A/N: I apologize to Directioners. Please R&R!

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride

MAX

"Look what I found!" Gazzy shouted across the house. He waved a crumpled piece of paper in front of me.

"What?" I mumbled, chewing on a waffle. He smoothed it out on the table in front of me.

"Ooh, paper," Iggy remarked sarcastically. He was sitting next to me, and in a bad mood. Mom was still asleep, and I had forced him to make breakfast. It was a Saturday, okay? Couldn't we give my mother a break?

Gazzy ignored Iggy's lack of enthusiasm. "It's our birthdays," he said. I looked at it. It was a list we had made of our birthdays. We'd made at least six, and forgotten our birthdays every time, so we sort of made them up. Six times.

I looked down the list. "I have the same one as Fang?" Oh, wait I remembered that.

"We're making the birthday list again!" Nudge shouted. I ran downstairs. I wanted to turn eleven so badly. Gazzy had picked April 1st, Iggy September 14th, and I really wanted a special one. The day we had left the school.

"May 21st!" I yelled at the same time as Fang. We glared at each other. "Called it first!" I said. He was really mad at me. "No, I did!" he answered equally angrily.

Then we both ended up with broken arms and bloody noses and decided to pick the same one.

I grinned. Looking down the list, I saw Nudge's birthday was—today. "It's Nudge's birthday! She gets to turn twelve!" I said.

Angel came down sleepily. "She wants a new shirt. And One Direction posters," Angel mumbled. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"It's all Nudge thinks about," she explained. I poured her some orange juice and Iggy handed her a waffle. I looked back at the birthday list. Fang and mine's was is three days.

"Okay," I said. "Nudge is still sleeping. Iggy—cake duty with Angel! Gazzy, distract her or something, keep her busy in her room." Gazzy nodded.

"I'll go with Fang to buy her stuff at the mall," I said. "And to make out in the parking lot," my voice said, though I hadn't opened my mouth.

I glared at Gazzy but he just giggled. "Someone say my name?" Fang asked, popping out of nowhere.

"Yeah, come on. We need to buy Nudge birthday stuff," I said, dragging him towards the front door.

"Max?" he asked, amused. "What?" I asked, tired and impatient. "Maybe some clothes?" I looked down. I was wearing a green tank top and loose purple pajama pants.

Five minutes later, I was dressed and ready. I sprinted outside to get a running start, then snapped out my wings and lifted up into the air. I started gaining altitude and Fang followed.

The mall wasn't far. "So, what was that about making out in the parking lot?" I rolled my eyes at him but he just smirked.

We were just above the mall and I tucked my wings in. Suddenly, I stopped falling. I wasn't moving at all. I flapped desperately, but I stayed frozen in the air. I started to panic, screaming for Fang. "Yes?" he asked from right behind me.

I noticed two arms around my waist. "Not funny," I warned. He opened his arms and let go. He was really being irritating today.

I closed my eyes and went limp, relaxing my wings and not flapping anymore. I started to fall, fast.

"Max?" I heard Fang shout from above. I didn't react; just let myself fall. "Max!" he yelled urgently and swooped down. I didn't show any sign of noticing that. He caught me just above the ground.

"Are you OK?" he asked, on the edge of a panic attack. I snapped my wings open and flew up, shoving him. "Is it still funny?" I called from above.

I felt him grab one of my shoes. I tried kicking him off, but he was pretty strong. He pulled me down to the ground with him.

"Hilarious," he said before he leaned down and kissed me. I forgot the world for a second, as we pressed closer. He held me for a moment more and I untangled myself from him.

"Nudge," I said, disoriented. Where were we anyway? In the parking lot of the mall. Oh, the irony.

"What did she want again?" I called to Fang as we walked in the big, bright mall. "Clothes and This Direction."

"I think it's One Direction." I saw this store that had that written all over the window.

"Wow," I breathed, looking at their surprisingly feminine faces. "They all look the same," Fang said, horrified.

No kidding. Other than one blond one and this scary one with dark hair and too much mascara, they were identical. They all had really tall hair. Like, antigravity tall.

I picked a shirt with all of them on it, posters of them, and a watch "signed" by One Direction. I also saw a small eyeshadow kit. Perfect. I paid for all that stuff and went to Target. I picked out ice cream: Cherry Garcia, Nudge's favorite.

"We better get back home," I said. "And we're leaving out the front door, not the parking lot!" Fang grinned at me.

Well, you can guess what happened next. Fang dragged—yes, dragged—me to the parking lot. He pulled on my arm and I couldn't stop running after him. We scared so many families and people were a blur as we ran by. I was trying to hold on to my shopping bags and not bump into everyone.

We burst out the back door. I stopped for a second, panting, making sure I hadn't lost anything. I heard Fang's voice from behind me, "So, now that we're in the parking lot…" he trailed off.

I rolled my eyes, turning around and snapping my wings out. I flapped up into the air and headed back home, Fang on my trail, trying to grab my shoe again. I wasn't going to let him.

We came home to the whole flock, minus Nudge, in the kitchen. "I got the presents," I said breathlessly. Iggy was checking on a vanilla cake in the oven. It was turning golden. "Nudge is still asleep," Gazzy reported.

"Good," I said. I started to unpack what we had bought and I put the ice cream in the freezer.

"Hey, they did go to the parking lot," Angel remarked to Gazzy. I shot her a look.

"We need to wrap these," I said pointing to the pile of One Direction things. Angel nodded and went to find wrapping paper.

Well, turns out we had none, so I colored lined paper pink with some crayons I found lying around. Close enough, okay?

Iggy took the cake out and started making icing. I was watching him from the required three-foot distance (long story), while he added melted butter and that weird sugar that's like baby powder.

So that's how you make icing. Butter and baby powder. I'll keep that in mind if I ever need to cook. "I'm not eating any icing you make, Max," Angel warned, passing by the kitchen.

When Iggy was done, he asked me to write "Nudge" on the cake. He handed me a plastic bag with pink goo in it. "How do I do it?" I asked him.

"Squeeze on it," he explained, wiping his hands on his apron. One Christmas, Gazzy had gotten him an apron that said "Kiss the chef." He made us promise not to ever tell anyone what it said. Iggy wore it proudly to this day, having no idea what it said.

I squeezed on it experimentally and pink goo dripped to the floor. Oops. I ignored it and held the plastic bag over the cake. Nudge and Mom had slept through this whole thing. Wow.

I wrote "Nudge" in flowery script on the cake. I told Iggy it was ready, and feeling his way expertly through the fridge, he put it in. Everything was ready.

I walked upstairs, followed by the rest of the flock. I walked up to Nudge's room. I opened the door. It was dark. I stepped over to the window and opened the curtains. Light filled the room.

"Rise and shine, sweetie!" I called. Nudge opened a tired eye. "Wuh?"

"It's your birthday!" the rest of the flock cheered. Nudge looked confused.

"We found an old birthday list. It's today, you're twelve!" Nudge smiled and groaned. She got up groggily and made her way to the door. Iggy raced downstairs.

By the time we got downstairs, Iggy had taken the cake out of the fridge. "Wow, it's so pretty!" she gushed. I gave her her terribly wrapped presents. She opened them all and squealed, rushing to hug each one of us.

We all ate the cake together, and almost passed out after. Then Mom barged in on us. She must have freaked out: Me dozing off on Fang's chair, with Fang still on it under me, Nudge decked out in One Direction and giggling maniacally, Iggy and Gazzy eating piles of Cherry Garcia while Angel quietly finished the pink icing, most of it still splattered on the floor by yours truly.

It took her a few seconds to start screaming.