My name is Jake of Colonial Middle School.
That's as close as you get to know me. I can't tell you my last name, my classes, my grades, my locker number, anything that could help Pom-pom or any of the other members in finding me.
I know, why would I be worrying about some person finding out who I am? Easy. They want me as one of them. A preppie.
I'll start from the beginning. You see, we went to this football game...
"GO PAT-TREE- ATS!" The cheerleaders screamed, jumping and bobbing in their miniskirt uniforms. It was the last standard game of the season, the Colonial Patroits vs. the D.C. Eagles. Both teams had a flawless record. Undefeated, untied, and shut out every idiot stupid enough to face them. We had a long rivalry with them. Now that would change.
"Hard snap down the left field line... Fangor breaks the defense... Touchdown Eagles!"
"HEY YOU IDIOTS! HOW ABOUT TRYING TO TAKE 'EM DOWN?!?!?!?!?!" I screamed. I was feeling pretty crappy at the time. We were losing hard to the Eagles, 35 to 0. And it was only 2nd quarter.
"Jake... Earth to Jake... c'mon. It's just a game." Tobias said to me. He's this kid with dirty blonde hair, a dreamy look in eyes most of the time, except when he's taking a test or he's in deep trouble from bullies. I had to save him from the john just a few hours ago.
"Will you shut up?"
"C'mon. Snickers bar says Fangor's gonna cream our quarterback." Marco said. He was on my left, Tobias on my right.
"3 Musketeers and a Pepsi say they cream him."
WHAM!
"OOOOWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed.
"Ouch... so much for Fangor's reign of terror. That's it for the second quarter. we'll be right back after the halftime show."
"I'll get the drinks." Marco said.
"I'll go with you. I need to head for the men's room before 3rd quarter or I'll burst."
"Then I'll go. May as well." We stepped out into the backstands, where everything besides the game was set up.
"Oof!" Marco said, trying to hold my bar and Pepsi, along with his Orange soda. "Jake, hold onto my wallet, will y-"
It fell out of his hands, flew a bit down the flight of stairs, and chinkled to a stop.
"Go get it, Jake."
"No way. That's the visitor's locker room. I jinxed Fangor with that bet. If I go down, I'll end up tarred and feathered."
"What's up guys?" Tobias said, fresh out of the bathroom.
"Jake dropped my wallet down there."
"Marco, you dropped it."
"Look, we all go down there together. They'll know it was just some kid's wallet. No big deal."
"Okay."
Chapter 2
"Who sent you?" This tall guy asked. I think he was the guard, because he had these huge muscles.
"My wallet did. Now can I get it?" I snapped.
"You mean this dinky thing, patriot?" he said, dangling the wallet from its chain.
"Yeah. Give it back."
"No way, no ho-"
"Cal! Give the guy his wallet back. And tell him I want to see the lot of 'em. Now."
"Fangor calls a bunch of patriot scum to his breakbed." He said, dropping the wallet back on the floor. I quickly picked it up and ran into the room, Tobias and Marco not far behind.
I could see what happened. He already had this huge splint on his right leg, his jersey and pads were off, and his left ankle was packed in ice.
" I heard your little bet, Jake."
"You're not gonna nail me for that, are you?" I quivered.
"Never has, never will. I've heard much worse than that. But I need your help." No way, I thought, An Eagle and a Patriot, work together? I'll be school lynched!
"What for?" I said. He reached down to the floor, groped a bit in his bag, and pulled out a blue sphere.
"Each of you. put a finger on it." Tobias streched out and touched it. I followed. Marco held his breath for a few minutes, like he was unsure, then touched it too.
I can't explain the feeling. It made me want to giggle. So I did. "Heheehehehehe."
"Jake? Your voice." Tobias said. I noticed the change in not only his voice, but mine as well.
"Guys? Something screwy is going on." Marco said. it started out like a girl's, but then cracked into this own voice.
"At least I know it worked." Fangor said. "Now listen up. That jolt I gave you was a bit of Eagle technology. You now have the power to morph a specific chromozone from sperm to egg and back again. "
"What?" I said, dumbfounded.
