A/N: I like answering questions! Haha. I also like getting reviews like "so and so sounds like so and so!" because those entertain me. It's funny, The Angel From Above, Mr. Hardy is actually based off of my Math teacher. I needed someone to be him, and my math teacher is, like, insanely hot. Don't tell my boyfriend/fiancee I said that... Anyway, I've been waiting to post this because it was done, like, three days ago. So, I hope this is good enough. :)
Hey, everyone keeps saying Sam is blonde! I mean, I made that mistake, too, but still! He's actually a brunet. You can look up "Maximum Ride Characters" on Wikepedia and it has a description of Sam that's this exactly:She finds him attractive, describing his tortoiseshell eyes and his chestnut hair that "kind of fell across his forehead" as pleasant. So, if you're going to write a story of your own that includes him, please get him back to how he actually is!
P.S.- For future reference, I post all the outfits for Max and sometimes the others on my profile.
Chapter Eight
"We're going to get in so much trouble!"
"This is genius! Keep going!"
"Guys, sit down before he comes back!"
"No, keep going! We're almost done!"
"Stop before he walks in on you going this!"
"Be quiet, Star, this is awesome!"
I rolled my eyes, "Would all of you shut up? I'm going to finish," I insist; my pocket knife had "accidentally" fallen into my bag that I managed to grab this morning. Now, I was using it to slowly twist the screws in Mr. Gregory's chair. When he sat down on this, it would collapse under him and send him to the ground; it would take forever for him to figure out how to put it back together. We're lucky that the cameras were only in the hallway instead of in each individual classroom.
Nick was helping with his own pocket knife. A small smirk was curving up the side of his mouth, "Nice," he murmured to me as we worked on getting out all the screws. Mr. Gregory had one of those really big, complicated rolling chairs that took forever to put together whether you knew how to do it or not.
"Why thank you," I laughed a little under my breath.
Star, the only other person in detention with us, sighed nervously. "Guys, he could come back any second," she taps her foot nervously. I'm not sure how she managed to get put into Saturday detention, but she was really nervous to be playing a prank. I bet she just has one of those really annoying teachers that gave you detention for getting up to sharpen your pencil while they're lecturing.
"Oh, my God," I groaned to Nick, "They're acting like they've never played a prank on anyone before in their life!"
He glanced at them briefly then shrugged, "They might not have."
"No way," I shake my head, "I wouldn't have had a childhood if I didn't have my pranks."
"Look at them," he jerks his head to where Star and Holden were nervously watching the door. "I can't see it," he says shortly, his eyes still focused on the chair.
"I see what you mean."
"Exactly."
"Come on Star," Ratchet groaned, "Live a little!"
"I do live," Star snapped, "I just don't want to get another Saturday detention for something you did!"
"What have you ever done that was in the least bit rule-breaking material?"
"I- I took my mom's car without permission."
"When?"
"A couple of months ago," Star murmurs.
"Why did you take the car?"
She sighs, "A dog got hit by a car, and I needed to get it to the vet before it died. But, I still took the car without permission! I'm not allowed to do that," she insisted while Ratchet was doing his very best not to burst out laughing at her failed attempt to "break the rules".
"You daredevil!" Ratchet exclaims sarcastically, getting a nasty glare from Star in return. "Did you do anything else that badass?!"
"Shut up," Star snapped at him.
"I agree with Star," Holden bites his lip nervously. They looked like they were about to kill each other and then have sex on the floor afterwards. "My parents are already pissed enough that I got this detention; I'll be grounded for life if I get another one."
"Look, I'll take the blame," I snap, "Just let me have some damn fun!"
Nick nods, "I'll take the blame, too," he says shortly.
"Thanks, man," I do that head-jerking thing that guys tend to do. Nick rolls his eyes at my failed attempt to be like all of those guys and he goes back to focusing on the chair. Star gives up and goes back to her seat, dropping into it with her arms crossed over her chest.
"I got this," Ratchet mutters to me, popping up his collar to try and look cool. He gets up and strides over to Star's desk, trying to sit on it by jumping.
Of course, since this is probably the biggest idiot other than James, he managed to fail. He fell off the edge and cried out as his arm collided with the hard tile floor. I couldn't help but burst into laughter, tears leaking out of the corners of my eyes. Nick was only half-smiling, but I could tell he was trying to keep up his calm, cool, and bored façade up. Star, looking totally worried, got on her knees beside a crumpled Ratchet and tried to help him with his hurt arm. Holden was even laughing, covering his mouth with his hand; I get myself under control as much as possible and loosen the final screw that was keeping the chair in one piece.
"We're done," I told Nick, wiping the backs of my hands across my watering eyes.
Nick nods, flipping his knife shut and shoving it into his pocket. "Good job," he says to me before we walk over to help Star haul Ratchet back onto his feet. He stumbles slightly, holding his arm to his body; my mind flashed to the scene from the hallway on Thursday. I glance at Nick, and he looks back at me without hesitation; I look away quickly.
"Ugh, I've been hit," Ratchet moans.
Star giggles, "You're so weird, Ratchet."
"I know, and that's something I pride myself in," Ratchet grins brightly. Nick rolls his eyes, making Ratchet sit back in his seat before he goes back to his desk.
"Crap!" Holden exclaims, "Here comes Mr. Gregory!" he hisses. He was frozen by the door while I was already in my seat, ready to act completely natural. When I saw that he hadn't moved, I jumped up and forced him into a random desk.
