MAX
I stand in the airport, taking deep breaths, in, out, in out.
I look at my surroundings, everyone is in such a rush, trying to get to where they need to be, if only they knew how valuable time really was.
My plane leaves in 30 minutes, and I'm supposed to be boarding now but I can't bring myself to leave, I grew up here, I've lived here for the past seventeen years, my friends... the people who used to be my friends were here.
Now I'm being forced to leave everything behind, I'm would turn 18 in a little less than a year anyways, I don't know why I'm not allowed to stay, why I have to live with two strangers I barely know.
I flinch as someone in a hurry accidentally runs into me, barely apologizing before continuing on to whatever it was that was so important.
I make my way towards the boarding entrance to my plane, hand the woman standing in front of the entrance my ticket and the next thing I know my plane is taking off.
I violently shove my headphones into my ears and blast my music as loud as possible without being obnoxious.
I'm not okay with any of this, not like it was my choice. The doctors said I needed a 'support system' and that living on my own could potentially damage my mental health, as if they really gave a shit about my mental health, they just didn't want to be responsible in case I tried to kill myself.
Sorry to be so blunt, that was insensitive.
I close my eyes going over the lyrics to the song I'm listening to in my head, the song that I memorized so many years ago. I'm trying to distract myself from the reality of the situation.
After the accident, when I woke up and there were two strangers in place of my Dad I knew he was gone, I knew, but I'd refused to accept it.
That's why it's taken so many months to get me on a plane to their house. These strangers were my Mom and my sister, whom I haven't spoken to since I was six.
I only vaguely remembered Ella, my sister, and my Mom, Ms. Martinez. No way was I calling her mom. I was going to live with these people until I turned 18, graduated high school and was aloud to live on my own.
Once that happened I wouldn't be forced to live with them, I wouldn't be forced to spend everyday with my so called 'support system', is a support system supposed to make you feel like you can't breathe? Because mine does.
I've lived in Florida my whole life, and now I was flying to New York, the state that never sleeps, or is it the city? I don't really care which. I'm glad that I'm not moving to New York City, it seems too crowded for me. They live in a small town in upstate New York.
I think Ms. Martinez and Ella used to live in Arizona, but moved to New York when Ms. Martinez and my Dad got a divorce. Not that it mattered.
I sighed, wishing this flight was more than two and a half hours, wishing I had more time before I was forced to spend a year with two people I barely knew, people I hardly recognized.
Before I realize what's happening, the plane is landing, and I'm searching for my luggage. Most of my belongings had been shipped here weeks ago, Ms. Martinez had insisted that all my furniture, books etc. be shipped here, so that I would feel more 'at home', as if that were even possible.
My suitcase, which I'd finally found, contained most of my clothes and a few other stray items. The few of my Dad's belongings that I'd wanted to take with me I'd packed in my carry on, nervous that they might get lost.
I drag my suitcase behind me, my backpack slung over my shoulder. It may be August, but I can already tell that it's colder here, the only upside of moving here actually, was the general decrease in temperature.
Wearing long pants and long sleeves back in Florida had been a pain, at least here it wouldn't seem so strange most months out of the year.
I was currently wearing dark blue jeans with a pair of old black vans, so old that they looked grey now, and a forest green long sleeve shirt, my dark brown hair with blonde streaks was lying on my shoulders in it's usual natural waves.
I wished I could cut my hair short, but that's not an option now, wouldn't want anyone at my new school to think that I'm a freak, ha.
I stop and grab a bag of Skittles, a candy that my Dad loved but I was never too fond of until just recently. I tucked the packet away in my bag and made my way towards the front entrance of the airport where Ms. Martinez and Ella were supposed to be waiting for me.
This section of the airport is almost empty, funny considering it's the main freaking entrance, you'd think it'd be easy to spot two strangers who sorta looked like me.
Just then a girl with long, dark brown hair crashes into me, making me drop my suitcase, she's... hugging me? Right, I forgot, Ella's a hugger.
"Oh Max! I'm so glad you're here! Welcome to New York!" Ella squeals as she lets go of me, "Uh, hi" I manage to choke out when Ella remembers how I reacted last time she hugged me when I was in the hospital.
"Oh, right, sorry" Ella said sheepishly before backing off and giving me my space, "N-no problem" I stutter, ah, another thing I got in the accident, my stutter.
I used to speak like a normal human being, now I can't go more than five words without stuttering, just another reason I needed a 'support system'.
Apparently my stutter was part of my PTSD, and my PTSD is why all the doctors assumed I was suicidal, assuming I was going to down a bottle of pills if I was left alone. Bullshit.
