Chapter 11- Fang P.O.V.
I locked my car and walked into school, finding the halls to be totally empty.
Strange, I thought to myself. There was ten minutes until class started, people were usually everywhere. I walked towards my locker, and a muted roar sounded from the end of the hallway. I shoved my backpack into my locker and speed walked towards the noise, which grew in volume as I turned a corner, pretty much the entire student body had formed a mosh pit around whoever was inside. I spotted Dylan at the edge of the crowd looking bored and went up to him.
"Do you know who it is?" I shouted over the noise, feeling a little nervous, I was never really one for fights. Dylan looked up, his eyes now excited, matching the energy of the air with the crowd.
"Dude, Maya punched her sister! She's getting whooped!" He shouted, tucking his phone into his pocket. My eyes flew open. Max was fighting Maya? Nobody ever messed with Maya because she never lost a fight, and quiet Max hardly stood a chance. I began to shove through the crowd, seeing Maya kick Max in the side of the face, and kick her again before Max rolled away and leaped back up on her feet and swing hard through Mayas nose, sending her back into the crowd, who pushed her back. I pushed people out of my way, Just to hear a shriek and Max leap towards Maya, slamming her into the ground headfirst and start landing hard, steady punches on her sisters face while Maya tried to push her off. I burst through the crowd as Mayas head whipped to the side and send out a spray of blood. I wrapped my arms around Maxs waist and yank her hard away from Maya.
Teachers began to yell and direct yammering students away from the scene. Max struggled to get away from me, kicking her heels against my knees and pulling at my fingers.
"Let me go! I'll kill her! I'LL KILL YOU!" Max leaned forward and screamed at Maya, who was now sobbing hysterically as Lissa, Brigid and Ella helped her up off the ground. Gently, I let her put her feet on the ground, but she tried to rip away from my arms, but I just tightened my hold on her, but holding onto a livid Max was like holding onto half frozen jello.
I turned her in my arms, and crushed her to my chest, stroking her golden blonde hair with my left hand.
"Shh, Max. Its okay." She seemed to stiffen, before wrapping her arms back around me, almost seeming to melt into my body, and I had to hold back a shiver. She buried her face into my shoulder, still holding strong, but her hands on my back were trembling.
"Are you okay?" I asked, trying to be gentle, and she nodded into my shoulder and let out a strangled cry, her whole body starting to tremble as her arms tightened around me. I looked up from under my hair, my eyes locking onto Mayas, who was watching us with a stony glare. I glared back, and hers faltered as her friends had to hold her back as she tried to walk towards me. She watched over her shoulder as she walked away towards the nurses office, as I moved my arms higher on Max's back to hold her closer.
"Hey, Its okay. You're okay." I murmured to her softly again, and she broke down, crying softly into my shoulder, I took in a deep inhale of the scent of her hair, and released her, but her arms remained locked around my waist. I scooped her up bridal style, like I had seen in all the corny romance movies, and her arms moved to wrap round my Neck, her face buried in the crook between my neck and shoulder. Nudge sprinted up to me, looking horrified with Iggy hot on Nudges tail.
"Max! Oh my god! Is she okay!" Nudge asked loudly, and Max just continued to cry into my shoulder as I started to the nurses office.
"What happened? We were late and I just heard the news from Ella who texted me and Julia said that Max totally kicked butt and like nobody expected that because Max usually doesn't even stand up for herself! And that Maya, ugh I think I just might put Nair in her deep conditioner if I ever go to Max's house so she would be bald! That would be so embarrassing..." She rambled on the whole way to the nurse's office, and I chose to just tune her out. I turned sideways and stepped into the office, seeing Maya sitting alone in a chair off to the side, looking up at me as I sat down on the couch, still holding Max.
I ripped my eyes away from her, and focused on unwrapping Max's arms from my neck and sitting her next to me on the ugly, orange couch. She was quiet now, her crying subsided and she slumped back into my chest again, and I wrapped my arm back over her shoulders, Maya stiffening out of the corner of my eye.
"Ahh, The other Martinez sister." The nurse said, trying to sound positive as she stood up from where Maya was sitting, her whole body turned towards me. The nurse kneeled in front of Max, and I drew away from her, Instantly missing the warm buzz I got just from touching her. The nurse wiped around Maxs face and her bleeding lip.
Maya caught my eye again, and she motioned towards Max with an venomous look on her face. I folded my arms over my chest and leaned back on the couch, refusing to give her any answers. She wanted to know if I was with Max, which I wasn't, but I no doubt wanted to be.
But, no matter how mean Maya was, I couldn't help but feel bad for her. She was all alone in the nurses office after losing a fight she had started. Her friends didn't stick with her, while lonely Max came with two friends, and...I wasn't sure what she considered me. That, and she had her right eye swollen shut, a nasty split lip, and her nose was slightly crooked and a nasty bruise beginning to bloom over her face.
