Okay, so thank you so much to the people who reviewed. I love it when I'm on and I see that someone reviewed my story :) here's the next chapter!

Maya and Max heard an angry cry from their over-protective brother, the one and only Ari, "Max! Maya! Ella! Get your overly-revealed butts back here right now! Damn it, don't you -"

But three loud splashes from the pool cut him off and then three giggling girls who were talking in low voices could be heard, just barely.

"Did you see his face?" Ella bit her lip, smiling. She was trying not to laugh.

"He was so angry he looked like he was gonna explode!" Max smirked., happy to get a red-faced brother over something so small.

Maya beamed, already knowing the other two girls feelings on the matter, "He is so gonna explode! We are so gonna get it. I'd say in three... two... one -"

"You girls are in so much trouble!" Ari pounced on them. Well, not literally. He just glowered at them from the edge of the pool, staring down, as Max and Ella shot Maya a wondering look as they giggled. "You dare to wear such racy, such provocative, such revealing lingerie to the pool?! And with me being the one who chaperoned you, no less?!"

"It's not racy," Ella said, defensively.

"Or provocative and revealing," Maya huffed.

Max told him, "And it's bikinis, Ari! Not lingerie."

Ari growled, "It could be with how little there is of it, Maximum. And Maya, yours gives off even more to see than Max's, and that's a lot! Ella, you are only thirteen years old, not barely old enough to wear such a thing. It's not right. I wouldn't even let Max or Maya be allowed to wear such a skimpy swimsuit and they're older than you! But they're also wearing much worse than you. Ella, yours is horrible. Max, yours is worse than Ella's! But, Maya! Damn it, Maya Ride! You're wearing even less clothing than anyone should ever be allowed to wear! Like a porn star," he sneered, "and my sister will never be a porn star so long as I live, you hear me?!"

By now, everyone was staring at them, as they were making a scene, thanks to Ari and his loud mouth accompanying his wolfish nature. After all, he was as protective of his sisters as a male wolf would be of it's newborn pups... But not everyone was staring.

Iggy was currently flirting with an oblivious brown-haired girl. Iggy did know what was going on, he wasn't an idiot. But he also knew that if he stepped in with a joke like he usually would, Ari would have him dead by tomorrow at noon, the crows picking away at his bones. The very thought made Iggy shudder, so he acted like he thought people would expect him to: flirt with a girl he's not gonna even remember the name of. He didn't even like the girl. His heart, in truth, belonged to a girl already, but he'd never tell her. At least, he doesn't think it'd matter to her.

As for Fang, he was watching the Rides. He was sitting down, though. He was looking at them from his seat on a pool chair and wondering if he should take a side or stay out of the family battle. He would take Max, Maya, and Ella's side and feel the wrath of their brother. Or he would go to Ari's side and risk getting murderous gazes from three icy sisters, anger rolling off them in waves. Or he could just stay there where he was and watch, witnessing the events play out like everyone else was doing, and risk getting yelled at by the girls later, or growled at by an angry Ari telling him he should have taken the guy's side. Or both... Decisions, decisions...

"Ari," Ella sighed, tired of it all, "I'm not a little kid. And Max and Maya can make their own decisions, you know. Stop bossing us around - it's just swimsuits for crying out loud! Look, just back off, okay? Let us have today, at the very least, you worry wart."

Ari stared at her. He never expected one of his sisters to cross the invisible line, especially not the youngest one. Especially not Ella. If anything, he'd have expected Max to cross the line. Heck, Maya, even! But Ella? No, never Ella. He gasped, "You..." He slowly breathed in and out, as if to contain himself, when, in reality, he was trying to decide how to handle things. He could argue that she was wearing a skimpy bikini some more, but decided against it, knowing she'd start screaming at him that it was perfectly normal. He decided to go with, "But you are little kids. All three of you."

Max groaned, "Please, Ari, enough is enough! Can't you at least wait to talk with us about this? I mean, we can't stay in the pool forever, now can we?"

Ari took a deep, calming breath, and said, "Fine." Then he walked off, annoyed.

Maya, Max, and Ella all looked at each other, shocked.

Maya said, "He didn't argue..."

"Or yell," Max added.

"He only seemed irritated," noted Ella.

"We are so gonna get it when we get home," Max breathed slowly.

Maya and Ella nodded.

Iggy came up to them, "quite the scene, that was, huh, Ride girls?"

