Hey! I'm reposting the story because the reviews are all out of wack due to rewriting the story so drastically and it was bugging me, sorry guys, hope nobody panicked (if it's anything worth panicking over) Enjoy the story!~

Max

Things were changing; suddenly and impendingly. Something she wasn't entirely sure was for the best, although perhaps it was merely a bird-kid's dislike for change. Regardless, life was renowned for its fast curve-balls, and Max had long since learned sometimes the best you could do was go with the flow. And if there was one thing Maximum Ride – bird-kid extraordinaire – could do, it was flow. At least until the waters got too rough.

Which was how she found herself spending one fine summer day, in only a handful of vacation days left, packing. By bird-kids everywhere, she hated packing. Digging through the crowded confines of her once very, very long ago clean closet, she was finding things that had not seen the glorious light of day in years.

"Hey Ella, I found your report for, uh, English. Due about three years ago. Never mind, I'm just going to–" Before the brown eyed girl could finish, her younger half-sister had hauled feathers into her room, snatching the paper from loosely clamped fingers.

"Oh my God, Max!" Her sister, two years younger than Max herself, had something akin to horror and shock scrawled across her face. "It took like, a month to convince rs. Howard I actually turned this thing in! How did it end up in here?!" She demanded, probably thinking of how the paper had nearly lead to a serious confrontation between the elderly witch and their mother, and truthfully, Max didn't want to ponder that too long either. The older of the two gave a what-can-you-do shrug before returning to her pilfering.

Two hours later a tally had been made of the following things that had been found in her multipurpose storage unit; fourteen long-lost homework assignments (most of which were hers), seven empty bags of cookies, two suspicious looking sandwiches (one of which she may or may not remember misplacing a year ago), a broken tennis racket, a dozen socks' missing mates, one or two (maybe seven) empty soda cans, and old Mr. McStuffins.

Yes kids, even Max had a stuffed animal, which even after seventeen years she refused to give away, so what? God knows she should have given it away years ago, but frankly, it reminded her of happier days. Of times before the world of schoolwork and responsibilities had crushed her hopes and aspirations of watching tv everyday and all day.

Not long after everything had been thrown away or packed, loaded, and shipped off to the new town they'd be moving to shortly. Somehow without Ella and her noticing their mom had up and gotten married – of course they were there for the actual marriage, they simply had missed the whole in between – resulting in their moving to a new house, an unbelievable twelve hours away.

Interestingly enough it appeared he also had a daughter, although neither Max, Ella, or their mother knew a thing about her, other than she was still fairly young. Ella didn't mind in the least, in fact she was ecstatic, no doubt hoping for a sister she could be 'girly' with. Something that would never fly with her older sister, no pun intended.

Although, that pun, should you be outside the loop, is pretty darn hilarious. Max was a fairly gifted child, not with smarts or creativity, but, rather, with wings. Yep, like a bird, exactly like a bird, in fact. She could even fly, the whole shebang. Like most mutations, it was something she'd been born with, although she had never quite figured out how, and frankly she didn't care. A gift and a curse, as some brilliant poet or author or inventor had once said, she was cool with it.

The only people who knew of this little fluke were her mother, sister, and herself – along with a few others she'd spilled to before learning the way it worked, having wings. How she had to hide the difference in herself, lest she go scaring the pants off everyone. Life's funny that way.

Another four hours flew by and before she knew it the sun had vanished, and in its place was a full moon, basking the surrounding woodland in its magnificence. Tired from a full day of hard work, Ella and their mom were already asleep, preparing for the actual move tomorrow. However, being the bird-kid that she was, Max could probably pull an all-niter and be no worse for the wear. In fact, she was tense with energy, she wanted to fly.

Long ago, when Max had first been learning to fly, her wings had yet to fully develop. Their state pared with her inexperience led to a nasty fall one evening, where she had jumped from her roof, you know how silly those darn seven year olds can be. The sudden updraft had pulled her wing from its socket, resulting in an immediate confrontation with the ground. After that her mother had deemed Max unsuited for flight, assuming her wing structure and body structure weren't running in the same circles, and Max was forbidden from flying.

But who would she be, if not a rule breaker? Max had continued her attempts, carefully and away from the watchful eye of her mother. A couple months of practice had perfected the ability. Still, she had never told anyone, keeping it a secret shared only with her and the night sky.

Quietly unlatching her window, Max slide the glass up, wings quivering with anticipation. Climbing onto the edge, she shifted, giving her wings room to unfurl, arching her back delicately as she did so, before allowing herself to fall. Wind rushed by in a fury, and after a few thrilling seconds, she released her wings to their full length; and soared.

This was freedom; breathing in the untainted night air, sweeping across the night sky, underneath the silver light of the moon, listening to the silence around her. Feeling the wind surge through her wings, and the simple feeling of doing what she had been made to do. Fore a few moments she was free; no more secrets and no more hiding. Accompanied by a gentle breeze and the dazzling, bright starts that littered the heavens she flew.

But, as everyone learns, freedom is fleeting, and it wasn't long before she forced herself to return home. In what felt like the blink of an eye, she had reached her window, dropping through it with ease, and landing silently. Not long after she found herself falling into another night of sleep, and preparing herself for the changes waiting ahead.