"No." I sobbed.

"Max."

"You can't make me, I'll never do it- no, not now, not ever, I can't, I won't, I never will stop fighting-" I gurgled.

"Let go immediately."

"If you don't let go of me, I'll shove my Converse so far up your ass that you won't be able to sit for weeks, you piece of-"

So.

Here I was.

I wasn't having a good time right now. This day was utter garbage, and I was looking at the pros of throwing myself out the window of the 3rd story science building.

And it was all because of that ill-mannered, uncivilized, over inflated dolt by the name of Fang.

How dare he try to introduce himself to my family as my boyfriend?

How dare he try to invite himself over to my house?

How dare he try to charm my own mother, and shower her with flattery?

Absolutely preposterous, I tell you, absolutely preposterous.

After scooching my way miserably around campus, the final period bell rang, leaving me to my own demise.

There I had Fang tug on me relentlessly, and he even had the nerve to tell me that,'Oh come on baby, it was about time they learned who I was.'

I leeched on to every pole, every locker, and every classroom that I could find.

"Fang, please. My family is embarrassing, and I don't really bring any boyfriends home, and we're all gonna have mushy inside jokes and weird traditions, and you're gonna die of embarrassing questions, are you okay with that?" I shrieked.

He sighed, and I tried my darned hardest to ignore the way that he gave me a cute eye-smile, even though I was being a mega ass to him.

He slid his hands down to the small of my back, and rubbed small circles on the small sliver of skin sticking out of my sweater. Students streamed by like sand, and I could hardly notice any of them with Fang's large hands making me feel like Play-Doh. It was always like this. Whenever Fang wanted to get away with anything, all he had to do was hold me. Hold me for a few seconds, and I would come apart in his hands and unravel beneath him because he was the only one that knew my weak spot and he was always soft and rugged with me at the same time and-

Well, it made me feel nice. Nice, good, sweet. I always felt hazy with him, like it was almost a dream. No matter how angry or frustrated with him, I couldn't help but pick up on all these new perfect things. They cropped up everywhere, and my heart pounded every time he came near me or pushed back his hair or just was there.

It was completely unfair.

I sighed, and rubbed affectionately at his cheekbones and pretty much collapsed underneath his efforts.

"It's ok, why are you freaking out? Are you going to hide me from your family forever?" he murmured into my neck, and I shuddered a bit.

I started to speak, and he pulled back with a frown, which I despised seeing on his face. His mouth tugged down in a childish pout, and his eyes sagged at the corners, giving his face a squishy demeanor.

"Do you not love me?" he mumbled, as if he was a child who had gotten caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing. He flickered his eyes upwards, and then looked away in a sheepish manner.

I sighed, and pulled our foreheads closer, so close that to anyone walking by, it would've looked like we were kissing.

But we weren't.

"I love you so much, you know I do. You're the only one for me and you know that. You're the greatest thing that's ever happened to me, and you can't believe how much I can't live without you. But I'm scared, alright? Yes, I know, this is something so small but for me? This is a huge thing. My family is what I hold most important, and I would certainly die for them if that's what they needed. And you already know… but my relationships weren't all that great back when I was with Jeb, and I never was serious with guys. So don't blame me if I get nervous or have a breakdown during dinner, ok? I'm ok, this is just really sudden." I murmured, tugging on the short hairs at the back of his neck.

I could feel his hands tug me closer, and then he was there melding his soft mouth against mine again, and it felt so surreal again, like I was floating but on fire at the same time.

It felt good.

It felt like home.

!

I didn't want to go home.

Going home would lead to more anxiety, and more useless worries that wouldn't be resolved until Fang came over.

As I mindlessly chewed on my thumbnail, Fang was playing with the baby hairs that were cropping out of my sloppy ponytail.

I gave him the stink-eye saying,"Shouldn't you drive with both hands?"

He ignored me, and swirled the tawny- almost golden- strands of hair around his fingers absentmindedly.

