Author's Note: I am so, so, so, so, so, so, SO SORRY! I know I haven't been updating, but I've been taking a lot of exams lately and I still have the CRTs coming next month. Also, I lost my notebook with all of my writing in it, so I'll be thinking about what to write next.

Disclaimer: Maximum Ride


Chapter 8

Katrina's POV

The door opened and quietly closed behind the soft footsteps that entered my room. Something was being set down on the side table and I chose to open my eyes when the presence began to retreat. The stranger froze as I sat up, yawned, stretched, and rubbed my eyes.

My vision cleared and I saw Iggy standing beside my bed. He looked a bit uncomfortable at being caught in my room. I smiled to let him know that he was forgiven and he grinned back.

"Morning, Kat. I brought you some breakfast." He tilted his head towards the side table and realized that he'd set down a tray full of food. Bacon, eggs, toast, and milk; yummy.

"Thanks, Iggy." I began to shovel the food into my mouth and he just sat down on a chair beside my bed. Probably so he could take the tray when I was done.

I finished my breakfast and set the tray on the table before I got up. See, I must have been really tired because my legs began to wobble and before I knew it, I was falling down. Well this was going to hurt.

My eyes were shut tight and I kept waiting for the impact with the floor.

I waited…

…and waited…

…and waited.

When I realized that I wasn't going to hit the floor anytime soon, I opened my eyes. I flushed and became a bit self-conscious when I met Iggy's worried gaze. Then I noticed that I was wrapped in his arms and that he'd saved me from being one, sore bruise. Our faces were only inches apart. I hastily scrambled out of his arms and turned my face away from him so he wouldn't see my scarlet blush.

"Um, we should head downstairs." I opened the door and quickly made my way to the living room. I was greatly aware of Iggy following close behind me.

The Flock was already awake and chatting happily amongst each other. They stopped talking when I entered the room, but the atmosphere lightened when they all greeted me excitedly.

"Good morning, guys." I said to them as I sat down by Nudge.

"Hey, Kat," Angel greeted cheekily. "We were about to go outside. Want to come with us?"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure. What are we doing out there?"

"We're going to play games like hide-n-seek and tag." Gazzy yelled excitedly.

I grinned cheek to cheek. "Let's go outside then!" Everybody was out the door and in the air within thirty seconds.

We decided to play tag first and Max got voted it. Now I will not humiliate myself and tell you how she tagged all of us in five minutes. Darn it! I just told you! Anyway, I'm just saying that Max using her super speed is CHEATING! Hope you heard that Max! And if you did, please don't hurt me!

Everybody had turns being it and I just couldn't help but think of my life before the Flock. Being alone wasn't all that great and I could publish a whole book full of reasons why. For starters, you didn't have anybody to play games with.

Anyway, we bird-kids decided to make our little game of tag a bit more interesting. We would do bases, but the base would be a person. We took turns and guess who went last.

"Kat!"

Everybody was running away from Iggy and I was just trying to avoid being tackled to the ground, so I was running, too. I hid behind a bush, hands on my knees while I tried to get my breathing back to normal. Everything sounded really quiet.

Too quiet.

I held my breath and suddenly the bush beside me shuddered and exploded as I was knocked to the ground.

"Base!" the whole Flock yelled. Iggy came jogging to the mosh pit and jumped on top.

"Iggy," Fang groaned.

"Yo, guys! Get your butts off me NOW! I can't breathe!" I wheezed. Everybody was off in a flash and Max offered me her hand. I took it and she pulled me up.

"Soooo not cool." I croaked. My brows furrowed at the sound of my voice and then I started laughing with the Flock.

"Okay! Now that we're done playing some tag, let's play some hide-n-seek." Max said. We all cheered, but Max stopped us. "After we eat though. My mom packed us some lunch." She said pulling out a picnic basket from up in a tree.

There was a blanket inside which Fang and Iggy spread out. We all sat down and I passed around the plates while Nudge passed around the napkins. Max handed everybody a wrapped sandwich and I saw Iggy pour some juice into plastic cups while Gazzy and Angel passed them around.

"Now this is what I call a family picnic." Iggy announced when everyone was settled. We all nodded our heads in agreement.

"Yeah, but it's too bad Total had to miss this." Angel said.

"Well you know Mom wanted to give him a checkup in her office. At least he'll be clean and healthy." Max replied through a mouthful of sandwich.

Fang had finished his lunch quietly and he now sat still, just watching everyone. Max was suddenly looking around and then she rolled her eyes.

"Fang, will you please make yourself visible again?" she asked, irritated. Everyone was looking around and when Fang shook his head, all eyes landed on him. Now I was confused.

"What do you mean 'please make yourself visible again'? Fang was right there." I stated.

Suddenly, all eyes were on me and they were wide; even Fang's. My cheeks heated in embarrassment.

"What?"

"You saw Fang?" Gazzy asked.

"Well, yeah. I mean, he was right there." I pointed towards Fang.

Max was looking at Angel who was looking at me. "Still nothing?"

Angel turned to Max and shook her head. "Nothing."

I realized what they were talking about. "You still can't read my mind?" She shook her head again.

My brilliant response was, "Wow."

"Um," Nudge started to break the tension. "Maybe we could talk about this later. How about we play hide-n-seek now?"

The Flock just nodded, then, they were suddenly all grinning. Iggy seemed to speak what everybody was thinking.

"At least we know that Fang can't hide from you."


Author's Note: Well, did I make it up to you guys? Things are 'bout to get more serious in the next chapters. Review!