Hey guys. I've had a very tiring week. School, band craziness, and the general drama. Well, I don't think you guys wanna hear about my week. You guys want me to get to my story. Well, this chapter shouldn't disappoint you. It's a filler, but it sorta sets up some things for my next chapter. It'll be kinda hard to see how, but it does. Okay, so read 'NeoFlock' and 'Deadline' by Talon666 and 'Dark Blue' and 'Maximum Ride: Wings vs. Wands' by Madeline Cullen. They are excellent stories by excellent authors. Oh, and I want to give a huge thank you to Sonya Rivers. You are amazing and I'm super glad you love my stories. You are officially my biggest fan ever. Congrats. Oh, by the way, I keep forgetting to mention that the pictures of my characters that people drew for me are on my profile if you wanna check them out. Now, you may draw me more pictures if you want, but I won't be announcing them anymore. This is the last I'll ever speak of it, so just remember that. Well, I shall keep you waiting no longer. Here's my new chapter.

After an hour of flying, we finally landed near a Wal-Mart. Yeah, not as cheap as I would've liked, but it was fine I suppose. Not bad. A little crowded it seemed, but I was used to crowds. Unlike Jewel and Skye.

"Wow. I've never seen so many people." Jewel said in awe.

Skye, of course, said nothing. He just had this paranoid look on his face as usual. I could tell he was really uncomfortable. If it wasn't so sad that a fifteen year old boy who could potentially kill someone with one hand tied behind his back was scared of regular people who couldn't do anything to him it would be hilarious.

I sighed inwardly. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. But then again we did need new clothes. At the School, we only got two other outfits besides the mandatory scrubs and one of those outfits was pajamas.

We walked inside and went immediately to the clothes section. Okay, so it took a little while to find it and I almost lost Skye in the electronics section, but we eventually got there unscathed.

"Girls first!" Jewel shouted with glee causing several people to stare at us with very disapproving looks. What? Had they never seen scruffy runaway children who desperately needed a bath and a comb before? Seriously people.

Skye let out a huff. "Just hurry." He looked over his shoulder. "I don't like being here. Too many people."

I sighed, but I was used to it. My parents and the flock were the same way. Heck, even Dr. Martinez and Ella had started being paranoid too. I suppose it was from being chased and tied up in closets and whatever else.

"Just keep cool." I told the both of them. "We wanna seem normal. So, just remain calm and blend."

Jewel nodded and Skye simply rolled his eyes. I hoped we could do this. The last thing I needed was a repeat of that morning.

We walked over to a rack of clothes and Jewel started grabbing every cute thing she saw. I decided to keep my mouth shut and just let her do whatever she wanted. I'd remind her that we were on a tight budget later. She needed to be a regular twelve year old for at least an hour.

I managed to grab a couple of things before Jewel dragged me back to a changing room. She tossed all the clothes she had chosen at me and smiled mischievously.

"What are you up to?" I asked, hanging the clothes on the hook. "Why'd you throw all your clothes at me?"

"Most of those aren't mine." she said, grabbing two outfits. "These are the only ones I got for myself. The rest are for you."

Okay, now I really wanted to know what she was up to. "But, I have my clothes here." I said, pointing to the two outfits I picked out.

"I know, but we don't have to get them. Just try them on. I thought it would be fun." Jewel begged. "This is the only time I'll get to have this much fun. Please?"

I sighed and gave in. "Okay, hand me one." What else could I do? I didn't want to spoil her only chance at some regular fun.

Jewel handed me an outfit and I changed into it. It was sparkly white spaghetti strap top and a dark grey mini skirt. I put my jacket on to help hide my wings, much to Jewel's disappointment.

"Jewel, what's the point of all of this? You're the only one who can see me." I was very confused. What in the heck was she up too?

"Well, Skye's outside the door." Jewel said.

I rolled my eyes. "Skye's not going to want to see me Jewel. He doesn't really care about this."

Jewel frowned. "Just this one outfit. Please? Then we can put the rest of this stuff back and just get the clothes we want and can afford. Let's just see what he says. Please?"

I sighed. "Okay, one outfit." I'm telling you, this was really pointless. Jewel wanted to have a fashion show and then her idea of an audience was Skye. And if she was really thrilled that I was going to model for her then why settle for one outfit? Why not make me try all of them on? Oh well.

I didn't have any time to question her reason anyway. Jewel slowly opened the door. Skye was looking down at the ground when we stepped out.

"Oh, good you're done. Let's hurry up and-" He looked up and shut up.

Jewel giggled. "Hey Skye, what do you think of Mel's outfit?"

Skye blinked and then frowned. "Uh… it's okay, but why is she in a skirt? I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's not exactly the type of thing you fly or fight in."

Odd. I had been expecting a snide remark. "I'm not getting it. Jewel just wanted me to try it on."

"Well excuse me." Skye replied. "Why do the things you girls do never make any sense?"

"The same reason the things boys do don't." I replied. Is it just me or did that sentence not make any sense? Oh well.

Jewel sighed. "Okay, we can go back in there and you can change Mel."

"Thanks." I said, tugging at my skirt. "I feel weird in this thing." I may like shopping, but I hate skirts and dresses.

We went back to the changing room and I pulled my old clothes back on. Then we took the clothes we wanted out and left the clothes we didn't want in the room.

