A/N: My apology for the long wait: I AM SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! YOU DIDN'T DESERVE TO WAIT THIS LONG FOR THE UPDATE! I HAD A MAJOR CASE OF WRITER'S BLOCK! I'M REALLY GUILY… :(
Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or Twilight. The End.
Chapter Eight—BPOV
"Ugh," I moaned, rubbing the sleep from my vision, sitting in my truck that I had parked some ways in the woods.
Maybe I wouldn't go to school today…
I debated pros and cons of going but couldn't seem to remember one important fact: what day of the week it was.
What day of the week was it really?
Well, that meant I didn't have to go, didn't it? Besides, education, pssssh, who cared about that? Oh yeah, truancy officers.
I had been in one school for the past three years and all it had taught me was pain.
I could do without that lesson, thanks very much, Ari.
So I stretched my back like a cat would—except for the, you know, wings I had—yawned, and decided I wouldn't go.
Maybe it was a weekend anyway.
Whoa—how sad was it that I didn't know the day of the week?
I mean, you had to make exceptions, I was being chased across the country by wolf mutants that wanted to take me back to the School. I wasn't sure how much longer I could go on.
I was on my own, no Flock, no friends—the Cullens were definitely not my friends, by the way—
And speaking of the Cullens, I needed to pack up and get out of here. Hadn't I told them I would be going soon?
It wasn't like I had much to pack anyway, I thought as I rolled my parka up and tucked it under my arm.
The slits in my t-shirt enabled my wings to stretch—no one came into the woods at around 8:00 AM anyway.
I took a few things from the truck , the little money I had left, an extra t-shirt, and that was about it.
I laced up my sneakers tightly—who knew if I would need to run soon?—threw my hair up into a pony-tail, and sighed.
If I wasn't going to school today, then I might as well leave town, right? I had no need to stick around.
Though, I was really going to miss my truck. It was red and rusty, probably ages old, but I could listen to the radio and drive to school like a normal kid.
Oh well.
I stretched my wings out again experimentally, seeing if I could just fly right out of here.
I could.
I took a deep breath, inhaling smoothly. I felt like an outlaw, no place to call home, or friends to care for anymore, always on the run.
I felt a little spark of anger at the Flock—I had thought they would rescue me, but they hadn't. I was used to it by now though, I had no prince on a white horse, I had only myself.
So, I exhaled, leaned forward on the balls of my feet, and lifted up into the—
"Wait!" I heard a shout.
Whoa, whoa, whoa—rewind.
A shout. Which meant someone saw me.
I landed on the ground in shock, but luckily on my feet.
All of the Cullens stood in front of me. Or every Cullen except for Esme and Carlisle, I realized, looking over their group.
"You're leaving?" Alice gasped, an almost betrayed look in her eyes. "I thought you weren't planning to leave for a while."
"Well," I shrugged, unable to think of a good answer.
"Is that all you have to say? 'Well'?" she retorted.
"Alice, leave the poor girl alone," Edward interrupted, a light gleam in his gold eyes. He seemed to be perfectly happy but there was a melancholy air around him.
I frowned unconsciously and then wondered why.
"So?" Rosalie prompted.
"What?" I asked, my mind a bit befuddled.
"You're leaving," Alice repeated.
"Yeah," I said bluntly.
"Why?" Jasper asked, a curious light shining through his voice.
"Forks is just another town," I told them. "I mean, I probably managed to find one of the few towns where a family of vampires live, but I need to move again."
"For what purpose?" Edward asked.
Are we playing 20 questions or something?
But I answered anyway. "You know, I have people out to kill or capture me. They can't find me if I move around a lot."
I paused, and then continued. "Actually, scratch that. They can probably find me regardless. But it helps."
"Out to kill you?" his voice was rough now, but just as melodic.
I glared at him, a feat hard to do with his angelic features. "Enough with the questions."
Alice interrupted our little argument. "Don't leave."
For a second, just a second, I considered staying. No one had asked to me to stay before. No one had bothered.
But my bitter, practical side whispered that I couldn't leave all my troubles by staying—in fact, my troubles would just grow. And I couldn't allow the School to find out that vampires existed.
"Sorry," I muttered eventually, somehow ashamed of my answer. "I can't."
"You can't or you won't?" Rosalie bit off.
Did she actually want me to stay?
I wavered at her question, but finally answered truthfully. "I won't."
"Why?" Alice asked. "You can stay here—maybe even have fun. It would be peaceful."
I wanted to snort, peaceful? What world did she live in?
"Look," I said after some thought, "I'm not leaving because of you. I just can't stick around. That's usually how it is with outlaws and such."
"You're an outlaw?" There was an air of disbelief and laughter in Rosalie's voice.
"No," I said defensively. "I don't even exist to the government on a certain level so how could I get in trouble with the law?"
Crap. Another thing I spilled that I wasn't supposed to.
"You don't exist to the government?" Edward asked, staring through me.
I pretended to look at an imaginary watch on my wrist and tapped my feet. "Well, look at the time. I really need to be going."
For a second, it was silent as I stood facing them.
Alice smiled sadly. "You really are leaving, aren't you?"
I had been about to reply to her question when, from above in the sky, I heard the sound of mechanical voices and saw the red of robot eyes.
"We will kill you," the robots said in unison.
Whoa…
Oh, since Erasers won't cut it, they send flying robots?
Great. I'm honored. Truly.
A/N: Flyboys enter the picture! Dun dun dun…
And, OHMYGOD, I amSO sorry! I stink at updating and I had a major case of writer's block. If you want the long, rant version of my apology, look at the top A/N.
Review if you forgive me for the long wait? Please, I want to hear your thoughts.