Alrighty. I'm back. It's boring here watching football at my grandparent's house, so I'm writing. :) And sorry if it sounds a little weird. I had a few ideas and maybe I'll just mix them together. So this may be a VERY long chapter.

ENJOY!

Disclaimer: JP owns (some of) the characters. I only own the plot.

I walked outside in the frigid air, and debated on whether I should try to fly or just walk. Walking could help me clear my head and straighten things out, but I should learn how to fly because I might not get the chance later. If I was an experiment, the School would want me back. They would test on me and maybe capture my friends, and I couldn't bear that happening to any of them. I watched my breath come out in white puffs in front of my face. I walked behind the house to our backyard, finally deciding on flying. We had a bare backyard, with a few trees surrounding it. Enough to give me a little privacy and make sure our neighbor didn't see me.

Standing in the middle of the clearing I extended my wings and shook them out. A few down feathers fell to the inch-tall dead grass. Moving the muscles in my wings, I practiced flapping, gaining speed quickly. I took a deep breath and backed up all the way to our house for some room, and started running. I sprinted to the trees, and about 5 feet away I jumped as high as I could, flapping my wings hard and fast. I took to the air and started climbing altitude, slowly but surely. I couldn't stop smiling. I felt so free and weightless, floating in the air like a balloon, almost. At some point I looked down, and my breath flew out of my chest. Everything looked like a little display they have of new buildings that are being built, the little miniature models with the plastic trees and toothpick houses. I forgot about flapping, and suddenly the air was rushing past me and I was dropping like a rock. My arms flailed as I tried to get some air under my wings, and finally they caught and I thought my wings were going to just rip out of my back. I wailed involuntarily, and was panting hard when I got control of my altitude. I let out a big puff of air, and it looked more like a snowball then fog. Then, I started laughing. I was flying, in the air, without anything but my wings and will to keep me from dropping to the earth and splatting like a bug. I mean, how many people can say that? Not that many, I'm guessing.

I started flying in the direction of the school, and I knew exactly where it was, without even looking at a map. It was like a compass implanted in my head, guiding me on which way I was going. Like a magnet was in the school, and it was drawing me towards it. Or, maybe it was Drew. No matter what, I had to talk to him. Despite how awkward it could be, after I ran away from him yesterday. I sighed.

After a few minutes I couldn't feel my toes. I had lost feeling in my fingers already, and I was afraid I would soon lose it in my wings too. I was going slowly as I was flying, because I still didn't really have it down. I flapped faster, and I picked up speed as the school came into view. I could see every little tree and every person walking on the street perfectly. It was like, raptor vision, or something. Maybe this could come in handy. I smiled.

As I approached the school I wondered how exactly I would land. There was a small forest on the back of the school, and I started descending slowly. I saw kids exiting down the stairs and flapped even harder, then had to slow down because I was passing the small grove. I did a U-turn and tucked my wings into my back and dove, not really knowing what I was doing, but something inside me was telling me what to do. I picked up speed and my eyes started to water; a mixture of the cold and the speed I was falling.

Something clicked in my brain, and I flung my wings out. I just barely missed a tree, and another branch scraped across my left wing. I hissed in pain and tried to slow down, almost hitting 3 other trees before I crashed down to the ground and tumbled into some thorn bushes, hissing "Ow-Ow-Ow" the entire way. I groaned and tried to sit up, finding I was stuck. I had barely managed to pull my wings in when I heard people talking and running. I think my hearing improved too, since I could hear every step the people took. I knew I didn't have any broken bones, a lot of scratches, and that I was going to be really sore in the morning.

"Hold on guys, let me check this out! I heard something in here, I know it!" I recognized the voice at once, and struggled to get out of the bushes I was tangled in. The footsteps got faster and louder, and branches moved and twigs cracked.

"Hello? Is anything in here?" Jaz asked, looking around wildly as she came near the group of trees by me. She was in her cheerleading outfit, probably on a break, and her dark brown hair was pulled back. She spotted me as soon as she looked over, and her eyes went wide as I finally got my arm out from under me and started untangling the bushes. "Max?! Is that you?" she helped me out of the bushes, and I kept my back away from her as I pulled my wings tightly into my jacket. "What happened? How did you get here?"

I grunted as I pulled some thorns from my arms and legs. "Ouch. Um, it's a long story, Jaz. Really hard to explain."

"Come on, Max. You can tell me anything, you know that." Her eyes were pleading, and I was tempted to tell here everything. She was really a good friend, and we had gotten close over the past few weeks. We laughed at all the preppy girls who cried if they broke a nail or their makeup smeared, talked about the cute guys, and every other thing there was to talk about. I told her everything, about my dad and what had happened, and all of the things we did.

"I can't tell you right now. I will tell you though." I promised her, and she sighed.

"Why can't you tell me right now?" she pressed. I pressed my lips together and sighed through my nose.

