Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in forever, been pretty busy, but I had this written so I decided to post it tonight! YAY!! Any way, I would like to point out to everyone that, anything I say about Truman State University, Kirksville, or Missouri in general about having a pollution or radiation problem or something, none of that is true. At all. There is not a source of radiation coming from Truman State University. The only thing true that I may say about Truman, Kirksville, or JBA is that it is freaking amazing. Any way, enjoy this next chapter! And please comment!!!

Chapter 6

I groaned as I rolled over in bed the next morning. The previous night had been an absolute nightmare. Who did Jeb think he was? Trying to decide the next step for the flock. That's my job--has been since he 'died' almost three years ago.

"Ugh," I grunted as I weakly propped my self up on one arm. Wiping the crust out of my eyes, I swung my legs off the bed and pulled on the pair of sweat pants Ella let me borrow. Hey, what are sisters for?

I unfurled my wings a bit and stretched, ready to get this day over with. I already knew how it was going to go: My mom would ask what I thought about the JBA mission, I would say no, Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy would want to check it out, I would have to be the reasonable one and say no--you get the pattern here.

I opened the window and ducked out onto the roof, enjoying for a split-second the quiet serenity of the surrounding forest. I just needed to sit and think for a while, not sure if right outside the house where a freaking mind reader is sleeping is the best place to go for that, but it'll have to do.

I walked to the edge of the roof and sat down, unfurling my wings completely and feeling the gentle morning breeze flow through my feathers. I closed my eyes and tried to gather my thoughts.

Last night, like I said, had been an absolute nightmare. For one, there was Jeb, who had suddenly decided that he could tell us what to do and that we would be perfectly fine with it. Then there was my mom, who hadn't even told me he was coming--then again, I probably should have anticipated it. Oh, and there was this whole aspect of a new mission where we would be 'protected by the government.' And then of course there was Fang…

My mind trailed off. I won't go there. I shouldn't go there. But I will.

Fang was my best friend, my right-wing man, the one person who I could honestly say knew me better than I knew myself sometimes. We grew up together. He was the only one I could open up to, and, when we were alone, he was the only one I trusted enough to show that I wasn't fine. The rest of the flock can't know that. I have to be there for them, to protect them, they can't know that their solid-as-steel leader isn't okay, isn't 100% sure of what she's doing. And when it came down to it, Fang was always there for me, no matter what was going on.

Lately things between me and Fang have changed, a lot. Everything's just more complicated than it used to be. He kissed the Red-Headed Wonder, I kissed Sam. He kissed me and I ran away. He kissed me again, and I ran away. It bothered me when he was making out with Lissa (Red-Headed Wonder) and it bothered him when I was with Sam, but why? Why did it matter to either of us? Nothing make sense anymore, nothing.

I'm brought out of my trance by the sound of a latch, well, unlatching I guess. I don't know, God knows I don't have the best vocabulary out there.

As if on cue, Fang crawls out of his window and starts walking towards me, handy-dandy laptop in tow. I fold my wings back in as he continues walking.

"Yo," Fang said, sitting next to me and plopping the computer into my lap. "I looked up this JBA thing." The screen was open to the JBA website. It had pictures, statistics, quotes--I was surprised by how much these kids loved to go to school during the freakin summer. I mean, I know I'm out of the normal world loop, but doesn't that defy the laws of nature or something? "I think we should check it out," he added.

I looked at him, almost surprised. When had he gotten this information and what makes him think any of it is real? What if it's just another stupid test? Can they find the right information? Let's find out… Chances are, he didn't just happen to wake up at the same time as me and randomly decide to look it up--he'd been sitting on this all night and he didn't tell me. I felt, I don't know, I don't know what I felt.

I closed the computer and handed it back to Fang. "No," I said as I began standing up. I tried to walk away but Fang stood up quickly and grabbed my arm.

"Max, wait," he said. I turned around and pulled my arm out of his grip.

"The answer is no," I repeated. I tried to walk away again but he turned me around.

"Max, look," he began again. Seeing how this wasn't going to go anywhere if I kept walking away, I stood there, waiting. "I've checked out the site, the security, everything. It's a really good program and it could be the only way to find out what's causing that pollution problem at Truman."

I closed my eyes, trying to come up with something coherent to say. This was just perfect, not only had the rest of the flock decided that we should go running off to summer camp like the good little Samaritans that we are, now Fang, my back-up guy, was against me too.

"It's not safe," I responded simply. "What makes you think this is even the right information?" Fang shook his head.

"Got it off Truman's website," he said. "And it is safe." Wait a minute…Since when did Fang go traipsing off into la-la land?

"No, it's not," I stated coldly. "It's never safe," I added. "I thought by now you, of all people, would've known that," I muttered under my breath.

"Regardless," Fang said, ignoring my comment, "We don't have much of a choice. We have to find out what's causing this pollution problem somehow and this is the only way we're going to be able to do it."

I hated situations like this. Hated it when Fang was right and he knew it. My mission was to save the world and I didn't have any other ideas to get that going, so here I was, with my back up against the wall, again.

"Ok, fine," I said, startling him. "Get the others and pack, we're going to JBA."

I walked pass a still shocked Fang and climbed back into my room, knowing for a fact this could be the worst mistake of our lives.