Chapter 25

Road Trip!

I do not now or ever will own Maximum Ride or any character.

Cena-Centric333- He is!

MySoulIsYoursTakeIt- Aw! That's exciting!

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So, on Tuesday after school, we left for the ski lodge.

Apparently another surprise for us (Nudge, Iggy, Gazzy, Angel, Fang, me) was they had rented a van so we could "all drive together!" Don't ask my how we got ten people, plus ten people's suit cases, and one very excited dog into the van but we managed.

I was excited to leave town, get away for awhile. School had been going good I guess, I was being left alone, Abby still gave me death glares but that doesn't really matter. Fang and I got a "B+" on research paper which I was pretty thrilled about, and when we got home from school that day I got a quick kiss from Fang! Were still keeping our relationship(?) secret and not even Nudge suspected anything was up. Life was going pretty well over all. And I hadn't touch a blade (or paper clip) since I first got home from the hospital. I was happy, really happy, I felt good and I liked it and hoped it stayed for awhile. No dads or moms or letters could screw with my life right now!

I smiled, this was nice. I couldn't wait to get to the lodge.

I glanced at Fang sitting next to me, he noticed and softy bumped his knee against mine. I smiled and felt warmth spread through me, when my face heated up I hoped no one had noticed.

Fang and I had gotten pretty close, taking whatever time we had to be in my room, or his, with the door closed and blamed it on our research project. I'm not sure what we'll say when get home, considering we turned our project in.

Anyway Fang and I had snuck in a lot of kisses behind that closed door. I was so happy to be with Fang, have him hold me. It was just nice. We hadn't talked about doing anything other than kissing and I sure didn't want to. At least not right now. I didn't want think about that… with Fang…

I shook my head and glanced at everyone, as if I had said everything aloud. Ben was driving, Cheyenne occupying shotgun, then there were two seats behind them where Fang's parents sat, then three seats behind them with Fang, me in the middle and Angel on the other side of me, with a sleeping Total in her lap. Lastly in the very back was Gazzy behind Fang, Nudge behind me, and Iggy behind Angel.

No one seemed to notice anything. Phew!

"How long 'til we get there?" Angel wonder.

"About two more hours," Nudge replied.

"I can't wait until we get there!" Iggy said and gave a cocky smile. "The ski instructors were so hot last year!"

"Yet not one of them gave you their number," Angel pointed out.

Iggy frowned annoyed.

"Poor Igs, not getting any," Gazzy said smirking.

"What do you know about 'getting any'?" Nudge demanded.

"I-"
Ben cleared his throat from the front seat, "I'm not sure if you kids are aware of this," he looked into the rear view mirror and glanced at us, "but we can still hear you."

We all glanced at one another then looked straight ahead, trying not to look guilty.

About four minutes of silence pasted before Iggy started 'singing' -and I say singing very lightly- 99 bottles of beer on the wall.

Followed by a chorus of groaning and complaining.

"Iiiigggyy, shut, uupp," Angel whined.

"I can duct tape his mouth," Fang offered.

I smirked.

Nudge eventually got Iggy to shut up by shoving a Twinkie in his mouth, causing a round of snickers.

"Let's play a game," Mr. Wilson suggested.

More groans.

"C'mon, it'll be fun."

"Fine," Gazzy sighed.

"Okay, let's play license plate poker. You have to find signs, license plates, anything with words that're outside the car and go in ABC order. Like that car has an "A" on the plate.

"B," Angel pointed to a sign.

"C."

"D.'

"…E"

"And F!"

"There's G."

"H!"

"I, J, K, L, M."

"Where do you see that?" Nudge demanded.

Iggy was quiet, "Well… we past it."

"Liar! I call penalty!" Angel shouted.

"What's the penalty for cheaters?" Gazzy asked Mr. Wilson.

"Another Twinkie stuffed in his mouth?" Fang offered.

"No." Mr. Wilson chuckled, "He just has to walk lodge now. Or he can ride on the hood, like a deer."

"I wanna ride on the roof. Not the hood though, you'd get covered in dead bugs," Angel said.

"You'd get covered in bugs on the roof too," Fang pointed out.

"Oh."

"I think Iggy should hitch hike," I said.

"Why?" Iggy demanded.

"Because you cheated. Cheating is not aloud in this car, Iggy, you should know better," I fake scolded.

He shook his head.

"Are we close now?" Angel asked.

"About an hour and a half," Cheyenne answered.

Ben switched lanes and asked, "Who wants food? We should make a pit stop soon anyway."

"Will we make to the lodge before it gets dark?" Mrs. Wilson asked.

"Yeah, we have tons of time to spare," Ben said.

Ten minutes later we pulled into a fast food joint. We all piled out of the car.

"My legs are so stiff," Gazzy said, stumbling into Iggy, "Sorry."

"What should I do with Total?" Angel asked.

"Just carry him and keep him to your side, they won't care. He's a little dog and we'll only be in there for a minute," Cheyenne said.

We walked in and went to bathrooms.

I looked in the water splattered mirror as I washed my hands. My hair was frizzy and my eyes were sleepy, my cheeks were pink, making my dried lips more noticeable.

I turned to Nudge, "Do you have chap stick?" I asked.

She nodded and pulled a little tube out here pocket handing it to me, "Who ya wherein' it for?" She asked smiling and arched an eyebrow.

"Oh, no one. My lips are just chapped," I said trying to hide the blush as I applied the chap stick.

I handed it back to her and rubbed some cold water on my face trying to wake up.

We walked out, the guys were already in line, mumbling how girls 'take forever in the bathroom'. I rolled my eyes as Angel smirked and Nudge shook her head.

We ordered our food and went outside and sat at a picnic table, brushing snow off the benches.

"Have you ever gone skiing before, Max?" Mr. Wilson asked.

The answer was pretty obvious but I still appreciated his friendliness.

"No, I haven't but I've always wanted to. It looks so much fun," I said smiling.

"Then you'll have a blast this week! But you'll be so sore from all the skiing on the last day."

I nodded, "I bet. But it'll be worth it."

Total licked my leg and I looked down at him.

"Go away, you little begging dog."

Total sneezed on my leg, insulted, and trotted off.

I shook my head.

I ate my hamburger and fries, giving a few to Total. We talked and joked causing hollers and laughter it was fun, like a little preview of the week to come.

After our faces were all red from the cold we went to the car and hit the road.

I must've fallen asleep though, because I woke to someone saying, "Aw! That's so cute! Should I take a picture?"

I opened my eyes and sat up. I looked over at Fang feeling disoriented then a smiling Cheyenne. I then realized I had fallen asleep on a sleeping Fang's shoulder.

I rubbed my eyes, "Are we there?" I asked as Fang ran his hand through his dark hair.

Cheyenne nodded and pointed out the window to a building and I gasped.