Thanks for the reviews (or at least, thanks to Claire Ride for her review, a.k.a my first one!) Anyway, back to the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride! Sorry.
Max POV
"We would send you straight to class, but given the fact that you haven't been here in a while, you're going to have to take the placement test again," Ms. Hamilton said, walking us down the main hallway. She took us to the same empty classroom where we took the test the first time. I then remembered why I hated school. We were street-smart, not book-smart. The math portion of the test dragged me down. I saw Angel zip through it from the corner of my eye. Gazzy was having trouble. Nudge was hardly paying attention. Iggy was in another room, taking an oral exam. Dylan was intensely focused. I didn't think he had any schooling. Maybe I was wrong.
If x + 4(5) = 27, what is x - 2?
What? I didn't even know what that meant. X is a letter, right? How can I solve a math equation using a letter? Math just confused me. Thank God it was multiple choice. Any answer is better than no answer. As if I cared if I got it right.
Four hours later. Our results barely changed since the last time we were tested. Angel and Dylan scored the highest. You wouldn't believe the brain capacity that boy has! If he weren't a mutant freak with wings, he would've be in college at the age of nine. Being in the military for a short period of time did something for my history, but my math and reading still sucked. Again, we all had great memorization skills.
So, what classes were we all put in? Not the same one, I assure you. Angel and Dylan were placed in the high algebra class, the honor's English class, the high history class, and all the other top classes you could get into. The rest of us weren't that lucky (or smart). Iggy and I got into the low math class, regular English, regular history, regular science, and regular or low… everything else. Nudge was in my math and science class, but she got into the higher English class and the lower history class. Gazzy was in my English and history class, but got into the regular math class and the honor's science class. Total… well, Total was a mystery when it came to school. I don't even know how he got into the classes he did.
Anybody who can keep up with all of this, send me a chart that can help me keep up with all of this.
Of coarse, what would school be without P.E., computers, and health class? There was only one computers and health class. I knew we all would ace computers with no difficulty whatsoever, but health was going to be a challenge. We never gave any thought about health. If something was broken, we would suck it up and move on. If one of us was sick, which rarely ever happened, we would do the same thing. Why did we even need to know about our health? I had no clue. As for physical education, they made a whole new gym class just for us! Good thing, too. I doubt anyone else would be able to keep up with us. Just thinking about it made me grin.
Day one, week one, period one. I had math with Iggy and Nudge. I was twitchy about the idea of not being able to keep an eye on the rest of my flock. Our teacher was an old bald man, squinty grey eyes, about five foot twelve, and could loose a couple extra pounds. He wore a pale beige strped button up shirt, black work pants, and black leather shoes. Not a bad teacher's get up. At least I knew he wasn't going to try to attack me.
He introduced himself as Mr. Kaden. Since the year already started, we had to catch up with the rest of the class. They were learning long division. Okay, I know I'm not great at math, but I knew some! Sticking us in a class with these idiots was just insulting, especially at our age! I mean, long division? Really? Even Total knew long division! And he's a dog! A mutant talking dog with wings, but still. It was too easy. I wondered how the rest of my flock were doing.
Angel POV
I sat in the very middle of the very first row in the classroom. Dylan sat to my right. Just like the rest of the flock, I had math first. Or should I say, Algebra 1. I grinned, waiting for my teacher. I wasn't sure if anyone else knew this, but I really enjoyed math. I liked school in general, but math was my best subject when we went to school back in Virginia. If you're thinking I cheated on the placement test by reading the teacher's mind, you're wrong. I tried my best not to read anyone's mind during the test. Honest.
The teacher walked in, holding a teacher's text book and a blue reusable bag over her shoulder. She looked very young for a teacher. She had strawberry blonde hair with bright highlights, curled at the bottom. She wore a light purple sweater, a darker purple skirt that landed just below her knees, and silver heeled sandals. Her name was Ms. Everheart. Her mind was like an office building, always thinking about work, planning what to do.
This afternoon I still have to pick up the paperwork from yesterday, and then I have to grade the quizzes and make up tomorrow's worksheets and…
It was tiring just listening to her. But at least she was focused on school and not personal things like her boyfriend or her next trip to the mall.
"Good morning class," Ms. Everheart began, "I see we have some new students today. Would you to like to stand and tell the class your names?"
Oh no. She was one of those teachers. The kind that make you stand in front of the entire class and say something about yourself. Not that I minded that, but Dylan did.
