggy!" I yelled, grabbing fistfuls of the back of his shirt as his bony shoulder dug into my stomach. He ran into the family room and dumped me down on the couch, next to Angel, who studies me with wide eyes.
"Nudge did good." She said with a smile, and I huffed. Her laughed a little and grabbed a bowl of potato chips from the center of the coffee table and pushed two into her mouth.
The doorbell rang and Nudge slid down the stairs, and Iggy slid across the hardwood floor in his white socks, almost face-planting. He yanked open the door, and I got a smile ready to greet Gazzy.
But that sure as hell wasn't Gazzy.
Nick Ride stood at the other side of the door, in all his dark glory, smiling back at Iggy who had just opened the door. They greeted each other and Iggy let him in, while I turned, trying to hide my face, and hissed to Angel.
"Why is he here?" I asked, and she looked at me, her huge blue eyes confused.
"Iggy invited him, they're friends." She said, pushing a few more chips into her mouth.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't know it was a big deal!" she said, holding up her hands in surrender, and I groaned. Nudge bounded down the stairs and shouted my name at the top of her lungs.
"MAX!" I whipped around to look at her, and I saw Nicks eyes turn to me out of the corner of my eye.
"Max is here?" Nick asked Iggy, and Iggy nodded and jerked his head over to where I was sitting on the couch next to Angel. I started to panic, this was supposed to be my first sleepover with my first friends, definitely not with Nick.
I got up off the couch and walked towards Nudge, who grabbed my arm and towed me towards the kitchen. Nick moved towards me,
"Hey Maxie." He stood in front of me, but I plowed through him and refused to make eye contact, hurrying after Nudge, who stood watching me with wide eyes as I grabbed her wrist and dragged her into the kitchen.
"Uhh, dude! You just totally dissed Nick freaking Ride! He's like the hottest guy in the school!" I rolled my eyes.
"More like biggest douche in the school." Nudge looked at me in confusion, before smoothing out her expression and grabbing two frozen pizzas from the freezer.
"Lets talk later, okay?" She said, and I sighed. Nudge, despite being a total chatterbox and massive fashionista, was a great friend. I nodded and boosted myself up to sit on the counter while Nudge peeled the plastic off the pizzas and slid them into the oven.
"Now, let the great movie-ing begin!" She shouted, and ran through the kitchen threshold and into the family room, launching herself into the couch next to Angel. I cracked a small smile before taking in a nervous breath and walking back into the family room. Nicks eyes watched me from the minute I turned around to kitchen threshold and kept on me as I went and sat next to Iggy on the floor in front of the T.V.. Gazzy had shown up while Nudge and I were in the kitchen and was now talking with Angel up on the couch behind me. My eyes flicked up to see Nicks trained on me, his arms crossed over his chest and eyes narrowed. I flicked my eyes back down as soon as Mine met his, and I forced away a blush that was rising in my cheeks. I didn't want him to look at me, I didn't even want him to be here. I scooted closer to Iggy, who fake yawned and stretched and plopped his arm down around my shoulders.
"Wow Iggy, so NOT fake." Angel laughed, and Iggy put his other hand over his heart, as if her words had stung him.
"Just because you are jealous of my love for the lovely Max does not give you the right to be a burden on our relationship," He howled dramatically, and I shook in laughter and dropped my head onto my knees. Nudge crawled forward from the couch to turn on the first movie. I tried to watch, but Nick watching me the entire movie made me feel like a mouse under a cats claw.
When the oven beeped in the Kitchen, and Nudge groaned and started to get up, but I leaped up and stepped in front of her.
"I can get it." I said, a little too quickly.
"Are you sure?" Nudge asked, looking at me skeptically with one eyebrow raised. I nodded and walked fast into the kitchen. Poking the cancel button on the oven, I propped up my elbows on the counter and leaned my head into my hands. Why did this have to be so stressful? Shouldn't Nick have been at that party my sister mentioned yesterday? He should have been there instead of hanging out with who my sister dubbed as losers. I stood up straight and stretched my back, tossing my now curly hair over my shoulders and bent over to pull the pizza out of the oven. I turned to put it down on the counter, but came face to face with Nick.
I jumped, almost dropping the hot stone with the pizza. I sighed and dropped my head for a second before stepping around him to put the pizza down. I went back to the oven to get the other pizza when he spoke up.
