OMG I do the 100, 200, and 400 too!...sorry that was directed toward my fellow sprinters and especially fantasyfan5…TJ?...I do long jump...

Okay, and this chapter was finished days ago as was the next one, but the stupid doc. manager wouldn't let me update! Don't worry I won't normally make you wait this long! You can all thank acavoo for fixing the dilemna...thank you acavoo!!

A/N: I just want to point out that I know Max would never really want to go back to school, but her flock was given the opportunity to take a break from running and hiding all the time, and she decided to take it, thinking it would make them happiest that way. Don't worry, they're not gonna be in school forever, we all know how well that worked out last time…And I apologize in advanced b/c this chapter's long and possibly boring and quite honestly I don't really like it, but it's necessary! Bear with me! Thanx!

"Oh my god, did you hear that?" I whispered, snapping awake, sitting up on Fang. Someone had just flushed a toilet and gone back to their room.

"What?" he asked waking up at my sudden alarm.

"What time is it?" I asked now noticing very faint light flooding through the windows to our place on the couch.

He looked at the clock and said, "six o'clock…oh"

"Yeah oh, the flocks gonna be up any minute, I think someone already is!" I said beginning to panic. Fang and I had spent the night shirtless on the couch and I prayed Angel didn't notice my absence in the room last night. Shit.

I jumped off Fang and we both sprung from the couch. "Where's my shirt?" I frantically whispered both of us searching the living room for our clothing articles. Fang found his and pulled it on tossing me mine.

"Thanks" I whispered pulling it on. I put my finger to my lips and motioned Fang to silently follow me to the stairs. We silently crept up, Fang behind me, with our backs against the wall. The hallway was still dark and no one was up yet; thankfully the mysterious flusher had gone back to bed. We stopped in front of Fang's door and just as he was about to open it we heard voices form the other side.

"Yo Iggy get up you lazy bum its six o'clock."

"Fuck off"

"Iggy c'mon…hey where's Fang?" Both Fang and I stared at each other thinking the same thing. Shit. He let go of the door knob and I motioned to go back downstairs because it was clearly too late to sneak back into our rooms. We began to silently back track tip-toeing as lightly as possible. We heard Iggy and Gazzys door begin to open behind us and ran downstairs before they could see us. We burst into the kitchen turning on the light and I threw Fang a box of cereal, grabbing my own.

"Wha-"

"Just go with it." I ordered. I sat down at the table and he followed. Just as our butts hit the seat Iggy and Gazzy came through the door. Phew! Just in time…hopefully.

"There you are" said Gazzy spotting Fang; than he looked to me and back to Fang taking in our very disgruntled appearance. "What were you guys doing?"

"Eating breakfast…?" I chimed in offering up the box of cereal.

"It's kind of early don't you think?"

"Uh, um…the early bird gets the worm!" What? It was the first thing that popped into my head.

Iggy snorted, "Yeah right." I chucked the cereal box at his head; he caught it right before it hit his face. How does he do that?

"I was hungry, what else would we be doing this early?" I asked stupidly, as he was about to reply I cut in, "don't answer that."

"Iggy just sit down and bring the milk." Fang said, finally speaking up. After a few more awkward glances and a couple of smirks, the two boys dropped the conversation and began to make their bowls of cereal.

"Took you long enough," I grumbled under my breath so just he could hear.

"What? You had it covered…early bird"

"Screw you."

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"Guys, c'mon! We're gonna be late!" I shouted from the bottom of the stairs. I was wearing my white 'crew neck' t-shirt, a pair of jean shorts and my Nikes. I had my backpack on and was impatiently waiting for my flock to hurry up, so we could begin our dreadful first day of school.

My flock filed down the stairs and grabbed their backpacks off the couch.

"Iggy, why are you dressed like that?" I asked him glancing over his outfit. The usual jeans and t-shirt had been replaced with suspenders, a bow tie, really high knee socks, and the biggest glasses taped around the middle.

