Surprise has crept onto everyone's faces. Especially Dakota's. Masen has a hurt look, making me feel worse. "Are you sure? "Charlie asks. I nod my head. "Okay then. You both may start moving your stuff into the larger bedroom. Its room 237. I want your rooms cleared by 5 p.m. They will be needed for storage ", Charlie instructed. " And the rest of you, go do your chores. Do something. Make yourselves useful" he orders the rest of the guys, and he walks off. Once everyone else is gone i gather up all the courage I have left and walk over to Dakota. "I'm sorry. I wasn't allowed to tell anyone about it ",I explain. He just looks at me with a hurt expression. We stand there for a couple minutes until i cant take it any more. I put my arms around him and hug him. Tears start spilling from my eyes. ( Don't criticize me. If you were taken from your home, poked with needles for eleven years, and forced to pick a person to be with forever, you'd cry too.) Dakota hugs me back, giving me comfort. "Why are crying? ",he asks. "Because . Charlie is forcing to move into a room with me. And now all the boys will be hurting you and everything now ",I mumble. "That's okay. I can fight my own battles". We pull away from each other, feeling awkward. "We should start taking our stuff to the new room ",Dakota says. "Yeah ",I murmur. "Ill...um...see you later", Dakota says. "Bye", I whisper, knowing he heard.
After we are done moving our possessions into our new room, we go to the cafeteria for lunch.
"Mmm. Pizza for lunch", i say sarcastically. The whitecoates barley ever feed us anything other than pizza, chicken nuggets, hamburgers, and regular sandwiches for lunch. "I heard someone say that tomorrow they might serve nachos "Dakota says hopefully. "Yeah, MIGHT"!I say negatively. We get our food and sit at an empty table. "So...", Dakota says. "So what? ",I ask. "Well I'm glad your not crying ",he says jokingly. I scowl at him. "That was a one time deal. I wont cry on your shoulder like a baby again, I'll promise you that ",I say. Okay that was probably a lie.
After lunch, Charlie tells us to get our wings cleaned and groomed. So we go to Mrs. Grace, the groomer. She soaks our feathers in water and dries them with a hair blow dryer. Then she carefully places our feathers in their correct positions. "Ahh. That was nice. I have never had my wings groomed before ", Dakota sighs. "Why ever not? ",I ask incredulously. "Iv asked if I could get my wings groomed and they always tell me to do it myself ",he says. "Oh my gosh. I get my wings groomed every week. Sometimes i do it by myself ",I say," From now on, ill make sure you always get your wings groomed every week". "Thank you ",he thanks. "I noticed that your wings looked scruffy, but i just thought they were like your hair ",i say and ruffle his hair. "You couldn't tell that they were ever dirty. 'Caz they are black. I never soaked them in water though. I was afraid id mess up "he confesses. We walk to the lounge and watch TV with the other avians.
When we were about to go to bed, we asked if he could give us two twin beds because Dakota and I were very uncomfortable about sleeping in the same bed. "No. There are no beds left", he explained. "What about the ones in our old rooms? ",Dakota asked. "We sold them. The School needs the money ",Charlie says. "Oh my freaking god. Really?" I ask. He nods.
Me and Dakota go back to our room and decide that we will take turns sleeping on the king sized bed. The other person will sleep on the couch. Yeah, this room is so big that it actually has a couch, bathroom, and a TV. We're so lucky. "Who will sleep in the bed tonight?", I ask. "Ladies first", Dakota says in a false British accent. "Thanks", I say. And we go to sleep.
"Ahhh! ",I scream, and bolt awake. I'm sweating and shivering. Dakota wakes up too, probably from my scream. "What! What is it?", he said worried. "Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you. It was just a bad dream", I say. "Okay. Well I'm going back to sleep", he says. 'I need a walk. And a drink of water', I think to myself. I get out of bed and suddenly feel cold. I was only wearing some pajama shorts and a purple tank top. I grab a thin blanket out of a closet and start down the hall. Trust me, if you hadn't grown up here, the hallways would freak you out at night. I knew this place like the back of my hand. I walked down the halls swiftly and silently. A few minutes go by and I decide to go back to my room, but i hear a noise. No one should up at this time. Its like two in the morning. I follow to where the sound is coming from. It leads to the Consulting room. I hear Charlie's voice and two others. I creep closer so that i can hear better. "Skylar needs to be with Masen. That's the whole reason i created him. He is perfect for her", Charlie says. One of the others say "We should never of brought that misfit, Dakota. He has her all out of line. He cant even fly right". 'He cant fly right because he is missing about six primary feathers. Masen plucks him!', I wanted to yell. "But he is fast though. Both him and Skylar are fast. Faster than that Maximum Ride we are always after. We need to send Skylar out to catch her. I bet she would", this voice was female. Id heard a few of the whitecoates talking about a mutant named Maximum Ride. But I knew nothing about her. "No! You know we mustn't let Skylar know about those rebels. She would want to join them. And she is far too valuable to lose", Charlie says. "Well we all know that Skylar must be with Masen. She was the only female that survived the elixir that produced her wings, eyesight, and bird-like organs. Its too risky for her to be with Dakota. We must eliminate him. Without him, she will be forced to be with Masen", The female voice says. "Are we going to send him to another School? Or just kill him?" the other voice asks. "Just kill. He is not that important. But we need to make it look like an accident. So that Skylar will still trust us. Tomorrow i will get one of the others to kill him somehow. Maybe an explosion from one of the vials. Maybe-"I don't hear the rest. I run. All the way down all the halls back to our room. "Dakota! Dakota, wake up! We have to leave. NOW", I say, shaking his shoulder. "What? Leave? Why?", he asks. "Their going to kill you! And force me to be with Masen! Dakota we have to leave RIGHT NOW!", I almost yell. "Their going to kill me?" He says, now alert of the situation. I nod my head. "Okay. Why would they do that?", he asks, tryin to be calm. "They want me to be with Masen. And they know that the only way to do that is to kill you. Please we have to go now", I beg. "Now I'm panicking. Um...grab a bag and stuff it with your clothes and ill do the same", he says, throwing me a green backpack. I fill it up with clothes and zip it up. "C'mon. Lets go", he says, and opens the window. Sirens blare in the hall and red lights flash everywhere. "Since when do we have an alarm?" I ask." Since forever. You just never tried to sneak out", Dakota says. He jumps out the seven story window and spreads out his wings. "Hurry!", he yells above the sirens. I too jump out the window and start flapping immediately. I turn and see Charlie, Macen, and a bunch of whitecoates at the window yelling at us. Macen jumps out the window and flies toward us.
Oh crap.