Identity Protection

"I swear it wasn't my fault. Trust me, I would tell you if it were." I told my best friends, Sam and Dylan.

"Ok, Max." Dylan replied, disbelievingly. I knew he wouldn't believe me but I had to try. I don't know why, though. Its not like I actually expected them to believe me, they know me too well.

If you're wondering what we're talking about, I accidentally pushed Lissa in the school fountain. It wasn't exactly an accident, though, but she'd never know that. She thinks we're like best friends but we're not. I don't even like her but Dylan has had the hugest crush on her for the last month. Ever since he got over his awkward stage of being a teenager, girls have been literally throwing themselves at him.

I can't say I like it but I'm happy he's finally getting some female attention other than myself. Being almost blonde and having turquoise eyes, it's a wonder they weren't always throwing themselves at him. I'll even admit that I may have had a tiny crush on him for a millisecond after I met him.

Anyway, onto less exciting subjects, my name is Max and I'm in my sophomore year of high school. I'll be turning 16 in May but right now, I'm just focusing on staying alive until Christmas break.

"Maximum Ride to the office, please." I heard over the pa system. As I told my friends I'd meet them at lunch, I wondered what I could possibly be called down for. It couldn't be for pushing Lissa because I'd made sure no one had noticed and I hadn't pulled anything in a while. Its probably because I skipped first period.

Oh, well.

I walked in to see my mother looking normal and noticed that she had just finished signing me out. If she actually had found out about me skipping, she'd kill me.

"What's going on?" I asked casually.

"We gotta go. Your dads waiting outside." She said, sounding relatively normal, too. So we walked out of the building together and found my dad waiting in the front drop off in his new baby. He just recently got a Ford f-150 and it is his most prized possession. Other than me, of course.

"Someone wanna tell me where we're going?" I asked once we were in the car and noticed my little sister, Heidi, was in there as well.

"We are relocating." My dad said casually.

"Obviously, that's what cars were made for." I replied, oblivious to the fact that he probably meant literally relocating.

"No, Max. We're moving to California, your dads company is relocating cause they got hacked. The police say they're probably gonna attack personally. Something about them getting everything they want, I don't know but we gotta go as soon as possible. We'll have someone pack all our things for us and we'll stay in an apartment until we find a place down there. We're really sorry this is so last minute but its something we had to do."

Now, in my head and to my friends I would normally react with something like "What the fuck…?" but they're my parents so I obviously can't say that so I chose to keep quiet for a couple moments to simply gather my thoughts. Once I could think of something family friendly, I asked "So we're leaving now? Right now?"

"Right." My dad, Chris, responded.

"Well, where are we going? Do I not even get to say goodbye to my friends?" By now, I'm getting a little bit angry that they expect me to just pick up my entire life and move out of state. Who do they think they are? I get that dad's company is in danger but that doesn't mean it has to affect everything about our lives.

"If you say bye in person, they'll ask too many questions. You'll wanna tell them where we're going and we can't have anyone knowing right now. At least not until we get this under control."

"But my entire life is here, I've lived here since I was two, this is my home. You can't make me do this." I started crying.

"Max, honey, don't cry. We all feel the same way. My life is here too, and we'll probably come back but until then, you just need to trust us that we're doing the right thing for us now." And this coming from my father looking at me through the rearview mirror, driving his stupid new truck.

"By the way, there's one more thing." Is he fucking serious?

"Seriously?" I asked, incredulous.

"Yeah, your new name is Adriana Ride and you're from Toronto."

So not only am I being forced to leave my life behind, I'm literally leaving my life behind. I have a fake new life now. What is this? The witness protection program?

"Oh my God, you can't be serious."

"At least your name is pretty. I got Angelica." Heidi told me.

"Just turn it into Angel, you'll be fine. Unlike me, I have to deal with calling myself a new name AND a new identity, funnnn."I said, faking enthusiasm.

"That's the spirit." Dad said sarcastically with a fake smile.

"Wait, where is my brother?"

"He's probably already there. He drove his car down." Mom said.

"What's his new name?" Haha, he'll never getting a name better than Ari.

"Stefan," I sit corrected.

Whatever happens, we're still a family. And I have an amazing family, I'm not about to let anything get in the way of that. Who knows? It might actually be kind of fun roll playing in a new life. At least its California.

So, I hope you guys enjoyed that. I know it was a little all over the place but it'll seem more organized once I get it into the plot. I don't know if I should continue or start over completely. I have a couple other ideas for stories but I figured I should at least give this a try, it was already typed up. Now go review and leave your comments. Thanks! (Btw, my name is actually Ari and I'm a girl."