I was nervous, because every time he stroked my head, the car swerved a few feet.

"I like your hair. It's pretty, Max," he murmured quietly, "-do you ever cut it?"

I thought back to the last time I had trimmed it, which was back in sophomore year; Jeb had gotten a pair of rusty scissors and ruefully chopped my off to the best of his ability.

"Do you want me to cut it?" I asked shrewdly, drawing patterns onto his lap.

He laughed, and snapped his eyes off the road to tug me in. Although the seat belt of his Jeep was biting painfully into my waist, I enjoyed the warmth of him.

"You'll be over at six, right?" I asked, and I couldn't help but notice how small my voice was.

"I'll be over at six, don't worry, ok?" he agreed. He quickly swerved into my driveway, which nearly gave me a whiplash. He pressed a slightly wet kiss to my forehead, before slinging his way out of his car.

Jogging to my side, he opened my door in that totally chivalrous way of his that made me always laugh.

Slipping my hand into his, I tiptoed up and pressed a soft, lingering, kiss to the corner of his mouth.

"I'm not worrying, I'm just making sure you don't completely get cold feet at the last minute and back out." I teased.

He laughed that husky laugh of his, and tugged me up the path to my house. Even though the brief walk was so short, he talked quickly and walked slowly, as if he wanted to use as much of our time as possible. He chattered about everything; his annoyance for his math partner, the new coach for football, this cute corgi video he saw on Youtube. We were walking so slowly, it was almost like we were pausing between steps. I didn't stop Fang from talking, I just let him as much as he wanted, because truthfully, one of my favorite things about Fang was how he talked.

Fang was known as "that-one-kid-that-is-really-mysterious-and-quiet-but- is-surprisingly-popular". Before I had known him, he never talked. One word responses were regular, and on good days, he gave a full sentence. The only time he actually talked when he was acting like a smug bastard.

But now that we were together, he talked aimlessly and seriously, about everything and nothing. He was always animated when talking, and even though most would consider it annoying, I wouldn't mind listening him talk the whole day.

It was cheesy.

But I liked it.

I was disappointed when we reached my doorstep with the corny welcome mat and the thousands of potted gardenias and blooming tulips.

He abruptly stopped talking, and had a surprised look, as if he didn't know where he was. I laughed, and tugged on the sleeve of his shirt.

"You can tell me the rest of your story about how you hate fuzzy socks tonight, when I see you, babe." I cooed, and I usually didn't find people cute but-

Fang was my exception.

He brightened, and if he was a dog, I swear his tail would be thumping madly.

He nodded, and gave me his eye smile again. Leaning in, he gave me a hot kiss right on my mouth until I was slapping his chest because I personally didn't want to die of oxygen deficiency.

He let go of me, licked his lips, and skipped merrily down my driveway while waving to me.

I rolled my eyes, waved him off, and chortled at him as he left.

Sighing, I fumbled with the key out of my back pocket, and slammed it into the rickety doorknob.

Throwing the door open, I threw my backpack to the deepest corners of my house and banished the thoughts of homework until after tonight.

Well, if I survived tonight.

Stretching out my sore limbs, I climbed the stairs and headed directly to Mom's study.

Knocking softly, I murmured,"Mom? I'm home, can I come in?"

I couldn't say I was surprised when the door flew open and my mom tackled me.

"Max! Oh my goodness, you rascal-" she screeched, and she smacked me on the back.

I shrieked, and she shrieked, and it was just a mess of limbs and outrageous screaming. Her embrace was warm and tight, and she tugged me inside her room. She did her whole "mom routine checkup", where she had to pull my face back as tight as possible and inspect every pore for any damage, and scan my body in a critical manner, and 'tsk' every now and then.

"You're okay, you're alright." She muttered, and I couldn't tell if she was trying to reassure herself or me.

I rested my chin on her head, because that's how tiny she was.

Nuzzling my cheek onto her hair, I sniffed in agreement.

