A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews, guys, and sorry about the SUPER long wait! Here's the next chapter!

MPOV

By the time the city slickers reassembled at the field, Ari and Ella had finally arrived, so we walked them around the entire farm, doing our best to ignore the idiotic comments.

I showed them the vegetables… "OMG! Carrots come from, like, the ground?" "I knew that carrot juice diet was gross!" "What are you talking about, I lost two whole ounces!"

I showed them the sheep… "I always thought sheep were, like, white, you know? Like Mary Had A Little Lamb?"

I showed them the chickens… "These swans aren't as pretty as they are in that movie."

I showed them the cows… "Dude, get this: that thing the milk comes out of is their boobs!"

I showed them the pigs… "Those things are seriously nasty." "Yeah, thank goodness nothing good like bacon is made from pigs."

I showed them the horses… "Like, what the hell? Do people seriously, like, sit on those things? Do they, like, get mad?"

And, last but definitely not least, I showed them our house, where they would come for meals and hopefully nothing else… "Oh, it's so cute that you painted your garage to look like a house…but, like, tiny. So where's your actual house?"

Somewhere around the cows, Nudge and I started fantasizing all the different ways to kill them in their sleep, and let me tell you, we were getting pretty creative.

Finally, finally the tour ended outside my house and I climbed up on an old stile to stare down at them all. "I'm gonna divide y'all up in three groups!" I yelled, "Each group will be with one of the three of us, at least for the first week while you learn the ropes." Nudge doesn't get a group, not because she's not capable, but because (A) she's not related to us, so we could get sued if someone gets hurt under her charge and (B) I already got the sense I was going to need her to help me maintain my cool. By which I mean prevent me from punching anyone.

I started counting the city slickers off by three, but they immediately started moving around, trying to get placed in the same groups with their friends.

Irritated, Ari yelled out, "If you guys try to change positions, we'll make you muck stables this entire month!"

No one listened.

The four of us exchanged a glance and rolled our eyes in sync, and then I bellowed, "IF YOU MOVE, YOU SCOOP POOP, so sit your asses down."

That one worked.

When we finished, I was left with six kids. We went around the circle with introductions. The first couple guys were named Blaine and Clarence, and their names were pretty much spot-on indicators of their preppy, sheltered little rich boy personalities. Then a red-head named Lissa who was really pretty but showed herself off a little too much for my liking, and her brunette acolyte, Jordan.

Next was named Maya, and she was the kind of girl I hate more than anyone else; a fake rebel.

Mostly black ensemble with chains and weird make-up. Jeans for which she paid an extra hundred dollars in order to buy them ripped instead of ripping them herself, if she cared that goddamn much. Piercings and tattoos in weird places, and the faint smell of booze. I-hate-the-world-and-no-one-understands-me attitude.

But the kicker?

Daddy's credit card poking out of her back pocket, which paid for the whole ensemble.

Most interesting of the group, though, was the last boy, a strawberry-blonde dressed in a bizarre arrangement of colors, grinning like a lunatic.

"I'm Igmeister McFunnigans, but you can call me 'The Man'."

I raised an eyebrow. "I can also bungee jump off the Empire State Building, but that doesn't mean I'm going to." Unfortunately, Nudge was not on the same page.

"OK, the Man," she said nervously, blushing a little.

"Um, actually, just-just Iggy is, you know, my real name." He stuttered, "I mean, uh, what did you say your name was?"

"Um, Monique," Nudge said quickly, "But, you can call me Nudge. Actually, most people do, it's kind of a long story, really, but Jo made it up, back when we first met at the zoo, when I was ten, 'cause it stood for Neutral Undercover Drop-Dead Gorgeous Elephant. She made it up 'cause of this game her family played where they were all spies and they would try to shoot each other with Nerf guns. It was really violent and they were all really good at it. I was kind of afraid of her, so when she asked me to play, I didn't want to say no, but I was afraid to get, you know, shot because they were all really into it, and we were at the elephant exhibit, so I just said I would, um, play, but not be a spy, just pretend to be an elephant, so I was sort of playing but I couldn't be on anyone's side."

I tried to step tactfully on her toe to shut her up, but stomped a little too hard and she yelped and grabbed her foot, cursing me out. I smirked and then winked at Iggy, finishing her story for her. "And my brother said she was the prettiest elephant he'd ever seen." Both blushed. Normally, I don't play matchmaker, but they were too cute for words.

Unfortunately, their little bonding session needed to be cut short, because our group had to round up the sheep, cows and horses that were at pasture and take them in for the night. "Alright, guys, follow me," I called, turning towards the field, but Iggy interrupted.

"What, Nick doesn't get to introduce himself?"

I turned to stare at him. "Nick? Oh god, is that your imaginary friend?"

He looked offended. "Puh-leeeeease," He dragged out the word, "My imaginary friends have much more interesting names than 'Nick'."

