Notes: Written for the Animorphs LJ comm's first fanfic competition. Theme: The Six Animorphs.
I. Flirting with the Unknown (Marco)
During #1: The Invasion.
My name is Marco. I'm the cutest dude in school. Absolutely. Which totally explained why I was trying to chat up this girl seated next to me called Jenna and getting nothing in return.
"I really think we'd look kinda good hanging out at a hotdog stall, you know, chilling out, we could go sit on the Thunderbird coaster and..."
"Nice try, Marco-boy, but it ain't working," she said, with a tight smile, as the bell rang. She got out of her seat, slung her duffel bag over her shoulder and left. My eye caught a grinning Jake at the other end of the classroom, and I flipped a finger at him. He shrugged his shoulder and made a little hand action that is like our kinda secret code. Yeah, sorry girls, dudes do that too. Especially dudes who have known each other since they were squalling in their cots over who was the cutest baby. No prizes for guessing who won.
...maybe we were five, but that doesn't make much of a difference.
Anyway about Jenna, it's no biggie. My skills weren't just up to it today man. I'd probably go harness some other skills instead, skills that would definitely assure me of victory. Like kicking Jake's butt at the video arcade today.
"Hey, Marco-boy, why is it that your awesome technological skills never translate into relationship ones?" Jake mocked, as we were walking to the mall after school.
"I'm too young." I sniffed. "Puh-leese, I wasn't serious. If I was, they'd be all over me by now."
"Yeah, completely," said Jake, dryly. "The last time you tried to chat Ashley up, you ended up with your mugshot pasted on the gym ropes."
"Some girls just don't appreciate being called a babe. Seriously, who doesn't?"
"A babe with really beautiful natural blonde hair."
"How was I to know it was a wig? Besides, if she wore it, it means she has accepted it to be her natural one. It's not my fault that she thought her own black curls were ugly. I never knew she had black hair."
"Face it, you thought the blonde was ugly."
"Yeah, I did."
Jake snorted. I couldn't exactly tell if it was in derision or in mirth.
"You're not any better yourself, big Jake." I accused. "You don't have relationship OR technological skills. That's just way more pathetic."
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, come off that act." I snickered. "I know you have the hots for Cassie."
Jake jumped a little, like I had caught him doing something wrong. Then he flushed red. Boy, is he subtle. "Stop making wild guesses."
Did he really think he could get away with it? Jake's one of the most solid guys I've ever known, he's the kind of guy that you know you can depend on (a fact I exploit to the fullest) and he knows exactly what he wants. Most of the time, at least. But when it came to matters of the heart, he was a dunce through and through.
"Pathetic." I repeated. "And this is exactly why I'm gonna kick your butt later."
He chuckled. "Just make sure you've got enough quarters."
A few hours later, I really wished I hadn't decided to kick Jake's butt. In fact, maybe I shouldn't have hit on Jenna in the first place. I later found out that she had an extreme fear of heights. I should have known that fact earlier. Then I wouldn't have had gotten that sick urge to prove myself at the video arcade, or even thinking for a few seconds that it wouldn't do any harm to cut through the abandoned construction site.
This is one of those rare days when I have to admit my ego gets me into serious trouble.