3 chapters in one day! I'm trying to make up for disappearing for so long

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any of James Patterson's other characters.
Flock: What? Now we're the other characters? You know what? We don't have to take this! –storm off-
Me: You'll be back!

Chapter 7

MAX POV

I woke up to the sound of my annoying alarm. I have an alarm clock! How cool is that? I even found one of Mickey Mouse that looked like the one I had at the E-shaped house. I winced at the thought. I still don't like thinking about our past. I got up and put my outfit on. I had a cool pair of new faded red skinny jeans, a black shirt with a red skull wrapped in silver chains on it, and a black vest that I had unzipped. The vest had a bright red heart with cool silver wings on the back. I put on my belt that was pretty much just a silver chain that I could probably use as a weapon if I needed to. I pulled on some socks and my black converse with little skulls that had red bows on them.

While rummaging through all the clothes at the mall the other day I developed my own sense of style and I have to say all my clothes are pretty badass. Even Nudge thought so though she said that it fit me. My mom said that I might be mistaken as emo or Goth but Angel and Nudge went on saying how there was line between emo/Goth and hardcore and that I was on the hardcore side. Whatever that means in the end my mom agreed.

The best part of shopping was when my mom took us to a Best Buy and bought us each an iPod. Fang, Iggy, and I each got an iPod touch since we were the oldest and Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel got iPod nanos that record. Nudge got a hot pink one, Angel got a cool blue one, and Gazzy got a golden one. I got a black and red case for my iTouch and black headphones with these cool red skulls on the ear buds. We older kids got a second pair of headphones because we don't like the lame white ones that come with the iPod. They have good sound quality but they're too dull. Fang got a case with varying shades of black and earphones with the black and silver wires wrapping around each other. Iggy got a case that had flames and red earphones that literally looked like they were on fire. We also got screen protectors.

Well back to what I was currently doing. Before going downstairs I grabbed my iPod and put it in the nifty inside pocket my vest had. It also had a secret lining along the edges for my earphones so I could listen to music without anyone noticing. After readjusting my vest I went downstairs for breakfast. I had showered last night because I can't stand going to sleep all dirty. We can now shower daily so I take advantage of that fact.

"Morning guys" I said to my flock.

Everyone looked up at me and their eyes got a bit wider. Iggy's mouth was slightly agape so I went over to him and closed it for him. This snapped everyone out of it and Fang cleared his throat. I smirked at him and he looked away paying very close attention to his breakfast.

"Wow Max! You look great, like totally hot! I knew you wou-"started Nudge but I sent her a look before she started rambling.

"Uhh Thanks Nudge" I said unsure of what to do.

"Yeah Max you look really pretty! You could totally be a model" said my baby.

"Thanks Angel" I replied walking over to her. She gave me a hug.

"Igs if you're done drooling over that picture of me that Angel sent you, could I have my breakfast? I'm starving." I told him.

"Here' he said blushing scarlet.

We ate breakfast while discussing the rules for school. No mind controlling, always keep your wings invisible, no stink bombs, etc. When we were done we got up and went to the car where my mom was waiting. The ride to the school was silent as we all thought about the upcoming event with different levels of enthusiasm. In the distance we saw this building surrounded by tall kids entering the building in small groups. Fang, Iggy, and I were in high school. Our school was closer to the house.

"Well guys, here we go" I said to my flock as the three of us got out. "See you later kids, bye mom."

"Have fun!" gushed my mom as she backed out of the parking lot.

We turned and looked at the building looming high over us. Here we go.

FANG POV

When Max came downstairs in that outfit I lost sight of everything else, all I saw was her. She looked amazing. I don't know how long we sat there staring at her but I snapped out of it when she closed Iggy's open mouth. I cleared my throat and looked intently at my breakfast after she smirked at me. Stupid teenage hormones. I kept stealing glances at her all throughout breakfast and on the way to school.

We got out of the car and walked up to the menacing building, ok it wasn't menacing but I was bit nervous. I mean, last time we tried this I messed it up by kissing that girl… Lissa I think? Whatever, that doesn't matter anymore because I had decided not to ever do anything stupid like that again. Max had been pretty ticked off. Then I remembered that guy from the pool. She had liked him so why shouldn't I talk to other people? I knew the answer to that right away but I wouldn't say it. I can't even admit it to myself let alone her. Let's just see what happens, I'll give it some time.

We walked around looking for the principal's office to get our schedules. Iggy had his arm slung over Max's shoulders and I was walking beside her with my hands in my pockets. Let's look at that picture, shall we? Iggy likes Max? Let me explain the whole arm over shoulder thing. Well, Iggy has always looked up to Max and felt that he should finally man up and help with the kids. He has always acted immature because he felt that he couldn't take up big responsibilities because of his blindness. He has always cared for Max and is taking the role of the responsible older brother. Even though Max was like a mom for the kids, now that we live with Dr. M she can now just be a semi-normal teenager. Max doesn't mind the new Iggy but even though now he is more mature, he still remains the lovable pervert of the family.

