Chapter 3

"Jeb! We're home!" I called as we walked in the door.

"How was your first day of school?" he called, popping his head out from his office.

"Fang got a girlfriend!" Nudge blurted. I groaned.

"No, I don't," Fang replied, frowning. "I'm only eleven."

"She said she loves you," Iggy teased, a smirk on his face. This caused Fang to go red. "I don't know what you're talking about," was his response.

Jeb just shook his head. "Well, I have some juice and crackers in the kitchen. I'm sure you're hungry."

"Yeah, we are," Gazzy agreed. "Those school lunches are barely big enough to be snacks!" Everyone laughed, and I was glad that the subject had changed from Fang's love life. At least for now.

Angel toddled into the kitchen and I picked her up, smiling. "Hey, Angel! Did you miss us too much?"

The little girl just looked deep into my eyes and said, "Your teacher's really mean."

I stared at her, then looked at Jeb. "I – I didn't tell her that! How did she know that?"

Jeb looked at the two of us solemnly. "It seems Angel has an additional power." He paused.

"Which is…what?" I asked impatiently.

"She can read minds," Jeb told me.

"What?" Gazzy cried. "Well, maybe I can do it too!" He looked at me. "Think of a number!"

I rolled my eyes. "Ask someone else."

"Okay, I'll ask Nudge!" Gazzy looked at Nudge. "Is it seven?"

Nudge shook her head. "No! Not even close!"

Gazzy looked dismayed. "No, not even close!" he mimicked her – but in a perfect imitation of Nudge's voice. It literally sounded like Nudge's voice was coming out of his mouth.

We all stared at him. Even Gazzy looked shocked.

"So…." Iggy trailed off. "Another new power?"

Jeb nodded. Gazzy grinned. "Awesome!" He looked at me. "Hi, I'm Max and I command you to bow down to my leader-ness!" he exclaimed, but in my voice. My jaw dropped, then I lunged at him. "Hey!" I yelled as he cracked up.

Then I had an idea. A crazy, amazing idea.

~~::~~

"Are you sure this is the right phone number?" Iggy whispered as I dialed the phone. I nodded. "Yeah. She practically wrote it all over Fang's notebook."

"Alright," Gazzy said. "I'm ready."

We held our breath as the phone rang. And rang. And rang. Nudge was keeping watch outside of my room – anyone who wanted to come in would be stopped, thanks to her blabbing.

Finally, the phone went to voice mail. "Hi! This is Jaz! You've reached my phone, but I can't come to the phone right now because I'm probably off doing something else! I hope you'll leave a message so I can call you back later, but don't forget to leave your name and number so I can call you back!" The phone beeped.

"Hey, this is Nick," Gazzy said in Fang's voice. "Sorry, but I don't feel the same way about you. I hope you don't talk to me ever, ever, ever again." Then he hung up.

I facepalmed. I hadn't told Gazzy to say that last part, but whatever.

"Yeah! I am a genius!" Gazzy yelled. "High five!"

Iggy tried to give him a high five and hit me instead. "I need to practice that," he explained.

I rolled my eyes, debating whether or not to tell Gazzy that I was the one that came up with the plan in the first place.

Oh well. I grinned, just thinking about our plan. I couldn't wait to see how well it turned out.

~~::~~

The next day at school, I was sitting in my desk next to Iggy, watching to see when Jaz would come in.

"Is she here yet?" Iggy asked anxiously. I frowned.

"Like I told you thirty seconds ago. No."

Finally, the dark-haired girl came into the room. I expected her to be crying, or at least look a little sad.

Instead, her smile, if possible, was even bigger than the day before. She ran right for Fang, almost plowing into him.

"Hi!" she said, grinning. "That call I got yesterday? So funny! That was the best prank call ever…totally made my day!"

Fang just looked really confused. "Uh….no problem?"

Jaz turned and waved to me and Iggy. "Hi, Max! Hi, Jeff!"

"Hi there," I said in a monotone voice, ready to punch that girl. Why was she so dang happy all the time? Maybe she just wasn't right in the head.

Iggy exchanged a glance with me – well, kind of, if blind kids can exchange glances.

"This was not part of the plan," I muttered.

~~::~~

Later that day, we had P.E., which made me feel a whole lot better. Coach Thompson was apparently a huge fan of dodgeball – he told us so himself.

So of course, that was what we ended up playing. Jaz and some other kid named Ryan were team captains – of course, Jaz picked Fang. She didn't seem to want us on her team, though. Ryan picked me third… I convinced him to take Iggy, though he didn't look very happy about it.

"I hate this game," Iggy complained as a ball hit him –he was the first to get out.

I was pretty good at it, though – I was stronger and faster than the average fifth-grader, and definitely able to dodge things.

Fang, on the other team, was hurling dodgeballs as fast as he could. Jaz was just hiding behind him, using him as a human shield.

I shook my head. Pathetic.

"Max! Look out!" Matt – also on my team – called, right before a ball slammed into my chest, sending me to the ground. I glared at the other team's side. Fang had been the one to throw that ball.

Of course, after that game ended, Coach made us run. Turned out Jaz was a good runner though – not as good as me, of course.

"Take your time!" Coach Thompson yelled as the two of us ran, Jaz struggling to keep up.

"I'm….gonna….win!" Jaz panted.

"No!" I yelled, then started running even faster. Before I knew it, she was way behind me. I grinned triumphantly as I finished running. She could never be better than me at that. I'd barely broken a sweat.

Jaz caught up to me sometime later, Fang at her side. He ran slower, just for her. "How….can you…run that fast?" she panted, still out of breath.

I smirked. "Let's just say I've had a lot of training."

Jaz smiled real big again. "Then maybe you can teach me something!" She looked at Fang. "Can I come over to your house today? Please?"

Fang nodded at the same time I shook my head. "No!" I said.

"Sure," Fang cut me off.

My fists clenched, but I tried to keep myself from yelling at him. "F-Nick, since when do you make the calls? I'm the leader!"

"Leader of what?" Jaz asked, looking very interested. I frowned. She could never, ever find out about the flock.

"Leader of the Rainbow Pony Club," Iggy responded, popping up behind us. He'd stuck with Matt when we had to run.

"Really?" Jaz smiled. "That sounds like fun! Can I join?"

I groaned, smacking my forehead with my hand. If this girl was coming over, it was going to be a long day….