"Well, remember that bet me and the gasman had going on? Did you ever notice I never got dressed up the next day? Well, me and the gasman reconstructed the bet a little bit. He went easy on me and instead of the horror outfit he had picked out, he said I could wear this on the first day of school instead."

"Oh…" and that was all I could say. Iggy, the new blind nerd kid…hmm.

Fang walked downstairs in his usual black shirt and jeans and took one glance at Iggy before cracking up, well cracking up as much as Fang cracks…more like a smirk and a few chuckles. But I must admit, Iggy looked pretty funny, so I joined in.

When the rest came down we walked out the door to begin our walk.

When we reached our destination we all froze. This school was HUGE; much larger than the one we attended during our stay at Anne's, and much different. There were no uniforms and the largest variety of kids I had ever seen. We watched as kids with purple and red hair, kids dressed in black wearing chains, kids that looked like the meat-head at the mall, girls that wore matching outfits, and many other kids all filed up the steps and through the doors.

I took a deep breath and sucked up my worries, resuming my leader role. "C'mon guys, we have to go to the Main office first." I grabbed the black sleeve of a reluctant Fang in one hand and the sleeve of a reluctant Iggy in the other, and began pulling. They hesitated but followed none the less; the rest of the flock following very close behind.

Angel ran up to my side and tugged Iggy's sleeve out of my hand and slipped hers in as a group of kids with black spiky hair walked by, giving us the strangest of looks, and actually pointing at Iggy.

"Do you see it?" I asked looking towards Fang.

"No" How helpful.

"Wait! There…" I said as I spotted a sign down the hall that said 'Main Office'. I turned the corner and pulled the flock in.

"Hi, we're new here, this is our first day." I said walking up to the secretary behind a rather tall counter. She looked up and her eyes widened at the six very different looking kids (well minus Angel and Gazzy of course).

"Oh yes, right…the principal would like to welcome you all if you wouldn't mind stepping into his office." She said removing her self from her spot behind the counter and leading us to an office off to the side.

"Dr. Griffin, the new students have arrived." She said pushing us in.

"Thank you Maureen, please take a seat." We did as we were told Fang sitting on my one side and Angel sitting on my other, still holding my hand. "It's very nice to meet you all; Dr. Martinez has said great things. Now correct me if I'm wrong, you all are siblings…?" he said glancing from me, who was fair skinned, to Nudge and Fang who were the darker skinned members of the flock, than last looking to Iggy who just made him put him on the most curious of expressions.

"Well no, not exactly…"

"Oh, well how have you all come to be here?" Crap…Angel if you're listening, I know I told you not to, but could you put on the bambi eyes for me? She squeezed my hand in acknowledgment, and began to do her thing.

"Well…it's kind of a long story…" I said quietly mustering up the saddest expression I could. I glanced to Angel who had let out a little whimper to see actual tears falling down her cheeks. Way to go Angel…who knew we had an actress in the group?

Dr. Griffin looked from me to Angel, "Oh, I understand, you don't have to explain."

"Thank you," I replied.

"Well, I just wanted to welcome you to our school and get you started. The younger two," he said gesturing towards Angel and Gazzy, "are on the far side of the building, I can have Maureen show them the way. As for the rest of you, your classes are on this side of the building, I don't believe finding them shall be too difficult. Now if you will excuse me, I have a meeting to attend. Don't hesitate to stop by if you need anything." He added at the end before exiting the room.

"Alright then," said Maureen the secretary walking in, "shall we go?"

I glanced down at Angel who reluctantly stood from her seat. "Its okay sweetie, you'll be fine," I said kissing her forehead.

"I love you Max"

"I love you too, now you and Gazzy have fun, okay?"

"Okay" she said before squeezing my hand and leaving the room with Gazzy and Maureen.

The bell rang. The four of us jumped.

"I guess we should find our classes then…" I suggested heading towards the door. They all followed and we walked into a hallway packed full of teenagers grabbing their books and heading to class. The moment we stepped out the whispers began.

