Sorry if French is off.
Don't own Maximum Ride.
September 2
Monday
Ella's POV
So, it's six now and the Ride's aren't here yet. I'll just take this time to explain the reason we are having take out pizza, instead of homemade. It was disaster known as Max. And even worse, Max in the kitchen.
All we're having is pizza, simple enough right? You roll out what was frozen pizza dough, add tomato sauce, cheese, then toppings. In the oven it goes for a while then BAM! Pizza for seven. Wait, and the Walkers; Fang and Nudge's cousins Angel and Gazzy and their aunt Kim. Just like the Ride's, the Walker's are close friends as well. They just started grade five. So that makes...ten.
Anyways, Max found a way to screw it up. First it was the rolling pin falling out the open kitchen window to let in a cool summer breeze. Second was the can of tomato sauce exploding when she set it down on free counter space. A.K.A the stove which was on because she thought she was preheating the oven, when in reality she had turned the stove on. (Don't ask how that made it explode.) Third was the cheese having been mouldy, though it wasn't supposed to go bad for another week. Okay, so that wasn't Max's fault, whatever. And the finale...when she set the timer for three hours and we totally forgot about it. So it kinda exploded in the oven and set off the smoke alarms.
Dominoes it is then! Now we have three pizzas, cheese, pepperoni and vegetarian for Nudge who can't stand the though of eating meat and for some reason doesn't like plain cheese.
It's now 6:10 and yay, they're here! The Walker's live just next door so I don't know why they were late.
"Sorry Valencia," Anne smiles apologetically. "Nudge's hair straightener caught fire and we had to use the fire extinguisher. Nothing big."
Oh.
Aunt Kim, Angel and Gazzy live about ten minutes away, they have a legit excuse I suppose.
Once everyone was seated and eating, mom started talking to Iggy. She had never met him before.
"So you're from Switzerland?"
"Yeah."
"Do you speak French?"
"Yeah."
"Can you say something?" Angel quipped.
Iggy laughed and said something. We all waited in silence to hear what that meant. When he didn't say anything, Fang spoke.
"Dude, none of us are French."
"Oh! It meant, 'nice house, where's the washroom?"
Everyone laughed. "No seriously, where's the washroom?" He asked.
"I'll show you." I stand and he follows me down the hall. "Third door to the right."
"Thanks." He looks at the wall behind me and points to something. I know it's one of our photographs, the wall behind me is covered with them. "Who's that?"
I turn and see which one he's pointing to, it's hard to miss. The picture is huge and is of Max, mom, me and dad on the beach. I was five, Max was six. Mom is holding back her hair with one hand, and hugging Max with the other. Or restraining her, I think Max wanted to play in the water. Dad is crouched and had his arms wrapped around me tightly. I'm soaking wet, I think I fell in the water. I remember, though I was so young, the spray of the water, dad's warm arms hugging me, Max's shrieks of laughter.
"That's my dad." I answer stiffly. "He's not...here." He's never here. Iggy doesn't answer, just looks at me with pity because he knows that my dad for some reason isn't with us, then shuts the door. I go back to my seat and eat in silence, chewing my pizza slowly.
After everyone has finished eating, (Iggy has come out of the washroom at this point,) we all just hang out around the house. Fang is in Max's room, The moms are in the living room looking at photos, Angel and Gazzy are with Nudge, and guess who's with me?
Yup, Iggy.
Why isn't Nudge with me you ask? Before everyone came over, I messaged her.
Flashbackish
September2
5:35
Chatterbox: heeeeeey!
LittleDrummerGirl: hey.
Chatterbox: first day fun? Meet any cute guys? If so, how hot on a scale of ugly to Will Herondale?
LittleDrummerGirl: remember the boy I was talking about this morning?
Chatterbox: ya, boy from your drum lessons?
LittleDrummerGirl: ya! He goes to our school! HE'S IN OUR BAND!
Chatterbox: WHAT?! OMG DID YOU TALK TO HIM? DID YOU FIND OUT WHAT HIS NAME WAS? WHY DIDN'T I SEE HIM THERE?
LittleDrummerGirl: um, I talked to him and his name is Iggy. He's from Switzerland and part of the exchange program.
Chatterbox: oh him.
LittleDrummerGirl: you know him? Wait I'm stupid. He's staying at your house! He mentioned staying at Fang's! You never told me you had someone staying at your house all summer!
Chatterbox: sorry it slipped my mind. I didn't know that was him!
Chatterbox: oooh wait. He mentioned drum lessons. Oops.
LittleDrummerGirl: -.-
LittleDrummerGirl: for some reason he's playing the bass in band. Guess he wanted to try something new.
Chatterbox: so, we're going to your house for dinner?
LittleDrummerGirl: yup!
