Since this was Fang, he didn't just take it like a gentleman. He immediately shoved me back, almost making me hit the wall. I was mortified-not only because I was attacking my best friend, but because I'd sounded like a jealous idiot. Which I wasn't. At all.
I stood there, breathing fast, feeling my cheeks flame with humiliation and anger. My hands clenched and unclenched, and I wanted to disappear.
I felt his dark eyes looking at me and waited for him to tease me about being upset over the Red-Haired Wonder.
He stepped closer to me, till his face was only inches away from mine. We'd been the same height for most of our lives, but in the past two years he'd shot past me. Now my eyes were level with his shoulder.
"You're girly enough," he said quietly. "As I recall."
New embarrassment washed over me-he was referring to when I'd kissed him at the beach, weeks ago. He just had girls throwing themselves at him left and right, didn't he?
I gritted my teeth and didn't say anything.
"And you've been a great mom. But you're only fourteen and you shouldn't have to be a mom. Give yourself ten years or so."
He went past me, brushing my shoulder as I stood there stiffly. He meant a real mom, with my own kids. I definitely considered the flock my own kids, but Fang meant kids I made myself. Like the Voice had said earlier.
Right then, I just hated my life, in a whole new, refreshing way.
"By the way," Fang called from down the hallway. "I've started a blog. I'm using the computers at school. Against all the rules, of course. Fang's Blog." He chuckled, as only Fang can chuckle. "Check it out sometime... Mom."
58
It was cold out tonight, but the new Max didn't even feel it. She edged back on her branch, pressing her spine against the rough bark of the tree trunk. The binoculars were heavy on their cord around her neck. Drawing her knees up, she hugged herself, feeling a warm tear escape her eye and roll down her cheek. She was watching the other Max all the time, watching and learning. But it was hard. It was painful.
"Oh, Max," she whispered, seeing the other Max far away, through the window of Anne's house. "I know just how you feel. You and I are always alone, no matter how many other people are around."
At school the next morning, we were greeted by the sight of several large tour buses taking up practically the whole parking lot. I saw my new friend J.J., and she waved and came over to me as the rest of the flock melted into the crowd.
"This is a special treat," J.J. said cheerfully. "A field trip."
"Field trip?" I pictured us all out in the fields, tracking something.
"Yep, field trip. The whole school is off to the White House, home of our beloved leader. Which means no classes, no lectures, and probably no homework."
I smiled at J.J. I liked her style. She wasn't all stuck-up and stiff. Didn't take things too seriously. Like, well, I did, for instance.
"All righty, then," I said. "Field trip it is."
"Our class is over here," a girl's voice said.
Iggy frowned. He was concentrating on sounds, listening for the scrape of Fang's boot against the pavement. One second he'd been there, and the next, Iggy had been surrounded by a sea of voices he couldn't sort through.
A hand gently touched his arm. "Our class is over here," the voice said again, and he recognized it. This girl sat eight feet away from him, due northeast, in their classroom.
Iggy was embarrassed, standing there like a blind idiot, not knowing where to go.
"Our teacher changed direction on us with no warning," the girl explained. He remembered her name was Tess.
"Oh," Iggy muttered. He moved where she was subtly tugging him. "Thanks."
"No prob," Tess said easily. "You know, I was so relieved when they put you in our class. Now I won't stick out so much."
Because you're a blind mutant freak? Iggy thought, confused.
"You know, tall for my age, like you. People always say, Oh, be glad about it-you can be a basketball player, or a model or something. But when you're fourteen, a girl, and five ten, the whole thing pretty much sucks," she finished. "But now I'm not alone. We match."
Iggy laughed, and then he heard Fang's step, felt Fang barely brush against his jacket, telling him where he was.
"Tess?" the teacher called.
"Got to go-room leader and all," said Tess. "I'll find you later, when we're walking around, okay?"
"Okay," said Iggy, feeling dazed. He heard Tess's light step hurry away. What had just happened? He felt like he'd been hit by a truck.
"You're slayin' 'em, big guy," said Fang.
"Of course, there's far too much to see and do in Washington DC for us to cover everything today," said one of the teachers, standing at the front of the bus. She raised her voice to be heard over the engine. "This morning we'll tour the Capitol and see where the House of Representatives and the Senate meet. Then we'll spend half an hour at the Vietnam Memorial, the Wall. After lunch, we'll go to the White House."
Angel's seat buddy, Caralyn, oohed and looked excited.
"I can't wait to see the White House," Angel said, and Caralyn nodded.
"I wish we were going to the Museum of Natural History," Caralyn said. "Have you been there?"
"Uh-uh."
"It's really cool. It has dinosaur skeletons, and a huge stuffed whale hanging from the ceiling, and meteors and diamonds."
"Sounds cool," said Angel. Maybe she would ask Anne to bring them there. Maybe she should just get her teacher to think of detouring there today. No, maybe not. If Max found out, she would be mad. Angel patted Celeste, tucked into the waistband of her plaid school skirt, and decided to just go with the program. For now.
60
If you're ever feeling a lack of middle-aged white men, just pop into the Capitol. Not so much the House of Representatives, which has a bit more color and texture, but the Senate-jeez. Yes, let's have more testosterone running the country.
In the Capitol building we watched a short movie about our Founding Fathers and how they tried to create a perfect system of government. They sounded so freaking sincere, the whole "perfect union" and "all men are created equal" thing. Except of course for the men they owned as household property. Not to put a fly in the ointment.
But despite all that, hearing their words, seeing the Constitution, getting the whole story of what they were trying to do-well, you gotta give 'em credit. They really were trying to set up something good and fair. Kind of in a way that no other country, before or since, had tried to do.
Long and short of it: Democracy gets a big thumbs-up from me.
The Vietnam Wall was awful. A huge, smooth black granite monolith covered with names of people who died in a war. Very depressing. I saw Nudge make the mistake of touching the Wall. She almost doubled over-her ability to sense people and emotions through leftover vibrations must have been mind-blowing here. A couple of her new friends put their arms around her, and I saw one pull out a tissue. I would talk to her about it later.
Then the White House.
Well. It is one big, fancy hacienda, let me tell you. Not a castle. Not as froufrou as the Taj Mahal or Graceland. But still mucho impressive.
You know, being in the White House-surrounded by invisible state-of-the-art security systems, as well as extremely visible guards with guns-I felt the safest I had in ages. If anyone wanted to get to us, they'd have to go through White House security first. Which I was comfortable with.
We saw the "Parrot" collection of rooms (Red, Blue, Green), as well as the gi-normous State Dining Hall. The library was weensy, as libraries go. There was a whole room just for presidential china, which I got a kick out of. What next? The presidential pantry?
After a while, even with the different colors, the rooms started melding together: undersized antique furniture, fancy curtains, famous paintings of famous people I sometimes recognized. When I thought about all the history that had actually happened where I stood, I almost got a little chill. Or it could have been the inadequate heating.