Hello beautiful people! I am aware that you all are probably wicked annoyed with my complete absence, so with no major introduction, here is Chapter 15!

Previously on Her Bucket List

The two celebrities from my favorite bands talked with Ellen and me for a bit and they presented me with details for my movie premiere in three days. At the end of the hour, I felt like the luckiest girl alive. So lucky, in the moment, that it didn't even matter that I had a few weeks left to live.

MAX POV

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.

My heartbeat pounded in my ears and slammed against my chest. My throat burned, as though someone was trying to shove a hot iron up and out of my body, and my vision started to blur.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.

I shook my head and willed my body to keep pushing through. Suddenly, a hand grabbed mine and I was sucked down into what was going on. I was participating in the Happiest 5k; also known as the Color Run. Now, mind you, I had only been walking the thing but hey, over three miles was taking a toll on my frail body! I looked over to my right and saw my brother, Jeff; he was the one who grabbed me.

"It's okay if you need to take a breather, Max. Your health comes before any stupid walk," he spoke to me, a concerned look on his face. I suddenly felt another tug on my other hand and looked over to find my little sister, Ella. She had a big smile on her face, and that smile was all that it took me to push through even harder.

"I will finish this walk without any breaks. I am going to get color thrown in all my weird bodily crevices and I will enjoy having to scrub my ears thoroughly with Q-tips to get all of the powder out! This is for me," I finished.

With just short of a quarter mile left to go, many people had started to line up on the side of the race track. It took a minute for my ears to adjust, until I finally recognized what was happening. These people, these absolutely random strangers, were cheering me on. I supposed that meant that I was the last to finish the race, but hey! More publicity for the fans, folks, what can I say?

As the finish line neared, I broke off from my siblings' hands and waved goodbye to my family supporters who cared enough to walk the race with me. Slowly but surely, I allowed my feet to pump a little harder until I broke out into a solid, (for me anyway), jog. The cheering got louder and I could see only one thing at the end of my walk; Fang.

There he stood, cheering me on with the rest of the crowd, a packet of powder in his hand, and a giant smile on his face. I passed the finish line and was bombarded with red, blue, purple, and green, blinded by pink, orange and yellow. I stood, completely out of breath but victorious among strangers and the one great love of my life.

He grabbed me tight and hugged me, exclaiming how thrilling this was for our whole group and how proud they all were for me. I lingered longer in the hug than necessary, and Fang clearly thought I was simply leaning on him for support. I couldn't even be bothered by that now; I was stronger than anyone I knew.

Later that day, after arriving back at home, my family and I rested together on the couch in our living room. A fire was going off to the side and in lieu of the autumnal air, we watched Hocus Pocus, a family favorite during the Halloween season. Many yawns through the movie, each of us slowly started to nod off until I felt Mom nudge my arm lightly.

"You should head to bed, Maximum. You have a busy day ahead of you," she smiled lightly. Tomorrow I would be taking up Ellen's gift of being in a movie directed by some of the coolest directors in the universe. The movie would be called Wings, and it was about some sort of experimental group of kids with wings and strange developing powers running from some place called The Institute. Pretty weird, right? But hey, I got to have a minor role as one of the experiments in The Institute, so who was I to complain?

I trudged myself to bed, half asleep, and hardly remembered the feeling of my head hitting the feathers of my pillow. In the morning I woke up with a pit of anxiety in my stomach. My movie-debut! I, Maximum Ride, was to be a movie star! After a brief drive, my mom and I walked into the studio where my scene would be filmed.

David Yates met us with a delightful smile, a perfect gentleman. He shook both of our hands as a welcoming host and began to direct me as politely and hastily as possible.

"How great, Maximum! Let's bring you over here to Monique, our head makeup artist. She's going to take great care of you today. Get ready for some killer special effects!" His joy was absolutely contagious and I mindlessly made my way to Monique, the stylist with an equally thrilling smile.

Monique took her time meticulously gluing these incredible wings to my back and helping me finagle myself into a shirt with special wholes cut into it. A good fifty minutes later and I looked like a kick-ass science experiment.

Monique guided me back to David and I was introduced to Chris Columbus, the other director in charge of the film. Between these three fabulous people and my mother crocheting off to the side, I figured these were some of the greatest ways to finish my days left on Earth. Plus everyone who ever hated me will have to read my name in the end credits of Wings for the rest of eternity!

What do you guys think? Does this at least sort of make up for my lack of presence on the website? My goals for next semester are to be around a bit more! I'm taking a Reading & Writing the Short Story class next semester and I'm hoping to restore some of my creative juices. (Fingers crossed, that is!)

Love and an Absence of Zach,

Abby