AN: So, this was just random inspiration, like a lot of my stories. I'm not sure how long this is going to be, or even if I'm going to continue it. This is set during book…three, I believe it was, when the Flock was split up. I'm not sure. I need to listen/read them again. *sweatdrop*
Disclaimer: I only own my character(s). Nothing else. All the original cannon characters of the Maximum Ride series belongs to James Patterson. I make no profit from this story. This applies to all chapters to follow. Any works within the framework of the story, however, belong either to me, or their respective owners as noted.
Chapter One
"Mom! I'm home!" I called as I entered the house, throwing my bag to one side and wiping my sweaty blonde hair back from my face. Outside, my bike leaned against the fence, deceivingly relaxed looking, since it was chained up. I used it every day, during the summer. And I mean every day. I would bike to my friend's house and then from there, we'd bike into the city, and screw around. Then we'd head home.
"Alex!" My mom yelled from the kitchen as I flew down the hall. "You're late!"
"I told you I would be!" I called back, not slowing. "The movie ran late!" Today, my friend Cassie and I biked to the movie theater in the city and saw Despicable Me. You've seen the commercials – the one with the little girl holding the unicorn that screams, "IT'S SO FLUFFY!" Yeah. That movie.
"Welcome home, Alex!" Yelled my brother, Liam, from upstairs. Oh crap. I could hear his feet on the stairs. It was a race now, as I darted toward the bathroom, trying to beat him there. It was one of maybe two or three breaks he'd take from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare today. He was seventeen, three years older than me, and if my mom started buying him Depends, we'd never see him.
"Ha!" I yelled triumphantly, slamming the door and nearly catching his hand.
"Dammit, Alex!" He yelled angrily, and I laughed. "Go use the other bathroom! This is the only one with a shower, unless you want me to stink up the whole house because you had to piss!"
He grumbled an ascent, before stalking off. Now that I had the bathroom to myself, I turned on the water in the shower and stripped down. My cut-off shorts were still clean, so I set them on the counter, while everything else – all soaked in sweat – went into the hamper. Once the water was comfortable, I stepped in and washed the sweat from my body. I shampooed my short hair, taking several minutes to get it all out of the thick curls, before I finally got out.
I kept all my clothes in the bathroom, since, with all the biking I did, I took a shower every day anyway. Once I was mostly dry – even with a blow dryer, my hair would take at least twenty more minutes to dry – I changed into my bikini. I pulled the same cutoff shorts over the bottoms and a white tank top over the top.
Of course, when your bikini is black and silver with bright neon stripes and splashes, it's hard to hide with a white tank top. For a while, I got crap about the fact that across the breast of the top, over and over in tiny writing, it says 'beach bunny', but not any more. My friends only notice the neon, and now they actually think it's pretty cool.
I'm not a beach bunny. The only beach within five hours of my house is Clear Lake, and beyond that are only the Great Lakes. Sigh. In case the mention of the "Great Lakes" wasn't enough of a giveaway, I live in Wisconsin. Lake Michigan to one side, Lake Superior to another, the Mississippi River on the West, and countless lakes and rivers scattered throughout the state. Yeah, we have a lot of water. No oceans though. No real beaches.
But for me and my friends, Clear Lake in July is close enough. So, that's where my mom is taking me. It's almost an hour away, so no biking there, plus, drivers on Wisconsin Highways are assholes. After running a brush through my hair, I stepped out of the bathroom.
"Mom! I'm ready to go whenever you are!" I yelled. She stepped out of the kitchen and looked at me. In one hand was a picnic basket that I knew from past experience was filled with plastic plates and cups, booze for the adults, raw asparagus for the grill, and uncooked burgers and hot dogs.
"All right." She said, before making her way to the stairs. "LIAM!" She shrieked up the stairs. "You're coming with us! Now!" I heard his annoyed groan, then the stairs creaking as he made his way down again.
We made our way out to the car and piled in, Liam taking shotgun – at which I stuck my tongue out at him. Then, Mom put the car in reverse, pulled down the driveway, and we were off.
