The Second Chapter

"Have fun at school kids!" My mom said before she drove off to work. Turns out, Angel and Gazzy got stuck at the elementary school. So our 'stick together plan' didn't really work out. But the rest of us decided that the flock would be new kids testing out the school and I was their 'guide', they were in all my classes, and they would be sitting next to me the whole time, we thought that Max, Fang, and Iggy would pass as eighth graders and so would Nudge, even though they all could pass as much older, too.

"Okay, guys I have PE next, you guys gotta show off for me. 'Kay?" I knew this would be fun; the flock was the fastest people I knew, and the strongest (next to Josh).

As I walked into the girls' locker room with Max and Nudge, everyone looked at me and them, ever since I got back, I have been very quiet but I was the fastest and strongest kid in class, even though I was like the opposite before. I told my teacher they needed loaner PE uniforms (poor poor them) and walked to my locker to get dressed. After I was done I waited for Max and Nudge before exiting into the loud gym. We all headed for Fang and Iggy who were surrounded by girls. One of them was a little too close to Fang for Max's comfort. Max poked her shoulder and she turned around.

"Hi! Sorry, but Nick isn't available at the moment, please get up and leave at the beep." She stood there for a few seconds; the girl (I knew her name, but let's just keep people anonymous) looked at her like 'uh!' "Beeeeep" Max blurted. The girl kept sitting there and said, "Nick is fine with me sitting here." She scooted closer to Fang. Max gently pushed the girls shoulder facing Fang, and then the girl glided away from Fang. Max sat down next to Fang, then the girl got up and yelled at Max.

"Who the hell do you think you are! You're the new kid and you think you can just stroll on in and f**king mess with me?" She pushed Max off the bleacher.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" I got in her face as Nudge helped up Max. The girl stepped away from me and her friends followed. Max sat back down next to Fang.

"I guess you were right about the jerks at your school." She growled.

"Okay! On your numbers!" One of the PE teachers shouted.

"Umm, ? I have some friends here checking out the school, where can they sit?" I said to the teacher. He looked at Max, Nudge, Fang, and Iggy.

"They can just sit on the bleachers for now, but they have to participate in all the exercises." He looked at Max weirdly, the way he looks at all the other girls here. I sat down on my number o n the floor quietly as the flock sat in the bleachers again.

"Hey Sara! Who are your friends? That dirty blonde one is hot! Just like yooouuuu." One of the guys in front of me said creepily with a hint of 'I got high at lunch' in his voice. Remember what I said in the prologue, well this is a great example.

"Leave me alone Randy." I said without even making eye contact.

"He he, hey boys! She told me ta leave 'er alone!" He said to his other high friends. "Hey, ummmm, 'owabout me and you meet behind the backstop after school and do homework together. Eh?" He made me sick. "I'll pay you!" He put his hand on my shoulder, I shrugged it off, he was about to say something else when shouted directions

"Boys over here," pointed to the right wall, "and ladies over here." He pointed to the other wall. I found Max and Nudge as sent the boys running for warm up. Iggy and Fang were at the front, naturally. All the 'amazing fantastic wonder kids' (as I called them) were in complete shock that someone had passed them. Then it was the girls turn, I usually was first to finish, but this time I tied with Max and Nudge. Haley Woods (another A.F.W.K.) was still stunned by my lack of effort yet amazing results.

Max POV

This is so easy! Pushups, crunches, leg lifts, this was crazy! Right now we were outside throwing hoops, I couldn't believe this.

"Excuse me, Jessica? Can Monique, Sara, and you help clean out the uh…stuff shack?" pointed to a shed by the gym, "I'll help you guys out, too. You'll need a big strong man to help."

"No we don't. We are probably stronger than you." I said as I strutted to the shed.

Sara POV

"Nice move, Max. He's a creeper." I told her as we cleaned the shed with Nudge, we heard a knock on the door, and then Fang and Iggy walked in.

"Hey, that is a creep. I would suggest staying away from him." He came up to Max and got really close to her; I think while I was gone they got a thing going. By the time we finished, school was already out. So we walked to the elementary school to pick up Gazzy and Angel. Max was worried sick about them, all alone in the worst possible place to leave an uneducated bird kid: school.

