Okay, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!! Hope 2010 is good for everybody out there. And just FYI, Jaz is a new character I made up. Pretend it's the girl from the Institute, how about that? I just felt like I should add someone else to the story. Anyway, enjoy!
"Okay, nobody freak out. Promise me." I met eyes with all of them, and they were confused but willing. They all nodded, and I took a deep breath and turned around, slipping off my jacket. "Whatever you do, don't scream." I warned them. I slowly extended my wings, and they all gasped. I even heard someone squeak with fear. I looked over my shoulder, and they were all staring at the collection of feathers coming out of my back. They were all equally shocked, even Drew. They had their mouths open as wide as they went, and their eyes were as wide as dinner plates.
"Max… what… what are they?" Angel breathed beside me. I pulled them back in slowly, and they started to come back alive from their trance as I turned back around.
"Wings. They're my wings. I… grew them the other night. I'm a science experiment, actually. My mom and dad made me, so they could study me and experiment on me like a lab rat." I spat out, still angry about it. Angel, Jaz, and Nikki's eyes went wide with sympathy. "My mom came to her senses when I was… born, and took me away. And I must have had some pre-programmed chip implanted in my brain, and it was triggered by something. And I think it was all of you." I motioned to the little circle, and they all looked at each other surprised.
"Like… how?" Ian asked.
"I don't know really. Maybe you guys are experiments too. That could mean that you could sprout wings any minute now." I winced as I remembered the pain I went through, and how horrible it would be to watch any of them go through it. "I really hope I'm wrong, or just paranoid. I don't want any of you going through this. The place that made me was called the School, and they made recombinant life forms out of mixed DNA. They have these horrible animals called Erasers, who look like supermodels and then turn into wolf-men. They protect the School and they will kill anything, including us. If they have orders, they can hunt us down and take us back to the School. Although, I hope I'm wrong." I repeated, taking information out of what my mom had told me.
"So, these Erasers, they're like werewolves?" Gerik asked, trying to make a joke.
"Pretty much, yeah. But they can change when they want, and they don't fully turn into wolves. More like, wolf people. They have the body of a human and can walk on 2 legs, but they have a snout and claws, etc. Probably even worse than werewolves, actually." I said sadly. I wasn't even sure if that was really true, but I had seen a picture of something similar somewhere, maybe in a file of my mom's one day.
"So, you're saying, we're gonna sprout wings and start to fly? I mean, come on Max, isn't that a little crazy?" Nikki said, probably the shortest sentence she ever muttered. I raised my eyebrows.
"Well, did you not see the things coming out of my back, Nikki? And that's how I got here; I flew." I told her.
"So that's why you were in the bushes! I heard something crash through the trees! I knew I wasn't crazy!" Jaz sang, pointing at Nikki accusingly, but still friendly.
"I never said you were crazy! I just said you were hearing things, alright?" Nikki put her hands up in surrender. Jaz gave her a "Uh-huh" look. I smirked.
"Yeah, I kind of need to work on landing better." I confessed, and then sighed. "So, any questions?"
"Um, yeah…" Gerik raised his hand shyly, like he was afraid to ask. I nodded at him to go ahead. "What exactly are you, Max?"
The question took me by surprise. I hadn't thought about it before. Was I a bird? Or a human? Or a bit of both? Did I have any other DNA in me? I shook my head slowly, concentrating on a twig in the middle of the circle.
"I don't know, Gerik. Really, I don't know." I whispered, and I felt Angel's arms wrap around me, careful of my wings. I put a protective arm around her and gave her a hug. I closed my eyes, burying my face in her hair. I felt everybody else hug me, a giant group hug, except for Drew. I peeked over Ian's head, and he was just standing there staring at me. He met my eyes, and he told me everything he was thing through that connection. He was sorry for me, he was scared of who could be next, what this could mean for us, how this affected his family, and what we were going to do next. I shrugged very lightly, and he understood. I needed to talk to him, about yesterday and about my wings. But it had to be in private.
After we broke apart, the girls had to get back to cheerleading. They were doing an extra cheer thing, and they couldn't miss is. Ian and Gerik decided to head back to basketball practice, even though the couch would probably not be too happy with them. So, that left me and Drew alone together.
I sat down on a log in the clearing, while Drew just stood there, pacing back and forth. He still hadn't said a word to me all day.
"Are you going to talk to me, Drew?" I demanded, and he stopped pacing for a moment to look at me, then went right on pacing. I sighed. "Come on, please?" I really wanted to hear his voice, after all that had happened. It always had a calming effect on me. But still no answer. After another moment I stood up and blocked his pacing path, and he just stared at me solidly. He tried to move around me, but I sidestepped and grabbed his arm, making sure he didn't move. "Talk to me. Please." I breathed, and his face was closer than I intended it to be. I didn't back down though.
