I do not own Maximum Ride! It belongs to James Patterson!

I held my stomach and gasped for air as I continued to get kicked, I felt his foot ram into my stomach again and again till he eventually stopped. "You've gotten what you've deserved, now get out of my sight before I kick you again!" My stepfather Jeb shouted. I weakly stood and walked up the stairs to my room; I got inside of my room and grabbed my journal and a pencil. I wrote about beating number 10,000 and used a lot of detail, one day that drunk bastard downstairs was going to get what was coming to him. I lifted my shirt to look at how bad the damage was, there was a clear boot print right over the bottom of my rib. I looked at the clock and saw that I had an hour to walk to school that was five miles away from my house, I grabbed my school bag and snuck downstairs. I was able to slip down the stairs and out the door, thank god Jeb gets knocked out from drinking more than forty beers a day.

I ran down the street and winced from the pain in my rib, I hated having to run to school every day, then end up being late, having to make up an excuse, then get a beating after I got home. After forty five minutes of running the school came into view, I stopped for a minute to take a breather. As I gasped for breath I saw a moving van go down the road I'd run up from, then it turned down the road that led to the neighborhood I lived in. I shook off the thought of another person living where I did, I continued to run towards the school. I heard the bell ring just as I got to the classroom door, I gasped in a breath and walked in cool and casual. I plumped over to my desk near the huge window in the classroom, I noticed a strange kid sitting at the desk next to mine. He was dressed in a black t-shirt, dark grey skinny jeans, and a pair of black convers. He had jet black hair with a chunk covering his right eye, olive tone skin, and eyes that seemed to match his hair.

I paid him no attention, I just sat in my usual seat and then remembered that the kid who had sat in that seat moved. I didn't know him, or acknowledge his existence this kid was gonna the same treatment. Homeroom started and all we really did was just conversate with each other, though I was silent I glanced outside the window and watched a few birds fly till they were out of sight. Homeroom ended almost as soon as it had begun, I grabbed my stuff and walked to my next class math. I noticed the kid that sat next to me in homeroom was following me, guess we had the next class together. As I walked into my math class I saw some petty popular girl and her gang of wannabes sitting at my desk, I walked over to them and put on a serious face(not that I already had one on.)

I slammed my hands on the desk, she looked up at me with her smug little grin. I gave her a death glare but she still didn't get out of my seat, I straightened my back up so that I appeared taller to her.

"You're in my seat if you didn't notice." I pointed out.

"Oh, am I? So sorry why don't you find a different place to sit." She replied putting on an innocent face.

"I suggest you find a different seat before I crack you're head open, got it." I sneered at her.

She got my message and moved out of my seat along with her friends, I sat down and noticed that kid from homeroom talking to Mr. Barns. The short brown haired man pointed to the open seat next to me, the dark haired kid walked over to the seat and sat next to me. Mr. Barns started barking out orders and commands at his students, then he saw me and gave me a glare that said 'oh so you showed up on time today.' This teacher and I hated each other, sometimes he'd yell at me for no reason. I kicked back in my chair and listened to his boring school talk, I only came to school because I got to get away from my stepdad.

"Ms. Ride put your chair down you know that annoys me!" Mr. Barns ordered.

"Yes Mr. pain in the ass." I said sarcastically.

"Why you little-" he said getting cut off by the laughing class.

"One more slip up Ms. Ride and you go to the principal's office." He threatened.

"Understood Mr. Dickhead." I replied giving off a salute.

The teacher exploded and pointed to the door, I casually walked out of the room like I was going home for the day. I walked to the principal's office and stood at the desk, the assistant there looked up at me and smiled.

"What can I help you with Max?" she asked kindly.

"Uh, I need to see Mrs. Holland please." I replied.

"Oh boy, did you and Mr. Barns have another morning argument." She giggled.

"As usual." I answered walking to the chairs on the other side of the room.

A few minutes passed then the principal walked out of her office, she saw me and smiled. I know what you're thinking, why does the lady at the desk and the principal like me so much? Well the first time I came up here I told them I'd had an argument with the same teacher, they laughed and thought it was funny how I said he was as short as a kindergartener. (which he really wasn't.) So I walked into Mrs. Holland's office and took a seat in front of her desk, she sat across from me and waited for me to explain why I was there. I explained the entire situation then she started laughing, I could tell she was laughing so hard because I could see a tear forming in her eye. She told me I'd get off with a warning and to go back to class, I got back to class and handed the teacher the note Mrs. Holland gave me. An angered look washed over his face then he pointed back to my desk, I took a seat and spaced out during class.

"So what happened?" I heard someone ask.

