Hello everybody! We are back! Yet again, to bring you another update!

Sorry for the wait, we were busy writing up Smarter than the average kid. Thank you to Duskingdawn and Arizonakittylover for being awesome reviewers! You made us smile!

:) - see?

Disclaimer time:

Angel: Come on Max, you have to say it.

Max: NO! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!

Angel: *evil smile* Do you own Dylan?

Max: NO! I don't own that scum! DO NOT SPEAK OF HIM!

Angel: Then you don't own MR.

Max: Dang it! You tricked me!

Story time! MAX POV

After the macaroni and beef incident, the day went normally. I was officially friends again with Fang. Dylan got framed for stealing the recipe and got detention. Serves him right, that annoying weirdo. Lissa refused to talk to me or Fang for the rest of the day. Score! Best of all, I managed to go without a tardy! That means no detention!

Sixth hour started normally, with a lesson on ecosystems. Boring, right? Mr. Bernard droned on about how ecosystems related to Star Wars. I really didn't understand the connection. I started daydreaming about people turning into Yoda. After successfully tuning out the teacher for the entire class period, the bell rang signalling the end of the day. Everyone immediately started talking. Then, the intercom went on. Chu-bacca started to make an announcement.

"Would the following students please report to the office: Maximum Ride, Iggy Griffiths, Nudge Krystal, Zephyr and Adelaide Calloway, Dylan Greene, and, um, Fang. That's all! Have a nice day!" he announced.

I figured this was about the Macaroni and Beef incident, and cursed Iggy and Gazzy under my breath. Of course, they just had to ruin this day! I trudged down to the office, shooting death glares at Iggy. Fang walked behind us stealthily. You could barely hear his footsteps, even if you were trying hard to hear them.

Angel skipped up to us. "Iggy, did you get us in trouble? Max seems to think so," she asked sweetly.

"I don't really know, Angel," he sighed. Our small group walked into the office, where Nudge, Gazzy and Dylan already were.

I pretended to tip my invisible cap. "Good day, Chuey, Marian," I said in a British accent.

"Ms. Ride..." groaned Dr. Janssen.

"Yes, guv'nor?"

She sighed. "Ms. Ride, Dr. Gunther-Hagen is waiting for you in his office. All of you, go on in," she motioned towards the door. We made our way in slowly, Angel eagerly skipping inside while Fang hung back warily behind the rest of us.

"He doesn't bite, Fang. That's your job," I reassured him.

He emitted an odd choking noise, which I recognized as a laugh. I silently shouted in joy. Fang never laughs. Like, ever. That means that he really likes this place. Suddenly, I felt like a therapist. Yikes. I brushed off this awkward notion and laughed with him. We walked into the office (which is the size of a conference room) and sat down with the others.

Haagen-Dazs cleared his throat and started speaking with that annoying accent of his. "You ah called here becauz zere has been a sighting ov a new mutant. Ve vant you to rescue her. It is just like last time vith Fang here," he explained. Smiles lit up on (almost) everybody's faces.

Nudge immediately opened her mouth to rant. "ZOMG! No way! We just went to rescue someone, like, yesterday! Is it another bird-kid? I hope so. Is it a girl? You said it was, right? How old is she? What's her name? Do you know what she looks like? Ooh, where are we going? Is it the Arctic circle again? I hope not. I hope it's somewhere warm, with a beach, or a pool, or something... ZOMG this will be so fun!" she squealed.

Haagen-Dazs was once again astounded by her lung capacity. "Ah-hem. Yes, a girl, ve don't know how old she is, don't know her name, ve have a rough description for her, her hair is golden brown, approximately five foot eight, her vings are brown and fade light to dark," he answered. That description fit me perfectly. Weird. I brushed it off as a coincidence. It always amazed me that he could keep up with Nudge's ranting.

"And zat brings me to ze next topic: vere you are going. She is reported in a very interesting location: Universal Studios, in Orlando, Florida."

Cue fangirl squee from Nudge: "EEEEEK! FLORIDA! It's so warm and pretty and fun and awesome and did I mention WARM?!" she shrieked. Everyone covered their ears, especially Iggy because his hearing is so good.