"Okay….?"

"This is Nick!" He exclaimed happily, stepping to the side and pulling a guy out of the shadows where I had managed to completely fail to see him. My eyes widened in shock as the guy shrugged uncomfortably and muttered, "Nick Walker."

Nick Walker, stuck-up superstar. He was maybe 6 inches taller than my 5'9" and dressed all in black with shoulder-length black hair and black eyes to complete the picture, olive skin, and…you know what, let's just get this over with. Let's all say it together, he was hot. Hotter than the (very attractive) photo in the magazine had given him credit for.

"Done checking me out?" I snapped back into focus, embarrassed and pissed beyond belief, as Nick smirked infuriatingly at me. At the same time, though, I found myself slightly relieved at his obnoxiousness. I needed to be reminded that boys like him were bad news, and seeing him look, well, so damn good, I'd kind of forgotten that. Now, though, I was back to hating him. Thank goodness.

"Not quite," I growled back, "I can't seem to work out how your ass ended up on top of your neck."

He raised an eyebrow, and opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Lissa, the redhead, gasped in horror and exclaimed, "How dare you?! Do you even know who Nicky is?"

"Yep. I know he's a conceited, narcissistic, rich-boy who's never done a day's work in his life, and I also know that's about to change. And boy, am I going to enjoy it."

And I turned on my heel and walked away, a little faster than I needed to, cheeks furiously red.

Nudge and I corralled the sheep first, using Lucy and Andy, our sheepdogs, to herd them back into their barn. The seven city slickers just watched, although we assured them that tomorrow, they'd have to do some of the work.

Next we gathered in the cows and then the three horses who'd been out to pasture. Again, the city kids just watched.

Finally, after we had brought all the animals in for the night, the nine of us went into the barn where we keep the horses. I grabbed a curry comb off the wall and hopped the door into my mare, Smoke's stall.

A couple of the kids gasped in horror, and Lissa screamed outright, forcing me to wrap my arms around Smoke's neck to calm her and prevent her from shying.

"Don't go in its room; it'll kill you!" Jordyn squealed once she could breathe. I raised a skeptical eyebrow and shook my head, turning back to Smoke and starting to rub down her back with the curry. These kids had a long, long way to go.

Nudge, always the patient one, told them to calm down; Smoke would never hurt me.

Finally, hesitantly, nervously, one of the preppy boys whispered, "Do-do we have to…you know…touch them?" I stared at him blankly.

"Eventually." I sighed. "But not tonight. They don't need to be brushed after being in the field, but Smoke's my baby, and I pamper her. I'm just gonna brush her down, and you're coming with because we don't have dinner for another hour." Just then, my phone, in Nudge's purse, buzzed, signaling a text. Nudge pulled it out and glanced at it, then grinned.

"Whaddaya know?" she exclaimed, laughing, "It's your Daily Dose of Dylan!"

"Oh my God," I groaned.

Ignoring me, Nudge punched in my password, and then squealed, "You've gotta hear the line. It's adorable!" Before I could protest, she climbed up onto a mounting block, cleared her throat and proclaimed, "Dearest Josephine: Last night, I was looking at the stars, counting the reasons why I love you. I was doing great until I ran out of stars."

I'm 99.9% sure I choked on my own spit. Once I could breathe again, I mimed throwing up all over my horse. "I'm physically drowning in cheese," I growled to Nudge, "Are you actually trying to murder me?"

She rolled her eyes and grumped, "Well, I think it's sweet. Sure, it's kinda cheesy, but-"

"My God, Nudge, it's complete bullshit!" I exclaimed, and she harrumphed and folded her arms over her chest. We had this argument literally every night, because every night without fail, Dylan would come to my door and serenade me with some similar bit of nauseating lovey-dovey crap. Because he wasn't on the farm tonight, he'd been reduced to texting me his heartfelt musings.

Boo. Hoo.

"Hold da fuq up," Iggy interrupted us with a mischievous smirk, "Your real name is…Josephine? What are you, a Little Women character?"

"That's not my name." I said automatically, and everyone stared at me, confused, as I realized what I'd blurted. "I mean-never mind, just…call me Jo, unless you want the shit beaten out of you." Cheeks red, I turned back to the horse, knowing they were whispering behind my back.

6 years old:

"Can I tell you a secret?"

He sat up and quirked a side of his mouth, his equivalent of a blinding smile, then nodded. Already, the kid didn't talk. We were lying side by side in our clearing, like we had every day for a year.

After Ari broke his arm the day I met Fang, my parents had (obviously) found out where I had gone, and they were (again, obviously) apoplectic. They grounded me for a month and took away all dessert privileges, which, in my life, is a big deal. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), they weren't actually able to be at home to enforce the grounding because they both worked long days.

They trusted me to be sensible enough to have learned from what happened to Ari. However, the only thing I learned from that experience was that Ari was an idiot and Ella was a dead weight, so instead of stopping going to the park, I just went alone.