After a few moments of standing in silence, she drew her glasses up to her head, and gave me a severe look.

"You troublemaker, why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend? I wasn't going to nag or reprimand you for it, or whatever."

I gave her a look.

"Okay, I might have questioned you a little bit, but that's not the issue! You slept over at his house? Did you do anything sexual? Please tell me you did not. You're too young to have a child, and I am way too young to be a grandmother."

I bumped her hip, and laughed.

"No, you dirty minded grandma, we didn't do anything sexual. We just played video games and stuff until we fell asleep."

I felt guilty for not telling her the whole truth, but I couldn't sell Fang out and his secret out like that. It wasn't my business to tell my Mom that, at least not yet.

She sighed, and placed a hand over her heart reassuringly.

"Okay, okay, but now the important stuff. When did you guys meet? Is he cute? Is he smart? Do you really, really, really like him?"

I grimaced,"Mommmm, I don't- I can't just… I don't know ok? Yes he's supremely cute, and he's so intelligent even though he doesn't like to flaunt it, and I really, really, really like him. Ok?"

I was blushing like crazy, and I could feel myself grow hot.

She threw her head back and laughed, and I clasped my hands over my fuming cheeks. Tucking my hair behind my ears, and patted my butt and ushered me outside.

"Go and get ready for Nick. He's coming at six, right? Go shower and then I'll start to prepare dinner."

I smooched her on the cheek and skipped out of her room, softly closing the door behind me.

I hummed as I slid across the wooden floor in my socks.

Making my way to my room, I shouldered the door aside and promptly had a heart attack.

"Ella!" I shrieked, and nearly catapulted myself through the roof.

Clasping my heart, and stared at my baby sister, who was lounged across my bed with her hair splayed out behind her.

She gave me a cheerful look, teasing,"Hey, Maxie. I've been waiting forever for you to come home. You know how many Instagram posts I had to scroll through? Absurd, I tell you, absurd. The amount of people posting either couple goal photos or gym selfies is so," she paused, "-ugh, I don't know, overrated. You know? Ok, but seriously, I've been waiting for nearly an hour, so hurry and sit down so I can get you ready."

She hopped up from my rumpled bed and clasped her hands over my wrists, and threw me face-forward to my mattress.

"Ok, so we're not trying to go overkill but we don't want to go lazy either, you feel? I'm thinking of that dress you wore last summer to Disneyland, that was really cute-"

"Ella." I interrupted,"I have absolutely no idea what in hell you are talking about."

She squinted her eyes at me, as if she could see if I was feeding her BS.

I stared back expectantly.

Slowly, all the air left her, and she rubbed her temples viciously, as if I had given her a mass migraine.

"Nick! Fang! You know, Fang? The guy you're dating? The guy that's coming over in less than 2 hours?"

I waved my hand, seething,"Yes, what about Fang?"

She threw her hands in the air, and I knew where we both got our sassiness from.

"Max, you have to get ready!? Um, newsflash, sister, but you need to look good for his arrival!"

I furrowed my eyebrows together.

"Wait… I can't wear sweatpants to dinner like I usually do?"

Ella stared some more.

"Ok, fine. What do you want me to wear? Do your mojo-magic-makeup stuff."

Sighing, she ushered me to the bathroom, where, unsurprisingly, all her products and whatnot were scattered over the countertops.

"Ok, first of all, you need a shower. No offense, but I'm pretty sure Fang isn't attracted to the whole sweat aroma."

I rolled my eyes.

5 minutes later, 3 towels through, and a mass of dripping wet hair, I was apparently ridded of the "sweat aroma".

Ella tucked her hair behind her ears before speaking,"Even though your closet only contained sweaters and t-shirts, I managed to scrounge some stuff out."

"Option A: Low-key sexy, still casual-ish, the one who goes clubbing."

"Option B: Cute, next door neighbor girl, who does community service."

"Option C: Chic, classy, and pretty without trying too hard; she's sophisticated."

