Chapter Two:
You know, it's freaky how parents communicate. In no time at all, Cassie had been signed up, too. So, Monday night, there we were. Not counting Tobias the Bird-boy, the four human Animorphs were signed, sealed, and delivered to the doorstep of "The Wheel" driving school. It was in one of those office-building complexes, with blocky brown buildings and sickly shrubs. "The Wheel" itself was sandwiched between a ballet studio and a shoebox of an advertising firm. I grimaced, looking up at it. This was going to be home every weekday night for the next two weeks. I would be forced into intimate acquaintance with the pastel pink "Encore Studieau," and glaring green "Sold2U" signs. On the plus side, there might be models working with the advertising people, and there were bound to be some cute girls at the ballet studio.
These things balance out, I guess.
I took the bus that first evening. Most nights, I planned to fly over, but I didn't really know where the building was or what it looked like yet, and things can be hard to find from the air. Especially if you've never seen them before. Consequently, I arrived about half an hour too early. The parking lot was mostly abandoned, except for two men conferring in the parking lot. As I drew nearer, their tone changed, and they began talking about golf.
The disturbing thing was, I found that highly suspicious. They could have been talking about anything, but I had this creeping, nagging feeling that these could be controllers, plotting some new Yeerk atrocity.
See? I told you I was paranoid.
Eventually, the two men left, and I was alone. I had been there long enough to begin toying with the idea of morphing seagull to get a look in the ballet studio window when Cassie was dropped off. Officially, she and I didn't know each other that well, only as friends of friends. Unofficially, we've saved each other's lives so many times that I was beginning to wonder if we aren't being set up by the author of some series to fall in love. But that would mean I'd have to fall in love with Ax, Tobias, Jake, and Rachel, too. And while I'm okay with Rachel, I'm just not interested in the rest of them. Sorry, guys.
I nodded, offered a casual, "Hey." She returned it. Her mom drove away, and we dropped the act. "I really don't think this class is necessary," I complained, a twinkle in my eye. "I'm already a great driver, as long as I'm in gorilla mode!"
"Uh-uh, no way," she said, shaking her head. "You need this the most of all, Marco."
"But I have the most experience driving!" I was whining. We both knew it was a joke.
"All experience, no training. Not a good combination." She made a face, teasing me. Then she became a little more serious. "Are we the first ones here?"
"Yup. You and me alone. If you ever wanted to ditch Jake and fly off with me, now's our chance." She blushed, and looked down. She and Jake have a thing, but they pretend that they don't. It's kind of cute, really. But there was sort of an awkward pause. I guess maybe I shouldn't have teased her about it after what had happened in the last battle. "Anyway," I said, just to change the subject.
"Anyway!" Rachel shouted, from the sidewalk. She had walked up while I was distracted, or else I would have had a witty comment prepared for her arrival.
"Anyway," grinned Cassie, just for the fun of it. "Did your mom drop you off, Rachel?"
"Nope," she smirked. "I flew in."
"And boy are my arms tired," I said, quoting the old comedy gag.
"Except mine really are," she said, rotating her shoulders. "The air was totally dead on the way over. Very bad night for flying."
"Hang on," I objected. "If you flew in, how come you have more than your morphing outfit on? Unless you've been holding back on us about how to morph Abercrombie and Fitch."
Cassie jumped in gleefully before Rachel could reply. "Didn't you know, Marco? She has stashes of tasteful little outfits hidden all over town. Wherever she goes, she's just three minutes away from perfection."
"Not!" Rachel snorted, glaring at Cassie. Then she grinned. "It's at least five minutes over by the theater."
We all laughed. Hey, I'll admit it; it felt good to be doing something so normal. Something that didn't have anything to do with slugs or centaurs. Honestly, that's all I've wanted to do since this whole nightmare began. Then some of the other kids started arriving, so we had to split up a little. We always separate in a crowd, or try to. The last thing we want to be is identified as a clique. I ended up in this group of three other kids from our school. And no matter what Rachel claims, it was totally by accident that two of them were on the cheerleading squad.
Jake was actually the very last student to arrive. The whole class arrived early, due to bus schedules, nervous moms, nervous kids, or whatever. Tom dropped Jake off about a minute before class was supposed to begin. As soon as he was out of the car, I noticed his tense expression. I mean, Jake has a tense expression a lot of the time. It comes from making life- or-death decisions that could get your friends killed or the Earth taken over. That or stomach acid.
We began filing into the building. I hung back to talk to Jake. That worried look on his face was contagious. "Hey, Jake! How's it going?"
"Hey, Marco. Pretty good." We fought our way up the stairs with the rest of them. "But according to our friend with the dogs, there's been a little complication in our after-school project." He said it nonchalantly, as if it were no big deal.
The after-school project was the war. Our friend with the dogs was Erek.
Complications are always, always, always bad. Complications involving Erek are way, way, way worse. Little complications are always, always, always huge. The combination of the three usually ends in a whole lot of bloodshed and pain. Our pain.
It was a big deal.
"Really?" I asked carelessly. Inside, I felt like throwing up.
"Yep," he said.