"I just can't. I will tell you. I need to talk to Drew first though. Are Drew, Nikki, Gerik, Ian, and Angel here still?" she helped me up and I stretched my sore legs, ignoring the tiny cuts.

"Yeah, the girls are still at cheerleading and the boys are at basketball tryouts. Why were you gone today? And what is it that you can't tell me?!" she was getting mad, and I felt bad because I was keeping this from her. It'd be better to tell everybody as a group though. But first I needed to find Drew.

"I'll tell you when I have everybody together, alright? It's really important. Meet me back in there in 15 minutes, okay? I'll explain then." I walked out of the forest, limping slightly. I had landed only a few trees away from the edge, which is probably why Jaz heard me.

Jaz sighed angrily. "Max! Come on!" she whined, following me.

"Sorry Jaz. It's really important thought. So meet me in the back with Nikki and Angel. Please?" she had her pouty face on, and she finally agreed by stomping off towards the cheerleaders. I sighed and hurried towards the gym.

I looked through the double doors that led into the gym, and saw a bunch of sweaty guys shooting baskets and having 1-on-1 games. I spotted Drew, Gerik, and Ian across the gym shooting baskets. They were shirtless, and obviously sweaty, but I couldn't help staring at them. They all had great bodies, especially Drew. He had a six-pack, and so did Ian. My mouth dropped open, and I thought I might drool. Then I realized what I was thinking and slammed my head against the door to get them out of my head, not thinking about the cut across my forehead and the giant thick metal door I slammed it against.

"Ow…" I rubbed my forehead, and some of the boys looked over at the door. Including Drew, Ian, and Gerik. "Oops." I whispered, and pushed open the door. I saw Drew's eyes widen considerably, and he looked down at his shirtless body as Gerik and Ian looked at each other and back at me. I bit my lip and kept my head down, not meeting anybody's eyes. Every eye was on me, and almost every guy was shirtless and sweaty. It smelled hot and stuffy in the gym, and I was already overheating.

"Hey! This is a closed practice, missy! Get out of here!" the coach, Mr. Horton, screamed at me, and I kept walking over to the 3 of them. Some basketballs started bouncing again, and everybody went back to what they were doing, except for 4.

"Well, well, well. Look who showed up." Ian joked, but I wasn't in the mood. After growing wings, almost falling to my death, and crashing through the trees, I wasn't too happy.

"I need to talk to you guys." I said. They were all taller than me, and I could tell they felt awkward standing there without any shirts on. Well, so did I. I carefully kept my eyes off their chests.

"Um, I think we can get out of here for a while. Let's ask coach." Gerik suggested, and motioned for Mr. Horton, but he was already on his way over here while staring at me hostily. I noticed that Drew was staring at me, and it was a little creepy.

"Hey, missy. I told you to scat. Why are you here, anyways?" he spat at me.

"I need to talk to these 3. Can they leave for a few minutes?" I asked as sweetly as I could manage, without it being too obvious. He sighed.

"Well, I'm done with them anyways. Go ahead, kids." He waved us away with a bored expression and turned away to yell at a kid that had tried to dunk it, but had only succeeded in smacking a few kids in the head.

"Come on, let's go. Before he changes his mind." I turned towards the door, and the boys ran to the sidelines to grab the shirts they had shedded earlier.

We walked into the hallway, and I took a deep breath of the non-polluted-by-stink air. Drew still hadn't said anything, and Ian and Gerik were chatting away about what their next "project" would be. They were whispering, so I could only catch some of it. Not that I would want to know.

"Dude we should do a…"

"No way! We have to do a…."

"Nuh-uh! That's way overrated. We should do the…"

It went on and on. I walked fast outside and saw the girls waiting already. I smiled, and Nikki ran up to me.

"Max! Where were you today? I missed you. I really need to tell you something! It's really important. But don't you have something to say? That's what Jaz said. She said you wouldn't tell her anything, and that you would tell us all later. Why do you have all those cuts, Max? Did you fall down, or something? Because I hate falling down. It really hurts, right? And especially if it's down like a hill and you end up in a bush." She babbled on and on. "Oh, hey Ian! Hi Gerik! Hi Drew! Did you just have basketball practice? Because you look all sweaty and a little nasty. Does it smell in the gym? I bet it does, since all the boys are-"

"Nikki, please! My ears are bleeding!" Ian wailed. Nikki took a deep breath and huffed.

"Fine." She pouted.

"Alright. I really need to talk to everybody, but we need to go somewhere more private. Come on in the woods." I motioned my head to where I had crashed earlier, and we all migrated in. I sighed when we were all standing in a little circle, and began to think about my little speech. Everyone was staring at me and I took a deep breath.

Haha! Cliffy. Well, not too much. But it was getting too long for me. So, I'll update later this week and how everybody takes the speech. REVIEW!! I love them so very very much. :)

BoOk-NeRd38