AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey everybody!

Thanks for the two awesome reviews asking for me to update soon. Your wish has been granted although I'm not really sure about how well this chapter turned out.

I know I promised some Miggy and it'll definitely be coming in the NEXT chapter but SLOWLY. We don't want to shock dear Iggy now, do we?

Anyway, I'm definitely aiming to write another chapter immediately after I upload this one because I'm so happy that I got TWO reviews and THREE favourites. Yeah, yeah, it's probably pathetic to other authors but it shows that people ACTUALLY bother to review and that just sends me over the moon :) .

I won't be able to update after the next chapter though, until after Sunday because I'm going to Siem Reap, Cambodia, to paint walls for the little kids of the Green Gecko Foundation there. YAY! But I'll probably fall sick since I'm getting up at 2AM tomorrow to catch the flight and it's 38 degrees in Cambodia.

Thanks for all that review-y love,

~ILQX~

SUMMARY:

Maximum Ride and her merry band of winged mutants are here to save the world... again. Of course, they have to save the world AND recieve an education, while dealing with the love triangle between Max, Fang and Iggy and maybe... someone else? Fax/ Miggy.

DISCLAIMER:

The characters so far ALL belong to the one and only, Mr James Patterson and the plot before this story belongs to him as well. I don't own the obscure reference to Dexter from Cartoon Network's Dexter's Laboratory.

WARNING:

Mild language. All you little kiddies, keep out, I don't want to pollute an innocent mind.

Maximum Ride's Point Of View

Well. Maybe I was just overreacting; this outfit isn't quite as slutty as I thought it would be. At least my mom didn't make me wear a skirt; we all know how well that would have gone. I do wonder if she has a split personality disorder though, my mom is usually really sweet and usually doesn't care if I look like a tomboy.

You don't look like a tomboy now, Max.

The Voice. That really was the Voice, not my own thoughts or something Angel was trying to beam into my brain. Did I mention that I have a Voice speaking to me that no one else can hear?

Have you been reading Vogue instead of watching Oprah? And here I was thinking that dispensing life lessons was your thing, not fashion advice. I thought back snarkily.

Whatever. If I may say so myself, I looked pretty dang good. The faded denim of the skinny jeans was a little too clingy for my liking but the rip in one knee and the heart drawn in black marker on the other suited me just fine. While my white tank top may be more low-cut than anything else I had ever worn, it was comfortable and thankfully lacked any frills. With my black hoodie on and the dog tags we had received from the United States Navy after going through all their BS, (BS technically stands for Basic Survival but I do have another lovely acronym going through my head), I looked mighty awesome.

My watch beeped and I glanced down at it. 7 O'clock on the dot. It was time to face the dangerous world that was education with my flock standing behind me. After I had some of those chocolate chip pancakes my mom promised me, of course.

Fang's Point Of View

"So, Fang, are you excited about your first day of school?" Dr. Valencia Martinez, Max's long lost mom, questioned sweetly as she poured out some chocolate-chip pancake batter onto the sizzling pan.

I cautioned myself to keep my guard up. Dr. Martinez might look nice but I knew she had a steel core beneath all that silk and would castrate me without a second thought if she knew I was visualizing how her daughter looked naked. I decided it was in my best interests to keep my answer as short and aloof as possible.

"I guess so." Only three short words. Doing well so far.

She flipped a pancake on the stove before turning around and scrutinizing me as if images of Max in her tank top and boxers were emblazoned on my forehead. They better not be or I was about to ripped into shreds.

"Huh. Are you okay, Fang? You seem a little… jumpy." Max's mom waved a spatula around speculatively and a drop of sizzling oil landed on the table, millimetres away from my hand.

"Me? Jumpy? Not at all, I'm just a little nervous about school." I offered. Pictures of me being viciously tortured by her for information flickered into my head as I gulped audibly.

