There's a girl sitting in her room. Her music is cranked up as loud as it can go, and she can't hear anything else, because her mother, Valencia, after having realized just how extreme her daughter's love for music was, soundproofed the room. The girl had golden-brown sun-streaked hair with natural red and brown locks of hair here and there. Her eyes were a chocolate-y brown color and her skin was pale, but had a very light tan tinting the color. Her hair was up in a sloppy bun and and she was wearing jeans -she never wore anything but jeans- and a simple blue t-shirt. Her lips were light pink and her black eyelashes were so long that they brushed her high cheekbones when she closed her eyes or blinked.

Her name is Maximum Ride, and, despite her non-feminine name, she was what most called a natural beauty, though she didn't ever seem to care about looks, and that just made her all the more appealing. Of course, though, her disrespectful ways of life made her hard to like, too...

Maximum Ride, who only liked to be called Max, got up out of her seat at her desk where she'd been sketching a picture of a simple tree. She turned down her loud music until it was off all the way, and then opened her door and headed down the stairs to get to her backdoor.

"Max!" a strawberry-blonde boy with blue eyes, Iggy, called to her when she appeared in his line of vision. He'd been outside as well so it was easy for him to see the girl as she exited the house. He said, "Come over here! Fang's got a haircut."

Fang. He had black eyes and black hair and olive-toned skin. He was -though Max will never say it out loud- the hottest guy she knows, not counting Iggy, but Iggy doesn't count to her... not in that way, at least.

They, Iggy and Fang, are her two best friends. It sounds a bit childish saying that... Oh, well. It's true.

Max walked over to Iggy and Fang and saw that Fang did get a haircut... by about an inch. His black fringe still hung carelessly in his face, right over his eye.

"You called me here for this?" Max gave Iggy a look. They were fourteen and he still acted so childish. Honestly, Max thought it was a little sad, but still loved it. After all, it was what made him Iggy, her best pyromaniac friend.

Iggy gave her a sheepish grin, "Yeah. Oh, hey! I got it. Let's go swimming."

"Where did that come from?" Fang asked and Max gave Iggy a curious look.

Iggy smiled, "I wanna see beach bunnies."

Max gave him a repulsed look, "Pig."

Iggy guffawed, "I was joking... maybe." before Max could hit him, he continued, "and I got a text from Gazzy saying everyone else was going to be there!"

Max gave him a warning look, "They better be. I"m gonna go change."

"Oh, Max," Fang stopped her, gripping her arm slightly, "Can Ari drop us off? He's got a car, right?"

Max nodded slightly. "I'll ask, but he'll most likely want to come along since I'll be in a two-piece swimsuit and I'm gonna probably end up bringing along my sisters - not that I mind, really. You know I love them."

The boys nodded in understanding as Fang released Max from his hold and Max hurried to go back into her house, which was right next door to their own.

Ari was Max's older brother by two years. He was sixteen years old and played the protective older brother role extremely well. Especially since he had three sisters. Max and Maya, they were the twins, and Ella, who was a year younger.

When it came to siblings, there were plenty. Gazzy, who was fourteen like Iggy, Fang, Max, and Maya, had a sister called Angel who was thirteen, like Ella. Fang and Iggy also had a thirteen-year-old sister named Nudge.

They all had siblings. Whether it be one, two, or three... they had siblings. One family was Gazzy and Angel. Another was Ari, Max, Maya, and Ella. Another was Fang, Iggy, and Nudge. But they weren't all related by blood. Gazzy and Angel were, but the others weren't. Max and Maya, in their family of Rides, were the only ones who shared both a mother and father and that was only because they were twins. Ari's mother was different from theirs, but died in labor, so he was given to their shared father, but their dad didn't want a kid so he handed Ari off to their mother. Ella's mom was the same, though. It was her dad that was different. He was the type of man who, as soon as he hears of the pregnancy, disappears and doesn't come back. Ever. And Fang, Iggy, and Nudge? Fang and Nudge had the same mother and father. Fang and Iggy, though... they may have been the same age, but they weren't twins. They weren't siblings at all, if by blood. By blood relation, they were cousins. Iggy's parents weren't giving Iggy up when he ended up with Fang and Nudge and their parents. He went to the Walkers when he was four, and it was because his mother and father had been killed on impact in a car crash. But they still loved each other, nonetheless. They were all family in one way or another.

