A/N: I felt terrible for not updating. I went two days without writing. Total nightmare. But I was sort of discouraged because I didn't get any reviews. You heard me, people, reviews inspire me and make me update faster! When I get nothing I feel lazy and don't do it. Because, FYI, I do have other things to do. (Homework, hm?)
Thank you to:
SkyGirl68
DarkLove9
Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or the L.A. Dodgers.
"YES! BEACH!" Gazzy screamed across the house, waving his swimsuit around for everyone to see. I gritted my teeth and pushed harder on my stubborn suitcase. It refused to close properly.
Nudge was asking everyone if we'd seen her red bikini, which of course no one had, and that just added to the panic. Flock members were running around, asking for help or trying to find things that had been lost months ago.
All this, my dear friends, was because we were going to L.A. Nudge had been randomly saying "L.A.!" ever since Mom had told us we were leaving three days ago. I was less than thrilled, but I follow the flock around. I remember the good old days when the flock followed me around.
"Do you have sunscreen?" Mom asked Iggy worriedly. He snorted.
"No way. I always fly out in the sun with no kind sunscreen or anything."
He couldn't have found a way to freak Mom out any more.
"What? But your pale complexion! You'll get skin cancer!" she half-shouted, panicking again. Iggy rolled his unfocused eyes and continued stuffing random shirts into his suitcase, not even bothering to fold anything. That's my Iggy, I taught him all he knows.
I finally gave up on trying to zip my suitcase closed. I grabbed a roll of duct tape and taped the whole thing shut, winding the thick gray tape over and over like a belt on it.
"Done!" I proudly announced. Mom poked her head in the door. She shot a questioning look at the duct tape belt, but Angel was already calling across the hallway, needing help reaching something that was too high for her.
I dragged my suitcase over to the hallway next to Ella's. She was the only other one who was packed. She was leaning against the wall, reading a book. She glanced at me and at my suitcase.
"Duct tape really does fix everything," she commented. Fang came out next. He had gotten a black suitcase. Mom was just so considerate. He raised an eyebrow at my suitcase again.
"Yes, I know there's duct tape on it. Why is everyone so surprised? Do you guys think I didn't notice it was there?" I cried out in exasperation.
"High-strung much?" Fang asked. I could have punched him then and there, but that would just prove his damn point. I fumed quietly as Angel came out, dragging a smallish red suitcase. She dropped it heavily on the floor next to the three others. Mom came out and lined hers next to the others.
Gazzy came flying in, swinging his suitcase above our heads, and causing general ruckus again. He finally let his suitcase fall into place after a messy landing. Only one person was missing. That's right: Nudge.
"You don't need to apply that much mascara for us!" Gazzy called out as we were waiting. I shot him a deadly look, but he was just plain annoyed. I glared at Nudge's closed door. Minutes passed.
"Maybe we should go check on her?" Fang suggested. I was about to go in, when Nudge came out. Her hair was carefully arranged to look carefree, and she had a striped shirt with a brown belt over red pants. She had ridiculously huge sunglasses. She pulled her suitcase down to us like a model on the catwalk. I rolled my eyes.
"Okay, let's get these suitcases downstairs and out to the car," Mom said. We all spread our wings and took turns flying our suitcases downstairs. That way, it was less heavy.
We somehow got the suitcases into the car. It was more of a van; Mom had gotten it so she could fit the flock, Ella, and Total in it. Plus suitcases. Angel brought Total out of the house. He was appalled that no one had packed for him. That dog is snootier than Nudge, I swear.
We all piled in, Mom and Nudge in the front, Ella, Fang and I in the middle, and Angel, Total, Gazzy and Iggy in the back.
"Ow, my shoulder!" Iggy complained. I ignored him, knowing this wouldn't be the last time someone would complain.
"Are we there yet?" Gazzy moaned. I was ready to wring his neck.
"No, we're not," I said through clenched teeth. "Otherwise we would have stopped."
Logic does not go down well in a tired, crammed-in-a-car flock.
"Shut up," Iggy grumbled. I tried to turn around and say something, but I elbowed Fang instead.
"Ow," he muttered. I saw Mom's hands clench on the steering wheel. How much more of this could she take?
"Dr. Martinez, please don't think that. Murdering children is illegal," Angel said calmly. Nudge was half-singing to a pop song that could be heard all the way in the back. It was some high-pitched song about parties or something.
It finally stopped and I sighed in relief. Just as my ears were recuperating, another pop song started blasting.
"Ooh! Nicki Minaj!" Nudge said. "This one is for the boys with the booming system, top down AC with the cooling system. When he come up in the club, he be blazin' up, got stacks on deck like he savin' up…"
We all groaned as Nudge started rapping about how "he ill he real." She kept going, the song probably too loud for her to hear us. We sat in tense silence. At "that's the kind of dude I was looking fo'," Fang reached over, pulled out her ear buds, and took her iPod from her. He turned it off and we all sighed in relief.
"Hey!" Nudge screamed indignantly. "Give that back!" She put her hand behind her seat, swiping around for her iPod. Fang, meanwhile, had given it to me. I passed it back to Iggy who put it in his pocket.
"We'll give it back when we get there," I told her. She glared at me and turned around.
"I can sing by myself," Nudge muttered. "Yes I did, yes I did. Somebody please tell him who the F I is—"
"Nudge!" I said. "No cursing." She huffed and went on, bent on ruining everyone's day.
"I am Nicki Minaj, I mack them dudes up, back coupes up, and chuck the deuce up…"
"NUDGE! Isn't there a more appropriate song you like?" I asked, stopping her before the lyrics got too nasty. Angel and Gazzy did not need to learn new words. Nudge picked the song she knew would annoy me the most.