"Must be new…"

"Are they related…?"

"Yo, we've got two new hotties on our hands, even if the one wears suspenders…"

"Got dibs on the older girl…" Dibs?! We all tensed and looked down at our schedules.

"Ugh, I have English first!" Of all classes to have first, I have the one class where I'm alone. "It's down that way," I said looking at the numbers on the classroom doors.

"Me and Ig have math first, we're down there," Fang said pointing in the opposite direction. "I can't believe I have to walk around with you like that all day," he added looking at Iggy. Iggy just smirked.

"I think I'm upstairs…" said Nudge looking back up at the classroom numbers. "I should go, I don't wanna be late…see you guys at lunch."

"See ya," we all chorused.

"Okay, I guess we should all go…" I said feeling extremely hesitant.

"Yeah…" the two boys said in unison.

"I'll see ya next period," I said turning to Fang then heading in the direction of my classroom. "Don't get in too much trouble, Nick!" I shouted back with a smirk.

"You don't have to worry, I'm leaving that part up to you," he called back, earning himself a few curious glances. I smiled and turned away to face my class as the last two members of my flock walked away.

I dodged two paper planes as I entered the nearly full room. I walked up to the teacher, a rather disgruntled looking middle aged man and said, "Hi, I'm new, where should I sit?" getting right down to business, hoping to skip an introduction.

"Right, and you are…?"

"Max."

"And do you have a last name, Max?" he retorted quite sarcastically. Crap, we never discussed this! How could we have not discussed this?!

"Uh, not really…long story" I added with a sad expression pulling the maneuver I did with Dr. Griffin.

"It's a long period," he snapped back. Feisty are we?

"Not quite long enough I'm afraid." I said back glaring him in the eyes.

"I see…well then, let me introduce you." He said turning towards the packed classroom. He's doing that on purpose!

"Quiet!" he yelled over the noise. Everything instantly went silent; I guess they don't mess around with this guy. "I would like to introduce our new student, Max."

"Hi Max" the class chorused in a drone.

"So your name's Max…" said a snide voice from the back row. And guess who it was? Meat-head!

"Man you catch on quick," I snapped back. The class roared in laughter and his face turned red.

"Zach! Max! Ladies and Gentlemen!" yelled the teacher trying to calm the class. They immediately shut up.

"Now if you would please take a seat. My name is Mr. Harrison…welcome to your new English class." Okay, why did that sound more like a threat than a welcome?

I made my way over to the only empty seat, which of course just happened to be in the back row. It was on the far side of the room next to the windows and about two seats across sat Meat-head. All eyes followed me as I sat down in my seat and pulled out a notebook. The teacher began class as I sat begging for second period to come.

"Psst!" I looked to my side to see the meat-head (I refuse to call him Zach) leaning back in his chair looking at me. "Where's Tarzan?"

"Kicking the crap out of meat-heads like you." I whispered back. His face turned red and his hands curled into furious fists.

"I am not a meat-head" he retorted.

"Oo, clever come-back, though, it would've worked better if it were true." His face turned redder and he stuttered as he couldn't think of anything in reply. I laughed under my breath.

"Something funny Ms. No-Name?" asked Mr. Harrison. He really thought my concealing of a last name was funny; most people would put on a pitiful expression and never mention it.

"Nope…and the name's Max." I said back as the class turned to stare at me. How do I always manage to draw attention to myself?

"Well Max in this class people pay attention, and in this class there is no room for insubordination; so I will have to ask you to keep eyes up here, thank you."

"Not to worry Mr. Harrison my eyes are on you." I said with a smirk, for some reason this guy really bugged me, and the meat-head already had me pissed off. I heard various snickers erupt from the on-looking students. Mr. Harrison actually blushed, and I got the feeling that didn't happen often.

"I think you need to go to the office…" he said back, and the class went suddenly silent staring at me.

