Hey guys. I'm back with another chapter. I've had so much homework it wasn't even funny, but the other day, I had a snow day so I got to write and today I found some time to type. This is just another filler. It's not going to be all that long, I think. Well, let me just get on with this then. Enjoy!
Monday again. First day of the second week of school. Everything had started out pretty normal. Dr. Martinez drove the flock to the elementary school, dropped off the little ones, and the others walked the rest of the way to school together. Of course, Elisabeth and Iggy held hands and Nudge and Ella cooed over them.
The school day was pretty normal too. Max, Fang, Iggy, and Elisabeth went to English class first and watched The Outsiders. Then they split; Max and Fang headed to biology with Colten, and Iggy and Elisabeth went to geometry with Chris and Caressa.
The big thing happened right after lunch, which started out pretty normal too. They sat down at their usual table with Chris, Caressa, and Colten.
"Ugh. I hate gym class." Chris sighed sitting down.
"What happened this time?" Caressa asked her sister.
"It's too horrible." she groaned, causing everyone to laugh. "If you honestly want to know, then ask Max. She'll tell you how horrible it was."
Everyone turned to Max.
She laid her fork back down on her tray and sighed. "Vanessa kept hitting her on the head with a volleyball. She told Coach Hoffman, but she said since she didn't see it, there was nothing she could do."
"That's so unfair!" Caressa said. "I bet Coach Hoffman only said that because Vanessa's dad might have sued for "wrongful persecution" or some other crap."
"Well, why didn't you do something? You should've hit her back." Iggy said.
"It's not that simple. I wanted to, but I would've gotten suspended. Mr. Winslow would've made sure of that. Then, after my suspension, Vanessa would've milked it, saying I gave her brain damage or something, and then Mr. Winslow would've sued. So either way, there was nothing I could do."
"I swear, that girl has it coming to her." Elisabeth said, huffily. "Have you noticed the way she keeps looking at me with that death glare unless Jeff is around? Then she's all sweet to me?"
"I know. It's sickening. She just wants to be left alone with him so she can take him from you." Chris said and Caressa nodded.
"Girls." Colten muttered. "You never see guys doing this kind of stuff."
Fang nodded in agreement. "Nope, you don't."
"No, and that's because you guys handle everything with your fists. You never think anything through." Max said, rolling her eyes.
"How about we get off of this subject and talk about something normal?" Iggy said, kicking Fang and Colten underneath the table. "Something that doesn't have to do with Vanessa and her cronies."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Colten said.
"Well, what?" Chris asked. "What are we supposed to talk about?"
"I don't know, anything." Iggy said, picking at his food. It was disgusting and he didn't even know what it was. Elisabeth told him it was supposed to be macaroni and cheese, but it sure didn't taste or smell like it.
"Well, what about you and Elisabeth?" Caressa asked, her blue eyes going wide.
"Anything but that." Iggy said, his ears turning pink.
"Why?" Chris asked. "Why don't you want to talk about that?"
"Alex and Ella." Elisabeth said, sighing.
"Oh. Enough said then. Forget we brought it up." Caressa said, understandingly.
They sat in silence for a long time. No one really had much to say. Max had a lot she wanted to discuss with Fang, Elisabeth, and Iggy, but she couldn't do it here. Whenever she could do it, either she forgot, or something else was going on.
"Are you guys sure this is macaroni and cheese?" Iggy asked. "Or are you playing some sick joke on the blind guy?"
"Pretty sure." Fang said, poking it with his fork. "Or at least, that's what it says on the menu."
"This is so nasty. I wish it was your mac and cheese I was eating Jeff. It actually tastes like macaroni, not like this stuff." Max said, looking at her tray in disgust.
"You cook?" Chris asked, stunned.
"Yeah, a little." Iggy replied shrugging.
"What does this stuff taste like anyway?" Colten asked. "I can't tell. Dog food maybe?"
