And the world stopped spinning

"Don't make me do this, mum..." I groaned as I stared out the window of our car, which was in the school parking lot. Even though I was eighteen, I didn't have my own car yet.
"Max, I'm not letting you skip school. You'll live, I promise," She said, and her voice made me feel a little better. Little being the key word. I gave her the bird before getting out, almost slamming the car door.
I walked up the path from the parking lot to the main building, and all the voices of the people around were much quieter the second they saw me. There were even points when nobody said anything. I just ignored them and kept going, heading to my locker to grab my books before class started.
What I didn't remember was that Fang's locker was right behind mine, on the opposite wall of the corridor. I turned the corner to see that he... wasn't there? What?
I contemplated this as I got my books out, my first two classes before break with Fang, and my fith class with him as well. I gave his shut locker door one last, odd look before heading off to art class.
When I got there, I took my seat next to Nudge, the one on my left empty -Fang's seat. Where was he? He'd never missed a day of school, not that I could remember.
Nudge elbowed me and I looked up, her chocolate-coloured eyes looking at me with worry.
"You okay, Max? You look horrible. No offense, I mean, but you do. Like you got hit by a truck. Do you know where Fang is? No, I bet not. It's odd though, right? That he isn't here? Fang is always- MMPH!" I put my hand over her mouth and glared at her. Her face went from surprised to apologetic. I took my hand away, putting my elbow on the table and resting my chin in my hand. "Sorry. I said too much, huh?" I nodded, and she went to talking to Angel, who was on her right.
Iggy came in and took his seat behind me, his eyes meeting mine as he walked past. I didn't understand how he did that, being blind and all. He put his books on his desk, then leaned forward to put a hand on my shoulder.
"How are feeling?" He asked cautiously into my ear.
"Fine," I mumbled back, not looking up from what I was doodling in the corner of my page. I didn't even know what I was drawing. Just scribbles. I heard him make a faint, disapproving noise, but he removed his hand, leaning back.
The teacher came in then, and the whole room fell silent. He slapped his papers down on his desk, and we all knew he was pissed at something.
By the time class was over, I was wishing I could just roll over and die. He'd made us write a 400 word response by hand in the half-hour class we had, or we'd be going back for detention later.
I got to Social Science a little early, so I took my seat and got out my art pad. I began drawing, and I didn't even what shapes my pencil was making as it moved across the paper. Nudge walked in, sitting to my left this time, the seat on the other side of me still empty. She peered over my shoulder and smiled, her mocha skin emphasising the white of her teeth.
"Cool wings, Max," She said, and I stopped, looking up at her. She'd already began busying herself with getting her stuff out of her bag. I looked down at the paper, and saw what she was talking about.
It was a sketch of a pair of large, feathered wings, completely black bar the white feathers at the bottom of each one. The wings were attatched to a girl, with long, flowing hair, and she was holding one of the black feathers in her hand. I couldn't tell who the girl was meant to be. I couldn't even tell what her hair colour was -the picture was black and white. I didn't even realize that I'd drawn it -I just drew what I felt like.
Class passed in a blur of words and raising of hands. I didn't even understand what we were learning, and my head was full of Fang, Fang, and more Fang. The bell rang for lunch, and Nudge literally jumped out of her seat, grabbing me by the arm and hauling me out.
We headed over to the library for lunch. I normally ate before going in, but I didn't feel like eating, so we just went straight in. We took a table right at the back, in the corner of the little cut out area in the library. As soon as we sat down, Nudge pulled out her phone.
"I'm calling Fang," She declared, and I looked at her, my mouth nearly falling open.
"Why?" I asked, not sure if I could stand it if she was talking to Fang right in front of me.
"I want to see why he isn't here. I'll put him on speaker so you can hear it too," She said, smiling. She dialed the number, hit the call button, then put it on speaker while it rang.
I chewed my lip nervously as I waited for him to pick up. Nudge began drumming her fingers, setting me even more on edge. The phone was about to ring out, and me about to scream, when the ringing cut off, and I heard somebody take a deep breath on the other end.
"Nudge?" Fang's voice sounded amazing to me, the most important sound in the world. It wasn't the exact same as before, though -he sounded kind of strained, and there was a husky edge to it. I was tempted to ask what the heck happened, but I kept quiet, my fingers nervously twirling a strand of my hair.
"Fang! Where are you? Are you okay? What happened? It's not like you to miss school. When are you coming back? You didn't die, did you?!" Nudge was flipping out, and I made a motion for her to calm down. She nodded, and we waited for his reply, Nudge practically jumping up and down in her seat in agitation.
"Calm down, Nudge. I'm fine. I just... had a bit of a cool down, is all." He chuckled nervously, knowing Nudge wouldn't really notice that he was faking it. I did, though, and that made me worried, agitated, angry, and upset all at the same time. "I should be back tomorrow. And no, I'm not dead." Nudge gave an over-dramatic sigh of relief, and I had to hide a little giggle at her expression. She smiled at me, then picked up the phone.
"You better be here, Fang. Or I'll get Iggy on you," She said warningly, but had a clearly joking tone in her voice. I could hear the tiny smile in Fangs voice.
"I'm sure you will, Nudge." I heard him take a shaky breath, and I felt my longing for him get a little worse.
"I will. Don't worry." She laughed, and I couldn't help but smile slightly at ther musical sound. She looked at me briefly, then lowered her voice so I wouldn't hear, even though I still could. "Max misses you. Come back soon, okay?" She ignored the look I gave her, even daring to poke her tongue out at me.
Fang fell silent, and I could hear his deep, ragged breathing through his mouthpiece. He sighed. "Okay. See you, Nudge."
And then he hung up.
I was about ready to give Nudge a can of whoop-ass, when she smiled at me apologetically. "Sorry, but somebody had to let him know you weren't still pissed off you rocker at him." She shrugged, then got up, sliding her phone into the pocket of her cargo pants. "I'm going to go find the others. Stay," She said, winking at me, then she ran off, her cute caramel ringlets bouncing up and down as she did.
Yes, I was angry at her, but at the same time, I was glad she did what she did. I would never have had the courage to tell him I still loved him.
If only he felt the same.