Chapter 3
Later that day, we all assembled in Cassie's barn, also known as the wildlife rehabilitation clinic. There, Cassie and her family take care of all the sick and wounded animals and do the best to help them or put them out of misery if the case is too severe. Cassie is probably the most sensible person I know. She is understanding, strong willed, and a natural peacekeeper. She is also a tree-hugger. She has been in contact with all kinds of wildlife fauna and flora all her life. That comes from her parents being vets and stuff.
Her and Jake are kind of tight. They are kind of going out, but have never made it official or talk much about it. Jake is our leader, but he will never admit it. He is always the one to take control in any situation and do the right thing. He just has all the leadership qualities, he listens to everyone in the group before making any huge decisions, and manages to always keep us out of panic. I hate the idea of bowing down to anyone else, but he is better than I am at this kind of stuff. I am a good strong leader, but let my emotions get in the way and tend to demand things that can't be done.
Playing Command and Conquer I always won by brute numbers, he was more of a strategist. I also threw the controller when I lost. I have a little bit of a temper, and I used to be pretty good at repressing it, but recently, I have had reason to abandon this practice, that is why Jake is the leader.
His best friend Marco would be the tactical officer in charge/Jim Carrey of the bunch. He was probably the best strategist and always saw right from point A-Z, no interruptions. He was a thinker, but had reason to be reluctant, and believe me, he was. Just two years ago, his mom died at sea. Nobody found a body, and it tore his family apart. His dad lost it and they have been living the slum life. Marco has been able to deal with it by making everything a joke. Something I try to do, but with a much lower success rate. I tend to upset people with my conflicting beliefs.
Marco is always teasing Rachel, maybe that's because she is a living oxymoron. She is probably one of the best looking girls I have ever seen, even though she is still young. She is one of those super-model types, skinny and tall with long blond hair. But, as Marco put it, if you ever acted like that to her, she would rip your face off and use it as a napkin. She is probably the most warrior-like person I know. She fights with people more than I do, but with much better odds. I like her, she is my kind of girl. Rough and beautiful.
Unfortunately, I have noticed lately that she has taken a liking to Tobias. I guess she feels sorry for him or something, which I can understand. They spend a lot of time together after school and in between missions, talking about this and that. Two opposite ends of the spectrum though. Tobias was a loser (so was I) and was always getting picked on. He was always shy and stuck to himself. His life sucked, getting shipped back and forth between a drunken uncle and an indifferent aunt. His parents died long ago.
I guess you could say his life has improved, you know, no bullies, homework, or pressure. Personally, I would like his new life better.
Sam wasn't as lucky. He had cool parents and a good future in front of him, excluding the yeerks and stuff. He was a genius in computers and assorted deviance devices. He could make a bomb out of nothing, then put a timer on it and everything. He was also beginning to study for psychology early on the net. A huge whiz kid, I could see him working in the government or something, you know. He wasn't a loner, that was sure, but sometimes you could sense a lone wolf persona emanating from him. He could be self sufficient, but was always working with others. His family was cool and funny, I can only wonder what happened to them when he 'died'.
He lost a good family, and left it all behind. He seems to be at home here. Maybe it's a dream of his to show off what he did, I don't know.
Whitney was also good with computers, not as good, but good enough. She still lives at home, and her family is also nice. She is a qualified genius with an IQ of somewhere around 180 or so. She could do a lot of things school related, but not as much real life stuff. She was cool and we always got paired together to do projects, because we were both smart.
There was one problem too, even though I was pretty smart myself, I never got work done, I was always playing video games or ding crap on the computer. I was horrible in math, so I gave up on school when I learned that everything involved math, even though it was never used. My work habits would never get me into any university, so I gave up trying. I was an artist and decided my skills were best in the arts. I wanted to be a wrestler, then an actor, and right before all this invasion stuff, my plans were to become a video game designer, but also thought that it involved math. Oh well, too late now.
I have a little bit of history in martial arts. I won every tournament I went in first place, all the time. No matter what. I was in Tae Kwon Do, and I was really good, I wanted to go on in martial arts, as I was beating black belts in sparring when I was in only orange belt, but I had to quit due to the big thing called money. I started to try capoeira, a dance-type martial art. It is what break dancers learn, but much more deadly. Mostly used for rituals and entertainment purposes.
Well, that's my story for now, let's go on.
Rachel, Tobias and I all approached the barn. Rachel bent over and whispered to me, "I bet the first thing Marco says will be, 'are you INSANE?!', I guarantee it." I laughed an agreement, opening the doors. Marco immediately got up and walked over to us....
"Are....You.....INSANE!?!?!?!?" He practically screeched.
