Hi guys. I'm on Spring Break so I found time to write a really good chapter. Yay! *Claps hands enthusiastically* I am so glad you all are liking the story. I see a couple of you are disappointed that Max and Fang have only been married for a year. I have a reason for that. I had to think like Max. She wouldn't want to rush into anything and Fang would respect that. She also wanted to wait to see if Itex was going to do anything anytime soon. When she realized they weren't, she knew it would have to happen sooner or later. So, that's the reason. Fang finally managed to talk her into it. Will they have kids? I don't know, but I will think about it. If I can make it work with the story then the answer is yes. I'll try. Anyway, let me get on with this chapter for you guys.

"Hey Mel!" someone shouted. It was fourth period gym class and it was pretty noisy. I only heard the voice because of my heightened senses. Sometimes being a mutant had its advantages.

I clenched my teeth, hoping that she wouldn't come over. It was an empty hope though. My friend Felecia Richards bounded at me from across the gym. I was just shooting baskets by myself as usual. Why did Felecia have to bother me?

"Hey Mel." she said, breathlessly. She shook her blonde hair out and grinned. "Didn't you hear me calling you? I must have shouted your name like fifty times."

I stopped shooting baskets and shook my head. "No. Sorry Felecia, I didn't." I lied.

You see, Felecia was my best friend and had been since kindergarten. She was pretty popular. She always tried to get me to come over and hang out with her and her other friends, go to slumber parties, go on vacation with her, go swimming, stuff like that. I always turned her down because she would find out about my wings. She never understood why and would get upset. She would get worried. She also was worried about my eating. I am really skinny, it's natural for a bird kid, but I eat a whole lot. Felecia wondered how I stayed so skinny when I always ate so much and thought that the only explanation was that I was bulimic. She told the school nurse, her parents, and my parents. It was horrible. I got really mad at her and wouldn't talk to her for a long time. I had only started talking to her again last month because we had to work on a project together, but I wasn't ready to be friends again. Unfortunately, Felecia didn't get that and I was too nice to say anything.

"Mel?" Felecia asked. Uh oh. I had spaced out while she was talking to me. "Are you listening to me?"

I blinked rapidly and hurriedly said, "Sorry Felecia. I spaced. What were you saying?"

"I was just asking you what you were doing for your birthday." she said and I noticed an annoyed tone in her voice. I suppose she was mad because I hadn't been listening. Felecia was like that.

"Uh, just dinner with my family. My aunts and uncles came in so we're just going to have a little party." I shot another basket. Coach Allen didn't like it if we just stood around in gym class. The ball sailed into the hoop and bounced back towards me. I picked it up and turned back to Felecia. "Why?"

"It's just you always hang with your family on your birthday." she complained. "In fact, every time I want to do something you always say you're doing something with them."

"Yeah well, I usually am. They come over a lot. They just love visiting me." I defended myself. What was Felecia getting at? What did she want?

A wide grinned spread across her face. I noticed she had a twinkle in her green eyes and I groaned inwardly. When Felecia looked like that she usually had an idea. "I have a great idea." she exclaimed.

"What?" I asked, afraid of the answer. Something told me that this wasn't going to be good. I noticed Coach Allen was coming our way. "Uh Felecia, grab a ball and start shooting." I advised her and nodded in Coach Allen's direction.

"Right." she said, picking up a ball. She took a shot and missed. The ball rolled back to her and she bent over to pick it up. "She leaving?" Felecia asked. I nodded and she stood back up. "Well, my idea is that since tomorrow is Saturday you could have a party with me and some other kids. It'd be so fun." she said, giggling.

I sighed heavily. "Uh, what kind of party?" I asked warily. I hoped it wouldn't be a wild house party, but knowing Felecia it just might be.

"Bowling." she stated simply and I breathed a sigh of relief. Bowling was safe and I'd be able to keep my wings hidden.

"I'll talk to my parents about it." I said. "I'll call you tonight okay?" I didn't know if I wanted to go yet. Sometimes Felecia's ideas got out of hand.

"Okay." she said, still slightly annoyed. "Is it time to go yet?" she asked.

Before I could take a look at my watch, Coach Allen tweeted her shrill whistle. "I guess so." I answered, grabbed my ball, and walked it over to the bin. After I stuck it in, I walked to the locker room, quickly got dressed, and ran to my locker as fast as I could.

Once at my locker, I turned the combination lock, 12 8 45, and opened it. Realizing I didn't have any homework, I slammed my locker shut and walked down the hall to Mom's room.

She was at her desk so I tapped on the open door to get her attention. She looked up and smiled. "Have a good day kiddo?" she asked as I walked to her desk.

I groaned dramatically and she laughed. "That bad?" she teased. "You sound like your father. Always making a mountain out of a molehill."

"It wasn't that bad actually." I admitted. "Got an 'A+' on my algebra test." I held off telling her about Felecia's party. I still wasn't sure I wanted to go.

She looked at me with that concerned mother look, you know the one. "Something up?" she asked.

"How do you do that?" I asked, in mock amazement. She always knew when something was wrong or when I was thinking about asking her something.