"Why don't you talk to me?" He asked me, almost innocently. That is if I didn't already have a good idea of what he was trying to pull. I shot him a wary look over my shoulder as I stood up with the other pizza.
"Because I have nothing to say to you." His face went blank, and I put down the two pizzas down next to each other on the counter.
"What if I want to talk to you." I spurted a little laugh, and looked at him humorously. What could he possibly have to say to me. He made my first two years of high school hell, I hid from everyone because of him and all his jock friends.
"Piss off, Nick." I told him, and his eyes narrowed again. I got out the pizza cutter from a drawer next to the oven, and for a millisecond thought about throwing it at his face.
"What if I don't want to?" He asked, his arms folded over his chest, his leather jacket bunching up at the shoulders. I stood next to him again and began to cut the first pizza into sections. I froze, and slammed the pizza cutter down.
"Can you just leave me alone? I'm not any different than I was two weeks ago, so just leave me alone." I told him, shooting him my best glare, and he looked a little hurt, before his jaw clenched and his hands balled up into fists. I took a step away from him, but kept one eye on him.
"You are different, Aren't you?"
"No I'm not."
"What's with the hair then?"
"So what? I have hair. Did you think I was bald or something..."
"No. You know you don't have to be so hard to talk to." He said, and I just stopped and turned to him.
"Are you serious?" I asked him, eyes wide, mouth slightly open. Was he honestly saying I was hard to talk to? I had barely said more than a few sentences to him before and now it was like he wanted to be my friend. I took a step closer to him, putting on a small smile on my face. Something flashed through his eyes, but I was too busy trying not to breath in whatever idiot disease he was probably crawling with.
"You made my life hell for two years. I'm nothing because of you. What makes you think I would want anything to do with you now?" I said, my face dangerously close to his. I felt powerful and cruel, It was exhilarating to say the least.
"I didn't..." He started, but I slapped a hand over his mouth. Just glaring at him, straight in the eyes for a few seconds.
"You hurt me Nick. You hurt me so bad." I said, peeling my hand away from his mouth and turning to plop two pieces of pepperoni pizza onto a white, square plate. I didn't even to look back at him as I went back to my spot next to Iggy leaning against the couch as Zach Galifianakis played across the huge T.V..
"Does the volume have to be so loud?" I shouted to Iggy, who choked on laughter next to me. He nodded, before scrambling up and running to the kitchen, pushing Gazzy away as they slid on the smooth wood floor.
Angel slid down off the couch to sit next to me, picking up one of my pieces of pizza and taking a bite out of the side of it.
"What did he say to you?" She asked, her huge blue eyes mischievous. I sighed and took a bite of my pizza, turning all my focus to the T.V. and watching intently, but Angel kept poking me in the side.
"Did he ask you out!" My half chewed pizza was pulled harshly to the back of my throat when I took in a sharp breath. I started to choke, coughing and hunching forward. Nudge screamed and crawled across the couch to hit me hard between the shoulder blades with the heel of her hand a few times. I coughed a few more times before the food scraped down my throat and Iggy calmly walked back into the room.
"Is Max dying already?" I rolled my eyes, and he just grinned at me before coming to sit down next to me, five pieces of pepperoni pizza stacked on his plate. I shot a pointed look at Angel.
"No, no way in hell." Iggy just shook his head and muttered,
"Girls..." Under his breath. Gazzy and Nick walked back into the room, And Gazzy chucked a diet coke at Nudge, who squealed as it hit her in the stomach. Nick passed in front of me and Iggy, silently taking a seat in an overstuffed cream colored chair, taking a huge bit out of his first piece of pizza, his eyes trained on the T.V.. The muscles in his jaw moved with every chew, the corners of his mouth twitching up in a smile every time something funny happened on the screen.
I realized I was staring and quickly looked away. I made myself busy by stuffing pizza into my mouth. He was such an asshole, but if only people looked on the outside as they were on the inside.
"Truth or dare!" Nudge shouted, and I groaned, resting the back of my head on the couch. I had read and seen movies where that game was played, and it almost never ended well. Iggy just grinned his stupid grin at me, and Nudge hugged my shoulders from where she was sitting on the couch behind me.
"Its either Truth or dare or spin the bottle Maxie." My eyes flew open. That game ended even worse than truth or dare, and Nick was here, and any chance of having to kiss that creep needed to be no chance.
