(Author's Note)- Taylor here. Sorry if there are any mistakes or anything. I haven't really had time to look it all over. I just felt bad about not posting anything in a long time. I've been pretty much obsessed with Maximum Ride so I decided to write this story. Yeah, it kinda doesn't make sense when it happens, sorry. I thought adding 2 new characters would make a fun story. Let's see if I can pull it off o.O
Amber and Sugar.
Iggy's POV
Setting: At Lerner's school for gifted children
My long, bone white, fingers tapped impatiently on the tabletop as the teacher droned on and on about the Mississippi River. Max and Angel, who were at my table, were two blobs of color. Little swirls of gold bounced as Angel tugged on a pigtail. Colors mixed and churned as Max straightened her shirt. I rubbed my eyes and tried to concentrate on the words on the worksheet in front of me. It was all too fuzzy to find meaning in the blending squiggles. My vision had been coming back lately. At first it had only been when color was against white that I could see. I could see perfectly then. Then my vision started to come back and I was so excited, but the edges started to fade and blur. Nothing was sharp or defined at all. It was like wearing fogged up goggles all day. But it was better than endless black, I guess.
We were in a small, dull classroom. The most interesting thing was the giant picture window on one of the walls. It had a view of the nearby lake. It was late afternoon and I was starting to get kind of sleepy from all the boredom. I glanced at the other tables. One was empty and the other was where Nudge, Fang, and Gazzy were sitting. Hurray, we got a whole class to ourselves. Yeah, always prepare the best for the bird-kids-extraordinaire. We got safety, we got food, and we got shelter. It really was the perfect dream for kids that were constantly running from insane scientists that want to make us their personal experiments. The only bad part was…well… the actual schooling.
Utterly bored, I turned around to face Fang's table. Hoping for some kind of entertainment, I winked at Gazzy. He slipped something out of his pocket in return. I squinted and I could make out narrow curls of red, blue, and yellow around a blob of gray and black. I grinned at him and he shoved it back in his pocket when the teacher looked up momentarily to see if we were actually listening. I whipped around and pretended to look attentive. It didn't last very long. I would be exaggerating if I said, oh, 20 seconds.
I stretched and wiped my brow with my sleeve. It was really stuffy in the classroom. I wish the teacher would open the window or something. But that might tempt me to ditch and just throw myself out the window and go home and rest. I sighed and I put my head on the table, relishing the feeling of my skin on the cold, smooth wood. I felt Max kick me from under the table. I ignored her. Her blows became harder and more persistent until finally I lifted my head off the table with a little moan. I could imagine her expression as faintly disapproving. If only I could SEE it. And that got me frustrated all over again.
I closed my eyes and saw little patterns and shapes among the darkness as a part of my imagination. I concentrated on my senses instead of my vision, like I would have when I was completely blind. I felt the smooth wood under my sensitive palms and fingers. I gently ran my hands across the table, my fingers sensing clumps of eraser excess, broken off pencil tips, or clusters of dirt every now and then. I inhaled deeply and I noted on the school-like scents: pencil shavings, chalk dust, and sweaty gym clothes. It was all so NORMAL. I knew it wouldn't last. But for now I felt like a totally regular school boy sitting in a totally regular classroom living a totally regular boring life. Wow. Who knew it was possible? I crinkled my nose and tried not to cough as Angel accidentally dropped her handheld sharpener and shavings and dust went everywhere. I opened my eyes to glare pointedly at her.
"Sorry," she whispered and swept up her mess into her hand. She scurried over to the wastebasket to dispose of it. I rolled my eyes. I shut them again and I concentrated on hearing, my most heighted sense. I heard the gentle tapping of footsteps in the hall. I frowned and listened harder. I heard murmuring. I could only make out a few words.
New… Famous… Wings... Save… World… Family… the School…
I shook my head. Maybe I had just imagined the "the" before "school". I hoped I had. I swallowed the lump in my throat and I gently pressed my fingers to my eyelids, to my eyes, where the crazy scientists at the School had experimented with my vision, making me BLIND. I waited on the edge of my seat as the whispering stopped and the two people hesitated outside the door. A knot in my stomach tightened and I felt adrenaline race through my veins. Then I heard a soft metallic click and the gentle swish of the door opening. I opened my eyes and the fuzzy chunks of color swirled uneasily for a moment, and then everything snapped into view. I tried to smother a gasp of astonishment as I gazed around the room, everything crystal clear.
I focused my gaze on Max. I marveled at how detailed she was. The streaks of blond I could see in her hair, the freckles on her nose, the actual warm brown color of her eyes, the thin white scars that raked down her arms from brutal fights to the death. Max looked at me uneasily and glanced at Fang. When I looked over at him, he looked confused and angry at the same time. He was clutching the edge of the table so hard his knuckles were white and he was glaring at me. I shook my head furiously to explain that I hadn't been looking at Max THAT way. I pressed the corners of my eyes and grinned at him. He looked even more puzzled until realization dawned on him and he smiled at me. Fang rarely smiles. I knew he was really happy for me. He silently told Gazzy and Nudge who also grinned at me, Nudge with tears in her eyes. Max and Angel got the message and soon everyone was silently celebrating my vision. I heard a little cough from behind me, near the door, and I turned around again.
I observed the two jumpy girls in the doorway. They peered into the classroom, looking paranoid and nervous. The teacher lifted her gaze from the textbook and her bored expression became weary.
"Yes, yes, come on in now," she chirped in a monotone. Gazzy and I glanced at each other and we had to smother snickers. I saw Nudge kick him as he opened his mouth to mimic her. Even Fang smirked a little. I choked back another laugh and turned my attention to the girls again.
One looked about my age and the other looked somewhere around 7 or 8. The little girl had tangled black hair and ragged jeans and a t-shirt on. Her eyes were pools of shiny chocolate. She had skin that looked like mocha. Like Nudge. I turned to see Nudge holding out her arm, frowning and glancing from the little girl to her skin.
I swiveled around again and I studied the older girl. She was tall, around Max's height. Her skin had an olive tone to it. She had long dark chocolate brown hair a shade lighter than Fang's. It was tied in a loose braid with uneven side bangs hanging in her face. She was wearing a ratty sweatshirt and torn jeans that were stained with grass, dirt, and… blood? I looked at Fang and he was analyzing her as well, suspicion evident on his face. Then she looked up from her shabby sneakers and met my gaze. I hissed under my breath and Fang stiffened and bit back a gasp. Dark eyes with glints of gold locked with mine; they were eyes identical to Fang's.