"Ride girls, Iggy? Really?" asked a mocha-skinned, brown-eyed girl with dark brown corkscrew-curls. It was Nudge.

He chuckled, "Why not?"

Nudge shook her head, "You know... never mind. I gotta tell Ella something."

Ella beamed, "I already heard. You're dating Aaron!" (I couldn't resist... For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Aaron is a made-up character from a one-shot I wrote - "What Would Happen If Max And Nudge Got Together." And don't judge me for it, those of you who do. I wrote it on a request, because I was asked... okay, now back to the story :) enjoy.)

Nudge squealed and started to talk really fast about something that was a blur to Max, Iggy, and most everyone else.

Fang appeared, slapping a hand against Nudge's face, cutting her off, with his other hand held to his ear. "Nudge, ouch."

She giggled, the sound muffled by his hand, "I'm sorry," she said. Or, at least, she tried to say. It wasn't easy with a hand on your mouth.

Maya grimaced, "Eww, Fang. Nudge, what if you lick him?! So gross."

Fang said, "Hey!" He removed his hand, "I'm not gross, Maya."

"You are, too!" Iggy said, acting as if he were a child and making them all laugh at the pose he struck.

Gazzy and Angel had just joined their small group when Iggy said that and they burst out laughing.

Gazzy said, "Iggy, dude! Are you sure you're a dude?!" He fell to the ground, clutching his stomach from all his laughing.

Angel was trying -and failing- to not giggle, as she said, "I think Iggy's more male than you are, Gaz."

And they all looked to see that he was wearing pink boxers with red, girly hearts drawn on them. How did they see them? Well, when he dropped to the ground, rolling around, his loose cargo pants were much looser on him than he'd previously thought and they'd slipped low enough for them to get a good look at his underpants. They all started to laugh, including Angel, who couldn't help but laugh at her older brother, blushing furiously as he scrambled back to his feet and tried to keep what little pride he had left by pulling his pants back up.

***When The Rides Get Back Home***

"Ari," Ella said, getting straight to the point, "We want you to let us have our own lives."

"What do you mean?" Ari's brow was furrowed, "You are alive, aren't you, Ella? Don't go saying you're a vampire or anything else idiotic."

"Yes, Ari," Max rolled her eyes, "She's not a living breathing person. She's a vampire who just happens to have a healthy blush to her face, skin that isn't pasty white, eyes that don't glow red for blood, and teeth that are perfectly straight and square. Definitely a vampire, don't ya think?"

Ari sighed heavily, "Then what does she mean, Miss I'm-So-Smart, Maximum Ride?"

Ella said, "I mean that I want to be able to live my life! I don't want you to decide on everything for me and to say whether or not I can or can't do something and... Ari," she plead, "I want to be allowed to be me."

Maya agreed, "Ella is right, Ari. I'm fourteen. Max, too. And Ella's thirteen. Teen, Air, teen. We're teenagers, not kids. You can't keep bossing us around like you do. And Ella will be fourteen soon, Ari, just like how Max and I will be fifteen."

"Yeah, Ari." Ella nodded fiercely. "We aren't kids. Just because you're older and just because we don't have a father taking care of us, it doesn't mean you have to be so.. so..."

"So what?" And Ella looked up to see Ari's face. He was pale as a sheet of fresh white printer paper. Sweat was on his brow. He looked awful, just after those many sentences Ella had said to him. But she didn't look up to see how he reacted to her words. Ella had looked up because he'd sounded hollow. And he looked hollow, too, but his voice... It was empty. Void. It was like there was nothing in him. But still he spoke. "I'm still so what, Ella?"

Max took a deep breath, speaking softly. Max said, "Ari, we love you. We really, really do. You're our older brother. We couldn't hate you even if we wanted to. We just want you to trust us a little. I mean, Ella's right. We're old enough to take care of ourselves. We always have been able to, Ari. But you won't even let up on us a little bit, and it's really not something we like."

Maya, taking a deep breath like her twin had before, said, "Ari, please just let us go. We don't like you breathing down our necks like you do. You're our older brother. Older brother equals protective, and we get that, we do, but we don't want you to try and control our very being!"

Ari took a deep breath, "You know what? You want freedom? I've made up my mind about that now."

Ella said, "You have?! Since when, Ari? I though you hated the thought."

"Well, I do have my... conditions, you could call it..."

Only one thought ran through the three girls heads after he said that. The same thought repeated itself over and over.

All they could think was: Uh-oh...