Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.

Tick tock, tick tock.

It seemed like this day just wouldn't end. Why, why, why did we have to spend the last class of our last day of school learning biology? It wasn't even as if this class mattered all that much. Exams were over, so the last week of classes was pretty much so our parents could feel like they were getting the most out of their tax dollars.

And it was pretty much so us students could be tortured.

We were going over the worksheets that we had gotten the day before. For any wrong answers, we'd have to copy them down into our notes. That was what this class was. Going over a worksheet and copying answers. It didn't help that Mr. Grant had his back to the class most of the time and he had the most monotone voice I had ever heard.

I so, so wanted to be in Angel's class right now. Her class was having a party, complete with sugar, sugar and…not more sugar, but extended show and tell. Not that I enjoyed show and tell, but it was at least better than sitting here, listening to Mr. Grant drone on and on about mitosis.

Gazzy's class was going to the zoo. Again, I would much prefer going to look at monkeys and alpacas than listening about how monkeys and alpacas performed cellular respiration.

Nudge's class was going to the movie theatre. Mr. Grant could have at least showed us a cool video or something, instead of making us take notes!

I wondered when the switch had been made from the last week of school being a nonstop party, to when the last week of school was just…normal school. I wouldn't know. This was only my second year of going to school, well, consistently, and by my first year, grade 10, we sure weren't having all that much fun.

Grade 11 biology was made somewhat bearable, though, because in this class, I had Fang on one side of me, and Iggy on the other. Iggy was keeping a (perverted) verbal running commentary on the class. Fang mostly kept silent, but just his being there made me feel…better. It was actually more like I couldn't focus very well in class when Fang was holding my hand under the table, but Mr. Grant didn't need to know about that.

I still thought I was the luckiest girl alive. Well, I was the luckiest girl ever because I was alive. But actually, every time I looked at Fang, I found it hard to believe that we were actually together. That he'd come back after we defeated the Doomsday Group.

Well, I wasn't thinking about that when he came back. I was thinking about kicking his ass. But still. I couldn't believe that we were together. That I didn't run away every time we kissed.

"I think he's got a fetish more like, mitochondria. You see how his face just lights up whenever he mentions them?"

"Shut up Iggy," Fang hissed, "if you keep that up and Mr. Grant hears you, we'll all get detention on the last day of school. Is that what you want?"

Iggy shut up for a second, but I knew it wouldn't last. Either Fang or I had been warning Iggy about his antics every time he opened his mouth, but five minutes later, he was back with another witty (to him) comment.

Fang was getting progressively more and more pissed off.

"I mean, if he really loved mitochondria that much, he could just…I don't know, marry it or something. Or have an affair. Would that even work? I mean…eww," Iggy finished with a shudder.

Honestly, sometimes I wonder what that kid is smoking. How does a normal person get the image of a teacher fooling around with cells? That was just…wrong. And impossible. And stupid. There was something wrong with Iggy's brain.

When Iggy finished his little spiel, I felt Fang tense up beside me in annoyance. That kid really didn't want to risk detention today. His hand tightened in mine, and I squeezed back really hard, hoping that a little pain would distract him from the idea of throttling Iggy. I sighed. I could just remember what our flock was like when it was a Maxocracy. They obeyed my every word. Ahhh…good times.

"God Iggy, you're being such a Nudge," Fang whispered under his breath, "I mean, I doubt you would be able to keep quiet for two freaking minutes! No one cares about Mr. Grant's fetishes anyways!"

I, along with everyone else in the class, gulped. Over the course of his mini-rant, Fang's voice had become progressively louder, until he was almost shouting the last part. Not only was that very unlike Fang, it was earning him an icy stare from Mr. Grant at that moment. It was dead quiet in the room, except for Mr. Grant's heavy breathing. His face was quickly approaching the colour of a garden tomato.

This would be interesting.

"Care to repeat that, Mr. Walker?" Mr. Grant asked in a dangerously quiet voice.

"Uh, no sir," Fang said, realizing just how much crap he was in.

"Oh, no," Mr. Grant said, his voice still soft. It was actually kind of creepy. "I think you should repeat that. In fact, you can stay after class in detention to repeat that. Are we clear?"

Now his face was…the colour of an eggplant? Mauve? How the hell did I know what colour mauve is?

Fang shrugged. "Yes Sir," he said.

Iggy face palmed himself. "Wow, it seems like Grant's got a bit of BMS," he stage whispered to me.

"What?" I whispered back, confused.

"Bitch Men Syndrome," Iggy replied.

Oh. Well, that was actually funny. I laughed along with Iggy. Quite loudly, might I add.

"Ms. Ride? Mr. Griffiths? Does something about my lecture bore you?"

Well, crap. "No Sir," I said, biting my tongue to keep a smart alecky comment to myself. No need to get in even more trouble than I was already in.

"Well then, I think you can recount the details of my captivating lesson after class. In detention. You too, Mr. Griffiths."

I sighed. It looked like Fang, Iggy and I had landed ourselves in detention together on the very last day of school. What can I say though? We don't like dealing with authority.

What a way to start the summer.

It turns out that we were the only three kids in the school stupid enough to get in trouble on the last day of school. Yup, we were stuck in a room with no one but the always lovely Mr. Grant. I actually felt sorry for the guy. He had to teach high school! That can't be what kids dream of becoming when they're older.