Later that day, we all assembled in Cassie's barn, also known as the wildlife rehabilitation clinic. There, Cassie and her family take care of all the sick and wounded animals and do the best to help them or put them out of misery if the case is too severe. Cassie is probably the most sensible person I know. She is understanding, strong willed, and a natural peacekeeper. She is also a tree-hugger. She has been in contact with all kinds of wildlife fauna and flora all her life. That comes from her parents being vets and stuff.
Her and Jake are kind of tight. They are kind of going out, but have never made it official or talk much about it. Jake is our leader, but he will never admit it. He is always the one to take control in any situation and do the right thing. He just has all the leadership qualities, he listens to everyone in the group before making any huge decisions, and manages to always keep us out of panic. I hate the idea of bowing down to anyone else, but he is better than I am at this kind of stuff. I am a good strong leader, but let my emotions get in the way and tend to demand things that can't be done.
Playing Command and Conquer I always won by brute numbers, he was more of a strategist. I also threw the controller when I lost. I have a little bit of a temper, and I used to be pretty good at repressing it, but recently, I have had reason to abandon this practice, that is why Jake is the leader.
His best friend Marco would be the tactical officer in charge/Jim Carrey of the bunch. He was probably the best strategist and always saw right from point A-Z, no interruptions. He was a thinker, but had reason to be reluctant, and believe me, he was. Just two years ago, his mom died at sea. Nobody found a body, and it tore his family apart. His dad lost it and they have been living the slum life. Marco has been able to deal with it by making everything a joke. Something I try to do, but with a much lower success rate. I tend to upset people with my conflicting beliefs.
Marco is always teasing Rachel, maybe that's because she is a living oxymoron. She is probably one of the best looking girls I have ever seen, even though she is still young. She is one of those super-model types, skinny and tall with long blond hair. But, as Marco put it, if you ever acted like that to her, she would rip your face off and use it as a napkin. She is probably the most warrior-like person I know. She fights with people more than I do, but with much better odds. I like her, she is my kind of girl. Rough and beautiful.
Unfortunately, I have noticed lately that she has taken a liking to Tobias. I guess she feels sorry for him or something, which I can understand. They spend a lot of time together after school and in between missions, talking about this and that. Two opposite ends of the spectrum though. Tobias was a loser (so was I) and was always getting picked on. He was always shy and stuck to himself. His life sucked, getting shipped back and forth between a drunken uncle and an indifferent aunt. His parents died long ago.
I guess you could say his life has improved, you know, no bullies, homework, or pressure. Personally, I would like his new life better.
Sam wasn't as lucky. He had cool parents and a good future in front of him, excluding the yeerks and stuff. He was a genius in computers and assorted deviance devices. He could make a bomb out of nothing, then put a timer on it and everything. He was also beginning to study for psychology early on the net. A huge whiz kid, I could see him working in the government or something, you know. He wasn't a loner, that was sure, but sometimes you could sense a lone wolf persona emanating from him. He could be self sufficient, but was always working with others. His family was cool and funny, I can only wonder what happened to them when he 'died'.
He lost a good family, and left it all behind. He seems to be at home here. Maybe it's a dream of his to show off what he did, I don't know.
Whitney was also good with computers, not as good, but good enough. She still lives at home, and her family is also nice. She is a qualified genius with an IQ of somewhere around 180 or so. She could do a lot of things school related, but not as much real life stuff. She was cool and we always got paired together to do projects, because we were both smart.
There was one problem too, even though I was pretty smart myself, I never got work done, I was always playing video games or ding crap on the computer. I was horrible in math, so I gave up on school when I learned that everything involved math, even though it was never used. My work habits would never get me into any university, so I gave up trying. I was an artist and decided my skills were best in the arts. I wanted to be a wrestler, then an actor, and right before all this invasion stuff, my plans were to become a video game designer, but also thought that it involved math. Oh well, too late now.
I have a little bit of history in martial arts. I won every tournament I went in first place, all the time. No matter what. I was in Tae Kwon Do, and I was really good, I wanted to go on in martial arts, as I was beating black belts in sparring when I was in only orange belt, but I had to quit due to the big thing called money. I started to try capoeira, a dance-type martial art. It is what break dancers learn, but much more deadly. Mostly used for rituals and entertainment purposes.
Well, that's my story for now, let's go on.
Rachel, Tobias and I all approached the barn. Rachel bent over and whispered to me, "I bet the first thing Marco says will be, 'are you INSANE?!', I guarantee it." I laughed an agreement, opening the doors. Marco immediately got up and walked over to us....
"Are....You.....INSANE!?!?!?!?" He practically screeched.