Hey...uh sorry for the long wait of the next chapter of this story. It's been uh...1 month? Yah I'm not going to start on excuses. Oh and is this annoying starting every author's note of every chapter like this? Heheh sorry...

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, or any of the characters in Maximum Ride

Claimer: I do own the secret agency, A.I.M.E... which I came up for myself (or at least Wikipedia said it doesn't exist...). Some of the non-Maximum Ride characters also might be mine (characters like a random old lady or a 4 year old toddler)... and I own the story! (some credit goes to other stories and writers for ideas and inspiration!)

I'd also like to hear any feedback, advice, or questions...so put it in that lovely place up there called the comments.

And uh I think that's it for my babbling...

CHAPTER 3: School Time!

(Three Months Later)

"Wake up. Wake up. Get ready for scho-" my 'alarm clock' goes off. "Already?!" I groan, and lazily get up out of bed.

"Okay...what to wear?" I ask myself.

I walked over to my full size mirror. My face was quite bland with the dirty blonde hair that came down to mid back. Bangs framed my face and my eyes were a dull and boring brown, contrasting my slightly tanned skin. My pale, chapped lips looked terrifying, so I hastily licked my lips. For working out, and training so much, I was quite tall and built for my age.

I investigate my stash of papers that were given about the school life, and I realize I have to dress up enough for me not to get noticed. Good enough for me. I pick out a simple gray sweater and jeans. I put on a pair of fake black glasses and why I have that? I don't know. Finally I pulled up a high ponytail and fixed it into a braid to top of the look.

I grabbed my backpack where I stuff it with some books that I might read, and included some emergency spy gadgets in a secret pocket just for emergency.

I poured myself a bowl of cereal and ate it quietly. The only sounds I could hear then was the small whirring of the fan and the crunches of the cornflakes I was eating, until I heard a bus. Most likely a school bus.

I quickly dumped the bowl into the sink, slinged my bag over my shoulder, slipped into the grayish black Converse and ran outside towards the bus. I reached the bus stop before the bus could even stop. I hoped nobody noticed my superspeed skills due to my spy training. I took a deep breath for luck before hopping onto the bus.

A middle aged brunette lady welcomed me onto the bus as I took a seat in the middle portion of the back. Just by checking my surroundings, I could already tell most of the rankings of the school: bratty populars, bookworm nerds, techy geeks, athletic jocks, and so many more of them.

I know quite a lot about schools. A lot of my missions included spying for students, or at students in this case. I also went to school for a bit while I was younger until my mom well left. All these years since my mom and I separated, I managed to homeschool myself. I studied a lot during the three months since I've been given the mission.

Suddenly something blocks my view as I look up and see a guy in sunglasses and red headphones around his neck. His brown hair flops down. I ask fiercely, "Who are you?"

He laughs and says back, "Ooh the new loner being all feisty." I remember my Don't-stand-out mode as I sit back in my seat and take out a book trying to ignore him. Clearly he doesn't get the message and continues, "Oh, so somebody's backing out from a challenge?"

I see a blonde girl with blue eyes pop out behind the dude and says, "Come on Ratchet. Don't mess with her. She's not worth it."

Anger boils in my face and my fists clench tightly. Frustrated with both of the comments, I stand up and sneer, "Well you're definitely not worth fighting with at all." I sit back down to look out the window and see small raindrops on the window, the bus is creaking and groaning its way to our school. Before the Ratchet dude could says something else, the bus halts to a full stop.

I'm the first one out of the bus, while the others slowly pile out. Oh well, so much for the impression on the first day. I look up to see the big brown building known as my school for the next few months. I quickly check the sign to see if it is North East High School. Luckily and unluckily it is. I seriously didn't want that Ratchet dude in any of my classes.

I walk into the entrance of the school to see the office right at the left. I see a middle aged black haired lady at the front desk. I clear my throat quietly to get her attention. She looks up and smiles right at me.

"Hi I'm uh," I hesitate for a millisecond, quickly look down at my arm and look back up to see her with a confused look. "I'm Maxine Martinez," I finish quickly and add a fake smile at the end.

"Oh you must be our new student. Welcome to North East High School. I'm Mrs. Brooks, your school guidance counselor. Here are your maps, the school rules and guidelines, your schedule, and other important documents you'll find." She hands me a wad of papers. Instead of my famous You-Expect-Me-To-Read-This? look, I gave another fake smile and replied back, "Thank you." She then added, "Oh and you have a guide here until you master your way around the school.

I wanted to tell her I really didn't want and need a guide. First of all, I can memorize the entire map with just one look at it. Second of all, I didn't want any friends. I just needed to find out who this Samuel guy was, be friends with him and leave. But I couldn't tell her because it would be rude.

