Valedictorian- A Maximum Ride Fanfiction

2nd Period

LIVING WITH REN was easy, Max discovered.

He was quiet, preferred to just watch, and said less than ten words the three days that they'd stayed there. And while he mostly let them do whatever they wanted while he remained curled up in some corner with (judgemental, Fang had said with a laugh) grey eyes staring at them, he could raise all hell if they disrupted the systems he had in place for living there. Like the time that Iggy and Gazzy had wanted to blow a window in the cave because it was so dark (Gazzy, mostly, Iggy just wanted to blow something up); Ren had appeared like a demon from hell and clicked in their ears for the next two hours. Iggy was positively miserable and groaned 'Mercy on the blind kid! Don't make me deaf too!' while Gazzy just snickered until he got a headache from it as well. Max had a feeling that he would have continued that, too; if she hadn't stopped him.

Another thing that Max liked.

Ren listened to her.

He also seemed to listen to Nudge, which in turn made Nudge like him. Another plus point. It just sort of sucked that everyone else in the flock seemed to... you know, not like him. Like Iggy. And Angel. Fang was in the neutral zone. Gazzy apparently thought he was the coolest thing ever until Iggy decided that he wasn't. And Gazzy was always on Iggy's side. 

The third day started out like any other, the waves beginning to crash against the rocks after the long lull of the nighttime tide, Fang running his hands through his hair like he expected it to be longer and the three kids in the 'under thirteen' zone rolling awake one by one. Iggy was always up first, glaring at the general direction that Ren was; clicking away as always. (From what she could tell, Ren could see; but he made the sounds on habit and refused to stop. Which was what ended up adding to Ren:1, Iggy:0.) If Max had been paying attention, she would have seen Ren's small smirk. 

They lazed around, Ren navigating the depths of the cave and magically coming back with fish (he'd mentioned an indoor pool the first day that they'd arrived, but the flock had yet to see it); they ate, and the kids plus Iggy went out to fly around over the sea breeze. Max debated going out to town to try and see if she could find some other food (Ren was good with sticks and fire, but there was only so many ways to eat fish without seasoning before you got sick of it) and Gazzy wanted to see the Space Needle. She got up, left, and Ren had batted her down with one powerful wing before telling here that there was someone they had to meet first. More fish, more playing around the sea (Angel started making drawings on the ocean surface by talking to fish and telling them to swim around in certain patterns), and the flock plus one watched the sun set to the sound of waves crashing against rock.

And then, once night fell;  a storm blew by that shook the cave to it's core.