Chapter 13

I had to blink to make sure I was actually seeing this car that we were supposed to go to school in; it was the car of my dreams!

"Oh my god! It's a 1980 Mustang!" I said trying not to squeal.

"Cherry red?" Iggy asked me, probably wondering what I was so excited about.

"Yeah!" I couldn't help squealing in excitement this time. "And it's a convertible! My dream car! Oh, Maxie! How did you get your hands on a car this gorgeous?" I screamed flying down by the car and running my fingers on the hood.

"Jeb hooked us up with it. And I get to drive it," Max flew down beside me and jingled the keys.

I lurched for the keys. "Oh, please let me drive!" I begged her.

"Sure. I'm not a good driver anyways," she said, tossing the keys to me.

"Yay!" I caught the keys and was so excited that I was probably sparkling. "Get in guys! Leesey's driving us to school today!" I jumped into the driver's seat and put the key in the ignition as the rest of the flock got in.

I turned the car on and listened to it hum. "oh my gosh, listen to this baby purr," I cooed pulling out and driving down the dirt road leading out of our private clearing.

Max was sitting in the passenger's seat with Angel between us, Iggy, Fang, and Nudge sat in the back seats, and Gazzy sat on the back of the car with his legs squished between Nudge and Iggy. I cranked up the radio and we drove to school, the wind whipping our hair about, singing loudly. Max turned the radio off when we got close to the school and as soon as I parked the car in the school parking lot and turned the car off, everyone tensed up.

I turned around and faced the flock, "you guys, I understand how bad school used to be for ya'll, but that was the past and this the present. So, let's start fresh and leave everything behind us." I looked around at my family's scared faces, "it'll be okay! Trust me! And a few tips, don't mess with anyone who thinks they're all that, act normal, and don't get on any teacher's bad side."

Max looked down at her watch and read the time, "thank you so much for the pep talk, Ja'leese, but I think we ought to hurry up and get our schedules," she said opening her door and getting out.

We all followed suit and, as a family, walked to our new school, which had an elementary, middle, and high school all in one. Fang held Max's hand, who held Angel's, who held Gazzy's, who held Nudge's, who was held Iggy's, who held mine. We walked in this order to the front of the school and looked up and the giant name plate that read "Southperk Private School".

"Well, this is where we separate. Angel and Gazzy, you guys go that way," Max said pointing to one of the three doors in front of us that had a sign above it indicating it as the elementary building.

The 2 youngest members of the flock nodded, held each other's hands, waved at us, and walked into the elementary school door.

"Nudge, that way," Max said pointing to the middle school door.

Nudge looked like she would cry, but she sucked it up, hugged us, and went into her door.

"And then there were 4," I looked around at the 3 people I had spent the last 2 weeks of my life with and, with looking at each of their faces individually, realized just how much I had grown to love them.

We grabbed each other's hands and walked into the tall, double-doors labeled "High School", and that's when I realized what school we were at.