Max jogged up the stairs and stopped at her older brother's door. She knocked on it, "Ari?"

Ari's door opened with a creak, "Yeah, Max? What does my little sis need from her big brother?" He asked with a joking smile.

She rolled her eyes, but smiled, "Ari, do you think you can give Fang, Iggy, and I a ride? Oh, and Ella and Maya might wanna come with us."

He nodded, "Yeah, sure. Where to?"

Max smiled up at him, "The pool."

Ari looked a little hesitant, ever the protective older brother, but said, grinning, "Sure thing. Go get changed. And tell Maya and Ella so they won't be mad at us and say we left them to die of boredom or something."

Max nodded, "Got it."

She jogged to Ella's room and Ella opened the door smiling, "I overheard. I'll be changing!" and she shut the door before Max could speak.

Max sighed and turned on her heel, walking into her own room and shutting the door. There were three other doors in the room. The one to her left on the far wall was to her closet. The one on the right was a master's bathroom that connected, on the other side, to Maya's room. The last door was a glass double-door that led to a balcony, right across from her bedroom door entrance. Maya had the same exact room, only the bathroom and closet's sides were switched, of course. Ella didn't care for a balcony and didn't fight with her sisters for them, so long as she got the room she did. She chose to get the room that had one whole side being a window. Ari didn't get any of them, because he didn't want a balcony, thinking it was too girly for him, and thought it'd be freaky if people could look up and see his room at night, like how it'd be if Ella forgot to close her curtains. Of course, they all grew up since they were babies in this house. They only got to choose what they wanted when they got renovations during the summer that Ari was nine, Max and Maya were seven, and Ella was six, but they haven't wanted it different since then, because they enjoy living in the house they had now.

Max got changed into her black bikini and pulled on white short-shorts and a long-sleeved shirt on over it. She walked to the bathroom door, walked through the bathroom, and knocked on the door connected to Maya's room.

Maya opened it, "Hey, Max, what's up?"

Max said, "Ari's taking me and the guys and Ella to the pool, wanna come?"

Maya smiled, "Sure, let me get changed, okay?"

Max nodded and walked back into her own room while Maya changed into a black bikini, like Max's.

Ari knocked on Max's door, "You ready? Ella's bouncing on her feet by the door and annoying me to death. And is Maya coming, Max?"

Max opened the door, nodding, "yeah, she's changing. Give her a minute, okay, Ari?"

He nodded, "Sure thing."

Maya soon came into view, wearing a white zipped-up jacket and shorts like Max's. She had used the conjoined bathroom to get into Max's room, "I'm ready."

Ari nodded towards the door, "Let's go then."

They all walked towards Ari's truck and Max and Maya hopped into the bed while Ella sat in the passenger seat and Ari got into the driver's side. Fang and Iggy had been waiting by it so when they saw Ari and the girls, they said their 'hi's and hopped into the bed with the twins.

As soon as they were driving, Iggy started to laugh.

"What?" Max asked him.

He grinned and nodded towards Maya's jacket and Max's long-sleeved shirt. "Let me guess. Ari?"

Maya and Max blushed and Max said, "you know how protective the big bad brother is. Don't judge us!"

Iggy shook his head, smiling, "I thought he was the big bad wolf? Just joking, don't hit me! And I'm not judging. It's just... well, look at yourselves! It's so hot out today and you two are sweating because you have to hide your swimsuits so Ari won't know you have on, what, skimpy bikinis?"

Maya huffed, "Iggy, that's mean! What do you take us for?"

Max grumbled, "They're not that revealing."

Fang, speaking for the first time on the trip, "Yes, they are."

Max's head shot up, "How would you know?"

"Look at your sister."

Max looked at Maya and saw she had removed her jacket. "Maya!"

Maya frowned, "Max! It's hot. Don't tell me you don't want to take off a layer. I'm your twin - I already know."

Max sighed heavily, "Yeah. You're right." She pulled off her shirt.

Iggy said, "Max is more filled out than Maya."

"IGGY!" The twins screeched.

Iggy started laughing and even Fang chuckled. Max sent Fang a death glare and Maya did the same to Iggy. They both flinched at the intensely angry gaze of the girls.

Iggy groaned, "How do girls do that?"

Fang shrugged, "I dunno, but it's annoying."

"We're here!" Came Ari's voice.

People please tell me if you liked it or not and tell me if I should continue it or not. R&R! :D