Chapter 22
Dylan has been staring holes into the side of Max's head all french class, and she looks up to give him her best bored glare. Next to her, Ella writes down notes at the speed of light and the teacher's constant french starts to sound like the buzz of a fly. Her phone buzzes in her pocket, and she slides it out onto the desk. Her brow draws when she reads the unrecognised number.
Hey
Max unlocks her phone and taps back a response.
Sorry, you have the wrong number
She sets her phone down and goes back to her notes, but it buzzes again immediately.
No I don't, look up.
Max jerks her head up, and Dylan has his phone in one hand across the room, and his eyes flick up to hers and back down again. She barely keeps down a strangled 'eep'.
How did you get my number?
She saves the number as 'that one'.
Not important. Where have you been?
Dylan hits send and watches Max as she turns her phone over and types a reply. He got her number from Nudge, who gave him a knowing smirk and a haughty 'good luck'.
The usual drowning in fear of impending death.
She replies, and for some reason, Dylan cracks a smile. If it was any other girl saying this, he might wonder what she was talking about, but he expected this from Max. Max on the other hand, was starting to lose feeling in her fingers and her nose.
Want to drown with me later?
He types quickly, and hits send just as the teacher turns and walks down the aisle of desks in front of Max, who slides her phone back into her pocket, and doesn't hear it buzz. Dylan leans his chin on his hand and waits for her to check it, but she never does, even as she's leaving the room with Ella in tow. Max walks fast, trying to lose Ella in the sea of students heading for the lunchroom.
"Max!" Angel comes from her classroom and latches onto Max's arm, and she flinches but settles when she sees the smaller girl.
"Oh, hi. Why are you holding onto me." Max grumbles, and Angel tugs her to the other side of the hall to avoid where Lissa and Maya are surrounded by a wall of people.
"Because I heard about this morning and I want to hug you." Angel deadpans, and Max smiles a little, opening her locker and throwing her backpack in.
"Thanks Angel, but I'm okay. Iggy was probably more shaken than me." She mutters, remembering the burned spot on the back of her head and runs her fingers over it without thinking. Her fingers are numb and she can feel herself getting warmer. She should take her medicine.
"Probably. He's always like that." Angel rolls her eyes and Ella catches up to them again, a girl Max doesn't know has her arm linked with Ella. The uneasy stirring in Max's stomach is making her nauseous, and she barely makes it through the lunch line without throwing up. She sits next to Iggy at the lunch table, noting his tight expression.
"Where's Fang?" She asks, and Iggy's expression softens. Ella sits on the other side of him with her friend, and Iggy leans closer to Max.
"Don't freak out." He says softly, and of course, she starts to freak out.
"What? Where is he?" She asks, her hands going numb and her stomach churns. Iggy holds her wrist and motions to her food.
"Calm. Try eating." He says, and Max shovels a spoonful of green beans into her mouth and stares at him. She doesn't chew or move, she just watches him intently.
"He found Maya, and she went to the office. He's suspended for a while, but they're okay." he says, looking worried, and Max scrambles up out of her seat. She's jerked back by Iggy, his hand still tight around her wrist.
"Max, he's okay!" He half-shouts, and the lunchroom hushes, watching. She pries his fingers away from her arm and runs. She passes tables and skids around a kid with a full tray, who yelps but holds onto their food. She's out the double doors and halfway down the hall when Dylan rounds a corner with a group of his friends, and she collides with one of them, sending him sprawling.
"Hey! Where are you going so fast?" One of them shouts, and Max scrambles up.
"Sorry." She mutters, and she runs past Dylan, not sparing him a glance, and he watches silently as she breaks through the doors outside, not bothering to go back for her backpack. She keeps running, out of the parking lot and down the street. She's at an intersection, when she pauses to catch her breath, and realizes she has no idea where Fang lives. her phone buzzes in her pocket, and she pulls it out, ignoring the messages on the the screen and calling Fang.
"Hello?" He picks up on the third ring, sounding tired in a quiet place.
"Fang. It's Max." She says, her voice sounds strained, and she's breathing hard.
"Are you okay?" He asks, and she gathers her breath.
"Yeah. What's your home address?" She asks, and there's a pause on the other end of the line.
"500 Terry Francois street. But what's going..." She end the call and is running again. She knows where that street is, it's not far from where she already is. She doesn't know how long she's running for, but somewhere along the way she lost the numbness in her fingers and toes and her churning stomach settled. She sees Fangs house and jogs up the steps, hesitating before she knocks on the door. His car is in the driveway, and the shades are all drawn, but theres movement behind them, and somewhere in the house a dog barks. She hears feet across the floor, and the front door is yanked open, and Fang is there with a scowl on his face.
"Max?" Her name is a question and his scowl is replaced by blank uncertainty. For a while, they just watch each other, and Max's knees slowly turn into jello.
"What happened?" She asks, and he seems to draw away from her. He lowers his chin, and crosses his arms, glaring down at her through slitted eyes.
"Nothing." He mutters, and she has her hands on her hips. She moves past him into his house and kicks off her shoes, and he turns to watch her, but he doesn't take his hand off the handle of the open door.
"Iggy told me you got suspended." He slams the door and grinds his teeth together. Leave it to Iggy to tell her things she doesn't need to know. He doesn't want her to worry about anything, especially him.
"Yeah, it's not your business." He snaps, and Max glares back. At the beginning of the year, she would have flinched and cowered, but she's starting to understand Fangs motives.
"Don't you shut me out." She says, uncrossing her arms and taking a step towards him. His glare darkens when she gets closer, and she relaxes her shoulders. 'Don't threaten him', She reminds herself, and she takes a deep breath, her heart feeling squeezed and swollen.
"Max..."
"If it's because of me, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad." She says quickly, and he unfolds his arms and steps towards her. She steps back, and he takes another step, until she's walking backwards and he's stalking towards her, looking every bit like the bully.
"It is because of you." He growls, his hands in fists and his expression unreadable. Max has a lump in her throat and her back hits a wall. She should have stayed at school, he's probably beat her to pulp and leave her to die in his big empty house.
"I'm sorry." Her voice is strangled, and softly, he puts his hands at either side of her head, and leans in, his face half a foot from hers. Her eyes are the size of the moon and his pupils flare.
"It's your fault you drive me insane." He whispers, and she inhales sharply, her insides squeezing. Voices at the back of her head want her to push him away, to run out the front door, but she can't pull her back away from the wall, and she can't look away from his eyes. That drunk confession is lingering at the back of her mind.
"I'm sorry." She whispers back, and he laughs, a white smile replacing his predatory glare.
"Stop saying that." He says, and she cautiously reaches out and takes hold of the side of his shirt. 'Short sleeves', she thinks, and she remembers those scars and his drunk confession again. She wants to look to the side and see those mottled wrists to make sure they're still there, but she knows they will be.
"Okay." She wants him to kiss her. She wants him to hug her again like he did this morning, she wants to be able to hide under his shadow and let him keep her safe. Fangs eyes are a fraction of a centimeter wider from her tug on his shirt, and he balls one hand into a fist and squeezes.
"Max?" He asks, his eyes traveling down to her lips.
"Yeah?" She asks, and bites down on her bottom lip and pushes herself up on her fingertips, wanting to be closer, even if it's just a tiny bit.
Fang doesn't ask his question, he just closes the gap between them. His breath is on her lips, and she tips her chin up to meet him halfway. He lingers before he pulls away, but Max yanks him back by the hem of his shirt, and his eyes are wide.