Trusting

By DreamingBeyond

Co-Written by ArieZINGhearts

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Maximum Ride.

I do not own any song mentioned in this chapter, or book mentioned, or the words 'Oh my glob or 'Oh glob.'

Max sat on her bed, staring at the picture of her and Angel together. It was five years since she's died, six years since Dr. M, Jeb's fiancée, died, and three and a half years since Jeb left. Angel would be twenty-one right now, just like Ari and Brigid. Sam is just a year older than Max, and she knows he chose to forget about Angel. Nudge and Iggy were Max's age, and they felt the same way she did. Broken. J.J. was a sophomore this year, the only sophomore of the group, and she was in the hospital right now. Gazzy took it the worst, since he was the youngest of the group. But Ella didn't know. No one knew exactly where she went after Dr. M died.

Chapter One

Max

"Max, wake up, it's your first day of school!" Gazzy, my fifteen-year-old brother screamed. I stretched my arms, keeping my eyes close. "Wake up!" he screamed again, right in my ear. I threw a pillow in his face, rubbing my eyes.

"What the hell, Gazzy?" I glared at him. He didn't look ready to go to school. His light blond hair was a mess, and he looked half-conscious; his gray-blue eyes barely open. "Sorry, Max. You have three minutes to get ready and leave for school, or you'll be late once you arrive," he said, glancing at the alarm clock on my dresser. I did, too, seeing the bright green numbers. 7:42.

"And you only tell me now? Get out!" I yelled. I heard Gazzy scramble out of my room and down the marble stairs.

What? I was not going to be late on my first day of junior year. I had to keep my grades up for track, and Pruitt, a horrible excuse for a principal, would not let me join if I was late or if I skipped again. I even dropped out of school for the last three months. Why? Because of – don't even think about it.

Don't think, don't think, no thinking about it, thinking about it is a big no, no, Max, big, BIG, NO, NO.

I groaned as the song 'I Don't Think About It,' started playing in my head. Thanks a freaking lot, Gazzy, for listening to Emily because you thought she was 'cute' in Hannah Montana.

I grabbed a pair of skinny jeans and a black V-neck out of my closet, and began to change.

Once out of my room, I practically leaped from the top of the staircase to the bottom. Gazzy tossed me a box of Cocoa Puffs, and I scooped some out, stuffing it into my mouth.

I ran to the bathroom, speed teeth-brushing.

I took my helmet with me as I began to repeatedly jam my finger into the button to open the garage.

"Ugh, go faster! Come on!" I yelled to no one in particular.

"Ha, that's what she said!" Sam yelled from the kitchen, laughing like a maniac. I pulled out the bag of Cocoa Puffs and launched the box at the kitchen.

"My eyeball!" he screamed. I smirked.

Once I heard the loud groan of the garage door, I flung the front door open, running to the garage.

That's when I realized. It was fucking Sunday! Good one, Gazzy. I could hear them laughing from inside the house. I walked swiftly back to the house.

"You guys suck. Can't I just sleep in peace?" I groaned, falling onto the mat on the floor of the den. "I'd smack your heads off, but I'm sleepy."

"Yeah, whatever, Nudge and Ig will over at 8, though. Igtard called to say that," I heard Ari say.

I hummed in acknowledgment, falling asleep.

Iggy

I grabbed my duffle bag and ran down stairs.

"Going to see Max, I see? That's good, that's good. You haven't seen her in a week now, since we went to Vegas," Mom pointed out, folding clothes and putting it in a suitcase. She was planning on staying in Oregon for two weeks, which means two weeks of living with Max.

"Actually, no, I'm going on a long, tiring journey to see the Easter Unicorns, so they can give me magical boobs that squirt cheesy beacon," I said, grinning.

"Ha, ha, that's funny . . . and disgusting. We have new neighbors, though. Anne Walker has a child your age. Fang, I heard. And she has a daughter, too. Ellen, was it? You should stop by there first. You know, be welcoming. I told Anne you'd be showing Fang around. He's starting school tomorrow with his sister," she informed me. I shrugged as I walked out the door, locking it.

I looked over to the neighbor's house, and I saw a guy my height carrying a gigantic box. Jogging over to him, I said, "Fang, right? I'm Iggy."

He stopped walking and nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"So, you have a sister?" I asked. He nodded again.

I studied him. He had slick black hair, black (I suck at describing, okay? I'm Iggy – do you expect me to be smart?) eyes, olive-toned (Yes! Good description, right?) skin, and a lean figure.

"Well," I said, breaking the awkward silence. He looked at me, expressionless, then motioned to the bag in my hand with his eyes.

"I'm going to my friend's house. You know the unicorns' place? Yeah, they give free magic boobies, spewing out cheese beacon." I said, nodding my head. His lip tugged upward. "Well, see you around, Oh Great Mute One," I said, walking by him. Damn Igs. That could be offensive.

Max's gate was in front of me in no time, and I began to furiously shove my finger onto the doorbell (it's more like a 'gatebell,' isn't it?); a habit I learned from Max.

"Dude, are you trying to break our gatebell?" Ari's voice asked from the outdoor intercom. "Yeah," I answered.

The black gate opened, and so did the fauncy wooden brown double doors.

"Hey, Igtard," Ari said as I walked in, patting my head. He didn't even bother pushing the button to close the doors.

"Got any beacon?" I asked, walking past the kitchen toward the gigantic black bean bag in the den. "Beacon . . . indeed we have," he answered back from somewhere behind me after banging loud kitchen cabinets. Why do I keep talking about beacon though? I'm not a pregnant male, am I? Oh dear Lord. Why am I even thinking about that? I sighed.

