Her name is pronounced Kay-Lick by the way......
Kalec POV
"Kalec! Breakfast, darling!" I hear my father call from downstairs. I'm laying in my bed listening to some My Chemical Romance. I always wake up earlier than I need to for some reason. It's like my internal alarm clock always screams 5:00!!! Wake up Kalec!!!! I have no idea why. I'm already dressed and ready. My homework is done and 100% correct. I quadruple check my work. The only thing needed before school is breakfast. And I LOVE food. It's like my best friend. But I'm not fat at all. I'm really skinny, like a pencil. I can't weigh more than 90 pounds. Even though I eat all the time.
I grab my messenger bag and trudge down the steps. The smell of potatoes and turkey bacon and toast fill my nose. I move faster to the kitchen.
"Morning sweetie!" My mom calls as she sets a third piece of toast on my plate. I know it's mine, because it has the most food.
"Morning Mom, Dad." I pop a squat and dig in.
"Meet anybody interesting lately, Kalec, dear?" My dad asks. He's seated across from me at our huge dark wood kitchen table, reading the paper and drinking coffee. He has on his business suit. His everyday clothes. Long black hair neat and smoothed down. No signs of bed head.
"Uh, no, Dad." I answer, and twitch my wing nervously. He knows I don't talk to anyone. He's testing me.
"Well why not?"
"I don't know." I hide my face behind my lengthy, dark, streaked hair.
"I think you should try and talk to someone today. And for God's sake, stop twitching that thing." He says, referring to my wing. He hates when I do anything that has anything to do with them.
"I can't help it, you're making me nervous."
"I'm your father. Why would you be nervous around me?"
I just shrug, deciding I've said more than I usually do for the morning. I just silently finish my breakfast and put my plate in the sink. While I'm there my mom says,
"Have a nice day sweetie. And never mind your father, he just wants you to make some friends."
I nod and kiss her cheek before grabbing my bag and heading out. As I walk down the street towards Valley View Middle School in Simi Valley, California. That's where I live, by the way. I'm right down the street from my school, so I walk, even though flying would be three hundred times faster. Too bad it's "Forbidden". Sometimes I think my parents hate the fact that I'm different. They probably do. I mean, am I so disgusting that you don't even want to show me pictures from when I was a baby?
I try to get this all out of my head as I walk into the building. I pass all the kids who attend school with me, but have no clue who I am. I go to my locker and put my things away, keeping my face hidden behind my hair. I put the books I don't need until after lunch in my locker, shut it, then continue to class. My seat is in the back. The very last row, in the corner. I set my bag down and get out my notebook, then start drawing like I do all the time before the bell rings, signaling class is starting. I draw what my real family should look like. The family I've dreamed about. A big one, with about six people, seven including me. They all have wings and love me, and accept me and couldn't imagine life without me. I stop when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I look up from my paper to the left. It's Rachel. She doesn't talk much either. She's sat next to me in class for as long as I can remember.
"Uh.....how do you get your hair like that?" She asks me softly.
"Uh—It's natural." I reply.
"Really?" Her eyes get wide. I nod.
"That's so awesome." I nod again.
"What are you drawing there?"
"Uh—nothing." I close my notebook and put it away. My dream family is secret. Private. For some reason I don't want anyone to know about them.
"Sorry." Rachel says, and blushes, then turns back around in her seat. I wasn't being mean was I? I mean, I just told her I wasn't drawing anything. I didn't say it in a rude way! Or even in a tone high enough for you tell if it was rude or not. Great. I almost had a friend and I ruined it. Super. Class begins and I float through it, not listening. I get my notebook out again and keep drawing. Honestly, I don't know how I get such good grades when I don't even pay attention in class.
Soon, it's over. I have two more classes, then study hall, then lunch. I breeze through those classes and head straight to the library. I have no homework to do that I can't do at home, so I grab a good book off of the shelf and sit at a table. I'm near the third chapter already when I sense someone sit down next to me. I look over from under my hair, and there's Rachel again. I set my book down and turn to her.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"Did you need something?" I ask her.
"No.....Just—Can I sit here, with you?"
"Yeah, sure."
"You don't mind?"
"No." I shake my head.
"Okay. It's just that...you're like the prettiest girl here, and I'm so....not. I might put a damper on your ego."
"My ego? I don't have an ego. I stick to myself usually. And what do you mean I'm the prettiest girl here?"
"Do you not notice how all the boys stare at you in class? Especially Xavier Clements."
"He so doesn't stare at me."
"Yeah he does. They all do. You're just too busy in your own world to recognize it."
"We'll see." I pick up my book and keep reading. Are Rachel and I friends now? Did I just befriend someone? On my own?
"I'd love to have my hair like that." She says. I turn back to her.
"I could come over and dye it for you. I don't know how my hair got like this, but we can dye yours if you want. I'd do it for you."
"You would do that for me? Wow. No one's ever offered anything to me like that before."
I nod. She smiles and says, "You wanna come over after school tomorrow? We could go to the store then do it at my house. You could stay for dinner."
"But....I don't know you that well."
"I've sat next to you in every class since kindergarten. We used to talk all the time, even though you were really soft spoken."
Oh.
"Okay. Um, sure. I don't think my parents would mind."
"Awesome! I'll get to be almost as pretty as you."
"Trust me, you don't want to be like me."
"Why do you say that?"
"Reasons."