"When I was thirteen, I had my first love."
"Stop! STOP!" I screeched. Iggy was begging her to stop too, but Nudge kept going.
"Baby, baby, baby oooo-ooohh, like baby, baby, baby, nooooooo," she sang.
"No more!" Iggy moaned.
"Spare me! Please!" I said, covering my ears.
"QUIET! NOW!" Mom screamed above it all. She swerved around a car. We all fell silent. Nudge stopped singing. For a few tense minutes, there was no movement. Nothing.
"Are we there yet?" Gazzy whined. Mom stopped the car.
We finally arrived at the hotel in L.A. Mom had practically duct taped our mouths shut. Surprisingly, Ella had slept through the whole trip, Nicki Minaj and everything. She came out of the van yawning.
We all dragged ourselves out of the parking lot and into the lobby. Inside, I tried stretching. Gazzy even unfurled his wings, and a few people saw and freaked out. Mom was too busy negotiating things at the front desk. We sat around awkwardly until we saw couches. We all sat down on them gratefully. I gave the younger kids five bucks each so they could buy stuff at the vending machines. They came back two minutes later with candy bars and chips, as well as cokes.
They stuffed their faces while Mom came back, handing Fang, Ella and me key cards. She kept one for herself. We took the stairs up to the second floor. Miss Claustrophobia here didn't want to be crammed in that small elevator.
I opened the door with my key card and we all ran in to the luxury hotel room. It was big, and open. There were beds for everyone, and even a huge chandelier in the middle of the room. Total popped out of the bag where he had been hiding so the no-pets policy wouldn't have kept him out.
Everyone picked a bed. I looked at Mom suspiciously.
"How did you pay for this?" I asked.
"The CSM all chipped in," she answered. "This is a gift from Nino Pierpoint."
Well, nice gift. I picked a bed for myself and set my suitcase on it. Iggy handed me Nudge's iPod, and I gave it back to her. She grabbed it from my hand it cuddled up to it. I think she whispered, "I missed you" to it. Creepy.
"Let's go to the beach!" Angel said. There was a general roar of approval. Mom told all of us to change into bathing suits under our clothes. We all lined up at the bathroom.
"This is heaven," I sighed. I was licking an ice cream cone, salty caramel flavor. I smiled up at Fang, who was licking a cone of "triple chocolate fudge volcano." The warm summer breeze was ruffling my hair and Fang held my hand calmly as we walked towards the beach.
Angel crossed over in front of us, Total chasing her. He was wearing a blue bandana around his neck that proudly advertised the Dodgers. Gazzy ran after them, his "Tropical Explosion" dripping after him. We finally stopped at a place in the beach that had a little less people.
We walked onto the sand and put down a huge umbrella. I put down a towel in the sun, wanting to just relax for a while. Nudge put her towel to my right and put on her heart-shaped sunglasses. Nudge will be Nudge, no matter what.
Gazzy ran over to the ocean with Total, Angel and Iggy. Iggy stayed near the edge of the waves, just feeling the water wash over his feet while Total jumped around him, avoiding the cold blasts as best he could, all while complaining. Angel was playing tag with Gazzy in the water. I could stop worrying.
I closed my eyes for a second, hearing the regular sound of Ella turning pages in her book. I almost fell asleep. But wait, this is my life. I've been relaxed for way too long. Cold water fell on me and I shrieked.
"Wha—" I sputtered, trying to get up. I could hear Gazzy cackling, and a slapping sound that was surely a high-five from Iggy. I wiped the water off my face and glared at them.
"Water fight! Fang, you're on my team!" I said. The flock always played by the rules, no matter what.
"We get Angel," Iggy said.
"Nudge," I said. I unfurled my wings as Nudge sprung up to follow me. I flew over to the water, followed by a shadow that meant Fang. I landed neatly in shallow water, just before the other team.
I used my wings to splash water onto them, then Gazzy flew up and cannonballed right next to me soaking me. I shot down under water, and resurfaced right behind him. I grabbed Gazzy, pulled him up with me a few feet, and dropped him. He snapped his wings open, but not in time to get him out of the water.
He was up to his waist when he shot back up. I flew down, and landed next to Fang. We both swiped water at Iggy. Where was Angel?
Just then, I felt a little tug. I'd drifted into deeper water. Angel pulled me down with surprising strength and I went under. She wouldn't let go, so I started breathing through my gills. I glared at her.
"It's no fun underwater," I argued, my voice making bubbles. She let go of me just as a dark shape swooped down next to me. It was Fang. He started using his gills too, and pointed up. I gave him a thumbs up and shot up, shaking out my wings and soaking Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy.
Nudge pushed Iggy into the water, and Gazzy flew up, no doubt to cannonball again. Angel and Fang resurfaced right after. Gazzy never made it down. Nudge swooped up and dragged him down. Iggy came up again coughing, and Gazzy was tired. Angel seemed bored.
"As team captain," Iggy said hoarsely. "I declare you win." Our team cheered, and I high-fived Nudge and Fang. We swam slowly towards the beach, Angel underwater, probably having an interesting conversation with some fish.
I walked over to where our umbrella was. I lay down on my towel again, this time soaked and tired. "Who won?" Ella asked, not even looking up from her book.
"We did," Fang grinned from next to me. Ella nodded, obviously not listening anymore. More exhausted bird kids came back and dropped onto various towels. Mom looked at us critically. It was the afternoon, the sun would set soon, and people were already leaving.
"How about an early dinner?" she asked. The whole flock cheered. This trip wasn't really so bad, I thought as I packed my stuff. I looked around at the flock, all smiling and laughing. I guess they had had a good day. Fang was smiling too, surprisingly, but he was looking at me.
I smiled back and he took my hand. I was really starting to like L.A.