Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.
I hate Valentine's Day.
The holiday for the mushy, gushy, disgustingly sweet people who actually take it seriously. The holiday for lovers and for the hopeless romantics.
Thankfully, I am not any of those things.
Max and Fang had gone out on a "date", so the rest of the flock and I were at Dr. M's house. She and Ella had gone out for the night, too.
I heard Angel's light footsteps bounce up to me.
"Iggy!" she said, her voice extremely excited. "It's Valentine's Day!"
"Yeah, I know," I replied dryly.
Her voice got very sickly sweet. "Iggy…"
"What?"
"Will you help me make valentines for Max and Fang and the rest of the flock?"
"What makes you think I'll be safe with scissors?"
"Iggy!" she groaned.
"Nah."
"Please? And we can make cookies later…"
I liked making cookies. But valentines? No way.
"Why don't you get Nudge to help you?"
"Cuuuuz," she said, dragging her voice out, "Nudge is busy. And Gazzy doesn't want to."
I could hear the puppy dog face in her voice.
"Please, Iggy?"
"If I do, would you leave me alone?"
"Maybe."
I rolled my eyes.
"Fine, fine."
I could hear her jumping up and down and clapping.
"Let me go get the paper!"
I heard her feet scampering down the hall.
Let it be known that this will be the only time I will EVER make valentines.
Angel returned, and I heard her dump a ton of stuff on the table. She pulled me down to the floor and thrust scissors into my hands.
I could hear her happily snipping away at the paper.
"Angel, the only thing I'll be able to make with these scissors is a pile of hair or paper. I don't even really know what a heart looks like."
She grabbed my hand and made me cut out a heart.
"It's easy, see?" she explained each step as she went. It didn't really make a difference, because either way, she was later going to get a blob instead of a heart.
She handed me a pen.
"Now write something."
Let me get something straight: I can write. Just not well. It's not my fault. I've never seen what letters really look like.
I wrote out one of the few things I could do well:
IGGY
"What are you doing?" Angel giggled. "Why are you making a valentine for yourself?"
"It's not…what? I just wrote my name."
"Well, you wrote your name in the middle, so it looks like it's for you."
"Fine."
I carelessly added a poorly spelled:
MADE THIS STUPID THING FOR YOU
Angel was humming as she cut away. I could hear the scribble of her pens and the glue as it came out of the bottle.
Angel handed me another heart she cut out for me.
I got an idea. I scribbled down:
FOR THE LOVEBIRDS (PUN INTENDED)
MUCH LOVE AND SMOOCHING TO YOU
ON THIS HAPPY DAY
OF THE VALENTINES
JUST FOR YOU
MAX AND FANG
LIKE TWO BIRDS OF A FEATHER
IN RAINY WEATHER
I KNOW YOU LOVED MY POEM.
I scribbled down 'To Max and Fang' on the front.
Angel handed him another heart.
I didn't know who to write it to, so I made it for myself.
IGGY-
WOW! I LOVE YOU.
STAY COOL.
-IGGY
I laughed dryly and drew what I thought a bomb looked like under my name. Angel continued to make her valentines. After a few minutes, she announced, "We're done!" and pulled me up.
"What-"
"Time to bake cookies!" I could hear the grin in her voice. I felt myself being dragged to the kitchen.
Angel started to move towards a cupboard, but I stopped her.
"Please," I said, "Let the master do it."
With that, I strolled around the kitchen, grabbing each ingredient and the necessary tools.
I began to pour in the ingredients. I knew the recipe by heart (when you're the only one that can cook, everyone kind of depends on you to remember).
I could hear Angel giggling from a corner of the room.
"What?" I demanded.
"Iggy…you look…well, Iggy, you look like you're having fun!"
I shrugged. "I like to cook."
I could hear Angel bounce over. "I want red frosting."
"Fine."
I heard her rush to a cupboard and grab some.
By this time, I had put the batter on the cookie sheet and groaned as Angel pressed a heart-shaped cookie cutter into my hand.
"Pleeeease?"
"Whatever."
I cut the cookies into stupid hearts. Angel was pulling out some silverware behind me. I heard her reach for the frosting.
"Hey, Iggy," she said, trying to contain the happiness in her voice.
I turned towards her. Before I could say anything, she had slapped some frosting on my nose.
"Angel!" I said angrily.
She giggled. I rubbed the frosting off and started to yell, annoyed, at her. She bounced away, carrying the cookie sheet, ignoring me. I heard her put it into the oven and set the timer.
Angel grabbed my hand again and pulled me over to wear our valentines were. I heard her grabbing my valentines and opening them.
"Iggy," Angel said, confused, "These aren't what valentines are supposed to be!"
I shrugged. "You never said I had to make them seriously."
"'Iggy,'" she read aloud, "'Wow! I love you. Stay cool.'"
I could feel her staring at me.
She pulled open another.
"'For the lovebirds (pun intended).'"
She didn't finish reading.
"Iggggyyy…"
"What? I'm not making any more."
"But-"
"I said I'd make valentines with you, and I did."
We heard the oven ding and rushed over. I pulled the cookies out of the oven and heard Angel start to frost them.
"Iggy!"
"What?"
She put frosting on my face.
"Stop doing that!"
"You look funny."
"It's not funny."
"Yes it is."
"Do I need to remind you that I could single-handedly make a bomb out of almost anything in this room?"
She poked me.
"Do I need to remind you that you've done it so many times I'd fly out of here faster before it could even become a threat?"
"Sassy much? You're only six."
"Seven."
"Whatever."
After we frosted the cookies, we put them out on a plate surrounded by the valentines.
Angel was jumping up and down while clapping. (What is it with her and doing that?)
"Yay!"
"Yeah, I'm just gonna watch TV now."
I slunk off to the couch.
She sat down next to me.
"Do you loooove someone, Iggy?"
"Love is for…" I struggled not to swear. "Idiots."
"No!" she said, horrified.
"Yeah."
"Is not."
"The only time you'll see me giving someone flowers is if it's to a whitecoat and there's a bomb in it."
Angel didn't find this funny.
It was silent for a while.
"I think you do love someone."
"Yeah? Who?"
"Us."
"Us who?"
"The flock."
"Well…" I struggled to really say it out loud. "Yeah. I love you guys."
I could hear Angel grinning.
"How was your date, Max?" I could hear Angel in the kitchen.
Max was obviously blushing. "It was nice."
Angel whispered, "I got Iggy to make valentines."
Max laughed. "You're kidding?"
"I think he liked it."
Max laughed even harder.
"I think he loooves someone."
I could hear Max doubling over.
"Iggy…Iggy the sap!" she wheezed out.
Fang walked over and whispered, "I think you love Valentine's Day."
I rolled my eyes. I couldn't put my hatred towards the stupid holiday in words.
"Just leave, Fang. Those words should've been coming out of my mouth, not yours."
Fang smirked. "By the way, I loved your card. You really could be the next Shakespeare."
I waved my hands helplessly. "She made me make the stupid things."
"The heart shaped cookies were a nice touch."
"I'd like to see you make delicious cookies sometime."
"Well…"
"Did I mention that I'm the one who's blind?"
"Shut up, Iggy."
This is my entry for PULL. I decided to do a Maximum Ride story because I don't like the new book and missed the old books (1-3), which this story is supposed to be set around. Please review!