Maximum Ride is property of James Patterson. All the characters in this chapter are property of Me!

This the alternate chapter, everything going on with Kisha and Deveann at the same pace as what's happening with Max and Fang. Remember, this will always be from Deveann's POV unless otherwise stated. For those who don't read the commentary, though, I will restate it.

Deveann's POV

"Shh," She said, putting a finger to her lips, "Not here, now now. We can talk later? Okay?" I opened my mouth to speak but she cut me off. "Oh crap! He's coming! Go, go now!" She pushed me into the closet.

I turned around, "I can't go from within-!"

"Shh!" She hushed me again.

I heard the door creak open, "Hello?"

"Yes?"

"Whatcha doin'?" A male asked. I figured it was her brother, Chris.

"I'm just writing. Why?" She answered calmly.

"Is that so?" He sounded suspicious, "It sounded like you were talking to someone."

"You've finally lost it, brother. Now you're hearing voices-"

"Don't lie to me! Who is in here?! Tell me. NOW!" He hollered.

"No one is in here, Chris!" She screamed, defensively.

"We're here all alone, well, almost. There wouldn't be any witnesses if something were to happen to you. None. Do you understand what I'm telling you?!"

"We're all alone, Chris. No need to tack on another threat," I could almost see her fold her arms defiantly as she spoke.

"Fine, then you won't mind if I check your closet, just as a precautionary measure-" The handle jiggled as he spoke.

"No!" There was a loud crash.

"Get off! Get off you horrible atrocity! You deformed monster!" There was another crash, this one followed by a scream. A loud, high-pitched scream. Her scream.

"Stop it! Stop it! Leave her alone!" I cried, running out of the closet.

"Deveann, no-"

A cold drop of rain woke me up. I sighed, looking around at the home I'd made for myself. The old, abandoned shed on the school grounds. Holes in the roof, messy floor. But it had electricity. It was shelter. I had a blanket. I had a pillow. I wasn't without supplies. I brought quite a few things with me when I ran away. I even stole the mini fridge we'd been only barely thriving off of. Not really stole, I bought it. I had a job, I was a legal adult. It wasn't even running away really. But I had a home. I had a guardian. And now I have a new home, and no guardian. Which amounted, to most, as running away.

"School time," I told myself, pulling the school uniform out of my big yellow duffel bag. It was a white dress shirt, a navy blue tie and navy blue slacks. Our school colours were, go figure, navy blue and white. I quickly changed, briefly pulled a brush through my messy brown hair and gathered my books before running out the door, locking up and scrambling up the steps to the school. I skipped going to my locker and went straight to class. School was not without it's perks. Lights. Heat. Chairs. Food. Witnesses. Classes were a bore. I was a straight A student, they didn't have to explain things more than once. They did any way, of course. And over again and over again. The teachers knew about my situation with my father. They knew I was staying in the old shed. Sometimes the nurse, who was a guy named William Washington (we just called him Will), would bring me food and check up on me. No one pestered me about my relationship with him. None of the kids asked, none of them cared. I had friends, yes. One or two. Tina and Rick, but they didn't really know about me. It made my gut twist to think of who really knew about me, knew about Dad, about Mom, and my sister, who really understood me. Unfortunately, being my worst enemy, she made my life no easier. Kisha is her name. She wont tell anyone her last name. But I know. I have to, if we're going to have any dirt on someone, you might as well know their whole name. Her last name is Reaper. I'll never know why she wouldn't tell anyone, but I suppose she thinks people will make fun of her.

As I walked to the cafeteria I saw her sitting in her usual seats next to Malissa and her boyfriend, Aaron. Her sister, Ahsik, never goes to school, I heard she used to, but got kicked out for assaulting a teacher. You wouldn't guess it from looking at Kisha. First class citizenship. The peak of the money mountain, she absolutely glows. Good grades, money, friends, and to top it all off, she's gorgeous, radiant even. It makes me sick to my stomach. She wasn't even one of the popular kids. She hates the popular kids. Really, she wasn't all that nice to anyone. No sugar coating for her, she tells it like it is. Horrible. Because that's how the real world is, not that'd she'd know much about the real world. Living a cushioned life like that and abusing her power.

I walked past her table, shooting her a death glare out of the corner of my eyes. She saw and stuck her tongue out at me. "Don't give him any ideas," Aaron muttered under his breath and Malissa giggled. I shook my head angrily and stalked off to sit and eat. Alone. I growled at anyone that came near the table and ate the sloppy Joe with over exaggerated hunger. Malissa continued to point at me and laugh through out lunch and I tried to drag my attention away to a better place.

After lunch I pretty much slept through the rest of my classes, dreaming the same dream over and over again. I only wished that it would leave me alone and stop haunting me. At the end of the day I picked up my stuff and bolted out to my shed. I took off my tie and began to unbutton my dress shirt when a drop fell on my nose, alerting me the rain hadn't yet given up the fight. I left my shirt as was, slightly unbuttoned and dirty. I'd need to go to the laundry matt when the rain stopped. I laid down, picked up my drawing pad, and turned on the radio and began to draw. I couldn't help it, after my dream the past evening, I could only draw her. She was all I could think about, her face swam behind my eyelids when I blinked. I was completely lost in my art. I added detail to her outfits and even shaded them, for lack of coloured pencils and like of inking. I was lightly tracing the ruffles on her skirt when my door flew open. Kisha ran in in a panic. She looked at me with cold fear in her eyes.

