Thank you for the fantastic reviews. :D Haha, the vote was unanimous: NO. (Though I still wonder what could have happened if Max said yes… but that would be a totally different story altogether :D)

Just something to note: I think the pace for this story is going to be quite slow, so sorry about that. Hope you bear with me.

Dish-claimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any characters associated with the story.


"What happened?" Iggy asked as I walked back into Room Magnolia in a daze. Fang was lying on his bed, out cold. Either that or he was sleeping. Iggy's expression confirmed that Fang wasn't sleeping.

"What happened to him?" I questioned as I walked over and looked him over, making sure he wasn't hurt. I felt a bump on the back of his head.

"He wanted to kill Ari," Iggy explained as I shot him accusatory glares. Only then, I remembered that Iggy was blind and that my shooting him looks were merely futile attempts. "I knocked him out."

"Oh."

"What did Ari want?" Iggy asked as Fang groaned and started to come to. I shushed Iggy and looked at Fang. His eyes opened blearily and he blinked as he saw Iggy and I peering worriedly at him. Fang bolted upright, almost banging into my head.

"Are you alright?" he immediately queried. I nodded silently.

"What about you?" I said, feeling the bruise.

"I'm fine. Iggy, how did you do that?! You're blind!" Fang exclaimed, pushing my hand away and rubbing his bruise. He winced. Iggy laughed.

"I can hear really well, I guess…" Iggy said uncertainly.

"Okay. Max? What did Ari want with you?" Fang asked. He wasn't as mad or flustered as before. I assumed it was because I was back and in one piece. I smiled bitterly.

"He asked me to join his gang."

Fang stared at me, shocked. Iggy laughed, thinking that I was joking, but he sobered up after realizing that nobody was laughing with him.

"Serious?" Iggy's voice was hushed. I nodded and the fact that he couldn't see didn't cross my mind. Fang's face was as pale as a sheet. "That's big. That's really big."

"What did you say?" Fang blurted out.

"I didn't say anything. I just looked at him like he was crazy. Then Ari said that he gave me until breakfast tomorrow." I looked at the clock. It was already a quarter past seven. Dinner had been at six thirty. Fang groaned.

"He's got you trapped, Max," Fang said. I looked at him, confused. Iggy nodded in understanding.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to say yes or no?" he asked me in a dead voice.

"Obviously not!" I protested. Fang sighed.

"That's exactly it. If you say yes, you'll be part of the gang and not be hurt. If you say no, he'll probably beat you up or something."

"I'd rather get beat up than join that… that… that wolf!" I shouted. "What, you want me to join him?" Fang looked at me.

"You don't have a choice, Max," he said. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Maybe you'll like it?" Iggy chimed in. That caused Fang to look at him in shock. "Maybe you'll enjoy it like Ari does. I've always wondered why they like bullying people. Maybe you'll like it too, and you'll be happy."

"She would never!" Fang shouted. "Right, Max?" he added on uncertainly as he turned to look at me as if he needed confirmation. I locked eyes with him.

"I would never hurt anyone like that. I'm going to protect the people from bullies, not become one," I said slowly, trying to choose my words carefully.

Fang sighed, relieved. We were interrupted by the door being knocked again.

"I'll get it," I said and strode towards the door and opened it. It was a girl who looked about seven years old. She had curly brown hair and had mocha-coloured skin. The expression on her face was that of a frightened rabbit. She pushed me aside and ran into the room, slamming the door shut and panting heavily.

"Hi?" Fang said. She turned around and faced the three of us. Her expression turned to one of confusion as she caught her breath.

"G – Gazzy was chasing me like a maniac saying that he would set my hair on fire! He had a match! I – I ran away, but he started chasing me, so I wanted to hide. What are you doing in my room? Why're you so old?" she asked, rattling on like a machine gun. Iggy chuckled.

"I think you've gotten the wrong place," I said slowly.

"Really? But isn't this the first level? Oh no! I just remembered going up the stairs! Uh. I'm so sorry! Hi, I'm Monique! Everyone calls me Nudge! I'm like, seven this year. How old are you? Are you new here?" she asked and smiled at me. I returned the smile, a little less enthusiastically. That girl could talk.

"Oh you're Nudge. I've heard of you," Iggy drawled before I could say anything and rolled his eyes lazily.

"Really?" she said excitedly, as if she had won an award or something.

"Yeah, you're that non-stop chatterbox Tess keeps complaining about," Iggy told her. Her face fell. Then she grinned again.

"Well, that shows that people do talk about me!" she grinned toothily. "I want to be on a talk show next time! Then I can talk all I want! Ponies! Disney Land! Have you been to Disney Land? Is it really cool? I heard - "

"My ears are bleeding!" Iggy moaned. I laughed.

"What in the world was Gaz doing with a match anyway?" Fang suddenly asked. A sudden silence enveloped the room as we pondered deeply about Fang's question.

"Good point," I added.

"You do know that this place is made of wood, right?" Iggy added on nervously.

"Oh crap," Fang said. Nudge's eyes had been following us as each of us spoke, and her face suddenly turned pale. I hoped she wouldn't freak and start screaming or something, because she seemed like the person who would do exactly that.

"Potty mouth!" she accused and frowned at Fang. He blinked at her, obviously confused. And frankly speaking, so was I.

"W-what?" I blinked stupidly.

Iggy burst into laughter.

"Hahaha! I... wish... I... could... have... seen... your... faces! Haha!" he chortled.

Fang and I exchanged a mutual look of confusion, the dilemma of a toddler running around the orphanage with a match that was probably lighted at the back of our minds.

"What are you laughing about?" Fang asked.