"Beacon I shall cook th—"

My sentence was cut off when someone tackled me.

"OOF," I groaned.

"Hey Igs, I missed you," Max's voice said from on top of my back. Was that seriously her? She was so heavy. I felt like a bus full of obese people was sitting on me! And I don't like calling people obese. BREATH, IG, BREATH, COME ON, YOU CAN DO IT! I encouraged myself.

"Hey Max, it's a miracle how you're," gasp, "awake this early!"

"Yup; thanks to my idiot brothers," she said, laughing a bit.

"Yeah," I gasped for more air. "God, what did you," gasp, "eat while I was gone?" gasp. "Did you eat a freaking city?" Queue the wheezing. "Sheesh," I breathed out. I groaned again, wheezing louder.

"Ha, whatever, at least we're conversing while there's a guy as heavy as King Kong on you," Max snorted.

"Whaaa are," gasp, "you talking," wheeze, "about?"

"Are you calling me fat?" I heard Ari say; his voice in a higher octave. "Ugh, you jerks; I'ma go anorexic," he cried.

I felt his hard body roll off of me. I looked up, seeing Max smirk in Ari's direction. "You see, Igtard, I pinned my brother down on you, to see if you thought Ari was fat, too," she smiled proudly. "I told you," she said immaturely, sticking out her tongue.

Ignoring that, Ari looked at me. I raised an eyebrow. Was Ari having trouble finding a good comeback?

"Well, what can I say? I'ma beast!" he declared.

"A fat beast," Max mumbled under her breath.

"I'll let that slide, since you'll be attending school this year," he sighed.

I looked at Max, surprised, just as Nudge screamed from the doorway.

"Oh my God, Max that's great! Just think about the look on Maya and Lissa's face! They'll be all like, 'OMFG, why the heck is she here, like, oh, my, gosh!" Nudge began flapping her arms. "And then the badass chick will be back, and then every guy in the world would want to date you, other than us . . . EW right? And then, ohmyGod, thisissofantastic! I'm so glad to walk the halls with my best friend! Like, the universe's biggest fashionista and the universe's biggest badass cool chick walkin' down the halls like the killer people we are. I missed you so much! Every cool person in the world misses you!" she said in a rush, beaming like an idiot.

I looked back at Max, who was smiling, looking like she was touched by Nudge's odd speech.

"That means a lot to me. I wasn't even gone, Nudge," she laughed a little. "I was just in Arizona for two weeks, and the rest of the three months were me just around the city."

"But you're back," I argued. "It shows just how awesome you are," I added.

She smiled at me in that adorable way, hugging me, and then having Nudge barrel into her. Nudge looked like she was crying, when she just saw Max, like, what? Three days ago?

"Three months, Max. Three months of you not being at school, being the badass of the world, and letting Lissa's gang get to us."

Max's arms fell to the side and she looked a little blank.

"We'll see about that tomorrow, right?" she suggested, flopping onto the heavenly den couch where Ari was staring at his stomach.

"Nudge," Ari said, pouting. Nudge's eyes flickered to him. "Do I look . . . fat?"

Silence . . .

After about ten seconds, Nudge began crying with laughter, rolling on the floor.

"WHAT KIND OF . . . BUFF MACHO DUDE . . . ASKS THAT?" she asked between her guffaws.

"Tell me the truth," he whined. "And stop laughing! Gazzy and Sam just went to sleep."

Nudge put her hand up, walking away.

"I am fat, aren't I?" Ari sighed, looking at his stomach and jabbing his finger into it.

I shrugged, finally getting to sit in the bean bag. I tossed my duffle bag on the mat, dozing off.

"Oh my God, Max!" Nudge screamed, running down the stairs.

Max's head snapped up. "Huh?" she said tiredly.

"You're new neighbor is so hott!" she exclaimed.

"What?" she asked.

"You're new neighbor looks so flippin' hott! His hair is to die for. It's so cute. And his eyes are adorable! God, I saw him from Sam's window. Mega 11 for the scale!" she shrieked.

"That's nice," Max mumbled, cuddling into the couch pillow.

"We should meet him!" Nudge said, jumping up and down.

"He's going to school tomorrow. I have to show him around," I said.

"Good," she breathed.

"Don't you have a boyfriend? And his name is Fang by the way," I added, looking at her. She glared at me.

"Well it doesn't mean I can't state that a dude looks hott." Her face changed. "Oh my glob, is he like a vampire fan or something? Like Twilight? Oh glob, oh glob, this is good. Max reads twilight. I can just see them as a couple. A couple is a weird word, don't you think? Cup and ul is odd right? Hey, I think this room is twice the size of my room. I added a new poster for the song—"

"Stop talking, unless you want to tell me I'm not a fatty!" Ari groaned.

"Shushushshush, close the doors, Ari," Max said, nudging Ari with her foot.

"Yeah, whatever, good night," Ari said, getting up with his hand on his stomach.

Author's Note: Oh my. I can't believe . . . never mind me, I'm emotional, heh.

This is written for all the lovely readers out there.

Thank you May, Jonathan, Jason, Bryson, Vince, Zaria, Zee, Kierra, Trevor, Parisse, Noah, Emma, Sadie, Shane, and Sonia, for being my best friends since I can remember.

Please review, lovelies.

-Veronica Marie DreamingBeyond

Zaria ArieZINGhearts