Valedictorian- A Maximum Ride Fanfiction

3rd Period

THE GIRL THAT shouted from the top of her lungs at the mouth of the cave was a tornado, a hurricane, a typhoon. Petite but tall with stark white hair and clad in black jeans and a bomber jacket, she barked orders like a military sargent with blazing black eyes that bore holes into the tangible darkness of the cave.

"REN, YOU LAZY ASS, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? HOW DARE YOU TAKE THREE DAYS OFF WITHOUT TELLING ME?? DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY HAULS-" She stopped abruptly as she noticed Max, and her demeanor changed from flaming hot to ice cold in the span of a millisecond. The moonlight from behind her made her hair glow ghostly white, and this time Max backed up; fight or flight kicking in. The waves settled down, low tide kicking in; and the cave was silent. "And who the hell are you?" The girl asked.

"Max." Max raised a challenging eyebrow, inching herself closer to where Angel and Nudge were sleeping to lightly shake them awake. They were blinking already- as the others were; frozen in place and ready to spring up and fight after years of being chased by Erasers. The white haired girl scoffed, rolling her eyes. 

"And what, he's opened a hobo hotel? What the hell?" She muttered, frowning before clicking her tongue. The sound was the same as the ones that Ren made, and Iggy grumbled 'Oh god, there's another one' before rolling over to go back to sleep.  Ren surfaced from the shadows, the soft, wet, pitter patter of sneakers against damp ground giving him away before he came into vision.  

"..Why are you here." He stated, voice soft as always. This seemed to set the girl off, and Max could practically feel the flames she was emitting. Nudge rolled over and whapped her shoulder with her wing before dozing back off. 

"Why am I here? WHY AM I HERE? I don't know Ren, why don't you ask yourself that." Her eyes were brutal, and Ren shrugged; burying his hands in his pockets.

"You missed my charming company."

"NO." She growled, a slim and scarred hand rising to rub her temples. She sighed, suddenly, visibly deflating. "No, there was that boat coming in from Japan, remember? You were supposed to help me lift the candy crate." Ren's eyelids lifted a millimeter, but that was the only indication that he remembered what she was speaking about at all. 

"...Sorry." He shrugged again, head tilting in a vague gesture towards the rest of the cave inhabitants. "I got distracted." Ren turned towards Max, idly lifting a hand to chaperon her vision to the white haired girl. "Max, this is... that person I was talking about." The girl scoffed. Max nodded dumbly. Ren.. had mentioned someone. She just wasn't expecting this. Thing. "This is Seb...bastian."

"Seb." Sebastian corrected, daring Max to call her anything else. Max grinned, rising to meet that challenge, 'Sebastian' already on her tongue.

"Seb, this is.. Max..imum.."

And her dreams were immediately dashed.

"Max." She corrected with the same tone. Ren shrugged. 

Sebastian once again turned her attention to Ren, hand pointing at Max like she wasn't even there. "So, trooper, what's up with the chick? If you were going to elope-" (Max let out an indignant 'Hey!') "You really could have chosen a better place to hide at, you know? I know you like this cave, but this isn't exactly romanti-"

"I'm not interested in her." Ren replied plainly, and the feelings of offense and relief within Max conflicted. She was here too! And why were they talking about her like some cold chicken out on display? Max watched as the two (who seemed to be off in another dimension she couldn't touch) bantered, Sebastian bickering at Ren in her British accent while he answered with total nonchalance and passivity. He looked used to her verbal abuse.

"And you!" Sebastian turned to her suddenly, and Max jumped to her feet and got into a ready position out of habit. "You, emo guy over there, and the blond one are going to go with Ren to pick up some crap." Max gave Ren a look (what the hell is this?), and Ren just shrugged (not my problem, just let her do what she wants.). That's all he did, bugger. And Max couldn't even get mad at him. Sebastian brushed Ren with her shoulder as she walked past him, arms up in the air in a 'Jesus help me' pose. She deposited herself next to Max, and that was the time Max noticed she'd been muttering the whole way. "Freaking got my wing pierced with a whale harpoon. A harpoon. Freaking Japan. Do you know how hard it was to get here without flying? Ugh. I smell like a sardine."