"Oh I guess I better explain it in your terms." he said. "You guys can morph from boy to girl. One hook. In morph, don't kiss or go any further. You'll be trapped. Got it?"
"Got it."
CLUMP. CLUMP. CLUMP. CLUMP.
"Pom-pom! She arrives!"
"Who's Pom-pom?"
"The leader of their operation. Now go!" I hid down under the table. Marco buched up with me, but Tobias stayed for a few seconds. I guess Fangor whispered something to him, because the next minute, he was cowering right beside us.
I never felt more scared in my life.
Chapter 3
"Hello, boys. Mind if I drop in?" Pom-pom entered, her band of cronies right behind. She was the head cheerleader. You could tell from the supertight outfit and the fancy pom-pom that she wore in her hair. Not one of those inch wide fringe types. I mean the fancy one.
Any idiot could have told that she was a patriot. She wore the red and blue patriot colors. The patirot logo was printed on her outfit in bold. But they just drooled at her and that captivating figure. She had those guys wrapped around her little finger.
"Well, I know there's good drafts this year for the Eagles." She said as she leaned over the guard. You know, the one we met up with? Cal? She just leaned over and kissed him square. Cal dropped like a rock.
"Anybody mind if I go and visit our friend in the first aid?"
"Not at all. Not at all."
She strolled over and stood right next to him, savoring his helplessness. "I always liked a guy in uniform, but I like them better pathetic."
"Forget it, Pom-pom. It doesn't work with me. Maybe you could trick the others, but not me." His arm came up and slapped her. She didn't move. She didn't cry. She just got mad.
"A pity. I promise you, Alan Fangor, That when I take control of C.M.S. I will personally hunt down your brother and make him my right hand man. Then I will go back to D.C. and take control there, too. You've fought a valient war, but you've lost." She drew a pocket knife out of her hair pom-pom, and flicked the blade open. "You've lost big-time."
"No... please... No!" he cried. I turned away from the horror. I'm not one of those gang kids, but I'd seen enough news stories to know what happened next.
Thwack!
"Glad I wore gloves today." She said. I had had enough. This was cold blooded murder and I wasn't going to let her get away with it.
"Why you-" I said some words I can't repeat. But to summarize it, I ticked her off good.
"Get that male!"
We exploded from the table under cover of our own shirts then quickly pulled them down again. They would need to be down.
We were going to do our first morph.
Chapter 4
We kept running through the woods as fast as we could, morphing all the way. I could barely even tell. I just noticed my legs and shoulders change as I looked back to see if they were gaining.
I tripped over a root. The wind got knocked out of me, but it felt even worse than it normally did. I had no clue why.
The small posse of girls caught up with us. "Hey, sisters. You seen a small pack of boys around? We want to give them what's coming to 'em."
"Down that way." Tobias said, pointing a finger. Or at least I think it was Tobias. They flew off in the other direction, chasing some phantom they thought was us.
I caught my breath again, then stood up and looked at Tobias again. His hair had grown out to half-back length, the pair of pants he wore with the belt had fallen to his hips (yes, hips) and was at a tilt. He looked almost like a smaller Pom-pom, except his hair was long and field mouse brown, and Pom-pom's was shoulder-length and blonde, like my cousin Rachel's. I was also able to see that little smirk that made Tobias... well, Tobias.
"Whoa," Marco said, reeling back, "If I didn't know that was you, I'd be shmoozing right now."
"Shut up, Marco. And in any case, we know you've still kept your own mind. I suppose that'll help us from being trapped."
"What do mean, "Keep my own mind?" I'm still myself."
"Nope." I said. Marco had changed, too. Except his pants, since he was still overweight from the Halloween candy, were at his ankles. He looked down.
"Good thing I remembered my boxers."
"My house, tommorow. We're gonna try and make sense out of this."
Chapter 5
"You think it's safe to keep doing this?" Marco said just as I opened the door.
"We've been hanging out since we were in Kindergarten. If we stop now, they'll know something's up."
I led him up to my room. Tobias had already gotten there, and was working on a list of things we already knew from what we had learned and what Alan told Tobias.
What we know about the invasion of C.M.S.:
1: Pom-pom is obviously the leader of this invasion.She knew Alan Fangor from back, meaning she was an Eagle at some time.