I had a few questions of my own. "Haagen-Dazs? Isn't Florida a bit far to fly on our own? And when are we leaving? What do we need to bring, anyways?" I asked, being the only sensible person in this room.

Haagen-Dazs smiled. SMILED. The most uptight person ever smiled. Not the Fang smile, where you know that he's, like, really happy. This smile was more like an, 'oh crap we're all gonna die at the hands of this serial killer who's smiling evilly at us' kind of smile.

"I'm glad you asked, Ms. Ride," he answered. Really? Does he have to call me Ms. Ride? He could at least call me Maximum, if not Max! "You vill depart at eight o'clock tonight. You vill stay in an Orlando hotel room, vich has been booked. You must bring vith you anything you might need for a few days in Orlando. It is a big place, after all, and you are allowed to have some fun. So pack some clothes and anything else and put it in a suitcase," he instructed us.

Everyone just stared at him. Well, except for Iggy. He stared in his, ah, general direction. The first one to speak was Angel.

"You do realize that we can't fly with suitcases, right?" she asked in disbelief. He couldn't possibly have thought that we could fly with suitcases- could he?

He gave an even creepier smile. "That's the thing. You vill be flying, but not in the sense that you might think," he paused. Realization suddenly dawned on my face, and Haagen-Dazs confirmed my worst fears.

"You vill be flying to Orlando via airplane," he said.

Oh no. Oh no. I prayed to every religious figure that I could think of.

Dear all of you guys up there. If you actually exist, PLEASE get me out of this situation! PLEASE! I screamed in my head.

Angel frowned. "Max, please, I understand that you are extremely claustrophobic, but could you please think more quietly? I can't hear myself think!" she complained.

Angel was dead-on. I am the most claustrophobic person in the universe. It comes with living in a cage for the first fourteen years of your life. Once you're out, you cannot possibly stand the thought of going back to a place like that. So, an airplane? That would be my own personal nightmare.

()()()()()()()()()()LINE BREAK()()()()()()()()()()

Fang POV

"I'm not going," stated Max.

"Yes, you are!" I refuted.

"I'm not"

"You are!"

"Not!"

"Are!"

"GUYS! Cut it out!" yelled Iggy. We had packed our things and were now at the airport. We didn't have to go through security because we had government clearance, and we were now about to board the jet plane. I completely understood Max's aversion to airplanes. But honestly, we really just needed to get it over with! The flight was only 3 hours long!

Max started mumbling. "Stupid... no fun... airplanes... small spaces... cookies... scared..." I only caught a few words she said. What was that about cookies? Well, this is Max we're talking about.

"Max, do it for the children! Save the starving kids in Africa! Bring world peace!" preached Nudge.

"Me getting on a plane will not end world hunger and it won't bring world peace," muttered Max.

"It will bring us peace. Peace of mind," said Iggy. This argument was getting out of hand.

I opened my mouth. "Max, you are getting on the plane and that's final!" Whoa, when did I start talking like somebody's mom? Yikes.

I grabbed her arm and started dragging her onto the plane. Iggy and Nudge joined in and we forced her down the ramp and into her (first-class! yay!) seat. I sat down next to her.

"See, it's not so bad, now is it?" I asked.

She started shaking in her seat. "Flying death trap..."

I groaned. "It is perfectly safe! Trust me," I told her. She closed her eyes in submission. Ha! Score one for Fang!

In the meantime, this would be a very long flight.

!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!~TIME SKIPPITY SKIP!~!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!

"Your flight is now arriving in Orlando, Florida. It is currently 9:00 PM Eastern time. The weather is clear, with a visibility of 2 miles. It is currently 77 degrees Fahrenheit," said the pilot over the intercom. [A/N: I have been on way too many airplanes, because I actually remember what they say when you land.] "We will now be preparing to land. Please put your tray tables in the upright, locked position. Make sure that your seats are upright. Enjoy your stay in Orlando!" The seatbelt light flashed on and everybody started to follow the instructions. Flight attendants walked around telling people to hurry up.

