Disclaimer: I don't know what it really is but I do not own Maximum Ride. Thanks.

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Max POV

My name is Michelle Betchelder. I am sixteen years old and live with my mom and sister, Ella. My father…well, according to my mom, left us. She didn't say anything else.

Wanna know something that it really weird? I can't remember anything that happened before in the sixteen years that passed in my life. Weird, right?

So, I go to school with Ella. I don't know why, but I'm not a girly kind of girl. And I soo absolutely hate boys who are sexist pigs. Ugh. They are such sexist pigs. Well, duh.

Back to the point, I'm wearing a shirt and jeans. I have a secret though. I have WINGS. I know, shocker. But my mother says that something went wrong with my DNA and molecules or something and thus, wings. No worries though. No one besides my family knows this. Im afraid many people might think I'm weird if I found out…

Reaching school, I walked into its plain and old buildings with Ella right beside me. We were chatting away, the bestest of sisters. Soon, we separated into classes.

As I entered the classroom, the usual buzz of gossip hit me. There's gonna be new students today. Poor people. I remember MY first day of school. Shudder.

I simply sat down on my seat and started gazing out of the windows, wishing I was somewhere else besides school. The sky is so calm, like my sanctuary, haven.

Also, I am claustrophobic and this crowded place still needs a bit of adapting. Sigh.

The bell rang. Everyone immediately dashed to their places as our form teacher stalked in. Mr. Gior boomed in his low voice, "Good morning class."

I chanted with the rest of the class in this monotonous voice, "Good morning Mr. Gior…"

"I'm sure you have all known it already, but we have new classmates today. Let's welcome them to this school and help settle them in."

Everyone started mumbling excitedly. I rolled my eyes.

"Come in Sam, Nick and Jeff." Mr. Gior called.

Out of curiosity, I glanced up to see three boys enter. The first was a boy with red hair, well-muscled, dressed in a shirt and jeans.

The second was a dark-haired boy with an emotionless face. Well, everything was black on him, besides his skin, of course. Wow. Gothic much?

The second was a… blind kid? O…kay… His finger was hooked into the second boy's belt loop.

Everyone, especially the girls, started staring and whispering among themselves. Jeez. The guys only looked average to me… Well, they ALL do. Ha ha.

"Introduce yourselves to the class please." Mr. Gior instructed Nick and Jeff.

"Uh. Hi, I'm Sam and I play football." The red haired boy said.

The black-boy stood up. "I'm Nick." Gosh, man of many words much?

So the other must be Jeff, then. "Hi, I'm Jeff and I know I'm blind but I'm not handicapped. Thanks."

Some girls started looking crushed. Their plans of befriending him 'because he was blind' was foiled. Ha.

"Boys, there are only three empty seats left, at Michelle Batchelder's row. Michelle, please help them with their way around the school." Mr. Gior instructed me. Oh boy.

"Sure, Mr. Gior." I stood up and waved them over. Their gazes suddenly locked onto me. Well, the blind boy was facing my direction anyway.

They sat down next to me and we started lesson. Nick was…staring in my direction? What's his problem? Whatever. Can't he keep his eyes to himself?

Finally, the bell rang. I immediately picked up my bag and went to Sam, Nick and Jeff, placing my hands on my hips, and said "I'm Michelle Batchelder and I know I'm supposed to show you around, but you won't need me in… three, two, one. Bye." Their faces had expressions of shock as girls immediately swarmed around them. Giving them a sympathetic glance, I walked out of the claustrophobic classroom.

I met up with Hilary, Melanie, Josh, and John. They were really great friends who agree with me in many ways. Like: we should never succumb to boys. I mean, we girls have to have our own stand you know? Josh and John are unlike most of the boys though. Therefore, Melanie and John, and Hilary and Josh are together now. Pretty tight. But I'm still with them. They swore never to leave me because of their relationships. I'm the only one without a boyfriend. Who needs them anyway?

"Hey guys! Heard about the new students? Wonder what they look like! Whose class are they in?" Hilary started. She likes to gossip. Typical. But not as much as some other horrible girls.

"Mine." I replied.

"Ooh! The three boys? You know that two of them have other siblings who are much younger? Two girls and one boy." Melanie added.

We are not one to talk of boys that much, also because of Josh and John. So we entered the cafeteria and got our food, changing the subjects on when to go out together again.

We sat on our table as we decided on this coming weekend, which was two days after tomorrow and started eating. I gazed at the sky again. We do not talk much. Sometimes we like to daydream. Ok that's mainly me. The others have… ahem… private moments…

"Mich?" Melanie's voice pierced through my reverie. I turned to her.

