So yeah, my first Maximum Ride fic... I've seen a bunch of these truth/dare things, and in a sad attempt to be origanal, I renamed it. Oh, just fair warning, I decided to invent a couple of words in here, so just, ya' know... humor me.

Dissing the Claim: As much as I wish I owned seven Avain-American kiddo's, I don't. Oh, I and I don't own the little Spanish chick either. They're all James Patterson's... darn him and his amazing ideas.

I was lazily flipping through the channels on a rainy day in the Martinez household, not really listening to the programs. I passed through a few cartoons, and heard Angel run up behind me urgently.

"Wait, Fang! Go back a few channels," She told me, running to sit in front of the TV, "There, that's it!"

It was an old Cartoon Network show. By the looks of the setting, they were in someone's bedroom at night, having a slumber party. One of the characters looked very stressed, constantly telling his friends that their game of Truth or Dare had to be quiet. I actually felt kind of bad for him.

A hug crack of lightening sounded outside, and suddenly the screen went black.

"Aw! What happened?" Angel asked, staring at the screen with disappointment.

Ella walked in, looking around the room skeptically, "Power outage. I guess something hit a power line."

"Do you think something blew up?" Gazzy asked excitedly.

"A few sparks at most. Sorry, Gazzy," Ella informed him.

"AH! HOLY – THAT'S COLD – WATER!" A scream sounded from the hall bathroom.

"MAX! Language!" Iggy called from his room in mock reprimand at Max's colorful description of just what she thought of the shower head.

Max stomped into the living room, dripping wet, wearing a blue t-shirt and a borrowed pair of Ella's Sophie shorts. Max hated wearing them, but I really didn't mind. Really didn't mind.

She plopped onto the other end of the couch, arms folded, "The one time I actually break down and take a shower, the power goes out and just takes the hot water with it! The cleanliness gods must hate me."

"I know something we could do," Nudge said, her voice taking on a conniving tone.

Angel giggled, "I'm in!"

Angel always knew what was happening first. Darn her and her little mind reading skills.

"What?" Max asked.

"Truth or Dare!"

"Oh, no! I am not playing truth or dare!" Ella objected immediately.

"Why not?" Nudge asked disappointedly.

Ella grimaced, "Let's just say I had a bad experience."

"What hap—," Gazzy tried to ask.

"I had a bad EXPERIENCE!" She boomed at the nine year old.

"Y-yes ma'am! I mean, uh," He fumbled.

Ella covered her face with her hand, "Just forget about it, Gazzy."

"Well, what if we changed the name?" Nudge asked.

"Excuse me?"

"What if it was Dare or Truth instead of Truth or Dare?"

Max put her head to one side, her anger at the shower god's forgotten, "How do you play?"

"Oh, we have to play, now! Just so Max can learn! C'mon, Ella, please?" Angel pleaded, putting on her most angelic face.

Ella shook her head stubbornly.

Nudge joined Angel in their silent bessechment.

Ella refused, but this time hesitantly.

Iggy walked out of the hallway, being the last to join the group in the living room, "What's up?"

Angel and Nudge dashed over to Iggy, "Ella's being so mean!"

"Yeah, we just wanted to play a harmless game of Truth or Dare!"

"We even changed the name of the game to Dare or Truth, just for her!"

"C'mon, Iggy, tell Ella to play with us, please?"

Iggy looked (so to speak) at Ella, "Why don't you want to play?"

Ella, who had been standing silently, watching incredulously as the implored Iggy to convince her to play, now spoke dully, "I had a bad experience."

"It's only a harmless game, isn't it?" Iggy questioned, missing the warning in Ella's voice.

"Truth or Dare is anything but harmless," She told him flatly.

"Well I want to play, and since I'm in charge when Mom's at work, I say this is going to be a cosmic family togetherness experience and we are all going to participate." Max said with a look at Ella that dared her to challenge.

I shot a shot a sideways glance at Max, "Cosmic family togetherness?"

"I read it somewhere. Now play along!" She muttered back at me.

Ella sighed, "Fine, I know when I'm beaten," She plopped onto the floor, a crack of thunder punctuating the action.

Nudge and Angel squealed, each of them taking a seat on the floor.

"Everyone sits in a circle," Angel instructed.

Iggy came over and sat next to Ella, Max and I slid off the couch and onto the floor, and Gazzy came and filled the space between Max and Nudge.

"Okay, I'll go first," Nudge announced, "I choose… Max!"

Max blinked in surprise, "Me? Uh, okay…"

"Dare or Truth?"

Max looked very self-assured as she told Nudge, "Dare!"

Nudge smiled wickedly, "I dare you to let me give you a makeover!"

Max's face fell, "No way!"

"Too late, you said dare!" Nudge jumped up, running off to gather all the makeup in the house.

Iggy snickered and whispered something to Ella, which got them both trying to contain frantic laughter.

"Alright, Iggy, you think it's so funny?" Max demanded hotly, getting their attention, "Dare or Truth?"

"Dare, of course!" Iggy scoffed.

Max smirked, "I dare you to sing Ella a love song."

Iggy's face reddened, "Pardon?"

"You heard me," Max said, completely self-satisfied, "Fang, go get your laptop, he's gonna need lyrics."

Iggy frowned deeply, "That won't be necessary, Fang. I've got a song memorized."

Max gasped and reached out to Ella, "He's been living his whole life for this moment! Just to sing for you!"

"Ew, Max!" Ella protested, her face blushing.

Max laughed, "This almost makes the makeover worth it," She stated as Nudge returned with a huge box of makeup.

Iggy sighed and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Max asked, ready to challenge him for skipping out on the dare.

"I'm getting a prop," He snapped, disappearing down the hallway.

Nudge giggled, "I love this game!" She began holding up different colors of eye shadow and blush next to Max's face, "You are definitely a summer, Max."

"Well I can certainly add that to my list of useless trivia."

Just then, Iggy returned with a guitar in hand.

"It's a full-blown serenade!" Max commented with a big smile.

"I'm really not sure I'm comfortable with this…," Ella began as Iggy sat down next to her, his face set.

But before any other words could be said, Iggy took up a familiar tune on the guitar, and to all of our profound amazement, his singing was...

Oooooh, cliffhanger!

...or not really. I just had to cut the chapter off somewhere, so why not right when I'm about to tell you: can Iggy sing, or no?

Review? Por favor? :}D