Hi peoples!

Okay so this is my first story.. ever. so this might not be that good :/

Disclaimer: I only own the three packs of Juicy Fruit in my purse, not Maximum Ride. That honor goes to Mr. Patterson.

Chapter One
Max POV

Without hesitation, I stepped onto the diving board and padded to the edge, curling my toes lightly. I bounced experimentally a couple times, testing the springs and waiting for the wind to shift. Wait for it. . .there! The breeze was perfect. I backed up a couple quick steps and ran the short distance, launching myself off the board. I sliced smoothly into the water in a simple dive, not in the mood to show off at the community pool. I saved my competitive side for my swimming team.

But it's not like I'll ever see them again, I thought bitterly to myself. Now that I'm in Florida and they're still Montana. I'd always thought it was kinda ironic how my mom had gotten a new job all the way across the country, as far from Montana as you could get. But what could I do about it? I couldn't just force her to stay in Montana so I could still compete on my usual teams.

The only upside to this was the community pool. It was only two blocks from our new house, a distance I could easily bike in about three minutes. It was usually pretty quiet here; most people liked to swim at the beach or at the YMCA, where they had heated indoor pools. But I could swim just about anywhere. I loved sports. Most of my old friends had said I was the most athletic person they'd ever met. I guess you could say it was true; I did swimming, gymnastics, soccer, softball, volleyball, and ice skating. Altough that last one probably wasn't an option anymore in sunny Florida. Oh, and I'd been the track & field star in my old school to top it all off. That had started when I got the fastest time on the mile and the gym teacher convinced me to join the track team. Oh and one more thing. I play guitar and sing.

I have a lot on my plate.

I sighed and swam over to the ladder, irritation clouding my initially good mood. I jogged over to the bench where I'd left my bag. I quickly dried myself off and slid on my t-shirt and track shorts, shaking out my wet hair as I did so. I tied it up so it couldn't annoy me anymore, which is pretty much what I do all the time, no matter how much it annoys my girly-girl sister Ella.

"Excuse me?" a voice called from behind me. I turned around to see a tall, lanky boy with strawberry blond hair and ice blue eyes staring at me.

"Yeah?" I said as I slid on my flip flops. I wanted to get out of there, ASAP if I wanted any time in the gym before it closed.

"I couldn't help but notice your shirt," he continued, gesturing to my shirt with his chin. Confused, I looked down. It was my Billings Sharks t-shirt. The Sharks was the name of my swimming team back in Montana.

"What about it?" I asked, bouncing slightly on my toes. I really wanted to get out of there.
"I saw your team on the news once," he explained, smiling slightly. "I'm pretty sure I saw you."

"Oh. You mean when we made it to Nationals?" I asked. Talk to me about sports and I'll go on forever.

He nodded. "Yeah. I think so. I saw your diving. You're really good." He looked kinda awestruck now.

"Thanks," I mumbled, embarassed. "I gotta go. See ya around?"

"Sure," he said, smiling. "My name's Jeff Griffiths. You can just call me Iggy though."

"Hey, Iggy," I said with a smile. "I'm Maximum Ride. Just call me Max, though."

He grinned and turned towards the diving board. "See ya, Max," he called over his shoulder.

"Bye," I muttered, too quiet for him to hear, and jogged out. I glanced at the time when I was passing through the lobby. Dang it! It was already 4:00. The YMCA would be closing in about an hour. I hoped I would get there in time.

Once out in the warm sun again, I hopped on my bike and pedaled off as fast as I could. Hopefully the gymnastics floor would still be open.

Minutes later, I was at the suprisingly nice YMCA. I parked and locked my bike in the bike rack and walked inside. There was a little lobby inside with a stack of papers on the check-in desk that looked like maps. On the wall behind the desk was a huge corkboard with a bunch of flyers for new teams and clubs and stuff.

"Hi, can I help you?" asked the auburn-haired receptionist behind the desk. "I'm Megan."

"I'm Max," I blurted, before realizing she'd asked me a question before.

Megan smiled. "Hey, Max. Anything in particular you're looking for today?"

I cleared my throat. "Do you have a gymnastics floor here?"

"Sure, you just do down that hallway; there's an elevator down there. Take it to the second floor, and the gymnastics floor is the third door on the right. Locker rooms are over there." Megan pointed to two doors next to the bathrooms. "Let me know if there's anything else you need," she said, smiling warmly at me.

"Thanks," I mumbled, heading towards the locker room. I changed into my favorite white tank top with my lucky green one layered on top. I'd been wearing it when I'd fallen off the roof and hadn't broken a bone. I slid on my shorts and stuffed my bathing suit into my bag. My hair was still limp and wet from swimming. Ugh. I tugged a comb through my tangled locks quickly, then put it into a quick fishtail braid. (A/N: Sorry. I just had to put fishtails in here somewhere :D) Ella had taught me how to do fishtails a long time ago, and I guess it just stuck with me, even though I couldn't care less about hairstyles. I headed off to find the gymnastics floor, dragging my sports bag behind me.

I'm usually not much of a cheerleading-gymnastics person, but it helps when I need to burn off energy. That was the only reason I did it. Otherwise it was way too girly.

It wasn't hard to find the gymnastics floor. The door was bright red and had GYMNASTICS written on it in bright yellow lettering. I pushed open the door and inhaled to smell of lemony floor cleaner and brand new mats. The same smell in my gymnastics studio at home. That was comforting. I dropped my bag in the corner and ran for the mat, doing a quick series of cartwheels and round offs as I went, ending with a back handspring and a tuck. I landed easily on the balls of my feet, crouching low to absorb the impact like I always did when my gymnastics instructor wasn't around. She hated it when I did that. I popped up from my crouch and surveyed the room.

There weren't any other people here. There were a bunch of bars and beams and even rings. And the floor space was awesome. I had enough room to do about fifty round offs. Probably more.

I did a quick round off back handspring back tuck, landing neatly standing up this time, right in front of the beam. I hooked my leg over the beam and sat, straddling it. I stood up carefully. My gymnastics instructor had been able to do a cartwheel on the beam. I'd never mastered it. But maybe this beam was wide enough. . .

Taking a deep breath, I rolled my shoulders a couple times to loosen them and settled into a lunge with my arms over my head. I took a quick step and then I was cartwheeling, swinging smoothly through the air to land perfectly on the beam again.

I grinned triumphantly. I'd finally, finally, finally mastered it.

Okay so I hope you liked it.. I have chapter two already typed up but I'm kinda doubting this story :/ So please review and tell me if I should keep writing this story. &Sorry about the kinda suckish ending to this chapter. I had to finish this super quick, cause I had to go to bed early for my dance recital the other night :P

By the way, most of this is gonna be in Max POV, so I'll just stop writing that, kay?

Oh and I did gymnastics for only a couple years, a long time ago, & I don't really remember much about it, so I'm not really up on the finer details of the moves & stuff. I only do dance, not gymnastics. So I promise the next chapters wont be as boring as this one. This one was kinda introductory, to all the sports that Max does. There won't be much more of this in the other chapters, promise! :)

-dancerxforlifex3