Disclaimer-I do not own Maximum Ride, or any of the characters aside from the ones i created-Max, her flock, Itex and everything else belongs to James Patterson.

Max's POV

We had found the school they all went to. The six of them were Rowena Ride, Heather Pike, Antoinette Meeks, Camden Arana, Jacen Gutierrez, and Simian Marci. Camden was the only 8th grader, so he was going to be a little out of it. They were in 7th period now, which was convenient, since they were all in the same room, except for Camden and Heather, but Heather was right across the hall from where the other four were. I sent Nudge to get Heather, Gazzy and Iggy to get Camden and Fang to get the other four. I was staying with Angel, as we needed her to 'convince' the ladies in the office to let the kids out of school and I needed to make sure she didn't make them close school or something.

I heard Nudge before I saw her. Trailing behind her was a girl I assumed was Heather. She had light brown hair just reaching her shoulders, eyes the same color and a look on her face that said she was generally ticked off to be bossed around by an eleven year old. Especially when that eleven year old was taller than her. Yea, Heather was…short. As in laughably short. So short she can't ride on the big coasters. So short she looked seven, younger even. So short she…okay, you get the point.

"What's this about?" Her voice was snarky and high-pitched. Oh, I hated her already.

"You'll see." That's me-Queen of Vagueness.

Just then Iggy and Gazzy came back, chatting up this guy who was Iggy-height. The similarities end there. He was tan, brown haired, and fully-sighted (ha-ha…I hope). There were questions in his eyes that he didn't ask; he just continued talking about bombs or something with our resident pyromaniacs. The only one missing was Fang. I was about ready to freak. This place weirded me out.

"Where has that boy disappeared to?"

Fang's POV

It took me a while to find the classroom. It ended up being an Italian class. Huh. Weird. I didn't look up, just asked the teacher if a few students could be excused for the day. She agreed, so I called the names I had written on a slip of paper.

"Jacen Gutierrez." A boy with dark brown hair hanging over blue eyes stood up.

"Simian Marci." This time it was a close-cropped blonde boy with green eyes.

"Antoinette Meeks." She was dark skinned, with brown hair and brown eyes.

"Rowena Ride." I finally looked up. From the back of the room, where I didn't notice her at first, came the same red-haired, gray-eyed girl from the picture. Her face looked bored, but her eyes held a cold impassive curiosity I could see even though she didn't look directly at me. She walked with a confidence, with a sense of power that was increasingly familiar. I nodded, and we were on our way. It wasn't until we were out of the door that I realized why I seemed to recognize her.

She reminded me of Max.

Rowena's POV

Good god and holy shitake mushrooms, that boy was hot.

It was as if I was dreaming. This may have actually been a dream I had before. Hmm…I pinched myself. OW! Okay, not a dream. But still…..

He was just so yummy looking. All black clothes, black sneakers, tanned skin, long black hair hiding eyes that I could just barely tell were dark chocolate and completed closed off. Then he called up Jacen, Simian and Antoinette. Huh. Weird. They were all my absolute best friends.

"Rowena Ride." He looked up for the first time as I stood. I knew he couldn't see me before-that's why I chose my seat in a back corner. Something flashed in his eyes, some sort of emotion I couldn't quite put my finger on. He nodded, and we were on our way. From behind him, I could see the vague imprint of something on his back under his loose t-shirt.

Wonder what it was.

Fang's POV

As soon as we were out of the classroom Rowena dropped the bored expression.

"So, where are you taking us?" Her voice was assured, all husky sexiness.

I purposefully ignored her.

"Hey!" She grabbed my arm "Where are you taking us?"

Guess she didn't like to be ignored. And I didn't like to be grabbed. I ripped her hand off my arm, twirling her around. She swung her foot around and kicked me right in the chest. I staggered back, and then righted myself. Swinging a fist at her head, she dropped to the floor and rolled away, then popped back to her feet in a second flat. I leaped backwards, dodging the roundhouse kick to my head and instinctively threw my wings back.

Fifteen feet of pure black feathers- I looked like the angel of death. She paused, startled. Knowing this was probably going to be my only chance, I rushed at her pinning her up against the lockers, holding her there by her shoulders. Her gray eyes widened, looked not sure of what just happened. Something weird happened when she finally looked me straight in the eyes. The endless depths of her eyes seemed to flash with a black light, one as dark and demeaning as the soulless pit of death.

Rowena's POV

Wings-definitely not what I'd been expecting. They were… kind of gorgeous. He looked like a broken angel, one who had committed some great sin and fallen from grace. My back hurt, as it was being pressed against the cold steel of the lockers. His hands were on my shoulders, but the rest of me was free, and without restraint. So I slid my hand up so that it cradled his cheek-slowly so he saw it coming. Surprised briefly widened his eyes as I drew him ever so gently closer. I murmured one word.

"Fang."

Then I kissed him.