"No, that's not it. Dog food probably tastes better." Fang mused.
"Why do guys always have to say that school lunch tastes like dog food or something?" Caressa asked.
"When you find out, let me know." Max said, taking a drink of water to get the nasty taste of cafeteria food out of her mouth.
"Because, it does taste like that. We just want to make sure we aren't the only ones thinking it." Colten said.
Elisabeth looked up and groaned. "Oh no. It's Vanessa again. She's coming this way."
"What does she want now?" Caressa asked, closing her eyes and moaning.
The bell rang and Max said, relieved, "Guess we won't find out."
"Thank God." Elisabeth said.
They got up, dumped their trays, and then went their separate ways. Chris and Fang went to creative writing and the others went to history.
They walked, talking about how the cafeteria needed to be inspected by the Health Department. Nothing unusual at all. Totally normal. You wouldn't know that three of the kids walking and talking had wings.
Then, Elisabeth felt a tap on her shoulder, and she was pulled over by…Vanessa.
"What do you want?" Elisabeth asked, severely annoyed.
"Why are you dating Jeff anyways? He's like your adopted brother. Isn't that kind of weird?" Vanessa asked. She wasn't even pretending to be nice.
"Well maybe to you, but not to me."
"Your whole family is weird. No one believes the whole "we're all adopted" crap." she said using air quotes. "Are you guys like on the run or something? Like from the law? Are you all like convicts or did you escape from a mental institution?"
"No, I thought you did." Elisabeth said, her anger getting more intense. Who did Vanessa think she was anyway?
"Listen, you better watch your step. Jeff is going to be mine and I'm going to find out the truth about you and your "family". You might as well quit pretending and give up right now. You can't win."
"Oh yeah?" Elisabeth asked. Her anger took over and she drew her fist back. She knocked Vanessa in the nose, which she felt break. She felt blood ooze on her hand and saw Vanessa fall to the ground holding it.
At that moment, the principal came running down the hall and Elisabeth saw Iggy, Max, Caressa, and Colten look at her. They just stared at her. She wanted to run, but she couldn't move. She had actually done something about Vanessa.
Kids were cheering and whooping as Elisabeth was escorted to the office with Vanessa, Max and Iggy following closely behind.
Iggy leaned in and whispered, "What did you do? What happened?"
Elisabeth didn't answer, she just kept walking. She thought that there was…hurt in Iggy's voice, but she couldn't tell. Her hand was throbbing and she knew she was in major trouble.
She could usually control her temper, but this time it got way too out of hand. Vanessa had just pushed her buttons too many times. When she said those things about the flock and everything else, she just lost it. Something inside her snapped and she just hit her.
That's when she knew that today, she was officially apart of the flock. She had stood up for all of them. Not just Iggy, but every last one of them and herself.
They reached the office and Elisabeth felt a rock form in the pit of her stomach. This was it. She was done for.
She was led inside and everyone else followed her.
The principal had gotten Vanessa some paper towels and sent her to the nurse.
As Vanessa walked past Elisabeth she whispered, "I told you. Now you're going to get it."
Elisabeth was led to the principal's office, and after much negotiation, Max and Iggy came in too.
Elisabeth sat down at the chair across from the principal's desk and prepared for the worst.
"Well, why'd you do it…Miss Mullins?" he asked, looking at her file. "It says you're a very good student and that you're very quiet. Now why would someone like that do something like this to another student?"
"She was talking about my family." Elisabeth whispered.
"Oh, I see. Well, we have called Dr. Martinez and she's on her way. When she gets here, we'll bring in Miss Winslow and her father and sort this whole thing out. Now, tell me exactly what happened."
Iggy put his hand on Elisabeth's shoulder and squeezed, to comfort her. She smiled at him, and put her hand on his. She told him the whole story and all he did was nod occasionally.
Soon, Fang, Nudge, and Ella were also brought down to the office, shortly followed by Vanessa, Dr. Martinez, and Mr. Winslow.
