My name is Maximum Ride, but everyone calls me Max, I'm sixteen and I'm probably about to have the worst week ever, minus my adoring boyfriend, amazing best friends and chocolate chip cookies (and if you're wondering no I didn't make them myself, I can't cook for my life!). Anyway it started when the cops came to my house, actually it's my dad's house (he always made it clear that it was his house and I was just living there). My dad was drunk as usual so my older brother, Ari, and I were hanging out in the basement. Everything was fine until I was yanked backwards by my hair, and I found myself staring into the very drunk and very angry face of my dad. "Would you like to explain this?" he said, surprisingly not slurring his words at all, and then he shoved my report card in my face.

"what you mean my report card?" he nodded " well it's a sheet of paper-ah!" that last part was caused by the hard slap I received for "mouthing off" as my dad has told me I do on many occasions.

"That's not what I meant and you know it, what is this about?" he shout as he pointed to my brit-lit grade.

"That's not fair! They made us read a book written in old English!" I shouted.

"Well of course they did! You're in honors, dumbass!" (Spelling?) He countered. Then I got another slap. "A "D" is never acceptable!"

Then I was mad, since when did he care about me or my grades! "Daddy dearest, this doesn't concern you so why don't you just go get yourself more drunk then you already are." Then I dug my nails into his arm to make him release me but instead I got thrown across the room and into the stairs. I scrambled to my feet and kicked him in the side of the head and ran for my room, I had just made it up the stairs when an arm came across my neck, my dad had me in a choke hold.

"Don't ever speak to me like that again you little ungrateful bitch." He whispered in my ear. Then I elbowed him in the stomach and the air went out of him in a big "oof" at the same time I wiggled free of his grip. Then he got up and threw me into the wall, on impact I let out an involuntary scream as I'm pretty sure I broke a few ribs. Anyways I think one of the neighbors called the cops, cause the next thing I know there are sirens outside the house and the door is kicked in.

I'll spare you the rest of the depressing details, but I will tell you this, I found out that the reason I even made it up the stairs while I was running from dad was because Ari decided to fight him, but my dad had given him a bad concussion by hitting him in the back of the head with a cymbal from Ari's drum set. So now Ari can't go to school, drive, run, or listen to music So all he has to do all day is sit around and watch T.V., but Martinez/Blatchers/Rides are pretty quick healers. Oh I forgot to mention that I have to little sisters and Ari is my half brother, anyway my sisters took my mom's (Martinez) last name, Ari took his mom's last (Blatcher), and I took dad's last name. Anyway after Ari and I checked out of the hospital (we had to get our various injuries fixed up) we packed up and went to my mom's house. I know what you're thinking why doesn't Ari go to his mom's house? Why is staying with you? And the ever present why are you moving in general? The depressing truth is that Ari's mom died when she was in labor, then shortly after his dad met my mom and they got married had me and raised the two of us and our younger sisters, Ella and Angle. So my mom is the only mother figure Ari ever knew. This made it perfectly logical that he should stay with us. And we had to move because dad is supposedly "not fit to take care of minors" or something, and he's going to jail for child abuse, fun!

Anyway since Ari couldn't drive mom and I had to go back one more time after all our stuff was gone and get my bike, even though I have a car that I keep at my mom's house I still like to ride my bike and no its is not a bike as in the kind you have when you're a kid I'm talking about my sleek black 848 Ducati that I saved up for years to buy. Ari and I are spoiled when it come to cars because he has a land rover for everyday use and a silver Porsche carrera for special occasions. While I have my Ducati for everyday use and a black Ferrari f430 for special occasions, or anytime I need to drive with more than one other person, or when I drive Ella (she's deathly afraid of motorcycles for some reason).

