A/N: I'm back, don't fret! LOL. But I've just been soooo busy because I had to miss a week of school, and let me tell you, missing a week of 3 honors classes is NOT fun when it comes to making up work. Plus, I had to make up a ton of quizzes, and I'm still not done. But we'll see, because I might not take some of them... I know, I'm so bad. But my grades are screwed anyways, so I don't really care.
So, this is probably the last summer chapter, and then we'll start school. I think. No promises, but I really want to start writing about school. That's when Max and Fang get to know each other more, and we all know what will eventually happen, but there will be a few obstacles along the way... Ok, so I gave a lot away, but you know. ;)
Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, but in a matter of minutes, I will own a delicious, steaming warm cinnamon melt from McDonald's. 3
Chapter 3
For four days straight, we had to do more and more marching drills and play our music. It was pretty boring, but Fang listened to me complain. I also met more people, some not even in the clarinet section. I met one flute named Lissa. She didn't really care for me, but who she really cared about was Fang. She wouldn't leave him alone whenever we took a five minute break. She would pretty much ignore my existence, but I had the feeling that it was because she was paying attention to Fang a little too closely.
I also met a guy in the saxophone section named Sam. When Lissa was in the middle of flirting with Fang, Sam recruited me. We hung out with Iggy, Ella, Dylan, and a couple of other various people. One girl, Jillian, was another clarinet. There was two more girls, Monique, who was the baton twirler, and Perry, who was a color guard*. We had one more guy named Jason, who was a trumpet. He was an unusual trumpet since he didn't stick with his section, but he was also not overly-proud. (For non-band geeks, trumpets are usually very, very proud and they can get very obnoxious. Nothing against them, it's just who they are.)
We got Saturday and Sunday off, but Monday came again. For the next two weeks, we were going to learn the Pre-Game Show and the first song in our Halftime Show.
I was shocked at how much more people there were in Marching Band. The attendance sheet, which we had to initial when we arrived, was over six pages long. I think there was about one hundred and fifty people there. I know that's not a huge number, but I'm not one for crowds, and middle school band was a lot smaller.
We went outside and learned the first two sets* of our Pre-Game show. Kallie and some other upperclassmen clarinets helped us find our coordinates*. Finally, it was time to go in, work on the music for twenty minutes, and then go home. It was a lot better than last week because practices were now only two hours.
We practiced for those two weeks, and finally we were marching and playing at the same time. It was a lot of multitasking. You had to make sure you were standing straight, roll-stepping, holding your instrument correctly, and of course, playing. But once you practice it enough, it becomes a habit.
The last week of band was also back-to-school week. Each class was buying books and getting their schedules on separate days and times. I had to to on Wednesday at noon. Last names M-Z were going to get their schedules then.
My mom was dragging Iggy by his arm while I was walking at her side, my stomach churning. After this, there was no turning back. Monday was our first day of school.
"But mom!" Iggy whined.
"Jeffery, do not make me tell you again..." Mom muttered under her breath. I snickered at the fact that she'd used his full name.
"Shut up Maximum," Iggy hissed. I shrugged, not really bothering to care. My mind was somewhere else.
We got in the school, and there were three huge lines. One was for schedules, one was for lockers, and the other one was for pictures and school ID's. Right in the schedules line, I saw Fang waving at me. I waved back and got in line.
"Hey," he breathed.
"Hi. Are you nervous?" I asked.
Fang shrugged. "A little."
I'd gotten to know Fang very well for the last three weeks, and I learned that he's not very verbal. But I could read it in his eyes that he was scared. "Me too," I replied.
Right as I said that, Fang got to the front of the line. "Nicholas Ride," he muttered.
"Nicholas Zachary Ride? Yes, I have your schedule right here," the lady responded loudly. I began giggling (which is so unlike me) and Fang gave me a death glare. That of course made me laugh even harder.
Fang waited for me to get my schedule, and I couldn't decide whether it was to hear my full name or just because he was being nice.
"Maximum Martinez," I said sweetly.
The lady smiled and handed me my schedule. "Here you go."
Fang's eyes grew wide. "How come she didn't say your full name?"
I grinned. "I don't have a middle name."
