Hello, thanks for the reading and all! :D

I find that the story has veered totally out of control.. but anyway, the problems with Jeb will come sooner or later. :/ Bleargh. Also, has anyone realised that Max had had to make a lot of choices so far? Life has given her so many choices, and the path that she chooses determines who she is.

Oh wow, that sounded really..philosophical. Eh. Never mind. I really hope that this story doesn't go under the cliched category..

And yes I am aware of how short this chapter is. (Short of about 2,000 words than my usual..) I will return those 2,000 words in the following chapters.. But this is necessary after all, and I felt like leaving you with a sort of cliffhanger. Heh. Reviews would certainly be loved. -earsplitting grin- (And yes I did brush my teeth!)

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any other characters associated with the story.


The long stretch of road seemed to be deserted except for a few people walking their dogs or jogging in the hot summer heat. Trees swayed to the left and right along with the occasional breeze that would sweep several fallen leaves into the air.

A girl was on the way home, talking animatedly with several other boys who were listening intently. They were walking slowly, enjoying the breeze and appeared to be deep in discussion, and had apparently just been released from school.

"I told you it was Jake," the girl said in an I-told-you-so tone. "You didn't believe me."

"Alright, alright," one of the three other guys laughed, and placed his hands up in the worldwide surrender position. He was good-looking and had light, wavy blonde hair that swayed with the breeze. "Next time you say something I'll believe you."

"Right," snorted another guy. His hair was dark brown and he had a squarish face that held a light tan. "Like that time she said she knew this person who could beat your stink-bomb fart record." All the guys roared in laughter, and the girl look merely amused.

"It's true!" she protested, a small smile on her face. It held a trace of sadness, but it seemed as if none of her companions realised that. A strand of her dirty-blonde hair flew into a face and she tucked it behind her ear.

"Sure, Max," the third of her male companions piped up in a patronizing tone. He wore rectangle spectacles, and had a nerdy look to his face. Max rolled her eyes in response.

"Really, I don't even know why I'm friends with a bunch of idiots like you," she snorted.

"Because you're one too," the first guy said and grinned. She punched him lightly on the shoulder, and he grabbed her hand and pulled her into a hug. The other two guys whooped and wolf-whistled, definitely enjoying watching their female friend squirm.

"Let go of me, you moron," she said. "I'll kick your ass till next Tuesday."

"How many times have we had this conversation, Max?" the nerdy person asked. "All three of us are way better than you. Except for Tim here, maybe." He shot a sideway glance at Brown-Hair, who rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, only in computer games," Max retorted.

"I may not be the best computer street fighter, but I could win you at chess any other day," Tim said. Blondie snorted and let go of Max, who had been struggling valiantly to do so, such that when he let go of her she fell onto the ground with a loud 'oomph'.

"Loser!" Nerd called, and the three guys laughed.

"You are so going to get it," Max threatened, her voice low and dark. Their moods abruptly changed, as they watched her warily. "Boo!" she shouted, and they started laughing. Max picked herself up and they strolled, stopping by the white fence of a house.

"Hey, Phil's back," Max said, looking over the large, neat lawn and at the direction of the said house. "Wanna come over?"

Nerd wolf-whistled suggestively, and Max rolled her eyes.

"Perv," Blonde accused.

The group of students continued bantering as they made their way into the rather large bungalow.


Unbeknown to the said group of students, two men were watching them from the interior of a car. The car was sleek, black and fast - it seemed as if it had jumped out of the spy movies that people usually watched on the television.

"Let's go," the younger of the two said, his low, deep voice sounding cold and hard. The older man knew better - it was just a facade, a mask he put on to hide the pain he felt. Oh, he knew him very well. Four years, it had been, since Maximum Ride had left. After that, Nick had been some sort of emotionless brick monster.

"Are you sure, Nick?" the older man with graying hair asked. "You were the one who wanted to come here in the first place."

"I said go, Batchelder," Nick growled. "She seems happy, anyway."

"You don't," Jeb Batchelder pointed out.

"So?" Nick looked at his companion incredulously. "Jeb, just go. I don't care anymore. She's happy. Fine. I don't want to ruin her life. And she has a bunch of other guy friends."

"Just give it a try, why don't you?" Jeb pushed, ignoring the somewhat jealous remark about the her other male friends. "What did you expect, anyway? After all that you said to her? Did you actually think that she'll still be moping around, pining for you after all these years?"

Nick clenched his fist into a ball so tightly that the tendons showed. He gritted his teeth, and his temple throbbed.

"You actually thought she would?" Jeb asked, his voice full of incredulity. He shook his head slowly. So, Nick had actually thought that the feeling would be mutual?

"Shut up!" Nick roared. "Just go already, will you?"

The car door then slammed, causing both men to jump in their seats, if it was actually possible.

"What was that?" Jeb asked, rubbing his head which had hit the top of the car with a rather loud thump when he had been taken by surprise. "Ow."

"How would I know?" his fellow companion replied scathingly. Jeb looked at the back of the car, and found it empty.

"Probably some other vehicle nearby," Jeb concluded. Nick nodded in agreement.

"Let's go. This place is getting on my nerves anyway." Nick put his shades back on, and stared out the front window. His voice returned to it's emotionless state.

Jeb raised his eyebrows, but did as Nick ordered and started the engine. Getting on his nerves, eh? He was sure it was not because of the weird door-slamming. The engine revved, and the car roared out of the street, leaving a rather large cloud of dust behind.

And, unbeknown to the two men that had just left, a little boy by the name of Gazzy.