2: The morphing powers we received were meant only to change from male to female. The female morph is always a perfect body, in all areas. The only danger is of being kissed and beyond, which will cause us to be trapped in morph.
3: Most girls at C.M.S. are already under Pom-pom, and possibly a few boys. We cannot trust this secret to anyone at our school.
The last one I wanted to punch Tobias for writing. See, I have this girlfriend in 4-H named Cassie, and my cousin, Rachel, was in almost all my classes. I didn't want to think they might be on her side.
"How'd you get the first and third ones?" Marco asked, looking over Tobias's shoulder.
"I used to be an Eagle until about five years ago. Alan remembered me and told me what I needed to know. Speaking of which..."
4:Pom-pom's real name is Stella B. Miller. She is deeply embarrased about this name because of teasing in K-2 grades, and hates to be called by it to present date.
"So, Stella's got a weakness." Marco smirked.
"That's the only one we know of. Stella was an Eagle at some time, so maybe..."
"NO!" I shriked. "She can't be another Gendermorph. No way!"
"Gendermorph?" Marco butted.
"Only word I could think of. You gonna get on my nerves for it?"
"Just never heard it." Marco said, calming down. "Gendermorph?"
"Gendermorph." I tried out the word again. It sounded okay.
Chapter 6
We'd spent days trying to find just how Pom-pom and the others were planning to take over the school. We still didn't know our enemy. I thought for a minute it could be Yeerks.
See, Animorphs are a well-known series at our school. I even got teased a bit by the girls for looking so close to a character. Being called 'Prince Jake' was a pet peeve of mine, just like the one in the book. So It crossed my mind. A little weird, but possible.
Back to reality. We had been looking for how they were pulling this off until Tobias called us together at The Center. I guess you could call it a techno-mall. The only place where you actually spend money is on floppies, and in the programs store for things like CDroms and other things you can't put on a floppy. That's about one wing of the mall. To get to the other wings you need to have your floppy scanned for viruses, then you're free to go around to any store and pick up files. Sort of like the Internet, but less load time, and anyone with a computer can use it. Or they could just rent a computer for a little time. I'll put it this way, though- it's a lot cheaper.
We were in the food court. There's always a computer motif where there isn't a store, so the tables looked like huge CDroms with little stickers. The stickers were the small cases for the floppies so they weren't messed up. That was good, because I kept thinking my shake was going to spill.
"I think I found where they do the dirty work." Tobias said.
"What?" That took my eyes off the looming mess. Marco's, too.
"From what I've seen, They're working out of this group called D Girlz Klub. There's a D Boyz Klub, too. But they're basically the same." He shifted his eyes, down, like he was depressed. "And someone's on both lists."
"Stella?" Marco said.
"Stella in one, and Steve in the other."Tobias answered. I groaned. So Pom-pom was a Gendermorph. I was hoping we had some advantage.
"There's an initiation tonight. Where they update their Basic members to Electorate members. Everyone's invited. Do we go and find out what happens?"
"I don't know, guys." Marco said. "I mean, suppose this is something that doesn't help us find out more. It's just another risk."
"We need to find out anyway. Maybe it is just another risk, maybe it isn't. But we need to try."
"Good. Meet there at then." he typed something up on the processor bulit into the little napkin dispenser. He put it on my floppy, then handed it back.
D Girlz Klub, 7:00. In morph by Marco's, 6:50. Recoup at Center, then to Jake's for input.
I couldn't beleive it. We were going on our first mission, and it was the first time ever I felt sick. Ever.
Chapter 7
"Are we ready this time?" I said, meeting behind Marco's house.
"Only if you have the gear." Tobias said, "We don't want anymore attention than we need."
"Gimme a break. Swiping my sister's old stuff was easy." See, I have this sister named Tammy. She had just...well, matured... so she still had her old trainers. We quickly put on the new gear (before morphing, of course) and went into morph.
"Now remember, if anyone asks, I'm Toby, you're Marcy, and Jake's Jacque." Tobias said. "We can't have any loopholes." We were right in front of the auditorium, where the club was being held. A huge banner said 'D Girlz Klub Inititation. All boyz go to cafeteria.' I held my breath for a few cseconds, them entered.
