Heyyy er'body! I'm back! I'm actually going through and editing all the chapters for this story. Finally finished doing these 6, so I'll be reposting those soon. I also realize that I haven't updated in over a year... Wow. Sorry. I'll try not to do that again. Anyway, this was only relevant if you've read this before. If not, welcome! I hope you enjoy the story! Leave a review and follow/favorite if you'd like; I always appreciate it!

Disclaimer: Sky does not own Maximum Ride. *plays in a puddle of her own tears*

"Can miles truly separate you from friends… If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there?"

- Richard Bach

Most people meet their best friends through normal means. Going to school with them, having them as a neighbor, going to camp. But that kind of friendship just wasn't in the cards for me. Anyone who met me was immediately terrified. Sure, I usually growled and hissed upon first meeting, but I was young and I didn't particularly like strangers. So of course, the best friend I did eventually acquire did not meet me face to face. We wrote letters. This was how our first conversation went, eleven years ago. (Ignore the horrible spelling and grammar. But, well, what can you expect from kids in first grade?)

Dear Max,

Hey. My name is Nick Martinez but everyone calls me Fang. I am six and in first grade. I guess you are too. I live in California. You live in New York right? My teacher is making us write to each other for the whole school year. She even gave us stuff we have to put in the first letter. Did your teacher do that too? I am supposed to describe me now so, uh I have black hair and dark brown eyes and I think I am tall for my age. I think thats a good enough discription.

I like to draw. Doctor M. (She is my step mom) says I am good at it but she is my mom so she has to say that.

Ms. Ashton sayd that we need to put something that happened to us this week so I'll tell you that I have baby sister and her name is Ella. I was bored so I drawed a picture of her. I'll give it to you so I can get an honist opinion about my pictures.

We are supposed to ask three questions to our pen pal so here it goes.

1.) What's your middle name?

2.) Do you have any brothers or sisters?

3.) Do you think this is as lame as I do?

Anyway thats all I have to do so I guess I'm finished. I am just glad that you are not a girl. My friend Iggy got one now he has to worry about cooties. Poor guy.

From,

Fang

And here was my fantastic response. Given the fact that hissing is basically impossible to portray in letter form, at least to a first grader, my response was a bit more tame than I would have liked at the time. But thankfully, it all turned out well (In my opinion, anyway).

Dear Fang (What kind of name is that?)

Hello there. My name is Maximum Ride. Max for short. And yes I am a girl. I can't beleeve you thought I was a boy. Max is a girl name too! I can't beleeve I got stuck with a sexist pig. My dad sayd that when he read it. I don't know what it means but if my dad sayd it it must be true. And by the way tell your friend Iggy that scientists proved that cooties don't exist like a bazillion years ago. My daddy is a scientist so I would know.

Well since I am stuck with you I guess I will have to forgive you. But you should know that I can kick your butt any day because I take karate and one time a boy named Steven from third grade tried to make me fall in mud but then I kicked his butt into next year. So don't say anything stupid because I will go across the country to kick your butt. Got it? Good.

Anyway, yes, I do have these stupid things that I have to put in this so here it goes.

I am Max and I have blonde hair and brown eyes. I am the tallest girl in my class. My favorite hobby is karate and eating. My mommy says I eat alot. I can't help that I am always hungry. My daddy sayd thats because I'm growing real fast.

So I saw that picture you sent. It was good and I don't say that alot. Don't let it get to your head.

So now I need to answer your questions.

1.) I don't have a middle name so I gave me one. Its Sally you know like Sally Ride.

2.) No I don't have any brothers or sisters. I hope I will though.

3.) Yes, yes I do.

Those were some weird questions. Mine are alot better.

1.) Are you always this weird?

2.) Why is your friend named Iggy?

3.) Are your friends as weird as you?

Well that's it. I guess I will get your letter next week.

Bye,

Max

And that was my first conversation with my best friend, bad grammar and all.

Beautiful, wasn't it?

I know, I know, you're not here to read a long story about how two kids from opposite sides of the country became best friends and their struggle in keeping up with their strange friendship. But trust me; there is a point to me telling you about this. You just won't find out why until a little bit later.

It all started out as a normal day. My alarm woke me up. I smashed it. I got dressed for school. I tripped down the stairs.

You know, the usual.

"Goodness, Max! Careful. You trip on those stair almost every day."

"Yeah, yeah. Just give me some food." I plopped down at the counter as my dad, Jeb, laughed to himself.

"Here." He handed me a plate full of pancakes, still chuckling. "Is that all you think about? Food?"

"You know me too well." I said, my mouth already stuffed with pancakey goodness.

"Mornin' Max!" My little sister, Angel, hopped down the stairs. Any person that can be happy that early in the morning was insane, and, well, Angel wasn't that far off. But I loved her anyway, even though she wasn't my biological sister.

Hm, I should probably explain that to you. I'm adopted. Apparently both of my parents died when I was only a few months old, so Jeb and Marian Batcheldor adopted me. When I was eleven, they had Angel. A few years later, Marian and Jeb got divorced. It was all Marian's fault, of course. Jeb caught her cheating on him, or something like that. That's what he told us, anyway. I always thought there was more to it, considering I haven't heard from her since. It hurt, in a way, but Marian and I never got along with each other. Not like Jeb and me. So I got over it pretty quickly. It was Angel who I was sad for. She barely even got to know her own birth mother.