The bell rings and I gather my stuff, and say, "Wanna walk to class?" And Rachel smiles brightly and says, "I'd love to. Good to have you back, friend."
And my day is loads brighter.
(Awesome Invisible Line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
When I walk in, my mom is sitting in her favorite chair reading a book. She smiles when I walk in.
"Hey sweetie! How was your day?"
"Good. I made a friend." Complete shock crosses over her face.
"Really? That's wonderful, sweetie!"
"Yeah."
"Well go put your things away. You have a doctor appointment today."
"Are you serious?"
"I know, baby. Yes. It's just a check up, nothing more."
"Fine." I say angrily and run upstairs to take my things to my room.
When I'm back downstairs, my mom has on her jacket and keys in hand. We hop in the car and head off to the place I hate most. For some reason it's called Itex. Creepy, right? It also looks more like a office and laboratory than doctor's office too. I always freak out coming here. Sometimes, if I listen closely, I think I hear screams....Pleading screams.....like they want to escape. Like this is a torturing prison. It scares me a lot. And I always have a nightmare when I go to sleep later on.
Me and Mom approach the reception desk with this lady. She's smiling, but it looks forced.
"Hi, how can I help you?" she says.
"An appointment with Dr. Batchelder for Kalec Ryan."
She nods and says room 603. We head to the elevators and head up to the sixth floor. We find room 603 immediately. I hop onto the examination table that's stainless steel, like for animals, and try to relax. I see restraints on the sides. Like someone might try to escape this table so they strap them down and....and.....I need to get out of here.
"I'm going to the bathroom." I tell my mother and she nods and I walk out into the hall. I pass all these metal doors. One door has a folder on top of a little shelf. I look around to make sure no ones around before I take it and look inside. It says Experiment GHGdkeNO—1 and GHGdkeNO—2. AKA: Maximum Ride and Fang. What kind of names are those?
I stand on my tiptoes and see two people in two different cages, holding hands through the bars. One has dirty blond hair like my mom's and the other has long dark hair like my dad's. They're both sitting with their knees to their chest. The blond one is shaking. She must be crying. I lift myself up further and accidentally kick the door. The dark haired guy looks up at me.
And stares.
And stares.
And I stare back.
And I stare back some more.
Why does he look so familiar?
I can't stop looking at him. He can't stop looking at me either.
He nudges the girl's hand and she shakes her head. She doesn't look up. He nudges harder, never taking his eyes off of me. I don't take them off of him. He nudges again and says something that looks like Max which I'm guessing is short for Maximum Ride. So he must be Fang. But why does he look so....so....comforting?
He lets go of Max's hand and crawls closer to the door, still inside the cage. He looking right at me. I'm looking right at him. I know this guy. I know him somehow. I don't know how, but I know him in some kind of way.
He puts his hand up to the cage, like he wants me to understand something. But....what? He widens his eyes, begging me to understand. I want to. So badly. I want to understand him. I have a feeling that I need to understand him.
He sighs, and drops his head, then looks back up at me. He points to himself. I nod. Then he crosses his arms over his chest. Doesn't that mean love? I think it does. So I nod again. Then he points at me. He....loves me? How could he possibly know who I am? I nod signaling I get what he's saying, but I don't know why he loves me. I shake my head and put my arms up in the gesture meaning "I don't know, I don't get it." He looks confused. I take a piece of paper out of mini notepad and write in huge letters, "Why do you love me?"
He looks like he's about to answer when I feel a tug on my arm. It's my doctor.
"Um, hi, Dr. Batchelder."
"Hello, Kalec. Checking out some of the new models, huh?"
"Models?"
"Yes. They're robots."
"Oh. Well, yeah. Cool."
"Yes. Well let's get you back to your room now, shall we?"
He takes me back to my room and I jump back on the table. He checks out my heartbeat and blood pressure and such, then flexes my wings, which hurts because I can never use them.
"I think you need to give these wings some exercise, Kalec."
"I'm not aloud to."
"Mrs. Ryan, she really does need--"
"We stand by our rules, Doctor. We don't want them out. She has no use for them."
"Very well. I'll return shortly for something to relax those muscles as long as you aren't using them."
Then he walks out the door.
Dr. Batchelder POV
"What kind of stunt are you pulling?!" I yell at Max and Fang. The child almost caught on to the fact that they are her parents!
"You almost exposed us!"
"We didn't do a damn thing. It was all me."
"Why the hell would you do something like that?!"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe because I want my daughter back!" He yells right back at me.
"You can't have her back! She's being tested. To get her back would be ruining everything. I've told this over and over again!"
"I don't care how many times you've told me, Jeb! That doesn't make me not want her back any less you dipshit!"
"You can't have her back. End of story. She gets a life. A normal one. Unlike you two and the Flock did. She may be confused and lost, but we need her to get vital information."
"I don't give a fuck about your vital information she's my fucking daughter for Christ's sake and your using her for something that has nothing to do with her!"
"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP BOTH YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCKING FUCK UP!!!" Max screams through tears.
"Just shut.....up.....I can't take it, shut up."
It suddenly gets very quiet.
"You're such a bastard--" Fang starts.
"SHUT UP!" she screams again. Fang is glaring at me so hard I think his eyes are going to burst into flames. He breathing hard and his nostrils are flaring. I'm actually a little scared. I gulp a wad of spit.
I turn on my heel and walk out.....letting the sound of my own daughter's hysterical tears fill my ears.