Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does.

.oO0Oo.

I yawned as I scrolled through the website for the entertainer that was coming for Angel's party tomorrow. Mom hImmd emailed me more information on the party. The entertainer's name was 'Felicity the Fairy' and she specialized in kid's parties. Mom had ordered a cake and it was supposed to arrive tomorrow morning, three hours before the party.

Angel, Gazzy, Ella, Nudge, Iggy, and Fang had gone shopping for supplies for dinner and were due to come back any minute now. Suddenly I heard the door open and the sound of voices and footsteps filled the front hall.

"We're home, mom!" Gazzy shouted down the hall.

I winced at the name 'mom' and closed my laptop.

Fang snickered as he walked into the kitchen and plopped a huge bag of groceries onto the counter. "You should've seen the looks on people's faces when Angel called me 'daddy' in front of the entire store."

I smirked and stood up, hooking my thumbs into my back pockets. "So, Iggy, when are you going to get started on dinner?" I asked.

"Hmm," said Iggy. "Shouldn't the parents cook dinner?"

"No," I said, remembering the last time I had to make dinner. "You know I'm terrible at cooking. This wasn't part of the game."

Iggy laughed. "Relax, Fang will help you."

Fang shrugged. "I'm probably just as bad as Max."

Nudge started putting some of the groceries away and as she was putting a carton of milk away in the fridge she turned to me. "Max, if you're going to be the mom you have to cook."

"I didn't want to be the mom in the first place!" I exclaimed.

"Max, it's okay," said Fang. "I'm sure your mom has an easy recipe lying around somewhere."

.oO0Oo.

"How about this one?" Fang asked as he slid a cookbook across the counter towards me. He had his finger on one of the recipes.

I leaned over and skimmed over the list of ingredients. "What's mascarpone?"

"I have no idea," Fang muttered and continued flipping through the book.

We had been looking for a recipe for over half an hour and I was starting to think that we should just order pizza. Sadly, Fang seemed pretty determined to make our own dinner.

"Here's one," I pointed to a recipe for spaghetti and tomato sauce.

Fang leaned closer and looked at the recipe. "It looks pretty easy."

I nodded. "Yup. All we have to do is cook the pasta and heat up the sauce. What could be easier?"

Apparently, a lot of things are easier than cooking spaghetti. I realized this after Fang accidentally spilled the entire pot of tomato sauce all over the floor, creating a huge red stain on the brand new hardwood. Since we only had one can of tomato sauce, that meant we would only be having plain pasta for dinner.

"Jeez, Max," said Fang as he frantically tried to clean up the huge pile of sloppy red sauce off of the floor. "I'm really sorry."

"No. It's fine. It's not like this was brand new or anything," I knelt down beside him and helped him clean up the mess.

"Sarcasm?" Fang asked.

I nodded.

It took a while to get all the sauce off the floor and it left a dark red mark in the middle of the kitchen. I stared at the stain for a little while. There was no way we would be able to hide this when mom got back.

"I'll be right back," I said to Fang. I dashed upstairs to the bathroom that Nudge and I shared. On the floor was a big fuzzy rug. I grabbed it and walked downstairs.

"Good idea," said Fang as I tossed the rug over the stain.

Mentally patting myself on the back, I walked over to the stove and checked on the pasta. "Uh... Fang?" I asked.

"Hmm?" he kicked the rug over a bit so that it covered the stain completely.

"Are the noodles supposed to be this mushy?"

"No. Why?"

I stirred the pasta a bit more. "Because I think we made soup."

"Crap. Really?" he walked over to me and looked into the pot.

"Yup. Is this even edible anymore?" I asked.

"I don't think so." he replied.

"Pizza?"

"Pizza," I agreed.