The Break

Disclaimer: No part of Animorphs is mine. All credits go to K.A Applegate

Chapter One

My name is Rachel.

Of course, you would have already heard of our situation from my friends. Heard of the situation with the Yeerks, trying to take over Earth? It does sound a little corny. Well, if you've heard of the Yeerks, you would have heard of the Animorphs.

The person leading our group is Jake. Jake's my cousin and a 'born-leader' material. Jake and I never really interacted beforehand. He was a mediocre basketball player and a decent student but that was about it. Now, he's a leader. A natural I have to admit. And he's the leader of a little group trying to resist a huge group of aliens. But no pressure on his part.

And there was Marco, the joker of the group. Marco was the type to joke when everything got too serious and was the type to get uncomfortable with silences. He's also rather arrogant but it's always an act. Marco gets me annoyed sometimes. Other times, he's a great friend and good team member. That's about all I can give him.

Then there's Cassie, my best friend. Cassie's the 'Peacemaker' of the group, animal-loving and a really empathic kind of girl. But the only setback is that she's a complete ditz when it comes to fashion. She may know how to heal an injured crocodile but she can't throw together an outfit to save her life. Well, that's my life duty: to get Cassie some decent clothes and fashion sense.

Me? I look like the average blond, ditzy, mall-rat but, really, I'm far from it. As Marco puts it, I'm Xena, the Warrior Princess. I'm usually the first one to say, 'Let's do it!' in the face of a difficult mission. According to Marco, I'm stubborn, independent and tough-headed. According to Jake, I'm a warrior. But enough about me.

And then, there is Ax. Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill is his full name. He's an Andalite, a centaur/deer/scorpion type of thing. He has two antennas with eyes at the tip and a deadly scorpion tail with blueish fur.

But I won't go into much detail describing Ax's physical features since they're bizarre enough. Ax…well, Ax is just Ax. He's knowledgeable with technology and other alien-related things and is often the information book of aliens and terms.

He's also really scary when he's in his human morph. Heck, any morph with a mouth and near food is dangerous for Ax. See, Andalites don't have mouths so Ax goes berserk when he's in human morph. Especially around cinnamon buns. And he has a tendency to act like a five-year-old in human morph. But Ax is cool enough.

And the final member of the team is Tobias. Tobias. You could say I liked Tobias. A lot. The problem? Well, most of the time, he's a red-tailed hawk. See, the thing with morphing is that you can't stay in morph for more than two hours. Tobias broke that rule so he's trapped as a hawk.

But then, the Ellimist gave him back his morphing power. And gave him his human DNA back. So Tobias can become human…he just needs to morph out of it before two hours. Or else he would lose all his morphing power. Sometimes, I wonder if he had made the right choice. If he had stayed as a human, he'd lose his place in the fight but we could-

"Rachel? You listening?"

I jumped in shock as I turned and met the brown eyes of a friend. Melissa. Melissa Chapman, daughter of the principal. Except that Mr. Chapman was a Controller. A Yeerk lived inside his head. And Melissa had been rather redundant recently.

"Uh…hi Melissa," I said cautiously.

I met her gaze, those eyes filled with the same sea blue I knew. But then, a dark, foreboding voice in my head said, 'She may be a Controller now.' See, that was the problem with Yeerks. You never knew whether the girl standing in front of you may be just your normal everyday best friend or a Controller, an evil devious slug taking over her actions and speech.

"Hi," she said in excitement and grabbed my arm, "Did you see the noticeboard at all?"

"No?" I tried feebly as she steered me towards the noticeboard, where a bunch of girls were chattering excitedly.

"Daddy put it up this morning!" Melissa exclaimed brightly, "I've been trying to convince him for months and he finally did! But I organized it!"

That didn't exactly sound good. Chapman was a Yeerk in a high-ranking position. But when I saw the notice, it seemed like no Yeerk on earth would have anything to gain from this.

The Spring Dance

Organized and run by Melissa Chapman

Thursday Night

6:30pm to 8:30pm

Dancing and Food and Good Fun!