"What's there to talk about?" his tone was stone cold, but I didn't let it affect me. Just hearing his voice was a relief, then I realized what he said. My eyebrows shot up.
"I just told you I have wings, and that the rest of you might get them soon, and you don't think there's anything to talk about?" he stared at me, and I saw no emotion in his face at all. Except a tiny spark of anger flickered across his eyes, and I let go of his arm and took a step back, hurt. He didn't care. Why would he? I had run away from him when he kissed me, and now he had lost interest. I was stupid to think he cared about me at all, let alone enough to help me through this. I shook my head and bit my tongue as a tear welled in my eye. I swallowed hard to get rid of them and turned away, and I saw as Drew read my mind -figuratively- and tried to catch me as I walked away. He knew what I was thinking, and now he was ashamed of it? Geez, make up your mind.
He grabbed my arm before I could take 5 steps, and spun me around to face him gently.
"Max, you know that's not true." He insisted. I stayed silent. "Come on, Max, I could never do that to you. I would never abandon you like that. You should know that." He searched my eyes thoroughly, but I kept a mask firmly in place. "Max, please don't think that. Please don't think I would ever let you go or abandon you, or do anything to hurt you." He whispered, and I took a deep breath. I didn't know why he had that uncanny ability to read my mind like he did, but it was pretty annoying right now. I didn't want him thinking I didn't care about him, or anything along that line. But I didn't trust my voice at that point, so it was okay that I didn't have to speak. He sighed and –surprisingly- pulled me into a hug. My eyes went wide, and then closed as I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned into his warmth as he started rubbing small circles on my back between my wings. It was really comforting right then, and I felt a tear drop down my cheek and off my chin. I sniffled and hung onto his shirt like my life depended on it. Which, it very well could have. Or at least my sanity did.
"Max?" he whispered into my hair a few minutes later.
"Hmm?" I asked lazily.
"Can I see your…wings?" he asked, a bit sheepishly. I pulled away from him and nodded slightly, extending then fully and stretching them. I sighed in contentment as he began to softly stroke a few of the down feathers, and he walked around them, stroking and petting, and I saw his lips curl up a bit at the ends. I very well could have fallen asleep right there, right then, it felt so good. Nobody had touched them like this before, and I loved it. I sighed again, and he pulled his hands away. I looked at him quickly.
"Sorry." He muttered as he looked down at his shoes.
"For what?" I asked.
"The… petting thing. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable at all." He was looking at everything but me.
"What? No, I… I really liked it, actually. It felt really good." I admitted letting out an embarrassed laugh, and he looked up at me, surprised.
"Really?" he smirked, and I nodded slowly. He continued petting my wing until he got to my back, and he started massaging between my wings. It felt truly amazing, to have a back massage like this. I smiled and closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling. Suddenly he hit a tender spot, and I hissed in pain. He pulled his hands back and took a few steps backwards.
"What'd I do? I'm sorry Max, I didn't mean to. I-I-" he stuttered and tried to find the right words. I turned to him, careful not to smack him in the face with my wings, and walked up to him.
"No, it's fine, it's just that they're a little tender still." I reassured him, and he nodded. I had never seen him like this. His eyes were wide, and he looked like he could even possibly cry because he touched a tender spot. "Are you okay?" I asked. He nodded and gave me a huge, dazzling smile. My breath hitched for a moment, and I smiled back a little. Then I noticed something. "You have fangs!" I giggled, and he looked completely confused.
"What? What is that supposed to mean, Max?" he seemed utterly confused, and skeptical.
"Your canine teeth! They look like fangs!" I told him, and he figured it out.
"But, why did you just notice this now?" he asked. I just shrugged.
"You know what? I'm gonna call you Fang from now on." I smiled triumphantly, then wondered what had gotten into me. I was acting like I was high! I giggled.
"Hmm… Fang. I like it, actually." He smiled at me, showing his canines again. It only made me smile bigger.
"Alright, Fang. So what do you want to do now?" I asked him as I sat down on the log again, and he sat right next to me. All the tension from before was gone now, and it felt like before he kissed me. Just friends.
"Hey, since we've already been to your house, why don't we hang out at mine? My parents are rarely home, and we can do whatever we want there. Maybe you could practice landing." He suggested, tracing a cut on my arm. I smiled at him, nodding quickly.
"Sure. That sounds like a great idea, Fang." I stood up and he grabbed my hand, leading me on the way to his house.
Okay… long chapter. I hope you liked it! I don't know why, but I felt like making them a little crazy at the end. They were way OOC, I know. And there is the beginning of Fang. I'll find a way to change all of the others' names later, but now I've gotta get them to Fang's house. So, we'll see how that goes next chapter. This was another New Years present to all of you, so REVIEW!!
BoOk-NeRd38