"Yeah?"

"The new boys are…looking at you." She rolled her eyes. All newcomers always never leave me until I show them. With my fists.

"Just eat." I replied. "If they try anything, you know what will happen." I smirked.

They nodded, laughing a little at the thought.

After a moment, I heard a voice. "Hi." I looked up.

Nick stood over me with Jeff and two girls and a boy. "I'm Nick, this is Jeff, Tifffany-Krystal, Ben and Ariel." Nick pointed to each one and they greeted accordingly. They were all…staring really intently at me…? Weird… I was starting to fell a little uncomfortable.

"Ok. Hi. May I help you with anything?" I asked bluntly.

"May we sit with you guys?"

"What happened to your new fanclub?" I nodded at the group of girls who were all calling out to them, trying to attract their attention. They all exchanged glances.

"Don't worry. They'll go off in a few days." I assured them, talking about the girls, and boys. And I returned to my lunch. I actually eat quite a lot. I'm always hungry. I myself am surprised I'm not the size of a hippopotamus yet.

I heard the group shuffle back to their table and talk amongst themselves, glancing surreptiously at me. I ignored them. Whatever.

The bell rang again. And my friends and I went to out next class. And I learnt that Nick and Jeff are in my form class, and most of the other classes as well. Sam is only a little.

Oh, the joy. What with all the girls that attract to them like bees to honey. Can I be more claustrophobic then ever?

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The next day, I came late, because I was hoping to avoid Nick and Jeff's fanclub. Besides, I was having a night-fly last night. Ah, the exhilaration, of the wind blowing against my face and air… Too bad, back to reality. Ugh. Sigh.

I entered the classroom and, whoa, it was worse than I thought. Like, Nick and Jeff were totally bombarded by girls and boys. Boys are just to make friends with them and all. Whatever. Huh, that's, like, my signature word. I pushed a jock off my chair and sat on it. I was right next to Nick, so the whole crowd that was around my table now cleared due to my fearsome aura (muahahaha) emitting form me. Well, its just my reputation. Don't mess with me. Heh.

I just give boys what they deserved.

I gazed out the window again…and soon drifted to sleep… ah.. so peaceful… Then the annoying bell rang and it pierced through my flight in the night sky. Sigh. My eyes fluttered open, and I felt this gaze on me. I turned my head to see Nick looking at me with this midnight black eyes and it was so intense I had to look away. Whaaat? Just then, Mr. Gior stepped in and class commenced. Why can't guys just leave me alone?

During lunch, as I waited for my friends to emerge from their classes, suddenly this voice rang in my ears and I jumped. "Hey." I turned to see Nick. Whoa, Stealthy much?

"Yes?" I asked, trying to be polite because I was annoyed, in case I didn't need to wallop him in the face or something.

"Max?" Uh-what?

"Sorry, you must have gotten the wrong girl. I'm Michelle. Remember?" I reminded him. Gosh, too many girls must have flooded his head already.

"Uh- yeah. So, what's your last name again?" He asked.

"Batchelder." I replied, feeling wary.

He didn't say anything. Just peered into my eyes. I started getting…confused? My heart rate went faster for no reason. I cleared my throat, looking away.

"…" Nick blinked, like he was stepping out of a dream. He really talks little. "So, who do you live with?"

"My mother and sister…?" Wondering why he was asking all these weird questions.

"Where's your father?" He asked bluntly. As if he was eager to find out something. I take back the "he really talks little" sentence.

"He –uh- left us. Uh- had something to do. Yeah…" Ok…He was getting on my nerves…

Just then, a girl with red hair and had an hourglass shape for her body came clinging onto Nick, saying in a shrilly voice, "Oh Nick! I've found you! Where've you've been?- Oh, uh, who's this??" She glanced at me and spat with distaste.

I hate this kind of rhyme-with-witches. Ugh. I mean, I was just chatting, no need to hate me that much. Sheesh. "None of your business, Be-yotch. You can have your man. Eesh." And I strutted off, smug. Ha. See what she can say to that.

Soon, I met up with my friends and we chatted happily and stuff. The bell rang, again. We got up to go to our next class. Mine and Melanie's was gym. Yeah, I so rule gym. Not to be bragging or anything. Ok, maybe I am. But I seem to be physically strong. Like, surpassing way many people. I don't remember losing to anyone yet. So, you see, this leads to egos. Not my fault. I try.

