School?

"Dinner's ready!" called Mrs M from the kitchen. There was a mad scramble as Iggy and Gazzy tried to barge through the door at the same time. It ended up with them both on the floor. I shook my head at them, they're not going to get to eat much quicker."Honestly guys, everyone's gonna eat at the same time anyway," said Max. Her Mom set the food on the table. There were plates full of tacos, enchiladas, tortilla chips, and salsa. "Wow, this looks amazing," said the Gasman, awed.

"Thank you," said Max's Mom, smiling, as we all tucked in.

"Fang can you pass the salsa?" asked Max. I passed it, ad our hands touched as she took it, causing her to glance down. Max's Mom shot an "I told you so" look at me, which I tried to ignore; I really didn't want to think about that conversation again. There was very little conversation, except for occasional mumbles of how good it was, and for the most part the only sound was the noisy eating of the flock. Suddenly, it was all silent, making me look up. Jeb had walked in.

"Hi," he said awkwardly, breaking the silence, "how is everyone?"

"Fine," Max said brusquely, not willing to continue the conversation. Jeb sighed and sat down. He gave up trying to speak to the flock, and resorted to talking a little with Max's Mom. Max's Mom and Max's Dad, I thought. I still couldn't believe that we'd found one of our parents, and Jeb was one of them! I wondered what we'd do next, we had no idea who'd attacked us and we couldn't keep up the air shows. Maybe we could go and have a holiday in Hawaii or something like I'd asked Max before.

Gazzy looked at Jeb, then shrugged and resumed eating, and soon the rest of us followed suit.

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"Man, I feel great," Gazzy said as he tipped his chair back and patted his full stomach, "Looove Mexico, looove Mexican food." Max's Mom thanked him and kissed Max's cheek.

"It's so good to see you again," she said. Max smiled at her, making her look beautiful.

"You too. And I haven't seen Ella in ages." She said, looking at her half-sister.

"I've got so much to tell you," she said, cleaning out the remainder of the chips. "We had a dance at my school," A dance? That seemed so, strangely normal. Max's Mom smiled at her.

"Yes she even gave up two hours with me to attend. Ella and I have been stuffing envelopes and making phone calls for the CSM every spare minute." That sounded tough, but at least she got to do work for them without getting attacked by weird ninja things, although it did make stuff more interesting. And she got to stay with her Mom.

I saw a look of jealousy pass over Max's face as if she's heard that thought, but it quickly passed. "You've been doing an excellent job for the CSM too," said Max's Mom to her, "but I agree that the air shows must be cancelled. There's just no way to guarantee your safety." Well, unless we destroy whichever rich company sent them at us. Jeb pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Has everyone had enough to eat?" he asked. Max let out a breath, managing not to look at him or reply. Jeb took the silence as a yes. "The CSM isn't our only concern right now," he continued. Really, ya think? We've only got a bunch of guys sending ninjas at us. "We need to discuss your next steps,"

"Oh?" replied Max, in a way that would have stopped most people who desired to keep their heads. "Yes," he said, "A new school was recently created—the Day and Night School. It's for gifted children, and it's designed to let kids learn at their natural pace, in ways that suit them best. You'd all really do well there. It's one of the only schools where you'd fit in." School? Why on earth would we want to go to school? Most kids spent their lives wishing they didn't have to, and we'd already been once, and that worked out so well. And if we fitted in, how big freaks will the others be? "Yeah we're all about the fitting in," said Max sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Where is it?" asked Nudge keenly. I couldn't believe she actually wanted this.

I stopped listening as Jeb started explaining it, it wasn't as if we'd ever go anyway.

Jeb continued, sensing he was winning, and Nudge started on about how great it would be. Max butted in. "Nudge, it's out of the question," she said. Nudge turned to her, trying to give her bambi eyes. "Really? It would be nice to be in one place for a while, and learn things."

"I like school, even if some kids are buttheads," added Ella.

"We usually have bigger problems than kids being buttheads," said Max, who was getting irritated "Nudge, you know we have to keep o the move. Remember the suicide sniper guy? There's no way we'd be safe."

"We can guarantee your safety," Jeb offered, "This is the real deal kids." Yeah right, as if we trust him, after all he did, Max is the only person I can really trust, and if she wasn't going, then neither was I. "Oh, the real deal," she said, dripping sarcasm. "So it's better than all the fake deals, huh? Guarantee our safety? Please! How can you even say that with a straight face?" I kind of felt sorry for Jeb, Max could be really vicious.

"I've checked into it," her Mom said, "I have to admit, it seems like a good program. And the woman who runs it is one of my friends from college."

I glanced around, the younger kids seemed up to it, Iggy didn't seem to care, and Max was certainly against it. I'm sure we hadn't heard the end of this, Nudge wouldn't give up now the idea's in her head.

"School is out," said Max. "Next question."

A/N: That one took a while. And after this I have to fit four chapters while Max is flying at night.