Hey guys! Here's my new story!
It's taken a long time, but I've finally came up with a plot. Enjoy it!

NOTE: In this story, Max says 'quince-rera', meaning 'quinceañera'. I know it's going to bug a bunch of you out there, so I apologize in advance. Throughout the whole story she's probably going to say it like that. Hope you like it anyway!

Fifteen
Chapter One : The Deal

I look like a giant, yellow duck. I thought to myself, looking at my reflection. All I need is an orange beak and I could go take a bath in the lake out front.

So there I was. In a department store that smelled of old people, snotty rich too-good-for-you men and women, and cashiers squirting fragrance in your face. I was crammed in a two-by-two dressing room, Ella and Dr. Martinez surrounding me with goofy smiling faces. And I was staring at myself in the mirror, surrounded by a huge yellow, scratchy, over-expensive dress that looked like it belonged to some girly princess. Who felt like dressing up as Big Bird from Sesame Street.

Please don't let me look like this, I pleaded. Let me just be dreaming.

"You look gorgeous." Ella gushed, and I gave her a sour look.

"You do, Max." Mom said to me, placing her warm hand on my exposed shoulder.

I sighed. How was I suppose to tell her that I didn't want to do this? How do I tell her I didn't want a quince-rera, or whatever it's called? Why does she have to be so nice?

"Um, thanks." I mumbled, turning away from the mirror. "Maybe we should try something more... lighter? The yellow isn't, erm, my thing."

Ella nodded, and hobbled herself and her crutches out of the dressing room, Dr. Martinez only steps behind. I inwardly groaned, beginning to unclip the massive straps off of me and slide the dress down to my ankles. This wasn't suppose to happen. All was came down for was a check-in. Ella's birthday was in a four weeks, and we thought we could wish her an extra-early happy birthday. We being the Flock and I, obviously.

To our surprise, Ella was in crutches and hobbling around, complaining about her muscle that she tore playing soccer. Because she tore something extremely important, she would be missing her birthday party that was being held at a hotel twenty minutes away. It wasn't a close party either, it was in a month. She had rented a ball room and everything, because it was a combination of her confirmation, birthday, and her soccer championship that her team had won. A week before, when they were celebrating as a team and fooling around with the soccer ball, Ella tore that muscle of hers.

Mom was stressed out, talking on the phone with the hotel manager and trying to get back as much money as she could, but the deposit was non-refundable.

And then she found out my birthday was in two weeks.

Hey, I didn't even know I had a birthday! All it took was Mom walking by the calendar near the kitchen, a quick look, and a gasp. Ta-Da! My birthday's in August. Making Fang's in... December? And Iggy's sometime in Feburary?

Mom wasn't as excited as I was, because she pulled me aside and apologized fifty-million times, saying she couldn't believe I was turning fifteen already. Then she broke the news: I should to have a quince-rera. Or something like that. She said it would be perfect. She'd have it at the hotel that she already had the deposit for. She wouldn't waste all that money! Then she left to make some calls.

Because I had no clue what a quince-rera was, I asked Nudge to Google it for me. And guess what it is. A big party. With lots of dresses. And dancing. And people. And traditions. So not my thing.

Just as I was going to break the news to Dr. M, tell her I wasn't up for it, the oh-so logical Mr. Fang came up and stopped me. He offered me a bet. If I do this quince-rera thing, make Dr. Martinez happy and don't let her money go to waste, yadda, yadda, yadda, then he wouldn't tell the Flock about the time I was getting my chip out, when I was on Valium. (Yeah, they still don't know about that.)

So that means I have to go along with it, be nice, play fair. Just so I won't be mocked for the rest of my short bird-kid life.

See my dilemma?

"Max, are you almost out?" I heard Ella call. "I found a cool lavender dress!"

After a reply of 'I'm definitely not wearing purple!', Ella went back out again in search of another one. I sighed, having second thoughts about this.

