Well, I'm Not Paralyzed, But I Seem to be Struck by You

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story.

Max P.O.V~

Well I'm not paralyzed, but I seem to be struck by you.

When I say I'm not paralyzed, I'm lying. When I say I seem to be struck by you, I mean I want to strike you. And when I say paralyzer, I mean wow look at the irony of this whole, sad, stupid situation that some freaking God put me in.

Because you see. I am paralyzed. And the one person I hate is the only one that can make me move. So he's really not my paralyzer, more like my unparalyzer but the situation is still painfully ironic. And that my dear friends was an oxymoron because I can no longer feel pain. At least not below my waist.

But right now, none of this information is relevant.

My name is Maximum Ride and I'm broken, crippled, disabled, handicapped, maimed, wrecked, helpless, and powerless. But I'm really not. That's just what everyone else thinks.

I used to be popular. I used to be the best athlete this school had ever had. I used to play with boys varsity soccer, varsity cross country and varsity track. I used to be able to run and walk and jump and hop and dance and move and swim and skip. I used to be whole. I used to be normal. I used to be feared by my opponents. I used to be...

Me.

Until the car accident that ruined my life. The nerves of my spinal cord were severed right above my waist. The doctors patched them together and according to them I should be able to feel my legs eventually but until then I was confined to this little metal chair as my only mode of transportation. Since the accident, I refused to get into anymore cars and as a result I had to wheel myself home everyday. On the bright side, my arms muscles were really building up!

"Look who it is guys. Our own little crippled sports star. Not so good now are you, Ride?" Fang said.

Enter Fang. The bane of my existence. The reason I was better than everyone else was because I was better than him and he just couldn't seem to let that go. The egotistical, male chauvinist pig just took that as a blow to his own ego that a girl was better than him. He started hating me and messing with me, and I started hating him and messing with him.

Unlike most girls, I didn't find his smooth black hair or obsidian eyes attractive. I didn't find the lean muscles in his arms hot though I did appreciate them. I didn't find the way he dressed in all black mysterious. And I didn't find his deep voice sexy. Nope.

"Piss off, Fang. I'm trying to get to my next class and seeing your voice just makes me go to the bathroom and vomit," I retorted. I gripped the wheels of my wheelchair and pushed them forward. Of course, there were handles so that people could push me places I needed to go but no one wanted to hang out with me anymore. And the only one in my grade level that really cared was home sick today. Of course, I could have asked Nudge or Gazzy or even Angel, but they were all younger than me and therefore didn't have the same classes as me and I didn't want to burden them.

"You know, Ride, you would be able to do both if you could run but seeing as you can't..." He trailed off, the rest of his posse laughing. His girlfriend Lissa, the school slut, hung off his arm and his best friend Dylan hung behind him.

I repeated myself, really not in the mood to deal with his incessant bragging and douchiness today, "Piss off, Fang." He walked up to me and just stared for a couple seconds.

"Well, I sincerely hope you do feel better soon, Maximum," he said with a smirk. He placed his palm on my shoulder while continuing to look at me with a condescending look. Oh, how I wanted to stand up and smack that grin off his face. I moved to shrug his hand off my shoulder, but a tingle shot through my body reaching all the ways to my legs and I stopped.

I reflexively looked down to my feet. Another tingle. His hand was still there. I curled the toes on my bare feet. Nothing happened. Another tingle. Frowning in concentration, I tried my hardest to wiggle the toes around. Still nothing happened. Finally, a fourth tingle.

Ferociously, I moved my toe, almost begging and pleading to God for something to happen. If I could feel the tingles throughout my body, surely I could feel my toes too. My toe shifted, only a fraction of an inch, but it did. I tried again, and this time it moved forward before jerking back into place. Of course it was painful as hell but despite that, I grinned. The biggest grin I'd ever had on my face since the accident.

"What are you smiling at, Ride?"

Oh yeah, Fang was still here. Fang was still here and I could wiggle my toes. "Nothing, just mind your own business, Fang."

"Fine, whatever," he smirked before removing his hands and walking away. His steps had a certain swagger as if he knew everything would go his way. The moment his hand left my shoulder, however, the tingles were gone. My toes were still again. Immediately, the smile dropped being replaced by a frown.

"Awww. Would you lookie here. Maximum Ride doesn't want me to go," Fang called from somewhere behind me. I hadn't realized he had stopped walking away and turned around to face me. I hadn't even realized he was standing right behind me. All I felt was the emptiness flooding me once again. It felt as if I had just learned I could never walk again, but this time, it hurt even more.

Tears leaked out of the corner of one eye, but I wiped it away with the back of my hands, desperate not to cry in front of Big Bad Fang. He could only make my life worse and God knew I needed some more better in my life. Worse could kick its own ass to hell.

