Chapter Four ~ First Day Of School

The-school-that-the-Animorphs-attend, somewhere in America (we know that much about where they live!!)
9AM

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ax managed not to jump as the bell sounded shrilly upon his entrance to the school. He was flanked by Jake and Marco, who were looking extremely nervous. At the door to the classroom, Jake gave Marco a friendly shove and winked. "Here's your big chance, oh wise one. Keep cool and nothing will happen."

"This is Darren Smyth," Marco explained to the teacher. Ax cooly removed a packet of cigarettes from his pocket, lit one and took a drag. He'd chosen to use the same human morph for his role as Darren, with his fair skin setting off his dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. "Darren", naturally was a genetic copy of "Philip", but then again, how many people had actually had a good look at him? Apart from Alison, of course.

The form mistress was not impressed. "Young man, smoking is prohibited on campus," she intoned, wagging a finger in Ax's face. He reacted by dropping the fag on the ground and stomping it out, but pocketed the opened packet. The teacher looked apoplectic.

"Mr Smyth, I am a teacher here and when I give commands I expect them to be obeyed!" she bellowed, leaning across the desk. Ax glanced sideways at Marco, muttered, "Screw you" and simply walked out. As the door swung shut behind him, he was aware of the stunned silence from his classmates-to-be and the irate lady bawling out Marco. He ignored them both. He was beginning to enjoy this cocksure, devil-may-care attitude. Standards were so lax here. If he'd behaved that disgracefully on the home planet, he would have been tailwhipped and chucked into solitary confinement before you could think "Goddamn that Seerow!"

As Ax strolled down the empty corridor with his hands jammed firmly into his pockets, he passed a door. And not just any door, either. Behind the frosted glass the silhouette of Chapman was clear, but - what on earth was that thing beside him? Ax squinted into the panes, absorbed in what appeared to be an Andalite shadow, and failed to notice the man that approached him from behind.

The next thing he knew, he was being hauled into Chapman's office by the scruff of his neck (hey, a pun! Geddit? Next, neck? Oh, never mind..) by a burly male athletics instructor.

"I saw him snooping outside, sir," rumbled the man. "I thought you may have been waiting for him." With that, he spun on his heel and stepped off. Ax glanced surreptitiously around. There was no sign of the Andalite shadow.

"You are Darren Smyth, I believe?" enquired Chapman. "Welcome to [a heavy duty trailer coughing its way down the highway conveniently drowned out his next words] High School. I am your Assistant Principal, Chapman. If you have any problems, I am always available. Here, I want you to strive for excellence, try your hardest to excel in all areas of the academic and athletic fields, and above all," he droned on while Ax yawned widely. "...And remember that you can act just as you did in your old school," he glanced down at the reports lying on the desk, "... on second thoughts, perhaps you would like to reform a little now that you have a fresh start."

Ax walked out of the office with a big grin on his face, leaving Chapman staring disbelievingly at the printed list of suspensions, jail terms, truancy, examination failures et cetera. Courtesy of the Chee, who had arranged a false document to be delivered to Chapman as part of a registration parcel for Darren Smyth. (Hah! I knew there was a reason Ax couldn't back out! But I guess he could have not bothered to go to school in the first place. What person in his right mind would want to go to school instead of watching cable all day??) Phase One completed; Chapman now knew him as a worthless delinquent. All he had to do was wait.

For one hour he'd wandered the school, only stopping to visit the bathroom. He'd worked out that it would be extremely suspicious for Darren Smyth to be seen going to the bathroom every one and a half hours, and he knew that he would have to push it in order to cut down on his visits there. Erek had kindly supplied him with a blueprint of the school building, and as of now he knew every possible bathroom, storage cupboard, and exit on site. It had taken him a mere fifteen minutes to commit the layout to memory. Sometimes, having a superior brain DID come in handy. Demorphing had been tight in the narrow stalls, but the worst was yet to come. As he completed remorphing and was in the process of putting on his clothes (he'd been careful to remove the baggy outer layers to prevent them from being ripped to shreds) the door swung open and another boy walked in.

"Hey, man," grinned the newcomer. "I hear you made quite a stir in the Broad's class this morning. Did she throw you out or something?" he started to laugh. "You should have seen her second period. She was bright red in the face!"

Ax laughed along with him as he casually zipped up his jeans. "No, I walked out. I wasn't stuffed to stay there any longer."

"Well, cool, man. See you round."

*Phew! I have to remember to lock the door next time* Ax thought as he emerged from the bathroom. He searched for Marco, who was currently in… what was it again? Personal Social Human Education? It took him a quarter of an hour before he peered in a door and saw Marco, slouching in his seat and seemingly bored out of his mind.

"…And boys begin to be attracted to girls at the age of fifteen or sixteen, but girls mature much earlier and become interested in boys at fourteen or even younger. I have a specimen of the ideal man coming in soon…" uttered the teacher, but she was interrupted by Ax opening the door and walking in.

