I tried to write this as fast as I could for you guys without making it terrible. :P

BTW, I put a reference to one of my favoritest plays ever in this chapter. If anyone thinks they found it, put it in a review. I'll be sure to give you a shout-out next chap.

Ch. 19:

Max POV

I woke up feeling groggy, but the first thing I noticed was the three extra girls sprawled across my bed. Of course, last night. Pillow fights, ice cream, and extreme talk-offs between everyone. Not that anyone could out-rant Nudge, obviously. The thought of Fang also entered my mind, but I tried to push it back as far as I could. My vision instantly went toward my clock. 11:30.

"Crap!" I exclaimed loudly, effectively waking all the girls from their slumber.

"What the heck, Max?" Nudge cried. "Taylor Lautner was just about to kiss me in my dream! I hate you!"

"Look at the damn clock, Nudge." I deadpanned. Her eyes, along with Angel's and Lissa's widened. "School started an three hours ago!"

"I can't be late again! No, no, no, no." Angel fretted. "You know how much I sleep in, Max. I can only get so many tardies before UCs stop accepting me and-" I cut off the stressed blond.

"Calm, Ange. Calm. We'll all be fine. We can... um…" I bit my lip, but Lissa came to my rescue. "We can all take my car. And you guys can borrow my clothes." I smiled gratefully at her, and she shrugged. "I can be helpful too, you know." She joked.

I picked up my phone, but suddenly felt sick. A message from Fang. I should look at it. As I was about to press it, the phone was snatched out of my hand by Nudge herself.

"Oh, no you don't." She peered at the screen. "Fang? Really? He is so not worth your time." She clicked her tongue and spent her time typing away at the screen. "There! Message deleted. No one even has to know what he had to say. I blocked him from your phone so he won't be getting to you any time soon. You're so much better than him, Max." She winked and handed me back my phone. I glared, but somewhat felt relieved. Now I didn't have to hear his harsh words in the text. It was probably just him talking about how he never liked me anyway.

I shooed them out of my room and in only fifteen minutes we were all ready.

At the door, Nudge frowned at my old, ratty Fallout Boy T-shirt and skinny jeans. I just smirked. She knew she wasn't going to get me in any other clothing. Right now, I needed a little reassurance in my life. And maybe, just maybe, dressing like me would make me feel a little more… like me. A little more tough. A little bit more of an edge. A lot more Max.

Nudge and Angel were dressed in fashion forward outfits I couldn't even begin to describe. They had gone to town with Lissa's wardrobe, quite obviously. The amount of bangles and necklaces on them collectively I couldn't even fathom counting. Lissa, on the other hand, was dressed down more than usual. A white tank top and jeans, with little make up on.

"I commend you." I commented, "You look almost as simple as me."

She scoffed. "Please Max, you're more complicated than I'll ever be."

"Was that supposed to be a messed up way of telling me my life's screwed up?"

"I guess we'll never know."

We all laughed. However, as I entered the car and heard Nudge and Angel's new plan I wasn't as excited. Apparently, they wanted to make an 'entrance' and Lissa was on board with it. It would all happen at lunch.

"What the hell is the point of this?" I asked for the thirteen hundredth time.

"Max, you have to show Fang that you don't care. You're ten times better than him- Now prove it." Lissa said strictly, crossing her arms for emphasis.

"Is it possible to prove something that isn't true?" That one earned me a whack.

"You know that isn't true. You're Maximum Freaking Ride. You have more self-confidence than anyone else in the world and you're more stubborn than a load of bricks. You are going to go bust in there and show everyone how much better you are!" Nudge finished her pep-talk.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "You mean act exactly like Ella and her snobs- I'd rather stray away from that category. As far as possible, quite honestly." Lissa nodded in confirmation as a way of saying 'been there, done that.'

"Well, then the least we can do is go in and act like we don't even care." Angel sighed. She was still a bit disappointed about missing the first four periods of school.

"Oh, let's just get this over with." I rolled my eyes. "Let the overused, cliché scene where the confident girls stride into the cafeteria commence."

"That's the spirit, Max!" Nudge exclaimed, and with that I pushed open the doors to the cafeteria.

I let out a sigh of relief when nobody's head even turned when we walked. I knew it wouldn't work. I knew this wasn't necessary and-

Clack. Clack. Clack.

Damn it. I knew that sound. With a horrified head turn, I spotted the high heels that Angel, Nudge, and Lissa all sported clacking on the ground. Those things were damn loud. That's when the heads started turning.

Everyone stared. There I was. The girl everyone laughed at yesterday, forever the scorned high school student, but I was actually here. Everyone had problem just assumed me to be chicken- to skip school like every other person at this school who got majorly humiliated. There looks of shock were actually empowering to me. I was stronger than most people, and I knew it at that point.

Lissa grinned as she got the looks. Those ones, you know, those 'why the hell is she with them looks?' Brigid's face was priceless as she stared on at her sister, who had mindlessly followed her for the majority of their lives. I could feel that things at this school were about to be flipped on its head.

Nudge and Angel were just outright enjoying themselves. Not attention-whore love like Brigid gets from her outfits, but just genuinely enjoying loving showing everyone they were more than just background girls. No one ever noticed people like us, but it seemed they did now.

As we were about to pass the popular table, we were stopped.

"Hey, Ice Cream Girl! I think there's a spill on the floor." One of Ella's minions sniggered. Ella immediately burst out laughing, and soon everyone at the table had joined. Except Fang. He just eyed with an expression. It almost read… questioning? I just looked away from him. Just remember what the girls said, Max, not worth your time.

"Lissa, what are you doing with them?" Brigid questioned. "Your seat here is getting cold." She flashed a fake smile at her sister.

"What?" Lissa mimicked Brigid's high valley girl tone. "Like as cold as your personality?"

Brigid turned into a fish. Well, at least her expression. "You know you're of us, Lissy. Don't do this. Ella, convince her." Brigid turned to her queen with a worried expression.

Ella rolled her eyes and turned to Lissa. "Do you really want to spend the rest of your high school with a bunch of dweebs. You've always been on the… good side of this school. I mean, if you really want to go over to them, be my guest. But you know where you belong, Liss."

Lissa smirked. "You bet I know where. Right here, with the people who actually, I don't know… have human emotion and feeling? With that, I'm crossing over to the dark side." She finished, and we turned in unison. I have to say, even if I'm not one for huge spectacles or conflicts, the adrenaline rush I was riding was massive.

We walked until we reached our table in the back, where Iggy was sitting alone. He looked to me first.

"My Gosh, Max, I'm so sorry about what happened and I was way out of line and-" I laughed and cut him off.

"It's fine, Ig." I gave him a hug. "I'm fine, as I've been trying to convince these girls since last night." Iggy grinned, but eyed Lissa suspiciously. I left her to explain herself to Iggy; I wasn't sure I could go through explaining that again. I began to tune the world out.

"Oh, and Max?" Iggy's voice broke me out of my reverie.

"What?"

"Well, you don't have to go to the football game tonight. I know we bought the tickets and all, but with Fang… I just don't think you should go." I gulped. Fang. He was playing tonight, wasn't he? That was right. The chance to get into USC and make his father proud. This was it for him. Part of me wanted to ditch, despite the fact I had just showed off to the school about how perfectly fine I was. The other part of me, though, wanted to go to see what USC thought of him. If he would have to choose whether to go with his passion, or his father's path, and what he would choose if faced with the decision. That was the part of me that cared enough to want him to go with what he wanted.

"No, no, Iggy. I mean, if I don't go, who's going to explain the rules to you?"

How was it, people? Tell me in a review.

~Cake.