I struggled to comprehend where Ella pulled these dresses from, but I pulled myself together long enough to pick a dress.

"Um, the first one?"

"Option A" was a short, tight, red dress. I wasn't a big fan of the length... but the color was pretty?

Ella gave me a look, and she nudged me. "Try again."

"Um, the second one then?"

Dress B was almost a little too childish for my taste. It looked like something I would wear to a middle school dance, to be quite frank. It was a soft yellow, and had so many bows and flowers that I got a bit lost.

Ella shook her head.

I scoffed,"If you're going to reject what I pick, what's the point of asking me?"

Rolling my eyes, I pointed to the last dress. "Obviously, if I can't pick the first two, then I'll pick the only last one."

The last dress was in fact, really pretty, but I wasn't going to admit that to anyone, especially not Ella because she would make sure to bring it up at every second I lived. It wasn't overly flashy, or too cutesy. It was mature, and sexy in its own way. The color was a dark navy, and the sleeves were long, all the way to my wrists. It was off the shoulder, but in a casual way. The length went just above my knees, where it didn't cling to my body but instead fell away from my waist. It was my style.

Ella beamed. "Yes, Max, yes. Very good choice."

She unzipped it, and helped me pull it up. Clapping delightedly, she demanded me to twirl in circles. She sighed, and I laughed.

"So, now that you look super duper cute, what do you want to do with your hair?"

I tugged at my flat, slightly damp, hair.

"Can you, um, curl it?" I chewed on my lip. The last time I had used a curling iron, was when I was 7. I had snagged it by the metal, and all I could recall was searing pain and peeling skin. That had nailed an irrational fear of curling my hair in for years.

Ella scrunched up my hair, inspecting it. Bending down, she rummaged through a drawer, and pulled out a golden wand that looked quite intimidating.

I saw a glint in her eyes that I really didn't like.

I sat in a spinny chair, with my leg jumping up and down. She plugged in the curling iron, and while we were waiting for it to heat, I couldn't help but become even more anxious.

"Ugh, I can feel your nervousness from here, Maxie. Stop jiggling your leg, now I'm getting nervous, and I'm not even dating the guy."

"Exactly! I'm dating this dude, and I don't bring dudes home to our family, because I don't date dudes seriously and I don't even date dudes in general-"

"Max, are you suggesting that you are perhaps a lesbian?"

"Ella, this is serious! What if Mom completely hates his guts, and she throws the mashed potatoes at him or something, and she flips the table, and he storms out of the room? Huh? What about that?"

Ella scowled at me, and twirled my chair so I was facing away from her. She rolled the plastic stem of the steaming iron between her hands. She moved with an expertise; she was clipping and tying my hair into chunks, and wrapping strands of hair around the barrel until they drooped away, and formed airy, broad, curls.

"Ok, Mom told me how Jeb had crazy anxiety, and now I know where you got it from. Calm down, you weirdo. Even if this guy was a mass murderer, who had a sex chamber, and was a drug dealer on the weekends, I'm pretty sure Mom would still love him. Because you choose him, he in a way, has a VIP pass. You hardly show love to anyone, sis," she says, and her voice grows a little softer, "besides your family and your friends, you've never liked a guy, not even the ones you've dated. Mom and I aren't dumb, we notice. We're both really happy that you have a boyfriend, and a serious one at that. Maybe you two can get married soon and have 50 baby Maxes and another 50 baby Fangs?"

I laughed into my wrist, and I could see in the mirror how Ella's eyes crinkled up.

"You're so gross, El, and I'm scared of giving birth. 100 kids seems a bit overboard, doesn't it?"

"Oh my god, you didn't contradict the marrying part! So, would you actually marry him? Like, did you think about it at all?"

I bounced my strands of hair, slightly fascinated with how it sprung up and down. Ella slapped my hand, muttering,''I didn't even spray it yet, no touching."

"Ugh, I mean, yeah, I would actually love to marry him. I can't really imagine myself marrying anyone else."