Nudge's mission was to get me to make more friends. Apparently, as she puts it, "All you have as a friend is me. Your relatives don't count." Which excluded Max, Angel and Gazzy.
"How bout I teach you some French?" Iggy asks awkwardly. We're in my room, me sprawled on my bed and him sitting on my desk chair.
"Sure!" I sit up and he chews the inside of his check thoughtfully.
"Okay, repeat after me. J'aime le pizza. It means I like pizza"
I repeat and say, "all I knew was pizza."
"With my help, you'll know more." He looks determined. "It will be my mission! To get you to be able to speak French more before I leave."
"When are you leaving?" I ask.
"June 13."
I suddenly hear the Walker's leave, yelling good bye. Iggy yells bye back, as I run out the door and wave good bye as they climb into their car.
When they leave i dash back into my room and then sit back on the bed.
I see Iggy's texting and I sneak behind him and read the conversation. All I see is that he's messaging Fang and my name in their conversation, when he cradles the phone to his chest and gives me a mocking look.
"Come on let me see!" I beg. My curiosity is piqued, why would they be talking about me?
"No." He sticks his tongue out and stands up, holding it high in the air.
"No fair!" I stretch onto my tippy toes and when I'm still to short, jump.
When that doesn't work, I take a few steps back. He looks at me warily, then I ran forward and tackle him. He lands on the bed with an oomph.
"Give me the phone!" I grab it and cackle in triumph. I have my fingers on the keyboard, ready to type something like, "hey Fang, it's Ella. Wuzup?"
I type the first part but I see his panicked face and then he does the unthinkable.
He tickles me.
"Noooo! My weakness!" Is all that I can say because I start laughing too much. "Stop stop stop! You can have your phone back!" My fingers are all over the phone screen as I try to get away from him. I don't know what I'm typing.
"Nah this is fun!" He starts to tickle my feet, which is even more sensitive.
I'm screaming with laughter until Max starts banging on the wall that separates our rooms.
"Shut up in there, stop torturing Ella Iggy!"
He stops and I gasp for breath. I look for the phone and see him tuck it in his pants pocket.
"Damn it." I mutter.
He just chuckles.
"Wanna use the drum set?" I suggest.
"Sure." We get up and I lead him down the stairs and into our garage, where my Pearl drum set is.
"It's beautiful!" He pretends to wipe a tear. "I miss my set back at home."
"You can come over and use it whenever you want." I sit at the kit and play a few paradiddles and rolls.
I'm getting into it when I feel a pair of warm arms wrap around me. I start to blush, then realize he's just taking the drumsticks.
"Scooch." He orders. I do and he slides onto the seat as well. It's a small chair.
"Teach me how to play that thing you did in band."
I do, and while I do, I become hyper sensitive of the closeness. It means nothing though, Iggy obviously isn't distracted by it, he's biting his lip in concentration and it looks comical almost.
"And then repeat after me." I take one of the sticks and single handedly play.
"Impressive." He does the same, then adds a crash to it.
It goes on, adding little by little to it, until its some huge monster piece.
Some time later Fang and Max stick their head inside. "We're going home now Ig," Fang informs.
"Okay I'll be right there." He heaves a sigh and gets up.
I miss his warmth and stand up as well, clearing my throat. "I'll walk you out."
Neither of us move and it starts to get chilly in the garage, im wearing a tank top and shorts. I shiver once and he hugs me.
"I had fun, thanks for letting me use your kit."
"No problem, thanks for teaching me French." I'm trying not to hyperventilate, no one has hugged me this long, unless you count my grandma, she slobbers me with kisses and hugs me so hard I think my ribs are going to break.
It's a relaxed hug, and I wish I could stay like that longer, when my grip slackens on the drum stick and it crashes down onto the cymbal.
We jump apart and he coughs. "Let's go."
I walk him out and before he leaves, he snags my phone out of my pocket and fiddles with it.
"What are you doing?" I ask, conscious that my conversations it's Nudge is on there.
"Just adding my number." Iggy casually answers back. He hands me back the phone and I pocket it.
"What about my number?" I call as he jogs home.
I hear him call over his shoulder, "already got it."
September 2
6:45
Emo Kid: dude, what are you doing in there?
Igster: teaching Ella French. What are you doing in there?
Emo Kid: on YouTube.
Igster: suuuuuuuure.
Emo Kid: shut up. Do you like her?
Igster: I don't know. I'm not over her yet.
Emo Kid: forget about her. She's a cheater!
Igster: I know, I just can't get over her.
Emo Kid: I'm sure she's over you.
Igster: hey Fang, it's chekqkcnfhdiwlqpdneiswkwtfsnxjenqlastfubeoqpxnfrwt hcjapqw fnkaamsockskchcfbeiwkckcbfnskakcndnwkdkwnapcn skxnsup
Emo Kid: ?
Review! Ze button is all alone!