I changed into my attire. It was this sleeveless shirt with short shorts. Well, duh. But they are pretty short…

Did I mention that I love many, many things? 'Cause I'm just the sunshine of the world! And I'm so not the pessimistic one.

If you believe that I do not know what to say.

So, I enter the gym, and start my stretches, ignoring the whole squashed up group of fans trying to talk to Nick, Sam and Jeff. They so need a life.

Coach Vivian then entered and blew her obnoxiously loud whistle. Ouch. "All right kids! Run round the track three times, then twenty push-ups and twenty sit-ups!" She bellowed.

The class groaned, as usual.

"One more noise and I'll times it by two!!"

Everyone shut up and got to the track. Nick ended up next to me. He glanced at me with his midnight eyes, something in it that I could not comprehend. The whistle blew and everyone charged, and he disappeared. Whoa, Nick was fast. Faster than everyone, I mean. What the?

I sped up to fill in the distance I lost. I caught up with the whole class easily, but not Jeff and Nick. I was only slowly nearing them. The competitive side of me kicked in. No way am I losing to two boys, a blind one even. I pushed my feet forward, feeling the energy flowing through me. Did I mention that's one of my powers, too? The speed thing.

I breezed past them then slowed down. I can't give myself away, sadly. So I just went back to the normal speed, that happened to be equal with Nick and Jeff. That means keeping the same distance between me and them though. I smirked.

When we ended, I dropped to the ground and did the push-ups, followed by sit-ups. Nick and Jeff came next, then Sam. And slowly the panting and sticky students filed in looking a lot worse than me. The girls seem shocked. So was I, actually. I mean, Nick and Jeff, were as fast as I was!

When everyone was done, I was sitting and staring at how much effort they were putting in for the exercises, amused. Halfway through, Sam came to sit next to me. He was not panting as much, or sweating. His muscles bunched out from his arms. Huh. I see there's going to be new competition. I'm looking forward to it. We chatted and laughed until we were split up into teams by Coach Vivian. Hmm… Sam wasn't so bad, actually. Surprisingly, I was with Sam and a few others while Nick and Jeff managed to persuade Coach into letting Jeff play, so they were one team themselves. We were playing dodge-ball. Yeah!

Obviously, the finalists were Sam and I against Jeff and Nick. I had to admit, they were good. Jeff was doing extremely well, despite his lost sense of sight. I mustn't underestimate them.

It took some time for Sam to be the first one to get hit. He smiled reassuringly at me, then went over to the bench of cheering girls. I turned to the opponent, concentration written all over my face. I dodged, threw balls, me and the opponents' speed matching, never tired. Whoa.

Some time later, Jeff got hit. It was Nick and me left. The final showdown. Ha ha.

We were even, more to my surprise. Shouldn't he have gotten tired by now?

Much to my annoyance, the bell rang, stopping us mid-game. So we were tied. The girls squealed and praised Nick, crowding around him. I kept a straight face, hiding my shock, and entered the changing room, changed, then walked out to my next class.

That day when I walked home, I felt paranoid, like there's someone watching me…? I increased my pace, on alert, and went into the house. I acted as natural as possible in front of my mom, and threw my bedroom window open after closing my room door. I checked below me, saw no one, then jumped right out.

You can never guess what happened next.

Come on, guess.

Ok, I was circling around in the air, wondering what might have caused me to feel so paranoid on the way home… and bumped right into something rock solid. In the AIR.

I jumped (in the air? Yes, its possible.) and looked up to see…Nick?? Oh. My. God. He

had WINGS too. They were black. So black, in fact, that they seemed purple. I had a loss for words.

And I was the word QUEEN. So you can see what I was feeling right then.

"Nick?" I wondered out loud, voice squeaking. I cleared my throat. He suddenly pulled me by my hand and we flew to this cave. I was in a daze the whole time. Even worse, this… feeling… erupted inside me…when our hands connected.

When we landed, I pulled my hand back to clear my head and asked, "Nick, you… have wings?" How witty.

Nick looked into my eyes and corrected, "Its Fang. Not Nick. Nick's a fake name." Wow, that must have been the longest sentence coming from him I've ever heard. But wait.

"Your name's Fang?" I tried to sound amused. I would have been. But this feeling…Like, I couldn't remember something…The name was familiar…? What's going on??

"Hold up. I want some answers. What are you? What am I? Are there more of us? What's going on??" My voice rose steadily and I shook my head in frustration. Something… I can't remember… Argh…I'm starting to get a headache! Obviously, I do NOT like the feeling of being vulnerable.

"Max, what have they done to you?" Ni- Fang, I mean, whispered.

