Disclaimer: Maximum Ride belongs to the ultra fabulous JP, not me.

A.N.: This takes place during SOF, right after Max leaves for her date with Sam, and is from Nudge's POV. Faxness!

I grinned to myself as I stood at the top of the stairs, watching the front door close behind Max. She was on a date! A date with a real human boy! As in, 100 human. Completely normal. That seemed a little weird to me--Max with a real, live, completely human boy. But really awesome, too.

I heard something behind me and turned around. Fang was standing there, also watching the door. He looked really annoyed about something.

"Hey, Fang, what's wrong?" I asked. "'Cause you look really mad about something--is it because Max is going on a date? Like, he could be an Eraser or something? And also, we might not stay very long here, even though it's nice. Don't you like it here at Anne's? I do. Anyway, if we leave, Max might be sad because she doesn't want to leave Sam. Do you think she'll be sad, Fang?" (I do most of my thinking out loud.)

Fang looked startled by my question, then his face went completely blank. "Nothing's wrong," he answered, but I knew something was, 'cause of how tight his voice sounded. "I just don't want Max to...to get too attached to anyone."

"That's what I thought," I said, nodding, but then something occurred to me. "Wait--you don't think we should get too attached to anyone?"

"No."

"Well, then why were you with that girl?" I asked. "A few days ago, I saw you at school with some girl, the one with red hair. You know? She was hanging all over you and I even saw her kiss you on the cheek! But it was the day of the field trip, so I forgot to ask you about it. Anyway, aren't you attached to her?"

Fang just stared at me for a moment, then said slowly, "No. No, I'm not."

"Oh." I waited for him to say something else. When he didn't, I added, "Is she your girlfriend?"

"Not exactly."

I was getting tired of his short answers, so I said, "Well, then why'd she kiss you? I mean, I don't see why she'd do that unless she's your girlfriend."

"Apparently she likes me," Fang replied calmly.

I sighed. "And...do you like her? She looked real pretty but she wears too much make-up. Is she nice? Are you going to ask her out?"

"No, I guess, and no."

I stared at him, confused, until I realized those were the answers to the three questions I'd asked. But that wasn't helpful--I wanted to know what was going on! "Well, then, why'd you let her kiss you?"

I expected no emotion at all in the answer, but Fang shrugged, looked down, and mumbled, "No reason." His cheeks reddened slightly, and he looked almost embarrassed, except Fang is never embarrassed.

I knew I was on to something. "There has to be a reason. Were you just being nice? I guess you wouldn't want to tell someone you didn't like them if they liked you. That would feel kind of mean. But I don't see why you'd just let her hang around like that. It seems like it would get really annoying. Unless you had a reason--but what reason would you have?" I suddenly got an idea. "Ohhhh! Maybe you'd do that if you liked someone else, to make them jealous. But who else would you like?"

I was just saying whatever came into my head, not really thinking about it much, but that last question got a reaction out of Fang.

"No one," he half-snapped at me, and started walking away.

Well, that pretty much proved me right. "I wonder who it is," I said, following him down the hall and into his room. "Someone from school? But you said we shouldn't get too attached, so it can't be that. But then it would have to be--oh." The truth suddenly occurred to me.

"Yeah, oh," Fang said, sitting down on the bed. He wasn't looking at me.

I sat down at his desk. "And that would be why--" Why he looked so annoyed. "Oh! I get it now! Well, Fang, I don't think you should hang around with Lissa if you don't want to." Then I realized something else--Max had seemed kind of annoyed with Fang lately, and she hadn't mentioned Sam at all until he asked her out. "And anyway, you don't need to. You're just making Max mad."

"She's jealous?" Fang looked up at me, seeming slightly interested.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, duh. I can tell from her tone of voice when she talks to you, the way she looks at you...it's obvious. I mean, I didn't figure it out until now, but now it's obvious."

"She's on a date with someone else right now, Nudge." Fang sounded unhappy again. "She can't be too jealous."

"No, she is," I told him patiently, knowing that, being a boy, Fang might not understand the great art of Interpreting the Behavior of Teenage Girls (I'm only eleven, but I have it mostly figured out). "This is revenge. Now she's trying to make you jealous. So now you're at a stalemate--you made Max jealous with Lissa, she made you jealous with Sam. One of you has to do something."

"Like what?"

"Like you showing Max that you like her." Seeing the horror-struck expression on his face, I added, "You don't have to tell her straight out. Just be a little nicer. Show her that you appreciate her. Trust me, she'll get the message."

Fang looked like he was thinking about it. "She really likes me?"

"She really does." I almost went on, but Fang didn't really look like he wanted to be talked to anymore.

I stood up and walked out of the room, leaving him to think about what I'd said. Fang was pretty lucky he had me--'cause if he didn't, he'd be clueless.