"Are you serious? It was a joke; I didn't mean anything by it." I totally did not deserve to go to the office for that.

"I'm very serious, I will not put up with insubordination of any kind. Now if you wouldn't mind grabbing your books..." He said gesturing towards my back pack; this guy was serious. I grabbed my bag and left the awkwardly silent room. I heard the class erupt in furious chatter the moment I left.

"Way to start off your first day Max," I grumbled to myself. I have got to control my mouth. I walked into the office and up to the desk where Maureen the rather young secretary sat behind it.

"Um…I was told to come here," I said to her. She looked up at me in surprise.

"What for?"

"Um…disrupting the class?" I offered.

"Already? Let me guess…Mr. Harrison?" she said smiling.

"Yeah actually," I replied, "Guys a jerk…"

"I did not just hear that," she said suppressing a laugh.

"Oh, sorry."

"But between you and me, I completely agree." She whispered. We both laughed, I think I like this Maureen. "Sorry but I have to tell you to go sit in the detention room until the period's over…"

"Don't worry, I don't mind…I've been through worse." I replied.

"Don't be so sure…" she said in an uneasy tone, than smiled at me and gestured to a door on the other side of the office. I walked over to it and opened it up to see a small room with about ten or eleven kids sitting in it. There were a few guys in the corner with their hoods up and two girls talking rapidly, both adorning several piercings in odd places. I looked to my side to see another group of kids with funky died hair, and in the front of the room was a boy sitting alone leaning back in his chair. As soon as I entered the room all heads snapped in my direction.

"Max?" I looked to the front of the room to see that the boy who had been sitting alone was…

"F-Nick!" I screeched walking towards him.

"What are you doing here?" we asked simultaneously. I sat down next to him feeling extremely relieved.

"You know I was joking when I said, I leave the getting into trouble up to you?" he said.

I glared at him then said, "Turns out that meat-head you got in a fight with now sits two seats down from me in English. And my teacher is a complete jerk."

"He's in your class?" he said suddenly tensing and curling his fist.

"Fang, calm down!" I whispered grabbing his hand and uncurling his fist. "You don't have to worry; I can take care of myself."

"I know…" he said, relaxing the slightest bit.

"So why are you here? Did you get lost on your way to class?" I joked.

"Ha-ha, they tried to give Iggy a 'helper' in math class because he's blind and all. I tried explaining he didn't need it, I mean he's better at math than any one of us. They refused to listen, and I…"

"You…?"

"I-I got angry and told the teacher that Iggy could school her any day in math, and she should give herself the 'helper'." He finished looking down at the desk. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Way to go," I said still laughing.

"Well what did you say to land yourself here?" he asked defensively.

"He told me to pay attention and keep my eyes up at the front of the classroom, and I told him my eyes were on him…I made him blush and apparently this guy doesn't blush. The class laughed and he basically called me insubordinate and kicked me out."

"Nice…" The bell rang and we stood up grabbing our bags.

"Where's our next class?" I asked now searching for my schedule.

"It's across from my math room," he answered and I followed him out of the office.

"What is our next class?"

"History I think," he replied as we walked into the room. We were one of the first ones into the room and sat down in two empty seats by the window. I could feel a headache coming on and put my head down on the desk facing Fang. He did the same thing, looking exasperated.

People began to file in and we both immediately tensed snapping our heads up. When we realized they were just a bunch of kids we put our heads back down on the desks.

"What do we have next?" I asked into the sleeve of my shirt looking at Fang who sat in a similar position.

"Gym, I think," he replied, his answer getting muffled in the sleeve of his own shirt.

"Wonderful…" (note sarcasm) I saw the corners of his mouth turn up slightly and noticed he was giving me one of his Fang smiles.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing…"

"Fang…" I warned.

"It's going to be funny to see you in gym." He stated matter-of-factly.

"And why is that?" I questioned irritated and confused.

"Oh, I don't know…the great Maximum Ride verses a group of screaming girls in an intense game of volleyball." He told me with a smirk. I rolled my eyes.

