Chapter 4- BFFs

The wind was whipping through my hair as I flew wildly for the finish line that was marked out by a rope between two trees. Iggy and I were neck and neck. I flapped my wings extra hard to beat him. I couldn't lose this bet. My extra effort payed off and I was pushed forward a couple of inches ahead of him. I hit the rope and it fell of the tree.

"Yes!" I exclaimed. Iggy stopped without the rope to stop him he had kept flying until he heard me.

"So I'm guessing you won?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yep and that means you have to do all the annoying jobs while cooking like peeling and chopping up vegetables."

"I can handle that." he grinned at me. It was quite eerie how he could tell where I was without seeing me. "Come on let's make the most of the nice afternoon, unless it's clouded over."

"Because it gets cloudy in Arizona" I said sarcastically "No it's still fine."

"Ok well you lead the way." I gave him a weird look which he of course didn't see. Why was he being so casual about losing? I pushed it too the back of my mind and we set off in search of a quiet park. After about ten minutes of looking I found a peaceful little forest clearing. I tapped the back of Iggy's hand.

"Found somewhere." I grabbed his hand to pull him down into the clearing. His skin was quite soft. When we landed I flopped down on the grass. Iggy sat down beside me.

"I wished I brought sunglasses." I mused

"You don't own sunglasses." Iggy quipped back

"True, but I could have taken yours."

"Cause we're BFFs and share everything?"

"Yeah, I mean not the share everything but the best friend thing." Iggy smiled

"I guess your right grasshopper even if it really cheesy."

"You're annoying did you know that."

"We're BFFs you have to put up with it."

"Shut up." he followed my request... for a few minutes.

"So did you know that flock has started to mutate?" Iggy asked

"No have you grown a third arm or something?"

"Nope, it's like powers and stuff."

"Oh that. I started mutating when I was four."

"Aren't you little miss ahead of the times? What can you do?"

"I've got a photographic memory and I'm like a lie detector."

"Aww crap so I can't ever lie to you and you'll remember everything I'll ever do."

"What are everyone else's powers/mutations?"

"Let's see, I can feel colour by touch and see things on a white background."

"That's so cool."

"Yeah it really helps, um Max has a voice in her head, it kind of guides her and gives her advice, and she can breathe underwater so can Fang and Angel. Fang can blend in with his surroundings and become almost invisible as long as he stays still. Nudge is magnetic and she can feel the past when she touches something it's really hard to explain. Gazzy can mimic any voice and he can fart gas."

"Ew that is disgusting."

"You're such a girl. Anyway Angel hit the jackpot or something she can read minds and control them and she can talk to fish. It's strange; she got a shark to stop attacking us."

"I knew she could read minds but I didn't know she could control them. I'll have to be careful from now on." There had been a question I had wanted to ask Iggy for a few days. Now felt like the right moment.

"Iggy, how did you become blind." His face went kind of stiff and stony. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. You don't have to tell me." I backtracked.

"No it's fine; it's just a tough subject for me to talk about." I reached over and put my hand on top of his in a comforting gesture. He shut his unseeing eyes and continued "When I was younger I was getting surgery to improve my night vision and something went wrong. That's all they told me." We sat in silence, unlike other silences I had sat through in the past few days it wasn't awkward.

"c'mon let's go back home." Iggy finally said. His voice sounded a little strained. I looked at him worriedly. He somehow sensed it.

"I'm fine. Let's go." He took off into the air, I followed him. It took us a few minutes to get back home. We landed on the grass.

"You know what, I can't be stuffed cooking tonight. Let's go out for dinner."

"With the whole flock?"

"No way have you watched them eat. Just you and me grasshopper."

"Awesome, shall we leave in say an hour."

"Sounds good." We walked into the house and into the lounge. I found max and fang making out aggressively on the couch.

"Get a room." I smirked

"Are they doing what I think they're doing?" Iggy asked

"Yep."

"I've got to get you out of here before it poisons your brain." He laughed and grabbed my arm. We bounced in to the kitchen laughing our heads off. I almost bumped into Angel and Nudge.

"Hey guys don't go in the lounge it's not for young eyes." Iggy grinned. Angel and Nudge each grabbed one of my arms and dragged me out of the room.

"Come with us." Angel said.

"Uh I don't think I have a choice." I muttered suspiciously

"It will help." Nudge encouraged.

"We know things." Angel added and pulled me into the bathroom. To make a long story short they put as much make up as possible on me, did something with my hair and put me into some unfamiliar dress but no dresses were really familiar to me. They appeared to be having some kind of secret mind conversation the entire time. After a while Nudge left the bathroom.

"The dress is a nice colour." Angel said thoughtfully.

"Um what are you dressing me up for?"

"Your dinner date with Iggy."

"It's not a date." I insisted.

"Sure sure..." She said off-handishly. What was she talking about things weren't like that between me and Iggy. It had never been and probably never would like that between me and anyone. That was just my life. Eventually she let me go. Iggy was waiting for me at the front door. He looked... good. It threw me off. I was speechless.

"Um you look nice." I blurted out when I finally found my voice.

"Thanks Nudge got to me. Not my choice" he said sheepishly. He opened the door and put an arm around me.

"She and Angel got to me too." Iggy put an arm around me his hand touched the sleeve of my dress.

"It's a nice pattern; your... what are you wearing?"

"Just a dress. Not my choice either."

"Of course not. So where do you want to get some food."

"Somewhere with a good burger." I supplied.

"I know just the place."

*~*~*~*

We ended up at a little burger bistro. There were a few people dotted around the tables. I had never been in a place like it before whenever I ate a burger it was at a chain restaurant. This place had a certain charm to it. We sat in a corner booth. The service was very fast and the burgers actually looked healthy. We had been talking about random stuff while we waited for our food. As I was chewing on my burger I thought back to what Angel had said. She had called it a dinner date; she could read minds what had she seen in both of our minds to make her think it was. Iggy seemed to be lost in thought too and we didn't talk well we ate. I heard one of the other patrons say

"Look at those cute kids in the booth. Do you think it's their first date? Do you remember our first date?" I tuned her out after that shoving my last piece of burger in my mouth. I gathered together the courage to ask the question that scared me more that any eraser, scientist or dog crate.

"Iggy is this a date?" I tried to keep my tone light and joking. Epic fail. Iggy blushed a hard red.

"no." He muttered. The red light went off in my head. he was lying. He picked up on his mistake.

"I just... I mean... when I'm with you it feels so... right. And I know you probably don't feel the same way but I can't help being so attracted to you." My cheeks were heating up. My heat was hammering. I wasn't sure how I felt about him. All I knew is that I always felt safe with him, he made me laugh and happy. Was that enough.

"Yes." Said a voice in my head. I sucked in a breath.

"Maybe I do feel the same way." I said softly. Iggy slid around the table to be next to me. hesitantly he wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me.