Chapter 3 already. What can I say? I felt like writing and I did. This is Sabrina's POV. Thought I'd change the title too. I didn't like the first one. Ah well.

Note to Addy Chan: Glad to see you're still a R/M fan. (laughs) You should remember some of this. You were around when I wrote it!

Chapter 3

Heart pounding I ran around the curb. I hadn't gotten too far from that house when -

" Oomp! Hey watch it!" I get snappish when I'm scared.

Slightly taken aback I noticed who had ran into. It was Jake. And he was standing there scowling at me. Not good. You see , Jake hardly ever scowls , but when he does you're in trouble.

And I had a feeling he knew exactly where I'd been spending my time the last hour.

" Do you know that controllers tracked you this afternoon?" he demanded in a not so calm voice.

Oh. That would explain how Chapman figured it out. Someone had probably alerted him that there was a Mendelite 'spy' in his house. It didn't explain why I was tracked.

" Why would they be watching me?" I tried for a humorous tone. " I assure you I am not that interesting."

Jake didn't look amused. He looked angry. " I wasn't going to say anything about it at first because I respected you enough as another leader to not have to tell you what to do. But now it's causing problems."

He ran his fingers through his hair looking nervous , almost embarrassed by what he had to tell me. " They've been noticing all the time you spend around Melissa Chapman. I don't know if you two are friends or what , but they're getting suspicious. And today their suspicions seem confirmed."

My stomach turned. I know it was foolish to go to Melissa's house. It's hard to explain but I felt like she had almost needed it. It was like someone was calling for help and no one was bothering to even look up. And I considered Melissa a friend.

On the other hand if something happened to Melissa because I was at her house..I felt like I had two choices and neither were nice. Not go and feel like dirt , or compromise my responsibility as a leader for one night , and possibly rouse suspicion from Chapman which would , probably , make him begin to suspect Melissa.

I have a great life , don't I?

" Why did you go to that house? Did you just suddenly forget who you are and what you do and what Chapman is and what he does? And not to sound like Marco , but , are you insane?"

He stood there glaring at me , waiting for a reply .

" She and I are good friends at school. She asked me to go to her house ..so I went." It was weak excuse. It even sounded weak to me. But it was the truth. " And she told me that neither of them would be home."

" No excuse!" he snapped.

" Nobody should be that alone, Jake." I said softly. " For my part , I like this kid. And I just keep seeing her slip further away every day. She doesn't have anybody. I know what I did today was stupid , but can't you understand?"

For a moment Jake's expression wavered , then it hardened again. " You all came here: Lavender , Madison , M.C., and the rest to save this planet , not just one lonely girl."

I felt myself getting angry. I started to protest but he cut me off. " I realize you guys were forced into this and you probably don't even WANT to be here. But too bad! I don't care if that's harsh. We wish we could be normal too. You didn't come to socialize , you came to be our support in this war."

" So what am I supposed to do? Become detached like you?! Block everyone one out?!" I hissed so no one would hear me.

I saw his eyes flicker. He was hurt. It was meant to hurt.

" You know what? We've had these fights before and I know I'm not going to convince you. You talk about it with your people. But if you screw up and get yourselves in trouble, don't expect US to get you out."

He turned and walked always. I was shocked. It was cold. Colder than Jake had ever been. But I also knew he meant it.

I sighed and kicked an empty coke can.

I knew when the military personnel walked into that classroom and told us we were being recruited to train , it was going to be hard. And probably even horrible. I knew I wouldn't come back the same.

But I never suspected something as small as this would be and obstacle , and now I didn't know what to do.

I gritted my teeth. I envied those on the home world who didn't have to put up with this.

We were , by mere physiological luck , a race of fighters to be reckoned with. Our instincts were sharp. And we were intelligent strategists. Maybe in you've heard of something called chi , or ki in martial arts. We are born with chi high enough to levitate off the ground and fly.

But at heart , we favored art and music. And we loved to build things and dream up things. We are widely known in the galaxy for our superior art skills and creations.

Like most races , we did war on each other once. But after a while it became an annoyance. It got in the way of our love creating or writing , or drawing. It was more important to us than fighting one another.

But then we allied ourselves with the andalites and agreed to fight. They must have been desperate. Andalites are so proud. I nearly choked when we first heard that they were asking for our help.

We were loaded on a ship and we received a message to meet with a Dome Ship. But it was a cleverly laid out trap for us. Yeerk intelligence caught wind of the fact that the Andalites had new allies. It wasn't entirely a lie. We found a Dome Ship - crippled then blasted away in front of our very eyes. Visser Three thought it would be amusing to show to us.

But I've skipped many things. The fear , the disbelief. I was a kid! What right did they have to drag us into this? But after what I saw - what right did we have to sit back while our soldiers died?

So me and my friends are the only ones who escaped to Earth. We were basically wondering around in the woods and starving when by lucky chance we happened to see Aximili feeding in a field.

It was ironic really. We knew him , and he knew us. And so we met the animorphs.

I began to walk home , trying to remember things the way they were before it had gotten so crazy.

Plus , Jake was right. But I wasn't worried about me. I could more than handle Yeerk scum. If Melissa was in trouble then it was my fault. But how could I help her and not draw attention?

The only solution I came up with was to stay away from her , but what kind of an answer was that? She'd already lost one friend.

I gritted my teeth. You'd think with all the problems in the world , there'd be more answers!

So concludes chapter 3. Poor Sabrina. Decisions , decisions. However in the next chapter the plot should thicken. It may seem slow , but so were some of the best books I'd ever read. I know I've said it once but again won't hurt: a story is no good , if you don't even know what's going on.