"They'll be fine. Angel will just breeze by and Gazzy…well he'll be fine" I patted her back as we came into visual distance of the school.

"I don't like school, this won't work out. Can you fake a good flu?" She looked at me, almost sizing me up for a sick makeover, literally.

"Yeah, I guess, but what about you?" I said as we opened the gate to the school, I immediately saw Angel playing with some other girls in the courtyard.

"Well, we can all just fly away before the bell rings, easy." Hmmm…sounds like a good plan.

"Sounds great."

That night I dreamt about the JRF:

I am back in my dog crate. Josh is right next to me. All of a sudden the scientists came and took us both; they dragged us into a containment facility.

"What are you doing?" I screamed. The scientist looked at me.

"We are trying a safer-ish kind of hybrid breeding." He looked up and nodded toward something. I looked to see a queen size bed sitting in the middle of the room, and cameras everywhere.

"That's sick!" I wish I could have slapped him right then and there, but… I couldn't move; they drugged me. The scientist lifted me up and threw me on the bed like a sack of potatoes and left, leaving me completely alone with Josh.

"Did they drug you, too?" He asked.

"Yeah, but how would we even be able to do…this…if we are both drugged?" I don't know how they expect us to do that.

"I can still move…I have no clue what they drugged me with." He lifted his arm and furrowed his brow.

"Do they expect you to rape me?" I said with fear in my voice, I looked around at the cameras, these people were really sick.

"I don't-what the?" All of a sudden he was on top of me; there was shock in his eyes.

"What are you doing? Josh! Stop!" I practically squealed through my throat and out my mouth into his (only an inch away) face.

"I...I don't know! I can't control it! They must've drugged me with something they could control me with!" He was trying to pull his face away from mine, and I wish I could have pushed it, but I was paralyzed. Then he was taking off my pants like a robot would. I could practically hear the sick scientists snickering in their little control room. Josh was in complete shock; he was shouting and pulling away. I was just sitting there, waiting for the grand finale, although I kinda had to wait, 'cause ya know…I'm paralyzed.

"No no no no, this can't be happening! I can't be doing this! Stop! Stop!" Josh screeched.

I shut my eyes and braced for the pain.

Then I woke up crying, bawling to be correct. Was this what the JRF was going to do if I hadn't escaped? Then my lights flicked on.

"Sara! What's wrong! I could hear you talking—scratch that—screaming in your sleep! Honey your crying! Come here." I got up with her and went downstairs. "Honey, tell me what happened in your nightmare." I noticed I was shaking and covered in sweat and tears, we were in the living room when the front door swung open. It was the flock.

"We heard screaming. Is everyone okay?" Max said. She and the rest of the flock were dripping wet.

"It's pouring outside, Sara, that's why we're wet." Angel tugged on the blanket wrapped around my shoulders.

"We're all okay; Sara had a nightmare, and a bad one at that." My mom patted my shoulder. I was still shaking.

"Yeah…it was jjjjeering and not all rrrreasurring and ffffreaking scary!" I put an extra umph on the initials of the JRF. Max's eyes widened, she understood.

"Oh…can we talk after you and your mom talk?" She really meant 'we have to talk after you and your mom talk'.

"Yeah." I said as my mom shoved some hot chocolate in my hands.

I told my mom it was about the house burning down with everything and everyone inside it. Then I rushed over to the studio attached to my house to talk real business.

"Sara, I know what happened in your dream." Angel said shakily. She was a little freaked out. "Not even the School would stoop that low." She was scared actually.

"Max, Nudge, everyone. I need to tell you something…there was one other stable experiment at the JRF…." I told them all about Josh, they were amazed. But they were about to be disgusted. "Have you ever had a dream where you swear its reality? Well that's what mine was…I was back at the JRF…and the scientists drugged and temporarily paralyzed me, they also drugged Josh with something they could control him with, then they" I choked up with tears, "then they forced him to" I felt the tears fall down my cheeks, " forced him to r-rape me." I was sobbing in Fangsarms. "He had no control…he he was so helpless…I was so helpless." I was shaking again. "It was so vivid…I'll never get that image out of my mind." Nudge came up behind me.

"Shh, shh, it was only a dream…you'll be fine." She patted my back. I looked up at Angel, her eyes were as big as the moon, she was looking at nothingness. She couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it.