Chapter 2! Isn't it cool that we start with a double feature? Enjoy!
Ryan's POV
Kaitlyn walked in the door, looking cute as a button. But alas, it was all for naught.
She might as well worn a sign saying "Lamb Being Led to Slaughter"
She had a great sky blue bareback top on, very tight denim jeans, a pair of shoes that must be made out of plutonium for how much they cost, and more makeup than the entire population of North Dakota.
Me, I simply wore a plain black T-Shirt and cheap jeans. I was prepared.
I must've been wearing my heart on my sleeve that day. Cassie spotted me, and gave me one of those "what are you doing?" looks.
She must be psychic or something.
I shot my best "Everything will be made clear" look and got my "special" frog out of the storage area.
I named it "Squid." Clever, eh?
As the teacher called out the lab partner assignments, I prepared myself for the most difficult part of the plan. The part that will make or break the operation. This is EVERYTHING.
I had to trick Kaitlyn into making the cut.
"No way I am touching that disgusting thing! You're the biology geek, you do it!"
"Listen, Kaitlyn. We're supposed to be partners here. You need to make the cut."
"You like slimy things so much, you can do it. I don't want to touch it and get rigor mortis!"
"You only get rigor mortis when you die. This thing will not kill you."
"I'll kill myself if I touch that thing!"
Sigh. This was difficult. But I had to succeed. The entertainment of the school demanded it.
"All right, I'll make you a deal. You make the first cut, and I'll do the rest, everything down to separating the organs. Otherwise, I'll tell Mr. Baron you're not doing the experiment and he'll drop your grade. Don't you have a 4.0 or something?"
"Just one cut?"
She's MINE! I got her! I am victorious!
"Three cuts. Just two across, and one vertical across the belly. Like this:"
I took a felt marker and drew the "I" pattern that you're supposed to use. I made sure to draw the line right through the payload.
"Would you like gloves, Kaitlyn?"
"Yeah, please."
"Okay, I'm gonna go get some. Just remember: make the cuts as fast as possible. One. Two. Three. Then I'll take it from there, 'kay?"
"Got it."
I got the gloves. I enjoyed every single step I took.
Cassie stopped me.
"Ryan, what are you doing?"
"I'm balancing out the universe, Cassie."
I headed back before she could respond. I handed Kaitlyn the gloves, the scalpel and Squid's dissecting tray.
And I got ready.
Slice. Slice. Squirt.
Her sky blue top now had a few festive black polka dots.
Sounds odd, doesn't it? All that planning just for a simple ink squirt. But what happened after that was epic. Epic.
At first, nothing happened. Kaitlyn just stood there and stared at this unknown black stuff on her shirt. But I could see the thoughts forming in her head:
What's that black stuff?
Ink? Frogs don't have ink, do they?
Wait a minute...dead frog juice? Frog blood? Disgusting.
It's on me....On. Me. ON ME!!!!!!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
Music. Beautiful music.
Kaitlyn went into a frenzy. She started running around the room like a chicken with its head cut off, screaming: "EEW! Dead frog juice!"
Mr. Baron had to nearly tackle her to calm her down. She was ranting like a mad lunatic. I used this time to try to get rid of the evidence. I grabbed the gelcap shell and threw it away.
Unfortunately, I missed a piece of the shell. After inspecting Squid's blackened innards, he noticed the foreign object.
Busted.
* * *
Marco's POV
It was lunch time. The entree of the day was Sludge Surprise, I believe.
It tasted great, though. The fact that almost the entire school heard Kaitlyn's scream, half of them thought we were under terrorist attack or something. Even my man Jake was alarmed when he heard it.
"Man, did you hear Kaitlyn scream just before lunch? It scared me half to death!"
And in a lower tone, he added: "I almost morphed tiger."
You see, me and my Animorph "packmates" each have a role to play. I'm both the Security Officer and the Morale Officer. Here's an example of what I do:
Security Officer: "Shhhh...keep it down."
Morale officer: "You didn't hear this from me, but I know what happened. Me and an accomplice played a prank on her."
Jake's interest was peaked. Normally, he spends most days in school trying to get some sleep, something we don't get much of nowadays. But today, he seemed vigorous.
See, I'm a Morale Officer. Every fighting team should have a morale officer.
