Just as she was starting to get out the sliced turkey, though, Cassie started hearing the voices of her parents coming through the door. Tiptoeing back to the door, Cassie pressed her ear against it.
"See? What did I tell you?" Aisha said, obviously smug.
"You were right, as usual," Walter agreed, chuckling softly.
"It's the only way. Cassie already does so much work around the house. What else can we really do? It wouldn't be fair to give her extra work as punishment, and making her stay in her room doesn't really work, since she has all sorts of things to distract her in there."
"You're right. But none of that changes the fact that we have raised a very responsible, very mature little girl. Cassie is one cool kid," Walter said, the tone of his voice making it obvious that he was smiling fondly.
Cassie felt warm inside, knowing that not only did her parents love her, they also liked her as a person. It was a nice thing to know, since Cassie felt the same way about them. But Cassie had a feeling that their discussion wasn't finished, so she pressed herself against the door again, listening.
"Yes," Aisha said, her tone conveying the same kind of smile as Walter's had. "Cassie is, without a doubt, one of the coolest kids in the world. But, on those rare occasions when she really screws up, the only way to discipline her is to embarrass her."
Both her mom and dad had a good laugh over that. That was pretty much the end of Cassie's warm, happy glow. I guess you can never really trust parents, Cassie thought, suppressing an urge to sigh in resignation.
"Maybe next time we can tell her we're going to have Jake and his parents over to discuss rules for their relationship," Aisha suggested.
More laughter, louder this time.
"Or, as a backup plan, we could tell her that we're going to take her to Father Banion for a family discussion about intimacy," Walter suggested.
Cassie sighed again, turning away from the door to lean her back against the wall. Great. Just what I needed, for my parents to know about my feelings for Jake. And they also know that mentioning it in any way, shape, or form will make me want to die from embarrassment. Sometimes observant parents are more trouble than they're worth.
Deciding to eat now and think about what to do about her parents later, Cassie quickly selected the ingredients she needed for her turkey sandwich, put it together, then headed up to her room. Cassie intended to get some work done on the homework that had been piling up on her desk, but first she had to make her way across the maze of junk on her floor.
I really should clean up my room someday, but there's never any time. Cassie laughed at herself as she stepped over all the detritus on her floor. Looking at her desk, Cassie saw that she would need to make some room for herself to work. Cassie chuckled again. Something was nagging at her, though, something that Visser Three had said. Backup plan… what would he need a backup plan for? We all know that that… thing in Area 51 is completely useless.
Unless… unless he doesn't want it for what it does, but for what it is Cassie mused. Looking back at her homework, Cassie thought that over; it didn't seem like that important of a realization. She decided to put it aside for the day, or night as was the case now. Clearing off a space at her desk, Cassie sat down to work. More geometry homework, great, Cassie thought sarcastically.
After awhile, Cassie got tired of working and decided to go to bed. Slipping out of the clothes that she had put on when she had landed in the barn, clothes that Rachel had bought for her, Cassie put on her favorite pair of pajamas. They were pink cotton and had pictures of dozing kittens all over them. Cassie liked kittens, even a little more than she liked most other animals.
Of course, if Rachel ever saw these, she would probably have a reason to tease me about it, Cassie laughed to herself. Rachel wasn't one for cute little things like kittens anymore. Climbing into bed, Cassie decided that she would think more about Visser Three's plans in the morning. Laying her head on the pillow, Cassie drifted off into sleep.
It wasn't all that long before Cassie woke up again; the thoughts that had been chasing each other around inside her head had finally settled into a coherent whole. However, the thoughts that Cassie was having now were not the kind that would let her rest peacefully; or at all. Cassie sat up abruptly, glad for once that she had forgotten to take her morphing outfit off when she had shed her regular clothes.
"So that's why he wants it!" Cassie exclaimed, having a rather unfortunately timed epiphany. But she exclaimed quietly, since there were still other people asleep in the house. "It's not because it's anything important, but it is an alien artifact. The Yeerks don't want us to even know about life on other planets, let alone have tangible proof of it."
One of the reasons that the secret Yeerk invasion of Earth was going so well, Cassie knew, was the fact that the average person didn't believe in aliens. But if the government said that there was proof of life on other planets, no matter how some people might distrust them, people would believe them. That was why the Yeerks couldn't allow the Air Force to keep what they had out at Area 51.
Cassie debated sleeping on her new information; but at that moment she remembered something that had been lurking in the back of her mind since she had gotten back from Area 51 the first time: the sign-up sheet for the trip to The Gardens. That was what had prompted her to take Slade there to get his panther morph, but why would it be bothering her now?
Wait, Visser Three talked about a back-up plan; could that be it? Cassie realized that it probably was. Of course, that would be the perfect time for him to infest all those poor people… Well, maybe not the perfect time, but Visser Three has never been one for patience, and this will be the soonest opportunity he's going to get. Tomorrow night at nineteen-hundred hours, whenever that was, The Gardens would be full of a lot of the people that staffed Area 51.
Cassie took a look at her bedside clock, grimacing. It was 2:03 in the morning. So I guess that means I'm going to have to tell the others today. Gah, I hate Sundays. Cassie sighed softly, Sunday was only a day away from Monday, after all, and Monday was Cassie's least favorite day of the week. Just one more day before I have to go back to school, Cassie sighed again. This hasn't been a very restful weekend at all.