I turned around to see a strawberry blond guy with bluish gray eyes. A black pirate swung over his left eye. I avoided asking him about that. Averagely, he looked like he could be a funny guy, like the jokester out of the group. No friends Max. Remember you're just looking for the Samuel guy, I thought to myself.

"I'm your guide for today," he cheerfully says. "I'm Iggy." That surprised me. What type of name is Iggy?

"Is Iggy like your full name?" I ask trying not to sound rude.

He laughed at that and said, "Of course not! It's James but I seriously go by Iggy. I like to ignite things so..." I understood when he emphasized the word ignite, so I nodded back. I weakly chuckled, oh yay! A pyromaniac! Note the sarcasm. I looked down at my schedule.

Homeroom

Period 1: English

Period 2: Math

Period 3: Science

Period 4: History

Period 5: Lunch

Period 6: P.E.

Period 7: Music

Period 8: Art

Period 9: Health

"Oh cool! We have Homeroom, English, Science, Lunch, Music, and Health together," Iggy says looking up from my schedule. "Come on we'll be late to Homeroom." He holds out his hand expecting me to take it, I just slap it and walk towards Homeroom leaving him in shock.

Eventually he catches up to me, and with heavy breaths, "How do you run...so..fast person whose name I don't know?"

I remember my I'm-not-a-spy mode and pretend to heavy breathe. I wasn't even running, I was walking! Oh no, I'm going to have a hard time fitting in P.E.

Before he asks another question, I avoid the topic right away, "It's Maxine. Where's homeroom?"

He luckily gets distracted and points straight in front of us.

When we enter, nobody notices us come in. Iggy coughs and shouts earning the attention of almost the whole class, "Yo yo yo! The Igster is here! Ya'll-"

"Iggy, thank you for making such a grand entrance," the teacher sarcastically starts. Iggy being the Iggy he is, bows slightly receiving a few chuckles from around. He goes sits in the back of the classroom and I go to the teacher's desk.

"We have a new student, Maxine Martinez. You can go sit next to Iggy there," the teacher announces to the class. Iggy is waving his hand up shouting random stuff that I'm in no mood to listen. I quietly sit down and listen to the teacher talk about welcoming us back after the break.

"That was pretty cool what you did on the bus," somebody whispers to me. I automatically think it's Iggy, but I look to the left of me to see a blonde dude with blue eyes. I blush furiously in embarrassment. I'm not supposed to stand out here, and I already did on the first day of school. Hopefully, it will dial down after today.

"I'm Gazzy," he says, sticking his hand out. I reluctantly shake it as I ask, "Am I supposed to know what it means?" Iggy obviously hearing our conversation, leans to me on the right and whispers, "Don't spend more than five minutes with him in an enclosed space." I slowly nod understanding the disgusting warning.

I pull away from both dudes and listen to the teacher until Iggy shows me the other students. He points to the back saying that those are the populars. I already met Ratchet, and the blonde girl was Star. Her half sister is Kate, an Asian girl. And there's Holden Squibb, a short guy with light brown hair with glasses. The two Harold twins, Lissa and Brigid, both with fiery red hair and green eyes. Lastly there's Fang Walker with black hair and eyes, olive toned skin, black clothing head to toe, I'd rather call him Emo Boy. That Lissa girl was next to him touching his bicep and giggling and gossiping and whatever stuck up snobs like her do.

Before he can show me some of his friends and other people, the bell rings and I rush out to my other classes. I can hear Iggy calling out my name, and I ignore it. When he finally catches up to me, I hiss to him, "Leave me alone. I don't need a friend like you, or a guide at all." Luckily no one heard that, and I stomped off to my next class.

The rest of the day was fine until lunch. I kept on ignoring Iggy throughout all my classes while the teachers insisted I sit next to him.

When lunch came, I heard a familiar voice. I turned back and saw Iggy standing next to me. I hissed, "What are you doing here? I thought I told you to leave me alone."

He sneers back, "Okay missy. First of all, Mrs. Brooks insisted I help you-"

"I don't need help," I interrupt him.

"Ok whatever, but just pretend to like me for the few days, then you can go to your crappy lifestyle afterwards," he finally says. He leads me to a bunch of his friends at a table.

"Hi, I'm Nudge! Nudge is not my full name, it's Monique. Though I wish it was something prettier like Tiffany Krystal. You must be Maxine Martinez, I've heard a lot about you. Gossip goes very fast here at this school. Like one time, Jessica B was dumped by this guy, and two minutes later, the entire school heard about it. Speaking of which, how do you like this school? Where did you live before? Ooh have you ever been to France? I bet the shopping there is fab-u-lous! I've always wanted to try a creme bru-" a tan colored hand slapped over the girl's mouth. Nudge had dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a mocha colored skin tone. This girl could talk at least sixty words without taking a breath!

"Hi, you just met the Nudge Channel. I'm Ella," a tan toned girl said to me with the widest smile lining her sharp cheekbones. She had long beautiful brown hair, and hazel eyes.

