I do not own Maximum Ride or any of its characters. I only own my OC Ava.

Chapter One

I jump to my locker slamming as I put my textbook for 4th hour in my bag. I turn to look and see the typical high school jock, smirking at me. "Hey Twitchy, need me to walk you to class so that you don't hurt yourself?" I glared at him and walk away. I turn slightly to see him walking behind me, continuing his "funny comments". "Come on Twitch, I'm only trying to help you. Last time you tripped over nothing and fell flat on your face." As he said that, I felt him kick the back of my left ankle, causing my left foot to hit the back of my right foot, causing me to fall face first.

When I hit the ground, I heard everyone that was left in the hallway laugh. Brad kneels down and smirks at me again. "Didn't I tell you? You need help with everything, especially walking." He walks away laughing while his group of friends slap him on the back and congratulate him. It takes all of my self-control, which is not the greatest in the world, and Voice to keep me from getting up and punching him.

Just walk away Max. You have to go to class. No point in being late. I tell Voice to keep his comments to himself as I walk to 4th hour. I walk in and sit in my seat, all the way in the back of the classroom. I am really starting to hate some (okay, a lot) of the people at this school. Ever since I started coming here three months ago in January, everyone has been making fun of me and telling me I am twitchy. It's not my fault. The School, a science lab that likes to combine animals and humans (me), made me that way. I don't like to be approached from behind and jump almost every time someone does it.

I am Maximum Ride, Max for short. I am one of the experiments of the School. They made it so that I am 98% human, and 2% avian. I have wings, hollow bones that make me less than 100 pounds in weight, air sacs, and I'm a lot stronger than the average human. Lately I have been living with my mom, my half-sister Ella, and my cousin Iggy. My dad, Jeb, has been on a lot of trips working for a science lab across the country. So I don't see him nearly as much.

I stare at the teacher while she lectures us on the history of America. I start tapping my foot when a crumpled up piece of paper hits my head. I look at it and in the direction of the projectile. My best friend, Ava, gestures to the paper.

I open it up and read what she wrote: What's wrong?

I reply: Just the stupid preps again. No big deal.

Ava: Want me to kick some ass?

Me: =) No that's okay. Thanks though. Regular lunch place?

Ava: Of course. ;)

I smile at Ava. Ava was a short girl of 4' 9'' with pitch-black hair that had a blueish hue to it. She had bright green eyes that shone whenever someone pissed her off. She was always watching my back. She was one of the few people I liked at this school and was trying to keep everyone from making fun of me. She didn't know of my wings or anything, but if I had to, I would trust her with my life.

At lunch Ava and I headed over to the big tree at the front of the school. No one sits there but us, and the few people that have, lets just say they won't ever come near it again. We just started eating our lunches when my cousin, Iggy, came over to join us.

"Hey guys, how ya doing?" he asked.

"Iggy, on your left." I said. Iggy was facing the opposite way when he greeted us. You see, Iggy is blind and has been ever since he was born. He refuses to go to a special school, so he is here at our school instead. Everyone wasn't sure how he would do, but after a few months of nearly perfect grades, they stopped bothering him and left him alone.

"Oh, sorry." Iggy has never had a problem with his condition. His wings never bothered him either. Only small things like where someone is around him get him sometimes. "Normal day today?"

Before I could answer, Ava pipes up. " Preps are giving Max trouble again." Iggy looks my way, an annoyed look on his face.

"Just ignore them Max. You know they got nothing on you." I glared at Iggy.

"I thought that we were just supposed to stay out of trouble and lay low." He nodded. We had told Ava that we had trouble with kids at school in the past and that we moved here to try and start anew.

"I know that, but you should do something so that they stop annoying you anyway." I ignored him and rolled my eyes.

"I'm rolling my eyes Iggy." He glares in my direction and stands up.

"I'm going to class. I'll see you guys after school." He walked off and Ava and I headed to our classes as well.

After school, I met up with Ella and Iggy and we headed home. Our house is not that far away from the school. When we got home, we all put our stuff away. Iggy put his stuff in his room and Ella and I put our stuff in the room that we shared. After we put away all of our stuff, we went to the living room to watch TV until Dr. Martinez got home. Dr. Martinez is me and Ella's mom. She is a veterinarian here in town and is a very nice person.

Ever since I found out that she was my mom, she wanted me to live with her and, having nowhere else to go, I told her yes. And despite not having a lot of money, she insisted that Iggy live with us as well. Even though Iggy is not related to her directly. He is my cousin on Jeb's side of the family. Despite our relation, we look nothing alike. While Iggy has pale skin, strawberry-blonde hair, blue eyes, and albatross colored wings, I have dirty-blonde hair, normal skin, and light-brown wings with white streaks. Not only that but Iggy is also over six feet tall.

Dr. Martinez walked in the door after about an hour. "Hey kids, how are you doing?" She smiled and set all of her stuff down by the door. "Did you guys have a good day at school?"

Iggy replied. "It was a normal day for me and Max."

"No problems with kids at school?" I tapped the back of Iggy's hand to keep him quiet.

I give her a fake glare. "You make it sound like I cause the problems."

"I know you don't cause the problems dear. I'm just asking. Besides, I don't want to see you hurt again like last year." Last year, the School had found us again and sent Erasers, half-human, half-wolf guards that they created to attack Iggy and me. Iggy and I were able to fight them off, but in the process, I got a broken arm and a lot of bruises. We told Mom and Ella that it was a group of kids that formed a gang. She believed us, but she had us move across the country. "So, were there any problems?"

I shook my head. "There are no problems at all Mom. All of the kids here are really nice." I smiled at her to make it more convincing. It wasn't a lie, there hadn't been any Erasers or any other School creations, but it was because of my problems that we had to move again and everyone doesn't need to go through anything for my sake. "I even made a couple of new friends recently."

She smiled again and went to the kitchen. "We will have to invite some of them over some time. Now, what do you guys want to do for dinner?" Iggy and I looked at each other and immediately said:

"Cheeseburgers!"