But again, it wasn't like I had any say, right?
I'm snapped out of my thoughts when I notice Ms. Martinez standing beside me, picking up my suitcase, "Oh, you r-really don't need to d-do that" I gulp, reaching for my suitcase.
"It's quite alright" Ms. Martinez smiles, I'm thankful that she's not trying shove the whole 'biological motherly love' thing down my throat, then again, she was the only one that knew the extent of my trauma.
I tried to give her a weak smile, but I couldn't, I couldn't be happy about anything right now, I couldn't even pretend to be happy about anything.
We make our way out of the airport in awkward silence, walking towards Ms. Martinez's car.
After throwing my suitcase in the trunk Ella gestures at the front passenger seat "You can sit up front with Mom if you want" I appreciate the gesture, but I can barely get in a car, much less the front seat.
"It's ok" I say, yes, two words, no stutter.
Ells frowns but shrugs it off and hops into the front next to her mom, I tentatively climb into the back seat, checking that my seatbelt is done up properly four or five times.
The drive to their house starts off silent, except for the sound of the radio playing a song I don't recognize on low volume.
"So Max, we weren't sure where you would want all of your things placed so we just left your furniture in the middle of the room so that you could organize it for yourself. Unless you don't want to, that's ok too" Ms. Martinez says, "N-no that's fine I-I can do it" I say reassuringly.
I feel bad, these people didn't need me invading their lives.
"Your room is in the attic, but it's very spacious, is that okay?"
"If you have a fear of heights or something I can switch rooms with you!" Ella says.
"It's a-alright" I say, wondering how they managed to squeeze all of my furniture into their attic, it must be huge, great, more space I can take up.
"Boy let me tell you, Iggy almost killed himself lifting your nightstand up there, I mean it's a nightstand for pete's sake, it's like the lightest thing on the planet but he didn't tie his shoe, so he fell and almost broke his face and your nightstand, don't worry though he didn't actually break it, and if he did he would've bought you a new one, he's cool like that" Ella babbles, Iggy? Iggy Azalea? The pop star? Or does she rap... I have no clue.
"Iggy is one of Ella's friends, also her boyfriend" Ms. Martinez smiles.
"Mooom! He's not my boyfriend" Ella whines, her cheeks turning slightly pink.
"Right, sorry" Ms. Martinez looks at me in the rear-view mirror and winks, I look down at my shoes, noticing a new tear near the top.
Ms. Martinez and Ella seem to get the hint that I don't feel like talking and stay silent until we pull up to their house.
It's nothing fancy or extravagant, but it's not shabby either. It looks like a basic three story house, if you include the attic.
I grab my luggage from the trunk before either of them has a chance to try and help me, I'm not useless, I can carry my own bags.
I walk up the driveway, trailing behind Ms. Martinez and Ella up to the blue front door, a porch swing and a table sit to my left on the porch, plants line the railings and vines are making their way up the red bricks.
I clear my throat as Ms. Martinez opens the door and throws her keys in a red, ceramic dish on a table beside the entryway before kicking off her shoes into the hall closet, Ella does the same.
As we step out of the small entryway and into the living room I feel ridiculously out of place, I also feel like the elephant in the room, mostly because of the five kids sitting around the room on various pieces of furniture who are all staring directly at me.
A girl with mocha coloured skin, dark hair and brown eyes abruptly stands up from her spot on the couch, her purple skirt flowing behind her.
"ZOMG HI! I'm Nudge! Are you Max? Well duh of course you're Max who else would Ella be bringing home, unless you're just some rando from the airport that pretended to be Max and the real Max is sitting at the airport like 'wtf' where are they? and I mean really who coul-" a fairly tall kid, with bright blonde hair and blue eyes, around 15 or 16 years old slaps his hand over the girls mouth.
"Im Zephyr, but everyone calls me Gazzy" why do Ella's friends have such weird names? "Sorry about her she talks a lot, just tell her to stop talking and she does", Zeph... er... Gazzy sticks out his hand.
I stand there with my arms wrapped around me, when I don't stick out my hand in return Gazzy lowers his to his side, frowning slightly.
"Hey guys! Ella says cheerfully, where does she find the energy? Well you already met Nudge and Gazzy, that girl over there" Ella points to a girl, also around 15 or 16, who looks like a carbon copy of Gazzy, with shoulder length blonde hair and bright blue eyes, "That's Angel, Gazzy's twin sister".