"This's Angel," she said beckoning everyone to stand up and meet me. A girl with short, curly, blonde hair and the brightest blue orbs came up with a big grin. "She's Gazzy's twin." Gazzy waved behind Ella, and I waved back. "And I believe you already met Iggy." I saw her blush slightly when she mentioned Iggy's name.

"Ella clearly likes Iggy, and Iggy likes her back. None of them would actually admit about it and for the last two months, we've been trying to get them together but something wrong always happens," Nudge whispered in my ear.

The rest of the lunch period was quite awkward. Nudge, Angel and Ella kept on asking about me, and I told them straight random lies of what came from the files of what to do. About how I grew up in Ohio, I moved here because of my dad's job, and etc. I tried to stay quiet so I wouldn't blurt out any personal information. Most of the time, I tried to keep them distracted, away from the topic.

At one time, I considered asking them about Samuel Davis, but that would make it more well...personal. They would ask me how I knew him and stuff. So I chose the safe track and kept it to myself. I'd have to find him myself.

The rest of the school day surprisingly went fast. I had no luck finding that Samuel Davis guy at all. My hopes were that he was he was out for just a day or two. I seriously didn't want to be at the wrong school because my boss gave me the wrong information. I shook my head at that thought, there was no way they made two mistakes in a row. I kept my hopes up high, maybe he'll show up soon.

(Couple days after)

I went through my same morning school routine day after day: getting up, dressing up, eating breakfast and then catching the bus. Nobody bothered to talk to me at all. That's what I wanted.

I reached school a bit early before bell rang for Homeroom. I walked through the doors to hear the buzzing of people. I heard one guy call out, "Hey look! Dude! Sam is back!" Another guy shouting to other end of the hall, "Yo Sam! Over here man!" I looked over to where the guy was shouting and I saw a familiar light brown haired guy from the pictures. Is that Sam? It had to be. I would get his attention later and talk to him later on.

Right before lunch, when the halls were kinda empty, I decided to take the first step (EW...not in a relationship. Keep your minds out of the gutters people).

"Hey, uh I kinda hit my head hard... I forgot where the lunchroom was," I lied straight to the guy I'm pretty sure was Sam. It was the only way I was going to get his attention, so I used this method. He looked down to me with bright green eyes and asked with sincerity, "Are you okay? Do you want to go to the nurse?" I replied, shaking my head. He sticks out his hand, and I take it, getting up.

I smile widely, "Thanks. Are you Samuel Davis?"

He looks kinda shocked, "Call me Sam and how do you know my name?"

"Oh you know...your name was kinda all over the place. How are you not popular?"

"I was friends with the popular guys, and then something happened. I really don't want to talk about it. The lunchroom is over there person I don't know." He says, pointing over to right where I already knew it was. "You want to talk sometime?" he asks with a cute grin.

"It's Maxine, and sure I would. Meet me after school in the back near the basketball court," I smile again, and walk over to lunch.

(End of the school day)

I choose to sit at the bottom of the tree, right near the basketball court like where I told Sam to meet him. I waited a few minutes. Soon, I had thought that he might have forgotten about it or something. Later I thought, he chose not to come, but I was wrong.

He came out heavy breathing as if he ran a long way. That kept me thinking of possible ways of what he was doing all this time. I motioned him to come down and sit next to me. He did.

I decided to avoid the topic of what he was doing or some of his personal background info. I asked a simple question, "Favorite color?" He replies back, "Green." I like green kinda, but to become better friends with him, I smiled and responded lying, "Me too." I was more of a blue person honestly.

He was looking somewhere else until I spoke again. "Favorite color?" I asked. "Oh uh, green." Lying I realized, would get us nowhere close, and that wasn't my mission."I like green, but I'm more of a blue person," I said truthfully.

I notice him looking away, as if he's daydreaming of something. But he has a focused look on his face. "Is something wrong?" I ask. "Not really," he starts, still looking away from me. He finally turns around to meet my eyes, and asks, "Why are you asking me these questions?" I wanted to say that it's for his safety, but that would lead to total chaos. I simply shrug.

"You've been asking me all these questions. I want to know about you," he says. "Ok. How about this? I ask you one question, and then you can ask me another, we can go back and forth." He agreed with the plan.

At first it wasn't really personal, but then it did. He started asking me about my family. I decided to lie some of the time, and then be truthful the other time. I told him I had a sister named Maya (truthful) and how I came from Ohio (lie, but if you start one, might as well keep it). He told me he had a brother named Alex, and a sister named J.J. who both are in college. He lives with his parents and has a pet dog named Ruckus, and a pet cat named Fluffs.

I assumed if I just talked about my life before my step dad came into my life, everything would be fine. We talked for an hour until I had to go.

