Max

My name is Maximum Ride. I was born to replace my older brother Ari. He was sick for a while, so my dad wanted to have me so he could have another son. There was just one little problem with his plan: I'm a girl. Now Ari's gone, my dad hates me and my parents are getting a divorce because of me. My mom says it isn't my fault, but it's sort of my fault because its about what my dad has done to me.

It started when I was nine, shortly after Ari died my dad started hitting me. I didn't tell anyone because I thought I deserved it. Then he went after my youngest sister Angel, one day and I freaked out. My fifteen year old sister Ella, called our mom and then I called the police. My dad tried to stop me by hitting me, but the cops heard everything, tracked the phone to my house and threw my dad in jail.

Now my mom, Ella, my six year old sister Angel and our dogs, Total and Akila have to move from Arizona to Virginia. That means leaving my boyfriend Sam and the few friends I have. Although I must admit, my friends were more like acquaintances and Sam and I have been having problems for a while. He's become abusive and highly possessive about me.

It's probably good that I'm leaving him. I think as we drive away from our old house.

I fall asleep in the car and have nightmares. I hate my nightmares. They're all different, but about the same sort of thing every night: abuse. Sleep sucks.

When I wake up, we're driving into the driveway of a medium sized house. It looks nice-much nicer than our old house. We walk in and chose our rooms. I pick one with dark blue walls. Ella picks a purple room and Angel picks the pink one. It's like the rooms were made for us.

Mom walks into my room. "Do you like it?" she asks.

I nod, not looking at her. It's all my fault we have to move and now she's giving me an awesome room. That's not fair to her.

Mom wraps me in a hug. "This isn't your fault Maxie. It's your father's fault." she tells me.

I nod into her shoulder refusing to cry. I have to be strong for my family.

"It's okay Max. You need to stop blaming yourself." she tells me.

I pull away and sit on the bed.

"Do you want some dinner?" Mom asks.

I shake my head.

Angel pops her head in. "Did I hear you say dinner?" she asks.

Mom smiles, "Yes dear."

Angel jumps onto my lap. "What do you want to eat Max?" she asks, looking up at me with her wide blue eyes full of innocence.

I smile down at her, "How about we ask Mom to buy pizza?"

Angel grins, turns to Mom and gives her Bambi eyes.

Mom smiles, "Okay."

Angel grins and jumps into Mom's lap, hugging her. I love my baby sister so much. We have pizza for dinner and my mood brightens a little bit.

Fang

It's the first day of school. I haven't been to school in two years, but I don't really care. I just want to get the first day over with so I can see how it's gonna happen and what it will be like. I spend breakfast trying to figure out how to avoid the haircut my foster mom has been suggesting. Shaggy hair is just my style I guess.

I'm almost done with my cereal when Ms. Monroe walks in.

"Hey Nicolas, do you want to get some new clothes later today? Maybe with less black?" she suggests, sounding a bit hopeful about the less black part. She's very cheery and likes bright and colorful things, so she doesn't seem to like how my small wardrobe is entirely black.

I shake my head, "No thanks Ms. Monroe."

"Okay honey. Is there anything I can do for you?" she asks.

"Can you call me Fang?" I ask, finishing my cereal.

Ms. Monroe smiles, "Okay Fang. Have fun at school."

I nod, grab my backpack and walk out the door.

Max

I wake up covered in a cold sweat. Looking at the clock I sigh, it's already 5:00 AM, and my alarm's gonna go off at 5:30, so I might as well get up. Shivering a little, I slowly get out of bed and grab a blue tee shirt, black jeans and a grey-black hoody. I take the clothes to the bathroom and shower. When I'm out, I leave my hair in the towel while I put on my blue Vans. Then I take the towel out and grab my midnight blue backpack as I go to the kitchen for breakfast. By the time I get there, Ella's already eating and Mom's making pancakes and eggs.

"Do you want some honey?" Mom asks.

"Yes please." I reply.

Ella looks surprised, I never use manners and Mom gives me a look that says she is very concerned for me and wants to help. I shrug, I just want to be a better daughter for her.

After breakfast, Ella and I walk to the bus stop together. There are already a few people gathering around a bench. Ella walks over there, but I stop when I get to the stop sign across the street. I don't want to talk to so many people at once. I'm somewhat antisocial, unlike Ella who Mom calls a social butterfly. She turns and motions for me to come with her, but I shake my head and motion for her to go over there without me. I want her to have a good time and she won't have one while she worries about me. My sister understands what I'm trying to say and she walks over to one of the groups. Soon she's talking and laughing with them as if she's known them her whole life.

Not sure what else to do, I stand still, fighting the urge to rock on my feet like I do when I'm nervous. Looking around, I notice a boy around my age, sixteen walking towards me. He has black shaggy shoulder-length hair, dark obsidian colored eyes, and an olive skin tone. I can't help but think he's pretty cute.

Well, this is it I guess. He's the first person I'm going to meet at this school. I think, feeling even more nervous.

I awkwardly wave when he stands a few yards away from me.

"Hi." I say.

"Hi." he replies.

"I'm Max, what's your name?"

"Fang."

There's a weird pause of silence.

"So, what grade are you in?" I ask.

"Eleventh. You?"

"Same."

The bus comes and I walk ahead of Fang to get to the bus. As expected, the bus is packed and Fang ends up having to sit by me in the back of the bus where nobody can see us because there are no other seats available. We make small talk during the drive to school. Fang seems pretty silent, but when he does talk its always really interesting and I actually want him to keep talking. I'm a bit disappointed when we have to part ways.

Fang

I walk to the bus stop and see a bench full of teenagers on one side of the street and on the other side I see a girl with dirty blonde hair, wearing black jeans, and a grayish, blackish hoody. When I stand a few yards away, she turns and looks at me with beautiful chocolate brown eyes.

She kinda waves when she sees me. Then she says, "Hi."

"Hi." I reply, not sure if I want to talk to her.

"I'm Max, what's your name?"

"Fang."

"What grade are you in?"

"Eleventh. You?"

"Same."

The bus comes and Max walks ahead of me as we walk to the bus. It's really crowded and I end up sitting by Max. This isn't exactly a tragedy because after talking to her for a little while I realize she seems pretty cool. I actually enjoy talking to her. When we get off the bus, I'm tempted to ask her for her number so we can talk like this all the time, but she says "Later." and walks away before I can ask her.

I just made a friend due to antisocial tendencies. That figures. I think, smiling inwardly as I walk to the school's office to get my schedule.

Well, here's the first chapter of my new story. I'm still going to work on the others, I just get inspiration for different things at different times. It's weird and hard to explain but, yeah... Anyway, was it good? Did it completely suck? Please be brutally honest. I'd really like to know.

Here's a quick preview to the next chapter:

Max

Fang and I part ways and I try to find the office. After searching for a few minutes a tall boy with strawberry blonde hair, fair skin, blue eyes and glasses walks over to me and asks, "Are you new here?"

I nod.

"Are you looking for the office?" He asks.

I nod again.

"It's this way." he leads me to the office.

When we get to the office he says, "Good luck." The boy winks at me and walks away.