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Chapter Two
We all piled out of the mini-van. We were waiting for the moving van to show up, with all of the furniture and boxes in it, but while we were waiting, my mom wanted to go in and look around.
"Better get an idea of where we're going to put everything." She said with a smile, heading inside.
As I passed the door, I spotted a shiny brass '5' placed on the house. So, we lived at Number Five, Privet Drive. Kind if catchy…in a severely annoying way.
The inside looked like it should have been in one of those house magazines. It was spacious and bright, with that echo-y sound you get with big, empty spaces.
I found my mom and Iggy in the kitchen. My mom was opening and closing pantries, while Iggy ran his hand over the gleaming white countertop.
"Oh, this kitchen has so much more space than the old one."
"Cleaner, too." Iggy commented.
"Not for long." I muttered, wondering what it would look like after our first meal here. I bet it won't be gleaming then.
Iggy heard me and grinned, probably having the same thoughts I was having.
I left the room and headed up the stairs, which were at the end of the hallway. I met Gazzy in the upstairs hall.
"Hey, Max." he said, smiling. "There're four rooms up here, and a bathroom. One room's for Dr. M, and I think Nudge and Ella want to share a room."
"That's fine." I said. We always made arrangements to sleep in certain rooms, but what usually happened was, all of us just slept in whatever room we started to feel tired in. A lot of the time, the flock just curl up together in one big pile.
I glanced into the first room. Nudge and Ella were talking excitedly about how they were going to decorate their room.
"I'm definitely thinking pink." Nudge said, looking at the walls.
"What shade of pink, though?" Ella asked tensely, as if the fate of the world rested on their decision.
"I'll bet they pick something that blinds anyone who walks past." Fang muttered from right behind me.
I whirled around.
"Would you stop doing that!" I said irritably.
Fang just smirked and tilted his head, telling me to follow him. He led me into the last room on the landing.
"We'll take this room." He said.
"Why?" I asked. This room was the same as the others.
Fang glanced across the room. I followed his gaze, and immediately agreed that this was the best room. It had the biggest window.
"Hi, Max." Angel said, coming into the room. "Hi, Fang."
"Hey, Angel. What do you think?" I asked.
"I like the house." She said. "And the neighbourhood is really pretty."
"Moving van is here." Fang said, who was looking out the window at the street below.
"We better go help with the boxes." I said.
We spent the rest of the day moving things into the house and unpacking, entertaining ourselves when we got bored with a very immature cardboard box fight.
We were emptying the last box and about to go have dinner, when my mom walked in.
"Max, Jeb wants to talk to you." She said, holding the phone out to me.
I stifled a groan, taking it from her.
"What?" I asked harshly into the phone. I had been hoping that moving to another country meant escaping Jeb for awhile, but apparently not.
"Your mother says you're settling into the new house?" Jeb asked.
"Yeah, what do you want?" I repeated, wanting to get this over with.
"You can't abandon your mission, Max." he told me. "You can't forget about saving the world."
"I'm not forgetting it." I said truthfully. "I'm just choosing to ignore it for awhile."
"Max-" Jeb said warningly.
"Listen Jeb," I interrupted. "I'm hungry and tired. Call back some other time." I hung up before he could reply. I knew that one was going to come back and bite me. Call it Mutant's Intuition.
But I wouldn't worry about Jeb just yet. Right now, I would just worry about getting some food.
"Max," Ella called from the kitchen. "Dinner's ready."
Well, I thought, heading for the kitchen. Let's see how this gleaming kitchen deals with the flocks table manners.
The next morning I woke up to birds singing and the morning sun coming through the window. I looked out to see a lady gardening, and someone washing their already shiny car.
After breakfast I was surprised to see that the kitchen still looked new and sparkly. It seemed to be immune to getting dirty. I was slightly disappointed at this.
The flock and Ella were all finishing cleaning up when the doorbell rang. The flock froze as I heard my mom answer the front door, and then voices moving into the living room.
My mom came into the kitchen a moment later.
"Kids, the neighbours have come over to welcome us. Come and say hello."
She lead us out of the kitchen, some of us more reluctant than others, and into the living room.
The first thing I saw was the largest boy I had ever seen. His face was very pink, with small, piggy eyes. He had a mop of blond hair on his head, and more chins than I thought possible for one person to have.
Next, I saw a big, beefy man, who was obviously the boys father. He, too, was surprisingly large for a human being, with a big walrus moustache on his red face, and no neck, from what I could see.
The woman that was beside him was quite the opposite. She was thin and bony, with a long neck and a horse-like face.
"Kids," My mom said to us. "This is Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, from next door, and their son, Dudley."
"Hello all." Mr. Dursley said in a heavy English accent, while Mrs. Dursley looked us all over.
I got the feeling she was judging everything about us. Our clothes, appearances, the way we stood. I resisted the urge to narrow my eyes at her.
"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley," My mom went on. "I'd like you to meet my daughters. Ella," she gestured to Ella.
"Hello." Ella said politely, smiling.
The Dursleys smiled approvingly at her.
"And Max." my mom gestured to me. I nodded at them.
"Oh." Mrs. Dursley said. "What an…unusual name, for a young lady."
This time I did narrow my eyes.
"And my adopted children." My mom moved on quickly. "This is Angela." She said, remembering the names we had agreed on earlier.
Angel stepped forward and smiled sweetly up at them.
"Zach." Gazzy waved and grinned at them.
"Tiffany." Nudge smiled, and managed to stay quiet.
"Jeff." Iggy waved in their direction.
"And Nick."
The Dursleys had kept their approving smiles on throughout the introduction, only faltering when introduced to me, before being replaced.
But when they looked at Fang, the approving smiles vanished completely, and turned to wary looks of suspicion.
I glanced at Fang too, and it took me awhile to understand.
Fang had not smiled at them, or given any greeting at all. He was staring at them impassively, with his arms crossed over his chest.
To the flock, he just looked like Fang, but I suppose to strangers, he looked kind of…dangerous.
"Well…" my mom said into the silence that had descended on the living room. "Shall we all sit down and get to know each other?"
Oh, yay. I thought to myself as we all sat down, getting ready for the 'Get to Know You' game.
Let's see if we can't make this interesting.
I personally don't like this chapter. I had trouble finding a way to introduce the flock and the Dursleys, and I just thought it didn't...flow together properly.
So tell me what you think :) REVIEW!