And it was true, I couldn't see myself marrying another man. If I tried, all I could picture was a blank face, and it was kinda scary.

Ella clapped her hands, and I found that quite dangerous considering she was holding a metal rod that was steaming hot.

"Oh my god, this is so cute. I wish I was that relationship goals with Ig-" She stopped talking abruptly, and I could see her flush travel from her ears down to her neck and even further.

"Aw, my little sister has a boyfriend that she didn't tell me about? Why didn't you brings Iggy Griffiths over, huh, Ella? Or, James, if you prefer? Hm, Ella, hm?"

She looked like she was going to willingly stab herself with the iron, and I laughed.

"I'm kidding. But do you really like him? Is he good to you? If he's not, I'll find him after school and we can duel to the death, if you'd like."

She gave me the stink-eye, before grabbing a neon blue bottle, and proceeded to spray a toxic gas fume in my hair.

After deeming my hair to be perfect, with every strand in place, she pinned me down, while threatening my eyelid with a sharp pointy thing apparently called "eyeliner". After that, she continued to torture me with a creepy spider thing that was called "mascara". She chattered about everything while she ripped my eyebrow hairs off, and my eyes watered. She waxed my upper lip, and I warn you, that hot wax does not taste great.

After thoroughly putting me through hell, she presented me to Mom with a dramatic "ta-dah!" and even more dramatic jazz hands.

Mom had clapped excitedly, making me twirl a thousand times so she could send it to her coworkers and so she could apparently frame it.

"My goodness, it's so rare that you dress up, I have to frame this in a 30 by 30, maybe even bigger…" she muttered.

I suppressed a grin, and glanced at my phone.

"Uh, are you guys going to get ready too? It's 5:30."

I was met with the horrified looks of my mom and sister, and then they were both sprinting towards the bathroom, shrieking at each other.

"I called the shower first!"

"I am your mother! And this is my house! I automatically get to shower first!"

I cackled at their childishness, and smoothed my hair behind my ears. I was about to toss my phone on my bed, but nearly dropped it when vibrations wracked through it.

I squinted at the screen and it read, "Cute Boyfriend" with three hearts following. I didn't want to name him that in my contacts, but he demanded that he put it in himself.

I answered, and slipped the phone to my ear.

I clomped downstairs, quipping a lazy,"What's up, Fang?"

"Nothing much, I'm just having two or three anxiety attacks every few seconds." He paused. "And I also missed you."

"Fang, honey, it's been like 2 hours since I've last seen you."

I could hear him rustling around, something making a crinkling sound.

"Yeah, I know, but I'm kinda nervous. What if your mom doesn't ever let me see you again, and gives you a shock collar to restrain you?"

"That's not going to happen, dummy." I said, but I wasn't sure whether I was reassuring him or myself.

I heard more crinkling, and an echo of a bell. It sounded busy outside, and the distinct sound of cars whisking by and the chatter of the public echoed through the phone.

"Where are you, anyway?" I said, frowning. I moved swiftly around my kitchen, peering into the pots that sat on the marble countertop.

"Um, I- what? I'm not doing anything."

I made a noncommittal noise, and glanced at the clock. It was 5:49.

"Are you almost here? My family is going crazy trying to get ready."

"Are they really? It's not even that big of a deal, you know. It's just your mother's eldest daughter introducing her boyfriend, and soon to be husband. Am I right?"

"You're lucky I'm talking on the phone with you, otherwise I would smack you. By the way, who calls? It's called texting, grandpa, get with the times."

We bickered for several minutes, before I begin getting antsy all over.

"Hey, are you close by? Hurry, I'm getting nervous."

"I'm actually in your driveway right now."

I hung up without saying good bye, and slid along the tiled floors, and skidded until I nearly smashed on my door.

'Ok, calm down, don't become a Max-pancake. Be calm. Be cool. Deep breathing. Remember yoga meditating? In-in-out. Ok, you got this."

