Blind Wing,
Jackie's POV
I woke up, and knew it was early morning. It was hard to tell, everything being so dark, but it felt early. Sleepily, I took my alarm clock of the side table, feeling its hands. Ah. Just before dawn, my favorite time of day. I love watching the soft orange color the new sun makes, washing through my window. I waited for what felt like ages for the dawn to break through the pitch black. I reached for my alarm clock again. 7:15, it read. So, the sun was already up. Bitter disappointment flowed through me like a wave. What had I expected? That everything would be back to normal, because I was going back to school? No, nothing had changed, and probably nothing ever would, anymore. I sighed, sat up and rubbed my eyes (it's a habit,). Slowly and carefully I swung my legs out of bed and started feeling for the white cane propped against it.
Iggy's POV
You know, I never thought that Doctor Martinez, Max's mom, would betray us like this. She seemed so nice and understanding, but no more! She sent us back to one of the places that drive me crazy. School. Obviously not the Mutant-Creating-Wackjobs that made us, (that is, the Flock) but a normal school. Blah-blah-blah, that's all I hear at school, just noise. And if I lose the person I'm following in a crowd… I'm doomed.
"Don't worry, Iggy," Said Doctor Martinez kindly, "this school has a special class for –" She hesitated, "kids with vision impairments." Nice save, Doc. I just grunted.
"Come on, Ig!" Said Max. That's her, sometimes kick-butt, sometimes peppy. "It sounds like a good place that Mom's enrolled us in, for however long a time." Whoa, now that's out of character. Max wanting to go to school? Weird.
"Whatever," I grunted and headed upstairs, to my room, and away from the topic of
'School'.
Max's POV
Going to school. Okay, I'll admit, I do have other motives than higher education. One is to get away from everybody. To have friends my own age, and NOT have a freaky relationship with one of them. Yes, I mean the average clique of girls. 'Huh?' You might ask. 'Max, Normal?' Well, yes. I can do more than kick Flyboy butt. Astonishing, right? Another motive is Fang. He's been… really getting to me lately. But that's not what I'm talking about. I mean him throwing himself at anything 'feminine.' So, I'm gonna see how he likes it! Yes, I, Maximum Ride, will become a Flirt. Ugh. And now I think I'm gonna be sick. Oh well, anything to annoy Fang.
Jackie's POV
Okay, what does everyone look for when you come back from being away so long? That's right, changes. Changes in the way you look, the way you act, even the way you walk. What changed for me? One tip was the honking white stick. I said flat out that I wouldn't wear sunglasses, because that would look too weird inside school. Yep, you guessed it; I'm blind. It happened a few months ago, and I still don't want to talk about it, thank you very much. So, I'm waiting in the main hall, right outside the front doors. It felt very odd to hear the bustle of the school and not be able to see it. A familiar voice called out my name. I was pretty sure it was Miss Rogers, the guidance counselor.
"Jackie!" I turned towards the sound.
"Hi, Miss Rogers," I said. Miss Rogers came up and hugged me tight.
"Oh, I am so sorry," she said giving me a squeeze "so very sorry, Jackie." She let go, and continued talking. "The ones who did it were expelled of course, and there are some trials going on to see if they should go to Juvie or not." Apparently, my face showed that I didn't want to talk about it, so she dropped the subject like a hot potato. We stood there silently for a while, until Miss Rogers got up the courage to say, "We have some new students coming today, and one will be in your class." I turned toward her, slightly surprised.
"Who is she?" I asked.
"He's a he, and I think his name's – ooh, wait, here he comes now. He can introduce himself, I think." I heard some talking and a lot of what sounded like "come on," and "just jump in!" and one sarcastic voice saying "one problem; I can't see where to jump in. Or at all, in case you haven't noticed." His voice was wonderfully mellow, and had a slight curve to the words, like he was an exotic kind of American, and knew it.
"Hi, I'm Miss Rodgers, the guidance counselor."
"Jeff Martinez," said the voice. Only, I can't just say he's a voice now, can I?
"Nice to meet you, Jeff!" said Miss Rodgers, and I could tell she was smiling. "Come on, I'll show you to your class."
"Uhh… thanks." He fell into step with her as she led us away, to a classroom in the west wing of the school. At least, I think it was the west wing.
Iggy's POV
We had decided to use the name I had used when Anne Walker took us in. (We all remember how well that ended, right?) And now, after some pushing, poking, and general threats, I was sitting in a class with only a few people in it. We were in the east wing of the school, in a small room with another peppy sounding teacher. Honestly, couldn't I meet one teacher that doesn't sound like she was from the Pep squad?
"Now," she said, we're going to go around the room and introduce ourselves. Tell everyone your name and a few things about yourself. When I tap on your desk, I want you to speak. Is that okay with everybody?" there was a general murmuring of yesness.
"Okay…" she said, striding up to one desk. "You first!" I won't bore you with the details, but here are some names;
Rob Marcus, (has one fake eye, and vision issues with the other,)
Erin Goodal, (has tunnel vision all the time, but too proud to get treatment,)
Michel Volision, (He's blind, like me.)
And another girl, but I thought she sounded… less… what's the word I'm looking for? Stuck up? Self-pitying? Yes, that was it. When the teacher knocked on her desk, she spoke up, and didn't tell us what was wrong with her eyes.