"Beep...beep...beep...bee-" my phone started. "Sorry," I apologized, "I have to go now."

"Same. It was really nice talking to you. I'll see you around sometime then?" he asked adding a half smile, making my heart flip. Uh... did I really say that in my head? Scratch that!

"Sure!" I added. I gathered my stuff and walked away.

I smiled to myself. Step Two: Complete.

Fang's POV

"Okay guys, nice practice today." Coach Warner announced. I walked over to the bleachers, taking off my helmet, and took a big swing from my water bottle. Taking a heavy breath, I raised my hand to my forehead, and wiped off the beads of sweat.

I headed into the boys' locker room. I peeled off my football uniform and the padding. I took out my school clothes and put it on, a black tee with black jeans, the usual. I dumped everything else into the duffel bag and headed out to the field. A lot of people were gone by now. I quickly turned my head to see if anyone was following me, nope. Turning around the corner I bumped into something.

"Fang!" someone shouted. I could recognize that voice anywhere, Iggy.

"Shh not so loud," I hissed back. He shot me an apologetic glance.

Iggy was my best friend ever since we were like three years old but barely anyone in school knew it. We were neighbors since we were little kids. Then in early junior high, we fought over some girl who Iggy loved but chose me instead. We weren't talking to each for a while- well Iggy wasn't talking to me. I decided to give him what he needed, space. Then Iggy landed in the hospital a couple months later in another accident, becoming half blind. He injured his left eye badly it became blind. We became best friends again knowing Iggy needed me for him.

In high school, I had became popular by befriending some of the populars in the school, and one time dating the Harold twins, Lissa and Brigid as a bet. I dumped them shortly, but unluckily Lissa still messes with me and thinks I'm hers and she's mine. Also by becoming one of the hottest guys in school, and by joining the football and the basketball team increases my popularity rank. He's also on the football and basketball team but nobody knows our friendship.

"You got the paper I asked?" Iggy asked. I groan and pull a slip of paper from my jeans pocket. "Why couldn't I give it to you later on again? I mean we're freaking neighbors! You can just wa-" A laugh interrupts my train of thoughts. I didn't even have to look to Iggy if it came of him. It was a girl's laugh. A beautiful girl's laugh. Oh, what am I even saying? I'm judging a girl by her laugh!

Iggy obviously notices my shocked face, as he heard the laugh and grins viciously. Normally I would glare at him and stuff but I just wanted to see that girl. Iggy being my best friend, knew what I was thinking and dragged me to behind a tree nearby the basketball court which I play on so many times after school, it's kinda my home.

On the other side of the basketball court was a tree with two heads underneath it. I can hear the laugh coming from the girl. The other face looks familiar with brown hair and green eyes.

"It can't be?" Iggy coughs out.

"Sam?" We both say in unison. Samuel used to be our other best friend when we were younger, becoming 'The Three Musketeers.' Laugh all you want, it was Iggy's idea. Then certain things happened between all three of us, falling apart slowly.

"Who's the girl with him?" I ask Iggy. He's squinting his eyes to make out the girl.

"No way..." he whispers. Without me asking who, he continues, "Maxine."

"Maxine? The newbie? The girl from the bus?" Iggy nods. "Oh," I simply say. I really never saw her face or anything. I really don't listen to gossip or rumors so I don't know anything about her. But I was shocked. I called this girl beautiful. That's not even like me at all. I'm the regular silent yet badarse player at a school, so it wasn't me to call girls beautiful.

"Maxine may look like a school nerd loser, but she's got an attitude. So don't get on her bad side," Iggy warns. "Unless you know, there are certain encounters by the looks of it," he adds with a wink then turns into his usual perverted self talking about hot "beach bunnies" and this one certain girl, Ella Rodriguez.

I pretend to listen to his babbles. I swear, he's like the male version of my younger sister, except he has all the pervertedness unlike my sister. My eyes travel to the tree, and I try to tune into Maxine and Sam's conversation. Tons of questions are flowing through my mind like a river, and I'm trying to sort them out.

Why was Sam even hanging out with her? Why were they continuously laughing? Iggy said she can have a bad attitude, and so why does she start laughing like crazy with Sam?

And the one that stands out the most: Why does it hurt to see Maxine laughing and having a fun with another boy?

Okay that's that for this chapter. Hehehe...Fang is so (um what's the word?...) oblivious and confused... Oh Fang...

There will be FAX, yes but to let that happen a teensy weensy Sax has to be there...

I hope you lovely readers are catching up with my story... As I mentioned some time earlier this is my first story and I'm kinda young to be writing stories. Not really. I don't know

Oh and for Iggy and Max, don't worry, they will become besties eventually...the story has to play out...

Yah sorry I kinda write ...'s whenever I don't know what to write next...

If you could rate my story in the reviews, that would make me a happy ducky and update faster!

Thanks and I think I'm done with my Nudge moment...