Maximum Ride (sadly) does not belong to me or any of my cohorts. Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, Angel, Dr. M, Ella, and Total all belong to James Patterson.
The setting in this story is different than that of the original series. The Flock is up with the Martinez's in their "winter home" conveniently located in the snow ridden land of New England. (Woot!) And I won't be describing the characters 'cause if you're reading this you probably already know who they are. Oh, and Total has "mysteriously disappeared". I think he went off to that doggie spa he's been ranting about. Anyways, just go with the flow while I try to restrain myself from poking my eye out.
ONWARD!
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I woke up to a fuzzy blonde head bouncing up and down on my bed. "Gazzy…" I moaned, "It's…" I glanced at my clock, "8:00…"
"And you point is…?"
"I'm sleeping."
"Then wake up."
"No. Go bother Nudge. Or Iggy. Or Fang even." But unfortunately, most of my options were currently used up. Angel and Nudge ran into my room, fully clothed in snow gear.
"Come on, Gazzy!" Angel called as she pulled her brother off of me and out the door. I sighed in relief.
But the silence was short lived, however. Fang ended up sprinting into my room and locking the door, panting. Banging was heard against the wood. I raised an eyebrow.
"They want me to go outside with them." I nodded and stuffed my head back into my pillow.
Fang pressed his ear to the door. When it (I guess) sounded remotely quiet, he slowly cracked it open. Big mistake. He got the triple threat: Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge, all piled on top of him. He was thrown backwards—onto my bed.
Fang was splayed across me, his head in my lap. I blushed slightly. Gazzy pinned his arms, Nudge held his legs, and Angel bounced up and down.
"Oof, Fang, you're squishing me!"
"Well, sorry! I currently am being pinned down three little kids." (Note the sarcasm)
I giggled, "Fang is being pinned by three little kids?" I earned a glare from him.
"We'll only let him up if you guys come and play in the snow!" Okay, mental calculation: wet + ice = not a happy Max.
"How about not?"
"Not an option." I glanced at Fang. Fang glanced at me. His eyes said it all.
"Fine, let him up." The kids squealed with joy. "Now you have to be outside in the next ten minutes or we're dragging you out no matter what." I groaned as they waltzed out the door.
"Well, we better get ready." Fang smirked, lighting up the room.
"Revenge?" I asked.
"You bet."
~*~
Nine minutes and forty-seven seconds later, Fang and I were outside. It was just as I had predicted: wet and cold. Fang looked just about as miserable as I was which was saying something. Gassy and Angel were dive bombing the three foot snow mounds decorating the huge backyard. Ella and Nudge were whispering with Iggy over on the side looking…devious.
"Hey Max!" Iggy called I looked over to him only to be hit smack in the face with a snowball. Everyone started cracking up. Until Gazzy was hit upside the head with a perfectly carved ball of ice crystals (and who says poetry is dead?)
"Sorry," I called up to him, grinning, "My aim was off."
Turns out, so was the Gasman's. Fang got really peeved. Like, melting-snow-off-face peeved. One second later, Gasman was flying around wildly, trying to get snow out of his jacket. He ran into a branch, which just so happened to be right over Nudge. The snow dropped down onto her head as she emitted much squealing and cursing.
"No foul language!" Ella scolded teasingly. Nudge chucked a good sized lump of snow at her head. Of course, it missed and hit Iggy.
"Hey! What'd I do?" he complained. Gazzy laughed and chucked another snowball at Iggy. Iggy chucked one back, but it missed and hit Angel. Of course. The little girl whipped around, murder in her eyes.
"IGGY!"
"What?!"
"Get back here!"
It turned into mass chaos after that. Fang and I set up a tag team. He sniped while I aimed up high. We all built snow forts and enough snowballs to last us for the next two years. Every single one was used. Even Fang seemed to be having a good time. For an emo bird-kid, that is.
Eventually though, everyone ran out of ammunition and throwing power. Fang had disappeared somewhere, but I wasn't that worried about him. Angel and Gazzy were yawning and recounting the highlights of the battle. Nudge and Ella were talking about random twelve-year-old things. Iggy was fingering snow, getting to know the texture and temperature.
A large pile of snow was dropped on my head. I was covered in little white flakes from head to toe. Looking up I saw a black bundle of hoodies and scarves laughing his head off along with the rest of the Flock.
"FANG!"
He took off as I jumped into the air, snapping open my wings. I used my speed to catch up to him. "Come back here!" I called after him. But Fang was smart. He kept using sharp turns and roll to keep away. And yet, I was smarter. I got above and in front of him, adjusting myself just right, then dropped right onto his back, offsetting his balanced and causing us to crash headfirst right into a snow mound.