Will you have a date?

I blinked.

It definitely looked and sounded like something a normal fifteen-year-old would plan to embarrass her friends with. But how could I be sure? Girls were already giggling and comparing notes about who to take.

I felt an odd jolt somewhere in my stomach as the girls began to list popular boys to consider taking.

"Well?" Melissa squealed, eyes shining, "Isn't it great? Daddy and I actually spent an entire week planning it. He was really happy! Everyone is expected to come though."

I plastered a fake smile on my face and laughed, despite myself. The very though of a Yeerk planning a Spring Dance with his host's daughter? It was almost funny. But it was the first time Melissa had been shaken from her depression ever since Chapman and his wife had become Controllers.

I wanted to be happy for her. I truly did. But the smile came out weary.

It had just been a few weeks ago that we had travelled to save the Iskoorts and Jake had destroyed the Howlers. And it had merely been a few months since Tobias's 'so-called' cousin had been Visser Three in morph.

"You going to attend?" Melissa was asking, her eyes shining, looking expectantly at me, "Rachel? Are you going to attend?"

I was so tired. There was nothing more I wanted to do than to lie on my bed and sleep for a week or two. Or go flying with Tobias. That was relaxing.

But I couldn't let Melissa down.

"Sure," I said, smiling wanly, "I wouldn't miss it."

00

"You what!" Jake yelled.

I shrugged helplessly, sitting upon the bale of hay in Cassie's barn. I truly felt like a zombie. The group was gathered in there, Ax in his normal form and Tobias perched in the rafters. Cassie was absentmindedly wrapping bandages around a cat's leg.

Marco was sprawled out amongst the hay and Jake was pacing up and down, looking distinctly harassed.

"Melissa told me I could invite other people I knew to the Dance so I said I had someone in mind," I said defensively, "And she asked me about it and I simply said his name was Ax."

"That's not the point!" Jake said angrily, "What if Melissa was a Controller? What if she told Chapman? He's bound to know who 'Ax' is!"

"No he's not!" I snapped back, feeling my temper rise, "How could he? He's not Visser Three!"

"We need to remain secretive!" Jake practically bellowed at me, "And you're going around telling your friend, whose Father is a powerful Controller that you're inviting someone named Ax!"

"Well fine!" I yelled backed, feeling my anger rise to a boiling point, "Tell Ax that he doesn't need to go if he doesn't want to! I didn't see the point in making such a big deal out of this!"

Getting up, I stormed out of the barn, heading toward the forest. I knew that was a foolish thing to do but it was nearly unbearable to stay in the same room with Jake when he was like that.

Rachel? A familiar voice echoed in my head from the trees.

I sighed heavily and replied, "Hi Tobias."

Look-I know you're mad at Jake and stuff but-

"Oh please, not you too Tobias," I said wearily, seeing the red-tailed hawk flutter from the trees and land on the log beside me, "Look, I couldn't think of another name for Ax at the time. Besides, we'd still call him Ax."

I know. But just try and cool down a little Rachel. You'll do no good for the team if you and Jake are at each other's throats.

"Fine," I said, feeling weary and fed up, "I'll go back."

When I went back, Jake was the first to speak. "Sorry Rachel," he said, looking at the ground, "It wasn't right of me to snap at you."

I suspected Cassie was the one who had convinced him to apologize but it felt relieving anyway. "It's okay," I replied shortly, collapsing onto a pile of hay.

"Well, we all have to go to the Dance," Marco shrugged, getting up, "Chapman made it clear to us. Any of you got any idea what to do there?"

"Have a good time?" I offered, the remembering something haunting from the poster, "Uh…we also need partners for dancing. I forgot to mention. I think we're doing some partner dancing and stuff."

The electricity in the air crackled. Jake went still. Marco looked stunned. Cassie blushed. I looked down at the ground. And I didn't see anything but the ground then. There was someone I wanted to ask. But how?

"Well…I'll see you all tomorrow," Marco said in an uncharacteristically constricted voice, "Later."

