A/N: I promised a chapter in 48 hours and I have come through on my promise (though I'm cutting it short) :D I'm hoping you all enjoy this chapter, and I'm not sure when the next one will be. I'll try for 48 hours again, but it probably won't happen. Hope you enjoy this chapter, though it is shorter.

Chapter 19

Rachel

I left early for our meeting. I figured it couldn't hurt to talk things over with Cassie. Besides, I wanted to get as far away from my mother as possible. I couldn't look at her without shuddering.

As I approached the barn, I could hear voices chatting away. I frowned, thinking it might be Cassie's parents. Usually Cassie was always found in the barn, so it wouldn't be unusual for me to go in there looking for her first. As I walked in the opened barn door, I froze at what I saw. Jake, Cassie, Erek, and Marco. Talking plans. Without me.

"What is going on here?" I demanded, feeling my anger resurface. The talking ceased and they all stared at me. Poor pitiful Rachel with her boyfriend captured that she can't be of any use to us. That's what their expressions read. That and shock. That's right, they didn't think I'd find out. Well that's what they get for assuming.

"Rachel"

"I know what this looks like Cassie." I said, and laughed bitterly. "It looks like a meeting. But it wouldn't be a meeting, without me present, now would it?"

"Rachel" Cassie started again and I shot her a glare.

"Did you really want to talk to me Cass? Or was that a play to have 'Rachel accidentally' here!" I demanded. I never yelled at Cassie. Ever. In the years we've been friends, we've fought, disagreed. But we never yelled at each other. Not like I am right now.

Cassie looked away from me and I swore I saw a guilty look on her face. Good, I thought. She should be guilty.

"Rachel, we couldn't plan with you around."

"Like hell you could!" I yelled at Jake. Jake my cousin. I thought he would understand me. He knows what makes me tick; he made that clear after the whole David fiasco. This just proves once and for all that Jake doesn't know me as well as he thinks he does.

"Rachel, we needed a plan, we needed to view the angles. I'm not going to bring us back in without a solid plan. I won't repeat myself again. I wanted us to start the process of planning before you got here, so if you want to be mad at someone, be mad at me." Jake stated and added "I figured if we had everything planned, we could just"

"Do the mission without me!" I demanded. Jake looked like he wanted to hit me. That's ok, I wanted to hit him too.

"Cassie wanted to include you and I said no. And Marco? He's just following my orders."

"Hey!" Marco objected. Jake shot him a glare and Marco piped down.

"I have to do what I think is best for the team. If you're unwilling or unable to work as a team, no one will hold it against you, but I can't have you jeopardizing everyone else." I stared at Jake and he stared back. At that moment, I realized that Jake was destined to do this. To be the leader of the Animorphs. He was the one who gave orders to everyone else to be followed. He knew what he was doing and the team needed me. More importantly, Tobias needs me.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world." I said and Jake smiled at me and they filled me on the planning so far.

Thanks to:

rockergurl13: I actually got that from a phone conversation with my friends and I. I was pretty much Marco, sept I was hoping for a hot guy from school ;D, and my friend was pretty much Jake. :D Gatta love real life stuff to incorporate into a story

Shadow: eeehhh, can't say. You'll find out next chapter, though I'd love to give you an answer…you'll find out in the next chapter.

GenesisDragon: well, when I was writing it I never specifically said who worked there…,I actually double checked my writings, which I add, is a first, and I'm not going to say the whole 'because I'm the author, I'm making it that way' I actually have a thought process on that one. I originally had it wrote as a completely Yeerk controlled corp. BUT, then I remembered, as I was typing that chap up, that Marco's dad helped developed a Z-Space something or other, and he didn't have a yeerk in his head all the while he worked for a company that had to have some kind of yeerk control. So, as my theory would go, they haven't completely infested all the staff yet, but they are doing so gradually, hence why there is still precautionary measures needed to be taken for any innocent bystander plus the whole Erek thing was refering about the Animorph's vs. the Yeerks. I guess I could have made that clearer. Erek technically can't help them if they are asking his help to potentially harm even the Yeerks, and that would still be beyond Erek's programming. Does that make any sense on the previous chapter? I tend to OVER-explain things and make it more confusing than it really is. :D Hope that clears stuff up

LucreziaNoin86: everyone has to be weird in their own way..or else everyone would be the same and the world would be a boring place. Btw: from my A/N's I think you can tell I have a weird streak myself…including my tendency to ramble on for pages at a time…maybe that's why I make a good writer…

Quillian: well…yeah…in a way…I don't want to reveal too much soI guess I'll just leave it like that…