Okay after much consideration (and a whole lot of "you should so do its!" from friends at school…yes I have a life and go to school) I finally had the time to start this new story! And yes to that question forming in almost everyone's mind, this story is based off of Kate Brian's Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys.

Roll call!

Megan Meade-Maximum Ride

Evan McG.-Dylan

Finn McG. -Fang

Doug McG. -Sam from SOF

Mrs. McG.-Dr. M

Mr. McG. -Jeb

Ian McG. -Gazzy

Sean McG. -Omega

Tracy Dale-Franklin-Nudge

Aimee Farmer-Ella Martinez

Hailey Farmer-Max II/ Maya

Miller McG. -Iggy

Ria-Angel

Jenna-Kate from ANGEL

Pearl-Star from ANGEL

Kayla Bird-Brigid Dwyer

Bobby-Ratchet

Caleb McG.-Ari

Disclaimer: I do not own the MR series or Kate Brian's Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys

Now … ENJOY!

PROLOGUE

~MAX POV~

"Max, we need to talk."

I swallowed a mouthful of root beer and let the bendy straw fall from my lips. My heart dropped with it. I squeezed my eyes closed. What were my parents doing back from the base this early?

"This is my first soda of the day, I promise," I said, spinning in dad's leather swivel La-Z-Boy chair to face my parents. The moment I saw them, however, I knew they weren't about to talk about my daily sugar intake. This was much more serious.

My parents stood before me in the living room of our cookie-cutter government-issue home, both wearing falsely excited smiles. They were also sporting their dress uniforms-my mom in an army green pressed skirt and jacket with dark panty hose, even though it was about a hundred and ten degrees in the Arizona shade, and my dad with his collar buttoned so tight his neck was turning red.

"Oh God," I said.

I placed my sweating soda glass onto the coaster next to me and braced myself. I'd been an army brat my entire life, so it wasn't hard for me to figure out what was coming next. I just hoped it wasn't true.

"It's time to pack your gear, Maximum," dad announced, forcing a boisterous grin. "We're moving to South Korea!"

Yup. There it was. I went into a free fall. My internal organs turned weightless and started floating around inside my body cavity. I clutched the arms on the chair so tightly my knuckles turned white, just to keep from throwing up.

"What?" I blurted. My voice sounding very far away.

"It's been a while since we were transferred, hasn't it?" dad said matter-of-factly. "This should be exciting."

Exciting? Had he been testing gas masks over at the base today? How could anyone think I would be excited about this?

I had been moving all my life. I had been born in Rammstein, Germany, at one of the largest American army bases in Europe. When I was five, right about the time I had made my first friend, my family had been transferred to Turkey. After a few years there playing soccer with the boys and learning Turkish from my best friend, Medha, another transfer had come through, sending me to the country I had always thought of as home for the first time in my life. All through middle school I had moved, from Fort Carson in Colorado to Fort Bragg in North Carolina to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. I hadn't been in any of those places long enough to make any real friends.

But here, at Fort Hood, I had finally found a home. I had made it through three full grades here. I was on a state-champion soccer team. I had just gotten my learner's permit. I had a real friend, Monique "Nudge" Dale-Franklin. And this year, on the first day of school, I was going to talk to Ben Palmer. Finally, finally talk to him. I even had the outfit all picked out, something so out of character for me, and I had also practiced my greeting three hundred and fifty-one times in front of the mirror, another thing I would normally wouldn't do. This was supposed to be The Year of Maximum Ride. Why was this happening?

"Max? Aren't you going to say something?" mom asked.

Yeah, I'm gonna say something, I thought, standing up. I turned my back to my parents and stared out the window, hugging myself and gripping the sides of my T-shirt in my fists. This was so wrong. I had always been the perfect little daughter. I never talked back, even when I really, really wanted to. I never let my parents know if I was depressed or upset or thought one of their many, many rules was unfair. I had never disobeyed them once in my life. And I was the only girl in school who wasn't strutting around the base in a miniskirt and belly shirt like the pop star du jour. Didn't my parents realize how good they had it?

As I glared out the window at the perfectly cut lawn, the impeccably kept flower beds, I felt like I always did right before I was about to throw up. Pull it together, Max, I thought to myself. It was like an outside force was working on me; I knew there was no stopping what was about to happen.

I turned around and looked directly at my parents. I held my breath. "I'm not going."

No one moved. I was having an out-of-body experience. Like last year when I had staggered over to the bench after suffering a concussion in the semifinal game at states. Like I was aware of what was going on around me but it wasn't really me that was there.

"Come again?" dad said.

"I'm not going. I'm not moving to South Korea," I repeated, holding my ground against them. Hey, I'm pretty dang stubborn when I need to be.

Mom and dad exchanged a look. It seemed that they didn't think it was me in the room either.

"I'm sorry, Max. we know this is hard for you," mom said. "But we're only going to be there for two years and then you'll be back stateside for college anyway."

Two years. Two years? What kind of person put the word only in front of the words two years?

"No. I'm not going," I stated furiously, feeling adrenaline pump through my veins. "You can't do this to me. This is my life and…and I want to live it here! With my friends! I mean, what about the soccer team? And…and the prom? And…"

Ben Palmer and his perfect dimples! my mind wailed.

"Max-"

"I'm so sick of this, Mom! I hate moving. I just don't want to do it anymore. Why should I have to?"
Dad took a deep breath. His nostrils flared as he let it out. He and mom looked at each other again, silently communicating, as they so often did.

"Well, there is one other option," mom said finally.

I barely dared to hope. "There is?"

"Your father and I-we have to go," mom said, fiddling with her wedding ring. "But if you really want to stay…"

"I can stay with Nudge?" I blurted.