The lights had been drawn low, to a purple shade. A light fog wavered through the room. Some banners were put up, with phrases like 'Preps Unite' or 'Girlz Rule, Boyz Drool' and 'Klubbers R D Kulest'. I mean, they need to learn how to spell here.
"Wow! How'd you get yourself looking that good?" One girl asked me.
"Lucky, I guess." I replied.
"Guess? C'mon! That girl probably has loads of boyfriends!" Another said.
"Not really."
Oh, I bet I know what happened heah." A third came over, with a heavy New York accent. "The goil just moved here, poor dahling. Good thing she came heah wheah she could get some reahl mehn."
"So, who we been talking to? I mean, You do have a name, right?" The first one asked me.
"Jacquilin. Jacquiln Hyde." I stammered.
"Oh I rehd that book once. Isn't it that one where the guy drinks this potion?"
The rest of the conversation went like that until this girl on the stage silenced them. The meeting was about to begin.
"That's Catheryn. She's the vice." The second one told me.
"Ladies! Ladies! Okay, first order of buisness: Promoted to Electorates: Mauricia, Sally, Yvonne, Susan. New members: Jacque, Marcy. Okay, Terrence, Sara, Paprika, amscray. You didn't make the cut yet." I held my throat for a few minutes. I had been called as a new member. "And now, without further delay, our prez... Pom-pom!"
A huge cry of voices beckoned to her. She wore this dress that started as a skirt, but hit the floor in the back. It was a silver color, she looked completely normal in it. Like she wore it every day.
"Fellow female preppies! A new age has dawned upon us in the invasion. You will be pleased to know, as of last week, Alan Fangor and the rest of the Eagle squadron has been neutralized for another year. In fact, due to... exenuating circumstances, their forfeit and early return was because of our attack which rid this world of Alan.
"For the time being, we now return our senses to The Invasion. Only a handful of girls have not joined our ranks yet, and a quarter of the boys have and is quickly rising.
With another ripe year to... Who is she?"
"Pom-pom... That's Jacque. Remember? The one who you approved?" Cathryn said.
"The one I approved had blonde hair, not brown. Grab her!" I tried running, but there were too many of them! I was thrown onto the stage, my hands tied in someone's bandana.
"Tell me, Eagle, how did you escape my forces? You all should've gone back to D.C. from whence you came. But it won't matter for long. Bring in the initiator." She snapped to one of her guards. No one else made a move. "Watch what shall be done to this Eagle scum. This is what will happen to all who dare face the Preppie Empire and try to destroy it. "
One of our own football players- Raymond, I think his name is - came up the staircase to the stage. He puckered his lips up tight.
I was dead in a few minutes if I didn't do something. So I brought my legs legs up and kicked as hard as I could.
"Ooof!" he screamed. I jumped of the stage, hands still bound. I ran as fast as I could home until I could get the bandana off.
Chapter 8
Our first run against Pom-pom and her preppies was a bust. I had nearly gotten myself trapped in morph and we didn't find out a thing. It felt good getting out of morph and just plopping into bed. Until Tammy found me messing with her old underwear and rearranged my face.
Marco was so lucky. He got out before the meeting started since he needed to use the bathroom. He came running after he saw me doing likewise.
Tobias? Well...
"Where is he, man?" Marco asked at The Center. "Neither of us saw him since last night."
"Hey, he lives quite a few miles down without an e-mail account. He'll show."
"Hi guys." Tobias in morph came over to us. This time, his hair was in a braid.
"Tob... Toby, we can't meet like this." In a lower voice, I whispered "Not in morph, anyway."
"Get used to it." He/she sneered.
"You mean..."
"I ran out of there into the cafeteria after everything got wild. Then one of the boys grabbed me, knocked me out, and... "
"Rape?"
"Bingo." I just stared for a few minutes at this... this female who was Tobias. I stared at him, knowing he was staring right back at me.
"Toby? How'd you get away with it?"
He smirked for once. "Dad's as blind as a mole. He wouldn't know whether I was a boy or not. "
"Look... when the eagles come back... They'll have a way to turn you back. I promise."
"Yeah. we'll hold on till they come back. They have to come back." Marco said.