Mr. Winslow was a balding man with a mustache. He was about Max's height and he looked really angry.
"What's all this about George?!" Mr. Winslow shouted furiously. "I get a call that my daughter has been punched in the nose and no explanation. I demand that you tell me what happened!"
"Just calm down Ed, calm down. Miss Mullins here said that Vanessa was saying some things about her family, some very nasty things from what she told me."
"Well, she's lying of course." he said.
"Did you just call my daughter a liar?" Dr. Martinez asked, glowering at Mr. Winslow.
"She obviously is one." he said, simply.
"Please, calm down. Now, here is what I have concluded from the evidence-"
Mr. Winslow scoffed. "I'd love to here this."
"Yes, well, now as I was saying. Elisabeth was walking to class with her friends and her siblings when Vanessa pulled her aside. Elisabeth asked her what she wanted and then Vanessa said that her family was weird and some other heinous things. Elisabeth got angry and punched her in the nose. Now, we don't condone this kind of behavior here. The punishment is that both girls will have detention all day this week and after school on Friday."
"Both girls?!" Mr. Winslow shouted. "Why should Vanessa be punished?"
"For provoking Elisabeth. Now, they both could have been suspended, but since this is a first offense for both of them, and seeing how Elisabeth is such a good student, I have decided to be very lenient." He sat down at his desk and folded his hands.
"We'll sue! Do you hear me George Grayson? We'll sue!" With that, he marched out of the office, with Vanessa following him looking appalled.
"You all may go now." Mr. Grayson said, dismissing them.
They all left the office and no one said a word until they got to the school parking lot.
"Well, Elisabeth I'm not going to punish you. I figure that detention is punishment enough. Now, I don't blame you for hitting Vanessa, I would've done it if I was you, but I don't want this to happen again. Understand?" Dr. Martinez said, when they got to the van.
Elisabeth's heart skipped a beat. Dr. Martinez wasn't mad at all, in fact she was smiling. "Ok. Thanks." she said, climbing into the van and sitting next to Iggy.
She looked at her hand, which still had blood on it and was throbbing like crazy.
"Iggy, can you take a look at my hand. I hurt it when I punched Vanessa."
He held it in his hand and ran over it with his fingers. He was very gentle, just like when he kissed her.
"Nothing's broken." he said, letting go. "It's probably just sore."
"I can't believe you hit that girl." Nudge said. "Well, actually I can. I've been hearing you guys complain about her and she seems awful. She reminds me of Kelsey Jameson, this really mean girl in my social studies class, except that Kelsey stays away from me. That's a good thing, cause I don't have to waste my energy fighting her."
"Nudge, I don't think you could waste all of your energy if you tried." Fang said laughing.
"Maybe not." she said shrugging.
The rest of the ride home was pretty quiet. Max was apparently in shock, Iggy and Elisabeth didn't need to talk about what happened anymore, and Fang was just his usual quiet self. Only Nudge and Ella talked.
Elisabeth looked over at Fang who shook his head, slightly smiling, as if to say, "Welcome to the flock sis."
She smiled back and thought, Glad to be part of it.
Alrighty then, that was Chapter 26. Turned out to be way longer than I expected. Guess you never know huh? I really wrote this chapter, so we could get rid of Elisabeth and Vanessa's fight over Iggy. I just felt that if I didn't do it soon, there was going to be some confusion in some later chapters where she seems to have dropped of the face of the earth. Vanessa isn't one of the main characters. She was just something for Elisabeth to deal with, kind of like a challenge for her relationship with Iggy. Looks like she passed this challenge. The next chapter is probably going to be another filler, but I don't know yet. We'll see. I hope you're enjoying my fan fiction. I'm know I'm enjoying writing it. Well, like I always say, if you have any ideas let me know. I'll credit you and I'd greatly appreciate it. Updating real soon, I hope. TTFN; Ta-Ta For Now.