Welcome to my third fanfiction! Well... my fourth really, but I deleted the third one I started to write because it wasn't really satisfying and there wasn't much scope for imagination. SO I started another Maximum Ride one, just because Moving Backwards is going so well, and I came up with this idea for a story aaages ago, way before I discovered Fanfiction. And now I'm putting it down for you guys to read :)

The first chapter can sometimes be the most important to review because it gets the writer all hyped up for the writing the rest of it... So please be a bunch of angels and tell me what you think of this :)

By the way, I'm English, I don't understand American systems of education, so the small stuff about school in this will be based on the systems of the schools I go to. Hope that won't drive anyone nuts.

Happy reading! X

I don't know what kind of school you go to, but mine is totally mental. Garenstoke High School is on the outskirts of London, and it provides education for around 500 students from the ages 11 to 18-

Jeez, it sounds like I'm advertising the place.

Well anyway, those 500 kids are all totally, utterly and undoubtedly bonkers. Look at Nudge, for instance. Nudge is one of my best friends. She has lovely, dark skin that makes you think of browning leaves in the autumn, and her hair is a wild torrent of brown fuzz. Nudge's name isn't really Nudge. That's just what I have called her since we were five years old, and it's stuck. Her real name is Monique, and she is possibly the most talkative, loud and incredibly hyper person I have ever known. Don't get me wrong, Nudge is great. She just has a big mouth.

Then there's Ella, my other best friend. A skinny, blonde, shy bookworm. No, wait... reading back over that description, it does Ella no justice. Ella Burkins is funny, she can make me laugh when I need to sneeze, she yells out when the teacher tells her to put her hand up, she puts her hand up when the teacher tells her to yell out, and she has a way with words that lets her get exactly what she wants.

And me? Well... My name is Maximum Ride. I have dirty blonde hair that sticks out like a lion's mane when I wake up in the morning, my eyes are the colour of mud, I am the arm wrestling champion in our school, and I eat like a pig.

There you are. Me and my two mad best friends.

And what were we doing at the start of this little tale I'm about to weave?

We were screaming.

Well... everyone was screaming.

Don't look so shocked, I told you my school is mental.

We were screaming... BECAUSE IT WAS OFFICIALLY THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS.

"I'm going to burn every single book I own in the dumpster at the back of my house." I whispered, joy coursing through my veins like electricity.

"Take a video." Ella said, flinging her arms around mine and Nudge's shoulders and throwing her head back to yell in happiness. "It's summer, summer, summer suckers!"

She drew out suckers and pulled our heads in so we were head butting her sides. Nudge wiggled free and grinned broadly at us. She had somehow battled her glorious, bushy hair into a ponytail, with little wisps sticking out around the sides.

"This is going to be the best summer ever." She said, skipping once to emphasize her excitement. "My Dad is away in Hawaii, but me and my Mum are going on this art course together where you get to do all these abstract paintings, you know, like throwing paint on a huge canvas? You guys should so come. I can ask my Mum to get you registered if you want. It's twice a week, in the afternoons and..."

I tuned out and looked around me. You couldn't see one unhappy face anywhere – everybody was grinning and moving so quickly towards the great, green doors that allowed us access back into the outside world, that you'd have thought someone was sweeping us all up with a huge dustpan and brush.

I was excited, but also not. Nudge was going to be busy with this art course thing – both her and her mother were art fanatics. Their house was a maze of paintings and sculptures. While my Dad was tripping over my balls and pretend guns when I was a kid, Nudge's parents were tripping over her baby-safe paint cans.

Ella was off to New Zealand for two whole weeks to visit her extensive family over there – I swear she had once claimed that she had twenty cousins? She would be having the time of her life, getting an amazing tan, while I would be...

I would be at home alone, watching crappy pirate movies and eating everything I could lay my hands on. Jeb is a great Dad, he has never left me in need of anything, except maybe for some attention and time actually spent with him. He needs to work from early in the morning to late at night, and that meant that this Summer was going to be a very lonely one, unless I could drag Nudge away from her art classes and kidnap Ella as soon as she returned from New Zealand...

The cold breeze of the outdoors whipped against my face as soon as I stepped out of the school. There were a few stone steps to walk down before we were officially free...

I yelped in happiness and grabbed a lamppost, swinging around it while Nudge and Ella stood by and watched, pretending not to know me. When I felt I was sufficiently dizzy, I stumbled back to my friends and smiled broadly at them.