I unlocked the door, and then I promptly forgot about what I had told myself in my pep talk.

He looked good.

He looked so good, that it hurt for a second.

He looked like he should've been modeling on the cover of a high-fashion magazine, and not visiting the home of a high school girl.

But he looked perfect on the mat of my door, with his hand in his pockets, and his hair pulled back instead of letting it shroud his face.

I should've worn sweats, because whatever I wore, I would have looked nowhere perfect as he did. He had a soft gray cable-knit sweater layered over a crisp white button down, and he had a black slacks wrapped around his legs and somehow he pulled it off as well as his jeans. His hair was gelled back, and it didn't look like a cheap version, it looked like the real thing. He shaved, and I could see the shadow of where the hairs used to be. He had a large black jacket slung over his arm, and his sleeves were pushed up so I could see the veins of his arms tracking down to his wrist where a golden watch sat and oh my god-

When did Fang ever wear watches?

"-um, Max?"

I snapped out of my drool-fest, and blinked my eyes.

"Huh?"

He swallowed, and I could practically smell his cologne from here.

"I got you- um, flowers, even though you're not big on flowers, I just, uh- wanted- I didn't. Um, I don't really…"

He was practically have a break down, and yet I urged him on.

"Yes? Is there something wrong?"

He stared at me, and he sighed a defeated little, "Can I maybe… uh… kiss you?"

I must have been staring, because he rushed to explain.

"I know it's kinda creepy, and I- we- usually kiss each other without asking, but it's just that you look pretty. Not even pretty, beautiful. Man, I don't even know what I'm talking about. You look gorgeous, and I'm sweating so much right now, and I hope I can really kiss you right now because if I don't, I might struggle through dinner and I don't want to suddenly make out with you between dessert and stuff, you know?"

I laughed, he and looked slightly mollified and relieved at the same time so I leaned over and tugged him in my his ironed collar and kissed him as hard as I could because, well, yeah, he looked gorgeous too.

"-no kissing before dinner!" A voice rang out over the banister, and I nearly bit Fang's lip off in shock.

I turned my head upwards, where Ella and my Mom stood with identical cheshire grins and evil glints in their eyes.

I scowled upwards, and Fang wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Hello Mrs. Martinez, Ella." He greeted, and I could see both their damned blushes from here.

"Call me Valencia! I'm not that much older than you, Nick." I watched in embarrassment as both of them descended down the curved staircase like beauty pageant contestants.

I snorted, and buried my head in Fang's neck before I died of severe humiliation.

Ella was wearing a soft white dress that I had never seen on her, and she looked like an angel even though I secretly knew different. Mom was wrapped in a pencil skirt and blouse, and it was a slight upgrade from her work attire.

Fang skipped the formal introduction, and hugged my mother, planting a fat kiss on her forehead.

He pulled Ella in for a hug, and I didn't know whether to be amazed or jealous at this point.

He pulled away, interrupted saying,"I actually got you all flowers, if you don't mind. I wasn't sure if any of you were allergic."

Somehow, while I was too busy taking mental screenshots of how hot he looked, I missed that he was holding 3 gigantic bouquets of flowers.

He got yellow roses for Ella, which meant friendship, if I had remembered from the Valentine's Day flower passout at Ashton High correctly.

He had given my mother several stems of deep purple hyacinths, which apparently meant sincerity (well, I had to Google it later on).

And he gave me my bouquet, which was so large, I couldn't wrap my two hands around the stem of it. It was a bundle of hydrangeas, in the color of baby blue, and of course Fang remembered the offhand comment I had made when we were passing his neighbor's house:

"These are really pretty. Hydrangeas, right? Honestly, these are the only flowers I actually really like."

I had no idea what they meant (Fang later told me that it meant heartfelt and honest emotion, but I called BS on that), but they were really pretty.

All of us were still cooing over our bouquets, but eventually Mom had gathered all of them and placed them in glass vases.

We were all crowded around the table, Fang and I facing Mom and Ella.

