Preface
"Max."
"Fang."
"Max."
"Fang." We stared at each other fiercely, Fang with that annoying cock of his eyebrow. I hardened my gaze, and he did the same. My jaw clenched and I turned on the full force Max glare; making sure that the fire in my eyes was nearly leaping our two foot gap and burning the smirk off of Fang's face. No effect. He stood just as cockily as ever, amused expression staring me head on. The fact that he'd grown only added to my frustration. Fang stood a full five inches taller then me, which made it feel like he was looking down on me, in more ways then one. I straightened up a little bit subconsciously. Being looked down upon was a pet peeve of mine.
"Fang." I growled. "You're being stubborn." Surprise, he didn't reply. Mr. tall, dark, and handsome only regarded me calmly. And was it my imagination, or did his eyes seem to be laughing? Almost as if they were saying 'Really Max? You're going to stand here and call other people stubborn?'
I could've stomped my foot like an angry, hormonal girl; but it seemed too cliche. Instead I huffed and turned away, leaving Fang to deal with later. Sometimes, I really wish he would just explode. And no, not in the legitimate -burst into fire and die- way, but in the emotional way. Fang yelling and screaming at me would be more satisfying then having him just stare at me silently with no emotion at all. All his calm exterior did was make me angry, and frustrated, and even more enraged then I was at the start. For now, though, I cleared my thoughts of him. It was useless to dwell on the negative. Plus, what was Fang going to do? Give me the silent treatment? I chuckled a little bit at the idea.
"Another argument?" Gazzy asked as I approached the clearing where the rest of the flock was sitting. His eyes were wide with concern, and I couldn't resist wrapping him up in a big hug. I ruffled his blonde hair and bent down to mutter in his ear.
"Just the usual, Gaz. Nothing to worry about."
"When are you going to decide though?" My heart was breaking at the fear lacing his voice. How could you explain this to a nine year old?
"It's just." I paused, flustered. "It's a complex decision, and Fang and I have different opinions."
"But you always have different opinions." The Gasman sniffled. "It's never taken you this long to decide before." For a kid, he was pretty bright. And he was right. This was the longest that it had ever taken us to come to a decision and act on it. Now that there weren't erasers and flyboys following us around, we weren't under any pressure. We could spend as long as we wanted deciding on a path to follow, which had its good and bad sides. At this rate, we were going to be arguing in this little clearing for the next three years.
"I know Gaz, I know. We'll decide soon, promise. Why don't you go down to the lake with Nudge and Angel?" I gave the two a pointed look, and they nodded at me.
"Come on Gazzy." Nudge called. "Me and Angel can show you this awesome spot we saw before! It had like seashells, and waterfalls, and these little crabs that climb all over you and sometimes even bite your toes if your not careful. Remember that, Angel? That little crab was this close to getting you before I yelled and-"
"Okay!" Gazzy said, cutting her off. "I'll go I guess." Angel took his hand in hers, and the two were so adorable that I nearly sighed. He only looked slightly less worried as he sauntered off into the distance with the two girls; Nudge blabbering off about scorpions and beautiful sunsets. I resigned myself to one of the log benches surrounding our tiny campfire, staring idly into the smoldering ashes. My eyes glazed over a bit; and my thoughts wandered to the zone of my brain normally declared off limits. Was I wrong? It was an odd question to consider. In the past, I'd been so busy running, so busy escaping and keeping my flock safe, that I'd never really had time to question whether or not I was doing something the wrong way. It was trust your gut, or get attacked by people who wanted you dead. Now I had plenty of time to mull things over, and the voice in the back of my head kept me wondering. Was Fang right? Were we becoming a pack of lost bird kids; wandering around with no point? Viciously, I kicked a stone near my foot. That couldn't be true! After all we'd gone through to bring Itex down--we should be happy. Excited even. Not sitting around wondering what to do with our lives now.
Life aint fair folks; keep it in mind.
A soft tap on my shoulder startled me, and Iggy's pale blue eyes greeted me when I turned around. "Max." he said softly. I sighed, putting my palm up to silence him.
"If you're here to yell at me, save it. I've had enough of that today."
"I'm not going to yell. I'm just curious why you're dead set against the school?" He stopped, realizing what he'd just said, and flushed a bit. "Not that school. I didn't mean the--you know what I mean."
"I know what you meant." I muttered. My weary eyes finally dropped to a close, and I brought my hands up to massage my temples. Suddenly I couldn't remember my argument. Couldn't come up with any reasons other then 'I don't want to go." or 'I want it to stay just the six of us forever.' But even in my stubborn mind that sounded selfish, and I grasped for straws where I could. "Do you really want to go there?" I asked. "With homework and classes when we don't know anything? Our expiration dates could come to any of us at any time, don't you want to be together when that happens?" I looked at Iggy pleadingly, though he couldn't see my gaze.
"You're wrong Max." he said simply. "It's the only place that we'll ever fit in."
Woooo! Sorry that this chapter is so short, that's because its just the preface. I wanted to know if people would even read my writing before I started making humongous chapters. So REVIEW and tell me if I should even bother continuing this =D Okay, well guys, its been real. P.S--I DO NOT OWN MAXIMUM RIDE OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS HERE STORY. They're alllllllll James Patterson. What a shame.
PPS: i know what you're all thinking, but this is not another "flock goes to high school." story. The school that they're talking about isn't a regular school at all. You'll have to keep reading to find out =D