"Same goes for you boy. I'd like to see how you do in a nice game of field hockey…I can picture it now; kilt and all." His eyes widened.

"They don't make guys play field hockey, do they?" Before I got a chance to reply the teacher walked in and shut the door. I lifted my head off the desk to see a now full room.

"Class today we have two new students joining us." She said, scanning the room searching for the unfamiliar faces. She smiled when her eyes landed on us. "Ah yes, would you mind standing up and telling us your names?" she asked as the class looked around to take in the faces of the no-doubt rumored new students. Uggh, why do teachers always make you stand up? But we both did none the less.

"Max…" I said as guys began to nudge each other.

"F-Nick…"

"F-Nick?"

"Nick…" Fang corrected as girls whispered in one another's ears.

"Welcome to history Max and Nick, my name is Dr. Hendrickson, you can call me Dr. H if you'd like; most people do." She said with a smile, not seeming totally wretched.

Fang and I sat back down as she started class. The period passed uneventfully and without incident. I stared off into space for most of the class…the Hammurabi code really doesn't hold that much interest for me. Dr. H ended the period a few minutes early to my horror, leaving a perfectly open gap for the many curious students who stared at us most the period.

"So, are you guys like brother and sister, or what?" said the girl who sat in front of me, turning around, as others gathered around us to here the conversation. I looked to my right only to see Fang grabbed up in another conversation by a different group of people.

"Uh, no." was all I could reply.

"Uh no what?"

"No, we're not brother and sister." At my reply her face fell dramatically and I heard a few grumbles from the various girls around me.

"So then are you guys like friends?" asked another hopeful girl.

"'Cause he's totally hot!" chimed in a third girl who was carefully eyeing him. I better just make this clear.

"He's my boyfriend." I answered, glaring at the girl throwing googly eyes in his direction.

"Oh…" they all said simultaneously. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Fang tensing, glaring daggers at the guys talking to him.

"So, what brings you guys here?" one of the girls asked snapping my attention back to their conversation.

"We're living at the Martinez's." I stated flatly.

"Wait…so you guys like, live together?" she said wide-eyed glancing towards Fang and back to me. Oops.

"Um…I guess you could say that…" I replied now feeling completely awkward. They were silent for a while as they processed that information before one of them spoke up.

"That's awesome! You guys are so lucky!" A few girls laughed along with her, I'm guessing feeling the same way, but I received a lot of disapproving looks from some of the other girls.

"So, how-" started the girl who sat in front of me, but she was cut off by the sound of the bell. I jumped up from my seat grabbing Fang, and we made the quickest possible exit.

"Phew…" I said as the two of us made our way through the hallway.

"You could say that again," he grumbled.

"So, where's the gym?" I asked switching topics.

"Uh…good question." He replied completely clueless. We walked back into the office and asked Maureen, the friendliest person we'd met so far and she told us how to get there.

We walked out the front doors into the wonderful and extremely rare refreshing breeze of the sunny Arizona day. The gym was a separate building from the school.

"I wish we could just take off right now," I said glancing at Fang as the wind hit his hair blowing his bangs in front of his eyes, making me want to kiss him really badly.

"Me too..." He said in his husky voice that I love so much.

"I-" I began to reply, but was cut off when we entered the gym and the last person I wanted to see just happen to be there.

"Well look who's here, if it isn't pretty boy and his bitch," said meat-head clearly looking for a confrontation and holding a grudge against me. Someone is clearly trying to kill our school day…this guy is relentless!

"Bitch?! I am nobody's bitch!" I yelled back at him now extremely angry, how dare he! I made an advance, but Fang beat me to it. He had him pinned up against the wall in less than a second.

"She is nobody's bitch," Fang snapped in his face, throwing him to the ground. Fang turned around clenching his fists, trying his hardest not to beat the shit out of this guy. But once again, he wasn't so lucky. It turns out the meat-head had a crew.

