Hey everyone. Did you like the prologue or what? In case you didn't know, I had put bits of the songs 'Teenagers' by My Chemical Romance and 'With Arms Wide Open' by Creed in there. Just thought you should know that I don't own those songs. Shocking right? I also don't own Maximum Ride or any of the old characters. You probably knew that though. Sort of obvious. Well, just to let you know, most of this story is in Melody's POV. This chapter begins about 14 years after the prologue. Well, here we go.

My alarm clock mercilessly woke me up. Whoever made the time 5:30 AM must have been inhuman. Same went for the person who made alarm clocks and the person who made high school start so early. They could just burn.

I sleepily rolled over in my bed, hit the snooze button, and tried to recall the wonderful dream I had been having before I was so rudely and cruelly awakened.

I had been flying in my dream. I had beautiful cloudy grey wings and I was soaring over the trees. It was amazing. I felt adrenaline pulsing through my veins. It was a rush. I enjoyed every minute of it.

I had almost nodded off again when someone banged on my door. Rude much? I mean, really. I was trying to get some sleep.

"Melody Isabelle Smith, get up right now!" my father's voice ordered cheerfully. I didn't understand how he could be so cheerful at this ungodly hour.

"Come on sleepy head. It's someone's fourteenth birthday and if you don't get downstairs, you'll be late for school. Everyone's here already." I heard him thunder back down the stairs and forced myself to get up. I had forgotten it was my birthday.

Everyone was here? So that would mean that Uncle Fang, Aunt Max, Aunt Ella, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, and Total had come early.

Too early. I thought, yawning.

I ran my fingers through my tangled hair, yawned, and made my way to the bathroom in my small bedroom. I turned on the sink, splashed water on my face, and looked in the mirror.

Everyone always told me how pretty I was. I looked exactly like my mother, except I had my father's eyes. They were this brilliant icy blue as my mother described them. I just thought I looked pretty ordinary, not like my mother at all.

My mother was gorgeous. She was only thirty two years old, but she looked like she was sixteen. My father said that when they were in high school he had had to beat up a few guys for trying to hit on her.

The only thing I really liked about my appearance was my twelve and a half foot wings. Yes, you heard me right. I did just say wings. They were cloudy grey just like they had been in my dream.

Actually, that hadn't really been a dream at all. It was more of a memory of the previous weekend. It was like that every weekend. My whole family and I would go out camping and as soon as it got dark, we'd fly around until I started to get tired. We'd been doing this as long as I could remember.

Obviously, I'm not the only one in my family who has wings. My parents have them and so do Uncle Fang, Aunt Max, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel.

Total was Angel's talking dog (He can get annoying.) and Aunt Ella was Max's half sister. They were the only ones without them, besides Max and Ella's mom, Dr. Martinez, or 'Auntie Val' as she liked me to call her.

When my parents and their friends were babies, they had been taken from their homes by a place called the School. The School had given them wings and had experimented on them. They got out when my parents were fourteen.

That's actually how my parents met each other. My dad and the others had rescued her from another branch of the School. They later found out that my mom was Fang's sister and found their mother who had happened to be a good scientist up at the School. She died saving all of them. They've been together ever since.

A couple of years before I was born my parents and the rest of their "flock" had saved the world, but they knew that they hadn't destroyed the School. They knew that someday it would come back.

Which is how my Uncle Fang and Aunt Max got together. They had loved each other for a long time, but kept it hidden. At my parents' wedding, they stopped hiding it and they just got married last year.

My family is the best. They are strange, but they are awesome.

Anyway, I quickly got dressed in my favorite outfit; a long sleeved blue shirt, a pair of faded jeans, white tennis shoes, and a white jacket, to hide my wings since no one could know about them, and I headed downstairs.

"There's the birthday girl!" my mom exclaimed, hugging me tightly and kissing the top of my head as soon as I got downstairs. "Fourteen already. Boy, I'm getting old."

"You're still just as beautiful as ever." my dad, who had just come from the kitchen, murmured in her ear.

On that note I got out of my mother's grip and went into the living room to give them some privacy. Who said only teenagers got mushy? They obviously hadn't met my parents.

I plopped down on the couch next to Nudge who gave me another hug.

Pieces of her wild hair went in my mouth and I let go so I could get them out.

"You get more pretty every time I see you." she said when I had stopped spitting hair out of my mouth. "I swear. I'm so jealous."

I didn't know why. Nudge was just as pretty, maybe prettier.

"But, you just saw me two days ago." I reminded her.

She nodded and said, "But still Mel, you look just like Elisabeth."

"Except she's got Iggy's eyes." Twenty three year old Angel said matter-of-factly, smiling at me.

