**THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW**
The car pulled up in front of the large blue house that sat on the sand of the beautiful beach spread out behind it; Max stared out the window of the car at the house. Beside her brand-new house that was already filled with new furniture from their last house was a house similar in size but it was bright yellow instead. Today was the first day Maximum Ride has ever wanted to crawl back to the miserable hole her step-father put her in and she wanted to forget about this house. She never thought she would end up here in the suburbs in a new, large house living the life a regular teenage girl would live, but Max isn't a normal teenager. Her past was filled with pain, regret, anger, sadness, and emotions she hoped she would never have to feel again for as long as she was here in California right on the beach.
Every house in the neighbor hood was like a perfect little movie with the dark green front yard and the baby toys everywhere in those exact same yards. Most of the houses were vibrant oranges and yellows but their house was the only dark blue out of the whole suburbs neighborhood, which wasn't surprisingly. Her mother had used the abuse-payment from her older brother to pay off the house and get all new furniture and new painting jobs everywhere. But most of it went towards Max's bedroom since it was technically her money; she was the only one that was abused of the rest of the family. Valencia was only hit on the really bad days, Max made sure Ella and Ari were nowhere to be found when Jeb was about to hit her, and Maya always tried to intervene and take half of the hits but Max always shoved her right back out of the way.
"MAXIE!" Ella, her younger teen sister, shouted when Max realized that she was starting to slowly drift off, "We're here! Look at this place! This is much better than Arizona!" Ella grinned widely at her older sister and then looked over at Max's twin, "Come on, Maya don't look so depressed!" and Maya rolled her eyes. In the driver's seat their mother was turning the car into the long driveway and Max was sitting in the passenger seat trying not to groan and start complaining about the temperature.
Their mother, Valencia Martinez, looked at her three daughters and one son, Ari, before shutting off the engine, "Just please try and help me get through all of this. I promise it won't be as bad as you guys think it'll be," she opened her car door and stepped out into the burning California sun; Max regretfully followed her mother's lead.
Maximum Cynthia Ride changed her last name to get a few of her former enemies off of her back a few years ago, but Max enjoyed her new last name when it started to stick. Her first name, Maximum, meant a lot to her teachers when she got in trouble and they told her principal she was in 'Maximum trouble' or that she made a 'Maximum mistake', which was usually when she broke something or got into another fight. She has a record thicker than three large encyclopedias all put into one, and she reveled in the fact instead of was afraid she wouldn't get into college or something. Other than her bad strike, Max has the perfect grades that all teenagers that care strive for while it just comes naturally to Max every time. She was only a criminal when her step-father, Jeb, got the urge to abuse her, which is why they moved from Arizona after throwing him in jail in the first place.
Maya Rachel Martinez was always trying to live up to her mother's standards when her older twin could care less, but Maya always wanted to out-shine her siblings in something. So far she's the only one in the family that could cook actual food instead of just cookies, like their mother, and that was enough to get praise for every meal she makes. But she was tired of looking like the weak-link compared to her street-fighting sister, Max, but she didn't really care about it that much. She loved Max since they were sisters and best friends and they have been ever since they were baby-girls in their mother's arms. Maya would never betray Max even when they liked the same boy in kindergarten and he went for Max, but she was never jealous. No, she was happy for her sister just like she was happy their step-father was finally gone and Max wouldn't be in pain for them anymore.
Ella Madison Martinez was the girly-girl of their family as in she was the one that would love to give her tom-boys sisters makeovers anytime of the day anywhere. She was loved by anyone she met, but she hated almost anyone that ever tried to get her wound up, but in the end she always kept the anger bottled up on the inside. Her sweetheart attitude made her irresistible to praise from teachers, parents, even some guys that try and see more of her cleavage than she shows on purpose. All of her past boyfriends have been smart but not geeky, cute but never drop-dead gorgeous, cleaver but never ego-filled, and sweet but not suck-up-like. She had standards and she never went for the type that plays around with her feelings; she's a darling girl and is always trying to make everyone happy before herself.
Ari Tyler Batcheldor is Valencia's and Jeb's only child, but he has never done anything wrong like his father and he's never made anyone upset with him. He's one of the types to inch away from fights and such to make sure he was on everyone's good side; he's seen what his father does to Max and he doesn't want him accidently hurting someone like that. Jeb once told him he had anger issues and would end up like Jeb, but Ari was determined to never let that happen to him or anyone around him. He loved his sisters; he truly did even if he acted like he didn't and flinched away from any of the affection they tried to give him. His words were always kept in his mouth and he rarely ever talked to anyone unless it was completely necessary at that time and place. He's only 7-years-old and he's afraid he'll hurt someone, but no one can ever know that.
