School as a Birdkid

I stepped into the halls. Well, this isn't going to go well. My wings are pressed as tightly as I can have them against my back. It felt like the first day of school all over again except, this time, I had Fang on my right and Nudge on my left. Angel and Gazzy had already run off to the elementary school for their first day as my brother and sister, "Matt" and "Ariel" Ride.

When we were swallowed into the crowd to move forward, I felt a hand enclose over mine. Fang was there reassuring me. My heart gave a tug of joy as I gave a small smile. Nudge looked at us and laughed lightly. "Omg, you guys have totally changed since the last time we were at school." I guess she was referring to the Red Hair Wonder incident. She disappeared into the crowd.

"I've got to go to my locker," I informed Fang, letting go of his hand before anyone could see, once we reached my locker. I adjusted the bag on my shoulder and stared up at him. We were causing a bit of a traffic jam. I gave him a small smile, "I see you in English." He nodded his head and then walked along with the pull of the crowd.

"Whore," I heard whispered over my shoulder just as I pulled open my locker. I lifted to my head to see Brigid glaring at me. Now, I didn't know how to react. Was Brigid my enemy? Or was she just on pills like Ella or Dr. Martinez? Why had whoever put me here placed her into this experiment? What were they trying to prove?

I ignored her and began emptying my backpack. Of course, I didn't have much homework done while worrying about Fang in the hospital- and then, once having him all right, just talking to him.

Walking down the hallway, I replayed some of things we had talked about.

"Are they going to hurt us? Do they know we have wings?" I was the one who had said that. My head rested on Fang's shoulder, we were relaxing on my bed while Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, and Ella chilled in the living room.

He reached over and laced his fingers through mind. No body's hand fit as perfectly as his did. "Maybe," he whispered, tilting his head to face me. I felt his dark eyes tracing over mer.

"Is it a bad idea being here? Should we stay normally or just fly off?" I asked impatiently. I was frustrated. Never have I been this confused. I was waiting for the Voice to step in with something about the stupid, BIG picture that it kept talking about.

"Answers first," Fang replied. He tightened his grip on my hand. Then he let go and adjusted so he was lying on his side with his head hanging over mind. "At least we're together right?"

"I don't know," I teased lightly while he came down to make our lips connect again.

"Max?" I had made it into my English class. Fang and Iggy were both staring at me. I blushed when I realized what I was talking about. "You okay?" It was Iggy who was talking to me.

"Yeah, why?" I noticed the light grin on his face. Fang was now turning away, covering his face with his hand. I watched as Iggy leaned forward with a serious face minus the small smirk.

Iggy coughed, rolled up the sleeves on his shirt, and gave a triumphant grin. "What were you and Fang doing this weekend? I asked Fang here but you know how he isn't one for words." Then, he was laughing a bit as he said, "I didn't have you pegged as one of those kinds of girls. All weekend. I had to lie to Fang's mom a few times might I add."

"Iggy," I replied and he raised an eyebrow. "Do you want me to beat you that you'll be confused for the pulp in orange juice?" He seemed disappointed as if he expected me to say anything. "Nothing happen, we had a serious project to work on."

"Then why couldn't Fang just tell his mom that he's hanging out with you?" Just then, the bell rang again for class to start. Everyone came tumbling in and Iggy had no choice but to turn around. I stared over at Fang to see he was still a bit embarrassed. I knew he was thinking the same thing as I was.

We both couldn't wait to get Iggy back to normal and tell him the truth.

At gym we were all running the mile for the President's test, which made me a bit annoyed. Why is the president worrying about how fast I run or how flexible I am? Shouldn't he be focusing on stopping evil scientists from getting out of control with how they treat their experiments? That's what I thought he was supposed to do.

I was stretching casually. We were all outside for track. The air was getting cool as fall came closer. Fang stood beside me. I found it hard not to fly off right now with him and the rest of the flock (while dragging Iggy along of course until we took his chip out). Fang gave me a glance as if he understood too.

"Race ya," Fang raised an eyebrow. He smirked as well as if he already had me beat.

"Depends," I replied coolly as the gym teacher started calling off names.

"On what?" He asked while he went to stand on the track.

"What do I get if I win?" I stood next to him.

"Ice Cream, my house?" He offered, lifting his hands in the air over his head.

"On your marks, get set-"

"Deal," I responded with a wide smile.

"GO!"

Fang and I darted ahead instantly. You're suppose to pace but bird-kids don't need to do that for just a mile run. He stayed easily beside me as we took the first lap. The gym teacher was yelling at us- saying if we kept running this way than we'd get overtired and be unable to finish.

My wings were begging to coming out so I could just fly ahead of Fang. With my super speed, I could've easily beaten him. We were running, we were normal kids, so I couldn't just pop my wings out. I was smiling as I ran.

We kept running harder. On our second lap, we passed two or three kids. By the third lap, another one. On our final lap, Fang and I were still sprinting as hard as we had on the first. I pushed even hard to make sure I was ahead. Fang kept up though to my surprise. Sweat was dripping down my face and my breathing was a bit hard. Luckily, I had all the extra-air I could use from my lungs and air-sacs. I had lighter bones so I was naturally faster.

We crossed the finish line…together. To my dismay, our coach read out a four min. twenty second mile for the two of us, as we both bent over to try and calm our breathing. "What do I get- for- a-tie?" I managed.

Fang smiled, "My place." He took a deep breath to manage what he said next, "You just make your own ice cream." I shrugged. As long as I got ice cream somehow. After that run I was starving.

"You've gotten better," I replied standing up to watch everyone else start their fourth lap or finish. The closest time to us was five minutes thirty seconds which was pretty fast for a normal human.

"You too," Fang smiled and stepped close to me for a second. We both smiled wide. One of the kids in our class just stared at us.

"How did you do that?" As usual, Fang and I just shrugged. I saw how Brigid was walking, the last in our entire group. Nudge was ones who just crossed as I looked over but she had told me in the locker room she didn't want to get all sweaty and gross so she wasn't going to try. She managed a seven minute, thirty second mile.

She stared at Fang and I, "You two would race during the mile."