*Author's Note: I promise I do read reviews, and as a matter of fact I love them! As I am a newb at this though, I can't figure out how to double space like some have requested. Feel free to let me know! I should warn all you Faxers, you may not like the next couple chapters, but hang in there! I'm a shipper too! :-)
I still don't own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does. The End
Ella and I "went to bed" around 10. We stayed up for an hour chatting before I had to pretend to sleep. I couldn't wait until I got to do it for real. This was going to be the longest, hardest day that I have ever lived. "Are you okay, Max? You seem kind of down?" Ella asked sweetly. "I'm find sweetie. I'm just really tired, but I'm not ready to go to sleep yet. Tell me about your day." I distracted her before I had to lie anymore. "It was a pretty good day. I turned in my paper on Hamlet. I'm so glad that is over. I liked the story and all but writing 6 pages on it was really hard." She complained. I wish I had those kinds of complaints. "I bet it was. I'm sure you did great though. What else did you do?" I pressed her to continue. "Umm…I turned in my Algebra homework for the week. I finished it early so that I can spend more time with you guys!" She smiled. I thought about that, wondering what Ella and I could do together, like sisters. Maybe we could go to the mall, or go to a movie or something. I was going to need some support. A lot of people weren't going to like me in the next few days. "Oh! And this boy, Jonathan asked me out today!" She squealed. "No way!" I exclaimed, exaggerating my interest. "Is he cute? What did you say?" I asked, grateful that the natural course of conversation led me where I needed to go anyway. Ella looked down, shying away. So far, my theory was proving correct. "He is really cute, but I told him no." She answered. For the record, working undercover is way harder than simply interrogating someone for information. If this had been an eraser, I could have pummeled him, tortured him, let him bunk with Nudge, and permit Gazzy to have his way with him after a couple of bean burritos, making suicide seem like an awfully appealing option. The point is, eventually he would crack and I would have gotten the intel that I needed. I couldn't be so direct with Ella. It was a little more…unethical. "If he was cute why did you say no, El?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound too intrusive. This is the kind of stuff that you talk about during girl talk, right? Help me out, I'm a rookie at this. "He is really cute Max…but I think my friend Danielle likes him." Ella piped up. Apparently lying isn't as genetic as I had thought. I had seen my mom do it, but it must have skipped a generation because Ella was horrible at it. Then again, I probably wouldn't be as good either without those pesky life or death situations. "Oh, okay." I accepted for a moment, buying time before I pressed my issue. "Is there another boy that you like?" I asked her, arching my eyebrows like I had seen the Flock do to me when they first started asking about Fang and me. My heart started hurting again. Ella's face turned bright red, and I immediately knew the answer. "What makes you think that?" Ella asked, her eyes downturned again. "Oh, I was just wondering. You used to talk about Shaw and Chase. I didn't know if there was someone else you might like more than Jonathan." I added innocently, praying Ella took the bait. She hesitated for a moment. I saw the wheels turning in her head, as she debated whether to tell me the truth or not. "There is another guy I like more, but I don't know if he likes me." She shrugged. Bingo! I was almost 100 percent sure I knew who that guy was and I was almost 100 percent sure that he liked her back. I smiled, wishing I could tell her, but it wasn't my place. As big of a pain in the ass as Iggy could be, it wasn't my place to rat him out to my sister. I was not Cupid that was for sure. "Sweetheart, he would be an idiot not to like you back." I said, letting honesty spew for the first time in what seemed like ages. Lying to your family was harder than lying to other people. I wondered how Jeb did it all the time. I would need to find out, and learn quick.