Chapter 16
My new school uniform reminded me a lot of the last school uniform. Red and black plaid skirt and a white blouse, but these weren’t completely hideous in my opinion. I’m sure that Nudge, the fashion diva, would disagree. Iggy and I had left early this morning before anyone else woke up, even before Fang woke up. Iggy and I flew most the way, but then landed in some woods about a mile away from the school, deciding that we should just walk from there. Iggy wore a pair of his favorite shades giving himself that mysterious look, which worked for him. His hair had grown shaggier in the past months. Like me and Fang, Iggy looked older. It made me wonder where the time went where we were going to pick strawberries. I kind of missed it. Sure, I didn’t miss the constant battle but I missed the flock all together, just us. No Jeb, no Fangs gang, no Maya, and even no Dylan.
“So, Max you excited?” Iggy smiled.
“Don’t start with me.” I warned. “I’m still mad at you for getting us into this mess.” I looked down at my shiny new black school shoes. They were flats, but they kind of hurt my feet. I guess I need to break them in.
“This isn’t my fault; you would still be going even if I wasn’t. I volunteered.”
“Whatever, just promise you’ll stay out of trouble. No bombs of any kind. Just blend in, and…try to survive the day.” I ordered.
“Oh yeah, sure cause its easy blending in being the new blind kid.” Iggy muttered.
“Hey, none of that. You’re not going to get my remorse, you volunteered remember? So you get whatever goes with this.” I felt bad being so strict with Iggy, but he knew what he was signing up for. No one was making him do this. “Did you notice how Jeb didn’t even consider Angel or Fang going with us?” I asked changing the subject.
“Yeah, I guess Jeb doesn’t really see them as part of the flock anymore. They are doing their own thing now.” Iggy frowned knowing his words were true.
“That’s ridiculous; they will always be part of the flock no matter what.” I pointed out.
“I know that, but Jeb doesn’t. He isn’t even part of the Flock so how would he know.” Iggy smirked.
“Good point.”
We approach the school, a large building with a football field to the side and students everywhere. On the large lawn in the front were picnic tables. Some students sat at them, some sat on the grass, some stood at the doors talking, and others were walking inside. They were all talking and laughing going on with their day. Iggy stopped in his tracks as we walked to the entrance.
“Max?” Iggy said, sounding afraid. I looked back at him and realized he didn’t know where I was. Everyone out here was talking and he couldn’t really hear me. I went and looped my arm around his.
“I gotcha, Ig.” I reassured him, patting his arm lightly. He smiled softly, breathing out in relief.
“Thanks Max.”
I felt closer to him, as much as Iggy tried to pretend he didn’t need help I knew sometimes he did. Him being him he would never admit it. That’s okay. The entire flock is all a little stubborn, myself included. We walked into the building. To the left was the office and to the right was long hallway with classrooms and lockers aligning the walls. So many students and teachers were here, making it loud and crowded. We walked into the office and let the glass door shut behind us. It was much quieter on here and Iggy seemed to relax a bit. There were about ten people in the office. Most of them looked like teachers just hanging out here until their classes started. Three ladies were sitting at desks typing away at computers. One of them smiled at me and Iggy kindly. She stood up walking over to us. She was maybe probably in her early fifties, maybe less.
“Hello, what can I help you kids with?” She smiled politely.
“This is our first day.” I said.
“Oh! Excellent! Welcome!” She cheered. She seemed nice at least, maybe too nice? “What are your names and I will pull up your schedule.”
“Maximum and Iggy Ride,” I told her calmly.
“Gorgeous names,” She smiled walking over to her computer. She typed something. “Okay, I need you both to sign this.” She got out a piece of paper and brought it to us. I read every line already on guard. Just a plain honor coded, no cheated, follow the dress code, that sort of thing. I signed my name on the bottom than handed the pen to Iggy. I grabbed his hand and put the pen point where he needs to sign.
“There.” I said. He nodded once and signed his name the best he could, which wasn’t bad. Some of the teachers watched Iggy sign his name, including the woman who gave us the paper. I wanted to yell “What are you looking at?!” but that wouldn’t end well so I kept my mouth shut. I picked up the paper and handed it back to the woman. She smiled at me and brought it to her desk tucking it in her desk drawer. She picked up a stack of book and grabbed another piece of paper.
“You both have the same classes so here’s your schedule. Same books as well I hope you don’t mind sharing.” She watched Iggy like he was some sideshow.
“We don’t mind.” I replied sharply, my eyes hardening. She flinched at my tone, giving me a pointed look. Easy, Max.
“Also, you will be sharing a locker.” She glanced at Iggy’s eyes and I knew why we were sharing. He couldn’t see the numbers on his lock so they weren’t going to give him one. Typical. She handed me the books since she apparently thought Iggy was a weakling. I immediately handed the books over to him, trying not to scowl at her. Roughly, I snatched the paper from her and quickly read through schedule.
“Thank you.” I snapped, not able to keep my polite voice up. I grabbed Iggys arm pulling him out of the office and down the hall with me. When I find our locker I let go of him and open it up without too much trouble. Everything seems fine until suddenly the slap of books hitting the floor startled me. I turned quickly seeing Iggy on the ground and the books across the floor.
“Watch it!” A large kid yelled down at him. Oh, no you don’t! Fuming, I grabbed his shoulder and rammed him into the locker. HARD. It dented the locker easily.
“You watch where you’re going, he’s blind you idiot!” I growled through gritted teeth, my voice ice cold. Bye Bye Saint Max. Everyone was watching us now. The guy I had pushed, backed away slowly obliviously not very happy. I wouldn’t say frightened, but definitely startled.
“Freak!” He exclaimed taking of down the hall. You have no idea kid.
“Yeah, you wanna a piece of me!” I yelled after him, opening my arms.
“Max!” Iggy scolded, still on the ground.
“Well, he was asking for it.” I huffed. I reached down helping Iggy get to his feet. The dent in the locker was bad. It was hard not to notice the bully sized dent left in the door. Great, that’s normal. Sixteen year old girls leave dents in locker doors all the time, no biggie.
“Thanks.” He grumbled, brushing his hands on his pants.
“You okay?” I asked, lowering my voice.
“Yeah, but I think I might of hurt my ‘back’ when I fell.” Iggy said firmly, lightly tapping my arm. By ‘back’ I knew he meant wings. Iggy wore a jacket to cover his; I wore a black vest that covered mine.
“Okay.” I reached down plucking the books from the floor and shoving them in the locker. Slamming the door, since I still felt kind of steamed from talking to that jerk. “Let’s go take a look.” I whispered to him.
