Third Person PoV

Iggy and Nudge sat in the warehouse, just listening quietly to some music and not saying anything. But eventually, Nudge had to break the silence. Something had been eating at her for a long time, and she had to get it out.

"Iggy?"

"Yeah?"

"You're turning 18 in a couple of months, right?"

"Yeah."

"So you'll be old enough to move out."

"Uh huh."

"Where are you planning on going?"

"As far away from here as I can get."

Nudge just nodded, thinking silently. Suddenly, Iggy seemed to get what she was hinting at and snapped to attention.

"You're birthday is in September… but you'll only be 17."

Nudge nodded again. Iggy got it and bit his lip. When he finally became an adult, would he immediately get away from his family and his brother… or would he wait for Nudge?

He wanted to leave. He wanted to escape his brother and all the rest of them. But he couldn't imagine doing it without Nudge. He couldn't leave her here like that just to save himself, especially not with that step dad of hers constantly looming over her.

Nudge guessed what he was thinking. "I'll be fine, Iggy."

Iggy shook his head. "No, don't give me that Nudge."

"You should get out of here." Nudge tried to reassure him. "As soon as you get the chance."

She didn't really want him to leave. But she also didn't want her to stay and continue being hurt just for her.

"I'm not going anywhere without you." he said.

Nudge was surprised. "You want to wait for me?"

"Of course." Iggy said with a smile.

"What if they kick you out?"

"I'll find somewhere else to stay."

"Iggy-"

"No. I'm not leaving without you. I'll wait as long as I have to."

Maxs PoV

Neither of us had much money, so we went to another fast food place. Fang seemed embarrassed about it, but I didn't mind. The way I saw it: he was willing to spend what little money he had to spend time with me. How could anyone get mad at that?

Afterwards, we went to the park again and ended up laying in the warm grass, our faces in the shade of a large tree but the rest of our bodies basking in the midday summer sun.

"Hey, Max?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we could… slow this down a little?"

I glanced over at him. He seemed nervous, one hand playing his his hair and brushing it back every time it flopped over his eyes.

"I just… we don't know that much about each other, and…"

"It's fine, Fang." I told him with a smile. "We won't do anything you aren't comfortable with."

"Really?" he looked surprised that I had gone along with it, that I wasn't mad or something.

"Really."

So for the rest of the afternoon was just laid there in the sun, talking and getting to know each other. I found out his favorite color was not in fact black, but a really deep crimson red. He found out that mine was a dark blue ink color. I found out that his worst fear was becoming someone he wasn't, and he found out that mine was losing the people I care about. I told him more about my experiences with Dylan, and he told me some stories about the Flock. I responded in kind with some of my own about Mom and Ella, and about the long string of boyfriends my mom had had trying to get over Jeb.

That led us into a discussion about our respective parents, what we thought about them and that stuff. Then we started talking about what we personally believed. Neither of us believed in a God, but we did both believe in gay rights and eliminating the wage gap. We agreed that everyone deserves the same respect and dignity that everyone else does. We disagreed on pro-life vs. pro-choice, but agreed that the entire argument is basically based on circumstances. We disagreed on gun rights as well, him believing that tougher background checks were needed. We exchanged stories about bullying. He told me how he met the various individuals in the Flock, including Sam and Maya. I told him about how one of my only friends back home, JJ, had recently decided she didn't want to be an outcast anymore and rejected everything that even remotely involved me or my ideas or choices.

Fang told me how Jeb had risen through the ranks in the church so quickly, how he earned the respect of everyone. It apparently had a lot to do with the size of his house and how often he attended church, along with how he practically disowned me. We taught each other how our minds worked, how we reacted to situations. Fang was very thoughtful and methodical, using reason and logic, and shutting down whenever he felt threatened. I was more aggressive and emotionally driven, prone to lashing out when I felt angry or upset. He was big on the 'ignore them and they'll stop' approach, while I preferred the 'they did it to me, it's only right for me to do it back' philosophy. To him, ignoring them was just being the better person, being above them. To me, ignoring them was cowardly, like letting them walk all over you. He thought fighting back just made you one of them, while I thought that if you fought back, and least you tried to do something. At least you fought for your right to be a human being rather than letting them say whatever they want.

Fang pointed out that they had the freedom of speech. I pointed out that I did, too.

Another thing we both agreed on, society. We both refused to play the game and follow its rules. It was our own lives, and we could do what we pleased with it. No one had the right to tell us what to do or make us do it.

Then the topic moved on to music. We compared our favorite bands, and some bands that the other maybe hadn't heard of. He told me about a band called Kamelot, and I told him about one called Shinedown.

We talked about our favorite subjects in school. Mine were History and English, his was Math. Neither of us liked science very much.

We discussed what we wanted to do for college. I knew what I wanted to do but not where I wanted to go. Fang knew where he wanted to go but not what he wanted to do.

By the time we had discussed all of this, night had fallen, and several stars were twinkling in the sky. Neither of us really wanted to go home, so we went back to the warehouse. I fell asleep on the couch and he went to sleep on the two beanbags pushed together.

We stayed like that until the next morning.

Third Person PoV

Noah and Mariah were furious. They should have remembered to put bars on that window of his.

Mariah was in the middle of lecturing Noah about forgetting that part when their doorbell rang. Noah got up to answer it, and was surprised when he saw the pastor and several other important people standing on his front step.

"Pastor Thomas, Elder Hudson, Elder Niblack, what are you doing here?" he asked with surprise.

"Mr. Wesson, certain things have recently come to our attention that we feel need to be discussed immediately." Pastor Thomas said seriously.

"Of course. Come in." Noah stood to the side, allowing the three to walk into his hall. They didn't proceed to the living room to sit down, however.

"Is there a problem here?" Noah asked anxiously, unnerved by their serious expressions.

"Noah… we've come to discuss your son."

"What are you talking about?" They couldn't really be here about that, could they? Wouldn't they support their cleansing of their son?

"The things that were described to us… were awful, Noah. Absolutely barbaric. Things no good Christian would never dream of doing."

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

Elder Hudson stepped forward. "Your son came to me earlier today, covered in bruises and cuts and barely able to walk." she said, barely contained fury beneath her words. "He told me you had destroyed all of his belongings and beaten him in a most terrible manner, saying you had told him you were trying to cleanse him."

Noah was shocked by this womans animosity. "Yes, we did burn his things and… disciplined him, but it was for his own good. He was getting out of control, we had to do something."

"Noah, that may be true, but you went way too far. This kind of punishment is simply not acceptable. Do you understand?"

Noah was completely and utterly shocked. He did not understand. He thought the leaders of his church would accept and encourage him cleansing his son.

"Listen." said Pastor Thomas, stepping forward. "I don't want to do this, but if anything like this ever happens again, we will be forced to take your son out of your custody."

Noahs jaw dropped. Pastor Thomas nodded solemnly to him and Mariah, who was standing behind Noah, stunned, then the trio turned and left the house.

(A/N INFOOOOO. Ok, I have a Maximum Ride blog on Tumblr (mycrazymaxrideblog) and so does my sister (fangxmax). Also, we have three Maximum Ride videos up on our channel Fnick Ride, and I have one titled Updated Max Ride Theme Songs: Rock Version! on my channel Jade Lane. Go check them out if you guys are interested!

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