By far, she was my favorite out of the group. She knew me so well, although I think some of that had to do with her mind reading ability. All of us had abilities, but more about that later.

"Yeah, except she can see out of them." Angel's brother Gazzy teased.

Gazzy was short for the Gasman, but I'm not going into detail about the reason why. He had a funky digestive system. I'll leave it at that.

"I heard that!" my dad shouted from the hall.

"Damn that hearing of his." Gazzy muttered under his breath.

Max rolled her eyes and muttered, "Boys."

Then she turned to me and said, "Mel, when I was your age I was saving the world. I can't wait to see what adventures you'll have." Max was the leader of the 'flock'. The reason why was pretty obvious. She was extremely level headed and motherly. Plus, she could kick serious butt. She had taught me and everyone else everything we knew.

"Hopefully, she won't have any." Fang muttered. He was lounging on the couch, his eyes closed. "Hopefully she'll be nice and safe here and not have to worry about being blown up every time she blinks."

That was the problem with my dear uncle Fang; he took everything so seriously. I highly doubted that he had worried that much when he was my age and I also doubted that I'd have an adventure like theirs'. Probably the most exciting thing that would happen in my life was going on a date, not that anyone ever asked me.

My mom said that was because boys mature slower than girls and since I was a bird girl, I matured double the rate of a normal teenager. She said that when I found someone, it'd be for life just like with her and my father and Max and Fang.

Yeah, right. Like some boy would ever like me that way. I was a freak with wings. Don't get me wrong, I loved them, but sometimes I wondered what it would be like to be normal.

You'll see Mel. Angel said, reading my thoughts. You're going to find someone some day. Just give it a little time. You're only fourteen. So what if that was the age that your parents found the love of their lives? You're different than them. You'll find someone sooner or later and he'll love you wings and all.

Thanks Angel. I said, not really believing it. What would anyone see in me?

My parents walked into the living room, grinning from ear to ear. Apparently their "discussion" had ended well.

I shuddered as Angel sent me a picture from my mother's memory.

I could've done well without that one thanks.

Angel just giggled.

My parents plopped down on the floor and shook their heads. They had obviously figured out what Angel had done.

"Well, Mel, you are going to have one great birthday." Ella said, trying to fill the silence. She was always doing that.

"Yup." Gaz said, grinning mischievously. "Me and Ig have something big planned for later." He slapped my dad a high five. No one knew exactly how my dad could do that and never miss. It sort of freaked them out, but I thought it was cool.

When Dad and Gaz had something planned, it was always big and it usually exploded which didn't make my mom or Max too happy.

"This better not be like her first birthday." Max warned. She still felt the need to make sure no one got into any trouble even though they were all on their own scattered across the state of Arizona.

"You mean the one with the cake bomb?" Gazzy asked, trying to look innocent. He may have been twenty-five, but he still had child like qualities.

"That's exactly what she means." my mom said, irritated. Apparently that had been the worst disaster in the history of mankind.

'Worst' doesn't begin to cover it. Angel corrected me.

"Lighten up Elisabeth." my dad said, chuckling. "It won't be that big or that messy. Scout's honor." he said, raising his right hand.

Mom and Max rolled their eyes as everyone, including me, burst into uproarious gales of laughter.

My dad was quite the joker. It was just his personality. According to Max, it was how he coped with being blind and with everything else that had happened in their lives.

"Well, I also made a two tiered chocolate cake with chocolate frosting."

My eyes went wide. My dad made the best cakes. He was the single best cook in the world. No one could compare to him. He knew how to make something out of nothing.

"Would've been more, but I didn't have a lot of time yesterday. The restaurant was packed."

After college, my dad had been a cook in some local restaurants, but as soon as he had enough money, he went into business for himself. Let's just say, business was booming.

My mom checked her watch and hopped up. "It's six thirty Mel. We gotta get to school."

My mom was the band teacher at Monroe High School. She was the best one they had ever had.

"See you at four." my dad said, kissing me on the cheek and my mom on the lips.

I saw the Gasman stick out his tongue in disgust and I stifled a laugh.

"Be good!" she called as we headed for the door. "Don't blow anything up!" she warned Gazzy and my dad.

"I won't let them Elisabeth!" Max shouted back at her. She would make sure they stayed out of trouble.

That was good enough for my mom so we headed for the car. It wasn't fancy or anything. Just a midnight blue Dodge Caravan. Big enough for a few of us to pile in comfortably with our wings out.

Time for another day at school. I thought, as we backed out of the driveway. Wonder what excitement awaits me today?

Did you note the sarcasm? Good, I thought it wasn't clear.

So, did you guys like that? I hope so. I will try to update soon, but like I said, it depends. Read and review. Tell your friends. Spread the word about the sequel. Later.