And of course Fang had perfect table manners, dabbing his mouth with a napkin, had A+ posture, and took third servings without seeming greedy.

I, on the other hand, was a bumbling mess. I spilled sauce on my lap twice, I was slumping like crazy, and, well, eff it, I took five servings of Mom's pasta because hello, who doesn't love their mother's home cooking?

As our cutlery clanged against our plates and the dishes got passed back and forth, Fang's hand was rubbing circles on the inside of my thigh which was incredibly distracting.

Mom cleared her throat, saying,"So, Fang, what do your parents do?"

I could feel Fang's hand still on my knee, and I was ready to bail him out of the conversation before he smiled and easily beamed,"My father is an architect, and he works in Peru constructing new buildings for new companies. Unfortunately, he doesn't live with my mother. They got divorced before I was born."

Mom made a soft noise, before wiping at her mouth.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up such an uncomfortable topic. I'm divorced too, I know it must be difficult to experience sometimes…" She trailed off, and Fang leaned across the table to pat her hand.

"It's alright, Valencia. I hardly knew about my father anyway, and I had no emotional attachment to him. Well, now, my mother is a stay-at-home mother, although my sister has left for college and I'm leaving in a few months."

His eyes hardened, but he continued with a straight face.

"But yes, I work in the house, I tutor younger students."

If Mom or Ella had noticed something wrong about a young child in high school making the money for his "stay at home" mother, they didn't say anything.

Mom nodded sympathetically, and placed a breadstick on his plate.

"Right! College in a few months? What colleges are you interested in, Nick?"

I rolled my eyes as I shoveled salad into my mouth because I knew exactly where this conversation was going to lead.

He chewed on the asparagus pierced on his fork, and he looked thoughtful.

"Well, I applied for Stanford, but I'm reconsidering whether I wanted to go there. I also applied to the majority of the Ivy Leagues, and my last resort was a few UC's around the area."

I could hear Ella accidently inhaling her breadstick, and it took all my effort not to spit out my water in laughter.

Fang was smart; crazy smart. Most people didn't realize it, well, because he played half the sports at our school, and slept through most of his classes. The first time I met him, I thought he was a dumb player who had 2 brain cells left. But that wasn't even close. He was that one guy who read the encyclopedia for fun and knew all the answers on Jeopardy.

I laughed into my hand, and I could see Fang give me the side eye.

My mother sipped her iced tea primly and cleared her throat.

"Ah, Stanford? And, the Ivy Leagues? That's- well, those are really, really incredible. Are you- do you meet their requirements?"

I rolled my eyes, dropping my knife onto my plate.

"Mom, he does meet the requirements. He got perfect scores on his SAT and his ACT. He takes all advanced placement classes, and his community service hours are twice as much as most students. He plays 3 sports, knows how to play the saxophone and the violin, and is trilingual. He's a genius, Mom, it's great. It's so relieving to have a friend smarter than you to copy off the homework." I smiled jokingly at my mom, and watched her give me the dirty work.

Ella was gaping, and I saw her napkin fall over the side of the table.

"Trilingual?" She squeaked, and I could tell she was surprised as hell.

He nodded gently, smiling. "Uh, yeah. My mom's Italian, so I picked that up. My dad has some ancestors from Hungary so I decided to teach myself Hungarian. And, well, I had to take a language in high school, so I picked Cantonese."

"So, ah, if you don't mind me asking, what college will you be choosing?" Mom said, her eyes bulging a little bit.

He looked over at me, and I felt a little hot at the smile he gave me.

"Well, to be honest, whatever college Max chooses."

My mother and sister whipped their heads to me, as if I committed a crime.

I put my hands up in defense. "I didn't tell him to!"

Fang laughed, and grabbed my hand that was resting on the table.

"Don't worry Valencia, Max is just as capable as me, if not more. She applied to most of the colleges that I did. She's not blocking me; she's actually motivating me, if I'm being honest. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have worked as hard, and would have chosen a nearby college. She's supremely intelligent. In fact, we still have a running bet on who will become valedictorian, and who will become salutatorian."

