AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hell to the o.

Okay, let me start off by saying how sorry I am about the length of time it took for me to update. I actually started writing this chapter a lot earlier but my thumb-drive lost a battle with my washing-machine so I had to start all over again. But from now on, hopefully, I'm going to update a lot faster, especially since I'm inspired by all the pretty graphics that Microsoft 2010 Beta has.

Anyway, thanks for all the awesome, incredible, pick-your-superlative-of-choice reviews, SIX so far. As you probably guessed, I'm freakin' happy that I even managed to get over five reviews, (although two came from the same person, so really it's five), therefore I decided to get started earlier to hopefully finish it earlier! Unfortunately, that didn't really work out, did it?

By the way, just in case you didn't know, this story is set after Max because I haven't read Fang yet, (I know, *sad face*). I have heard a little something-something about Dylan and I think it's an absolutely WUNDERFUL idea, XD.

Enjoy!

Wishing you a giant 'SORRY' cookie,

~ILQX~

SUMMARY:

Maximum Ride and her merry band of winged mutants are here to save the world... again. Of course, they have to save the world AND receive an education, while dealing with the love triangle between Max, Fang and Iggy and maybe... someone else? Fax/ Miggy.


DISCLAIMER:

Please note, dearest reader, that I don't own anything besides the plot of "My Merry Band of Winged Mutants" and my keyboard. Okay, not even my keyboard, but whatever. You have James Patterson to thank for Maximum Ride and all the books before this story.


WARNING:

This chapter's filled with sunshine and rainbows, nothing explicit so feel free to read if you're above 13. Other chapters might not be as happy though.


Maximum Ride's Point Of View

I love my wings.

Seriously. They're so much better than say, an arm or a leg. For one, they're much more attractive. My lovely, lovely wings are covered in shiny brown feathers a shade lighter than my hair and they're streaked with black, white and brown feathers, which I have to say, look mighty badass. They could totally kick an arm's butt into the middle of next week.

Did I mention how much I adore flying? The feeling of the muscles in my wings working together to get my wings to beat in perfect synchrony is just insert-your-superlative-of-choice amazing. It's like stretching a whole new set of muscles you never knew could stretch! But less painful and more natural than that sounds.

Flying rocks but it's the destination of this flight that's got me all twitchy and bothered. Yes, you've guessed it; we're currently en route to this "Day and Night" school of Jeb's that he's been trying to shove down our throats for the past oh, two freakin' months or so. Nudge joined the Jeb bandwagon pretty early on and roped just about everyone in except for Iggy and me. Thank whatever god there is up there that someone has a teeny vestige of sense around here besides me. Unfortunately, contrary to popular belief, majority rules and here we were, flying to the "Day and Night School". Excuse me but who the hell names a school after the oh-so-interesting cycle of Day and Night.

Why flying, some of you might ask. Well, newsflash, I come with wings. There is no optional Max without wings; it's just Max with wings. Heck, the name Max is practically synonymous with wings. There should be a picture of me in the dictionary under the word 'wings'. As I was saying, taking any old ordinary car or bus just won't cut it for me after the joy of flight. Unfortunately, flying now poses the risk of being shot down by lurking snipers, especially after royally pissing off Mr. Chu by destroying his multi-million dollar underwater facility with… well, the body snot of a genetic mutant the size of a 747. But that's a story for another day.

Out of habit, I did a quick 360° to ensure that all your favourite bird-kids were flying alongside me with all the necessary limbs present, correct and not peppered with bullet holes, courtesy of the squad of snipers that might be lurking on the ground beneath us.

Nudge; check. Being the little fashion guru that we know and love, she had gone all out to transform herself into Prep School Barbie. I was still pissed with her for plotting against me but she looked so innocent cruising on a thermal, her usually overworked motor-mouth at peace for once, that I nearly forgave her right there and then. But I was still bothered by her behavior lately. It wasn't just the rapid increase in evil levels; she was starting to rebel against me. Before, she was a really sweet kid who agreed with everything I said. Now, she was starting to develop a mind of her own and being the control freak that I am, I was getting slightly freaked out. The way she looked at Iggy and Fang bothered me too; it was beyond her usual hero-worshipping gaze. It was something… else. Hopefully, it was another phase that she would grow out of.

Gazzy; check. The little twerp was causing major air pollution by releasing cloud after cloud of noxious green gas that, I swear, formed a mushroom cloud. My lungs will never quite recover from this fatal blow. Despite his gas-related shenanigans, he was the least worrying of all the flock members, apart from the occasional spot of trouble he gets into with Iggy for setting off yet another of his pyromaniac experiments.

Iggy; check. He was still flying next to me, but sometimes, I swear it was like he was in another world of his own. He's my best friend next to Fang and he's always been one of the constants in my not-so-constant life that involved running from one place to another to escape the School. He was the wise-cracking, sexist-pig of a bomb-making chef who had a softer side that not many people get to see. I was hoping Ella would be able to further bring out that side in him but she was 700km away in Arizona. Something else was bothering me about Iggy though. It was weird, but lately, I could feel his sightless, clouded eyes burning into me constantly. Whenever we accidentally brushed against each other, his touch would linger and my nerve-endings would begin to tingle. I'm completely and utterly dedicated to Fang, but I wouldn't be the first girl to admit that Iggy was good-looking, a little hot even.

Angel; check. She was definitely topping my list of concerns at the moment. Although she was the very picture of innocence sleeping in Fang's arms, what with her wind-blown blonde curls and pure-white wings, I wasn't falling for it. Something was brewing under her perfect façade, and being the persistent little bugger that you know and love, I was going to get to the bottom of it, whether it killed me or not.

Fang; check. He was yet another worry that was causing the faint creases in my forehead. Whenever I laughed at one of Iggy's wisecracks or made him hold the belt-loop of jeans so he could find his way around without falling over everything, I noticed that Fang was looking at us strangely. He didn't say anything but those dark, fluid eyes of his were full of something that I couldn't quite decipher. I would get it out of him eventually. After all, I had methods of persuasion at my disposal that even Mr. Rock wouldn't be able to resist.

Anyway, all the flock members were present. All except one… Total. I still found myself freaking out and counting again on my fingers, trying tocome up with six instead of five, even though he had been gone for at least a month already. He was off planning his fairy-tale wedding to Akila, which in my opinion was a little late, considering that "Timmy was already in the well". I was permanently traumatised from his little declaration and I probably would never stop cringing whenever I drank Fanta but despite all the money I would have to invest in therapy to keep myself mentally sane, I still missed his furry little butt. He was the life and soul of the flock and it pained me that-

"OMGOMGOMG. Angel, wake up! We're here. I have to show you guys the campus, it's so cool and even though we're probably going to be in different classes, we're still going to eat lunch together right?" Thankfully, Lil Miss Motor mouth interrupted the train of my thoughts before I dissolved into the sappy puddle formerly known as Max.

I looked down to see that Nudge was right. The dusty pastels of the Day and Night School were almost invisible in the sand dunes of the desert but sure enough, it was there. And with my awesome raptor vision, I could just about make out the faces of Ms. Hamilton, the fairly harmless lady who had briefed us the last time, and Jeb beaming at us while shielding their eyes from the strong desert sun.

Showtime.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Again, this chapter isn't quite up to standard but I'm still rusty from not writing for so long. I promise to do my best to have the next chapter up by tomorrow. It depends on how much homework I have left to do though. Please R&R :D

Thank you for reading,

~ILQX~