I turned to the boy sitting next to me, I knew he'd spoken because he was looking dead at me.

"Got off with a warning." I replied.

He was about to say something else before the bell to class rang, I went to all of my other classes. And each of them I notices that kid had all the same classes with me, and bonus sat next to me in all of them. I was a little scared to go to gym class, mainly because of my bruised rib. I didn't care, I went to my locker which thankfully wasn't around anyone else. I walked out of the gym and sat in the bleachers, I was shaky about being in gym with a bruised rib. We were playing Volleyball today so we got down from the bleachers and were divided into teams, as usual I was last picked and ended up getting on a team of people I didn't know. It didn't bug me because I didn't know anyone at this school, I had no friends and didn't need any. I got in the back of the court, and watched the ball fly in the air and groups of people on my team dive for it. I was the only person who didn't move from my spot, I'd move when the ball would come to me.

Each time the volleyball came at me I hit it, the ball came over to me and I went to hit it but someone jumped in front of me. I got elbowed in the rib, same spot that was hurt too. It hurt like hell but I tried not to scream from pain, I was so concentrated on getting the pain to go away that I didn't notice myself tumbling across the gym floor. I held my rib in pain and stayed on the floor for a minute, I had my eyes closed trying to hold my tears back. "Max you alright?" I heard the coach ask. I didn't respond I nodded my head and tried to sit up but winced from pain, he saw me holding my rib.

"I need someone to walk Max up to the nurse's office, now!" The coach called.

"I'll take her." someone announced walking over.

"You know where it is, Nick?" the coach asked.

"Yes sir." He answered.

The gym coach helped me stand and then walked off to get a nurses pass, I held my rib in pain and looked to see who was taking me to the nurse. It was the kid from my other classes, was it just me who thought it was creepy that he's in all of my classes? Nick put his arm around my waist to help me walk, the coach came back and handed Nick the slip of paper then he walked me to the door. I heard dome girls chuckling so I shot them a death glare and they silenced, I let out a chough halfway to the nurse's office.

"I can walk on my own Nick." I said.

"Fang." He replied.

"What?" I asked confused.

"You can call me Fang." He stated.

"Well Fang could'cha let me walk on my own please." I replied.

He let me go and walk on my own, on my own though I still held my rib in pain. We almost reached the nurses office when I got a shot of unbearable pain in my rib, I nearly collapsed down to my knees but Ni- I mean Fang caught me. He walked me into the nurse's office and when he walked in the nurse looked at me in shock, she rose from her chair at her desk and walked over to us.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Someone knocked her down in gym, I think she hurt her rib." Fang explained.

"Sit her down over there, while I get my things." She said pointing to a small couch.

When the nurse said 'things' she really meant a pair of rubber gloves, when she came back over to me she asked me to lift my shirt so she could she my rib. I shot a glare to Fang which said 'turn around' which he did, I lifted my white shirt up to where my rib was visible. When the nurse saw it she let out a loud gasp which caused Fang to spin around, both of them gazed wide eyed at the purple and slightly green bruise on my right rib. The nurse put her hand up to the bruise which caused me to wince in slight pain, I watched as she turned back to her desk and picked up the phone.

"Hello this is nurse Angelika, I'll need to get hold of the nearest hospital please." She said into the phone.

"I don't need to go to the hospital." I said. "I'm fine."

"With a bruise like that you're far from fine." She retorted.

"Please, my family can't afford for me to go to the hospital. The pain is going away and I can breathe, so I'm fine." I told her.

She gave me a look that suggested I was crazy, she put the phone down then dialed another number. She stood there for a while with the phone up to her ear, she eventually sighed and hung the phone up. She looked over at Fang, who was standing at the doorway.

"Do you have any other classes with her?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am." He replied.

"I'll need you to keep a close eye on her, tell the teacher that I said you could leave class if she starts feeling pain." The nurse said writing a note.

Fang simply nodded then led me back to class, I showed him that I could walk on my own I wasn't weak. School ended after about three hours, I was packing up my stuff when I saw Fang looking at me from a group of friends he was with. I walked out of the room and headed for home, I poked my rib as I walked and noticed that the pain was gone. I walked up a small hill then stopped to breath, I heard footsteps behind me and I saw Fang. Why the hell was he following me, I mean hello stalker-ish much! Anyway I didn't acknowledge his presences so I just kept walking, eventually I reached my front door. The thing that surprised me was to see Fang standing on the porch of the house next door, he was rummaging through his pockets probably looking for the key to the house. He shoved the key in the lock and entered the house, as for me I was greeted by my drunk father who grabbed me by the arm and flung me inside. Before disappearing into my house, I caught a glimpse of Fang staring down from a window in his house.