"Max," Maya Martinez muttered to her older-by-fourteen-minutes twin sister, "I already hate this place and we haven't even seen the inside yet." The girls were almost twins except Max got her father's electric blue eyes and Maya got her mother's dull brown eyes; they both had blonde hair but Max had red, light brown, and gold sun streaked blonde hair since she was the one that was always outside.
"I know what you mean," Max replies under her breath but goes up to the front door of the house anyways where her mom was opening the front door to the house. Ari, their youngest sibling, was silent like always and was wringing his hands over and over again while averting his gaze from everyone else. Valencia pushed open the door to their new home and Max walked in first then Maya, Ella, Ari, and finally Valencia to complete their family.
**MAX'S POV**
I looked around our new home at the plain cream furniture Mom got for the living room, the polished wooden floorboards, and the rugs scattered everywhere. A feeling of dread settled in my stomach as I took in the scene and tried not to throw up the small lunch I was given from McDonald's on the way here. Mom, however, grinned wildly and headed for the kitchen calling over her shoulder about how she was making a welcome-home batch of her famous chocolate chip cookies. Just this plain sentence made me perk up just a little bit and I trooped upstairs to my new bedroom with the directions Mom gave me and the others on the ride here. Mom, however, grinned wildly and headed for the kitchen calling over her shoulder about how she was making a welcome-home batch of her famous chocolate chip cookies. Just this plain sentence made me perk up just a little bit and I trooped upstairs to my new bedroom with the directions Mom gave me and the others on the ride here. I was, of course, on the third and very top floor with the room with the balcony on it; I shoved open the door and blanked at it all just for a minute or so.
The walls were, thankfully, purple with golden swirls to make the room seem brighter than it was and the floor was just plain grey carpet so it matched the walls and everything else scattered about the room. My closet and two dressers were stuffed with new clothes, most of which I didn't approve up, and stuffed with old clothes from back in Arizona. Against the back wall was a king-sized bed with a plain grey comforter, navy blue sheets under that, and an assortment of black, white, blue, purple, and grey random-sized and random-shaped pillows. On both sides of the bed were white bed-side tables each with a golden lamp balanced on them to match the swirls all over my tall walls. Then on one side of the room on the wall were the doors to my walk-in closet and beside that was my single door into my very own bathroom.
On the wall opposite to that one were the double glass doors leading out onto a pure white balcony where I knew I would go if I needed to be alone. In one corner there was a long mahogany desk with a new lap-top sitting on the top and regular desk-stuff was placed neatly on top of it. Across from my bed on a wall was a new flat-screen TV with a four-people purple velvet couch sitting in front of it and a glass coffee table sat between them. Everything was perfect including the small doggy-bed sitting in the corner under the desk with a small black shape curled up and breathing slowly. I whistled with my fingers and the dog's head popped up to show shining black eyes and a very fluffy puppy dog that could only be four months old. It jogged over and I scooped him up into my arms to study him and in my head I was comparing him to that dog on Wizard's Of Oz.
"Your new name is Total," I told him, or was it Toto... oh well I don't really give a crap. I carried him downstairs with me after dropping my single duffle bag filled with my notebooks and such onto my bed for safe keeping for now. Total yipped happily and two other puppy dogs ran out of nowhere with a big pussycat bringing up the rear; I eyed them when my siblings quickly came after them.
Maya was on the second floor, Ella was on the third floor a few doors down from me, and Ari was on the main floor with Mom since he felt safer sleeping close to the oldest person in the house. The pussycat was for Maya, apparently, I realized when she scooped the fat thing up in her arms and started to scold him quietly about running away or something; she named him pudding. A blonde girl puppy was for Ella, who names her Rhinestone, and Ari got the brown boy puppy, which he name Chocolate for obvious reasons. We all looked at each other and then put down our new animals to follow the chocolaty good smell wafting out from the door leading into the kitchen. Standing at the oven was our mother pulling out an already-done batch of fresh chocolate-chip cookies but she slapped our hands away when we reached for some.
"Not until all of you tell me what you think of your rooms," Mom explained and we all glanced at each other before sitting down at the new kitchen bar. Mom sat down on the other side with the pan of cookies sitting between us; Maya started.
