"Marco, how about you just explaining it all from the beginning?" Cassie suggested calmly while giving 'the look' to Rachel and Jake..
"Look, there are these two new girls at school, one of whom is gagging to go out with me. I just know it" It was that afternoon after school, and we were all at the barn after Rachel had called a meeting to discuss my preoccupation with the twins on their first day at our school. Personally, I didn't see what she was getting so hyped up about.
At the other end of the barn, Jake rolled his eyes. Rachel sniggered. I also heard a rustling of feathers up in the rafters. I chose to ignore them. "But my point is that they could be ideal candidates for…" I lowered my voice a notch. You never know who could be listening. "…the blue box."
"No way!" Rachel exploded. A pair of racoons cowered as she stormed over towards me. "Am I the only one who remembers David?" She finished, towering over me. I kid you not, Rachel is a very scary person when she is two feet away from your face and also half a foot taller. Scary sight. Not one I recommend on an empty stomach.
No. Tobias. But Marco does have a point. Just because things went wrong with David doesn't mean that it's always going to be the same again.
I agree. We cannot let the mistakes of the past affect our decisions in the future. Ax said gravely. Five pairs of eyes turned to look at him. I believe we should try to increase our numbers. But only people we can trust. Never again people like David was.
"Amen to that." Jake muttered under his breath.
"We could at least do surveillance for three days, just to make sure they're clean. Then we decide, if at all, what we do." I said defensively.
"No!" In a few short seconds, Rachel strode over towards me, and I kid you not when I say that the ground shook beneath her feet. "One, we are not doing this. Two, we cannot do this. Three we don't even know their names!"
"Jessica and Lora Maxwell." I couldn't resist it. I smirked.
Not a good idea. Rachel's hand shot out and pinned me against the wall of the barn. Before she could do any long lasting damage to me, Jake raised his hand. "We take a vote. Surveillance on the Maxwell twins. Yes or no?"
"Yes." Cassie, rake in hand. Still cleaning out racoon…mess.
"Ye-ee-s." Strange, how having a hand blocking your airways can be an impediment to fluid speech.
"No." The hand withdrew somewhat reluctantly from my throat.
Yes. Ax.
Yes. More rustling of feathers.
"Fine, surveillance it is. Tobias, go find Erek. He can watch the twins outside school hours, with relief from you and Ax. Marco, you and Cassie are on school duty. Befriend them, find out a bit about them; where they're from , how long they've been here. That sort of thing."
***
Three days passed, during which Cassie and I did indeed make friends with Jessica and Lora. During those three days we, the Animorphs, had found out what I, Mighty Marco, had hoped and prayed every night for; JESSICA DIDN'T HAVE A BOYFRIEND!
Oh, that plus the fact that they went nowhere near a Yeerk pool entrance or consistently near any known Controllers. But come on! I had a chance with Jessica!
The girl was impossible to make friends with. Lora, not so bad. She was okay. But Jessica was like the ice queen or something. Every time I tried to start a conversation with her, I either got blanked out completely or else I got this pitying stare. Cassie she liked. Cassie and Jessica became rather good friends. Me, all I got was Lora. Great.
The day after surveillance was over, we had a meeting and took a vote. Approach the Maxwell twins; yea or nay?
Amazingly, it was all six in favour. At the meeting Rachel mumbled something about security in numbers, then said in a clear voice that this was all on my head and that if even the slightest thing went wrong with this then she would personally instigate my prolonged and ignoble death. I refused to retaliate for fears of personal well-being in general.
Jake gave me the job of persuading Jessica and Lora to come to a meeting at Cassie's barn on the Friday afternoon after school.
Friday lunchtime, I sauntered into the cafeteria, received a paltry lump of UGG (unidentified green goo) and scanned the tables, looking for the twins.
Hah! In the far corner, two brown heads deep in conversation. Had to be them.
I ambled oh-so-casually over, occasionally side-stepping a minor food-fight or to skirting round tables to avoid more UGG on the floor. Yuck. As I got ever closer to my goal, I could hear a little snippet of their conversation.
Jessica: "Did you understand any of that French lesson?"
Lora: "Something about shopping for food. Butter was mentioned a few times."
Jessica twitched slightly, like she had a tic or something, then said, "What's that in French?"
Lora: "Le beurre. I think. I'm not too sure…"
Riveting stuff. I put my tray down on the table and slid into a chair opposite Jessica, who had a look on her face that I'd never seen there before. "Good morning, ladies. How are you this fine day?"
"Not too bad, considering I just sat through double French and then Biology." Lora said, shuddering slightly.
"Jessica?" I prompted.
"Marco!" Jessica squealed. She leapt off her chair, flew round the table and hugged me. It would probably be better to say that she squeezed me, as I was fast losing the ability to breathe through my mouth and nose. Unless gills suddenly sprouted, Marco was going to be in big trouble.
"I…aah…get off…can't…breathe…" I managed to pant. A smirk crossed Lora's face as Jessica reluctantly let go of me and sat down in the seat next to me looking somewhat upset. Across the cafeteria, Rachel was staring, eyes wide open, shock etched into her face. Along with her, about half of the female population of the school was staring at me as well.
A chance glance to my left saw Jessica sitting down, facing me, purring slightly. I looked back at Lora.
"She likes me, doesn't she?"
Lora shrugged. "Ask her yourself."
OK, I could do that. Massaging my very sore throat, I turned so that I was facing Jessica. "Uh, Jessica?"
"Jess." She corrected with a smile. "Just call me Jess."
"OK, fine. Jess, what do you think of me? I mean, after that, I really don't know what to think…" For once, I was lost for words. Not a feeling I was used to that much.
The smile on Jess's face widened. "Yes! I think you're great! You're really funny, and I'm really sorry that I called you a midget and I'd really like to go out with you sometime!" She paused for a breath.
Whoa! Yes! I had a date with Jess! I had a date with Jess!
But more pressing matters first…
"Listen, you two. Are you doing anything after school this afternoon?"
Both of them shook their heads.
"Right. I'll meet you by your locker after last lesson. Me and Cassie. OK? We need to talk to you about something important. Me, Cassie and a few others. Is that okay with the two of you?"
Both girls nodded.
"Great. See you then! I've got to go, find Jake."
"Bye Marco." Jess looked rather miserable at the prospect of me leaving. That has never happened to me before. Hmm.
"I'll see you later, okay? Bye Lora. Bye Jess."