Ah…Finally…The plot thickens…Okay, if you're enjoying this, I might as well advertise my other fanfiction, The Freedom of Being Trapped, and Xena and the Hawk. The first one is very angsty, and the other is very R/T. Yeah. Okay. I hope you enjoy this chapter, which is longer than the Marco babble of the first one. And you are free to leave suggestions as to what will happen. (I don't know yet ;) ) And, I don't own the Animorphs. I think we've gone over that already.
Susan
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A Day at the Beach
Chapter 2- Jake's POV
I'm Jake, and I admit it. Marco made me promise that I would tell you something. I'm really not that into Marco's promise, however. But, with Marco comes blackmail. We all know that.
Anyway. The three words Marco's friends try to stop themselves from saying at all costs. Unless of course, Marco threatens to tell the girl you like a whole lot something you'd rather her not hear. The three words Marco made me promise to say- Marco was right.
I admit it. The guy has a brain, even if he uses it mostly for video games and bad jokes. He told me, never, ever, to say "Let's do something normal." He's right. Never again will I say that. I also will never bow down to him, which was his other formal request. I figured he might as well tell Cassie whatever he wants, because I would never in my right mind bow down to him.
The guy should be in Hollywood. Really.
So. The beach. It was my idea. What's wrong with the beach, really? Unless you happen to be sitting near sweaty, hairy, fat, bald guys, many of which Marco wishes to kick off the beach.
But we weren't sitting near them. Marco and I arrived first, and, according to our policy of not going anywhere in public as a group, we set up a cooler and a blanket and an umbrella.
My mother packed the umbrella. Since she had the car to drive us to the beach, I didn't argue.
Rachel and Cassie arrived next, Rachel, decked out in the summer Abercrombie wardrobe, with every guy on the beach looking at her. Except me. I was a bit more focused on Cassie.
Cassie doesn't think she's pretty. She is, but she doesn't flaunt it, or dress like Rachel, or wear makeup. I don't mind. She's perfect the way she is.
Tobias and Ax arrived next. Each a human for two hours on end. Tobias was looking around warily. I couldn't tell if it was because he wasn't used to having bad human eyes, or because every guy on the beach was staring directly at Rachel.
Ax was eating one of those giant, seriously foot long hotdogs that sticks about 85 miles out of the bun. Eating is a nice way of putting it, however. It was more like slobbering, sucking, and chewing very messily, with flecks of food dripping all over his face.
And no matter how oddly attractive his well-built human morph is, there was no girls looking at him.
Cassie was attacked with a fit of the giggles as they approached and we acted out a scene of "Hi! Fancy meeting you here! Want to hang out with us?" for any possible Controller watching us.
The thing is, there were a lot weirder people on the beach then a jittery Tobias, beautiful Rachel, slobbering Ax, an egotistical Marco, Cassie and I.
"Hey Cassie," I said, sidling up to her and giving her a half hug. I was kind of afraid to touch her, to be honest. She was wearing…Well, it was more like she was not wearing a lot. Her swimsuit was most definitely a bikini and it most definitely showed a lot of her that I had never seen before.
"Hey Jake," she responded. She didn't sound too happy.
"What's wrong?" I asked quickly, trying very, very hard to stare straight into her eyes, but not succeeding, and in the process turning a brilliant shade of Crayola crayon color razzle-dazzle red.
"Aww…Aren't Jake and Cassie just adorable?" Rachel purred. Before I could give her the death look, she had grabbed Tobias' arm and dragged him off towards the ocean.
"I'd tell her to put on sunscreen, but she won't burn," Cassie said, laughing as Tobias tripped and fell headfirst into the water.
"She's got some ability to prevent everything harmful, doesn't she?" I said dryly.
"Oh, most definitely," Cassie said giggling.
"You think she would ever dump Bird-Boy for me?" Marco asked us.
"Dump? What does this human expression mean?" Ax asked, confusedly. It was hard to answer him, considering the fact that he had mustard, sauerkraut, and other unidentified substances covering the face of his human morph.
Cassie snorted, and Marco turned to Ax indignantly. "Ax, you really need to clean your face off, girls are turning away from me because I'm standing next to you." Ax began to vigorously wipe his face with the side of his arm.