"You know Ryan, the guy with the weird birth marks?
" X ? Yeah, why?
"We rigged up a frog to explode ink all over her. She thought it was frog's blood or something. She screamed bloody murder."
Not many people around here like Kaitlyn. She's mean, annoying, prissy, and rude. When X came to me for help on the "lesson" he was teaching her, I felt obligated to lend a hand.
"No way, really? Man, Rachel's gonna laugh her head off. She can't stand Kaitlyn."
"Speak of the psycho, and she appears, Jake."
Rachel had arrived at our conversation.
"Of course you can sit next to me, Rachel," I said with a smile.
After throwing some Sludge Surprise at me, she sat down next to Jake.
"Hey," she said. "Did you hear about Kaitlyn?"
* * *
After school, I caught up with Ryan. I guess he came to thank me for my help.
"Did you enjoy the show, Marco?"
"I thought the lead actress was horrible, but the director was awesome."
Ryan smiled triumphantly.
"I deserve an Oscar," Ryan said. "Unfortunately, Mr. Baron found out. I screwed up with the evidence. He sent me to Chapman, where I was tried, convicted and sentenced within ten minutes. God bless America's justice system."
Chapman is our vice principal. He's also a high ranking Controller. If you're not up to speed yet, let me tell you.
Controllers are people who have been infested by Yeerks, a species of aliens that can take over your mind, and are invading the planet.
Yeah, I know it sounds whacko. But when you think about it, it's really no weirder than Michael Jackson or Mike Tyson.
The Yeerks have a front organization called the Sharing. Under the guise of promoting "quality of life", they just kidnap people and make them slaves in their own minds.
"So what's the sentence, X? One week detention? Two?"
"Nope. He's making me join that boy scout group...what's it called...the Sharing or something."
I immediately became serious. Ryan was about to become enslaved. I had to try and help him, it'd be a tragedy for comedians everywhere if his mind was taken from him.
"When do you gotta go, X?"
"Tomorrow. He said I'm going straight to full membership. Maybe they need a good creative mind or something. Oh well, See ya, Marco."
He left, without an ounce of knowledge of what is about to happen to him.
And I stood there, without an ounce of knowledge of how to save him.
Ryan's POV
Kaitlyn walked in the door, looking cute as a button. But alas, it was all for naught.
She might as well worn a sign saying "Lamb Being Led to Slaughter"
She had a great sky blue bareback top on, very tight denim jeans, a pair of shoes that must be made out of plutonium for how much they cost, and more makeup than the entire population of North Dakota.
Me, I simply wore a plain black T-Shirt and cheap jeans. I was prepared.
I must've been wearing my heart on my sleeve that day. Cassie spotted me, and gave me one of those "what are you doing?" looks.
She must be psychic or something.
I shot my best "Everything will be made clear" look and got my "special" frog out of the storage area.
I named it "Squid." Clever, eh?
As the teacher called out the lab partner assignments, I prepared myself for the most difficult part of the plan. The part that will make or break the operation. This is EVERYTHING.
I had to trick Kaitlyn into making the cut.
"No way I am touching that disgusting thing! You're the biology geek, you do it!"
"Listen, Kaitlyn. We're supposed to be partners here. You need to make the cut."
"You like slimy things so much, you can do it. I don't want to touch it and get rigor mortis!"
"You only get rigor mortis when you die. This thing will not kill you."
"I'll kill myself if I touch that thing!"
Sigh. This was difficult. But I had to succeed. The entertainment of the school demanded it.
"All right, I'll make you a deal. You make the first cut, and I'll do the rest, everything down to separating the organs. Otherwise, I'll tell Mr. Baron you're not doing the experiment and he'll drop your grade. Don't you have a 4.0 or something?"
"Just one cut?"
She's MINE! I got her! I am victorious!
"Three cuts. Just two across, and one vertical across the belly. Like this:"
I took a felt marker and drew the "I" pattern that you're supposed to use. I made sure to draw the line right through the payload.
"Would you like gloves, Kaitlyn?"
"Yeah, please."
"Okay, I'm gonna go get some. Just remember: make the cuts as fast as possible. One. Two. Three. Then I'll take it from there, 'kay?"
"Got it."
I got the gloves. I enjoyed every single step I took.
Cassie stopped me.
