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On with chapter 10. ENJOY!
Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. All rights to publish Maximum Ride remain with JP.
We had been at Dr. M's for about two weeks and I loved every minute of not being on the run and sleeping in a comfortable bed. Everyday Ella, Nudge and Angel would pick out my clothes and do my hair and makeup. I usually hated whatever they put me in but I dealt with it to make them happy.
I had grown extremely close with the Flock and I finally felt I was starting to fit in. The only problems were that Max still did not trust me and I was extremely confused about Iggy. Other than that, I had a connection with each member of the family.
Ella and I were the same age so she spent her time introducing me to music and we spent tons of time listening to it in her room and talking about the people in her class. I was the only one who could listen to Nudge speak and be able to answer all of her questions so when she wasn't giving me a makeover with the rest of the girls I would listen to her chatter. Angel was adorable and I would watch cartoons with her so she wasn't alone when no one else wanted to sit with her and watch the boring cartoons that she liked. She didn't like the fact that I was now able to block most of my thoughts from her but; she understood my want for privacy.
Iggy and Gazzy took a liking to me instantly and I would help them with their bombs. Other than building bombs with Iggy when the Gasman was around, I tried to never be in a room with him alone because I wouldn't know what to say. I hadn't been up to the roof at all since the first night when he came to talk to me. As for Fang the two of us got along fine and we would spend time talking to each other to find out more about each other. I was currently reading his blog and he was reading mine. I was beginning to think Max was a lost cause and she would never like me but each member of the Flock assured me she would come around. Total liked me because Angel liked me and because I liked dogs and would pet him when Angel was not around.
I had told Dr. M what I wanted my room to look like and she once again promised it would be ready the next time we visited. The walls were going to be black with silver stars painted everywhere. The biggest wall was going to have a crescent moon painted on it in light blue as well.
Today, Nudge, Angel and Ella had agreed that I could dress myself so I ditched the makeup, put my hair in a ponytail and threw on a pair of black shorts and a dark green tank top considering it was nearly 100 degrees today in Arizona. I walked downstairs to find everyone already seated except for the younger kids who were running down the stairs behind me.
I sat down and covered my ears as Nudge screamed, "I let you dress yourself for one day and that is what you choose to wear!"
"Yes," I replied bluntly to Nudge's outburst. As you can see, I am not a talkative person.
Nudge starred at me wit her mouth open "First thing tomorrow morning you are getting back in that chair and letting us, " she gestured toward herself, Angel and Ella "make you look awesome and fashionable, understood."
"Fine," I grumbled. I know I agreed to let them do this because it made them happy but it didn't mean I had to like it. Gazzy was holding back laughs at my expression, Fang was smirking and Iggy was asking Gazzy to tell him what I was wearing that caused Nudge to be mad.
"Why do you let them dress you if you don't like it?" Max asked me.
I was stunned that she was talking to me so it took a while for me to answer. I shrugged "It makes them happy," I replied simply.
A moment of silence followed which was ruined by the Gasman showing why he got his name. His laughter filled the kitchen while the rest of us started gagging.
"I was trying to eat," choked Max.
"Ew," that was so disgusting Gazzy how can you think its funny, it stinks. I would hate being able to do that can't you smell it. Why couldn't you wait until after breakfast I'm hungry but now it smells and", someone's hand cut off the rest of Nudge's rambling.
"That was nasty," coughed Angel and Total.
I shook my hand and got up from the table leaving the smell behind. I walked outside to the backyard and sat on the porch with my wings out thinking about Iggy. Every time I was around him, I had to hold back from looking at him longer than I looked at everyone else so no one got suspicious. I felt like I wanted to talk to him but I never talked to anyone it was always one word answers or gestures so that no one knew what I was thinking.
The emotions I was feeling I had no name for. I always hid my emotions and never thought about what they could mean. It was easier to hide them away then dealing with them because getting close to people and letting them know what you were feeling gave you weaknesses.
Part of me always wondered what would have happened if the School had gotten their way and purged me of all emotion. They wanted me to be the ultimate weapon a photographic memory to remember anything, training in every form of combat and no emotions making me a cold-hearted killer. They succeeded in training me and giving me countless information and skills to remember but they had failed to get rid of my emotions. However, I was still too useful to be terminated so they still planned to use me as their assassin but I escaped before they could.
I sighed and turned my head I was so caught up in my thoughts and memories that I hadn't noticed Iggy sitting next to me.
"Thinking again," he asked looking at me. I would never know how he was able to tell where my face was.
"Yeah," I said starring at him finding myself drawn to his cloudy blue eyes. His gaze was so piercing that I had to look away and focus my attention on the bright blue sky above us.
"Do you want to talk about it," he asked. I turned my gaze back to his face and found that he only wanted to help and had no intention of relaying all of the information I gave him back to Max.
