Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does. See, no sarcasm?
Claimer: I own everything other than the characters/setting/above listed in disclaimer and the continued idea of Nudge revealing her crush on Iggy to "Max" who is Iggy. That idea belongs to plainyironic. Also excepted is the idea of Fang telling Max in Iggy's body that Max liked her, Iggy...wowwww, confusing sentence. Anyway, that was MRACR's idea.
A/N: Thankies to all who volunteered for beta reading! I have selected this way: for each volunteer, took a look at one of their randomly selected pieces, looking over for grammar, style, and overall flow. Of the best, I took my beta on a first-come first serve, and sent a -ahem- highly official -ahem- PM.
Iggy's Point-of-View
I'm pretty sure I looked pretty dumb at the moment, but I was too stunned to do anything about it.
Nudge.
I did like her. A lot. She was funny...and pretty. I never remembered her looking so pretty. Then again, I barely remembered anything looking any way. So, I liked her. But did I like her?
God, how old was she? Eleven...no, twelve. (A./N: She's had a birthday.) That's two years. That's not too bad. Hm.
To tell the truth, I never really thought about it.
She was tough, that's for sure. Not many twelve-year-olds could go through what she has.
She's definitely not boring.
"I, I j- just thought you might want to know, that..." was she crying? Nudge was crying. Us bird kids never cry. "That you were, you were wrong."
I don't think Max would respond well to accusations of being wrong, but I was too overwhelmed to register this.
She turned around and walked away.
God, I needed my body back.
Fang's Point-of-View
Max was sitting on a rock a couple yards away, angrily muttering as she struck a flint over and over. I could tell she was really struggling with being blind. She felt helpless and dependent, and Max hates weakness. This was not working well for her. And I'm not sure how many more trees to the head she could take. I chuckled in spite of myself.
Stay focused. There's no time for playing around.
Thanks, Voice.
Because that was definitely what I was thinking about, and not about how we needed our leader, preferably with satisfactory eyesight, back, now. I mean, Iggy was great, Iggy was cool, Iggy blew things up, and we all love that (A/N: or at least I do...). Iggy could cook, thank heavens above, because Lord knows Max and I can't. I am forever grateful. If something ever happened to Iggy, we would be quite literally doomed. Angel was six. Gazzy would make a huge mess. Nudge would be gone, distracted before she even opened a bag of flour, and Max...had tried. Bluntly put, it was a disaster.
Iggy was great, (A/N: I know! Mmm, I'm a sucker for the whole cute blind mutant pyro chef thing, ya know?) but he was most definitely not Max.
And on the subject or leadership. His leadership skills were nonexistent. Other than that, pretty good.
Long story short, we needed Max.
And soon.
But, hey, getting back Max: so not my job. And since Jeb felt I was "playing around," why not enjoy it? (A/N: I'm not sure if you get that statement...here, I'll put it in high school terms: at my school, if you get a point (like detention), if you say anything after, even "sorry," then you'll be given another for "talking back." So might as well say something like "what the hey?! Dumbest thing ever!" or something like that, because you get the same punishment...make sense?)
A stroke of inspiration revealed itself to me, first like the timid peak of the sun after a storm, swirling and growing in intensity until I just had to go along. Heh heh, how's that for bird kid imagery?
I sat down beside Iggy (A/N: Max) and said "I need to tell you something." Max looked up, trying to find my eyes but eventually giving up. I noticed her eyes as they settled instead on my chest. I kind of liked it. But then again, she was blind, so it didn't really mean anything.
"What?"
To the point.
"Think someone likes you."
Max's Point-of-View
"Think someone likes you."
Well, thank you Tonto. I mean, would it kill the guy to speak in complete sentences?
"Who?" Hah. I could be just as blunt. Just, I'd probably not be able to keep it up for long.
"Max."
"What?" I responded instinctively. Crap, crap, crap, crap. I flinched internally, hoping Fang would misinterpret my what as disbelief rather than a response.
"You, I mean---Max, likes you." I heard him exhale sharply under his breath, but just barely.
He knew!
I hid my anger, forcing a laugh and walking away awkwardly.
Then it struck me: everything he had done to us was intentional! I felt my cheeks heat up with rage, fighting the urge to scream and punch him. And this time, I would not miss. How could he? Those stupid guys. Those dumb guys and their dumb guy minds and their dumb guy (A/N: heh heh, you know). Augghhh! I could not believe that! He was so dead! No, he was beyond dead. I was going to kill him, reincarnate him, and make sure every moment of his subsequential life was that of misery or pain.
Or...I could get my revenge.
A/N: Yayayayaaayyy! -ahem-, highly professional. Anyway, reviews, please! I'll update when I get ten more. I think I'm pretty sure where this is going next, but if you have ideas you'd like to share anyway, just PM me...I'll try to respond.
Merry Christmas to all! (Or, merry nondenominational holidays...)
