A/N: My first Fanfic, guys! Okay, so this morning I was pouring my cereal, but I was extra sleepy and drowsy. Then I freaked out 'cause this Star Wars poster thing fell out. I literally yelped and jumped back. I'm such a wimp in the mornings... anyways, enjoy!

Oh, almost forgot: MAXIMUM RIDE OWNS HERSELF. NO ON ECAN OWN IT! I am not a creepy old man with a plastered on cheesy smile. Do I look like James Patterson? I guess you wouldn't know anyway - I hope you don't. With an exception of luvcookiesandHMS. She actually knows me. I'll get on with the story now...

I dragged my feet to the kitchen. I was practically sleepwalking, my nose leading the way to the delicious smell of bacon. "Iggy," I drawled. "Are you done yet? Jeez, how long does it take to cook a piece of bacon?" My stomach growled at the thought of thin, crispy, fatty bacon. Turning the corner, I saw none other than Voldemort himself, frying my bacon, using Iggy's favorite polka-dotted spatula.

"Well, well. Max Ride, the girl who lived, come to die!" He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named raised a stick of butter threateningly. I cowered in fear in front of The Dark Lord.

But thankfully, my pet koala Aussie, leapt from the ceiling and tackled the most dangerous wizard on earth. I threw my Pokeball yelling, "I choose you, VIOLIN!" My amazing violin flew out of the Pokeball and used its incredible ninja moves to kill off Voldemort. Soon enough, the commotion died down, and I ate my bacon in peace. I sighed in contentment. My life is so epic. I felt something jerking my shoulders, and someone shouting "Holy crap, Max! What is your problem?"

I blinked and saw a raving, loony psychopath at my bedside. Ha. No, actually, it was Gazzy. His blond hair stuck up everywhere, and his wild blue eyes stared me down like I'd grown wings. Which, I guess, I have. Shaking away my grogginess, I clambered off the bed and nearly fell face first on the hard wood floor. "Language, Gazzy."I muttered. Gazzy ran out of my room ranting something about Pokemon, Voldemort, and murderous bacon. I didn't want to know.

My cream-colored room mocked me with its drab color choice and the paper all over the floor. Being the neat freak that I am, I set to work, picking up the stray papers, wires, and Cheerios strewn carelessly throughout my pathetic living space. Curse the demented children that polluted my room with their ickiness. Oh, those are my siblings. Sorry, siblings. Ten minutes later, I was strolling out the door to get some breakfast and to wake up the others, when I noticed the Flock sitting in a circle in the living room. My demonic sister, Angel, sat criss-cross-applesauce on the sofa and noticed me first. "Hey Max." she said. Wearily, I scanned the room for any stink bombs Iggy and Gazzy may have planted to make me smell for a week. That's happened before, you know. Nothing.

"Hey," I said, tentatively stepping forward. Fang and Iggy solemnly looked up at me, their innocent expressions so not innocent, it made me crack up. "You – look – so – stupid – like that!" I cackled. No one else laughed.

"We're here to hold an intervention, Max." Fang said, looking grim – but probably holding back laughter. "Mr. Gasman has told us about your mental dilemma while you sleep." The Flock nodded. "So, yeah. Sit down, Maximum Ride, and do whatever we tell you to do." I sat down in the center of the circle – the mushpot, as Nudge calls it. Have I mentioned how unnaturally quiet Nudge is today?

"Okay, Maximum," Iggy started. "We'll start off with a short game of 'Name Whatever'."

Honestly, I didn't know what the heck that game was, (they probably made it up) but I decided to play along. How are you supposed hold an intervention, anyway?

"Max, name something stupid."

"You." I said cockily.

"Wrong answer. Have I mentioned if you fail the intervention, you have to do whatever the rest of the Flock wants for one day?"

What?

"O.K., next, name something hot."

"A stove."

"Something you watch."

"A movie."

"Something you say on Facebook."

"Uhh, 'I like trains'?"

"Something you play."

"A ukulele."

"Something wrong."

"The earth is flat."

"Something gone wrong."

"Fang's brain."

I had to giggle to that. But I don't giggle, so, it sounding like a squealing constipated duck. Angel and Gazzy had to laugh though. Fang was not amused. He sent his shadowy gaze my way and fixed me with it like a spotlight. "Us." I said suddenly.