Anyway, it didn't matter that Angel wasn't my blood sister; she was my totally sweet sister all the same, although she did have her diabolically evil side. You'll get what I mean in a minute.

"Hey Max?"

"What's up, Ange?"

"Could you take me to my friend Lily's house after school today?"

I thought for a moment. "Oh I can't Angel, sorry. I promised Nudge that I would meet her at her house today."

Here's where her diabolical, evil side comes in.

She pulled the Bambi eyes on me.

…

Dang those Bambi eyes.

"Pleaassee?" She forced up some tears, making her bright blue eyes wide. Her blonde hair hung in curls that made her look, well, angelic. My heart began to soften.

I swear I am goo in that girl's hands.

I threw my hands up in the air. "Fine! I'll take you. But you owe me eternally for this." I grinned at her.

"Thanks Max!" She wrapped me up in a big hug,

Little did I know that that would be one of the last hugs I got from her for a long time. But now I'm getting ahead of myself. Not to sound vague or mysterious or foreshadow-y or anything.

Anyway, I finished eating quickly and hopped in my car. That's right. Senior privileges meant I could finally drive my car to school. I thought it was stupid that only seniors could drive, but I was just thankful that my time waiting had ended. It also meant that I drove Nudge to school every day, since she was a junior. But whatever, I didn't mind. Especially since the morning was one of those rare moments when she was too tired to talk. Thank goodness.

I pulled up to her house shortly afterwords, since she lived down the street from me. Nudge was waiting for me outside, looking tired, cold, and miserable. Her dark brown curls were up in a messy pony tail, as if she had slept in it the night before. Ha. Typical Nudge. A slob at home, but a fashion geek at school. At least she had a sense to get dressed in something this morning, though. "Hey Nudge." I said, smiling as she got into the car, eyes half closed.

"Shut up."

I guess neither of us were morning people.

She slept for the whole ten minutes it took for us to get to school. I enjoyed the silence while it lasted, because it wouldn't be for very long. She would be back to being her normal self about five minutes after we got there.

I pulled into my usual parking spot. I nudged Nudge (Get it? I nudged Nudge? Haha. Ha. Yeahh…) to wake her up. "Come on, Nudge. We're running a little late. I'm not sure how much time you'll have to fix your hair, you know, 'cause you slept in it."

Well that got her up quickly.

"Thanks Max!" She shouted over her shoulder as she ran towards the school entrance. How she did that in heels, I'll never know.

I chuckled, then sighed, slowly walking up the school stairs and to my locker. I checked my watch: Eight o'clock.

After taking my phone out, I texted Fang. Time for his wake up call, or text, or whatever.

You may be saying to yourself, "Wait, if it's eight in the morning in New York, wouldn't it be ridiculously early in the morning in California, where Fang lives?" Why yes, you smart people! It would! Actually, it'd be five in the morning. You see, I'm Fang's alarm. For the past month, every day at eight, I would send him a text that says something along the lines of "GET UP YOU LAZY BUM!" which then wakes him up (he's too lazy to actually set his own alarm). Why he gets up at a stupidly early time? I don't really know. He refuses to tell me. That idiot.

Wake up, princess, it's time for the ball.

Shut up, Max.

Hey, you're the one that wants me to send you these so early in the morning. You gonna tell me why yet?

No.

Didn't think so.

Don't you have class or something?

No, I'm only at school to spend my early morning free time there. What do you think? I rolled my eyes as I started towards homeroom. I was going to be late, but whatever.

No need to get sarcastic with me. Hey, I gotta go. Video chat at seven EST?

Yep, like always. Have fun doing whatever it is you're doing.

I entered the room and shut my phone off when I was hit by a mass of arms and frizzy blonde hair.

"Maaaxxx!"

"JJ! Let me breathe, okay?"

JJ, my partner in crime, reluctantly let me go. I gasped for breath and coughed. "Thanks."

"Max, so much happened this weekend. It stinks that you have a job now. I feel like I never see you."

"JJ, this was only my second week working…"

"Well, I know, but I know that you're gonna be working a lot and stuff, and I already feel like we never see each other! And, no offense, but your job is really creepy."

Well, she had a point there.

You see, I hand't even been looking for a job. But my dad said that this company, Itex something or other, called our house and offered me a job. I would've said no, because, quite frankly, it was weird that they randomly called me. But Jeb said he checked it out and that I could use the extra money to finally fly out to California and visit Fang. So, I took it. All I did was file stuff on their ground floor on the weekends. It was pretty boring, But I understood the whole 'really creepy' concept.

"JJ, it's not that bad. Plus, they pay a lot. Don't worry; I'll make sure I have plenty of time for you." I smiled.

"Thanks Max." She grinned in return. "Oh yeah, are you still going to Nudge's house after school?"

"I'm bringing Angel somewhere after school first, but I'll definitely be there after." Nudge was having a 'Senior Year Get Together For All My Senior Friends', at least, that's what it said on all the flyers she made even though only four people were invited. According to Nudge, it wasn't a real party unless you handed out flyers.

"Awesome! Just don't be too late!" And then she scampered off to harass some other poor soul as I left to sign into homeroom, completely forgetting to tell me about her weekend. Oh JJ, you gotta love 'er.

The rest of my day was normal. I got detention from Mrs. Leigh in first period and from Mr. Gullham in second. I got out of both of them by third. I slept through fourth. I doodled during fifth.

And then lunch came.

I guess that's when you could say the crap hit the fan.