She smiled. "I'm a mother. We have radar. It's like an ability." She chuckled and said, "It's also something I picked up from Dr. Martinez." she admitted.

I took a deep breath. "Well, Felecia wanted to know if I could come to a bowling party tomorrow." I found myself silently hoping that she would say that I couldn't go.

"Is this one of Felecia's famous last minute parties?" she asked and I nodded. She took a breath and said, "I guess. Is it for your birthday?"

"Yeah." I said. I should have known my mom would say that I could go, especially since it was being thrown for me. "So, you ready to go?" I asked. I was eager to get home and see what my dad and Gazzy had cooked up for my party. That surprise was going to be sweet.

She shook her head. "We have a meeting that I have to stay for. I won't be home 'till six." She sighed. She hated meetings. All the teachers did was sit around while the administrative staff told them how to do their jobs.

"That sucks." I said sympathetically. "Well, I guess I have to walk home."

"Yup." she said, not looking up from her paper work. I let out a huge sigh and she looked up. "No, you may not drive the car." Dang. She knew me too well.

"But Mom, you know I'm really good at it. You said so yourself." I groaned.

"Yes, but it's illegal." she reminded me. "You're only fourteen remember. I am not getting arrested for 'Child Endangerment'."

I sighed. "Then why did you and Fang even bother to teach me if I'm not going to be allowed to do it until I get my learner's next year." I didn't mean to sound whiny, but it was sort of unfair.

She sighed deeply. "You know we only taught you just in case anything happened and you needed to drive to get away."

My parents and everyone else in the flock were paranoid. They were convinced Itex would come and kidnap me so they had taught me a bunch of stuff for survival. I knew I'd never need it, but better safe than sorry I guess.

"Fine." I said, defeated. "I'll walk. Even though I can drive and have wings, I'll walk like a normal, boring person, which I totally am not."

"Have fun." she called as I left her classroom. The halls were deserted. Everyone was outside waiting on buses and their parents. I opened the front doors and stepped into the nice warm sun. It was a beautiful day and I was wishing I could go for a quick fly, but I knew that somehow my mom would find out and she would be mad, so I began to walk.

I hadn't even gotten off the school grounds when I heard Felecia shouting my name. I sighed and turned around. Sure enough, she was running after me, her hair flying behind her.

"Mel, guess what?" she asked, excitedly. I found myself feeling a little queasy. What now?

Before I had a chance to ask, she rushed on. "Okay, I know how much you hate guessing, so I'll tell you. Cory Reynolds said he'd come to the party. Isn't that awesome? I think he likes you." She was beginning to remind me of Nudge.

"Uh, yeah that's great." I said. Cory was in my science class and he was sort of cute. He had jet black hair and deep brown eyes. He sort of looked like Fang. He was really nice and smart, but I just didn't find him very attractive or very interesting. He usually went on and on about baseball. He was the pitcher on our school's team.

"I know." she said delightedly. "So, did you talk to your mom? Did she say you could go? Please tell me she said you could go. It would totally suck if you couldn't come to your own party. I suppose I could cancel, but I've already told everyone and they're really excited."

If I hadn't known Nudge for my entire life I would've had no idea what Felecia just said. "Relax, she said I could go."

She hugged me tightly. "Oh yay! That's totally awesome. Maybe Cory'll ask you out. Wouldn't that be awesome? You two would be so cute together. He'd be your first boyfriend. He'd give you your first kiss. I can see it now." Felecia got a dreamy look in her eyes.

"Uh, sounds great Felecia, but I gotta go. I have to help my dad get ready for my party. See ya!" I said, rushing off. I was super glad to get away from her.

A breeze whipped my long hair around and it was getting annoying. I pulled a hair bow out of my pocket and pulled my hair back. Much better. For some reason, I was starting to feel a little weird, but I shrugged it off. I was starting to remind myself of Max and the others. That was not good.

I walked for a while, our house wasn't even close to school, when a big grey van slowly pulled up beside me. I stopped and the driver rolled down his window. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses, a cowboy hat, and had long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. He also had a shaggy beard. My parents had always taught me to be especially wary of strangers, so I was feeling a little nervous.

"Hey there little girl." he said in a southern accent. "I was wonderin' if you'd mind givin' me directions."

He seemed okay, so I nodded. "Sure. Where to?" I asked politely.

He pulled a map out of his glove compartment and I moved closer to his window. He pointed to a place on the map and said, "Right here."

I leaned to take a closer look at the map and he grabbed my arm. I suddenly knew what this was about. Itex had finally come to kidnap me. I tried to jerk away, but he had a strong grip and wasn't letting go. He pulled something out of his pocket. "Didn't your parents ever tell ya not to talk to strangers?" he drawled. I continued trying to jerk away, but he stabbed my arm with a syringe. I fell to the ground and everything went fuzzy. The last thing I thought was, If they don't kill me, my parents will.

So, did you guys think that was good? I wanted to make it longer, but I didn't know how. I hoped you enjoyed it all the same. As I have said probably a hundred times before, you guys really need to read 'NeoFlock' by Talon666. It's really good, I know you'll love it. Well, anyway, read and review. Updating ASAP.