Max laughed at something Iggy said and I instantly felt better. Her laugh had this influence over me, I would have smiled but I'm Mr. Emotionless remember? That good feeling ended when we walked into the office. Guess who was there talking to the secretary? If you guessed that guy from the pool you win…. Nothing! But you were right. He looked over at me and our eyes connected I saw something in his eyes that made me uncomfortable. It looked like, pain. As if he had been through a lot. Things almost as bad as what we went through, and that's pretty bad considering we grew up in cages and stuff. He looked away and saw Max. He instantly smiled until he saw Iggy's arm. His smile turned into a puzzled expression but resumed talking to the lady. She handed him some paper and he went out the door but not before taking one more look at us or more specifically, Max. There goes that bad feeling in the bottom of my stomach again.

Max was too busy talking to Iggy so she didn't notice him. I decided to end this and cleared my throat. Max looked up at me and I told her to get what we had come for, you know with my eyes. What can I say? I'm a complicated guy. Max walked over to the front desk removing Iggy's arm and asked the same lady that guy was talking to and asked for our schedules.

"What are your names?" she asked without looking up from the computer.

"I'm Maximum Ride but I prefer Max and these are my brothers, Nick and Jeff" replied Max.

"Same last name?" she asked. Peggy said her name tag. Really?

"Umm yes, of course" said Max startled by her question. She did say we were her brothers.

"Here are your schedules, you three have pretty much the same schedules because you're siblings" she said looking up for the first time and handed us our schedules.

"Thanks, nice to meet you Peggy" said Iggy flashing her a smile as we walked out the door.

I think she almost had a heart attack. I mean yeah Igster was really good-looking and all but he's like 40 years younger than her. Gross, there's a creepy old lady in this school. I looked down at my schedule. I guess we're heading to homeroom with Ms. Rees. She also teaches History. We walk in and everybody turns to look at us. We all smirk at their expressions and take a seat in the back of the room. I can feel the eyes of half of the girls in this class looking me over; the other half is checking Iggy out. Of course all the guys are undressing Max with their eyes so Iggy and I stand up and take the seats surrounding her, hiding her from everyone else. She glares at me but says nothing. A shiver runs down my spine even though this is not her famous death glare.

Iggy leans toward me and says, "Yo Fang, I know how we can help save the Earth."

Intrigued by his comment I ask, "How?"

Smirking, he replies "We take away all of Ms. Rees' hairspray, I mean look at it, her hair I mean; it's not moving at all!"

Chuckling I sit back in my seat, unfortunately Iggy has a point. That woman is the cause of air pollution. I hear a giggle and look at Max. Her giggle is more like a chuckle. She obviously heard Iggy. She winks at me and stands up. I have no idea what she's about to do so I ask her.

"Just watch" she says.

Iggy shoots me a puzzled look and I just shrug. Seeing that I don't know what's happening either he turns back and looks after Max. What? Fang did you just say that Iggy looked at Max, you ask. Why yes strange reader, I did. First of all, the walls in this room are completely white. If you don't get that, then read the books but I'll go ahead and explain. Iggy can faintly see if there is a white background, we discovered this when we were in an effing cold tundra. Yeah, in Antarctica but that is not how he can see. Aside from that nifty power, he has also developed this kind of second sense, it's actually really cool. He got into meditating recently and found out that he has the power to see stuff if he concentrates and uses his mind's eye. So he has a second sight which he says is almost better than actual vision. He can make this comparison because, people, Iggy wasn't always blind and he actually remembers seeing. So after he got second sight, he came up with the whole being responsible thing so he is no longer handicapped. The flock is completely whole now. Max's voice brought me back to reality.

"Good morning Ms. Rees. My name is Maximum Ride but I go by Max. My brothers are sitting in the back. The one with dark hair is F-Nick and the strawberry blonde is Jeff. We're new here and I wanted to ask you a question" Max said sweetly. Sweetly?

"Ah yes, I was told of your arrival and figured you'd settle in eventually" What? Well she seems to care a lot now doesn't she? "Max, Nick, and Jeff am I right?" she asked.

"Yes" Max said, irritated at her attitude probably.

"So what was your question Maxine?" Ms. Rees retorted. Nobody but Iggy and me was paying attention to what was happening. They were all too absorbed in their own conversations.

"It's Max" she said bitterly. "I was wondering if you could tell me how air pollution is caused" she continued.

"I'm not a science teacher but air pollution is caused by spraying harmful chemicals into the air. This has torn a hole in the ozone layer." Ms. Rees said slowly. I think she was starting to suspect something was up.

"Like hair spray?" Max pressed. I was starting to catch on and accidently snorted. Iggy started laughing out loud and everyone turned to look at us. Ms. Rees had finally figured out what was going on but before she could say anything, Max said thank you and ran back to her seat.

Iggy and I were trying our best to stay quiet but we were failing. We were obviously laughing at something while Max just sat there smiling. Then the bell rang and we headed to our next class.

"You are so evil" Iggy managed to get out in between the laughing fits. I nodded in agreement.

"Oh, come on. She is such a witch and totally deserved that. Good thing we don't have History with her, which is where we are heading right now. We have a Mr. Huff" explained Max.

We walked in and guess who was there. I think the world hates me because standing at the front of the class was that guy from the pool.

Cliffie!

I also want to take the time to thank Lawmpy, formerly known as Maximum Daemon of Half-Bloods. Your criticism really helped me and I am truly grateful, though I know I have a lot to improve. I never answered your question by the way. I don't have a beta reader. I honestly don't know what that is!