Nudge finally spoke up. "What?" she said.

"We're something gone wrong. You know, failed experiments." The Flock laughed at the twisted humor. But Iggy wasn't done with his game.

"Next we're doing Truth and Dare." Fang said eyeing me mischievously. He knew I'd always pick a dare. "Max, truth or dare?"

"Dare." I said cautiously. Honestly, I was enjoying this.

"I dare you to… do a free fall outside."

"Sure."

Fang winked. "But you can't use your wings to stop yourself when you're about to hit the ground. Someone has to catch you. 'K?"

I wrinkled my nose. But I wasn't going to back down. "Okay."

Angel's turquoise eyes widened as she got up. Iggy and His Paleness seemed to be liking the idea of letting me kill myself. Nudge didn't say anything. Was she okay? I did a few arm circles once Gazzy opened the wooden door and we all stepped out into the chilly September day. Snapping out my tawny wings to stretch, I suddenly realized how dark Fang's wings were. Heck, they looked blue in the sunlight, they were so black. Fang turned around and caught me staring. I went an angry shade of red, and Fang smirked. "I was admiring your blue wings, Fang." I said. And then the Nudge channel turned on:

"Oh my god, Max, you take so long we've already been out here for a million minutes – do the dare already besides Iggy isn't even done with his intervention and Gazzy was all like 'Max is having dreams about bacon, Voldemort, and Pokemon' it's so lame; but they changed the theme song and now its stupid and I think that people should keep the original stuff it always sounds better so yeah Max—"

Jeez, Nudge's whole life is a run-on sentence. I didn't have the heart to tell her to shut up, though. Iggy cleared his throat and the Flock fell quiet. He practically floated into the sky like a ballerina with his white wings. That boy was albino or something. "Do it, Max." he said.

I wondered who was going to catch me. Angel? No. Gazzy? Probably not. Nudge? Nope, not in a million years. That left Fang and Iggy. I had a feeling I couldn't trust either of them.

But, being the crazed bird-teen that I am, I went ahead and did it anyway.

I propelled myself upward, pushing down with my wings. Once I gained momentum, I rocketed more and more up, until I was like, a million feet in the air. One thing about being super duper high: Its cold. Okay, that's a major understatement. It's freakin' FREEZING. At this point, I hoped I'd get it over with, and FAST. If I left my wings out when I free fall, I would completely fracture them, so without hesitating, I tucked them in.

One second later, I was plummeting to a certain death. Cold air rushed up my ears, me, the moron hurtling through the wet clouds, my feet nearly touching my forehead.

Worst part? I was screaming like a girly, decapitated chicken the whole way down.

I envisioned my obituary in the newspaper. GIRL FALLS FROM SKY AND DIES! NO ONE CLAIMS TO KNOW HER! WHAT AN IDIOT! By right now, I was day-dreaming. I love to eat fluffy hamsters that had stripes on them. And one time, I flew a kite shaped like an elephant. It was cool. But not as cool as the time my yellow unicorn broke up with my turtle. I like turtles. And—

"AHHHHHHHH!" My screeching should have been bleeped about a thousand times for the profanity that came flooding out of my mouth. I blame Fang. It was all his dare. If I die, I swear, I'll kill him myself. Wait that doesn't make sense…

A pair of twig-like, skinny arms caught me. That sounds all heroic. Let me rephrase that. A pair of skinny arms broke my fall. But I still hit the ground, and so did my savior. Cause, let me tell you, if you ever try to even LIFT Maximum Ride, your arms will fall off. And if she falls on you, you're a pancake. Enough said.

It was Fang, obviously. And even though he didn't make a sound when I rammed into him and squashed him into the dirt, I could tell his back and wings had taken a lot of the fall. Heck, my back hurt. And I wasn't even the one who literally slammed into the ground. It's all fun and games until someone looses an eye. Nudge covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide in shock. I gingerly rolled off of Fang and stood up, dusting the jeans I'd gotten at Wal-Mart three years ago for ten dollars. "Ow." I said.

I bent backwards and forwards to stretch out my back. I felt ten times better. I stuck out a hand to help Fang up, but he got up by himself. Then he grinned like the maniac he was. "That was hot!" he exclaimed. I was thinking along the lines of 'Eeeeeeeeeeew'. Iggy suppressed a smile. "Hot as in cool. Like, 'that was so cool'. You have such a dirty mind, Max." Fang clarified. I didn't think that was 'cool' one bit. You wouldn't either; if you were me.

