I stared at Max from across the classroom. Sunlight from the open window filtered down onto her gorgeous face. I sighed and stared at my completed math homework. The teacher had assigned it 10 minutes prior. I drummed my fingers on the table and ignored the obsessive stalker stare coming from the girl sitting next to me. She was just… scary. She had one of those massive head gears and stains covered her shirt. She had a crazed look in her eyes when she stared at me. Drool dripped out of the corner of my mouth. Shuddering, I doodled on my piece of paper. Mostly it was someone who looked a lot like me with dark black wings jutting out of his back.

"That's really good." Creeper girl said. "Every think of being an artist?" More drool.

"Uh, no." I said. Artists were either crazy girls or pansy guys. I was neither. I did, however, know that my drawing WERE pretty kick-ass. Maybe I could be an a- nope never happening. I was going to do something like… complete blank.

I stared back at Max. I loved how her brown hair fell over her shoulders. It looked so soft. Just then, Max looked up at me, I looked away. Now I felt like Creeper Girl.

Oh dear god, Creeper Girl's hand was on my leg. I raised my hand and asked to go to the washroom. Thank God teachers never said no. I hurridly walked out of the room and slouched against the wall. Creeper Girl was getting more creeperish every day. I'm half expecting her to show up at my house.

Silently I walked outside and sat down on the fresh, green grass. The blue sky had few clouds and was highlighted by the sun. Just like Max's face was back in English…

I remembered the picture of me with wings. How great would it be if I could take off into the sky. It would be like swimming… in the air.

I grabbed a little sketch book out of my pocket along with a little pencil and began to draw. Me and Max soaring in the sky. I had black wings, Max's were multi-coloured. As in, black and white because I didn't have my coloured pencils with me. Or my paints. Which would be great.

The bell rang then, causing me to get up and go to my next class. I had to go back to my math class first and the teacher would probably wonder why I had taken so long in the bathroom. Oh well.

When I was walking back to class I saw Max laughing in the halls. Her beautiful eyes were closed and I looked for the person who made her laugh, instantly liking them just for making her happy. Of coarse it was Sam, her boyfriend. I crumpled up the picture of Max and I flying through the sky and chucked it into the recycle bin.

"Fang!" Lissa called from across the cafeteria. I sighed and walked over to her. "Hey! I saved you a seat."

I sat down beside her and tried not to look disgusted as she flirted. The only reason I sat here was so I didn't have to sit alone. I seem like a rock on the outside, but I would still be inwardly embarrassed to sit at one of those tables all alone.

Lissa rambled on and I stared over at Max. She looked sad… her best friend, Monique was there, rubbing her back in soothing circles. I wanted to be her best friend, if I couldn't be her boyfriend. That was my dream that was never going to come true.

"Fang! Are you even listening?" Lissa annoyingly poked me in the stomach.

"To be honest, no." I said and picked at my lunch.

"You're a jerk, Nick." She said, turning to her friend.

Yes, I know. She called me Fang one minute and Nick the next. My real name is Nick. My nickname is Fang. I got it because some guy thought it was MUCH cooler then Nick. I had to agree, mostly because I shared a name with a Jonas brother. Whenever Lissa gets ticked off she calls me Nick because it makes me want to kill her more then I already do.

I got up and walked away. I sat down at Max's table. What are you doing?! My brain screamed at me. But somewhere between 'kill' and 'her' I had lost control of my body. And my mouth apparently.

"Yo. Can I sit here?" I asked, staring at the empty seat. I noticed Sam wasn't here, but another kid named Iggy was. That sounded like Eggy to me…

"Sure." Max said cheerfully. "I'm Max. Are you new?" WHAT?! I'd lived here my whole life. Along with her. We were partners on numerous projects a few years back in Elementary. I guess that was 6 years ago back in grade 4. Our teacher had assigned partners for the year. I guess my appearance had changed… I used to be much less… dark back then.

"Uh no. I'm Nick. Ahem, Grade 4 year partner." I said.

Her face dawned with understanding "Oh!" She exclaimed. "Sorry…"

"It's fine."

"So why are you sitting here?" Max took a long swig from her coke and stared at me.

"Lissa was buggin' the crap out of me and you're a familiar face." I took a bite out of the hot dog I was eating.

"I see." She stared and looked at me as if she were studying me.

"You don't mind, do you?"

"Not at all. Just between you and me… and Iggy and Monique, I really enjoyed being partners with you in fourth grade. I was kinda sad when that ended. I thought we had become pretty good friends."

"Cool." I said. "Thanks."

"I told you to call me Nudge!" Moni-Nudge exclaimed.

"Whats the point? Nudge is a stupid nickname!" Max looked at her. "Its like, 'Hi, my name is push' or 'Hi, my name is shove'"

"Whatever…" Nudge mumbled and took a bite of her salad. "So Nick"

"Fang." I corrected her.

"See. I'm not the only one with a nickname!" She exclaimed.

"Yes. But he has a reason. Nick is a stupid name that doesn't fit him anymore. Ahem, ahem, black attire and it's the name of a Jonas Brother which no self respecting guy is going to be associated with a Jo-bro." Max totally just brought Nudge down while basically defending me. I love her, I lo-

"Uh, did you forget about me?" Iggy asked. "Why am I not hearing comments about my nickname. You didn't actually think Iggy was my name, did you?" Actually, I did, but I wasn't going to admit it.

"That's a nickname?" Max said sarcastically. "That's quite a shocker, Jeff." Iggy shot her the bird.

"But I can see the point in his nickname." I said. "Jeff sounds like some creepy hippy."

"Exactly!" Iggy exclaimed. I mean, Iggy still sounded weird, but it fit him. He held out his fist and I hesitently touched mine to his. Right then I noticed his eyes. They were obviously blue but looked clouded. And no, I didn't look into his eyes because I'm falling in love with him, they just caught my attention.

"He's blind." A girl said, walking over to us. She had beautiful blonde ringlets of hair that fell around her face and glowing blue eyes.

"Hey Ange!" Max said. Angel sat down next to me, filling up the only chair left.

"How did you-" I left it and stood up because the bell had rung. "Whatever." I mumbled and picked up my tray. I dumped the remainder of the food into the trash.

I had got to sit with MAXIMUM RIDE!