A group of guys circled Fang, clearly all jocks. The first one swung a punch, and he ducked it, but at the same time another grabbed him from behind as a third landed a punch on his stomach. A small crowd had formed and now Fang had no choice but to fight back. He flipped the guy over holding him from behind and elbowed the meat-head in the jaw as he came back for another attack. The two other jocks advanced from either side of Fang, but he punched one and had the other pinned to the ground before they even saw it coming. I had decided not to help him; I knew he didn't need it, and that he also needed to vent his anger.

He walked back over to me brushing off his shirt. I couldn't help but smile as he came up next to me.

"You really know how to make a scene," I said gesturing towards the many people staring at us and the group of jocks groaning on the floor.

"I blame this one on you. You've got to stop attracting meat-headed guys. First Ari…now this one." He said smirking

"And you have got to stop kicking the crap out of people, it only attracts girls to you more…girls love a bad boy." I whispered in his ear, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Uh-hem," Someone cleared their throat next to us. I broke apart from Fang blushing a little and looked up at a man in one of those slippery track suits. This must be the gym teacher.

"Son, are you the one responsible for bringing my entire starting line to the ground?" he asked Fang.

"Uh…um…maybe…?" Crap.

"Hmm, impressive…"

"Excuse me?" Fang asked looking up in surprise.

"How would you like a spot on one of my teams?" he asked. Okay, definitely didn't expect that.

"Um, no thanks." He replied in as few words as he could manage.

"Well if you promise to think about it, I won't send you to the office for kicking the crap out of my starting line; you're lucky you didn't do any permanent damage." He offered.

"Sure, I'll think about it…" Fang said glaring at me as I let out a laugh under my breath. Fang on a team…that's funny.

"Good, now you two must be the new guys. You can call me Coach Johnson," he stated; we just nodded.

"Gina! Could you show…?" he glanced down at me.

"Max."

"Right, could you show Max the girls locker room please? And Matt! Could you please get those guys up to the nurse?!" He yelled out to a tall blonde girl a few feet away, and a brown haired boy not far off.

"Sure," the girl said shrugging and walking over towards me as Coach Johnson led Fang towards the guy's locker room. "I've heard a lot about you" she said grabbing my arm and pulling me to the opposite side of the gym.

"You have?" I asked in surprise.

"Well sure, almost everyone's heard of you after the whole episode in Harrison's class." She said laughing.

"You're in that class?" I asked, realizing I hadn't noticed her.

"Yeah I was sitting in front of you." She said still smiling.

"Oh, sorry…"

"Don't worry about it; it's only your first day. You and your…boyfriend have made quite the impression." She said opening a door into the girls' locker room.

"Yeah, that seems to happen no matter where we go," I said under my breath. I saw her smirk out of the corner of my eye.

"He doesn't say much does he?" she asked apparently noticing his lack of speech.

"Not really, he's not one for small chat." I replied with a small smile.

"I'm guessing you don't have a uniform yet," she assumed handing me a cotton t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Thank god it's a t-shirt.

"Thanks, where can I find a bathroom?" I asked needing a place to change.

"Oh, um there's one over there to the right."

"Thanks," I said and hurried off to get changed.

I came out of the locker room to see a bunch of kids sitting in the middle of the gym waiting for the rest of the students to come out. Sitting off to the side, I spotted Fang and…Iggy?!

"Hey guys, when did you get here?" I asked sitting down between them.

"Nice to see you too…Turns out I have gym the same period. I went to the locker room first; too bad though, wish I had seen Fang beat those guys," he said laughing.

"Attention!" yelled the coach out to all of us, standing in the front. "We're starting a new unit today, I need you all to split up into six teams of five; it's time to play some basketball!" All the guys cheered and almost all the girls groaned, except for myself and the girl I'd come to know as Gina. She caught my eye and came over to sit down next to us, bringing another girl with her.

"Do you guys wanna be a team?" she asked.