"What's so funny?" Nudge queried. "Do I have something on my face? Did you suddenly imagine me in a tutu? D - "

"Ha.. ha! M-max was totally expecting you to freak but then you accused Fang of having a potty mouth!" Iggy explained, gulping for air in between.

"My mama told me potty mouths are bad. If we have potty mouths, next time we talk, poop will come out!"

At that, Fang and I joined Iggy in a new burst of laughter. We laughed even harder after taking in Nudge's extremely confused expression. She'd probably thought that we should've been sent to the loony bin or something.

"Uh.. You know.. it was nice meeting you.. mama said.. bad.. weird people.. uh.. bye.." she mumbled and hurriedly left the room, leaving us in stitches. Poor girl.

"Well, that was ..interesting," I remarked as we caught our breath.

"Are you kidding me?" Iggy laughed.

"I think we were being a bit too hard on her," Fang said. "But it was really funny!"

"Why was she even here in the first place?" I asked, having forgotten the reason due to the moment of hysterics.

"Some kid was.. chasing.. her.." Iggy shot Fang a horrified expression.

"And it's GAZZY!" Fang emphasised.

"We'd better get Anne," I suggested, having no idea what Fang was implying.

"Anne?"

"Uh.. The manager? Anne.. Jogger.. Wanker or something."

"Oh, Ms. Walker."

"Yeah, good idea," Iggy said.

"I'll go get Anne, and both of you look for that.. Gasky?"

"Gazzy," Iggy corrected.

"You people have weird names," I commented, and left the room to find Anne.

Just as the door swung shut, I heard someone snicker.

"So says Maximum Ride."

Weird thing was – it didn't sound like either Fang or Iggy. Huh.


"She's nice," Fang said to Iggy as they ran down the hallway, looking for the Gasman.

"Gazzy!" Iggy called. He turned to Fang as they ran down the stairs. "You like her," Iggy stated. "I've never seen you so open before. I mean, you were so worried about her!"

"She's nice," Fang repeated.

"Yeah, maybe you'll get married!" Iggy responded. Fang playfully punched his shoulder.

"Well, we're best friends already!" Fang smiled. "I took a picture with her."

"Using your Polaroid? Are you serious??" Iggy stopped and looked at his roommate in shock. "You wouldn't even let me touch it!" he wailed. "She's like, new! I've known you longer than her!"

"We clicked better?" Fang suggested. "I mean, we fought and we made up right on the spot! Mum told me that best friends do that!"

"We fight too!" Iggy moaned.

"And we make up on the next day."

"Faaaannnggggg," Iggy groaned. Fang grinned and started moving again, calling for Gazzy. Iggy jogged and kept up. "You know what, forget it. What are you going to do with the last shot?" Iggy asked hopefully.

"I dunno. Save it for something more special, I guess."

"AHA! You said it! You said it, you said it," Iggy started chanting. "You said that Max was special!"

"So?"

"You like her! You love her!" Iggy started jumping around gleefully. Fang scratched his head as he watched Iggy prance around.

"Yeah, she's my best friend!" he protested.

"You should watch soap operas more often, Fang. You are so deprived."

"How can you even watch soap operas? I mean, you can't even see!" Fang rolled his eyes.

"But I can hear," Iggy smiled. "And when I hear them, I'll imagine the whole thing going on in my head, not like what's shown on the television."

Fang wrinkled his nose. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Next time Desperate Housewives comes on, you have to watch it with me!" Iggy stated.

"Desp... isn't that the show Ari watches all the time? I thought Ms. Walker said we couldn't watch it!" Fang said. His eyes widened. "You broke a rule! I'm going to tell Anne!"

"Tattletale!" Iggy scowled and stuck his tongue out.

Right then, a little toddler that looked about four or five came into view. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, and was walking haphazardly. Fang held his breath as his eyes trailed down to the Gasman's hand. He was holding a match.

Which wasn't lighted.

"Thank goodness," he sighed. The Gasman had a reputation for getting into trouble. Once, he had accidentally burnt Brigid Dywer's hair off. For some weird reason, the hair that grew after that was weird – half of it turned red and the other half was blonde. Ms. Walker had reckoned that it was the work of some chemicals or something.

"Is it lighted?" Iggy asked anxiously, breaking Fang's train of thought.

"No. That Nudge.." Fang said and Iggy heaved a sigh of relief.

"Yo, little Gazzer!" Iggy patted his head.

"Iggy," Gazzy chuckled.

"You like fire?" Iggy asked. Gazzy looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Fire! Fire!" he started jumping and smiling. Iggy grinned.

"I'll make you my app- apprenpiss? - Apprentice!" Iggy smiled.

"Ohkay," the little boy said. Fang narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Apprentice for what?" he asked, having a vague idea in mind. Despite the fact that he was blind, Iggy seemed to have an obsession with fire and bombs, which was definitely not a good thing.

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you," Iggy said seriously. Fang rolled his eyes, smiling.

"I just rolled my eyes, Iggy." Fang brought Iggy's hand to his face to show him that he was smiling too. Iggy chuckled.

"Uh-oh," Gazzy suddenly piped up, catching the attention of the older boys.

"What's wrong?" Fang asked.

"Winnie the Pooh!" Gazzy shouted, throwing his match into the air.

"Winnie the - "

A loud farting sound interrupted Fang and suddenly, they were engulfed in a thick, yellowish-green cloud that stank, and that word alone was a huge understatement.

"Whoadang," Fang heard Iggy's distant voice say, followed by a loud thump. Fang tried not to inhale the air around him, but failed.

"Gazzy, get .. out.." Fang mumbled, and fell onto the ground.


How was that? Sorry for not updating for so long! I'd really like to know what you thought! Reviews are loved! :D (And so are you!)