I could just imagine it. Hey Mommy! I wanna teach a bunch of teenagers when I grow up because I enjoy having spit balls thrown at me!

So, detention was…uneventful. We sat, Iggy cracked immature jokes, Fang brooded, Mr. Grant glared and I doodled on the cover of my binder. It was already covered with scrawls, so I kept using thicker and thicker pens so I could see my new doodles. I was on a chisel tip Sharpie now.

I thought about the flock. They were probably at home with my mom right now, having ice cream to celebrate the end of the school year, fooling around in the pool, and where was I? Being watched by Mr. Grant in detention and doodling.

Sometimes I thought about how different our life was now, compared to…two years ago. Two years ago, when I was fourteen, we dint' know when our next meal was. We didn't know if we would live another day. We were on the run. Now, because Itex was destroyed, our biggest issue was missing out on end-of-school-year ice cream.

I thought we might be getting soft.

Dylan was another issue. After Fang came back, Dylan had mysteriously disappeared. Like Jeb did, years ago.

God, I hoped that the whitecoats didn't have him, and I hoped he was okay. Not because I had feelings for him anymore, but because I still cared about him. When Fang tore my heart out and stomped all over it, when I was acting like a lovesick puppy, Dylan was there to give me a reality check. Later, he was there to comfort me. Even if my idea of being comforted wasn't exactly being kissed, the thought was there, right?

And later, when Dylan realized that I didn't want to be more than friends, he just...accepted it. So we were just friends. We got along great. Almost like Fang and I before all of the awkwardness.

Then Fang came back, and Dylan disappeared.

Don't get me wrong, I was totally happy that Fang was back, but I just wished that he and Dylan could have made it work somehow. That we could have all had a happy ending.

One day, my hormonal self is going to learn to balance friendship and romance.

I glanced at the clock again. 3:45. we were here until four. For about the seventeenth time today, I found myself watching the second hand of the clock and zoning out.

Tick tock, tick tock.

Finally, the moment the second hand hit the twelve, I shot out of my seat. Fang and Iggy did too. Huh. I guess we were all watching the clock.

Mr. Grant looked at us with distaste, as if we were some mold growing on a piece of cheese. "Ms. Ride, Mr. Walker, Mr. Griffiths, detention is over. See you in September."

"Hopefully not," I whispered to Fang. The corner of his mouth twitched, the closest he'd come to smiling. I really hoped that I didn't have Mr. Grant as my teacher for my senior year. I hate feeling like cheese mold.

As we left the room, Fang got Iggy into a headlock, which he escaped easily. Hmm…I might need to get the Fang back into shape if he couldn't even keep someone in a headlock for thirty seconds. Heck, all of the flock could use a bit of butt kicking. We'd been sitting on our butts more than we worked them.

Anyways, we left school, Fang and Iggy roughhousing the whole way. Thoughts of no school stresses, no homework and tons of free time bounced happily around my brain. The feel of the sun was absolutely amazing. I seriously thought that my school should invest in some skylights, or an outdoor classroom. Some Vitamin D would really make me learn better.

I quickly pushed all thoughts of school out of my head though, and just relished in the thought of not having to go back for two whole months. I was definitely going to get enough sun this summer. By the pool. With Fang.

Oh, God, I was turning into such a girly girl.

Whatever.

The summer was mine.

I burst in though the door of my mom's house, and was greeted by hugs (Angel, Nudge and Ella), fist bumps (Gazzy), and elegant lick from Total and a reprimanding look from, you guessed it, my mom.

"OMG Max, so we went to the movies, and I saw a trailer for Justin Bieber's 3D concert, and I think I want to go, because Justin Bieber is so cute, and I love his music, even though Connor in school said he sounded like a girl, I don't think he does, because-"

I slapped a hand over Nudge's mouth. That's the Nudge Channel. All Nudge, all the time.

I glanced over at my mom. Instead of laughing at Nudge's motor mouth like she usually would, her face was grim.

"Why are you three an hour late? I was worried sick! What's the point of getting your daughter a cell phone if she doesn't even turn it on half the time?"

Wow. She was pretty pissed. Usually she was easy going, but she's really strict about not knowing where we are. Personally, I think that in her subconscious, she's always worried that the School, or some other genetic scientist is going to find us.

"Relax mom," I said gently, "Itex is gone, remember? No one's going to use us as experiments anymore. Iggy mouthed off to Fang in biology. Fang yelled at him to stuff it and I laughed. We all ended up in detention. You know how Mr. Grant is. He gets his jollies from making other people miserable."

Her face relaxed. "I guess you're right," she replied, "that Mr. Grant always did seem like he had a stick up his butt."

I grinned. See? My mom is just about the coolest mom ever. She was actually more of a sister than a mom to me.

"That doesn't make being disruptive in class okay though," she hastily added, "in fact, I think I can cut your ice cream amount for today. Just two scoops."

Okay…scratch previous thought. She was cool, but she was still a mom.

"What are we going to do this summer Max?" Angel asked.

"Anything, sweetie, anything," I replied. "The summer is all ours. Just flock time, all the time! We're going to have a blast."

So…R&R?