"Max!" a young voice trilled. Not exactly recognizing my surroundings, I got up.

Oh.. Right. I was in Virginia. Nearly all the way across the country from where I formally lived. I used to live in Arizona. But my dad, who I call Jeb, had picked my sister Angel and I up and moved all the way here. Great.

I hadn't wanted to move. I would much rather stay there with all my friends. But no, I didn't get any say. To Virginia it was.

And it wasn't much of a great reason either. Jeb was a single father, and somehow met someone online who he liked enough to move across the entire country. I didn't know much about this woman, except for the fact that she'd never replace Mom.

Mom had left Angel and I alone with Jeb when Angel was only 7 years old, and when I was 14. Now Angel was 9, and I was 16. Mom died in a swimming accident. Some idiot ran her over at the beach with a zodiac. I swear, when I find the guy who did that, I would happily beat him into a pulp. Ever since that day, I had kept my eyes open for a boy who should now be around my age or older, with black hair.

How a 14 year old got ahold of a zodiac, I would never know. But he would pay. He hadnt even stopped to help. He had just kept zooming further and further, not looking back.

Today was my first day at my new highschool. I walked into the front office, and immediately a middle aged lady looked up at me and smiled.

"Hi, you must be Maxine Ride. Here is your schedule and locker number. Classes start in 10 minutes."

"It's Maximum. Maximum Ride, though I usually go by Max," I smiled back, through gritted teeth. Why did everyone have to assume that "Max" was short for Maxine? People really pissed me off sometimes.

I waved good bye and headed out to class. It wouldn't be a very good idea to be late to class on your first day.

Even though I had 10 minutes, I started rushing and weaving through the giant crowds that clogged the hallways. I have mastered this skill long ago, but all of a sudden I slammed into a hard chest. I looked up and found a pair of pale blue eyes that sat under a mop of spiky strawberry-blonde hair. He smiled.

"Oops, sorry about that! Why are you rushing anyways, you still got 8 minutes. Hey... You're new arent you?" the boy grinned. He stuck out his hand. "Hi, I'm Iggy."
I took Iggy's hand and shook it.
"I'm Max," I smiled.

"What class do you have? I can show you the way if you'd like."

"Um.. I have Chemistry 2 with Mr. Greensboro," I told him, looking down at my sheet.

"Great! I have him too. Follow me."

Iggy stuck his hand out and started tracing the walls as he walked. I noticed that his eyes seemed to focus on absolutely nothing.

"Oh my god, you're bli-" I blurted out.

"Yeah, I am," Iggy chuckled.

"How on earth do you do that?" I asked in astonishment. Iggy seemed to perfectly weave around people, not crashing into anything.

"When you lose a sense, your other senses heighten," he said, grinning. Then, in a mock-spooky voice, he said, "that also means I can read your mind,"

"Shut up!" I said, shoving him in the chest and laughing.

"Ok ok, you got me. I can't read minds... But I can do other amazing things," Iggy told me darkly, winking. I glared and gave him the bird. Then I remembered he was blind.

"Well, here we are. Classroom 202, Mr. Greensboro," Iggy said.

I thanked him and walked up to the desk that sat at the front of the room.

"Hello, you must be the new student, Maxine Ride! Welcome!" a balding 50 year old man said. He wore round classes, and his eyes seemed warm and kind. I likes him already, besides the fact that he immediately assumed my name was Maxine.

"It's just Max, sir." I told him. He just nodded.

"You will be sitting over in the back next to Nick. He will be your partner this year, considering he doesn't have one yet," told me, pointing to a desk near the back wall. I looked at the boy sitting there. He was super tall, had olive-colored skin, and deep, black eyes. And he was also surrounded by a cluster of girls. Great. I'd get the one boy who flirted with every single living female as my lab partner. Reluctantly, I walked over there.

I didn't even greet myself, I didn't like him already. I just sat down and plopped my books on the table. I glanced over at him and he sent me a grin that looked like it was supposed to make me fall in love. It didn't. It just made me want to punch him. I glared at him.