I flashed a smile at him, and whispered, "salutatorian" at him. He kissed my forward, and grinned.

"You wish I was salutatorian."

We all chortled at that, because if anything, I wasn't going to back down from a challenge. I was the most competitive one here.

Well, Fang was almost as bad as me, but maybe that's why we were good together.

!

"I told you not to be nervous, Max. I knew they would like me."

"Shut up, or I'll shove this sponge down your shirt, Fang."

He leaned over with his soapy hands, and tried to grab my face. I shrieked, and grabbed the sink nozzle, threatening to turn it on.

"Touch me and I'll ruin your expensive Armani sweater, you heathen."

He laughed, and resumed scrubbing the plates. Even though my mom had protested like crazy, he convinced her to go sit down and relax while he and I did the dishes. He soaped and washed, while I dried and put them away.

"No, but seriously, I'm glad your mom didn't stab me with the butter knife."

I sighed. We were both so nervous before this, and now, I swear Fang was going to start referring Valencia as Mom and Ella as sister.

I murmured in agreement.

As I slid the last porcelain dish in the cabinet, I stood and felt Fang slide himself behind me, and we stood back to chest. He kissed up and down my neck, murmuring, "We did good. I think they like me, but they need to get used to me more."

I groaned in response, and let my head flop back on his shoulder. His sturdy arms were wrapped around my waist, and he smelled really good.

So I turned my head a little, and hoped he would get the hint.

I could feel his smile and he leaned down, and sought my mouth in a kiss. He tasted like the ice tea we had, and the strawberry ice cream we had eaten afterward.

His lips were scorching hot, and so solid. I turned, so we faced each other and tippy-toed so it would be more comfortable for him. He pulled away, cursing, and I could feel him clench my hipbones a little bit tighter.

I smiled up at him, and he looked softly at me again.

"Do you think we could have a family one day?" He murmured, and I felt perfectly content in his arms, rubbing at the short hairs at the base of his neck.

"Yeah, of course. I want dogs too. Two dogs. Let's get corgis. And children, too. How many kids?"

He leaned in and pressed his lips against mine, softly, and muttered against them,"Five."

"Fang, seriously, five? That's a lot of birth pains and college money."

He smiled. "How much do you want?"

"Two, three at the most. We can negotiate."

"No, now I want ten kids."

"Fine, Fang, you can birth ten kids yourself."

He smiled against my lips some more, nipping at them.

"Fifty kids. No, a hundred. 50 will be Nick Jr. and the other 50 is whatever you want."

"Fang?"

"Yes, Max?"

"I'll kick you in your junk so hard that you won't be able to have kids."

"I love you too, Max."

A/N: Sorry I was later than I expected! This chapter was a teensy bit longer than I planned it to be. But I have an important announcement to make! As some of you know already, this fanfic is going to be ending pretty soon. I'm betting about 3 to 4 more chapters at the most, and probably not over that. Although I'm very sad to be ending one of my favorite works, there are still some suggestions I have been turning and trying out, and I think I'm officially going to be releasing a sequel, set directly after "Life of Highschool". It'll be set in college instead, and it's going to have different themes and whatnot. Some of our characters will not be there, unfortunately, but most of the setup is going to remain the same. But overall, that is what I've been thinking, because there is no way I want to officially end this fanfic! But between the ending of this fanfiction and it's sequel, I will be taking in suggestions for one-shots, and suggestions for my sequel. Also, I would like to thank those who have the patience and time to leave reviews on my fanfic! Especially to these dedicated readers:

xAyeeCassidy

IGGY'S BEA

Loserslovereadin

Chloe

So thank you to those, and several other guests that put thought into giving me feedback and encouragement! You are all the reason that I continue to write! So, sorry this note is so long, but again, thank you for reading! Read on!~ NicoDiAngelo32