"Ryan, what are you doing?"
"I'm balancing out the universe, Cassie."
I headed back before she could respond. I handed Kaitlyn the gloves, the scalpel and Squid's dissecting tray.
And I got ready.
Slice. Slice. Squirt.
Her sky blue top now had a few festive black polka dots.
Sounds odd, doesn't it? All that planning just for a simple ink squirt. But what happened after that was epic. Epic.
At first, nothing happened. Kaitlyn just stood there and stared at this unknown black stuff on her shirt. But I could see the thoughts forming in her head:
What's that black stuff?
Ink? Frogs don't have ink, do they?
Wait a minute...dead frog juice? Frog blood? Disgusting.
It's on me....On. Me. ON ME!!!!!!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
Music. Beautiful music.
Kaitlyn went into a frenzy. She started running around the room like a chicken with its head cut off, screaming: "EEW! Dead frog juice!"
Mr. Baron had to nearly tackle her to calm her down. She was ranting like a mad lunatic. I used this time to try to get rid of the evidence. I grabbed the gelcap shell and threw it away.
Unfortunately, I missed a piece of the shell. After inspecting Squid's blackened innards, he noticed the foreign object.
Busted.
* * *
Marco's POV
It was lunch time. The entree of the day was Sludge Surprise, I believe.
It tasted great, though. The fact that almost the entire school heard Kaitlyn's scream, half of them thought we were under terrorist attack or something. Even my man Jake was alarmed when he heard it.
"Man, did you hear Kaitlyn scream just before lunch? It scared me half to death!"
And in a lower tone, he added: "I almost morphed tiger."
You see, me and my Animorph "packmates" each have a role to play. I'm both the Security Officer and the Morale Officer. Here's an example of what I do:
Security Officer: "Shhhh...keep it down."
Morale officer: "You didn't hear this from me, but I know what happened. Me and an accomplice played a prank on her."
Jake's interest was peaked. Normally, he spends most days in school trying to get some sleep, something we don't get much of nowadays. But today, he seemed vigorous.
See, I'm a Morale Officer. Every fighting team should have a morale officer.
"You know Ryan, the guy with the weird birth marks?
" X ? Yeah, why?
"We rigged up a frog to explode ink all over her. She thought it was frog's blood or something. She screamed bloody murder."
Not many people around here like Kaitlyn. She's mean, annoying, prissy, and rude. When X came to me for help on the "lesson" he was teaching her, I felt obligated to lend a hand.
"No way, really? Man, Rachel's gonna laugh her head off. She can't stand Kaitlyn."
"Speak of the psycho, and she appears, Jake."
Rachel had arrived at our conversation.
"Of course you can sit next to me, Rachel," I said with a smile.
After throwing some Sludge Surprise at me, she sat down next to Jake.
"Hey," she said. "Did you hear about Kaitlyn?"
* * *
After school, I caught up with Ryan. I guess he came to thank me for my help.
"Did you enjoy the show, Marco?"
"I thought the lead actress was horrible, but the director was awesome."
Ryan smiled triumphantly.
"I deserve an Oscar," Ryan said. "Unfortunately, Mr. Baron found out. I screwed up with the evidence. He sent me to Chapman, where I was tried, convicted and sentenced within ten minutes. God bless America's justice system."
Chapman is our vice principal. He's also a high ranking Controller. If you're not up to speed yet, let me tell you.
Controllers are people who have been infested by Yeerks, a species of aliens that can take over your mind, and are invading the planet.
Yeah, I know it sounds whacko. But when you think about it, it's really no weirder than Michael Jackson or Mike Tyson.
The Yeerks have a front organization called the Sharing. Under the guise of promoting "quality of life", they just kidnap people and make them slaves in their own minds.
"So what's the sentence, X? One week detention? Two?"
"Nope. He's making me join that boy scout group...what's it called...the Sharing or something."
I immediately became serious. Ryan was about to become enslaved. I had to try and help him, it'd be a tragedy for comedians everywhere if his mind was taken from him.
"When do you gotta go, X?"
"Tomorrow. He said I'm going straight to full membership. Maybe they need a good creative mind or something. Oh well, See ya, Marco."
He left, without an ounce of knowledge of what is about to happen to him.
And I stood there, without an ounce of knowledge of how to save him.