"What?" I asked. "I'm NOT Max. Who's that, anyway?" Yep, cheerful me. I'm practically brimming with optimism.

Fang stepped closer, staring intently into my eyes, "I need you to answer a few questions, and you'd better tell me the truth, ok?"

"Or what?" Have I mentioned I'm not the cooperative kind?

I think he smirked. Grr. He asked the question anyway. "What were you doing for the past sixteen years?"

"I…don't know…? Seriously, I can't remember. I dunno why…" I admitted.

"What do you remember?"

"Um…I just woke up one day and I don't remember anything. And then I learnt who my mother was and stuff. It was like, this year, that I 'woke up'." This is getting uncomfortable… My head started to throb. I sat down, leaning against the cool walls of the cave. Fang sat next to me, and I curled into a ball, placing my arms on my knees, looking straight ahead.

"Do you remember anything? Anyone?" He persisted.

"Um…I…can't… remember…" Rubbing my temple, I almost wanted to scream. Instead I just bit my lip.

Then I realized something. "Have you held my hand before?" I knew it was kind of personal, but I was ready to just knock my head against the wall so…

Fang seemed startled. Then I think I saw his cheeks darken a bit. " Ye- why?"

"Hmm…"I thought. That was enough of an answer. "Because when you held my hand just now, I thought I felt something. Like, there was something I forgot, and I'm trying to remember…but then I couldn't in the end…" I looked up at him. His eyes looked hopeful at first, but when I added in the last part, it looked sad. My heart seemed to reach out to him. Wait, what? Oh god. I think there's something wrong with me.

"Ok…I think I'd better head home… before my sister finds me missing." I stood up.

"Wait!" Fang jumped up, he said it so suddenly it surprised me. Then he lowered his volume and went, "Let me show you the others first. The flock you led."

"The flock?... I led?" I wanted to say, but he made a running jump and was out in the air. I followed, snapping my wings open and flapping to him. When I reached him, he didn't move for awhile, staring at me. Then he snapped his head back to the direction he wanted to go to, when I waved my hand in front of his eyes, and flew, with me trailing beside him.

We ended up at this isolated place in the middle of many trees and found a trailer there. It seemed old and deserted, and as if someone recently tried to tidy it up, with flowers and stuff. It looked funny and I chuckled to myself. We landed a few meters in front of it, and then walked the rest of the way.

I know what you're thinking. Me, a girl, going to a deserted place at who-knows-where with a guy as strong and fast as me? But, the thing is that I somehow…trust him… And anyways, I wanted to see who else there was in this 'flock I led'.

Then suddenly the door of the trailer flew open and shrieks emitted from it, followed by two girls and two boys rushing at me like football players in a rugby match. Without the humongous uniform and the not-rounded ball, of course.

And they squashed me with hugs and stuff, while I was trying to recover from shock. You see, those children, happened to be Jeff, Ben, Tiffany-Krystal and Ariel, the school's newcomers. Well, to say I was shocked was an understatement.

"You mean they all have wings?" I turned to Fang.

"WHAT?!" Ben exclaimed. "You mean, you don't know, Max?"

"Max?" I repeated, again, and turned to Ben, then back to Fang.

The whole 'flock' stood back and looked at Fang.

He cleared his throat. "Well, um, guys, from what I gathered, I think that when Max was captured, they erased her memory and put her in a normal life. She can only remember what happened after she 'woke up' one day." Everyone was stunned. Well, I was confused. And then, when Fang said those words, and everyone was touching me, this thing just… jolted into my brain.

And this scene flashed across my mind: I was on a hard and cold metal bed thing. And was struggling with all my might against restraints that held me to the 'bed'. Then this guy went emotionlessly and coldly, "Goodbye, Max" and pain erupted in my head. I screamed in agony, willing it to stop, tears streaming out of my eyes Not only because of the horrible, terrible pain. But also because I was going to lose something… someone… "I'm sorry Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel and Total." The last words barely came out of my mouth.

The next thing I knew, I was lying on the sandy ground back at the isolated forest clearing. And everyone was surrounding me. A sweet, angelic voice whispered, "Calm down… She's having a flashaback… Fang, this flashback… just proved your guess. They erased her memory." Everyone around gasped.

I opened my eyes. And despite how weak I felt, I went, "Ok, by any chance are you guys Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel?" I sat up.

Smiles formed on their faces, but it didn't seem genuinely happy. It made me… sad. Like, it hurts me when their hurt.

Huh?