"I think the real reason girls are turning away is because they can't stand the thought of looking at you," Rachel joked, as she approached, back from the water, a weathered looking Tobias slowly following.
"Rachel, now girls aren't looking because they think we're together. And, really, it's a shame, because I'd love to be with you at any other time. But I've realized it's never going to happen. And guys with hot girls aren't looked at by other hot girls. It's an unwritten rule."
Rachel gave him a look of pure disgust. "Are you going in the water or not?" She turned towards Ax, who now had bits of food on his arm as well as his face. "Ax, get a towel and wipe that off, please."
Cassie snorted again as Ax proceeded to snatch a towel from a little blonde girl who was standing behind us.
"Let's get out of here before we have to explain that to the girl's parents," she said, grabbing my arm and dragging me towards the water. I was surprised, because Cassie is usually the one to repent for our mistakes. But, I followed, laughing as she dove into the water. It was cool and refreshing, and I let my body soak it in.
"It's perfect," she said happily, splashing me as Tobias, Rachel, Ax, and Marco joined us.
"You just left the cooler there?" I asked. "We're not going to have any lunch if someone takes it." Marco began to laugh.
"Nobody steals coolers, you moron. Besides, we aren't going to have any lunch, anyway. Ax decided he'd taste test our lunch for us."
We all looked at Ax, who used his very human expression of shrugging. "The sandwich you call ham and cheese was very delightful and pleasant to my human tongue."
"Ax-man," Tobias said, starting to laugh. "Those sandwiches, plus that hot dog? And the periodic intake of hundreds of cinnamon buns? It's a wonder you aren't fat."
"The morphing technology does not let the morph absorb the food it ingests, nor does it feed the original body morphed from," Ax lectured.
"Ax-man, it was a joke."
"Oh. Yes. Ye-hess. Human humor. Sarcasm. Casm. Ha. Ha."
"Don't do that again," Marco warned. "Or I'll drown you."
"I believe doing so would cause you to become in trouble with your human law, Marco," Ax said matter of factly.
"Sometimes I really wonder what keeps me from hitting you," Marco muttered under his breath.
Meanwhile, Cassie had pulled me away from the others and pointed towards the horizon.
"Doesn't that look a bit odd to you?" She asked, gesturing.
"Doesn't what look a bit odd?"
"The fact that there's about five or six oil tankers out on the ocean, in the same spot? Oil tankers aren't even supposed to be near here," she said indignantly.
I shrugged. "Cass, so what if there's some oil tankers out there? Can't we just enjoy ourselves and forget about it?" Cassie gave me a steely look. "I'll take that as a no?"
"What's up?" Rachel asked curiously, "Why are you looking at the horizon?"
"Cassie finds it suspicious that there are boats out there," Marco said. He'd obviously overheard.
"Suspicious. Picious. Sss," Ax mused from behind us.
"Cassie, there are always boats on the water. Boats float on water, boats are a mode of transportation used for the water, boats-"
"Marco, do us a favor?"
"Yes, Xena?"
"Shut up."
"No, Xena."
"Next time I'm a grizzly bear I'll-"
"Rachel," I warned, and she grinned sheepishly at me.
"Cassie, what did you say about the boats?" Tobias asked quietly.
"Well, five or six oil tankers aren't usually congregated around one spot, unless- Wait! There's another bunch of them over there." We all squinted and stared out on the horizon. Sure enough, there was another five or six boats joining the ones there.
"I don't like the looks of that," Cassie said quietly.
"Well, let's go check it out," Rachel said impulsively.
"Rach, that's really far out on the water," Tobias said.
"Yeah, well, the sacrifices of being an Animorph are-"
"Oh shut up, Marco."
"Ax? What do you think?" I asked him.
"I'm unsure, Prince Jake. Perhaps we could give the man in the booth monetary notes in exchange for another hot dog. Dog. Ggg. Then, perhaps we could think it over?"
I sighed. The fact was, I was hungry, and I didn't really want to investigate the fleet of oil tankers all congregating on the horizon. I was quite enjoying being on the beach with Cassie. And, everyone else, of course.
I looked around at everyone. As the fearless leader, it was my job to make the choice. Eat, or investigate.
"Let's go," I said resignedly.
"Let's do it!" Rachel said happily. How she was happy, I was totally unsure.
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