"What are you guys doing now?" Ella asked, shoving her backpack over her shoulder.

"I think I'm going to find an open field somewhere and stare at the clouds wag past, knowing that I don't have to go to school for another two fucking months!"

I laughed. "I have plans with Harry."

Nudge and Ella made suitable sympathetic faces. I sighed in agreement. Harry was my boyfriend, a tall, ginger haired, lanky guy with numerous freckles and a big nose. We had been going out for a while now, although I hadn't really counted the months, but recently Harry had been driving me around the bend. He never ceased to break things, knock things over, accidentally step on my feet while we were walking together in the street, and he never, ever kissed me first. It was like an unwritten rule of conduct between us that I would kiss him, not the other way around, and he would blush happily and continue with breaking whatever he was currently touching.

"Is he driving you?" Ella asked gently, squeezing my arm.

"Unfortunately."

They groaned in unison. Harry drove like a maniac. The red truck he insisted on driving me in was dented in so many places that the entire frame seemed to have been constructed so that it was wavy. I always had to grip the seat with one hand and hold my seat belt, seeing as it was broken, to make sure I didn't fall out of the van for any reason.

"Well, good luck, Max. I'm going to miss you!" Ella flung herself in my arms and I squeezed her tightly before turning to Nudge.

She opened her mouth, but I raised a hand in protest. "Don't talk, Nudge. Just hug. And see me soon, okay? Provided I'm still alive after today." Nudge laughed and pulled me into a big bear hug, which Ella eventually joined.

I watched them go. Nudge's Mum came in her amazing purple mini, waved at me and drove away, the piece of card stuck on the back window of the car, 'Jesus Loves You', clearly visible along with Nudge's wild hair. Ella jumped onto her bike, blew a kiss in my direction and rode away, weaving in and out of the crowds of people.

I sighed, stuffed my hands into my pockets, and began to walk. I could see the red truck. Who couldn't? It was the most conspicuous thing in the entire street. I often wondered why Harry chose a red van anyway. It clashed with his hair.

I didn't bother to look either way as I progressed to cross the road. I was depressed, and trusted anyone driving to notice me crawling pathetically across with my head drooping.

That was a mistake. A big one, too.

I whipped my head up when I heard a terrified yell and the excited honking of a broken horn. I knew that honking anywhere. I knew that big blob of red anywhere. I knew that mop of unruly hair and that high pitched squeak anywhere.

Harry was going to plough me down any minute.

But I couldn't seem to move myself. I felt anger bubble up inside of me in those few seconds that I had to stand and stare at Harry swerving dangerously towards me. Stupid, clumsy dyke-

"Holy shit."

I screamed as something large and heavy flung against my side and sent me flying across the road to safety. I rolled on the ground, my breath catching in my throat. I lifted my head slightly to see Harry staring at me with his mouth agape, and I resisted the urge to chase him down the street and beat him to a pulp.

Instead I glanced at my hero. A guy was lying down next to me, although he gathered himself up pretty fast. He was like... a study in black. His hair was dark and unruly, flipping out every which way and covering his forehead. His eyes were like deep black tunnels, running on forever as he stared at me scornfully. His cheeks were slanted and his skin an olive colour and smooth. His shirt was black and rumpled. His jeans were low slung and allowed me to see the slightest bit of underwear bunched up around of it. His trainers were black and scuffed.

"That was clever." He said in a deep, mocking tone.

I raised an eyebrow in response. His manner obviously didn't match his conduct. I was aware of people standing around, staring at us. The girl who nearly died and the guy who had saved her and was acting like a total arsehole.

"He was driving like a lunatic." I muttered, lifting myself up and wiping down my jeans.

"I'll say." He laughed shortly.

"Well, thanks for not letting me turn into road kill." I pulled my backpack up, over my shoulder, and pushed my fringe out of my eyes so I could make contact with his. They twinkled mischievously.

"I think you owe me." He said softly, a grin crossing his face.

I tried to ignore how fit he looked and shrugged. "Fine with me. Next time you need someone to open your Pringles packet, I'm your girl."

He grinned again before walking casually back to where he had been standing before our fiasco, while I sighed and waited for Harry to come back up the road with his stupid, fucking red van.

CHAPTER UNO COMPLETED! Want me to continue? Don't? Lemme know! I will metaphorically kiss your feet if you review :D (come on, how can you resist that offer?)

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