"Sure, thanks," I said grateful for the offer.

"Are you the blind one?" she asked turning towards Iggy.

"Yep," was all he replied as the coach approached.

"You're blind?!" Coach Johnson asked earning Iggy many obvious stares. Not again.

"Yes, is that gonna be a problem?" he asked harshly clearly fed up.

"Only if you think it is," The coach unexpectedly replied.

"Than we don't have one," said Iggy.

"Great, it keeps the teams even." And with that he blew the whistle and tossed us some jersey looking shirt things.

"They're pennies," said Gina seeing our confused faces. "Did you guys not use them in your old school?"

"No, I guess not…"

She tossed me a ball and said, "You'll be point guard with me" Point what?

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Well it turns out me, Fang, and Iggy are all fast learners. Apparently Gina was on the basketball team and between the four of us our team was undefeated. By the end of the period the coach had tried recruiting the three of us to all of his many 'teams'; we all politely refused.

We walked out of the gym together leaving the coach talking to himself and I swear I heard him say, "Who'd ever think that one day I'd be begging a blind kid to start on my basketball team?"

Next we had lunch where we met up with Ella and Nudge, who spent the entire period giving us the details of her apparently eventful day as well. After that our day passed uneventfully, surprisingly enough.

After the final bell the flock, Ella, and I met up outside to make our walk home. We all look exhausted and no one said anything as we walked home.

"You're home!" yelled Total as I opened the door and we all flopped onto the couches in the living room. He ran over to Angel who picked him and gave him a big kiss. Nudge grabbed some snacks and tossed them around as Gazzy turned on the T.V. I sat on the floor leaning against the couch playing with the hem of Fangs jeans, who sat on the couch behind me.

"Hey, who wants to go flying?" I asked suddenly.

"I do!" each one of them said jumping up.

"I'll watch!" said Ella excitedly.

We ran outside pushing and shoving our way through the door. I placed my hand on the shoulder of Gazzy who was about to take-off.

"Not here…" I said, leading the flock away from the house. Fang looked at me questioningly but didn't ask. "We need to get farther away from town," I pointed out.

"Oh, sorry," murmured Gazzy.

I continued to walk for a few more minutes leading them through the Martinez's backyard and farther from town.

"This is better," I said than took off into the air for the first time in days. I heard the rest of the flock yelp in excitement and follow me up. The warm rush of air against my skin felt completely amazing. I couldn't believe I'd lasted this long without flying. I closed my eyes and spun in tight circles higher and higher into the air. I opened my eyes to look behind me and saw Fang approaching, stopping in front of me, his huge black wings flapping in sync with my own creamy white ones.

"Race ya!" I challenged him. Fang had always been the fastest flyer out of all of us; that was until I developed my hyper speed.

"You have an advantage," he said although he began to climb higher into the sky.

"I'll go easy on ya," I promised smiling, and took off. I glanced back to see him take-off as well. He pulled up on my side and I darted forward. He came back up on my other side and I darted forward again. We kept this up for a while before I couldn't contain myself anymore.

"I'll be right back," I called to Fang smirking, and slipped into hyper-drive. I felt the familiar hot sensation tingle through my body igniting my sixth sense. I closed my eyes and darted higher and higher up into the sky, not caring where I went. When I began to feel the chill of the high altitude I finally stopped and turned around. I flew straight down in regular speed for what seemed like minutes, gees, how high did I get? I continued to fly down and eventually saw my flock flying in circles above the treetops. I swooped up behind Fang as silently as I could.

"I'm back," I whispered in his ear. He jumped about ten feet.

"Shit! Max!"

"You should see your face right now!" I gasped out laughing at the rare horrified expression on his face.

"Not funny…" he grumbled.

"Oh, yes it is! Do you know how many times I've tried to sneak up on you and failed?"

"Yeah because I always catch you," he said now smirking.

"I know, but not this time!" I said beaming, beyond proud of myself.