"You don't look so bad. You can go." The nurse told Max, who sniffed a little, And I stood quickly, using this situation to my advantage to show Max that I was actually a pretty nice guy. To my surprise, she took it and stood next to me, wrapping her right arm around my waist, and I responded by wrapping my left arm over her arm. I felt my stomach sink a little, she was practically clinging onto me, begging for comfort. And I had absolutely no resentment to giving it to her.
"Are you okay, Max?" Nudge asked, once outside the nurses office, her usually bright eyes worried. Max didn't say anything, but just nodded, and Nudge bear hugged Max hard, and she returned the hug solemnly. Iggy gave me a purposeful look, and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and I felt my face start to burn. But he was right, this was my chance to try and make up for how big of an asshole I was too her.
"I'm going to take her home." I told Nudge and Iggy, and took her hand in mine, tugging on her arm a little, and she followed me like a zombie out past the office without checking out and led her out to my car in the parking lot. She wiped furiously at the tears still flowing freely from her eyes, and I squeezed her hand to get her attention, and gave her a smile, which to my delight she returned shyly, but her eyes didn't smile, they were dead.
I unlocked my car, and opened the passenger door for her, and she warily climbed in, letting me close the door for her. I walked around to the other side of the car, getting in and firing up the smooth ignition. I looked over at Max, who had her head leaned up against the window with her eyes closed, tears still leaking from her eyes down her blotchy cheeks.
I backed out of my parking spot, and drove out of the driveway. I sat my phone in a cup holder, and plugged it into my car sound system, thoughtfully scrolling through my music until I found something...fitting.
I chose "Have faith in me" by A Day To Remember, and Max opened her eyes and shot me an incredulous look out of the corner of my eye, before she sighed and slumped back against the window. Instead of turning left to go towards Maxs house, I went straight, driving her towards my house. Her breathing evened out, her usually tense shoulders relaxing visibly and her tears stopping. Either she was a great actress, or she was really emotionally exhausted.
I pulled into my driveway, cutting the engine, satisfied to not see my parents cars in the driveway. Max wasn't like any of the other girls I had brought home, she was for one quiet, preferred souvenir sweatshirts, and never wore makeup. Max didn't stir as I got out of the car and walked around to her side, carefully opening her door and slipping my arm under her shoulders so her limp body wouldn't fall out of the car. She shook and woke up instantly, her eyes groggy and she cringed and rubbed her eyes.
"Nick?" She groaned as I scooped her up and carried her towards the front door, kicking the passenger side car door close. My parents were both lawyers, allowing us to live in an unnecessarily huge house in one of those neighborhoods complete with a tennis club and bratty kids with iphones.
"Yeah?" She looked around, her eyebrows furrowing.
"Where are me?" She asked, squirming out of my arms to stand with her hands stuffed in her sweatshirt pocket, but holding icy eye contact. I unlocked the front door, and looked back at Max.
"My house, babes." I told her, suddenly regretting the cocky smirk in my voice, and watched as her eyes went hollow again.
"Sorry." I mumbled, opening the door and walking inside, kicking off my shoes and dumping my backpack off in the small hallway. My dog, Total, trotted up to me in the hallway, his short, black tail wagging.
"Hi buddy." I whispered to the small dog, patting his side. My parents had gotten me Total for my sixth birthday a long time ago, to keep me company while they went on nice vacations and business trips without me. The little black scottie was getting a little old now, and had a few grey hairs growing around his snout, and hadn't had a haircut in a while so he was really scruffy, but I loved him, as cheesy as that sounds.
As soon as Max had her shoes off, she spotted Total and slid down on the floor, cross legged and patting the ground in front of her, her previously cold eyes warming a little bit as Total turned to look at her and waddled over to visit. Most of the friends and girls I brought home didn't care to look at my little dog, or whined about how his hair would get all over their clothes. Max scooped up Total, looking up at me from where she was sitting on the floor, rubbing behind a delighted Totals ears.
"You hungry?" I asked, awkwardly, fiddling with the sleeves of my leather jacket. She nodded, struggling to her feet with Total still secure in her arms. She follows me into the kitchen, looking around with wide eyes. My house was modern and cold feeling, all tile, metal, and glass, no decorations or pictures of the people who lived here, and the only carpeting in the whole house in my room.
"You're house is cool." She told me, taking a seat at a tall barstool at the center island, with Total sitting on her lap with his paws on the countertop. I nodded and went to the fridge, grabbing cheese and tortillas.
"Its pretty empty though. Do you like chicken?" I asked her, and she nodded vigorously. I put a pan on the stove, starting to get quesadillas ready.
"So...why are we here? You're going to miss school." She asked, her brows furrowing, and I noted how cute she looked when she did that. I shuffled around a little bit, focusing of buttering the tortillas.
"Just wasn't thinking about it I guess." I mumbled, and her forehead smoothed out, and she went back to rubbing Totals ears. As the Tortillas sizzled in the pan, Max looked back up at me, her eyes blank.
"Aren't you going to interrogate me about what happened?" She asked, and I looked up at her, her face looking a little malicious, an expression I wasn't used to seeing on her. I sprinkled cheese and pieces of white chicken on the tortillas and folded them into halves and flipped them when the cheese melted.
