Previously: Each member of the flock engulfed our group hug, and for the first time in my life, I felt complete.
Disclaimer: Again, as I said in the last, what, three chapters? I. Do. Not. Own. Maximum. Ride. Or anything else that has to do with her or the other characters, besides what I make up.
Claimer: I do own a totally messed up life of my own, and Alex, Jade, Jake, Jeff, and whoever else I add into the story that hasn't yet been added to JP's version. And the plot, so don't copy me.
Max P.O.V:
Several minutes later I composed myself, and let go of my flock. Reluctantly, I pulled away from Fang, smiling sheepishly at my obvious lack of control. "I swear to God, if you hurt her…oh!" Alex stomped into my room, probably assuming that Jake had said something to make me cry, (A.N explain later) and she was pissed. When she realized that Jake was nowhere to be found and that there were six other people in the room besides myself, she calmed down and simply stood in the doorway wearing a look of utter confusion.
"Max?" She said/asked, finding me standing in the middle of the bunch of kids. "You were crying…"I smiled apologetically at her, and walked over to introduce everyone. "This is Alex, everyone." I began, glancing at each of the flock before continuing. "Alex, this is Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, Iggy, and Fang." Slowly, she registered who these people were, and replied as in greeting, "But you're dead." I laughed, feeling hyper from so many emotions let out in the last half hour. "Yeah, not so much." Iggy said, smiling as well.
"Wow!" Alex began, finally warming up to the idea that these five bird-kids actually existed. "So, like, are you like Max? With the wings and stuff?" She asked. Crap, she had to mention that she knew about me now. Fang and Iggy are going to freak. "Hold up. You…know about Max?" Iggy asked, seeming hesitant in knowing the answer already. Alex seemed to realize that she messed up, and looked at me in surrender. "Uh, yeah." She replied, "I, um, know everything." Honestly, was that necessary? She just had to give them all the details! God, I am so freaking screwed. Figures, happiness never lasted long for me.
I glared at her, and she returned it with an awkward smile. Both Iggy and Fang instantly grew tense, but Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge seemed perfectly at ease. As if it made sense that I told Alex about my past life. "How long have you known Max?" Nudge asked, curious. "We met in Central Park like fourteen months ago." She answered, happy that she was off the hook for the time being. "I was playing guitar as a side gig, between jobs, and she started singing these awesome lyrics absentmindedly. The next day we met up with Jade, found a producer, and created To the Max. Now we're here! And the best part? Absolutely no schooling required!" I had no idea Alex was capable of summing up the last 14 months into a single paragraph.
Laughing at her undeserving light mood, we continued to talk about what had gone on while we were separated, and how each of us was holding up. It turned out that Alex and I had a lot more to tell than my flock, but it didn't seem to bother anyone that I had so much luck. "We were on the run basically most of the past year and a half." Nudge explained, "We didn't want to have contact with anyone outside of the flock, ever since Brigid turned on us, so we kept moving, and every time the M-Geeks would find us." I gave her a hug, feeling guilty for not looking for them.
"Then they all of a sudden stopped coming." Iggy continued, "I'm not entirely sure why. But it seemed like after the seventh or eighth time we wiped them out, they gave up." I smiled at him, wanting to show that I really did care, and then proceeded to ask, "How exactly did you get your sight back?" Iggy sighed; apparently it was a long story. "Well," he began, "It was after the second time I got caught by the school." I gasped at how easily he admitted to being captured so many times, but he ignored me and continued. "They were running experiments on my eyes, trying to fix them, when one day I could just, like, see." I was so happy that he could finally see things, be able to fly over the world and look through the clouds, to see the world from a birds-eye view like he was meant to. I almost started to cry again as his mood changed from chagrin to joy. "The white coats said that it had something to do with how fast I heal. That the retina fixed itself after being prompted by…something…they did. I'm not sure how, though."
"That's great, Ig." I said with enthusiasm, excited to finally be together with my family and be able to ask the questions I had wondered for almost two years. "So, Max," Fang said, sounding as if curious about something, "Yeah?" I answered. "You've changed." He said, more of a statement than a question. "Have I, really? That much, I mean?" I answer/asked, wanting more to hear his opinion than give my own. "You have." He replied, "More so than I imagined. But you're still Max, inside." I laughed at how awkward that sounded, and he gave me his signature smirk that lit up my world. "O.K, Fang. That made sense." We continued to talk about various events, such as our concerts and music gigs, and how we became the music icons we were today. Gazzy and Angel weren't very open to answering questions, but they didn't ignore us. Angel seemed intent on staying as close to me as possible, sitting on my lap most of the time, and leaning on my shoulder when she wasn't. Gazzy was quiet, which made me nervous, but he seemed more secluded from the rest of the flock. I would ask Fang about it when I got a chance.
As we were in the middle of discussing how Alex learned to play guitar in social studies, Jade walked in holding three huge boxes of CD's. "Max? Alex? Help!" We went over and each took a box, before they all fell and broke into pieces. There were about 600 CD's total, and we had to sign them all before tomorrow night. We had a fundraiser thing where we sold limited edition CD's signed by each band member.