Howdy people! I'm taking on this southern thing, ya'll. For some reason it just doesn't sound right on me.

Maybe because you're a California girl?

What the? The Voice? Aren't you supposed to be in Max's head?

Crap! Bye, Cake! I think I was supposed to tell you that you don't own Maximum Ride, or something like that. Why are you looking at me like that? Even Voices forget sometimes.

If you couldn't tell, that was my disclaimer.

Ch. 7:

Max POV

I am the great Maximum Ride, as you already know. I never shriek. I never stutter. I have dignity. At least that's what I thought until this morning.

Let me give you a recap. It's been about two weeks since my first day. Everything's been going great. I hang out with The Flock every day. What is the Flock you may ask? Well, it is the group of me, Iggy, Nudge, Ella, Gazzy, Angel, and (unfortunately) Fang. We only call it that to because if we don't Iggy is going to keep trying to make it called 'The Iggy Crew'. God, that'd be bad. The thought makes me shutter... Well, I got on to the track and field team like I had aimed for. The king of darkness happened to have that be his sport, too. But there was nothing I could do about that. Fang has hit on me, asked me out, and just in general bugged me just about every day since the first. And I've rejected him. Every. Single. Time. But still, I could tell he was doing it in a fun manner, so I'm beginning to hate him less. I have contacted my friends from Arizona 2 times since the first day. Is it my fault that in two weeks here I've had more of a life than I ever had in Arizona?

Anyway, is anyone curious as to what made me lose my dignity?

This morning I was sleeping beautifully like the elegant, peaceful person I am. Okay so maybe I'm not that peaceful. And not exactly elegant either. Okay, so maybe me sleeping isn't that beautiful, but that's not the point!

Well, when my alarm woke me up at 7:15 everything seemed normal. (School starts at 8:15 and it takes 15 minutes to get there.) When I went to my closet, though, that's when this whole ordeal started. Inside it there was a short, black skirt and red top that looked like it belonged anywhere but on me. The skirt was short, but not short enough to be slutty. Immediately, I looked around for some clothes from my wardrobe and found nothing.

I looked at the skirt and top again and they seemed like a monster. So, I did the logical thing. I shrieked. Loudly. Losing my dignity: Strike One.

My mom and came rushing up the stairs and looked honestly terrified when they saw me backed up against the wall pointing at the closet.

My mom spoke, "Honey, what's wrong?" Worry was apparent in her voice.

"I-it's g-g-gonna kill me!" I stuttered and pointed at the clothes. Losing my dignity: Strike Two.

"Max, please," Ella pleaded, "dressing nice is not going to kill you. Besides it's just this one Tuesday."

"No." I can stand my ground. See?

Ella just sighed and said, "I was afraid it would come to this. Max. I have all your clothes, either you wear this today or your wardrobe goes bye-bye."

No! She couldn't be! She was blackmailing me.

"Mom. You can't let her do this." I pleaded.

My mom just looked down and said in what I swear was a robotic tone, "It's for the best, Maximum."

Gasp! My own mother was in on this. I sighed and watched them walk out only to have Ella come back in a minute later and say, "There are some boots by the bookshelf, too. Make sure you wear those." She slammed the door shut.

Grudgingly, I put on the red halter, black skirt, and black knee-length boots. Strike Three. POOF! Dignity gone. Never to be seen again. World, why do you hate me so?


School was awful. Just plain awful. There were wolf-whistles as I walked down the hallway. Usually when I walk down the hallways, I get one or two guys staring and every so often someone has the nerve to ask me out. I always say no, though. Today, I had a crowd of guys bombarding me that I struggled to get out of.

Ella told me to relax and that it's not bad to look hot. Well, I disagree. It is very, very bad to look like this. Because looking like this brings me to desperate measures. It brought me to… Fang.

Yes, Fang. Once I made it past the herd of guys I hooked my arm through Fang's (who happened to be standing in front of me) and then the guys dispersed. Finally I could heave a sigh of relief. Until I looked up at Fang.

He smirked at me.

"I knew you'd come running eventually, Ride."

