Hey guys. Sup? I'm so excited that it's almost summer. Just 5 more weeks of school. Unfortunately, the last week is devoted to exams. Boo. I'm sure all of you understand. As most of you know, I have no idea what I'm doing with this story. Well, I have some ideas, but they're all very vague and won't happen until much later. If you all have any ideas whatsoever, please don't hesitate to share. I promise I will credit you. Just please give me some small idea. Otherwise, it'll be a long time before I get to post another update. I'm trying really hard, but writer's block is just way too strong. Well, one last thing before I get on with this chapter. Please, please read 'NeoFlock' and 'Deadline' by my good friend Talon666. Amazing author, amazing stories. You'll love them. Okay, on with the chapter!

I woke up to someone beating me with pillows. I didn't want to get up, but it was getting pretty hard to just lay there ignoring them. I wanted them to cut it out and I had a pretty good idea as to who was doing it.

Gazzy. I thought. Or, maybe Angel. No, one of them would've said something by now.

I opened my eyes to see who it was. An unfamiliar face with bright red hair and green eyes was staring at me, holding a pillow that was poised to hit me. I screamed and fell off of the bed. It took me a minute to realize where I was and that the red headed girl holding a pillow over her head was Jewel.

"You okay?" she asked, looking down at me. She was looking at me like I was crazy.

"Sorry Jewel." I said, standing up. "I forgot where I was. I thought I was at home in my own bed and that you were the Gasman or Angel or someone." I looked around the boring white room. My eyes fell on Skye's hammock. He wasn't in it and I was curious as to where he was.

Jewel, noticing where I was looking grinned and said, "He's probably in the bathroom. Of course, the Director might have called him down. She does it every so often, hoping he'll join her." she chuckled.

I shrugged. "Why should I care where he is?" I asked. The truth was, I had been worried that something had happened to him. Max and the others had told me that sometimes some of the kids would just disappear and never be seen again. They had been terminated. I was relieved to know that Skye was ok, not that I'd ever admit it.

"Mel." Jewel said, throwing a grey shirt at me and knocking me out of my thoughts. I caught it and she said, "It's mine. It's a little too big. It'll probably fit you."

"Thanks." I said, pulling off my shirt. I hadn't even gotten it all the way over my head before the door opened and then quickly slammed shut. I yanked off the shirt, surprised.

"Sorry Skye!" Jewel yelled, her face was tinged pink. What did she have to be embarrassed about? Skye hadn't just seen her without a shirt on. I was blood red. I quickly pulled the shirt on that Jewel gave me. It was a perfect fit.

"Is it safe to come in?" I heard Skye ask, in an annoyed tone, from the hallway.

"Yeah!" Jewel shouted. "Sorry Mel. I didn't know he was coming. You okay?" Poor Jewel. She thought it was her fault. Skye was the one who should've knocked in the first place.

As Skye walked in I said, "It's okay Jewel." Suddenly, I realized I was really hungry.

"Hey Jewel, can I have something to eat?" I asked. "I'm kinda hungry."

She nodded. "Sure. Hey Skye, go get Mel a sandwich."

Skye rolled his eyes. "She can get her own sandwich." he grumbled. I was completely fed up with him. Why was he so horrible to me? Well, two could play at that game. If he was going to be mean to me, then I'd be mean right back.

"It's okay Jewel. I'll get it myself." I walked to the fridge, opened the door, and grabbed a sandwich. Before I closed the door I said, "It's probably too difficult for Skye anyway."

I flopped down on my bed and took a bite of my sandwich in triumph. Then I spit it out into my hand. Yuck. I forgot about the tomatoes. I pulled it out, disgusted, and dropped it into the plastic baggie.

Skye laughed his head off, clutching his stomach while Jewel shot an annoyed look at him.

"Well excuse me for hating tomatoes." I spat at him. He laughed even harder, gasping for breath. I let him finish his fit of laughter before I even thought about responding.

"Listen Princess," he said when he was finished laughing, "around here we can't afford to be picky." He then looked down at his watch. "Alarm in five, four, three…"

Before I had a chance to ask what was going on, an alarm went off. It was the loudest, most annoying sound I had ever heard. And I thought my alarm clock back home was bad.

"Mel, you might want to throw away the sandwich!" Jewel shouted over the blaring alarm as she jumped up.

I nodded and discarded the sandwich, following her and Skye into the hall.

It was a pretty strange sight. There were all of these other mutant hybrid kids standing at the doors to their room like soldiers. I glanced up the hall and a tall man with graying hair was muttering to the experiments, all of whom looked scared stiff. I also noticed he had an electric cattle prod in his hand. Yikes.

Eventually, the creepy dude made his way to us. "Ah yes." he said. "De troublemakers." he said, eyeing Jewel and Skye. "Still rebellious I see."

Skye rolled his eyes and Jewel stared straight ahead. This seemed to annoy him.

"Ven I ask you a question I expect you to answer." he said and then he zapped Jewel. She cringed from the pain.