"Um, not really," I said, "I was thinking about the School so it's kind of personal." There I was again telling him more than I would have told anyone else. If someone else had asked me, I would have given them a simple no.
"I understand," he replied.
I looked at his eyes and felt extreme pity for him and his condition but I didn't show it.
"What happened Iggy," I asked quietly. Suddenly realizing what I asked I said, "You don't have to answer that. I'm sorry."
"No it's okay. I suppose you should know since your one of us now." He took a shuddering breath to prepare himself and continued. "The whitecoats wanted to improve my night vision but the operation went wrong and I was blind when I woke up."
I stared at him and before my brain even registered what I was doing, I put my hand on his shoulder to comfort him. He looked up at me and smiled.
"The worst part of being blind in my case is that I wasn't always blind. I remember what it was like to see so I know what I am missing. People who are born blind never know what they can't see so they don't know how great it is to see and it isn't as bad."
I squeezed his shoulder and tried to ignore the funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was confused at my actions and why my heart beat faster while I sat with Iggy.
"Thanks Ember," he said looking at me with the same emotion he had that night on the roof that I had no name for.
"You're the first person I told that to without giving me some form of pity. I don't like when people pity me because of my blindness. You didn't you just sat and listened which is what I needed."
"No problem," I said awkwardly.
"I know you normally don't like talking to people about things but, if you ever need someone to listen just ask," he said as he stood up.
"The others want to go see a movie with Dr. M since its her day off you coming."
"Sure," I replied back to my one-word answers since everyone else was coming out of the house.
We ended up seeing The Princess and the Frog for Angel because she had used Bambi eyes on us making us agree. I did not pay attention to the movie at all. I was sitting on the end next to Fang with my head turned to the aisle and resumed my thinking.
I was suspicious and edgy because the Erasers had not made a single move since we arrived at Dr. M's house. When we were exiting, the theater Fang put his hand on my shoulder and turned me to look at him telling the others that we would catch up.
"You okay," he asked. Since he hid his emotions just like me, I was able to see the slight softening of his eyes that told me he was worried.
"I'm fine," I replied with just as little as emotion as him but I knew he could see through my mask.
"You were staring at nothing through the entire movie, something is bugging you," he persisted.
I sighed and looked at him "I'm just paranoid because Erasers haven't showed up yet and it makes me think their planning something big."
He smirked at me "You sound like Max."
"Yeah, I guess." I said absently.
He dropped the subject but I knew he still thought there was something I wasn't telling him.
We caught up with the rest of the Flock in the food court. Max raised her eyebrow at Fang silently asking what happened but he shook his head telling her he would tell her later. I was suddenly hit with a pang of jealousy that they were so close and I wasn't with Fang.
Don't worry Ember, Angel said in my head, it took them awhile to be able to do that. You just met Fang and you can see past his mask, which is pretty impressive. Like I said before I could only block some of my thoughts from Angel.
Thanks Angel, I said back my good mood returning. She smiled at me letting me know she had heard.
We ate our food and left the mall. The whole Flock spent most of the afternoon flying to stretch our wings. While Dr. M was, cooking dinner with Ella Max suggested we practice our fighting moves just in case Erasers showed up. I looked at Fang and he nodded telling me that Max had decided to practice after he had told her about my worries.
I won't bore you with the details of our fighting matches lets just say that I beat Iggy and Fang when I was paired with them. The most interesting fight was between Max and me. We faced off and adrenaline was coursing through my veins I wouldn't let her beat me; I would win and take out my frustration on her.
The two of us were a flurry of punches and kicks and a few times, we took our fight to the air. All eyes were glued on us as we fought. Nudge and Angel whispered at how no one had ever lasted this long against Max, Gazzy told Iggy every detail of the fight and Fang watched expressionlessly. In one swift movement, I knocked Max's legs out from underneath her and pinned her to the ground. My arms held her legs and my foot was planted on her chest. She was breathing heavily and looked up at me her eyes widening at being defeated.
"You win," she seethed.
I let go of her and she stood up facing the rest of the Flock who were staring at me in wonder.
"Let's head back for dinner," she said calmly leading the way back to Dr. M's house. Dinner was oddly quiet and after words, I went straight to Ella's room instead of watching a movie with them. I changed into a t-shirt and shorts then laid on my back staring up at the ceiling.
I didn't know why Max hated me so much but me beating her today probably made her hate me more. She probably thought I had made her look weak in front of her flock but I wasn't going to let her win a fight either. I turned on my side with my back to Ella's bed and fell into a dreamless sleep hoping tomorrow would be better.
This is officially my longest chapter yet. The next chapter will have more action and a brother sister bonding moment between Fang and Ember.
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Till the next chapter!