We got in the second line and compared schedules. Fang took my schedule and examined it. "Biology, Algebra, Spanish, lunch, Health, English, World History, and Marching Band. Yep, we have every class together."
"Wow, what are the odds of that?" I murmured.
We got our lockers and combinations right after. It just so happened that our lockers were right across from each other.
"It's fate!" I sighed dramatically while Fang rolled his eyes at me. While he was getting his picture taken, I compared Iggy's schedule with mine. We had Biology, lunch, and English together, and we were also locker partners. Apparently the lockers are given in alphabetical order.
We all got our ID's and gave our parents the list of books to buy and decided to explore the school.
"So where to you want us to hang out in the morning?" Fang asked.
"Us?" Iggy questioned.
"You know, us three and Jillian, Monique, Perry, Jason, Sam, Ella, and Dylan?" Wow. What a long list. I felt so popular.
"By the band room?" I suggested. They both nodded in agreement. We'd just have to discuss it with the others.
We kept wondering around, looking for classes. Fang and I had a fun route. Our classes alternated between the first and second floor for every single class, and they were all on opposite sides of the building. Luckily, our lockers were right in the middle of the school. That gave me a little bit of comfort.
"Fang!" shouted a very familiar voice. I looked back to see Lissa. "OMG I'm so nervous!"
Fang was a rock – emotionless, and he didn't really give a care. "Wow."
"What's your schedule? I wanna seeeeeee," Lissa screeched. Geez. Not an attractive sound.
"Ok," Fang responded, handing her his schedule.
"Oh, Fang! We have Biology, lunch, and Health together!" She jumped up and down in excitement. Iggy and I had to turn away so she wouldn't be offended by our laughs.
"Iggy and Max! I have your books! Do you want to put them in your locker?" Mom shouted after us, attempting to run with close to fifty pounds in books.
Iggy and I ran up to her, leaving Fang and Lissa in their "love-fest" to get our books. "Yeah, let's go," I said.
We walked down to our lockers and Mom began to take pictures of us. Unfortunately, our mother loves to take pictures of every single first thing we do. Our first day of school, our first step, our first phones... (And not in that particular order.) Now, we were getting pictures of our first time opening our high school lockers.
My combination was fairly easy. It was 26-6-16. (And NO that is not my real locker combo.) Pretty simple. Iggy's looked pretty intricate since it took him ten minutes to open his locker.
Our lockers were interesting. There were two vertical lockers right next to each other, and then right on top were two horizontal lockers, one on top of the other. I had the locker on the left side, which gave me the bottom locker above the vertical lockers. Iggy had the top locker, and his vertical locker was on the right side. (I'm sooo sorry if this is confusing. Just ignore it if you don't understand.)
I decided to put my binders on the bottom locker and my books on the top. Then, my coat would go on the hook, and my bag would go on the hook on the opposite side. Then, I'd carry my backpack to all of my classes. I sighed in relief. I had it for the most part all figured out.
Later, after a couple of hours, we went to marching band practice. I compared my schedule with everyone else from our group. I had a couple of classes with each of them except for Perry and Ella, who I had no real classes with. All of the freshmen had lunch together, so I didn't really bother counting that as a class. But at least I had a group of people to sit with at lunch so I wouldn't look like a loser.
That night, when I got home, I decided to take a bath. I take baths on rare occasions, but if I need to relax, I will take one. This was one of those occasions.
I was silently freaking out about starting high school. It was all happening so fast. A couple of months ago, I was just a middle schooler. Now, I was in freaking high school. High school!
I shuddered and decided to push the thought of school starting in the back of my mind. I would cross that bridge when I got to it.
*Color guard=the flag twirlers.
This was a pretty lame chapter, I know, and it was a bit shorter than the other ones. I've had a bit of a writer's block with this story, but hopefully I'll be able to introduce a new conflict within the next couple of chapters. I have evil ideas. Fax fans may not be pleased. But I assure you, by the end of senior year, they will be together! Don't worry! And any Dax/Mylan fans, I'm sorry, but they will not end up together. But they may get together at one point... Like I said, EVIL PLANS! :)
-Venus