"Hide me!" She hissed urgently. I lifted the blanket from me. She dived in and I hid her form with my duffle bag and pillow. I could faintly feel her trembling hands clutch at my shirt for comfort, or heat, whichever comes first.

Just then a boy, much older than I or Kisha, maybe twenty-two with shoulder length shaggy brown hair opened my door and looked around frantically. "Have you seen Kisha?!" He asked.

I shook my head, "No. I've just been drawing, I haven't really been paying attention to much else."

He frowned, "Are you hiding her?" As if anyone would say yes to that!

I gave him a cocky smirk that represented more confidence than I felt, "Why would I hide her. I hate her," I snarled, showing my fang-like canines.

He smiled back at me, "That's something we have in common, kid." He exited. We waited a few moments without speaking. I took the duffel bag off of her and pulled the blanket off her head.

"You live here?" She whispered. I nodded. "I'm... so sorry..." I glowered at her.

"A little late isn't it?"

She rose a hand to smack me. I flinched away but it never hit. I looked up, she'd lowered her hand. "Quit that," She grumbled, "I'm trying to be nice... it's not easy, you know?" I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, that's gotta suck," I said sarcastically.

"You're right. My life is easy. I know." She looked around my shed. "Thank you. And..." She looked back to me, seriously, "Can I spend the night here?"

I rose my eyebrows, "You want to stay here?! What about your mansion, and your parents?!"

"I don't want to go back tonight. That was my brother that was searching for me. And it's parent. My father's been in the amazon since before I was born. He's doing research. But... anyway," she focused her attention to me, once more, "May I?"

"Uh... oh, ah, yeah... sure," I stammered, "But I've only got one blanket and one pillow."

"That's just fine," She sighe diwth relief. "Thank you so much. How can I repay you?"

I shrugged, "I don't know, how about you stop making fun of me and making my life a living heck?"

She tapped her chin thoughtfully, "I could do that. Or I could be your friend." I snorted back a laugh.

"Friends?!" I screamed incredulously, "You and me? Yeah, right! I think I'd rather go jump in the sewer and make friends with the rats!"

She wound a strand of her ebony and navy hair around her index finger, "I don't know. You seem interesting. Plus, we need each other. I need you to help hide me from my brother and I can get you stuff for your house, like lights and a heater. Besides," Her delicate hand untangled from her hair and ran along my exposed collar bone, "you're kind of cute."

"No." I pushed her away, harshly, "I won't fall for any of your sweet talking, and I don't need your sympathy, thanks." Something caught her eye and she reached over me to grab it. "No!" She yanked my sketchbook from my grip and looked through it.

She blushed lightly at the pictures, "These are really good." She told me.

"Thanks..." I mumbled.

She handed me back my sketchbook and squirmed back under the blanket. "This is a cozy quilt. Did you buy it?"

"No, my mother made it," I said solemnly.

"Oh. I'm sorry... I didn't-"

"It's alright, you didn't know." There was a pause.

"Do you ever miss her?"

"Always."

"And your sister?"

"Less but, yes."

She snuggled up next to me, "Alright. How's this? On top of decking out your house and being your friend, I'll keep you company, kay?" I tried to understand what she was getting at, "After school, I'll try to be what your mother and sister were to you. I know I can't replace them, but I can at least try to make your life happier. After all I've done to destroy it," She glared down at her shoulder, "My brother and I... have always had problems... I guess... I just put them off on you... because your situation... was so close to it."

I nodded into her hair, "I know what you mean, it sounds like a deal." I couldn't tell if it was her intoxicatingly sweet scent, her calming warmth, or her lovely voice singing along to the radio that put me to sleep but when I woke up the next morning, well rested and the first thing I saw was her long dark eyelashes, I didn't feel like I would have slept so soundly on my own.

There was a light rap at the door, "It's unlocked!" I whispered. Will opened the door, ready to ask why I was whispering when he saw Kisha.

"Deveann-"

"She asked to spend the night." I told him, "She didn't want to go home. Her brother's a jerk, just like my dad. I figured-"

"That doesn't give you the right to with hold a poor woman's child from her. Her mother must be worried out of her mind!" He threw his hands in the air melodramatically.

"And her father?" I interrogated.

"Huh?"

"Her father. What would he think? Is he worried?"

"Well, that... that doesn't really-"

"Exactly. She can call her mom today. I've done nothing wrong." Will gave me a stern look, shook his head and walked off, closing the door softly.

There was a light tugging at the buttons on my shirt, I glanced down to see Kisha was fiddling around with them. "Good morning, Deveann," She murmured into my collar. My spine arched as a shiver shot up it. She giggled at this.

"It's almost time for school," I told her.

She nodded, "That it is... except-"

"Except?"

"Except it's Saturday." I stole a glance at my calender.

"So it is," I agreed, "What do you wandt to do?"

She buried her head in my chest, "I want to stay right here, just like this."

"What?"

"It's nice... don't you think? So warm... so soft, it's still dark out. Let's just go back to sleep."

Here's where I got bored and stopped. Please Review!