I'm naturally maternal like my mother and Max, so of course that really ticked me off. "Hey, pick on someone your own size." I said.

He turned to me. "Disobedient and smart mouthed. You haf pale eyes and dark hair. You must be Melody. De flock has taught you to haf no respect for authority I see."

Suddenly, I knew who this guy was. My parents had told me all about him. Dr. ter Borcht. Gazzy had often made fun of his accent, so I had to try my best not to laugh. "It's not that I don't have respect for authority, it's more like I don't have respect for you." I corrected him just like Max would have.

"You know, I had de pleasure of meeting your mother once." he said. "She vas a bitch just like you and your father, well he vas useless, blind, a complete failure."

"Shut up." I told him, clenching my fists, hatred getting the better of me. Even Max couldn't always keep her emotions in check.

"Ah, ah. Ve vouldn't vant to haf to hurt you. You could be very valuable. Ve vouldn't vant to haf to lower de price for… damaged goods." he said with a smirk. He then went on his way, zapping other defenseless kids.

Jewel turned to me. "Mel, you shouldn't have done that. He's never going to leave you alone. He'll find some way to hurt you."

I shrugged. "Doesn't matter. He'd still find some way to hurt me. He knew my parents Jewel, you heard him."

I noticed Skye looking at me, but his face was impassive so I couldn't tell if he was just staring off into space or not. He probably was, I mean why would he be looking at me?

Suddenly, another alarm went off and everyone scattered. I must have looked confused, because Jewel turned to me and said, "It's time for us to take some tests and then we fight Tanner, Willow, and Flint."

I nodded and followed her and Skye down the hall. We came to an elevator and Jewel pressed the button calling it. We waited for it in silence, either not knowing what to say or not wanting to talk.

Soon the elevator came and we stepped in. My ears were met by a faint sound. Elevator music? They actually put elevator music in the elevators. No one had done that for years. Talk about weird.

The elevator came to a stop and we got off. Immediately, my nose was hit with an antiseptic smell. Yeah, that was more like the School the way my parents had described it to me. First the crazy Director, second the plot to sell us to foreign countries, third good ol' ter Borcht, and last but not least, the antiseptic smell.

"So, where do we go now?" I asked, feeling a little nervous. I mean, wouldn't you if you had no idea what these crazy, sadistic lunatics were going to do to you and your new friends? Okay, so Skye being my friend was debatable, but still, that's not the point.

Jewel pointed to three chairs put up against a wall. "We sit here until they call us. Then we go with them and endure whatever they dish out. When they're finished we wait out here until all of us have been tested and then we're escorted outside."

Skye had already sank into the middle chair. Great, that meant I had to sit next to him. Jewel took the seat on the right, so I plopped into the one on the left. Skye didn't even acknowledge that I had sat next to him. He just stared at the wall, completely ignoring me.

I sighed. What else did I suspect? He hated me, for some unknown reason. Maybe it was just after Tanner and Willow he felt that he couldn't count on anyone except Jewel, so he was trying to get me to leave. Well, that wasn't going to happen. The way I saw it, there were only two ways I was going to get out of there: escape or join the Director. Even though the escape would take a while, there was no way I was going with the second option. As far as I was concerned, it wasn't really an option at all.

We were sitting there for so long that my leg had started to go numb. My butt was probably next. I shifted around in my seat, hoping to wake up my tingling leg. I hated that numb feeling. It was annoying and it hurt when I moved my leg.

Skye had turned to me, a quizzical look on his face. I shook my head, clearing out the thoughts I had been thinking about him, and he scowled at me and then turned his head back to the wall in front of him.

Jerk. I thought to myself. I had to will myself not to take a sideways glance at him. Don't even think about it Mel. We've gone over this. Just take a deep breath.

The deep breath thing? Yeah, it didn't work. When I inhaled I caught his scent and my heart thundered and I got all lightheaded. It wasn't pleasant. I found myself actually hoping someone would come and take me to be tested on already. I couldn't sit there for a second longer.

Just then, a door swung open. A short, dark headed woman with a clipboard walked out. Without even glancing up she called, "4574574723 aka Melody."

Great, I had a number now. I got up and walked towards her. I kept my face expressionless. My mother had taught me that. "We had to give you a special number since you are not one of our experiments." she told me, like I was supposed to be proud or something. "We also have special tests for you. Okay, this way please."

She began walking and I followed, turning my head for a last fleeting look at Jewel and Skye. I felt a lump form in my throat and a pang of pain in my stomach. Whatever these 'special' tests were, I knew they were not going to be good.

You can do it Mel. I told myself. Just be strong like Mom, Dad, and Max taught you. I felt a sudden urge to cry, but I held back the tears. Only babies cry. I thought. At that moment, I would have given anything to be a baby, safe in my mother's arms.

Okay guys, next time, we'll have Mel's tests. If you have any ideas for that, let me know. Remember her powers are minor healing, photographic memory, and super smart. Well, I suppose that's it for now. Uh, read and review. Check out Talon666's stories, 'NeoFlock' and 'Deadline'. Peace out.