Max's POV
"Why do I have to go?" I yelled at my mom.
"Because if I leave you home alone, the house will be in ruins when I come back!" she replied, obviously trying not to lose her temper with me.
"You don't trust me to be able to take care of myself?"
"No, I don't trust you with the cooking appliances! Remember last time?"
I did. I had tried to heat up some pizza in the microwave and had forgotten to take off the tin foil. The plate started on fire and burnt through the microwave and the next thing I knew, I was standing in front of a firefighter telling him that the microwave tried to kill me.
So I guess she had a fairly good point, but summer camp? No. Nope. Nadda. Not in a million years! The only reason I had to go was because my mom wanted to go on this cruise over the next three months and she was shipping me and my sister off while she got to relax on tropical islands! I didn't mind the fact that she was going on a cruise and leaving us behind, but sending us to summer camp? I don't think so. Ella seemed to enjoy the idea though.
Ella was my younger sister by a year. She had dark brown hair, soft brown eyes and tanner skin than me. She looked more like my mom and I looked more like Jeb, my no good father who up and left us when Ella was born. I hated him for it and I hated looking more like him. I had multicolored hair, as I liked to call it. Blonde and brown and a little bit of darker color underneath it all. But my chocolate brown eyes were from my mom.
"Come on, Max! It'll be fun. I'll help you pack!" Ella said.
My eyes widened, "No. No way are you packing my bag. I don't want to look like I came from land of the freaking rainbow unicorns!"
Of course, that gave mom an idea, "Alright, Max. You can either go willingly and pack your own bags. But if you keep complaining, Ella can do it."
That shut me up.
"Fine" I mumbled and went up to my room to sulk and eventually got up and packed for three months worth of living at some dumb camp. When I was done, my duffel bag basically consisted of my entire closet: T-shirts, jeans, Basketball shorts, and tank tops. Ella couldn't stand my closet. Every time she came in here, she would sneak something into it. Last time it was a pink halter top and white skinny jeans. I disposed of those quickly (Burned them in the fire pit while she was out shopping with mom) and got on with my life.
When I came back downstairs, I smelled something heavenly. Chocolate chip cookies. Oh, she had done it now. My mother was trying to suck up to me and I hate to say it, but it was working. I jumped the last five steps and ran into the kitchen. Mom was standing in front of a bowl of cookie dough, scooping some more onto a pan.
When she saw me, she smiled. "There are some already out on the stove, cooling off. But they're still hot."
I didn't catch that last part. I just took the whole pan, burning my fingers, and ran into the living room. I jumped onto the couch and turned on sponge bob, then began to shove cookies into my mouth, burning it. Ella came and joined me halfway through the episode and her face wrinkled in disgust.
"Can you at least try not to eat like a pig?" she asked me.
"Nope!" I replied through all the cookie shoved into my mouth.
"Ugh! You're hopeless."
I shrugged and continued to watch my cartoon, trying to forget the fact that tomorrow, I would be shipped off to some awful prison in California. For three months without another cookie that was as good as my mom's.
BEEP!
BEEP!
BEEP!
SLAM!
I hit my alarm clock and it finally shut up. I pulled my comforter over my head and tried to go back to sleep. That, of course, didn't work because a minute later, Ella came in and began to jump on my bed.
"MAX! It's time to get up. We have to go soon!" she sang as she shook my bed.
I held onto my blankets tighter "Idonwannagoiwafntosleeyp" I mumbled.
"No! You can't sleep and you have to get up!" She demanded, ripping off my blankets and throwing water onto my face, soaking my and my pillow. Oh. No. She. Didn't.
I jumped up and tackled her to the floor, shaking my wet hair in her face.
"Get off of me you butt" she cried.
"Why should I? You dumped water all over me!" I shot back
"YOU'RE CRUSHING ME!"
"You deserve it!"
"MOM!"
"MOM!"
In came my mother, looking very tired and very irritated. "Max, what are you doing to you're sister and why are you all wet?" She asked me, sounding more curious than mad.
I rolled off Ella and stood up in my Elmo pajamas. "She threw water on me, so I tackled her." I explained.
Mom rolled her eyes. "Both of you get dressed and ready to go. The bus gets here in an hour."
I dropped my jaw, "What about Ella? Punish her for being psycho!"
"It looks like she already got her punishment. You sat on her. Now get going." she yawned and left the room.
I turned on Ella, "I suggest leaving if you want to live another day." I whispered, giving her the Max glare.
She turned and ran for it. I locked my door and began to get ready for the prison camp.
ONE HOUR LATER
The Arizona air in the morning was a perfect seventy degrees. I was sitting on the porch with Ella waiting for the bus. Mom had hugged us goodbye and went to go get ready for her cruise. She really deserved it. She had been saving up since Jeb left us and now she finally had enough. I was lost in thinking about how much mom needed us to leave and for her to be able to spend some time stress free and alone when the bus pulled up.
Ella shrieked "It's here! Come on, come one!" she tugged at my arm. I stood up and grabbed my bag. We walked over to the bus and one of the Camp councilors came out and shook our hands, which I found weird. She was really perky and wouldn't stop smiling. She had black hair and bright blue eyes. "Maximum Ride, age 16?" she asked.
"Yup."
"...And Ella Ride, age fifteen?"
Ella grinned like a madman, or woman I guess. "That's me!"
"Alrighty! I'll load your bags and you can find yourselves a seat on the bus. The ride's pretty long, almost a whole day, so we'll probably arrive tomorrow morning. Food will be served on the way for all campers. Climb aboard!"
I nodded and dragged Ella up the stairs. Inside the bus, there were two rows with two seats on each side. Ella chose a spot towards the front across from a girl with Mocha skin and curly brown hair and another girl with sparkly blue eyes and wavy blonde hair. I sat at the window seat so the three could converse with one another while I listened to my iPod. It was the only good thing about this trip. The bus lurched forward and we began the journey to this stupid camp. Of course, my iPod thought it would be funny to start playing Life is a Highway. I sighed.
This was going to be a long trip.