And then class started.
You know, it's freaky how parents communicate. In no time at all, Cassie had been signed up, too. So, Monday night, there we were. Not counting Tobias the Bird-boy, the four human Animorphs were signed, sealed, and delivered to the doorstep of "The Wheel" driving school. It was in one of those office-building complexes, with blocky brown buildings and sickly shrubs. "The Wheel" itself was sandwiched between a ballet studio and a shoebox of an advertising firm. I grimaced, looking up at it. This was going to be home every weekday night for the next two weeks. I would be forced into intimate acquaintance with the pastel pink "Encore Studieau," and glaring green "Sold2U" signs. On the plus side, there might be models working with the advertising people, and there were bound to be some cute girls at the ballet studio.
These things balance out, I guess.
I took the bus that first evening. Most nights, I planned to fly over, but I didn't really know where the building was or what it looked like yet, and things can be hard to find from the air. Especially if you've never seen them before. Consequently, I arrived about half an hour too early. The parking lot was mostly abandoned, except for two men conferring in the parking lot. As I drew nearer, their tone changed, and they began talking about golf.
The disturbing thing was, I found that highly suspicious. They could have been talking about anything, but I had this creeping, nagging feeling that these could be controllers, plotting some new Yeerk atrocity.
See? I told you I was paranoid.
Eventually, the two men left, and I was alone. I had been there long enough to begin toying with the idea of morphing seagull to get a look in the ballet studio window when Cassie was dropped off. Officially, she and I didn't know each other that well, only as friends of friends. Unofficially, we've saved each other's lives so many times that I was beginning to wonder if we aren't being set up by the author of some series to fall in love. But that would mean I'd have to fall in love with Ax, Tobias, Jake, and Rachel, too. And while I'm okay with Rachel, I'm just not interested in the rest of them. Sorry, guys.
I nodded, offered a casual, "Hey." She returned it. Her mom drove away, and we dropped the act. "I really don't think this class is necessary," I complained, a twinkle in my eye. "I'm already a great driver, as long as I'm in gorilla mode!"
"Uh-uh, no way," she said, shaking her head. "You need this the most of all, Marco."
"But I have the most experience driving!" I was whining. We both knew it was a joke.
"All experience, no training. Not a good combination." She made a face, teasing me. Then she became a little more serious. "Are we the first ones here?"
"Yup. You and me alone. If you ever wanted to ditch Jake and fly off with me, now's our chance." She blushed, and looked down. She and Jake have a thing, but they pretend that they don't. It's kind of cute, really. But there was sort of an awkward pause. I guess maybe I shouldn't have teased her about it after what had happened in the last battle. "Anyway," I said, just to change the subject.
"Anyway!" Rachel shouted, from the sidewalk. She had walked up while I was distracted, or else I would have had a witty comment prepared for her arrival.
"Anyway," grinned Cassie, just for the fun of it. "Did your mom drop you off, Rachel?"
"Nope," she smirked. "I flew in."
"And boy are my arms tired," I said, quoting the old comedy gag.
"Except mine really are," she said, rotating her shoulders. "The air was totally dead on the way over. Very bad night for flying."
"Hang on," I objected. "If you flew in, how come you have more than your morphing outfit on? Unless you've been holding back on us about how to morph Abercrombie and Fitch."
Cassie jumped in gleefully before Rachel could reply. "Didn't you know, Marco? She has stashes of tasteful little outfits hidden all over town. Wherever she goes, she's just three minutes away from perfection."
"Not!" Rachel snorted, glaring at Cassie. Then she grinned. "It's at least five minutes over by the theater."
We all laughed. Hey, I'll admit it; it felt good to be doing something so normal. Something that didn't have anything to do with slugs or centaurs. Honestly, that's all I've wanted to do since this whole nightmare began. Then some of the other kids started arriving, so we had to split up a little. We always separate in a crowd, or try to. The last thing we want to be is identified as a clique. I ended up in this group of three other kids from our school. And no matter what Rachel claims, it was totally by accident that two of them were on the cheerleading squad.
Jake was actually the very last student to arrive. The whole class arrived early, due to bus schedules, nervous moms, nervous kids, or whatever. Tom dropped Jake off about a minute before class was supposed to begin. As soon as he was out of the car, I noticed his tense expression. I mean, Jake has a tense expression a lot of the time. It comes from making life- or-death decisions that could get your friends killed or the Earth taken over. That or stomach acid.
We began filing into the building. I hung back to talk to Jake. That worried look on his face was contagious. "Hey, Jake! How's it going?"
"Hey, Marco. Pretty good." We fought our way up the stairs with the rest of them. "But according to our friend with the dogs, there's been a little complication in our after-school project." He said it nonchalantly, as if it were no big deal.
The after-school project was the war. Our friend with the dogs was Erek.
Complications are always, always, always bad. Complications involving Erek are way, way, way worse. Little complications are always, always, always huge. The combination of the three usually ends in a whole lot of bloodshed and pain. Our pain.
It was a big deal.
"Really?" I asked carelessly. Inside, I felt like throwing up.
"Yep," he said.
And then class started.