I barely managed to make it back to my own desk before the door swung open. Mr. Gregory stormed in his face red, and his lips swollen to the size of full pickles. His hair was in disarray and I winced at his appearance; people their age should not still be making out. Just the thought of Mr. Gregory getting some made me want to puke up my tiny breakfast. He was huffing and puffing while muttering to himself; he reminded me of Ella when I dye one of her pink blouses black. I'm such a great big sister, don't you think? I mean, I did get rid of some of the deathly color people call pink.
He was fuming, "I heard talking! Who was talking?!" he slammed his hands down on his desktop.
"Did you have to disconnect tongues with Miss Zelia just to come yell at us?" I ask. His face gets even redder, but I continue, "Man, I'm glad she had an excuse to get away. I'm pretty sure that woman is, like, ten years younger than you. That's basically pedophilia," I point out because that's what I am; I'm a freaking smart cookie with mostly smart thoughts. I glance at Nick, "That's what it's called, right? Pedophilia?"
Smirking, he nods, and I go back to looking at Mr. Gregory, my mouth curved into a smirk that matched Nick's. Mr. Gregory basically growled at me, "That's another Saturday detention for you!"
"Dude, I hate to break it to you, but you have me for the next three months. Do you seriously want to make both of our lives miserable for a longer time period?" I raise an eyebrow. He huffs, and mutters some more to himself as he ruffles the papers on his desk.
He points at us, "I'll find out who was talking! There are cameras in the hallway with one that looks into this classroom through that door window!" he exclaims.
"Don't you need someone to get you to show you those?" Star asks.
"Yes, why?"
"Because then they'll also see that you left us in here alone while you went off and swapped spit with another teacher."
Ratchet nods, "Yeah, and isn't it against the law for a pair of teachers in a relationship to be working at the same school?" he feigns shock. I laugh, coughing awkwardly when Mr. Gregory turns his glare on me. I held my breath when Mr. Gregory started to sit down in his chair.
"Listen, you brats-," he was cut off by his own girlish scream.
Just like Nick and I had planned, the chair completely fell apart. Metal bars clanged against the ground as they fell, and Mr. Gregory fell, screeching to the floor. His comb-over fell apart and his limbs flailed until he hit the floor and started to freak out. He cursed over and over again in a language that I could swear is either Pig Latin or Klingon. Nick managed to hide his smirk behind his hand, but Ratchet fell out of his chair in his complete fit of laughter. Holden was recording the whole thing on his cell phone while I managed to stifle my loud laughing into a few giggles beneath my hand.
"Who did this?!" Mr. Gregory exclaimed, struggling to get to his feet. "Who is the culprit?!"
"You can't possibly think it was us!" Star exclaimed, surprising all of us. "How could we possibly loosen all of those screws?" she sounded so freaking innocent that I almost believed her. Nick now his arms crossed, glancing over at me; I grinned back at him slightly.
Mr. Gregory went to yell at us again until the bell rang, ending Saturday detention. "Well, would you look at that?!" Ratchet exclaimed as we all got up and gathered our stuff.
"I guess we'll never know," I added oh-so-helpfully. "See you next Saturday!"
"See you Saturday," I repeat to Nick, nudging him as we walked together to the parking lot.
"See you," he nods at me.
Before he could walk over to the only motorcycle in the parking lot, I grabbed his arm. He paused, pulling out one of the ear-buds he had put in as soon as we left the detention room. "We should do something else next Saturday; you know, to keep it interesting."
He smirks, "Sure," he says simply and leaves me standing there.
I watch him swing onto his motorcycle, slip on his black leather jacket, and screech out of there. When he had disappeared, I sighed and started my walk to the bus stop. My dearest mother had decided to work the late shift and there was no way she could pick me up. Of course, my bus wouldn't be at that stop for the next hour, and I had to wait for it. When I managed to finally get home two hours later, Angel and Gazzy were the ones that answered the locked door. You would not believe how much multicolored paint was in the blonde locks on their heads and it was smeared across their pale skin.
"What happened?!" I exclaimed, stepping inside and shutting the door behind me. "Where's Ella?!"
Gazzy shrugged, "She made us breakfast, went upstairs, and hasn't come down since. Hey, can you order us a pizza?"
"I think you've already had dinner," I pointed out and wiped my thumb along Angel's chin. The white smeared there wasn't paint; it was vanilla ice cream. "Busted," I told them and crossed my arms while they giggled at being caught in stealing the ice cream.
"We were hungry!" Angel protested, "And Ella wouldn't come out of her room to cook for us. Please don't be angry, Maxie," she widened her already big crystal blue eyes as far as they would go. The blue orbs were swarming with so much innocence that she was probably the most adorable girl ever.
"Wow, you know that only works on Mom and yet you still try," I pat the top of her head.
She pouts, "It was worth a try," she says, defeated.
"Both of you go out back and run through the sprinkler a few times. I'll order a pizza," I instruct and go to the kitchen to find the list of takeout places.
Gazzy and Angel high-five then race out to play in the sprinkler and get that paint off. I dial the closest pizza place and order three larges and a small; larges for me, for Mom, and for the twins. Ella eats so little sometimes that I wonder how she could possibly be related to me. After finishing the order, I hang up the house phone and go to the kitchen table to actually do my homework. It's only English homework, which is basically just reading a chapter of the book we're currently studying. I ignored the other three classes that I had homework in, just like always.
