Who: Maximum Ride and Cora Mallory What: Meeting on the Beach When: Middle of July Where: Beach in Laguna Beach Rating: Family Friendly Status: Complete
Here it was the middle of July and Max had only been to the beach once when that girl, Mavis, had decided to have a beach party and invite all of Valarnet. And considering they lived in Laguna Beach, that was kind of lame. So when Fang and Nudge asked her if she wanted to go with them to the beach, she decided to go along with them. The beach wasn’t that far from their house, so they decided to walk and set up their stuff in an area that wasn’t as crowded as other parts of the beach. After spending some time just lying in the sun and swimming in the ocean, they decided to throw a frisbee around. Everything was going fine until Fang threw it a little too hard and the disc sailed over Max’s head, making her wish that she had her wings like in her dreams.
“You suck, you know that?” Max scowled slightly as Nudge and Fang laughed and she went off in search of the frisbee, which she finally spotted next to someone else’s stuff, “Sorry about that.” She said to the girl who was sitting there, “My brother was being an ass.”
It was a slow day for the massage business, so Cora’s mom had closed the wellness room early, in favor of a drive to the beach. She’d even let Cora drive, now that Cora had her learner’s permit and had been out practicing with her dad. That had been a little nerve-wracking for both of them, but it was behind them now, and the sun, sand, and surf had a relaxing effect.
Cora had jumped into the water first thing, and after she’d sufficiently cooled off, she’d slathered down with sunblock and stretched out on her beach blanket to warm up again for round two. She may have even drifted off a bit, daydreaming about all the plans she had for the rest of the summer; but she opened her eyes again when she heard something hit the sand nearby.
“Oh! Hey, no problem,” she said to the girl who was coming to fetch it. “No harm, no foul, right?”
"At least it didn't hit you. I'd have to hit him if it did," Max said as she picked up the frisbee, "He thinks he's really cool, but he's just annoying." If Fang was a little big closer, she would have said it a little louder so that he could hear, but since her brother and sister weren't that close, she would have had to yell in order to hear and then this girl would think she was strange.
“People are like that,” Cora said with a shrug. She sat up, and pushed the floppy hat back from her forehead so she could make eye contact with the other girl. “Are you guys having a good time, anyway?”
Max nodded, “Yeah. Of course it’d be better if my brother didn’t fling things at other people,” She smirked and Fang yelled to her at her for the frisbee at the same time. Instead of saying bye to the other girl though, Max just turned away for a moment and flung the frisbee back at Fang, having had enough of playing frisbee for now. “He tends to ruin most fun things. Do you have any siblings?” The other girl looked to be about the same age as Max and living with two teenage boys meant that sometimes she just wanted to talk to another girl her age. She hoped the other girl didn’t mind her hanging around.
“It’s just me,” Cora said, “We have a dog and cat, but it’s not the same, I know.” She grinned, and patted the blanket beside her. “I’m Cora.”
“We’ve got a dog too. Well, she’s my other brother’s seeing eye dog really, but she’s still a member of the family,” Max said as she sat down next to Cora, glad that she didn’t think that Max was weird or anything for just starting to talk to her, “I’m Max.” She glanced back towards where Fang and Nudge were now throwing the frisbee between themselves, “And that’s my brother and sister, Fang and Nudge. And before you ask, yes they’re nicknames.” She didn’t add that they were all adopted, however, because it was probably obvious by Fang’s black hair compared to her blond hair as well as the fact that Nudge was African American.
“That’s cool,” Cora said, glancing over at the siblings, and then back to Max with a smile. She’d always wondered what it would be like to belong to a big family, but she supposed it would take some getting used to nowadays. She’d been the only child for a long time. “How many of you, all together?”
"Six of us, plus our parents." Max explained, omitting the part where her parents were actors. If Cora recognized her from candids of the family in magazines that would be one thing, but Max preferred not to tell people who her parents were right away, because she'd had her fair share of people wanting to be her friend simply because her parents were famous.
Cora liked to think she didn’t judge people by whether they were famous or not--after all, her mom worked with some pretty famous people, and they were mostly normal too--but who knows. She was still figuring herself out. “What’s it like? Having a big family.”
“It can be good and frustrating. Fang and Iggy are the same age as me, but sometimes I wish I had a sister or something my age cause Nudge and Angel are younger than me so we don’t really have the same things in common, you know? Our parents are great though.” It was still a little strange to think that while their father was in her dreams, he wasn’t actually her father there, “What’s it like being an only child?”
Cora nodded. All her old friends were now half her age, and she wasn’t sure if they had anything in common anymore. All except for Nate, but he was an odd duck; old and young, boyish and wizened, all at the same time. “It’s okay,” she said, “When mom isn’t working, I get a lot of one-on-one time. But when she’s busy, it can be lonely. Especially when my dad wasn’t around for a long time.”
"That must suck. Where was your dad?" One could never accuse Max of being subtle. Sometimes she could be very tactful, but other times her curiosity got in the way and every so often, that could get her into trouble; with both people and situations.
“My real dad was in Chicago, and my mom and my step dad got divorced when I was little,” Cora said, “It’s complicated, but now my mom and my real dad are back together, and they’re getting married in December.” She smiled. “It’s all good now.”
"That's good that they're together now. I assume you're gonna be in the wedding?" Max asked, running a hand through her long blond hair, which the wind was blowing around, "If my parents ever decide to renew their vows, I know that all of us would be part of the ceremony."
“I’ll be junior bridesmaid and ring-bearer, rolled into one,” she said, grinning, “And I probably won’t be the only child for long. They’re planning to try for another baby right away.” She was pretty excited about that, and it showed.
The fact that Cora appeared to be excited about that answered the unasked question she was going to ask next, so she instead changed her question, "Would you want a brother or sister?" Max had grown up with Fang and Iggy, so when her parents adopted Nudge, she had been happy to finally have a sister.
“I don’t know! Either, I guess.” She’d had plenty of time to think about it, and she could never make up her mind. “I can’t decide.”
"Maybe she'll have twins and you'll get one of each," Max smirked, "I wound up with two and three, but that's what happens when your parents collect kids, I guess."
“Maybe!” Cora grinned. Wouldn’t that be crazy?! She glanced over at Max’ brother, then back at the other girl. “Want to team up, girls against boy?”
A slow grin spread across Max’s lips as she glanced back towards her brother and sister then back at Cora, “Lets do it.” Max was sure that it was possible that bringing Cora over might fluster Fang a bit so they could get an advantage over him.