Max POV:

Crap! They were closing in, and fast. Ugly little suckers... they found my hiding place. I had to do something quickly before I got shot in the head. I pulled out my gun and started shooting as many as I could, while Fang was utilizing his chainsaw on Nudge and Gazzy...

They were persistent though, dodging his blows with ease. Fang was having trouble keeping them off his back, but they would stop at nothing to have us dead.

"NO! Fang!" I screamed. The Gasman had shot him down. "Dammit, I need you!"

Nudge laughed menacingly.

"Now that your little accomplice is finished off, I can finally deal with you! Say goodbye, Maximum Ride!" she said, just before shooting me several times.

"Noooo!" I shouted. She had killed me. My own flock-mate, practically my sister. What has the world come to?

"Yes!" she shouted. "We beat you! Again!"

"Total domination!" Gazzy exclaimed.

"Oh, save it." Fang said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, just because you're better than us at Gears Of War, doesn't mean I can't kick your butt in a real fight, missy." I said, trying to laugh off the fact that she and Gazzy had beat us yet again at this game.

"You're just jealous!" she retorted.

"Yeah, you're right, Nudge. I'm so jealous. I would just be careful, though. You play on the Locust team so much, you're kinda starting to look like one." I snickered at my own comeback. That is, until I had a face full of Nudge trying to get back at me for it. We rolled around on the floor, smacking each other with pillows, until Ella walked in announcing that it was time for dinner.

"We're having fried chicken tonight. I helped make it." she said proudly.

"Then I'm sure it'll be delicious." Iggy said, clearly flattering Ella. She made no attempt to hide her blush. Her little crush on Iggy was no secret around here. And I wasn't entirely sure if the feeling wasn't mutual. Iggy and Ella were kinda inseparable these days.

"Move over, I'm starving." Gazzy said, pushing his way through the crowd of bird-kids and one human girl. He was already sitting down, shoving his face when Nudge and I walked in. Iggy was piling his plate high with pretty much everything that resided in the fridge, and Fang was leaning against the counter, arms crossed, looking at the cabinets across from him, probably thinking about something deep and profound. Silent, as always... I sighed. Fang. My best friend, my right hand man. The Bert to my Ernie, the Starsky to my Hutch. But lately... I don't know. I've been feeling sort of... different about things. Okay so, yeah, I might have been starting to notice the fact that I'm living in the same house as an incredibly hot 15 year old boy, but I mean come on. I'm a 15 year old girl. What else am I supposed to think about? And it's not like it just hit me either. I've known he was attractive for a long time, it just wasn't brought to my attention exactly how attractive he really is up until recently. Because when you're in the middle of a huge Eraser fight about 50 thousand feet in the air, how cute Fang looks while he's kicking Eraser butt isn't really the first thing that crosses my mind, ya know? But now that we've settled down a little bit, I've had time to notice some things. Like how his jet black hair brushes right above his chocolate brown eyes, or his tall, muscular frame, or how sexy he looks without his shirt on...

Just then, his eyes snapped up to me. Crap. He caught me staring... again. And of course my nerves couldn't behave for once in my life, so I started blushing. Perfect. Luckily, a dripping wet Angel walked through the back door, Total in heel, making for a nice distraction.

"How was your swim, honey?" I asked her, turning my back on Fang.

"It was great! We had so much fun, right Total? Having a lake in your own back yard is pretty awesome."

"Yes, so awesome." Total said, yet not sounding quite as enthused as Angel. Actually, he looked pretty miserable, trudging across the floor. I guess being wet was not his thing.

"Oh, wow, this chicken is SUPER good, Ella! I don't think I've had chicken this good since that place we went to a few months ago when we were flying from New York. Ya know, Max, the place, with the guys that dress up in in the chicken costumes to serve the food? That was so funny! Oh and they said they'd sing you a song if it was your birthday, so Iggy was all 'It's my birthday.' and so they started to sing this really cheesy-"

"Nudge. Breathe." I intercepted with. Jeesh, how can one little person talk so much?

"Oh, sorry..." she said sheepishly.

By then we were all sitting (and chowing) down, when my mom walked in.

"Hey guys." she said smiling.

"Hi Mrs. Martinez." the flock chorused.

"Hey mom." Ella and I said.

"Well, I was just on the phone with Jeb, and I have some news." she said carefully. Oh no. Not "news". News in our house was rarely ever good. She made sure she was smiling before she continued.

"We took our time contemplating whether or not this was the right choice for you guys, but seeing as you've been here for almost a year, and the new school year is starting... we decided it was time for you guys to go back to school. It's only for the best. We want you guys to have good futures and to try and live life a little more... normal. We love all of you very much, and we just want you all to be happy. I know you'll probably object in the beginning, (she looked directly at me when she said this) but I know it's what's best for you. All of you (again, with the looking)."

She sighed when she was finished, as if she had just gotten something big off of her chest. And in a way, she had. I mean, school? Didn't we try that already. And didn't it turn out to be an utter disaster? When I verbalized this point, I was drowned out with different variations of "That was totally different!" and "We were living with a psycho freak during that time!" Apparently I was only only one who actually objected to the fact that we were GOING BACK TO SCHOOL!

"Can I please be excused." I said rather than asked, and stalked my way to my room. I made sure I made a show of slamming my door before I flopped onto my bed, grabbed my pillow, and attempted to stifled my screams of aggravation with it. Ugh, School. This was a bad idea.