"Okay, time to get Skye some clothes and then a new pair of shoes each. And then we can leave." I told them.

"Not soon enough." Skye muttered as we headed to the guys section.

Picking out Skye's clothes was way less eventful. He grabbed two shirts and a couple pairs of jeans and we were finished. I was glad guys weren't so picky when it came to clothes.

"Okay, shoes and then we're out of here." I said, one last time.

We walked around for a while looking for the shoe section. Hey, don't act like you've never gotten lost in Wal-Mart before. I'm telling you, that place is like a labyrinth. You go to get a jug of milk, something that should only take ten minutes, and you end up being there for two hours with a cart full of stuff you never knew you needed. I think they do it on purpose.

"Oh finally." I sighed in relief when we turned a corner and were met with a wall of shoes.

Skye picked the first pair of Nike's he saw and said, "Okay, I'm finished. Now why don't you two hurry up."

I rolled my eyes and looked at all of the shoes. Flats, boots, tennis shoes, and sandals. Boots or tennis shoes were my best bet, but all of the boots had heels. Not very practical.

"Perfect." I said, grabbing a pair of knock off black converses. "Only ten dollars too." I tried them on and said, "Okay, I'm finished too."

As I pulled off my shoes and stuck them back in their box I noticed Jewel. She was having a harder time than me or Skye. She was stuck between two pairs of shoes.

"What do you think Mel?" she asked, holding up the shoes.

I sighed and examined the prices. "I'd go with the pink and grey Nike's. They're only fifteen dollars."

"You're right." she said, putting them back in the box.

"So, we can go now right?" Skye asked, relieved.

I shook my head. "We gotta pay first Skye."

We made our way to the self check out line and in a matter of minutes, we were ready to roll. Well, almost. I thought it would be a good idea if we went to change, so I looked for a sales lady.

"Excuse me." I said. "Do you think it would be alright if we changed into these?" I asked, holding up our bags. "I just paid for them and I was just wondering if it'd be alright."

She sighed and, in a bored tone, said, "I suppose. Bathrooms are over there."

I led Skye and Jewel away without even saying thank you. That lady had been very rude.

We changed quickly and walked out of there fast. I thought we looked so much better than when we walked in. We cleaned up in the sinks and I dug a comb out of my backpack.

Jewel was in a white tank top with little pink hearts and yellow lightning bolts all over it, a pair off grey cutoffs, and her new tennis shoes. She had also bought a new light pink jacket. She looked very cute.

Skye had on a plain dark blue t-shirt that really made his eyes pop and a pair of dark jeans. I took one look at him and had to take a few deep breaths before I said a word.

I was in a light grey tank top, with my jacket over it, a pair of snug fitting, light blue jeans, and my awesome, black, knock off converses. I looked pretty good and I was very happy. That is, I was until we walked outside.

We had just exited the store when I heard a couple of guys laughing and joking around. I thought nothing of them, until one of them shouted at me.

"Hey girl! You got a great ass."

I stopped dead and turned around. I could easily pick out the jerk off that said that. He was being elbowed by his friends and he was laughing. He had dark, curly brown hair. He seriously had picked the wrong girl to mess with.

"Hey, her front ain't too bad either." one of his friends said. He had short blonde hair and didn't look too bright. Heck, none of them did come to think of it.

They all wolf whistled and made a couple of sexist comments. I just rolled my eyes, flipped them the bird, and turned around. Jewel and Skye had stopped too and they both looked confused. I just shrugged and started to walk away.

"Ooh. Girl got an attitude. I like that." I heard one of them hiss.

Okay, time for drastic measures. I grabbed Skye's hand and began walking again with Jewel following behind us.

"What are you doing?" Skye whispered angrily.

"This is the only way to get rid of them." I explained. It was a proven fact that if a girl had a boyfriend and she was with said boyfriend when guys were harassing her, they'd stop when they figured it out. Not that Skye was actually my boyfriend. He hated me, remember?

I heard them following us. So much for that brilliant plan. Guess they could tell we were faking.

"Come on girl. Why're you wastin' your time with this guy?" one of them said.

Skye whipped around and glared at them menacingly. I was totally and completely at a loss for words or thoughts. That just took me by surprise.

"If you clowns keep messin' with my girl I'm gonna make sure it's the last thing you ever do." he growled at them, scaring them out of their wits.

"Oh. S… sorry dude." one of them stammered. "We didn't realize. We… don't want no t… trouble."

"Then get lost." Skye growled again. He was even scaring me. I never knew he was so good at acting.

"Yeah. Sure. We're outta here." they said, running off. It took everything in me not to bust out laughing.

When we got safely to the edge of the parking lot I couldn't take it any longer. I just started laughing like a hyena.

"That was awesome." I said. "I never knew you were so good at acting Skye."

He shrugged. "I knew they weren't gonna leave unless I scared them. " He looked at the ground and said, "Couldn't risk them following us and seeing our wings."

Oh. Right. The wings. I almost forgot. How thoughtless of me. "Well, I guess we should take off then."

Skye nodded and Jewel just stared at the two of us. I shook my head and yanked off my jacket, stuffing it in the backpack. It was pretty hot out. Blazing hot.

Well, that's over. Like I said, it was a filler. Not bad though huh? Things are starting to get pretty interesting. Updating as soon as I can. Later.