Ride of a Lifetime
The dinner party…
"Oh, joy."
Max described what everyone was thinking perfectly, because the dinner party was not something Dr. Martinez's four children were looking forward to.
Yet, there they were, nicely dressed and ready to socialize-Max and Ella were sitting on the couch silently, Gazzy was finishing up some bombing video game, and Angel was talking softly to her dog, Total.
Iggy's parents arrived early, as always.
"Sorry, we're a bit early, Val." Said Iggy's mom as she hugged Dr. Martinez.
"Oh, it's no problem. Come on in," Dr. Martinez said, overly-happily. Max fought the urge to gag at the pleasantries as Iggy stepped out from behind his parents.
"Hey Iggy," Ella called as she bounced over, grabbing his hand and kissing him quickly on the cheek. Dr. Martinez had asked her to "try to keep it G-rated" around their guests. She grinned at at the adults and said to Iggy, "Come sit with us. She pulled Iggy over to the "tech corner", as they called it. The T.V., video game systems and fancy Apple computers all resided in the living room.
"Hey Ig," Max said tiredly. She did not want to be at the party.
"Max?"
"I'm right next to you." She said, bringing his hand up to feel her face.
"Right, sorry. All the talking and I can't tell where anything is."
"But we won't let you get lost," Ella said, cuddling into his side. "Guess what?"
"What?"
"The new guy's coming. You know- the one that you said Max ran over?"
"I did not run over him!" Max interrupted angrily.
"Oh, yeah?" Iggy taunted.
"Yeah. I almost ran over him. There's a difference."
Gazzy overheard her and sat down next to his older sister. "Not a very big one. Hey, Ig."
"Gaz. How's eight grade?"
"Too much work. How's junior year?"
"Ditto."
Max laughed as the doorbell rang again, and she jumped up to get it.
She opened the door to the most fake-looking woman she had ever seen. She supposed she was trying to look like your typical working mom, but was failing at it dreadfully. Her thin, light brown hair was pulled back into a bun and her business suit only made her look like a secretary. Next to her stood a tall African-American girl with curly hair. She seemed uncomfortable with the hand that the woman had on her shoulder. Behind them was the boy in black that Max had almost run over. Nick and Monique. The woman must be Anne Walker.
"Hey, honey." Anne Walker said, smiling too cheerfully at Max. "You must be Angel. Do you know where Mrs. Martinez is?"
Max was shocked. She's been confused with Ella before, but Angel? Angel was 5 years younger than her and bright blonde. Besides, her mom was a vet, not Mrs. Martinez-she wasn't even married!
Max swallowed the rude comment she was about to make and smiled fakely. "My mom, Dr. Martinez, will be here in just a sec. By the way, I'm Max, not Angel." Max stuck out her hand, and Anne Walker shook it weakly.
Suddenly she heard her mother's voice behind her. "Anne! I'm so glad you could make it!" and her mother opened the door wider, letting the Walkers in.
"Valencia, it is our pleasure." Anne said sweetly. "You don't know my lovely children, do you? This is Nick," she said, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. He seemed extremely uncomfortable and stepped forward nonchalantly, shaking it off.
"Hey." He said.
Anne looked at him sourly, obviously wishing he would say more. Her wish was rewarded when she introduced the girl named Monique.
"Gosh, Dr. Martinez, you've got a beautiful house." Monique gushed. "It's really pretty, and big-not big, really, more like, like-spacious. I bet it looks so pretty in the winter, when it gets all covered in snow, it could probably be on the front of a card, or-" Nick lightly laid a hand on Monique's shoulder, and she seemed to realize she was rambling. She swallowed, and said quieter. "Thanks for having us over, Dr. M."
Max's mom smiled down at her. "You're welcome, all of you. Monique, I'm sure Angel and Gazzy would love to give you the grand tour of our house." At this Angel came over and grabbed the older girl's hand, pulling her away. "And Nick, you can talk with Max, Ella, and Iggy. The food's almost ready-Anne, you must come into the other room and meet the Griffiths!"
Max once again admired her mother for handling awkward situations so well-she'd never be able to do that. She walked over to her sister and Iggy with Nick on her heels, and it seemed to be up to her to introduce him.
"Um, I'm sure you remember me, but this is my little sister Ella-" Ella shot a glare toward Max before smiling at Nick "-and her boyfriend Iggy."
Nick went to shake his hand and Iggy didn't respond. "Oh, forgot to mention he's blind." Ella said. "He can only really see colors."
"And thanks for talking about me like I'm not in the room," Iggy grumbled.
Nick sat down. "Seriously, though. Your name is Iggy?"
"That's not really his name," Ella giggled. "It's really James Jeffery Griffiths, but he hates it, so we just call him Iggy."
"Don't ask how we got that name, the story's too long." Max cut in. "It's from when we were really little, anyways."
"Iggy, then." Nick said. "And sorry about N- about my sister rambling on like that. She tends to talk a lot when she gets nervous."
"That's okay." Max said. "Sometimes we can't shut Angel and Gazzy up either."
"Gazzy? Angel?" Nick raised an eyebrow.
"Um, yeah. Our names are kind of…weird." Max trailed off.
"Except for mine," Ella pointed out. "I'm the normal one."
"Sure you are." Max rolled her eyes. "My name- it's actually Maximum. But I prefer Max, y'know? Much simpler. And Angel's really Angeline, but we shortened it, 'cause she looks kind of like an angel. Gazzy's real name is Michael but you don't want to know how he got that nickname."
"I'm sure he'll find out soon enough." Iggy said, laughing. "It can be disgusting."
Nick made an disgusted face. "Um, lovely."
Ella laughed. "Not really, actually."
"But they look- no offense- nothing like you two." Nick said, nodding to Max and Ella.
"They're adopted. They were in foster care but Mom adopted them like 5 years ago." Max told him. "You're adopted too, right?"
"Yeah." Nick seemed uncomfortable, and while Max was desperate to know more, she didn't want to make him feel totally uncomfortable. He was their guest, after all.
"That's cool." Iggy said. "I mean, I wish I had siblings." He sighed. "Luckily I've lived down the street from the Martinez's my whole life- nothing is boring with these two around." He laughed again, pulling Ella close and kissing her quickly. Nick laughed too, but his eyes were trained on Max.
"Dinner!" Dr. Martinez called, and they all went into the kitchen.
Disclaimer: I'm not a guy, and I don't live in Florida…conclusion: I'm not JP and I don't own MR. My wonderful, amazing, not-quite-developed plot is all mine, though.
A/N: 8 reviews! I've never gotten 8 reviews for just the first chapter of a story before-this is awesome! And Story Alerts, and Favorites- thanks so much! I'm glad you guys like this, and here's chapter two-I hope it's okay. Updates won't be as quick once school starts, just so you know, but reviews make me update quicker! Special thanks to Arin Blaire for beta-reading too.
Interesting question: flaming carebears asked if Max and the others were mutants too. Answer: you'll have to wait and find out! But this story isn't just going to be their high school drama, I promise you that. –rowena
Anonymous Review Replys:
)( *wings )( -thanks! And see, I updated! –rowena
AmY ! – glad you like it so far, hope this chapter is good too! See, I updated! -rowena