I don't own Maximum Ride: JP does! I also don't own Hey There Delilah by the Plain White T's! You asked for a longer chapter, and you got one!! Horray!!
Chapter Three: Confessions of a 14 Year Old Avian Hybrid
We flew the entire day, not stopping even when Nudge complained about her hunger, again. I will spare you the details, because nothing exciting happened. Unless you count passing a dozen birds and almost watching Fang crash into a plane exciting, nothing exciting happened. The entire day, I flew with a grin on my face. I looked over at Max from time to time and I could tell she was happy too. She hadn't seen me this happy in a month and I knew by the expression on her face that her heart just melted to see me this happy.
"Max! I'm going to, like, starve if we don't eat! And don't throw me another granola bar, Iggy!" Nudge shouted over the wind.
"Fine!" Max agreed. I didn't really care. Being smarter than your average human, I knew that we weren't going to travel all the way from Colorado to New York in 24 hours. "We'll land and eat whatever we packed that's edible," Max said glaring at Fang. I think she figured out about the guitar. I looked over at Fang and he shrugged. I saw Max roll her eyes and I laughed.
"Guys, there's a clearing below. Let's crash there," Fang said, pointing to a small clearing below. It was far enough to make a fire and not be seen by the closest town or city. We circled the clearing for a minute and then, one by one we landed. I quickly made a fire with my lighter and we all sat around the fire, attempting to cook whatever we packed with us. I stabbed a hot dog with a stick and practically burned it over the fire. Nudge looked at me as if I had grown an extra head as she watched me swallow the black hot dog in a single bite. I watched as the sun set under the trees, a large yellow ball of fire looking as if the horizon had swallowed it. We all broke off into our own sections of the clearing after that to get some much needed sleep.
"I'll take the first watch, Ig," Fang said over his shoulder. "You mind taking second?" I shook my head and wondered over to a section of ground no one was around. The last thing I remember before falling asleep, was watching Fang kissing Max's forehead before flying up into a tree for his watch and feeling a single tear fall down my face.
"Iggy, wake up," I heard Fang mutter, shaking my shoulder. I slowly opened my eyes, knowing it wasn't an attack. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the sky. The crescent moon was just above the trees and the stars sparkled in the cloudless sky.
"What?" I mumbled. "Is it my watch?"
"Almost," Fang said. "But, that's not why I woke you. You were crying, in your sleep. You wanna talk about it?"
"Not really," I said, flying up to the branch Fang was for his watch. I heard Fang grab something and then fly up to join me.
"You sure?" he asked, holding out the guitar. I took it, seeing Fang smile for a moment as I began to strum the guitar. After a moment, I began to sing:
Hey there Delilah what's it like iin New York City
I'm a thousand miles away
But girl tonight you look so pretty, yes you do
Times Square can't shine as bright as you, I swear it's true
Hey there Delilah don't you worry about the distance
I'm right there if you get lonely give this song another listen
Close your eyes, listen to my voice it's my disguise
I'm by your side
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
What you do to me
Hey there Delilah, I know times are getting hard
But just believe me girl, someday I'll pay the bills with this guitar
We'll have it good, we'll have the life we knew we would
My word is good
Hey there Delilah, I've got so much left to say
If every single song I wrote to you
Would take your breath away, I'd write it all
Even more in love with me you'd fall, we'd have it all
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
A thousand miles seems pretty far
But they've got planes and trains and cars
I'd walk to you if I had no other way
Our friends will all make fun of us
And we'll just laugh along because we know
That none of them have ever felt this way
Delilah I can promise you
That by the time we get through
The world will never ever be the same
And you're to blame
Hey there Delilah
You be good and don't you miss me
Two more years and you'll be done with school
And I'll be making history like I do
You'll know it's all because of you
We can do whatever we want to
Hey there Delilah here's to you
This one's for you
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
What you do to me
By the time the song was done, tears were silently falling down my face and Max had flown up to join us, hugging me as I cried.
"Everything's going to be okay, Iggy," Max kept whispering. "We're going to get Kate back and everything will be back to the way it was." I only wished I could believe here. In our lives, nothing was ever that easy.