"Not unless you want to tell." I said carefully, not wanting to upset her. With a pang, I realized how I had changed, I used to try and upset her just so that she would show a little emotion, now I was afraid of it. She sighed and leaned back in the chair, Total trying to climb on the counter to get at the food, but max held him back.
"Why did you come to my house asking for me? It made Maya really upset." She told me, and I froze. I had hoped that her mom wouldn't tell her that I had gone to their house. It was a spur of the moment thing, I had wanted to be with max like Maya wanted to be with me. whatever she was hiding away from the world, I wanted so bad to be the one that she could trust with that secret, even though I was the last person on the planet to deserve it.
"I just wanted to know if you had the english homework." I quickly lied smoothly, and she cocked an eyebrow at me, clearly skeptical. I flipped the two quesadillas out of the pan and onto a plate for Max, cutting them into eight sections, and pouring a little salsa into a tiny dipping bowl for her and slid it across the counter to her, wisps of steam still floating up from the warm food. She set Total on the ground, and without hesitation, took a bite of the quesadilla. Her eyes widened a fraction of an inch, and her chewing paused.
I dropped another buttered tortilla into the pan and Max started to re-dip the bitten end of the quesadilla back into the salsa and biting back into it, her eyelids drooping a little.
"Is it okay?" I asked cautiously, and her eyes flew open and she nodded to me, talking out of the side of her full mouth.
"Keep 'em coming Nick." She told me, and I chucked, pointing the spatula at her.
"Call me Fang." She gave me a curious glance up from her food.
"Why?" She asked, swallowing and getting up to get two sodas from the fridge and popping the top of one of them. I shrugged as she slid back into her seat, taking a swig of her soda.
"My babysitter used to call me that." I told her, folding and flipping another set of quesadillas.
"Why?" She asked again, and I cracked a smile at her antics.
"Because I would bite when I got angry." I told her, and she spurted a laugh, having to cover her mouth with her hand because she had too much food in her mouth. She quickly finished chewing and swallowed her food,
"I guess you look like you have fangs too." She said nonchalantly, stirring her second to last peice of quesadilla in her salsa.
"Your canines look like wolf teeth." She said with a cautious smile, before she bit into her last piece of Quesadilla, and pushing her plate towards me across the counter.
"More?" She asked, laying her arms down on the counter and laying her chin on top of them, giving me a sheepish smile, looking at me up through her eyelashes, just like she always did in the hallway. My heart picked up a few paces, and I wrinkled my nose at her.
"You get the next few. I get to eat too." She stuck out her lower lip at me, before closing her eyes and waiting patiently. I took out the two quesadillas and started on Max's next few. Total flopped down on my sock feet, letting out a warm huff of air on my ankle. I cooked in silence, and Max just closed her eyes and sighed, her eyebrows going back into their seemingly permanent furrow. I scooped out the last quesadilla and immediately putting another sizzling tortilla into the pan, and her eyes sprung wide open again. I took a bite and prepared her last quesadilla, sliding it back to her across the counter, and she immediately went to work, practically inhaling the last of it.
She slid her plate back, and laid her head back down on the counter. I chewed slowly, taking a few sips of my soda, and watching her shoulders slightly rise and fall, her breathing slowing down and becoming deeper. God, this girl could seriously sleep anywhere. I took a swig of my soda and finished off the last of my quesadilla. I pushed my plate away and went over to where Max was slumped over on the counter. I hooked my elbow under her legs and pulled her up out of the chair, her body feeling featherlight in my arms.
She jerked awake, jumping so suddenly I almost dropped her. She sighed and settled tensely back into my arms.
"Fuck. I forgot I was here." She groaned, fidgeting and snuggling deeper into my chest. She took a fistfull of my black Chiodos tee-shirt, gripping it tight and closing her eyes again. My heartbeat picked up again, but I shook it off and climbed the stairs, pushing open the door to my bedroom with my my toe and walking sideways through the threshold, carefully laying max down on my bed, un-twining her fingers from my tee-shirt and brushing a strand of her honey colored hair out of her face. I took the knot blanket stretched out across the foot of the bed and laid it over her, taking a glance at her before stripping out of my leather jacket and leaving the room.
I padded quietly down the stairs, and back into the kitchen to clean up my mess. I had dishes in the sink leftover my my dinner last night and my breakfast, and the kitchen was due to be cleaned. I stretched, glad to be free of my jacket. I loaded the dishwasher with all my old dishes, and got to work washing the pot I used for pasta last night and the pan. Total played around on the floor with a stuffed soccer ball, sliding around on the grey tile. I dried them and put them away, and then moved into cleaning my already clean house. I swept, wiped down counters, and even contemplated giving Total a bath in the kitchen sink.
I flopped down on the white, stainless living room couch, turning on my xbox and flipping through my netflix account. Resuming my last episode of how I met your mother, I glanced up the stairs, still in a daze. Max was sleeping in MY house!