"Uh, hi. I'm Jackie Blaire, and I'm fourteen. I like to sing, dance, make pottery, and listen to books on CD…" her voice faltered there, as if she knew that at another time, she would have said 'reading.' She continued. "Uh… I used to play volleyball and tennis, and I am almost useless at cooking." I could tell she paused there, probably smiling. "If there was one thing I could change in my life, it would be my hair. It's short, thin, and a dry dirt shade of brown, last time I checked. I can't do anything with it!" she was grinning, I could tell. Don't really know how, but I could.
"Very nice Jackie." Said the teacher, who then moved to me. I just said,
"I'm Jeff Martinez, I'm fourteen too, and I like building my own time bombs and flying on my superhuman wings." This only got a laugh out of the teacher and Jackie. I grinned to myself. How could they know I wasn't kidding?
"I was kidding, of course, but I was adopted by Doctor Valentina Martinez, along with several other kids. I like extreme sports, (like flying, for instance.) and listening to my iPod. The end." Well, no need to overdo it. It's just, for some reason, I wanted people to think I was even slightly funny.
The teacher (whom I later learned was called Miss Luthivera,) told us about herself, and then went about teaching. We did all the things a normal class would do; only we didn't use the black board at all. We had completely the same lessons as every other fourteen-year-old in the place, only our curriculum included Braille.
I found out we have an early lunch. (Oh joy; I'm stuck with these freaks all day! Not to be judgmental, or anything, but they do mope around a lot, and sometimes they bang into walls. All except Jackie, who seems to look on the bright side of things, and uses her stick, instead of sticking her arms out in front of her like a zombie. And the only reason I know they do that is because the teacher scolded them for dancing like someone from 'Thriller'.) Anyway, back to lunch.
"Pizza at three o'clock fries at six, a dollop of ketchup at eight, and green beans at eleven." Reeled off Miss Luthivera. I was totally confused. Were we eating on clocks, or something?
"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" I asked the person next to me, who turned out to be Rob.
"How come you don't know that?" he drawled. His voice is all high and whiney. He sounded like the essence of a brat. "I mean –That's the first thing they teach you when you have vision issues." Another voice sounded in front of me, across the table.
"Oh, shut up, will you Rob? Maybe he was taught different at his old school." Let me think… nope! Not one mention of clock-eating at White-Coat World!
"It's like a clock," said the voice, which I identified as Jackie's. "Pizza on the right of the plate, Fries on the bottom, a dollop of ketchup on the left of those, and green beans on top," she said.
"Oh." I tried not to sound like a complete idiot, so I turned it into a joke. "Sounds like some weird kind of sandwich." Oh boy, I am so lame at jokes!
"Yeah," she said. "I guess. Not the way I would put it, but, I guess you're right."
Okay, now I feel really, really, stupid.
She laughed.
"Aw, it's okay!" she had interpreted my silence right. "The sandwich thing was actually kinda funny."
Oddly enough, that didn't help.
Max's POV
Okay, first day at our new school. I dressed normally, but cutely. I really don't want Fang guessing my motives for becoming 'Miss Flirt of the Year,' To put a long story short, I had to almost push Iggy into the building, had a little help from the Voice in my classes, (so annoying, yet so useful…) and had several guys stare at me. I'm not sure how the last bit happened. It must have been the fact that the shirt I chose this morning really advertises my figure. What's really scary is that I didn't know I had one until I tried on that shirt and looked in the mirror. And I mean – it was only a T-shirt… nothing revealing, or anything. Just a dark blue Tee… hmm… this flirt thing is going to be hard to get used to.
I headed downstairs, to where my mom was fixing us all Tacos. She knows we're always hungry, so when I entered the kitchen, it looked like she was preparing to feed a small army.
"You rock, mom!" I said with feeling as I smelled the spicy beef and home made sauce. She turned and grinned. "You all would get fed faster if I had some help." I can take a hint. Mumbling something about Iggy being a better cook, I picked up a knife and started chopping tomatoes. You know, it was almost like being normal. Just standing there, helping ma- OW! Almost hit my thumb.
Iggy's POV
I was sitting in my room listening to some music. I'm not sure what I was listening to, because my head was full of fog. I had Braille for home work, which was kind of odd. Running your fingers over little dots to read something... is a little difficult. I mean, what if you skip one? But, whatever. I smelled tacos downstairs, and I heard Ella and Nudge talking in the next room. Those two were best friends now, and why wouldn't they be? They are the same age, they both like to talk, and their both a little obsessive about TV, gossip, and fashion.
"No way, no way!" I heard Nudge squeal. "You mean that Brendon – OMG!" who is this Brendon person everyone keeps mentioning? Is he like, on some sort of soap? Come on, Get a life. I stood up from my bed, and walked downstairs, so the girls could talk about their beloved Brendon by themselves.
Fang's POV
Max was acting weird. She actually wanted to go to school, which I can not exactly relate to. 'Who knows?' she said, 'Some learning might do us good. After all, the Flyboys are out of action for a while, so, no worries.' One of the problems of knowing Max as well as I do, is knowing when she's not lying, but not telling the truth. She really does want to go to school, but for different reasons. I think I have them almost figured out, but I won't say them out loud, in case I'm wrong.
When I went downstairs,
Max was sitting grumpily at the kitchen table.
"What's wrong
with you?" I asked. She glared at me, in that endearing way
she has.
"Cut myself chopping the tomatoes," She grumbled. "Stupid things."