Then Ella blushes "That's Iggy" she says, nodding at a tall lanky kid with strawberry blonde hair who's sitting in the corner, "he's the one that almost broke your nightstand" Ella giggled when Iggy rolled his eyes and flung his hand over his eyes dramatically "Am I EVER going to live that down?" he yells.
"No" a voice I hadn't yet heard speaks up from the corner of the room. It came from a boy who looks to be about my age, with shaggy black hair that covers one of his eyes, his skin is tan and his eyes are almost as black as all of his clothes.
"Oh yeah, and that's Fang" Ella says, as if the dark brooding guy who is obviously a serial killer, sitting in a dark corner of the room is normal.
And then suddenly everyone is trying to talk to me all at once, and I am very, very overwhelmed and I do not like large groups of people, and yes, I consider five to be large.
"Okay okay, everyone give Max some room" I hear Ms. Martinez's' now strict voice next to me.
"Let Max get her things sorted out, one of you, carry her suitcase upstairs for her and the rest of you disperse" she finishes, "Ella? A word?" Ms. Martinez leads Ella into the next room, leaving me with five people I don't know.
Just as Iggy is about to get up Fang stops him "I got it" he says, before crossing the room and throwing my suitcase over his shoulder.
I silently follow him up the staircase to the next floor, and then up the staircase at the end of the hall that leads to the attic, my new room for the next year.
As we reach the top of the steps I glance around the room, the walls are slanted but the room is large enough that it's not claustrophobic. The walls are painted a dim beige/sandy colour, and the frame of octagonal shaped window at the end of the room is painted black, just like the four beams crossing the top of the ceiling horizontally.
"Where do you want this?" Fang asks me, I shrug. Something tells me that this guy isn't used to doing all of the talking.
I stand in the middle of the room and a shiver runs down my spine, it's sort of drafty up here.
I glance at all my furniture from home, painful memories flash through my brain. Boxes of my belongings are stacked in the corners, left untouched.
I don't know what to do, I guess I should move my furniture around so that it's not just sitting in a cluster in the middle of the room.
Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath in and out, in, out, in, out. When I open my eyes Fang is still there, staring at me, it's impossible to tell what he's thinking, this guy is about as emotional as a brick wall.
"You don't talk a lot" he observes as I attempt to push my bed frame and queen sized mattress to the back of the room so that I can sleep under the window.
I figure I better say something, just so he can report back to the others that I'm at least semi-normal.
"No" I say, thankfully not stuttering. I've moved my bed where I want it to be and am now starting to shuffle around everything else wherever it will fit, Fang helps me push my bookshelf against the only flat wall, which is beside the staircase.
After shuffling things around for a bit, we finally have everything where I want it to be, I'm just now noticing the skylight in the middle of the slanted roof, it's frame also painted black.
I decide to unpack my books, if I can even find the box labelled books, did I even label my boxes? It was all such a blur...
After opening several boxes and finding everything but books, I discover the ones that I'm looking for and slide them across the floor towards the bookshelf.
Just as I'm about to place the first few books, the ones I read less often, on the top shelf, Fang stops me, "hold on" he says, grabbing a toolbox in the corner of the room that I'd failed to notice until now.
"Sure about putting the bookshelf here?" he asks, I nod, then he's nailing the shelf to the wall, smart idea, well, not so much of an idea, it's more of a common sense thing.
Fang crosses over to the other side of the staircase where a matching bookshelf sits and secures that one to the wall too, I'm grateful. He's the only person who hasn't tried to have a conversation with me, whether or not that made him rude or impolite, I really don't care.
"Let me know if you need anything else" Fang says, going back downstairs once he's finished.
I spend the next fews hours unpacking, even though I don't see the point, it'll all be moved out of here in a year anyways.
I hang all of my posters on the walls with sticky tack, careful not to damage the paint, my Dad went insane whenever he had to repaint one of the walls in my room.
I find the box with my sheets, and my comforter, my big, fluffy white comforter.
There are already sheets on my mattress, courtesy of casa Martinez no doubt, but I strip them off and replace them with my own black ones, eager for something familiar, they smell like my house back in Florida.
After a few hours I start to feel exhaustion set in, I'm still not done unpacking but I figure it won't hurt to leave the rest of it until tomorrow.
I change out of my tight jeans into a pair of comfy black sweats, not bothering to change my shirt since it's comfortable enough, then I lie down on top of my comforter, breathing in the smell of home, I look up out of the skylight and notice the sky getting darker.
Just as I start to drift off I hear someone coming up the stairs, I open one eye and see mr tall dark and dangerous walking up the stairs. I wondered why they'd sent him instead of Ella, or why he was even here, it's not like he lived here.
