Chapter 6

Now, I promise you that Jaz was definitely not on my best friends list or anything. In fact, I didn't even consider her a friend. And the fact that she knew about, well, us now made me even more wary of her. For all I knew, she'd turn around and start blabbing our secrets to the entire fifth grade.

In other words, my feelings about her hadn't changed.

"So, Fang," Jaz said, leaning against his desk, "I'm coming over to your house again."

"My name's Nick," Fang told her, but she obviously didn't believe him anymore.

"I heard Max call you Fang," Jaz whispered, smiling. "And I bet Jeff's real name isn't Jeff."

"You're right," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "It's actually KEEP YOUR NOSE OUT OF OTHER PEOPLE'S BUSINESS!"

"Max, we do not yell in the fifth grade," Mrs. Jenkins reprimanded me with a disapproving look.

"Hmph," I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest and sitting down as the bell rang.

"So…Jaz knows about us now?" Iggy whispered, leaning over to me.

"Yeah," I whispered back. "She's so annoying."

"Max, Jeff, do you have something to share with the class?" Mrs. Jenkins asked. Somehow, she'd popped up right in front of us.

"Uh….nope," I responded, sitting up straighter.

"Well, in that case, would you like to repeat to the class what I just said?" she continued.

"Nope, I'm fine," I replied, smirking. A few kids started laughing, but tried to hide it.

One of her eyebrows twitched. "Maxine Ride, do you enjoy mocking me?"

I opted not to correct her. "Yeah. You and every other adult I meet."

That was how I found myself sitting in Mr. Robin's office for the second time this week.

"Well, Max, I believe we're going to know each other very well by the end of this school year, hm?" he asked, looking through my file. I didn't even know I had a file….what was in it, anyway? Hate mail about me from Mrs. Jenkins?

I just stared at him. "Can I have a new teacher?"

He began laughing, and I glared at him. "It wasn't meant to be funny."

"Mrs. Jenkins is a perfectly good teacher. I've worked with her for a long time. Did you know I used to be a fifth grade teacher?"

I looked at him. "How long have you been a principal? You're kind of old."

He laughed, and this time, I laughed too. Not because I was getting along with him. It was because I called him old and he didn't even object to that.

After a short lecture on respecting Mrs. Jenkins – which I mostly tuned out, blah blah blah – he sent me back to my class with a lollipop in each hand. I'd asked for one for Iggy.

"How did you get those?" Fang asked, as Iggy and I grinned at him.

"Nick, do you have something to share with the class?" Mrs. Jenkins asked, turning to face him.

I smirked, and whispered, "That's how."

~~::~~

At the end of the day, a girl named Daisy ran up to us with a stack of papers in her hand. "Hi! I was wondering if you wanted to come to my birthday party?" she asked, smiling as she handed each of us an invitation. "It's supposed to be formal, so you guys should wear ties and stuff. And Max, you can wear a dress! I hope you'll come!" She beamed at us and ran away.

I glanced down at my dirty jeans and T-shirt. Needless to say, fancy dresses weren't my style.

Iggy grinned. "We should go. I bet it'll be fun."

"Yeah," I said, rolling my eyes. "About as fun as getting attacked by Erasers."

"Hi, Fnick!" Jaz yelled, running over to us. "Hey, I know why Max called you Fnick now! Because your real name is Fang, but you go by Nick and-"

She got cut off because I slapped my hand over her mouth. "Shut up, unless you want me to kill you," I hissed.

She just smiled at me after I took my hand away. "Okay! Don't worry, your secret's safe with me!" Jaz promised, her smile huger than ever.

"I'm so sure," I muttered as we got on the bus, me holding Gazzy's hand and nudging Nudge (ha!) towards the back of the bus. Jaz yanked Fang into the seat in the front.

"Is Jaz coming over again today?" Nudge asked, smiling and looking towards the front of the bus as it started up and pulled away from school. "I just hope nothing bad happens today!"

"Yeah, about that," I muttered, motioning for Iggy, Gazzy, and Nudge to come in closer. Quickly, I filled them in about Jaz.

"Oh my gosh," Nudge said. "I mean, I know you said she was a traitor, but she was forced to do it! That's terrible! I can't believe someone would make her do it!"

"That's really mean," Gazzy agreed.