I stood up shakily and steadied myself. Phew. That was tiring… Eesh. Hate it when I'm weak… The 'flock' started introducing themselves. Ben is Gazzy, or The Gasman. Uh…? Ariel is Angel. Tiffany-Krystal is Nudge. And Jeff is Iggy. And I was the leader?

"But… I'm not a good leader! How can I be a leader?!" I exclaimed.

The others spontaneously disagreed. "No, you were fantastic!" "You did great!" "You never thought like that before!" Whoa.

After some time, I announced, "Um…guys? I think I gotta go home… Ella, my sister, might get worried…"

"But your home is with US!!" Gazzy shouted. I blinked.

Fang stepped up and went, "Gas, it's alright. I'll see her home. We'll see what we can do about this, ok?"

"Since when have you started talking so much?" I was annoyed with the "I'll see her home" sentence. I do NOT like being taken care of.

He merely shrugged and turned, waving for me to come along. But before I could move, Nudge suddenly squashed me with a gargantuan hug. "Oof!" I gasped.

Everyone followed suit, total 'flock' hug. Ha ha.

It gave me this… warm feeling… And another flashback. Have you heard? You can get flashbacks at a 7-11 convenience store.

I saw this…ebbing, vague… scene… I was in the woods with the flock… We were having fun… and I felt… happy… A warm feeling in my chest…

I think there's something wrong with me. I was never this emotional after I 'woke up'.

"There's nothing wrong with you. You were always like this. Whether or not you admitted it." Angel beamed at me and said in this sweet, angelic voice. I looked, startled, down at her. Huh?

"Angel can read minds. We all have our own special powers, that's one of Angel's." Fang intervened.

"Oh…" I replied. This was all interesting and stuff…but it seemed a little far-fetched. However, proof is beaming right at me now. Or am I dreaming?

Before Angel could respond, I quickly turned and walked over to Fang. I jumped up and snapped my wings open, Fang following behind me. While we were in the sky, enjoying the breeze, I slowly digested the event that just occurred.

"What are you thinking of?" Fang interrupted the silence.

"… This is… quite a lot… don't you think?" I glanced at him.

He didn't reply, only saying "So, I'll see you tomorrow or something? To talk about this."

"Not tomorrow. I don't go out on weekdays… And the next day, I'm meeting my friends. What about the day after?" I suggested. Wow, a pretty busy schedule.

Fang merely nodded. Ok.

We reached my house, flapping in the air, and I turned to Fang. "See you. Goodnight." I waved, before tucking in my wings as I slipped through the window.

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Fang's POV

I flew back to the others. When Max entered her room, leaving me, I felt this pain in my heart. I couldn't bear the thought of her not living with us even after we found her. Sigh. Let's see what we can do.

THE SCHOOL will pay for this.

Landing at the front of the trailer, I entered to see everyone waiting for me. They were all worried about Max. Nudge was babbling, again.

"I mean, Max was always so nice to us. She loved us. How can she just forget like that? Shouldn't she have still felt this connection to us even after they erased her memory? You know, in those shows I watched, true love will always be reunited and all-" Nudge was cut off by Angel.

"That was what I was trying to tell you. Every single thing we did to Max, like hug her and stuff, she has a simple flashback of us. So I'm thinking that part of her or something is still struggling to remember. We can just do stuff with her and she remembers one thing." Angel guessed.

"Why don't Fang kiss her?" Iggy suggested with an evil grin. I glared, unnecessarily, at him. Then I frowned. This made me remember how soft Max's lips were on mine… It took so long for us to get together… And now, this.

"Maybe." Angel's mind was not corrupted with sick stuff, like Iggy's. But she thought of it more of an idea. "That's one of the things we could do. What else? Suggestions?"

"Let's show her some of the bombs we made!" Gazzy shouted, and high-fived with Iggy.

"Maybe we should just take her out and tell her everything all over bit by bit. I bet it would be weird for us to be teaching her this time. That would be soo cool! I always wanted to be, like, a teacher. But teachers never wear nice clothes and their hair are so… retrained. I don't think mine can- mm-hmm-mhm-" Nudge started, then Iggy covered her mouth with his hand. I wonder how he never misses.

I spoke up. "We are 'going out' with Max on the day after the next. I arranged with her. She couldn't tomorrow because she don't go out on weekdays and the next she's going out with her friends."

"But… she has friends now… Do you think she would still…" Gazzy bit his lip. I'm sure everyone thought of this already. But we all just put it in the corner. Always be strong, positive. One of the things Max had taught us.

Ah. Max was so beautiful. I miss her… We finally got together… And now… Her soft lips on mine… Her brown eyes that communicated with mine… Sigh…

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