*~0~0~*

Two hours and a hot shower later, I was curled up on the brown couch in my pajamas. Then Iggy notified me that it was my turn to do the dishes. Dang it. I made up a stupid lie, that no, it was Gazzy's turn, but Angel read my deceitful thoughts and defended Gazzy. And everyone believes Angel.

So now, here I was, scrubbing away at the leftover silverware and plates humming "Under the Boardwalk" by The Drifters. What? Fang's the one that knows a trillion songs. I don't listen to modern music. The 50's songs were pretty good. I think they are…

and Fang was watching me the whole time. The little stalker. Next thing you know, he'll be figuring out where I live! Oh wait – he already knows that. Creeper. "Hey," I said accusingly. "You have to help me now, 'cause you were stalking me." I gestured to the mountain of dishes I still needed to do. He shrugged and strode over beside me. Then, I did a despicable thing.

I splashed him with dish water.

And the imbecile splashed me back.

There you have it folks: a full-fledged water fight. I filled a cup with water and dumped it on his head. Fang sprayed me with soapy suds. I swore at the cold water that was trickling down my face and neck. Then I poured whole bowls of water on him. He did the same, but I could tell he was fighting off a smile. Sooner or later, Fang and I were laughing, getting soapy water in our mouths and clothes, Fang's raven black hair dripping with strawberry scented Ajax soap, and trashing Iggy's beloved kitchen. I giggled the whole time. It was all worth it, though. Maybe not. Because we had to clean it all up. I'm surprised the Flock didn't hear all our ruckus. Says an enraged Iggy. And Nudge. Apparently her eyeshadow was in the kitchen, and Fang and I had ruined it. Why was it in the kitchen anyway? I didn't think Nudge ate her make-up.

I huffed as I knelt down with a towel to soak up the mess. Fang wordlessly soaked towel after towel, and soon, his entire side was clean. He came over to help me. I stepped to the laundry to get a towel and pushed my dripping brown hair behind my ear. I didn't notice the puddle on the floor. My left foot plopped right into it and I slipped. Thump! I yelped and threw my hands in front of me to break the fall, but only managed to hurt my wrist. "Ughhhh…" I groaned, rubbing my knees. I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. "You 'k?" Fang asked. And when I looked up, I saw pure concern etched into his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine." But I wasn't. "That's two falls in one day." I joked, lightening the mood. "you know how us bird-children heal."

He removed his hand from my shoulder and got the towels himself, and set to work on my side. I hate to admit it, but that was pretty nice on his part. He technically cleaned the whole kitchen, including my side, because I'd injured myself. I swore to my brain that I'd do something for him someday. Fang silently retreated to the dark caverns of his room and left the shower to me. Without uttering a single word of thanks, I hogged the bathroom and took yet another hot shower. Feeling super bad, I went to bed.

Later that night, I heard the shower turn on. I crawled out of bed and tip-toed toward the sound of water pounding the tub. I'm pretty sure Fang was singing in there. Singing! He wasn't that bad, actually. I recognized the song.

Oh, we'll be fallin' in love,

under the boardwalk

Oh, under the boardwalk, down by the sea, yeah

On a blanket with my baby, that's where I'll be, yeah

Fang was humming "Under the Boardwalk."

I couldn't sleep that night.

A/N: This was supposed to be a oneshot, but I guess it all comes down to the reviews..REVIEW! Fang will love you forever if you do. By the way, I don't write romance, even though I LOVE fax. So just forewarning you: no sappy romances here. No siree. I'm not pulling an Edward. (Review if you know what I meant.) Did anyone get the "I like trains" reference? Comment if you knew! Gotta love asdf videos. I'm currently in love with Taylor Swift's song, "Safe and Sound". It's gonna be in The Hunger Games, and I'm, like, in love with it. And no, she's not singing about some ex-boyfriend. Check it out. Also, check out luvcookiesandHMS's story, "The Newbie Has Wings 2". Review it, and it'll really make Skyler's day! Take a look at my profile when you get the time. Remember, R&R!

~MagicalNeonOwls (Hallie)