Me and Nudge: Snow, snow snow! We love snow!

Me: -laughs- Snow is awesome. Just awesome.

Nudge: Even better when it gives you snow days!

Me: Yep! We had, like, 2 days of school last week 'cause of the snow storms. Oh, and today, too!

Nudge: But the best part has to be the giant snow drifts is parking lots.

Me: -nods- One minute you're walking in the mall parking lot, the next you climbing a snow drift the size of Everest!

Nudge: All the more better when you're waving to the people on the highway then step back and slide down the mountain.

Me: -laughs- True, true. Whatever would we do without snow?

Disclaimer: Mwah haha ha! I own Maximum Ride! Eh, no, not really.

Dedication: To everyone! Everyone deserves to be appreciated!


"What?" came the shouts from the room to my left. I heard the sounds of people, three I think, getting over the couch and running over.

The first to appear was a girl of about 15 with brown-blonde hair and brown eyes. Then came a boy of 9 and a girl of around 7. They seemed to be related because of their matching blue eyes and blonde hair, though the girl's was curly. They all seemed shocked and just a bit confused.

It was quiet for all of a few seconds. Then came the flurry of questions.

"Who are you?"

"How did you find us?"

"Are those wings?"

I was so surprised by these kids' sudden onslaught of questions that I just stood there in a confused stupor until the dirty blonde-haired girl raised her arms up to quiet them. After a few seconds they calmed down.

"What are you guys yelling about? I can barely hear my iPod," someone irritably called from the top of the wooden staircase to my right.

The dude who climbed down the staircase was around 15 looking. Oh, and did I mention he looked like my freaking twin? Same strawberry blonde hair, same ice blue eyes, same pale skin. Hell, I think we were the same height!

"Well?" he said when he reached the last step. "What's going on?" His eyes were looking intently at the group of people who had come from the other room but not on one specific person.

Now that I look back on the group there was someone extra there. A guy of roughly 15, who had dark hair and eyes, had materialized out of nowhere. Now, how had I missed that?

The girl with dirty blonde hair -the leader I suppose- spoke first. "There's a girl here and…" She trailed off, presumably because she did not know why I was here.

"And she looks just like you!" the dark-skinned girl burst out.

My "twin" raised his eyebrows and said, "Really?" as his response. Then he turned to me and stared at a spot just to the left of me.

I figured this was the time to start explaining before they decide to kick me out. "We, uh, my friend and I just—well maybe not just; it was probably a few days ago—escaped from this place that, well, they gave us wings and these people - Dmitri and Melinda—helped us escape and told us to go east and, and this is where we ended up and-"

The leader girl interrupted my stumbling speech. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. You're talking faster the Nudge on espresso. You and you friends got wings? How? And more importantly why?"

"Look, I promise to answer all your questions but can my friend come in?" I leaned out the door and searched to the sky for Tomy. I found him circling the house and put my hands up in a "hang on a minute" gesture before turning back into the house. "We've been flying for days now and we're really tired so can he come in? If you don't want us here after we'll leave, I swear."

The leader girl looked at the little blonde girl who nodded then nodded to me. "Sure. He can come in."

I leaned back out the door. I waved my hands to say he can come in. Tomy gave me a thumbs-up and started the decent to the door.

I stepped away from the door and said nervously, "I'd stand back from the door if I were you. We just flew for the first time a few days ago so we're not the best landers."

Tomy flew down as slow as he could and stepped on the ledge down in front of the door. He tucked away his wings, but he had undershot the landing and started to fall back off the ledge. I reached out and grabbed his hand. I got a better grip on the doorframe and yanked him back in the house. Tomy held my hand for a little longer after I pulled him in the house before letting go somewhat reluctantly.

Everyone but the tall, dark dude and the leader girl had gone into the room to my left.

"Er, hello," Tomy said awkwardly. They nodded and walked into the room.

"Well they seem nice," Tomy whispered to me.

I smiled in response and walked to the room. It was a living room. It had a fireplace at one end and a TV on the wall right across from us. There was every game system imaginable scattered on the table under the TV. The couches were mismatched but fit in with the room. There was a giant window seat on the left side of the room, overlooking the forest. Over all, the living room looked like it was designed by kids but looked and felt very home-like and nice.

The leader girl picked a remote, turned off the cartoons on the TV, and then tossed the remote on the coffee table already littered with plates and magazines. I picked a blue cloth loveseat to sit and Tomy sat down next to me.

"So," the blonde-brown girl said as she fell back onto a chocolate brown leather recliner. "I'm Max."

"I'm Angel and that's my brother Gazzy," said the little blonde girl as she pointed in turn to her and her brother.

The dark-skinned girl said, "I'm Nudge. That over there is Iggy." She motioned to the strawberry blonde boy then the dark-eyed one. "And that's Fang. Oh, and that's Total over there." She pointed to the little black dog walking in the room. He looked a bit bigger than a Scottish Terrier.

The dog looked over at me and Tomy. "Hello…. I'm not even going ask." He padded over to Angel and sat by her.

Oh. Lovely. They have a talking dog.

Max rammed the footrest of the recliner back in the chair. "Our story: We were made by the White Coats at this place called the School. We escaped with help from this man named Jeb. He left us 2 years after he rescued us. We've basically been on our own since then. So what's your story?"

I smoothed down my red trench coat. "Well, I suppose it started when we went on a field trip to Itex…" And so Tomy and I told our story from over the past week, one of us adding in parts the other missed or forgot. It seems like such a longer time than that.

When we finished, I asked, "So… Any questions?"

"Why would you willingly going in Itex?" asked Iggy.

"Well, we did not know," I answered.

"If the school thinks it's fine to go there then, it should have been safe," Tomy added.

Max asked, "Why can't you guys just go home?"

"They told Tomy's parents that he was sent to boarding school for the rest of the year," I explained. "Besides, we escaped. They will want us back to continue testing on us. They are probably searching for us. We can't go back."

"What about you, Beatrice? What about your family?" Angel asked.

I looked at the floor and shuffled my feet. "My parents didn't want me; they sent me to a foster house right after I was born. The caretaker there told me that my parents had just lost a child before I was born." I looked up. "I do not even know who they are."

"Oh!" Angel remarked as Nudge said, "I'm so sorry."

I smiled a bit sadly and said, "Thanks. But let's get past all this gloom and doom; it's very down putting."

Fang nodded. "I guess you're gonna ask if you can stay here, now."

"Yeah, pretty much," I replied.

Max thought about the idea for a second. "Sure. Why not? No one seems to be against it."

A chorus of happy shouts went up. I laughed a little and nudged Tomy with my shoulder. Tomy grinned and said, "Told you they were nice people."


Me: And now that this is written, we shall go jump around in the snow till we're blue with cold and forstbite has numbed our fingers and toes!

Nudge: Yes, we shall!

R&R?