After he saved my brother's life, we pretty much automatically became best friends at the park. Most days, we'd play soccer or Tag or swing (you can bet that when kids saw me coming, they made room on those swings). But every afternoon, once we got tired of playing with everyone else, we would crawl into the brush to lie down side by side.

Sometimes we'd talk, sometimes not. Neither of us needed conversation. We just needed to be there, with each other, with nature.

That day wasn't a talking day, so I don't know what made me say it, but I did. After sitting up and looking down at me, his only response was that little nod and a quirk of his eyebrows, as if to say, "why the hell wouldn't you?"

"My name's not Max." That got a response.

"What?"

"I mean, my real name is Josephine. But I hate that name, it's dumb. I'm named after my mommy's grandma or something. It's an old lady name."

"So you just…changed it?"

"Yes. I mean no. I mean yeah, kinda. My middle name is Maximum. When I came to the park, I just wanted to be…special. And Maximum, Max, for a girl, that's special, you know? It's not my name, but I felt like it was…me."

He just looked at me, carefully, calculatingly.

I looked down at my feet, embarrassed by his intense stare. "I mean, it's a big lie. I know. I'm sorry. Everyone at home calls me Josie, but this place-you-you're different. I wanted to be someone different, too, and I'm not…" the words tumbled over each other, falling out of my mouth against my will, exposing more of me than I, already closed off at age 6, had wanted to reveal.

Suddenly, he stood up, face closing off. "Wait here." He told me, and then he burst out of the bushes. Scrambling out after him, I saw him running, as fast as his little legs could carry him, towards where I knew his house was, though I'd never seen it.

I stared after him, shocked. Hurt. I knew I shouldn't have told him, I should've known he'd be angry. Then I shook my head, inwardly berating myself. He was my best friend; he wouldn't hurt me. He had said to wait, so I would wait. I sat, Indian-style, right outside our clearing, waiting, watching.

Five minutes passed. Then ten.

When fifteen minutes passed, I decided, I would leave. I stared at my watch, waiting as the minutes ticked by. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen. Taking a deep, shuddering breath to hold back tears, I pulled myself up and was about to turn when I heard a loud rattling. A second later, He came into view, panting, still running but now dragging a big red wagon behind him.

I stared, frozen in shock, as he dragged his wagon across the playground, ignoring the many people who stared at him, and then past me, into our little clearing. As he passed me, he gave me a glance as if to say, "Well, come on, what are you waiting for?" and I turned and followed him into the clearing.

He didn't even look up when I entered. He was sprawled on the ground on his stomach, feverishly flipping through the pages of an enormous blue book. I looked at it for a second, then up at his wagon, where 5 more books of the same size were waiting. His hands were bleeding from multiple paper cuts from flipping the pages so quickly.

"Jeez," I muttered, "Did you get in a fight with a forest?"

"Ha!" he cut me off, "Found it!" He put his finger on the page, then stood up, hoisting the enormous book in his arms as he did. "Sit down, Max." He told me, and I couldn't help but notice how he called me Max, not Josie, so I did, looking up at him expectantly.

He coughed pretentiously, then began to read. "Webster's Dictionary: name. A word or phrase that refers to or that can refer to a specific person." He dropped the book in the wagon extremely unceremoniously, probably happy to lose the weight, then looked at me seriously, sitting in front of me.

"I looked up all the big words!" He said proudly, "It doesn't say anything about how your mommy and daddy have to make it up for it to be your name. We, um, 'refer' to you as 'specific'Max, so that's your name from now on. No matter what anybody says."

So he didn't have 'specific' quite figured out. Who cares? I threw my arms around him anyway, and he returned my hug with just as much strength. Utterly grateful, I smiled widely, laying my head on his shoulder for a moment, taking comfort in how much he understood me.

After a minute we pulled away, and I looked at him carefully. "If I get a new name," I said quietly, "Then so should you."

He raised his eyebrows.

"Get up," I ordered, and he did, as I walked slowly in a circle around him, analyzing him from every possible angle, trying to think of a good name. He kept a straight face for longer than most would have, but finally his mouth split wide in a grin.

That's when I saw it. We had both started losing our teeth, but being a few months older, I had lost more than Fang, which he didn't like. His right incisor was gone, and his left incisor was slightly loose, so he'd been pulling and twisting it constantly to try to catch up to me, which made it look longer than it normally would, kind of like a… "Fang!" I exclaimed, "That's your new name!"

"Fang," he said, trying it out. "Fang. Fang, up to bat for the Yankees, hits it out of the park, and the crowd goes wild!"

"Give me an F, give me an A, Give me an N, Give me a G!" I cheered, playing along, "What does that spell?"

"FANG!" We both yelled together.

"I like it."

From that day forth, we were Max and Fang. I don't even remember his "real" name. Fang was his name.

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