Focusing on My Life

Disclaimer: The awesome James Patterson owns this, not me. Though, if I had the choice, I would own it, not him.

Prologue

Max POV

I opened my eyes, and groaned. I sat up and looked at the clock. 6:03 AM. My first Wednesday at school, just waiting to happen.

I got out of bed and walked slowly to the bathroom. I stared at myself in the mirror.

Before I get into anything else, I should tell you that my name is Maximum Ride, and I'm 17 years old. You may think that's a weird name, but I'm glad that I have it. It makes me unique. Because I am unique. All of you reading this are probably like, "Oh, I am unique, too," Well, you're not unique in the way that I am.

You see, I'm am 98% human, and 2% bird. Yup, that's right. Bird. I used to live at this place called the School. It was the most awful place EVER. They tortured us, didn't feed us, subjected us to experimentation, etc. I lived there with two other guys like me, Angel, 6, and the Gasman, 8, Gazzy for short. We managed to escape when a really stupid guard opened the door to our cage when I pretended to be bleeding and in pain.

Anyway, let's get back to the story.

So, I looked at myself in the mirror. I have blonde colored hair, with electric blue eyes. Those eyes are famous within the Flock (Gazzy, Angel, and I) for giving a death glare. I thought I could actually be pretty, but I never put on makeup and never went out of my way to make myself look prettier. That's because no guy has ever caught my eye before.

Little did I know that all of that was going to change today. On this boring Wednesday. On the bus.

Chapter 1

Max POV

After I washed up, and changed into something suitable (a green-long sleeved shirt, jeans, and black Converse), I went downstairs to eat breakfast and say hi to my adoptive mom, Dr. Martinez. She was the one that rescued us off of the streets when she realized that we weren't your regular old street hicks.

"G'Morning Max."

"Hey, Mom. I got to get going. The bus comes in like, 2 seconds. See you later."

"Bye, hon. Good luck at your first day of school."

I had to tell a little white lie to get out of the house. The bus actually came about 30 minutes later. I just wanted a little time on my own, without the stress of my mom asking what was wrong. I started the walk down to my stop.

It was kind of… relaxing, walking down the street, without anyone talking and nobody bothering me about something stupid.

After a little while, I heard the voices of my soon-to-be school mates. Some were loud and obnoxious; others were quiet and… quiet. I walked down and sat down on a bench by a tree that sat right behind the stop. I looked around. There was the noisy street, with loud honking cars and radios turned onto high. Then there was the quiet and lush forest that stood behind me. I could hear the creatures talking to each other, and the leaves rustling in the breeze. I decided easily that I liked the forest best.

All of a sudden, the chattering stopped. I looked to see what made everyone stop their talking, but I only saw the bus. I stood up and sighed, unhappy to be leaving by little forest. But, school was calling, so I had to go. Besides if I didn't, Dr. Martinez would get very mad if she found out I skipped on the first day.

I walked up to the bus doors and walked inside. Every seat was taken by loud children too engrossed in their conversation that they didn't even notice me when I got onto the bus. All of them, except one. It was way in the back. I walked down to the seat, and there was one person sitting there already.

"Can I sit here? All the other seats are taken." I asked this without looking at the person. I only glanced up long enough to see him give a quick nod.

Based on that quick glance, this was a human boy. He had dark brown- almost black- hair, with very light skin in comparison. He was wearing all black cloths. A black T-Shirt, black jeans, and black converse. Just like mine! I thought.

I sat down next to him without really looking at him. I just thought about my classes and what would happen in them. I was so nervous.

Fang POV

"Can I sit here? All the other seats are taken." I heard a quiet musical voice asked. I gave a quick nod. I didn't dare turn around to see who it was. I wasn't sure I wanted to put up with another girl that just wanted to hook up. I looked really quickly at the girl through the corner of my eye. She wasn't even looking at me. She had blonde colored hair (I prefer redheads), a dark, long-sleeved shirt, jeans, and black Converse. Just like mine. She looked kinda pretty from the side. Well the good news was that she wasn't one of those girls.

I looked out the window, and I heard her hair swing as she looked out the window too. There was a man in a white coat, gazing intently into the crowd, looking around for something. I wave of fear washed over me, and I quickly slid down onto the floor, out of view of people trying to look into the bus. I was surprised to see that the girl had slid down too. I peeked up out of the window, and saw that the man was holding a little dog and it looked like he was scolding it.

I let out the breath I was holding. The man was only a vet.

I climbed back into the seat, and the girl did too. I wondered why she did that. I saw, through the corner of my eye, that the girl was staring at me. I looked at her, and inwardly gasped.

She was so beautiful, her blonde hair shining in the light, and her looking hot in that outfit. But, I couldn't fall for her yet. First I had to know her and be her friend. But, I'm dating Lissa. But, Lissa's beauty paled in comparison to this girl's. I needed to know her. Something was drawing me to her. But, I needed to make a new rule. No falling for totally hot girl until Lissa and me are over and I know the girl.

Max POV

I stared at the boy. Why did he get scared of the man in the white coat? Maybe he was weirdly afraid of doctors, for some reason. I could see that he was staring at me through the corner of his eye. Why couldn't he just turn around so I could see the other half of his face? The half that I saw at the minute was quite… handsome.

Finally, he looked at me, and my heart started beating like crazy.

He was the most handsome guy I had ever seen. His dark, long hair shined in the dim light, and his eyes were black with a golden tint. His T-Shirt fit tightly over his muscular chest, and he was staring straight at me. He had this weird dumbstruck expression on his face. Just like how I felt.

Then he smiled. It was a gorgeous, crooked smile.

"Hey. My name is Jason, but I like to be called Fang."

"Um… hi. My name is Maximum Ride." It looked like he was about to say that that was a weird name, so I quickly said, "Max for short." He smiled again. Why did I feel this way about him? It has never happened before. I made a new motto. No falling for the awesomely hot Fang. I stored that away in my brain.

He looked like the strong but silent type. He looked kinda awkward talking to me.

"So, are you new here?" I was mesmerized by the way his lips moved when he talked, so it took me a minute to answer.

"Yeah, I am. How is it here?"

"It's fine. Kinda boring. Nothing new happens. If you want, I could help you tour the place. First, let's see what classes we have together." (A/N I know Fang doesn't talk this much, but I wanted it to happen in my story.)

"Oh, um… I have Advanced Science, Social Studies, Algebra, Lunch, Free Period, Guitar and Vocals, and Reading." I was really hoping he was in all of my classes, but then I remembered my rule. NO FANG!

"Same here. I'll tour you around, you can sit next to me in all of my classes except Lunch, because I have to sit next to my girlfriend, and she's the jealous type. But, you can sit at the same table with us."

My heart sunk. I was hoping that this guy would be single, but of course, the hottest guy in the world would be taken.

Fang POV

I saw Max's face fall when I said "girlfriend". I hated to see Max so hurt, but I loved Lissa. She may be loud, and obnoxious, and mean to others, and protective, and snotty, and a gloater… where was I? Oh yeah, she may be all of those things, but she was my first girlfriend ever. I wasn't going to give her up.

"So I'll see you later, then, in Advanced Science. It says that your locker is away from mine. After that, I'll give you a tour, okay?" I hoped she would say yes and that she wouldn't be too mad about me having a girlfriend.

She gave a small smile and said "Alright."

We rode on to school in silence. I kept looking at Max. I loved the way she looked when her golden hair floated around her face, her electric blue eyes taking everything in.

When we got to school, she gave a quick goodbye, and left quicker than I thought.

God. She is beautiful, I thought as she disappeared.