Snow Day! Well, if you count the fact that the buses aren't running and my mom's too lazy to drive me to school in the foot of snow a snow day, than that's what it is! Good thing is I have a bunch of time to work on my story! Yay!

Chapter Twenty-Five

Max

Please don't be mad at me for my decision-making skills. I needed Fang to stay at the house, and having Gazzy and Iggy in the same house would stress me out to death, and I really didn't want Angel telling me that she should be the leader because I was so vulnerable.

"You know, you make a good point," Angel said. "You really are kind of vulnerable, and we need a strong, capable leader to run this flock—"

My hands flew to my forehead. "Angel, I do not want to hear it! Tell you what. If Fang and Gazzy die, then you're in charge, okay?" I reasoned. Angel seemed pleased for a second, then she clued in.

"Wait, who would I be leader of if Gazzy and Fang were both dead?"

"I have to go pack," I said, ignoring her. I stood way up on my tip-toes and kissed Fang on the cheek. "I promise everything will be fine. I'll call you every night," I promised. I hurried into my room, assembled a bunch of my clothes in a suitcase that my mom had given to me. Stuffed it full with clothes and a couple things I usually kept on hand. I zipped it shut and hauled it out into the living room. Fang snatched it out of my hands.

"I'll get it for you," he said, pulling it to the porch, jumping off, and floating down to the ground.

"You know," my mom said, "That never ceases to amaze me." I smiled at her, headed for the porch, and jumped off myself. Fang caught me just before I landed.

"These are going to be the longest four months of my life," he whispered as he pulled me against his body. "I'm going to miss you so much."

I hugged him. "I'll miss you, too," I answered. He put his hand against the back of my head and brought my lips to his.

"I'm so, so sorry," he whispered. "I can't believe how...stupid I am for letting this happen."

"This isn't your fault," I assured him. "And it doesn't matter. We'll get through it together. You, me, and the rest of the flock. We're gonna be one family again. And soon enough there'll be seven of us." I patted my stomach. Fang looked at my hands nervously. I'd never seen him look so unsure about anything in his life. "I promise. We'll make this work."

I took his hands in mine and put them on my stomach. "Together," I repeated. He nodded.

"Together," he said.

I smiled and pecked his forehead again. "Good. I gotta go now. I'll call you as soon as we get there," I promised. I turned back to the house. "Iggy! Nudge! Get your butts down here!" I hollered. Sure enough, Iggy and Nudge rushed out of the house with their bags and landed beside me. Fang flew back up and helped Ella and my mom with the ladder. They climbed down. We all got into my mom's van and prepared for the trip home, with Fang, Gazzy, and Angel waving from the porch.

Most of the time it was really awkward. Ella and my mom kept glancing at me in the mirror. I just smiled weakly and waved. Finally Ella broke the awkward silence.

"So, Iggy," she said. "How's...y'know, stuff?"

Iggy looked surprised that Ella had addressed him directly. "Um...stuff's...okay," he said hesitantly. "You know, it's been kind of messed up for a while and what not, but other than that..." he paused, searching for words. "Stuff's good."

Ella turned around in her seat and smiled at him, then realized he couldn't see her. Her smile disappeared and she turned back around.

"Have any new boyfriends?" I asked her. She smiled.

"Nah, I'm not into the whole boyfriend thing," she said. "It's just not me."

I thought I saw Iggy bite his lip, but I couldn't be sure. "That's interesting."

"Obviously you and Fang have gotten pretty...serious," she said. My face burned red. I glanced down to my stomach.

"Y-yeah, I guess so," I said self-consciously. "We didn't really plan for this to happen or anything, though." I smiled sheepishly. "It was kind of a...surprise."

"Well, I'm really happy for you," she said. "I'm sure you're gonna be a great Mom. As long as you don't miscarry or anything like that," she added. I cocked an eyebrow.

"As long as I don't what?" I asked. My mom was giving Ella a fierce look, but she ignored it.

"Oh, if you miscarry, that means that the baby dies before it's born," Ella said. I looked at her, shocked, and clutched at my stomach. "There's a higher chance that you will, due to your...condition. We don't know what could happen."

"Ella Jane Martinez!" my mom said, slamming her hands on the wheel. "That's quite enough! We don't need to worry Max with things that only might happen!" She glanced at me in the rear-view mirror. "Don't you worry about it, Max. I'm sure everything will be just fine. The chances of a miscarriage are very slim. I didn't tell you because it wasn't important enough to tell you."

I still couldn't settle. I hadn't even imagined that my baby — that still sounded weird to me — could die. But I guess I couldn't be surprised. Everything seemed to die on me.

"So, Ella," Iggy said, breaking the silence Ella's comment had left. "You're not into guys?"

"Oh, well, that's not really what I meant," she corrected. "I'm just waiting for the right guy to come along. Someone strong and nice, who doesn't just like me because of my appearance, but because of what's inside." She turned around in her seat and looked over at me. "You know what I mean?"

I smiled at her. "Yeah, I do."