The rest of the Flock poured over as I sat up on Fang's chest. "That's cheating!" he complained, shaking out a scarf.
"Maybe you'll think about that next time, eh, wonder boy?"
"I'm flattered."
"Oh, go stuff yourself."
"You'd have to get off for that to happen."
"I'm not moving until you give me an apology."
"I'm terribly sorry I laughed when I dumped a truckload of snow on you head."
"You're hilarious." But I got off anyways. Nudge and Ella were leaning on each other from laughing. Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel had tears in their eyes.
Fang picked himself up and brushed himself off, glaring at me. But I could see a sparkle in his eyes that hadn't been there five minutes ago. I blushed at the thought and looked up at the sky. It must have been almost three. I started trudging towards the house with Iggy and Gazzy. Angel, Nudge, and Ella came next. Fang brought up the end.
The house smelled like pasta. After peeling off my snow gear, I walked into the kitchen. "Hey Mom. Whatcha cookin'?" Dr. Martinez looked up.
"Hi Max. Tuna-Noodle Casserole. Want some?"
"Yeah!"
We all sat down at the long table with three batches of steaming casserole in the middle. Everyone grabbed seconds, even the Martinezs.
"Hey, today's Christmas Eve!" Angel squealed suddenly. This brought on a huge wave of excitement, causing organized chaos. Christmas lists were discussed as well as what time to get up to open presents. We decided on no earlier than seven-thirty.
Soon, everyone was back into their casserole. The boys finished it off, though, much to the protest of Nudge and Angel.
I weaseled Fang into helping me clean up after lunch, much to his disproval. The girls were playing Life in front of a roaring fire. Iggy and Gazzy were off somewhere, probably making a bomb. Dr. M was preparing dinner.
That's when the snow started.
It was about five, around twilight, when Angel looked out the window. Snow was starting to fall again in big flakes, swirling around in the breeze. "Omigosh!" she squealed, "Lookit! It's snowing!" So of course, we all had to trudge outside and enjoy it like the snowmen we were sure to turn into after all of this.
Fang and I stood next to each other and watched as the kids marveled over the snow. We had seen it before, but not in a few months. We had missed Christmas last year and had been all over the south.
We started up another small snowball fight, but we were too tired to take it much farther than covering ourselves from head to toe in little white flakes. Mom called the younger Flock members in after their old grandfather clock struck eleven. I heard Iggy and Gazzy whispering about snow bombs while the girls were talking about new styles of jackets and coats.
That left Fang and I. He stooped and made a small ball of snow. I backed away, eyeing it, but he didn't throw it. Instead, he placed it back on the ground and started rolling it. It started getting really big and I walked over and helped push it. When it got big enough—like, two feet across—we placed it in the middle of the yard. Fang started on the middle while I did the head.
After the three parts had been placed, Fang broke off two branches from a near-by tree and made arms while I found some gravel from the driveway. We stole a carrot from their back garden for the nose.
I took Fang's hat and placed it on the snowman's head. I took my scarf off too and wrapped it around its neck. "Finished," I said proudly. Fang pretended to study it. "He kind of looks like you," he said thoughtfully. I punched his lightly. "Shut up."
"No, really. He's wearing your scarf."
"He has your hat too."
"Maybe he's bisexual."
"Ewww! Fang!" I threw a snowball at his head but he blocked it and charged at me. His arms caught me around the waist and I squirmed in his grip. "So unfair," I whined. He grinned at me. "The great Maximum Ride cannot beat the amazing wonder boy?" I rolled my eyes, "Maybe the great Maximum Ride was just going easy on him."
"I'm so sure."
"Be quiet."
"Make me."
I spun around and kissed him, full on the lips. "There, consider yourself quieted." I was blushing madly, happy that the darkness was covering it. I didn't even know where that had come from, let alone if Fang even felt that way about me. Stupid, stupid, STUPID.
But Fang didn't turn away or let go of me. If anything, he tightened his grip and leaned down so that we were barely centimeters away…and then I was gone.
Fang was kissing me. Fang was kissing me. As soon as I became aware of that little fact I smiled, a genuine smile, and kissed him back.
We pulled apart smiling as the grandfather clock struck midnight.
"Merry Christmas, Max," Fang whispered.
"Merry Christmas," I whispered back, kissing him once more as the stars twinkled above us.
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TADA! Too bad it's time for bed, or I would write longer. Sorry I haven't updated BBWP lately. School (mainly algebra) has been biting my butt the past few days. I'm writing the chapter, I just don't have a lot of time to finish it.
But anyways, happy early Christmas.
Love ya'!
~*GrEy*~