Fortunately, Nudge and Angel decided to make their dramatic entrance, sprinting into the kitchen and giggling like their lives depended on it, with Nudge clutching her stomach. Dr. Martinez thankfully turned her attention to them, completely forgetting about me in a second. I heaved a sigh of relief and began working on the stack of pancakes in front of me.

"What have you girls been up to? And why did you insist that I make chocolate chip pancakes today?" Dr. Martinez prodded while Nudge and Angel shifted guiltily from foot to foot.

"We needed them for an um… science experiment? Like, you know to see if it would improve our experiences if we ate them on our first day of school actually. Well, my second first day of school but it's the same thing really. They're our whachamacallit…" Nudge looked to Angel for help.

"Test variables." Angel supplied, looking at Max's mom, well, angelically while I watched on in interest, enjoying their turn on the hot seat.

"Exactly. We're perfectly innocent. Just doing our business with a little scientific experiment here and there, you know the usual drill. Like that freaky Dexter guy on Cartoon Network, you know the guy with red hair and glasses and-"Nudge was fortunately saved from rambling on by Angel who clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Is that so? Well, where's the rest of the flock, it's almost time to go to school." Dr. Martinez turned her attention back to the pancakes on the stove that were about to burn.

Speak of the devil. A loud boom shook the house and everything rattled ominously. It was pretty common to have explosions rocking the house though and Dr. Martinez continued flipping pancakes like nothing had happened while I devoured the pancakes without stopping. Looking on the bright side, at least now we knew where Iggy and Gazzy were.

Five, four, three, two, one. Cue for Max to begin shouting at Iggy and Gazzy. And there she goes, right on time. A minute later, without looking up from my pancakes, I could tell from the sound of their footsteps that Max had entered the room with Gazzy and Iggy trailing behind her.

"I can't believe you guys blew up something again. This is the third time this week and the week started yesterday." Max fumed as she stomped her way in. The room was strangely quiet, save for Max's angry muttering and the sizzling of pancakes.

I looked up and realised why everyone was speechless. All their jaws had dropped to the floor, including mine. Max looked freakin' gorgeous and my heart stuttered in my chest at the sight of her. She looked like an angel standing beside the window with sunlight glinting off the sun streaks in her- Damn it, Fang. Get a fucking grip on yourself, you've gone all mushy inside.

"What?" Max glanced up, her mouth full of pancake. That finally broke the spell and everyone started moving again.

"Oh, Max, honey, you look beautiful." Dr. Martinez reached out to twirl a strand of Max's hair, completely oblivious to the pancakes burning behind her.

"Uh, thanks? Well, you did tell me to dress more like a girl sometimes." Max blushed briefly under her mom's admiring gaze.

"I did?" Dr. Martinez looked completely stupefied.

"Yeah, fifteen minutes ago when you bribed me to wear this with chocolate chip pancakes which by the way, was totally unfair since you know chocolate chips are my kryptonite. Wait, you did right?" Max glared at Nudge and Angel's obviously guilty faces.

"So that's what the pancakes were for." Dr. Martinez murmured, almost to herself.

Maximum Ride's Point of View

Dammit. I knew my mom seemed weird earlier! I can't believe I got tricked by an eleven-year old and a six-year old. I was definitely getting rusty with the whole deception business, for god's sake; their average age wasn't even nine!

"I can't believe you, Angel, you're not supposed to shape shift to deceive people, especially not me." I folded my arms across my chest

Relax, Max. There's no harm done except for your wounded pride. Take it easy on them; they were just trying to help.

"Oh shut up." I growled back at the Voice before realising that I was speaking out loud. Fang quirked an eyebrow at me, amusement in his obsidian eyes that made my knees pathetically weak.

"Max, it's time to go already. You don't want to be late for your first day of school. You can finish this up when you guys get home, okay?" My mom suggested.

"Fine, but this isn't over yet." I glared meaningfully at Angel.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Thanks for reading till the end of this chapter! It isn't my best piece of writing but I'm working on improving. Please review, criticism will be appreciated in helping me improve, thank you!

~ILQX~