Chapter 20

"We have to get back! We have to warn everyone!" I decided, grabbing Iggy's hand and booking it out of the mall.

"Max, calm down!" he yelled as we ran – well, more like I dragged him behind me. "Maybe we heard him wrong. Mr. Robin probably isn't even evil."

I whirled to face him. "Iggy, I'm the leader. I know these things. Come on." With that, I snapped out my wings and got a running takeoff, right there in the middle of the parking lot. Iggy sighed, but he followed close behind me.

Soon, I spotted a bright yellow school bus below me, next to a large building – the museum.

"Ssh," I whispered to Iggy as we landed behind the museum, pulling my wings in and tip-toeing towards the museum entrance.

"We're going to sneak in. I bet they didn't even notice we were gone," I told Iggy confidently with a dismissive wave of my hand.

"What did you say, Miss Ride?" a very familiar voice said from behind me.

"AAH!" I yelled, startled. I turned to see Mrs. Jenkins standing right there, hands on her hips and a very angry expression on her face. I half-expected steam to come pouring out of her ears like in those cartoons I watched with Gazzy.

"You two are in a whole mess of trouble," was Mrs. Jenkins' response.

I mirrored her pose. "We didn't do anything."

"You snuck out, ditching the field trip and your classmates," Mrs. Jenkins replied. "Is there any reason I shouldn't give you detention for the next month?"

"Because we're irresistibly cute and charming?" I tried.

One corner of her mouth twitched. "Detention for the next two months," she ordered.

"Aw man!" Iggy complained.

I frowned. "Great. Just great."

~~::~~

"Have I ever told you how much I hate this school?" I muttered under my breath as I wrote what felt like the one millionth sentence of I will not ditch school. My hand felt like it was just going to fall off any second.

"I believe you have," Iggy said with a sigh. "About fifty zillion times in the past ten minutes." He went back to cleaning desks, which he wasn't really that good at. I mean, how is a blind kid supposed to clean things?

I frowned and continued writing.

I will not ditch school.

I will not ditch school.

I will…..

"This sucks!" I yelled, throwing my pen across the room. It almost hit Iggy.

"Watch it!" he yelled back. "You can see, can't you?"

I sighed, crumpling my paper into a ball. We were alone in the classroom – we had been for the past half hour. The lady in charge of detention got up to get some coffee and never came back.

Suddenly, the door opened and someone else came in. Two somebodies, actually.

"Nudge?" I asked in surprise. "Gazzy? What are you doing here?"

Nudge sighed, dropping her hot pink backpack onto the floor and slumping into one of the seats. "We got in trouble."

"Oh, I thought you came in because you wanted to have a party with us," I replied sarcastically.

Nudge sat up. "Yeah, that's it! A party! A detention party!"

"I don't think that's such a great idea-" I began, but Nudge was already going through her backpack. "I brought snacks!" she declared, opening her Hello Kitty lunch box.

I peered inside. "Great. A half-eaten sandwich and some carrots."

"Yum!"Gazzy yelled, grabbing the carrots and scarfing them down.

"Let's do something fun! Like play a party game!" Nudge decided.

"Like what?" Iggy asked, frowning. "Duck Duck Goose?"

"Yeah!"Gazzy cheered.

Iggy rolled his eyes. "I didn't really mean that…"

A minute later, we were sitting in a circle – well, more like a triangle. "Duck….duck….duck," Gazzy said, walking around us and tapping our heads.

"Okay, okay, just pick someone," I muttered, still not into the idea of a 'detention party'.

"Carrots, broccoli, apples, bananas," Gazzy went on, still walking around us.

"I hate this game," Iggy complained.

"Marshmallows, ice cream, cookies," Gazzy continued, pretty much oblivious.

"GOOSE!" I yelled, standing up and grabbing Gazzy. "Sorry, you're in the mush pot," I declared, setting him down.

"Cheater! Max is a cheater!" Nudge yelled, and Gazzy leaped up again, chanting, "Cheater! Cheater! Cheater!"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Okay, I'm a cheater. How did you guys get detention, anyway?"

Nudge smiled. "I was painting my nails in class."

I gaped at her. "That's it?"

"I stole a cookie from this one kid's lunch," Gazzy offered.

I rolled my eyes. "You guys are such weirdos."

"That's why you love us!" Gazzy proclaimed, gathering us together in a group hug.

~~::~~

After all of that craziness, I wasn't reminded about our principal until much later.

"Guys. Flock meeting after dinner," I murmured under my breath as we sat at the table, eating spaghetti that Iggy had made. He was actually a really good cook, and Jeb was helping him with all kinds of recipes.

Fang nodded, and so did Iggy and Nudge. Gazzy yelled, "Max, what's the flock meeting about?"

I facepalmed while Jeb looked up from the other end of the table. "Flock meeting?"

Iggy nodded. "Uh… yeah. We're thinking about getting…uh…. we're having a meeting about, uh…"

"We were just going to help each other study for tests," I answered quickly, shooting a look at Iggy, which was lost on him.

"I see," Jeb replied, and went back to eating his pasta. I sighed in relief.

Ten minutes later, we were in my room, ready to start the flock meeting. Gazzy was sprawled on the floor, Angel sitting next to him. Fang was sitting on my bed next to Iggy, and Nudge was running around babbling about how my wardrobe needed a makeover.

"Okay, okay," I said. "Flock meeting come to order or whatever."

Iggy snickered. "I'm glaring at you, Ig," I told him, and went on.

"Okay, where was I? Oh yeah, our principal is possibly evil and works for the School."

Stunned silence followed that statement. Fang was the first to break the silence. "How'd you decide that?"

"Iggy and I overheard him talking about us, earlier today when we went to the mall," I explained.

"Oooh, a date!" Nudge said dreamily. My face went red, and so did Iggy's.

"It wasn't a date!" I yelled at Nudge.

"It wasn't?" Iggy sounded confused.

"NO!" I insisted. We were too young to be dating!

"Okay, anyway," Fang said. "So what did he say?"

"Something like 'I will give you the subjects'," I told them in my best imitation of Mr. Robin's voice.

Fang just stared at me. "That's it?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Yes, it is actually. I'd like to see you do a better job of being the leader."

He stood up, his face close to mine. "Maybe I will."

"Fine!" I shouted at him.

"Fine!" he yelled back.

I put my hands on my hips. "There you go. Fang's the leader now." Nudge stared at me, eyes wide. Gazzy's mouth dropped open.

He's not going to last a day, I thought to myself, smirking.