"Fine!" I shouted over her pleas, and everyone else in the group looked pleased. Even Nick looked at me with a devious smirk. Nudge bounced on the couch and pointed at Angel.
"You first!" She yelled, and Iggy pushed her over.
"Not so loud, I like when my ears don't bleed!" Nudge huffed and sat up, and Angel scanned the group of us. Her eyes settled on her twin brother, and his eyes seemed to widen in horror.
"Truth or dare, Gazzy." Angel, despite her name and looking like a complete angel, had a devilish little mind. Not to mention she was practically a mastermind, so Gazzy had a right to be scared.
"Uhh...truth." He choked out and Angel rolled her eyes.
"Gaz, i'm not going to start this off with a really horrifying question." He seemed to relax a little, but not much.
"What's the stupidest thing you have ever done?" Angel asked, and Nudge groaned.
"Angel that's a stupid question!" ANgel just leaned forward, her head in her hands, her elbows on her crossed knees. Gazzy looked excited to answer, and shot out his answer almost as fast as Nudge.
"Once I ate four bean burritos before a three hour flight to michigan." I shuttered at the thought of being trapped in a small plane with Gazzy, let alone after he had mexican food. Nudge pretended to gag and Iggy buried his head in his hands, while Gazzy just smiled, looking satisfied with himself. I wrinkled my nose.
"Thats really gross." Gazzy just smiled at me, before Angel chucked a couch cushion at him, hitting him square in the face. Nick looked confused, but didn't ask any questions. I think he got the jist of the problem.
"My turn." Gazzy yelled, and pointed a finger at Iggy. Gazzy pretends to shot Iggy with his finger and Iggy holds a hand to his chest, pulling an overdone expression of horror.
"Oh! The agony!" Iggy cried, and I snickered net to him, holding the back of my hand over my mouth. Nicks eyes flicked back to me, and My smile instantly dropped, and I shrunk back and leaned a little closer to Iggy.
"You have to call Lissa on speakerphone and tell her you love her." Iggy glared at him. Nudge put a hand over her mouth and snickered a little. We all knew how that would end, Lissa would cling onto Iggy like there was no tomorrow and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
"Challenge accepted." Iggy told Gazzy, pulling his phone out of his back pocket, But paused, before leaning closer to me.
"Do you have her number?" For a second I panicked, but brushed it off quickly. I yanked out my Iphone, and pointed out her enormous number at the top of the text screen. He nodded and quickly entered it into his phone, putting it on speaker and setting it down on the glass coffee table. It rings a few times before Lissa picks up.
"Hello this Is Lissa!" She hollers into the phone. The sound of loud music and people yelling and talking in the background. Iggy takes a deep breath, before screaming in a girly high pitched voice.
"Oh my god Lissa Fitch! I love you so much!" He screams again. And her nasally scream joins his.
"Like, Wow! I totally love you too whoever you are. Do you go to my school? We could totally be friends, but only if you are hot. But only if you're not friends with this stupid Bitch named Max who me and my friends beat up on. Shes like so ugly and stuff..." She continued, but Iggy hit the end call button, and all the eyes in the room slowly turned to me. I looked down at my hands half covered with my sleeves, not wanting to look at any of them in the eyes. They would probably ignore me too, just like the other kids at school. What was I even thinking? That someone, let alone a bunch of people could accept me, a loser, freak, nerd. I dropped my head as tears welled up in my eyes. I was tired of being all alone, I wanted friends too. I never hurt anyone, I couldn't be so bad.
"Maxie?" Nudges thin arms wrapped around me, and she slid down off the couch to sit next to me. I stiffened, not expecting her to hug me, but then let the tears fall and wrapped my arms around her. Iggy, who was frozen next to me wrapped his long arms around both Nudge and me, turning me into a sad little Max sandwich. Angel and Gazzy came from across the circle and piled onto the hug pile, and Nudge sniffled a little bit.
"Is that true?" Gazzy asked, his blue eyes and blonde cowlick visible over Nudges hair. I just nodded, not wanting to start crying. Nudge sniffled again loudly and her arms tightened around me. My eyes flicked up and past Angel, to land on Nick, who was hunched over and pulling at the sleeve of his leather jacket. His eyes flicked up to ,meet mine for a millisecond before he cast them quickly down again. My brow furrowed, he looked...Guilty?
I shoved all thoughts of him out of my head and snuggled into my friends.