Knowing me and my grace, I'll probably ruin this thing from beginning to end. I'll rip my dress, spill my drink, mess up when it comes to impressions with the relatives. I'll embarrass Ella in front of her friends so bad she'll have to move to another country to get away from the laughter. The buffet will be a huge slip 'n' slide. Gazzy will test his new bomb, and light the place on fire. Iggy will try cooking with the chefs and screw up the cooking times, and we'd all get food poisoning. Angel will mind control all the cousins to do the chicken dance. Nudge will talk until we're all deaf! This thing's going to be a disaster!

I know, I know. I'll shut up. It's not like it hasn't happened before.

We got home at ten o'clock.

Fang was waiting, sitting on the sofa scrolling through the channels. The thing is that it usually takes girls weeks and months to find their dresses. It took me a day, mostly because we didn't have weeks and months. The party was in four weeks. It's unrealistic, but Dr. Martinez already had all the relatives coming down for Ella's confirmation, and she didn't cancel the caterer, so there would be plenty of food. The cake could be fixed: she just called and had the name changed from "Happy Birthday Ella!" to "Happy Birthday Max!".

It was the dance lessons that would be the problem. And the decorations. And all the tradition things that I had no clue about. Overwhelmed, I sat down beside Fang, completely exhausted.

"Grandma's coming down tomorrow," Dr. Martinez confirmed, and I felt an uneasy feeling settle in the bottom of my stomach. Was it time for the relatives to come down already? Fang saw my expression and shot me a 'Don't back out now' stare. I sunk farther down into the sofa.

"Ugh, I'm going to bed," Ella said, sounding tired. Quickly I agreed with her, tapping fists with Fang and heading down to Ella's room.

Her room was the last door on the left in the Martinez's hallway, and it had a purple theme. Her pillows were lavender and her bedspread was deep violet. I watched as Ella pulled out a small single air mattress from underneath the bed and plugged in the pump, and pressed the power button. The bed began to fill with air and expand, while the deafening sound of it filling my ears. When she was finished, I knew I had to ask her something.

"Why are you so excited that I'm having a quince-rera?" I asked her, lowering myself onto her bed as she got sheets out of her closet and spread them on the mattress.

"It's quinceañera Max." She corrected, holding back a smile. "And I'm happy because Mom's money isn't going to waste. I felt horrible."

I gave her look, and told her that there had to be more to the story.

"Alright. Well, Mom's always been real serious about me having a quinceañera, and I always knew that I'd never enjoy it. That's why I wanted such a big party. I thought : Hey, if she spends this much money on me for my fourteenth birthday, she won't go with the whole quinceañera thing." She sighed, finishing with the sheets and grabbed a blanket from a cabinet in her closet. "Then when I tore my muscle, I knew that I'd have to have a quinceañera next year. Then you were turning fifteen and everything fell into place."

She looked up at me with her brown eyes, and I immediately thought of Dr. Martinez. She was so giving and sweet, and always wanted the best for Ella and me. I knew why Ella couldn't tell her Mom that she didn't want a quinceañera. If she did, it would break Dr. Martinez's heart.

"If you have your quinceañera, then when I turn fifteen Mom won't be so broken when I tell her I don't want one." She said finally, grabbing her nightgown from her dresser. "I know it's wrong. But being a princess, all the dancing, all the effort... It's not my thing."

"Well, it's certainly not my thing either!" I exclaimed, and Ella laughed. I gave my half sister a small smile, pulling out a ratty t-shirt and athletic shorts from my backpack. I changed, brushed my teeth and was in bed within ten minutes. Ella was finishing her shower, the tiny yellow light visible under the door. The lights in her room were off, leaving me and the sounds of running water coming from the bathroom.

I laid on the air bed, listening. I couldn't sleep.

The things running through my mind :

1) My grandma was coming down tomorrow, a woman who I have never met before, and hopefully isn't a total witch.

2) Me and Fang's deal.

3) Ella's whole guilt speech. Now I definitely couldn't back out of this quince-rera thing.

4) I had to wear a dress. I mean, come on!

So, did you like it?
Tell me what you think!

Review, please!