"I thought you were still up there…you went really high," he said glancing up at the sky and back at me.

"I did get really high…it was cold…huh…" I replied now thinking about how high I must've gotten.

"You're it!" Shouted Angel tapping my shoulder and pulling me out of my reverie. I turned to Fang who slowly flapped his wings beginning to back up.

"Max…" he warned seeing the mischievous glint in my eye.

"Fang…" I mocked his warning tone, advancing on him. He shot downward heading toward the thick of the tree tops. Damn, he knows I can't go hyper-speed through trees! He broke through the trees and spun out heading straight through them, flying like a hawk. He was always so graceful when he flew, perfectly dodging each trunk and branch. I tried my hardest to keep up but found without my hyper speed I would never catch him. I eventually gave up landing on the ground and curling in my wings, as he was no where in sight.

"I'm back," he whispered in my ear, making me jump in the air.

"Holy shi-Fang!"

"Payback's a bitch," he smirked.

"I hate you," I stammered stalking off.

"No you don't," he said running in front of me.

"Um yeah I do," I retorted.

"I'd have to disagree," he said stepping closer.

"Disagree all you want but-" I started but was cut off when he pressed his lips to mine, grabbing my back between my wings and pulling me to him. I forgot what we were arguing about and kissed him back. He laughed and I slapped his arm and pulled his head even closer. He pressed against me stepping forward until I felt my back press up against the trunk of a tree. He lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his torso and my arms around his neck. I ran my hands through his hair as his tongue slipped between my teeth. He ran his hands under my shirt, grasping the small of my bare back. We stayed like this for a few moments letting the passionate kiss steal us away from the world. Finally I broke apart and pressed my forehead against his.

"Fang…we should go – the flock." I whispered.

"I know…" he said kissing me quickly again and dropping my feet to the ground. I went to walk away but he grabbed my belt loop and pulled me back, kissing me again.

"Fang…"

"What?" he asked sheepishly, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Let's go," I said not meeting his eyes knowing that if I did I would never be able to leave.

"I'm coming…" he said kissing my neck than finally letting me go.

"C'mon," I said dragging him off the tree. He smirked and I couldn't help but smile back and take off to reunite with the flock.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The rest of the night passed without incident. Dr. Martinez made a wonderful dinner and nothing completely embarrassing happened for once. After the close call we'd had this morning Fang and I reluctantly decided to sleep in our 'designated rooms'. A decision I was thoroughly unhappy about; we haven't spent a night apart since we got here.

"Hey Max?" said Angel, sitting on the side of my make-shift bed as I pulled on a big t-shirt and tied my hair up.

"Yeah Ange?"

"How long are we really staying here?" Not exactly what I was expecting.

"What brought this up?" I asked curiously sitting down next to her.

"Well I've been trying to stay out of everyone's thoughts, but sometimes it's hard, and I can tell you and Fang are really uncomfortable about this whole thing…and I was just wondering if we were leaving because of that…" she spilled out in a rush looking up at me slightly teary eyed.

"Oh, Ange…yeah we're a little uncomfortable about this whole thing, but it's just because we're not used to it at all. I would never make you leave if it wasn't necessary. I'm not saying we may not have to leave because its possible erasers could show up, and then we would, but I won't make you leave if we don't have to, I promise." I calmed her, picking her up and sitting her in my lap.

She buried her head in my shirt and said, "Thanks Max."

"No problem," I said picking her up and carrying her to her own bed.

"Good night Max."

"Good night sweetie," I whispered kissing her forehead as she closed her eyes. I switched off the light, than crawled into my own bed, wishing Fang were here. I closed my eyes and prayed for sleep, though I knew none would come.

A/N: okay, I'm really sorry if this chapter bored you but it was kind of necessary. Please don't give up, the action and drama will ensue soon, this is just all leading up to it…maybe even a visit from he-who-was-unfortunately-let-lived, but you didn't hear it from me! Thank you for the reviews I've gotten so far! Now click that little button!