When I finished my last trip I finally had time to see my sisters, who I hadn't seen since my parents filed for divorce a couple months ago. Ever since then dad has been very protective over "his half of the kids" you see when they filed for divorce they split us in two, my dad got the older two, me and Ari, while my mom got the younger half, Ella and Angle. Except for Angle whose thirteen, we were all born in the span of three years, Ari whose seventeen, me sixteen and Ella fifteen. I parked my bike and walked into the house, actually I should say mansion, but house makes me sound less snobby. You see even though my dad is a scientist, my mom makes a lot more money. My mom is a famous veterinarian, so she makes more money than my dad. Anyways I love my mom's house it smells like chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen and everywhere else smells like the ocean, despite being in Arizona, but it's still really nice. The house sits on 10 acres of land, and every inch of it is gorgeous! We even have a barn with lots of horses, and yes I do ride horses, how do think I got so good at riding my motorcycle? So anyway as soon as I walked in I heard "MAAAAAAXXXXXXX!" and then I was tackled by my sisters.

"Hey guys. Long time no see." I said laughing.

Then I heard Ari's voice say "Yes, yes, we get it Max is here, but do you think you could keep it down? I was kind of trying to sleep" then he came down the stairs with a huge grin on his face. "But since I'm up why don't we show Max her new room" by the way he said it I knew I was going to love it, Ari just knew me that well.

Ella and Angle nodded and pulled me up the stairs. Talking the whole way about how much I'll love my new room "This is it" ("it" is the 1,234th word! Omg! That's like the most I've ever written! I usually slack of and do the minimum so I never got this high!) Ella said. I opened the door and the only thing that came out of my mouth was wow. How did they know me so well? How long have they been working on this? My room was perfect. Two of the walls were painted light grey, while the other two were white with graffiti covering them; I had a metal four poster queen sized bed. The bed spread was black with bright blue, orange, purple and green splatters all over it. It was covered in pillows that were a mixture of black, orange, purple, blue, green, white and sliver. On the other side of the room there was a white sectional couch covered in the same pillows as my bed. The couch was facing a flat screen T.V. there was a white furry carpet underneath the couch and a coffee table that was painted glossy black. There were two chairs in the corner, one was purple and the other one was blue, they had a sliver table inbetween them. In another corner there was a silver desk and a see through orange plastic swivel chair. All the boxes of my clothes were in my closet that was the size of my old bedroom. There were also a lot of new clothes in my closet the Ella had picked out, even though we don't have the same taste she knows what I like. I ran and jumped on my bed. "I told you she would do that" I heard Ari say, but I didn't care I loved my new room.

Then I sat up and said "wait, where are my guitars?"

"I knew she would say that, too" Ari said as he gave Ella a pointed look. Then he turned to me and said "I guess we'll have to show you"

I followed Ari, Ella and Angle to the basement. They took me down a short hallway and into a dark room. When they turned the lights on I saw a music room with a whole set up, including amps and mics. Ari's drums and my guitars were set among the many instruments. Even though Ari and I knew how to play every instrument in this room we manly played drums and guitars. There was also a recording studio in the next room over. The basement also had a movie room and an arcade, and when I say arcade I'm not kidding. "This is awesome!" I screamed making Ari wince. "wait a second how did you guys do all of this so fast?"

"We did it before we even knew you were coming for sure" Angle said cheerfully. She must have seen the bewildered look on my face because she said "you see mom wanted to make sure that she was ready when she won the custody battle for you guys"

"What custody battle? And why was she so sure of her-self?" I asked I honestly knew nothing about this at all and i had the feeling I was the only one out of the loop.

"Well mom said that when people get divorced if they have kids they go to court to see who gets them, or in some cases who gets who. And I don't know why she thought she was going to win, she never really explained." Angle said.

Then Ari said "I know the answer to that question," Ella, Angle and I all turned to look at him, "I was kind of telling mom what dad would do to us when he was drunk and how often it was."

"Oh, now it makes sense" I said but the younger girls just looked confused.

"Y-you mean this wasn't the first time?" Ella asked us. All we could do was nod.