"No…no," dad said. "The Dale-Franklins already have their hands full. You know that."

I knew all too well. Nudge's older brother, Joe, had graduated and was off at the Naval Academy, much to the chagrin of his "Go Army" dad. His moving out had freed up a bit of room in the Dale-Franklins' three-bedroom house, but Nudge still shared a room with her sister, Brianna, and the older of her two younger brothers was still bunking in the basement.

"Then what?"

"Well, last night Dad was speaking with Jeb Batchelder," mom started.

"Jeb Batchelder,"I repeated dumbstruck. Jeb Batchelder was dad's old friend from med school.

"He said he and Valencia would be happy to look after you while your dad and I are in South Korea," mom continued, as if she didn't notice that she just sent my mind spinning. "We didn't think it would be something you would be interested in. After all, South Korea is such an opportunity for a new cultural experience. However, if…you feel strongly…"

"Jeb Batchelder," I said again.

"Yes. Jeb Batchelder," dad said flatly. "Are you all right?"

Were my parents cracked? Were they certifiably insane? First they wanted to move me to the Far East, then they suggested shipping her off to the Batchelder house in Boston, Massachusetts, to live with all those-

"The boys will take a little while to adjust, but I'm sure you'll all get along," mom said.

Boys? My mind was flooded with images of boys. Boys with missing teeth, their faces smeared with red Popsicle goo, their beady little eyes laughing at her as they lured me behind their house to see their new "puppy" and then lassoed me to a tree and hung me upside down. Greasy-haired, chubby-legged, evil little boys. Boys with worms in their pockets who ate gum off the ground and pulled my hair.

"How many of them were there again?" I asked as I lowered myself shakily onto the edge of the couch.

My mother and father pondered this. "Seven at last count, I believe," dad said. "Quite a brood."

Yes. Quite, I thought grimly.

Of course they wouldn't be grubby-handed little mud-streaked munchkins anymore, would they? Most of them had been around her age the last time she saw them seven years ago, which meant that now they would be-gulp-teenage boys.

I started to sweat. Teenage boys were even worse. Mud-streaked munchkins I could clobber over the head with a wiffleball bat. That was how I had finally gotten pudgy, stringy-haired Dylan-the worst of the pack-to back off the last time after the last lassoing incident. But teenage boys-those I might not be able to handle. Sixteen years old and I had yet to have a single functional conversation with a boy in my class. How was I supposed to live with seven of them?

"So, that's the deal," dad said. "You can either come to Korea with us or stay in the States, but if you stay here, you're staying with the Batchelders."

"Do I have to decide right now?" I asked.

"No, sweetie, but soon," mom said, leaning over to run her hand over my brown hair with natural blond highlights from being in the Arizona sun. "We're leaving in a few days." She planted a kiss on my forehead and I looked into her eyes-exactly the same chocolate brown as my own, with just a few wrinkles in the corners. "We'll miss you so much if you decide to stay."

I nodded numbly.

"But we just want what's best for you, so whatever you decide, we'll support you," mom added.

I swallowed hard. This morning I had woken up with nothing more important to do than practice my Ben Palmer speech and add half a mile to my daily run. Now the whole world had turned upside down.

"Thanks," I said finally.

Mom smiled, blinking back tears. "You think about it and let us know."

I slumped back into the couch as my parents left the living room. All by myself with seven boys or with my parents…in Korea, I thought. Suddenly, running away to join the circus seemed like a workable option.

TooDang-Funky: miss u already!

SoarToSurvive5525: Nudge! Im not even at the airport yet.

TooDang-Funky: cant believe ur leaving me…L

SoarToSurvive5525: Not by choice.

TooDang-Funky: u better email me the sec u get there! 7 boyz! u r sooooo lucky!

SoarToSurvive5525: Not lucky. Dead. Im dead.

TooDang-Funky: well…tru. it IS u.

SoarToSurvive5525: Thx 4 the pep talk. Grrrr…HOW AM I GOING 2DO THIS?

TooDang-Funky: hey maybe u will FINALLY learn 2 stand up 4 urself!

SoarToSurvive5525: How many times r u goin 2 say that 2 me?

TooDang-Funky: 5, 345, 654. or til u start doing it.

SoartoSurvive5525: HEY! I stood up to MOM AND DAD!

TooDang-Funky: it's a start. ok. been thinking bout the boyz. member last year my bro did that immersion thing in venezuela?

SoarToSurvive5525: where he learned to speak Spanish?

TooDang-Funky: yeah! u go for 2 weeks & talk nothing but Spanish & u come back fluent.

SoarToSurvive5525: …?

TooDang-Funky: well this is like a guy immersion program!

SoarToSurvive5525: so…what. Im going 2 b fluent in GUY?

TooDang-Funky: xactlee! u will c what they talk about when alone. U will c how they r with each other. U will c how they THINK! AND WHEN IT'S DONE YOU'LL BE ABLE TO WRITE A GUY GUIDE BOOK!
SoarToSurvive5525: u r deranged.

TooDang-Funky: IM SERIOUS! U culd break the guy code!

SoarToSurvive5525: Huh. Guy 101.

TooDang-Funky: now ur getting it! and u WILL send me all ur notes so I can publish them on the web.

SoarToSurvive5525: i like it. im in.

TooDang-Funky: knew u wood b!

SoarToSurvive5525: Wish me luck! I sooooooo need it.

TooDang-Funky: good luck! swak!

SoarToSurvive5525: swak back!

Soooo. How was it? Is it for keeps or should I give it the sweeps? I started writing this 'bout a week ago and hadn't found time to continue writing it until, oddly enough, today, my birthday? Isn't that weird? The day you'd think I'd be the busiest I'm not. Huh.

ANWAY…REVIEW!