Chapter Four. It's a bit of a filler/intro, sorry .Well enjoy anyway.
Max POV:
"Max. Max! Max!! Wake up!!!" Ugh. "Go away" I mumbled, throwing my wings around myself to block out the now present light, and the annoying voice.
Then the shaking started. "Max, come on" the voice whined "Do you know what day it is? Wake up now!! I'm not leaving until you get up, so we could be here all day. Except I might get kinda hungry and bored. Wow, I really want some chocolate right now. I wonder if-" I tuned her out. God, I'm never gonna be able to sleep now. Not with Nudge on wake up duty.
Groaning, I sat up and looked around. Nudge was babbling on, about God knows what, Angel was beaming, as was Gazzy, Iggy too, and Fang had a slight smile on his face. Jeez, did someone slip something into their OJ or what. Apparently I wasn't the only one confused due to the looks on Vision's and Rust's faces.
Remembering what Nudge said about the day I hazarded a question. "Hey Vision, what day is it?" "March twelfth." Nudge and Angel squealed with obvious delight. Oh god, no. Tomorrow was my birthday or the start of what I liked to call 'Max's most stressful week of the year', the others just called it Birthday Week. This is because all of our birthdays come one after the other. Why, you may ask. Well I'll show you with my handy-dandy flashback.
Flash Back (right after Jeb brought us to E house)
"So, Max when do you want your birthday to be?" Jeb asked me. I pondered the question. "March 13th." "Really, why March 13th?" "Well, March cause I like that month. The 13th because 13 is supposed to be an unlucky number, so I want to be the one to make it lucky." "And if anything bad ever happens we can just blame it on Max." I elbowed Iggy since a glare wouldn't work.
"Well, then I want my birthday on the 14th." Seeing are confused looks Fang continued, "This way Max is only a day older than me."
"I call the 15th. I am not letting you two beat me by much."
"Me next. I want to be next to Iggy." Gazzy's small face was grinning.
"Mine! Mine!" Angel was waving her hand around in the air.
Iggy chuckled "Looks like Angel's got the 17th." "Ooh, that means I get to be the grand ending. That's awesome" Nudge was practically gushing.
"Kids, that's not very realistic. Wouldn't it be better to space out your birthdays?" All we could do was stare at Jeb like he said icecream was illegal. He dropped his head in submission. "Fine, I'll mark the calendar."
And thus, Birthday week was born. On each person's birthday they got complete control over what we did, and of course they got presents. The presents were always simple, but presents were presents. This was a tradition we've continued, even after Jeb 'died'. And after Jeb 'died' was when I dubbed it 'Max's most stressful week of the year'. I'm guessing this year will be no exception. Great. Another fun filled week. Not.
You guys are probably thinking 'Um, Max a week has seven days, there are only of six of you'. That's an excellent question. Every Birthday Week is brought to a close with a Flock day. We would hang around eat birthday cake and watch movies (each flock member would choose one.) That's going to be tough to manage this year.
I came out of my thoughts to find a very frustrated Nudge staring at me.
"Max, are you listening?" Oops.
"No, she isn't but I'll fill her in"
Thanks, Ange.
No, problem. I did not want to here all of that again.
I choked back a laugh. We all love Nudge, but she can be a little much sometimes.
Yes she can, but anyway Nudge was saying that we need to go into town to prepare for tomorrow. We would also like to stay in a hotel for Birthday Week. Please.
I sighed.
Fine, sweetie. But only 100 dollars on the hotel.
Okay. Her smile could've brightened an isolation tank. I would know.
I hated spending the money though. Mom gave me 500 dollars before we left, but I had already spent a 100 of it on food. Now, we'll be down to 250, since I'm giving myself a 50 buck present budget. Thank god Mom gave the kids 50 each, or I'd soon be broke.
"Ok, guys. Let's go." I assumed Angel had filled them in, seeing the packed camp.
"Will someone tell me what the hell birthday week is?" I glowered at Rust's choice of words around the younger kids, wishing he could read minds so I wouldn't have to repeat my flash back. As luck would have it Nudge explained it instead. I almost felt bad for him.
We touched down in town behind a hotel Vision spotted. I was still unnerved by how close Fang had been the whole flight here. It was only five minutes, but still a bird girl needs her space.
I walked in, followed by the flock. Stopping at the desk I turned my attention to the clerk.
"I need two rooms."
"For how long, Miss." Apparently, I'm not old enough.
"How long can I stay for 100 bucks?" His nostrils flared.
"You would need to check out on the morning of the 19th." I heard Nudge gasp. "But, we need a TV for Flock day."
"It's ok Nudge," I whispered, "We'll figure something out. I'm sorry, but I need to save money or we'll starve." That got her quiet.
"That will be fine." "Here are your keys." "Thank you" With the room keys in hand, we left the building.
"Ok, guys split in twos. Meet back here in three hours." Angel walked off with Nudge and Total. Gazzy went in the opposite direction with Iggy. That surprised me; I thought Ig would go with Vision. Well, guess not. Rust started towards me, but Fang grabbed my arm and dragged me away. I waved at Vision before disappearing around a corner.
I glanced at Fang. "Meet back five minutes before the others?" He nodded and walked off. Hey, everyone's allowed some hypocrisy every once in a while. I could've stood there and questioned or dwelled on Fang's peculiar behavior, but ruled against it.
So, instead I walked into some random store. Lots of red and white must be Target. Heard these places have everything. Let's see if they actually do.
I looked at the dollar section. A whoopee cushion. There's Gasman's present. One down, four to go.
I walked on, and then had a brilliant idea. I went to the food section and got a pack of chocolate bars for Nudge. She did say she wanted chocolate.
Passing the books, I got a cookbook for Iggy. Someone can read it to him. My eyes spotted a pink plush rabbit. Angel would love it.
So, now, only Fang was left. He was always the hardest. No. No. Definitely not. Ugh nothing was good enough.
There's only one thing he wants.
And what is that?
You.
OUT OF MY HEAD NOW!
How could it say that? I mean really, it's so, so. Oh. It gave me an idea.
After paying and getting directions, I made my way to the frame shop. I browsed for a few minutes and found what I was looking for.
"Excuse me? How much to get this engraved?" I showed the clerk the frame I found. It was simple black leather. "$45" Wow. That was over budget, by a lot. But….
"Ok, here's what I need it to say." I slid him a piece of paper.
Two hours later I was waiting for the flock. All of my presents were in gift bags when Fang stepped into the hotel lobby. Just in time too, cause the others were right after him.
"I took it upon myself to get dinner." Iggy was holding McDonalds. "Thank goodness." "Bless you." "You did something right for once." "Thanks."
"Ok, guys. Ig's a hero. Now let's go upstairs and eat."
Two hours later we were happily stuffed with the boys in the room next door. "I'm getting in the shower." Without waiting for a response I walked into the bathroom. An hour passed before I reluctantly got out of my hot shower. Calling it an early day I crawled into the bed I was sharing with Vision. I would definitely need the rest for tomorrow.
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