Jake nodded and left with Marco. Ax bade us farewell before turning and galloping back into the woods, tail arched high. I stayed where I was. Cassie did also since she still had the cat to work on and the animals to feed. And Tobias stayed, perched on the rafters.

I felt embarrassed beyond belief. I wanted to speak up but it was just too…personal. Even too personal for Cassie, who could read almost everyone like a book, to know of. I stared at the ground.

Awkwardness…

Luckily, Cassie broke the silence for me, reading my expression as usual, "The dance sounds like fun. With all your friends there."

"Yeah…" I agreed slowly, "Melissa will be happy to see you Cassie."

She laughed half-heartedly, tying a knot on the end of the bandage, and got up. The cat jumped off her lap and settled in the hay, preparing for a warm nap.

"Melissa barely knew me," Cassie said quietly, "Although I feel sorry for all she's been through."

Do you think she's a Controller? Tobias asked unexpectedly.

"I don't know anymore," I admitted, "I look at her and I think there's no way she could have become one of them but then I remember the odds of that happening."

"They did make a deal," Cassie pointed out.

I laughed bitterly. "When have the Yeerks ever kept a promise?"

"Aftran has," Cassie reminded me.

"Apart from the good Yeerks," I said quickly, "I meant Yeerks in Visser Three league."

None, Tobias said, voicing all of our disappointment.

"Who do you plan on taking?" Cassie asked, changing the subject to the last subject I wanted to discuss, "Apparently, Melissa wanted the girls to choose."

"She did say the boys could as well."

"Well…she wanted the girls to choose," Cassie said, continuing the pointless discussion.

"I don't know," I mumbled, horribly aware of Tobias's laser hawk vision fixed upon my back. I sighed heavily, winced, steeling myself and then asked, "Tobias? Can…can you…can you come with me to the Dance?"

Even as I said it, I knew it was hopeless. He sounded shocked enough. Cassie didn't make a sound. There was another silence.

I…I don't know… he replied. I felt disappointment take control of me. I'd really want to but…the limit and everything…I…

This was definitely harder than I had predicted.

"Never mind then," I cut through his hesitant decision, "It's okay. I understand."

I'm really sorry Rachel.

"No problem," I said, determinedly keeping my tone light and without a care that didn't exactly fool Cassie, "I'll see you tomorrow Cassie. Bye you guys."

Without waiting for an answer, I stood up and walked out, keeping the pace fast and brisk. My head was reeling and pounding and I felt disappointment bite at my conscience. I didn't show any emotion until I arrived back home. Jordan and Sarah were in the living room, a complication I didn't expect.

"Hey Rachel!" Jordan said brightly, waving from the couch, "Want to watch TV with us? We're just putting on Looney Tunes!"

"Yeah! Yeah!" Sara chimed in brightly, running to me and hugging my leg, "Come on!"

"Uhh…I'll be right down," I said, looking longingly at the stairs, "I-I need to take a shower first and finish my English homework."

"Aww…" Sara pouted, "Puh-lease?"

"You start without me," I called as I gently eased Sara's fingers off my pants and climbed the stairs to my room.

Well, I lied. I didn't take a shower. I didn't finish my English homework. I drew the blinds and curtains so no one could peek in, locked the door and buried my face in the pillow, feeling a heavy weight drop onto my heart.

Author's Note

Hello! Yes, I know, Animorphs are ancient, ancient books but what the heck, I like them. It's been on and off for quite some time and I've finally started this! Go me! And this is focused somewhere between #30 and #35. I like the earlier books better. The later ones (From summaries) seemed to disorder and drift away from the actual stuff.

I thought that, in light of all the battles, the romance in Animorphs needed to be focused on a little more. No, I'm not a romance geek. I just want to focus on the development of everyone's relationships. Like the strange Tobias/Rachel thing. And I like an occasional Tobias/Rachel/Marco triangle. I know who'll win. I just like writing it.

Please read the note in my bio about the books.

Cheers and review please!
Arlanquer