The students burst into laughter. The girls were falling over themselves to be the first to reach Ax, who stood rooted to the spot, completely bewildered. He did not have a clue what was going on. Through the melee he could see Marco's smirking face.

"Hi, I'm Sharon," breathed a girl, coming up to him. She was extremely pretty and Ax could see Marco rubbing his hands together gleefully. Behind Marco, he could also witness several girls looking downcast at not getting there in time. Still confused, Ax returned, "I'm Darren."

Marco by this time was making huge gestures and mouthing exaggeratedly, "Ask her for her phone number!"

"Um… could I please have your phone number?" Ax inquired. Sharon nodded eagerly, scribbled something in her notebook, tore it out and handed it to Ax.

"Here," she was saying. "This is my mobile. My home phone is…" she added digits underneath the first. Ax casually took the paper and said "Thanks." On a wave of inspiration he added, "I'll call you."

The bell rang at that moment, signalling the end of class. The PSHE teacher, Miss Oakes, was protesting, "But that's not at all what I meant! I have no idea who this boy is!" Her wails were drowned out by pupils noisily packing their bags and trooping out of the classroom to lunch. Marco fell into step behind Ax.

"What the HELL were you thinking, barging into class like that?! You knew there were only a few minutes left, couldn't you have waited outside?? And wait'll Jake hears about this…"

"But it was entertaining, no?" Ax put in innocently.

Marco couldn't contain himself any longer. He dissolved into spasms of laughter in the middle of the corridor. People walking behind him parted into two streams like a river flowing around a rock. Marco clutched his aching sides and continued guffawing heartily.

"Darren my man, you should have seen the look on the chicks' faces when you walked in. It was like Oakes' speech come true! Wow, if I could attract femmes like that I'd…" he spluttered again. "I will tell Jake. And speaking of the main man himself, here he comes!"

Jake and Cassie were strolling towards the food hall, completely oblivious. "Jake!" Marco hollered, waving his arms frantically. Jake spotted them and made his way over, keeping his arm firmly around Cassie's waist. At that point, Rachel emerged from the growing crowd, joining the group. Marco muttered, "Groupy-group" in Rachel's direction. She took the hint.

"Cassie! Where have you been? You were supposed to meet be outside the physics lab… but I suppose you got carried away with Jake?" she trilled, delighting in making them both blush furiously. She turned to Ax. "Hi, I'm Rachel. I don't believe I know you. Are you new?"

Marco leaned closer to Ax, and in a stage whisper which was audible some metres away, said, "Ask her for her phone number," A gang of boys passing sniggered at this typical Marco remark.

"Yeah, I'm Darren. I just moved from Los Angeles. Could I have your phone number?"

Rachel was in the process of writing it down for him (as if he didn't already have it memorised), when the five were joined by Melissa Chapman. "Hi Rachel, hello Cassie, good morning Jake," she greeted them, nodding around the circle. "And … er… Andrew?"

Chuckles resounded as Marco replied, "Marco."

"Yeah, I knew it was something like that!" Melissa responded brightly. To Ax, "Are you Darren Smyth? I'm Melissa."

Ax shook her hand. "So you're the Melissa I've heard so much about," he glanced slyly at Marco. "Marco tells me that you are one hot babe, and he's right too."

Melissa looked shocked, then pleased. "Thank you. I came to tell you that my father… I mean, Assistant Principal Chapman, would like to talk with you sometime before school ends today. Do you know where his office is?"

"Yeah, sure. No problem."

As she left, Rachel insisted, "Cassie, you have to come with me. I have the coolest poster to show you!" The two girls departed, giggling. Marco and Jake looked at each other, then at Ax. "You alright on your own for a while, Darren? Jake and I have detention with the Broad. You wanna come, or just hang around somewhere?"

Remembering 'the Broad' as she was affectionately known, Ax chose the latter. He made a bathroom stop, then headed for the food hall. His stomach was rumbling, and he wanted a chance to sample the 'Goo of the Day' as Marco put it.

Waiting patiently in line, he found to his dismay that he was standing behind Alison and Brittany. She whirled upon him, seizing her chance. "Here," she murmured huskily, pressing a scrap of pink paper into his hand. "Call me later." A second later, her friend followed suit. Ax stowed both away in the pocket, thinking that at least Marco would appreciate the hoard of girls' phone numbers he was receiving.

Exiting the queue with his tray, Ax was hailed by the same gang that had passed earlier. "Smyth! Hey, Darren! Over here!" He slid his tray into place beside the teenager beckoning to him, and attempted to eat his burger calmly. Stifling his desire to shove the whole thing down his throat and get more, the result was him wolfing down the burger while being assailed with questions from all sides.

"Hey Smyth, where you from?"

"Los Angeles."

"Great! I had a cousin there, his name's Eddie, he plays ice hockey. Know him?"

"Nope."

And so on and so forth. Ax finally got tired of the endless probing, excused himself, and left. While walking towards the main building, he encountered none other than two people he knew - Henry Chapman the Assistant Principal, and Visser Three.