"Dinner's ready if you wanted to join" he says, standing by the edge of my bed.
I sigh, shaking my head.
Fang doesn't say anything as he turns around and walks towards to staircase, but just as he's about to leave he says something.
"I don't like to talk very much either. But Ella and Dr. Martinez are good people, and so are the rest of our friends. I don't know why you suddenly had to move here, but it's obvious you don't want to be here so... all I'm saying is, give them a chance, they really just want to make you feel at home"
And with that heart warming lecture, he was gone. I had a feeling that that was the most I'd ever hear him say.
Well shit, I have to go downstairs now that I made the brick wall lecture me. I ran a hand through my tangled mess of hair and pulled my sleeves down over my wrists and made sure that my hair covered the back of my neck.
Then I made my way downstairs to face the music.
Most people would be happy to be in my situation, minus the whole dead father thing, I mean the 'loving mother and sister and friends' situation. I guess I'm special.
I start descending the stairs, taking as much time as possible, when an amazing smell wafts it's way towards me, now I'm really hungry. I couldn't even remember what the last thing I'd eaten was, or the last time I'd eaten a full meal.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I followed the smell into the kitchen/dining room, where everyone was passing bowls around the table.
There was a bowl filled with pasta, another with slices of freshly baked garlic bread, salad, and a huge pitcher of pink lemonade.
No one noticed me at first, until I made a small coughing sound.
"Oh! Hi Max!" Nudge said enthusiastically.
"There's an empty seat next to me" the girl whose name I remember to be Angel says, I carefully make my way over to the dining table and sit down in between Fang and Angel.
Stay calm Max, everything is fine, no one here is going to hurt you, were just eating dinner, it's just dinner, no one's going to ask you about your life, just get through dinner.
Angel leans over, "I know they can be overwhelming, but don't worry, soon enough you'll be used to them" she whispers reassuringly, as if she were reading my mind.
I give Angel a small smile and begin eating my dinner.
I could do this.
I couldn't do this.
No. I could do this. I would do this.
Only one year Max, one year and then you're free.
After dinner I head back up to my room too tired to shower, I just wanted to get out of here.
I learned a lot about Ella's friends at dinner since they took the liberty of keeping a conversation going.
For instance, Ella and Iggy? Totally head over heels for one another but clearly refuse to admit it.
Nudge likes fashion and makeup and is obsessed with some male celebrity whose name I couldn't be bothered to remember, also she likes my hair.
Angel is... well, an Angel. Honour student, on the swim team, apparently super smart, seems like she's never done a thing wrong in her whole life. And according to Gazzy she can 'read minds'.
Speaking of Gazzy, apparently he and Iggy like to blow up stuff, pyromaniacs. And Gazzy is ridiculously good at imitating everyone.
And then there's the serial killer who talks about as much as I do, he didn't say much about himself, but everyone else seemed to have a lot to say. Iggy said Fang's never had a girlfriend in his entire life even though he's 'popular with the ladies'. I also found out that he lives on his own and was emancipated from his mom at age 16, but that subject disappeared just as quickly as it was brought up.
Huh, maybe he's just as freaky as me, who knows.
I recalled Nudge saying something along the lines of 'Fang! She talks even less than you! It's a match made in heaven!' she squealed before shoving a forkful of pasta into her mouth.
Please, the last thing on my mind was getting a boyfriend, much less trying to get Fang to be my boyfriend.
I caught him sneaking glances at me all through dinner, noticing the small flecks of gold in his dark eyes that would be impossible to notice unless you were sitting right next to him, which I was.
I quickly grab my old jacket that I'd frequently used for late night flys and opened the skylight, trying to figure out whether or not I could fit my body through. Deciding that I could, I shrugged on my old jacket and stood on my desk chair, hauling myself out of the skylight and on to the roof.
It was around 11PM now, and all of Ella's friends had left. The neighbourhood was silent, not a person in sight. After triple checking my surroundings, I spread out my thirteen foot wingspan, relishing the feeling on the slight breeze ruffling through my tan speckled feathers.
Thank god, I've had my wings tucked away for so long, they were really starting to cramp up.
I rolled my shoulders and then jumped off the roof, my wings catching the air and lifting me up before I have a chance to hit the ground or be seen by anyone.
As long as I could keep my wings a secret for this next year I'd be golden.
Just one year.
A/N Yay new story! I hoped you guys liked this as a first chapter, I know there are a lot of things that I left unanswered but those are things that will be answered as the story progress's, make sure to review! :)
