Feathers. Feathers everywhere. I couldn't see anything, just lots of moving white fluffy objects. Could I hold my breath much longer? I decided to risk it and suck in a huge gulp of air. That's when the real pain started. My airways became clogged, and my body went into its instinctual panic-mode by trying to suck in as much air as possible. Which meant sucking in more of the feathers that were slowly suffocating me. They stuck to the inside walls of my throat.

Finally, I stopped struggling. I calmed myself down. I no longer felt the need to breath. No more. Slowly, I fell into the black waters.

And then I woke up.

~~

"Argh! Why does that fucking bitch... *mutter mutter* screwing everything up.. *mutter mutter* dumb-ass!" I heard the blonde girl mutter angrily to herself, waving her hands about, and ending with a finale of kicking the dirt in front of her.

The new neighbors were here, that's all I can tell you. They just came today. And boy, I could see that we were gonna have a lot of trouble with this particular girl here.

I decided to approach her now, better get over the awkward 'hi, you're the new neighbor that I'll probably never talk to' conversation.

"Boy, that dirt must have done something really terrible to get on your nerves like that," I wondered out-loudly as soon as I got close enough. Surprised, the girl snapped around to look at me.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Iggy the neighbor," I told her grinning. I sorta got lucky, I guess. The Blondie was rocking the sexy and athletic look. "You?"

"OK, Iggy The Neighbor, nice to meet you. I'm Max," Max told me, all her previous anger suddenly fading.

"Well, Maxine, try not to beat up the dirt anymore. The poor dirt, what did it ever do to you?!" I cried out loud, clutching at my heart and feigning a look of utter despair. Before I knew it, Max was striking a few solid kicks at my calves. Damn, the girl had muscle... And anger issues.

"It's not Maxine, idiot! Stands for Maximum. Maximum Ride," Max huffed loudly.

I tried not to let my perverted second-mind sneak into the conversation.
"Maximum? Really?" I asked in honest surprise.

"Iggy? Really?" Max parroted back.

"Touché."

"So, Iggy The Neighbor, do you have anything to say that could make this conversation any less awkward?" Max asked, leaning against the trunk of her front-yard's tree.

"The 5 W's," I stated immediately.

Max must have not understood me.
"What?" she asked, confused.

"The 5 W's. When, where, why, what, and who. What did they teach you at your old school?"

"You smart ass. When? Today. Where? Here. Why? Cause of my stupid step-mom and her boyfriend. What? I moved. Who? Me, my little sister Angel, Valencia, and Jeb," Max babbled in a monotone voice.

"Ah, ok, got it. You basically hate everyone but Angel, who you adore. Am I right?" I inquired.

"No, I don't hate everyone... Ok, yeah, I do. You're spot on. Anyways, got anything else to do than intrude on my personal life?" Max snapped at me, getting irritated.

I put my hands up in mock defense. "Oooh, someone getting a little PMSy?" I teased. She punched me. HARD.

"I'm going now. Bye, Iggy the Neighbor," Max called as she stomped into her house. I shrugged. Some people are just immune to my personality.

MAX POV

Everyone so happy and cheerful all the time. I hated people like Iggy. Can't understand when to stop.

Feeling sad and out of place, I took my other love (besides Angel) out of his cage and pet his head feathers. Rocky is a large green parrot who is exactly as old as I am: 16 years old. He talked a lot. Right now he kept whispering "yum yum yum" to himself over and over. An outsider could really find Rocky creepy, if they hadn't been with him as long as I had.

"Stupid Jeb. All his fault..." I muttered to Rocky, laying in my bed while cuddling Rocky.

"Kiss?" Rocky asked. He always asked to be kissed (on his head feathers) whenever he felt that I wasn't feeling well. I kissed his yellow and blue head feathers.

I looked outside and noticed that the sun was setting. I let Rocky sit on my bed while I dressed into my pajamas. I put Rocky back into his cage and got under my bed covers. I turned out the lights.

"Night night Maxie," Rocky whispered.

"Night night Rocky," I told him back, shutting my eyes. It was the first day of school tomorrow. It made the move feel all the more permanent.

The next morning I ate breakfast with Rocky and Angel, like I do every morning, before heading out to walk to Ridge High. And I was late.

I started rushing through the halls, trying to find my way to first class. Do I take a left here, or a right there? Crap, I was already screwed.

While I was speed walking down hall number whatever, I turned a corner. Right as I crashed into some big mass.

"Watch it!" I screeched in blind fury, getting up. My day was already bad enough.

"You watch it!" the other girl shrieked back, leveling her eyes with me. I gasped. The red-head's eyes weren't green or brown like I would have guessed... They were a deep amber-golden color. I immediately took a step back.

The girl tilted her head in question, and looked down at her nails which were actually elongated and rather pointy. WTF? Colored contacts, oddly filed nails... What else was I going to run into?

"Sorry, bye," the girl mumbled, taking one last glance at her hands before taking off. I shook my head in wonder before resuming my hunt for the right classroom.

As soon as I found it, I walked through the door. Over a dozen pairs of eyes looked up at me.

"Sorry Mr, uh, Mr. Clarksburg. I'm new here, and I couldn't find my way.

"I'm well aware, Miss Ride. Please have a seat next to Monique. Keep in mind that there won't be a second time, even if you're new," Mr. Clarksburg instructed, indicating towards a seat near the middle of the classroom.

"OMG hi! Teachers call me Monique, but everyone else calls me Nudge. What's your name?" Nudge whispered rather loudly.

"Max," I whispered back, slightly leaning towards her so I wouldn't have to speak so loud.

"Ride, I don't know what they did at your old school, but here, we don't talk during class. Understood?" Mr. Clarksburg said rather firmly. I nodded.

Nudge continued to try and talk to me, even after the warning.

"Miss Ride? I'm going to have to ask you to move somewhere you'll be less distracted. Please take the seat by Mr. Nick Stone," Mr. Clarksburg told me, irritated. I scowled at Nudge, and she sheepishly smiled back. I got up and walked over to the kid dressed in black. He eyed me as I passed by, but made no comment. A quiet, no-conversing dude? I could live with that.

MYSTERY POV

I spread my wings farther open, letting them get carried by the wind currents. The sun warmed up my back. With the wind allowing me to fly effortlessly and the nice warm blanket, I could just about sleep.

That was the beauty of flying. The total and utter freedom. The ability to escape whatever trouble a human lifestyle gave you. Also, it was damn cool. But being alone? No, that is not worth it. To have no one else like you? The last of your species? I'd give up my wings if it meant being with others like me.

Instead I was an alien to all.

OMG! FF is killing me!

So sorry guys! FF keeps compressing all of my documents into these blobs with no spaces and into one gigantic paragraph. NO ONE TOLD ME IN THE COMMENTS! You guys should really let me know when these stuff happen, or else I just look like a fool.

Anyways, fixed it now!

R&R!