"Hey there," Nick said leaning over to me, breathing in my ear. "You must be the new girl, am I correct? Maxine Ride?"

I shoved him away. "Yes Nick, I AM the new girl! How smart of you to notice. And it's just Max."

Nicky's face suddenly got serious. "Don't ever call me Nick. I go by Fang."

"Well aren't you the emo little boy?" I said, staring down at his entirely black attire, excluding his jeans.

Suddenly a cocky look passed over *Fang's* face. "Do you like little emo boys?" He asked, leaning over once again.

"Just stop that! I'm not interested in flirty, overly-cocky, way-too-large-eggoed, emo, dumb-witted boys," I snapped at him, wishing he'd leave me alone. I couldn't believe that the rest of my year would be spent with him.

"Well then. I don't like smart-assed, tomboy, smart-mouth girls. You know, girls usually dress with a little more style," Fang told me, as if he were suddenly deciding he wasn't interested in me anymore.

"That suits me just fine, Fangy boy," I grinned, slapping him on the back. All of a sudden, Fang backed away like I had a disease. Why would he be so bothered with such a action? All I did was touch his back..

Huh.

After a long day at school, I exhaustingly returned home. The first thing I did was head to the kitchen and grab a handful of chocolate chip cookies. Surprisingly Valencia (who was Jebs girlfriend and actually was pretty nice) made fantastic homemade cookies. I happily munched on them as I headed up the stairs.

When I made it to my room, I plopped all my stuff down on the floor and collapsed onto the bed. One by one, I gulped the remainder of those cookies down. Even though I was not much of a thinker, I thought about my day. I made a friend and an enemy. Iggy was super nice, and naturally easy-going. Fang was cocky and arrogant, and really ticked me off. Win some lose some.

I got up and started on my homework. There wasn't a lot, considering I was new and the school year had already started. The teachers decided to cut my some slack. It all took me only an hour, and after that I was free to do whatever I liked.

Immediately, my mind sprang to the tree in my backyard. It was a huge oak, it's branches thick and strong. It would be an easy feat to climb, and I would get an entire view of the neighborhood from the top. I ran downstairs and outside.

I first started on a low hanging tree limb. I pulled myself up and flung my body over. I then climbed the rest like a ladder, it was super easy. Even though hard challenges are fun, easy challenges make you feel good about yourself, the easy way. Pretty soon I had reached the top. With one final pull I sat comfortably on a huge branch. I leaned against the trunk and looked out.

It was a pretty view, I will tell you that. The houses were set pretty far apart, and trees littered the ground. Virginia was very green.

It was also very windy, as I soon learned. One moment I was sitting in the tree and the next a huge gush of wind had knocked my light body off the branch I was formally sitting on. I didn't scream, but I desperately clawed at the air as I fell. All of a sudden, the breath was knocked out of me as I hit the first branch on the way down. Oof! Another branch. After a couple more agonizing branches I was finally on the hard ground. I just closed my eyes and groaned.

When I opened my eyes back up, I found myself to be staring into deep black ones. Fang. Great.

"Where did you come from?" I muttered.

"I live next door. Are you ok? We should take you to the hospital. Come on." Fang quickly said, trying to pick me up. I slapped his hands away.

"Leave me alone, I'm fine." Slowly, I got up. I ached all over, but I didn't feel any broken bones. "See? Fine."

"But how could you? How did you? That was at least 35 feet! You must have a broken bone somewhere," Fang muttered, feeling me all over for broken bones.

"Hey! Hands off! Just because I fell out of a tree doesn't mean that you have the right to get any of this," I said sarcastically, grinning. My comment must have made him forget about my well-being, because he just snapped back.

"You wish Ride, you wish."

I just rolled my eyes and walked back inside. Nothing good had come out of this. I had discovered that my next door neighbor was *Fang*. Virginia was bringing me nothing but bad luck.