"Yeah, well, she's still as annoying as ever," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "Obviously, nothing has changed. But back to the point. Keep an eye out. If you see anything suspicious, tell me."

Gazzy and Nudge nodded. Iggy replied with, "Well, I know I won't be seeing anything suspicious," as he waved his hand in front of his eyes.

"You know what I meant!" I told him, laughing as I punched his arm.

~~::~~

"Jaz…what a pleasant surprise!" Jeb said with a smile on his face. An obvious fake smile, I might add. I pulled him aside and explained about Jaz while everyone else ate their snack. Jeb listened with a concerned expression on his face.

"Well, that explains that. Max, I do want you to be careful. If anything else happens, we're going to leave here. I can't have the School knowing where you are. Do you understand?"

I nodded. "Yeah, yeah, whatever! Okay, bye!" I ran into the kitchen to join the others, where Jaz and Nudge were having a very heated discussion over which kind of nail polish was better.

"I say bright pink," Nudge – who was going through a hot-pink phase at the moment – told her.

Jaz frowned. "Really? I'd go with a lighter shade. Or maybe darker."

"My ears are bleeding!" Iggy yelled at the two of them.

Jax turned to look at me. "Max, what do you think?"

"Until nail polish helps me kick someone's butt, I really don't care," I responded, crossing my arms over my chest. Iggy and Gazzy laughed, and even Fang smirked.

I walked over and picked up Angel, who was finishing off her Goldfish crackers. "Who wants to go outside?"

Four bird-kid hands shot up into the air. Jaz grinned. "Yeah! Let's go!" Fang didn't raise his hand, but he nodded in agreement.

As we headed outside, I gave her a look that said, No more calling Erasers. Okay?

"What now?" Gazzy asked. "I don't wanna play tag or anything."

Jaz smiled (as usual) but her smile was possibly the biggest I'd ever seen it. "Is it true you guys can fly?"

"What?" I asked, staring at her. "Who told you that?" I'd already suspected she'd known about our bird DNA, though….my suspicions were basically confirmed.

"The guy. He said you guys had wings, and you were special, and he needed you."

"And that didn't cause you to suspect that he wanted to kill us, huh?" I asked, frowning.

Jaz pouted. "Do you guys really have wings? Can I see?"

Just as I opened my mouth to say no, Nudge grinned. "Of course! You have to promise not to tell anyone, though!" she told Jaz as she pulled off her pink jacket and extended her beautiful brown wings.

Jaz gasped. "I knew…but somehow I didn't believe you until I actually saw them…" she said in awe.

I frowned, putting Angel down. "Okay, Nudge. That's enough-"

"Watch me!" Gazzy yelled, unfolding his wings and leaping into the air. He beat his wings and began flying, quickly followed by Nudge.

Jaz stared up at the sky, her mouth wide open.

I facepalmed. Why would they ever listen to me?

"Wait for me, guys!" Iggy yelled, and soon he was a speck in the sky too. Angel ran up to me and I picked her up – she was just learning to fly, and I was teaching her, since Jeb seemed like he was always really busy.

"Let's go, Max!" she said, clinging to me.

"No, Ange. I don't think that's a good idea….I'll just stay down here."

"Come on," Fang said, a hint of a smile on his face. "You don't have to be the worrisome leader all the time."

Jaz was trying not to stare, but it was obviously hard for her. What can I say? We generally have that effect on people.

"Alright," I agreed, extending my brown and white wings, all thirteen feet of them. Jeb said my wingspan might be even bigger some day.

"Wow," Jaz gasped, staring.

I glared at her – she still wasn't on my 'favorite people' list or anything. She probably never would be.

"Didn't your mom ever tell you it was rude to stare?" I remarked, and soared up to join my flock, along with Fang. We left Jaz far below where she belonged.

Up here, we could be ourselves. We were literally meant to fly. We'd gone through years of pain and sadness back at the School, but now we were free, able to go anywhere we wanted.

It was amazing up here. Miles up in the sky, my sharp eyes picked out everything….our house, our school, kids riding bikes, people driving their cars home from work….everything.

I smiled, taking it all in. Flying was just…amazing. There was nothing else like it. And I was surrounded by my flock, the people I loved most in the world. I wished we could just stay like this forever.