Chapter 9: Truth Be Told
Max's PoV
"So," This was not going to be good, "Where to start? Um, explain your family to me. You grew up together, right?"
"Yes. My Mom ran a foster home and we all lived there." Lie.
"So is your, Mom like, not actually your birth Mom?"
"She's mine, but not Angelica or anyone's." Truth
"So why did you go travelling? You went with your Dad yeah?"
"My brother, Ari," I felt a twinge in my chest. I hadn't talked about him since… well, you know, "Fell ill and we had to leave so my Mom could take care of him. Dad took us all travelling." I suppose you could call being changed from an adorable seven year old into a bulky thing an illness.
"Your real brother?"
"Half brother. On my Dad's side." Truth. Not that I ever called him Dad.
"So he's Nick's brother as well."
"No." I didn't like talking about Ari.
"What was wrong w-?"
"Jess!" Angela cut her off. Jessica looked surprised. I felt relieved, "Tell us about your family. Angelica's the youngest, right?" She smiled.
"Yeah. She's eight," Lie, she's six, "Her and Jason are the only blood relatives out of us. He's ten," Okay, eight, "They're both really sweet kids. They've been through so much as well. When we first set out travelling the kids wanted to find they're parents. So we looked. When we were in New York, we found some files on them. About where they came from, their parents. It turned out they were given up willingly.
"They haven't given up hope though. They keep going, strong as possible. Jason's so tough. He looks after Angelica better than himself. He makes sure she eats first, gets to sleep in the most comfy bed when we're in a hotel and everything," I smiled. I was so proud of Gaz.
"What about Tiffany?" I looked up at Bella. I had almost forgotten they were there.
"She thinks her parents are from Tipsco, Arizona. She dragged Nick down to check once but didn't find anything. James actually found his parents when we were living in Virginia. He went to stay with them but left with us when we went to Florida. It was hard being apart. We grew up together. That was the first time we had ever split willingly." Willingly.
"What about Nick's parents?" Jessica asked.
"We have no idea," Okay so we thought she was a teenager. Fang said she was probably a crack addict. I said she was probably a nice girl who made a mistake.
"How old are Nick, James, Tiff and you?" Jessica didn't like not talking. She was like Nudge.
"Tiffany is thirteen," Eleven, "Nick and James are seventeen and I turn seventeen next week."
Fang and Iggy were actually fourteen, and younger than me, but for us to be allowed to live alone they had to be seventeen. My birthday was actually next week but I didn't want to be eighteen as it meant I was finished school. Instead, we made it so I skipped a year. I'm definitely smart enough.
"OMG!" Jessica's voice was loud. The teacher glared at us and walked over. The others put their heads down and worked.
"Ah, Maxine Ride, I believe," The teacher sneered. The class sat up, watching. This was probably the most interesting thing that would happen to them all week. They were lucky.
"Max," I said shortly.
"Since you are new here perhaps you could introduce yourself to the class. In Spanish."
Oh, wow. I'm quaking in my trainers. I have to speak in Spanish! In Spanish class! The world has ended!
"Sure," I smiled at the teacher, then stood and walked to the front of the class. "Hola. Soy Max. Soy dieciséis, dando vuelta a diecisiete la semana próxima. He estado viajando con mi familia desde que era catorce y decidíamos colocar abajo, así que nos movimos aquí. ¿Qué sobre usted?"
"Um.. Er. I'm Señora Hirst."
I grinned at the class's amazement and the teacher's dumfounded look. Then I turned back to my seat and relaxed. My work here is done.
That was showing off Maximum.
The teacher deserved it.
"Max, what did you say?" Jessica asked me as soon as I sat down.
"Hi. I'm Max. I'm sixteen, turning seventeen next week. I've been travelling with my family since I was fourteen and we decided to settle down, so we moved here," I said simply.
"Where did you learn to speak Spanish? Are you like fluent? Can you speak any other languages? Hang on, why do you do Spanish if you're fluent already? Hey, don't you guys get to miss gym? Why? I mean I saw you messing around outside and you can like run better than anyone I've ever seen. You're so perfect. You're like a Cullen." She finally stopped. Looking at me expectantly. I was right; she's a Nudge.
"My Dad taught me. Yes I'm fluent. Yep. I speak German, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin and English, obviously. I do Spanish because the school doesn't care if I'm fluent. Yeah we get to miss gym. We already have an intensive fitness program and Dad had a word with the school. We can do gym if we want. I love running. Nobody's perfect," Least of all me, "What's a Cullen? What?"
Angela and Bella were staring at me.
"How did you do that? Remember and then answer all her questions?" Bella was astonished.
"I've had practice. You saw Tiff this morning."
Bella nodded slowly.
"You've met the Cullens. Bella's boyfriend is one. Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie are too."
"Oh. Them. What do you mean I'm like a Cullen?"
"Well, they're perfect. Beautiful, sporty, fashionable, polite, artistic. You name it, they can do it."
They sounded too good to be true.
Truth be told, so do we.
The thought worried me. I had been obvious to me straight away that the Cullens were outcasts. No one had spoken to Bella when she was with them but as soon as she was apart she had everyone in the school talking to her.
I didn't want the kids to be outcasts.
You won't be, Maximum. The Flock have an extra… talent when it comes to making friends.
What do you mean?
Humans are automatically attracted to the strong and beautiful. They want to please them. It's a natural thing. Therefore the Flock will always fit in easily in any society.
Huh? Was my incredibly smart answer. Go me!
It was part of your design.
Part of my Design! You make me sound like a pair of jeans that look good. 'Part of my design' if I ev-
"Max? Max, you there? Hello?"
There was a hand waving in front of my face. I jumped and looked up.
Angela was smiling at me, Bella frowning and Jessica was nowhere in sight. Angela led me out of the class. Bella followed and was met by Edward at the door. He gave me an odd look before turning to Bella. They followed us to gym.
"Bell's gone. You zoned out completely. Jess stormed off because she though you were ignoring her." Angela grinned at me. I smiled back.
"I do that sometimes. I just get caught up in my own little world."
"Max!"
Something small hit me round the middle. I looked down to see Gazzy's head smiling up at me.
"Max? Can I go round to Josh's house after school on Thursday? Please?" He looked up at me, his eyes pleading.
"Uh, sure. As long as it's okay with Josh's Mom."
"Thanks!" Gazzy gave me a tight squeeze before running away into the crowd. I smiled after him. He was fitting in.
"You don't have to worry," Angela said softly into my ear, "They'll be fine. You really care about them, don't you?"
I nodded. They were like my own kids. I raised them.
"Thanks, by the way. For earlier, with Jessica and…" I trailed off.
"That's okay. I know how insensitive she can get. The hall's through that door. I'll see you inside. I've got to go get changed."
I stood in front of the door, took a deep breath and walked into one of the worst hours of my life.