"I like it. I mean, it's better than my room back in Arizona. This one is really nice and has a great view. Um, thanks," my twin said and Mom handed her two cookies of chocolate yuminess. Ella suddenly spoke up and I knew I would be stuck here for an hour if I didn't shut her up in the middle of her ramble; I listened to her start.
"ZOMG! My walls are such an awesome pink color! I can't believe you got me that color! It's so awesome! And I have my own bathroom and my own TV! I love it here already! I can't wait to meet our new neighbors and get a new BFF and take her up to my room so we can squeal over it together!" This is where I shut Ella up with a nice, long glare and she snapped her mouth shut and held out her hands as Mom handed over two more cookies.
I went next after I saw how uneasy Ari looked, "I do like it, and it's huge step-up from Arizona. The walls are cool and the bed is big and comfortable from what I can tell. The dog was a nice surprise. I'm happy I got a new TV and everything, so, yeah, I can make it work, I guess." Mom generously placed four cookies in my hands because she knew that was hard for me; I don't express my feelings about anything even if it is a room. If you didn't know, I'm used to shop-lifting and street-fighting; my friends from the underground street-fighting competitions would have heart-attacks if they knew where I was now.
Ari mumbled a quick, "It's cool, Mom," before he was handed two cookies and he left the kitchen hurriedly just like he always does after he speaks to one of us. I leave the kitchen soon after and then leave the house with Total on a dark blue leash I found upstairs in my bedroom beside his doggy bed. We walk down the street under the burning sun and I realized it was probably stupid of me to wear skinny jeans on a day like this in California.
We pass yards with kids playing with each other, some women sat on their front porches knitting, pregnant women were taking walks, and every passing teenage girl was wearing a bikini-top with some short-shorts. This was California and we were a few mere feet away from where the sand starts and the beach spreads out farther down the way. Our backyard, I noticed, branched out with dark green grass and stone porch surrounding a large pool and some sun tanning chairs. Then there was a door to our white-picket fence, which separated our grass to the immediate sand that was right on the other side. Through the gate you step out right onto a boardwalk that goes about a fourth of a mile until you reach the actual beach that spreads out and starts where all the people hang out around the beach.
Everyone outside right now were dressed in shorts and tank-tops or, for the guys, most were shirtless and trying to get a surfer tan on his back and chest. It was kind of peaceful around me and I was very depressed about this fact since I was really looking forward to getting into my first fight. We start school tomorrow morning and I was ready to beat any flirting tools senseless if needed; I've beat guys worse than them down in the street-fighting competitions. Every school I've been in, and that's a lot since I'm transferred after about four fights, boys have flirted endlessly and tried to grope me like retards. Guys in my last school were actually scared of me after I redesigned the quarterback's face from the football team and then I almost gave his girlfriend a concussion when she tried to hit me for her boyfriend.
"Yo!" a voice yelled from behind me, "Duck!" in a split second I dropped to the ground on my stomach with my hands bracing me on the sidewalk. A half second later a football whizzed straight through where my head was; I pushed myself back up with one final jerk and brushed off the front of my shirt. "Sorry," a guy with icy blue eyes, pale skin, and spiky strawberry-blonde hair jogged over to me with a sheepish grin spreading across his face.
I ground out, "It's fine," and turn on my heel to walk away when he calls out for me.
"Wait!" he jogs back up to me and says, "You're new around here. I'm Iggy and this is my brother, Ratchet" another boy appeared from behind the first one. This one looked nothing like the first one since he had dark brown wavy hair, light brown eyes, and a tan that makes him look like he was at the beach all day everyday for the past four months.
"Ratchet?" I ask with a raised eyebrow and ignore Total tugging on his leash and growling at a passing squirrel; Iggy snickers quietly at his brother.
"Don't ask," Ratchet replies and I shake his out-stretched hand, "And what's your name?"
"Max Ride, we just moved here today, actually," I replied and Iggy nodded along with his brother, "What were you guys doing trying to throw my head off of my neck anyways?" I ask and they both rub the back of their necks sheepishly.
"Well there's a rule around here about playing basketball in the streets so we play football on the sidewalk and you just happened to walk right between us with your dog. That was an impress drop, you know," Ratchet replies and I nod quietly and awkwardly since there wasn't anything else to say and I was going to forget my way back to the house if I stand here for much longer.
"See ya," I say quickly and they yell their goodbyes as I turn around and walk quickly back to the house with Total falling in step behind me. Yeah... this new place was going to suck for me...