When we got to Clear Lake, it was packed. One, it was a Saturday. Two, it had to be at least ninety degrees out. Of course it would be packed. But our area wasn't. My friends and I like to hang out on the other side of the lake, by the rope swing and the party barge. People came over occasionally, but for the most part, it was just us.
I got out of the car when it stopped, and was almost immediately engulfed in a hug from my friend Morgan. Her sister was already in the water, along with most of my other friends. Her older brother, the same age as Liam, was standing on the dock by the party barge, throwing a Frisbee. Liam got out of the car and went to stand by him.
Morgan grabbed my hand and hauled me over. I managed to pull her to a stop before we actually got to the water and remove what little clothing I was actually wearing. Cassie wolf-whistled jokingly and we all giggled.
I ran toward the dock, past Liam and Morgan's brother, Jake, and leapt into the water. It was cold, but against the hot sun above us, it felt great. We Jake threw the Frisbee as hard as he could, and I leapt out of the water, managing to get out to my knees, before I snagged the Frisbee out of the air and threw it back. Liam caught it by the tips of his fingers and swirled it, before throwing it out again.
We sort of have this running joke with Liam, where he claims to be Jesus. This time though, it's Jake that whips it back out, nearly perfectly, after Cassie throws it hard – and slightly wobbly – toward his…other head.
"Oh yes!" He yells, throwing the Frisbee toward his sister. "I am Jesus!"
"No way!" Liam countered. "Haven't you heard? That's me!"
"There's two Jesuses?" laughed Cara, Morgan's sister – Jake's other one, that he threw the Frisbee to.
"Would it be Jesuses or Jesi?" Cassie asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she chucked the Frisbee to me.
"I think that would be Jesi." I agreed, throwing the disc as hard as I could at Liam. It hit him in the leg and he toppled of the dock and into the water. Everyone laughed.
"You disgraced Jesus!" Yelled Cassie jokingly.
"'You disgrace Jesus!' says the Pagan!" I retorted.
As I watched the banter continue, my eyes strayed away from the group to three boys sitting on the bank. One had very dark hair and olive skin that looked a lot like Morgan's, Jake's and Cara's. He was bent over a map with a small blonde boy who couldn't be more than eight or nine. Finally, my eyes fell on the boy with the red hair. His limbs were long and lanky and despite the baking sun, his skin was ghostly pale. But what caught my attention was that although he seemed to be listening hard to what the boy with the dark hair was saying, he was gazing off into space. I knew that look. It was the same look my grandmother had when we went to visit her. The boy was blind.
Of course, I lost my sympathy quickly, when I heard him whispering to the other boy. "Come on! You gave me virtually nothing in California! There have to be girls here!" I let out a low growl and looked over at Cassie. She had better hearing than me, and looked equally pissed.
But I waved her away. I'd deal with the sexist blind guy by myself. I flipped onto my back and paddled toward them. Before long, I was mostly out of the water, and I could hear the other boy whispering back, as the younger one now played in the shallows. Good. At least they weren't polluting his mind too.
"Really, Ig, there's not much to describe. They're not ugly, but there're not like the girls in Cali either." I wasn't within kicking distance yet, but if I'd brought one of the slash balls, I could hit them easily, and pretty hard. Then I felt the dark boy's eyes on me. Oh wow. His eyes are just about as dark as his hair. "Oh, there's this one girl headed this way. She's pretty tall – taller than Max – and she's got short hair. She's pretty skinny, but not, like…unhealthy skinny. More like athletic." Then I heard him give a quiet laugh. "Oh man, you'll love it. Her swimsuit actually says 'beach bunny' on it."
More quiet laughter, but it cut off as soon as I stepped out of the lake. The blind boy – 'Ig', presumably – was a little red, and I'd bet money that it wasn't from the sun.
"She's closer, isn't she, Fang?" I heard him whisper. Then, something clicked in my mind, and I stopped dead. 'Ig' was short for 'Iggy'. He was blind. And Fang – tall and dark. This was the 'Fang' that I read about online, the one with the blog, "Fly On".
My throat closed. I could see it now that I was closer – the awkward way both Fang and Iggy were sitting against the back of the bench. The map. These were the winged kids.
Oy, that ending wasn't the best, but if I hadn't ended it there, it would have been way longer. And I mean way , review! =D