I stood, with Dylan at my side. All eyes were on us. That's not something we get use to.
"Would you like to go first sweetie?" She said in a high pitched voice, looking down at me. Should I give my real name? I bet Jeb had already written our real names in their records. Maybe I should ask Max really quickly.
Max, the teacher wants my name. Should I fake it?
A few seconds of silence. I probably looked like an idiot.
Yeah go ahead. They already have our real names in their files in the office.
I knew it.
"Um, my name is Angel. I'm seven years old." I said, sounding completely not like a seven year old. I looked up at Dylan expectantly.
"How about you? What's your name?" Ms. Everheart said, with her eyebrows raised.
He hesitated a moment. "Dylan." Short, sweet, and to the point. That's why I liked Dylan. He made things simple. Ms. Everheart waited, as if he would say more. But he didn't.
" All right," she said, "take your seats. Class is about to begin."
Gasman's POV
Math, jeez. Did we need to know math? Could you use math to make explosives? I thought so. Iggy would've known, but he wasn't in my class. Nobody in the flock was, besides Total. For once, Total wasn't talking. He was probably waiting for the rest of the class to come before he started chatting. Smart dog, always trying to be funny.
Ms. Hamilton was our math teacher. She taught most of the regular ranked classes.
She was sorting some papers on her desk when a scrawny kid came running into the room.
"I'm here… I'm here…" he said in between pants. His backpack was half open, his shoes were muddy, and he looked like he's been chased by Erasers.
"Manny, why are you so late?" Ms. Hamilton asked.
Manny held up a finger: one sec. he put his hands on his knees and tried to steady his breathing.
"I accidentally slept in, then I fell down the stairs on the way out of my dorm," Manny started. It was totally believable, for a start. "I ran over here as fast as I could when some idiot on a bicycle almost ran me over and knocked all of my books and papers out of my bag." That's when his story started to sink.
Ms. Hamilton didn't smile, or frown. She remained completely unreadable. "Very credible story. There's just a few errors. First, I know for a fact that your dorm room is on the first floor, so there is no way you could have fallen down any stairs on your way out." Strike one. "Second, we are in the middle of the dessert in Utah, and every other student and teacher is already in class. No one would be cycling through this area." Strike two. "Third, you couldn't have dropped your books because you don't have a backpack on you. I watched you put it in your locker on Friday because you had no homework." Strike three, you're out! Manny got detention, and class started, about ten minutes behind schedule.
Max POV
First period was a drag. Yes, we outshone the rest of the class when they found out we already knew long division, but it just got so boring! It should've been fun to feel smarter than the rest of the class, but when the teacher made us do it over and over, in word problems, side to side, up and down, then backwards, it becomes too much. I decided I didn't like Mr. Kaden very much.
Second period, science, was just as horrible as first period, more or less. I'll spare you the gross details of dissection. Health class was next. Ugh! Then history. Lucky for me, we were learning American history. The amount of American history I knew was about as many secrets Angel didn't know about. Yes, it was sad. Lunch was next.
THANK YOU GOD!!!!!
I was starving. Lunch was held in a huge cafeteria filled with loud, semi-normal or above average kids, and a large king sized salad bar. Next to the salad bar was a self-serve sub station. I had a feeling that both bars would be cleaned out by the end of the period. When I saw Nudge drooling with hunger, I started toward the salad bar. Then the sub station. People were actually gawking at the two foot long sub sandwiches filled with three types of meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. It was hilarious.
We finished just in time to go back for seconds, but as we got up, someone blocked my way. It was the lunch aid.
"I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to eat anymore. We can't be wasteful with food out here." she said.
"Excuse me," I said with just a little too many manners. "We're new, you probably haven't gotten use to us yet. We all are very, very big eaters, and we didn't get a very, very big breakfast. So, if you'll excuse us--" I nearly pushed her to the ground. We made our way back to the salad and sub stations and got more food.
On our way back to our seats, I could hear people murmuring about us.
"Those kids are pigs…why don't they save some for the rest of us?… how can a seven year old digest so much… I knew those kids were freaks…"
It was getting on my nerves. But I knew that if I broke anything, or anyone, I would hear it later from Jeb. I sighed, and continued eating.
Recess was next period, and that's where the fun began.
Sorry for such a long chapter. I wanted to make it really good, and get all the info I could in there. Review PLEASE!!!!!