In about fifteen minutes, the plane was on the ground. I heard Max breathe a huge sigh of relief after the plane touched down. I looked out the window (I had the window seat! Yes!) and saw that even in the dark, Florida was beautiful. Lights twinkled at all the amusement parks and hotels. I saw fireworks over Epcot. When our row was told to get up, Max and I scooted out of the row quickly and grabbed our suitcases from overhead. We got off the plane as soon as we could. Max was breathing heavily.

"Oh, thank God we are off that flying death trap," she sighed in relief.

I smirked. "See, Max? You are just fine," I taunted. She glared at me. One by one, the rest of the flock (plus Dylan) got off the plane. Most of them appeared tired. Dylan was green.

"I think I'm gonna be sick!" he warned us, as he rushed off to the restrooms. Ew. Nudge wrinkled her nose in disgust. We waited for a few minutes until Dylan came back. He was much less green.

"Better," he mumbled, embarrassed. Max snickered. Iggy suppressed a laugh. Nudge stifled a giggle. A hint of a smile twitched on my lips. This was comedy gold!

Our troupe of misfits made our way to the light-rail that took us to the baggage claim and exits. We didn't need to get any checked bags, so we walked out into the humid air. It was nice and warm. I loved it! We saw a driver holding a sign with the words, 'Max Ride' printed on it. We headed over to it and got into the van with the hotel insignia printed on the side and the words, 'Airport to hotel shuttle, available by reservation or first come, first serve.' Nice! The driver pulled through the six lanes of slowly moving cars, all trying to find their passengers. We managed to get out fairly quickly, and got to our hotel in no time. We checked into our hotel room, which had three queen beds and a couch bed. There was a kitchen and dining table. Very classy. We had to figure out the best way to divide four beds by seven people.

Max took charge. "Alright, who needs their own bed? We can only have one, unless you want to sleep on the floor," she said. Everyone turned to Gazzy.

"You can have the bed!" Immediately, the flock came to a decision. Nobody wanted to share with the Gasman- he was named that for a reason, you know.

"Well, ok then. Now let's see, we'll put Nudge and Angel, Dylan and Iggy, and that leaves me and- oh," she trailed off. "Well, I guess we did live together for ten years. It's only a couple of nights," she said uncomfortably.

"I guess..." I agreed.

Nudge sighed. "You two are so cute!" she exclaimed, and then promptly rushed off into the bedroom to go to bed. There was an awkward silence.

Then Iggy said, "I second that emotion!" and promptly ran into a wall.

"This way," said Angel sleepily. She led him into the room with two beds. He grumbled something about finding the way by himself. Yeah, right.

"Hey, can someone help me figure out this couch bed thing?" yelled Gazzy from the living room area. Pillows were all over the floor, and Gazzy looked extremely confused.

Dylan laughed and walked over. "Here," he said. "Like this." He demonstrated the proper way of opening a couch bed. Gazzy smiled and ran to the closet in search of blankets.

Max turned to me. "Well, come on then! Let's go to sleep already!" she exclaimed. She grabbed our suitcases and opened the French doors into the master bedroom. "Whoa," she breathed.

"What?" I asked. Then I walked in.

The bed was bigger than we originally had assumed. It was king-sized, a beautiful four-poster bed with a canopy. There was a huge flatscreen TV on one wall and an adjoining bathroom to the side. It had a large set of cabinets and a big comfy chair.

I sat down in it, sighing in relaxation. I could sleep in this chair! Well, I might get a neck ache. Better just sleep in the bed, I guess.

I went into the bathroom and changed clothes. Then Max did the same. I crawled into bed and turned off the lamp.

"Night, Max," I mumbled, half asleep already.

"Night, Fang," she replied. I closed my eyes and drifted off into a dream.

Haha, sorry Max and Fang! I just love putting people into extremely awkward situations.

Fang: That's cruel.

Max (me): That's what I'm here for!

Max (Ride): Hey! You stole my name!

Max (me): HEY! I didn't tell you that you could come be in my author's note!

Fang: You didn't say that she couldn't...

Max (both): STAY OUT OF IT!

Fang: *hides*

Well, that's all for this installment: Orlando, part 1! Can you guess who the bird-kid might be? Review and if you're right, cookies for you!