"Yeah right. I needed your help to get out of the mob of guys." I scoffed.

"So it was like a favor I did for you, then?" He questioned.

"Yeah." I answered immediately and soon regretted it. He had a smile on his face, and that's never good.

"Okay then. You owe me. Oh," He started to walk down the hall and shouted over his shoulder, "and you look hot, Ride."

As much as I didn't want to, I blushed. Hard. Well, there goes any hope of my dignity returning.


Today went by rather quickly except for this dude in History that kept trying to touch me. I flipped him off and my teacher gave me detention after Track practice. I find it funny she gave me detention for that, I could've done so much worse. Lucky me.

So, that is why I am scrubbing graffiti off of lockers right now. The janitor, who was supposed to be watching my detention, gave me the keys to lock up the all-mighty janitor's closet after the graffiti was gone.

Why did he trust me to scrub this off instead of ditching, you ask? That's easy. If it wasn't off by tomorrow, I would get a whole week of detention that was actually supervised.

Scrub. Scrub. Scrub. Will this thing ever come off? Time to pass time. I spy with my little eye something black. Running down the hallway. Straight towards me.

Is that…?

Fang POV

No, I am not okay. Nothing is okay. Not after I volunteered to stay a bit after track practice to put away the hurdles.

It wasn't the actual putting away of the hurdles that hurt me. It was the staying afterward part. After I locked up the shed where the hurdles were, I was about to get my stuff when a red blob appeared in front of me. It was Brigid.

For all of you who don't know, Brigid was a girl I dated for- can you guess how long? A week last year. She had this crazy idea that we were meant for each other.

She pushed me into a corner and forced herself on me. So, I did what anyone in his or her right mind would do. I pushed her off of me and ran for my life.

Round a corner to the right. Round a corner to the left. Go Straight. I was fairly certain I had lost Brigid when I saw Max.

I grabbed her by the shoulder and panted, "Max. Favor. Now"

"Um. Okay? What do you want?"

"Hide me. Janitor's Closet. You have keys, right?" I said, getting straight to the point.

She grabbed her bucket of soapy water and we both squeezed into the Janitor's Closet. I find it kind of weird she didn't even ask why.

"Why?" She asked. I judged too soon.

Once I explained my predicament with Brigid we entered a silence.

Until, that is, Max said, "Shit. I left the sponge out there."

Honestly, I thought Brigid would be to dimwitted to notice. Then I heard footsteps coming down the hall.

"Fangy?" She shouted. "Don't hide! We're meant to be!" Yep, this chick is definitely bonkers.

Max bumped into something on a shelf and it made a small noise. We held our breaths and she scooched away from the shelf. And that meant closer to me.

I didn't mind at all. Stuck in a Janitor's closet with a cute girl. That's a score, kind of. Maybe I didn't mind, but Max over here was turning redder than Elmo. Or a tomato. Your choice.

"Sponge?" We both heard Brigid mutter. Crap. She might just be smarter than I thought.

I heard the door creak open and Brigid saw Max and me. And… she slapped me. And walked away. Not the reaction I thought would happen. I thought she'd force herself on me again and- Ohhh. She must've seen Max and me and gotten the wrong idea. Ha! I wish.

Max stepped out of the closet and brushed invisible dirt off herself.

"Just for the record," She looked at me, "your favor was way bigger."

"Fine. I'll help you clean the lockers, happy?" I asked.

"Ecstatic." She responded. We cleaned them off and I gave Max a ride home.

When I got to my house I collapsed on my bed. What a long day. Word to the wise; don't date redheaded girls who believe in soul mates. It won't end well.

Hee. Hee. Hee. Well, I finally got Brigid in there.

By the way, I'm going to post my new story. It might take me a few days to get the first chapter up because I want to get ahead on prewritten chapters. It makes everything easier.

My answer to last chapter's question: Yes. I approve of the Total/Akila relationship, but I think it's a bit weird that one can talk and one can't.

This chapter's question: Who do you prefer, Lissa or Brigid? If you're like me you don't like either, but answer anyways!

Bye ya'll! Thanks for all the support!

~Cake