"Just piss off, Fang. Just because I'm in a wheelchair doesn't mean I can't kick your stupid ass," I said trying my best to make it sound threatening, but even I could hear the sadness in my voice.

Fang's smile faded probably surprised by the emotion he heard. It was the first time I said something to him in a voice that didn't contain only hatred and anger. But just as soon as he realized his smile was gone, he painted it right back on his face and managed to make it even more condescending. It wasn't even a smile anymore; it was a sneer.

"Now I feel bad. Would you like me to walk you to your next class in order to make it up to you," he paused to think and I was thoroughly confused. Was he finally doing something nice for me?

All my thoughts about a reformed Fang were thrown out the window when he followed up with, "Oh wait, you can't walk."

I knew I couldn't walk. I didn't need Fang to keep reminding me. I didn't have the energy or even the will to get back at Fang. I just felt so torn. So, I turned away from Fang, completely ignoring him, and pushed my wheels, propelling me forward.

"Oi! Ride! You can't just walk away from me," he yelled after me.

He snickered noticing the pun in his comment, but before he could follow up with another insult, I retorted, "You're right I can't. Because as you so nicely put, I can't fucking walk. But guess what, you see me rollin' and you hatin'. Why's that Fang? Is it because you ain't rollin'. Because if you want both your legs to broken, I'm sure I can arrange that." I smirked, quite happy I was able to include a song reference into my little comeback threat. Fang shut up after that.

I kept moving despite the slowness of it all and didn't look back.

Why now? Out of all the times Fang and I had had body contact with each other (of course most of those were violent and sports related such as a football tackle in PE or a slap on the face for being an asshat), why did I suddenly feel something when he touched me? And of course, why him?

It doesn't really matter. I'll eventually get my legs back and I'll do it without Fang being there.

I reached homeroom 2 minutes after the bell had rung.

"Come on in, Max. Glad you could make it," Mr. Rodriguez said. I knew he was joking. Mr. Rodriguez never took anything too seriously, and as a result, me being a couple minutes late never bothered him.

"Glad to be here, Mr. R," I responded, making my way to the empty desk in the corner of the classroom. The chair was missing, and I wheeled myself right in, grabbing the books from my bag and placing them on my desk.

"You know, Max. You might actually make it on time if you asked someone for help," he sighed.

I looked at him and then I looked at the class. "It's a pity really. I didn't think I needed to ask. No one wants too anyways. Fang's made it clear that any one who fraternizes will a crippled it pretty much mentally crippled too."

"I really should have a talk with that boy, Max. He puts too much pressure on you and the school. His opinion shouldn't have the weight it does. It really shouldn't matter what he thinks."

"I know, Mr. R, but this is the teenage world we're living in. Everyone loves the popular ones. That's just how it works."

"It's been 3 months since the accident. You think it would have died down by now."

"It's okay Mr. R. I can handle myself, but right now you should handle your class and not my problems." As Mr. R and I were talking, the rest of the class had decided to pull out their cellphones and text. Some were whispering amongst themselves and I could feel their eyes on the back of my neck.

Iggy: How was school today? I'm sorry I wasn't there, Maxie. Did the big bang Fangie do anything to you because if he did, I will pummel him to pieces.

I laughed as I read Iggy's text. Even sick in bed he was still thinking of me.

Max: I'm honestly fine Iggy. Should you really be texting me anyways? Won't your thumbs fall off, or... Gasp! I could catch what you have through the magical cellphone connecter thing.

Iggy: You know if I didn't text you, you would be dying of boredom right now.

He was right. Calculus and just any type of math had the magical power to put you to sleep. I don't understand why adults with insomnia didn't just listen to our teacher's speeches about how this circle did this and the sign did that.

Iggy: It's a risk I have to take, Maxie. If I lose my thumbs, I sincerely hope you will provide me with replacements.

Max: Not on your life, Iggy. I would never give you my thumbs!

Iggy: Give me your thumbs, Maxie. I need your thumbs!

"Maximum Ride, are you texting right now? You know, even though you are temporarily disabled, that doesn't give you the right to just disregard rules."

"Yeah, I know that. And just because I'm disabled does't mean you have to bring it up all the time," I retorted.

"Max! That's no way to talk to your teacher!" Ms. Regin yelled. "Detention, after school today!"

Yeah, life really sucked for me at the moment.

Author's Note:

So new story. Chances are, I won't be updating this for a while, but I did want to get the plot out there before someone else took it. So yeah!

Leave a review, and tell me what you guys think of this story.

It's kind of depressing right now, but I promise, it's going to get funnier and better.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Nehaloonie