Author's Note: Wheee! Another chapter for me! *happy dance* Getting a week off for Thanksgiving is /definitely/ a good thing. Oh, and thankies muchly to my reviewers. ^_^
SD: lol! Yeah, that's where that quote's from. And glad you think I got them all right…I'm trying, at least. .
DH: Eee…Awful at summaries, but I'll try. Yup, Reese and Sam were transported to the Animorph world from our world. Neither of them knows the other is there, and Reese doesn't even know what world she's in. Sam talks to animals, and Reese can scream and break things. Mmm…I think that's it. And yay, I hoped I was doing an okay job on Marco. Thanks for putting me on your favorites, too! *^_^*
Disclaimer: "I don't like this cat. He reads minds."
Chapter Nine – Reese
aka I Do NOT Have A Crush On Marco
Detention is boring. Just incase you weren't aware of that fact, I'd like to let you in on it. Boring, boring, boring. And not only is it boring, it's long. Longer than usual today because the genius and his friends sitting behind me decided they needed to hold a wrestling contest halfway through. Which made the teacher keep us all /longer/. Damn stupid jocks. How I hate them.
When detention finally let out, I hung around school for a bit, debating whether or not I wanted to go home or to the woods. I rummaged around in my backpack and found Cerulean Sins. It's a book, obviously, and a really good one. I was near the end, and felt like going for a walk, anyway, so I decided to head to the woods. I have this strange sort of obsession about finding a really nice spot in the woods to plop down and get into a good book. I think Sammie's been rubbing off on me.
Don't tell her I said that, though. She'll insist on gloating.
Anyway, I headed out towards the woods. I walked by this empty alley that always gives me the creeps. It's not the sort of place I'd like to be after dark. I knew it was empty because as I was walking there, a truck screeched out, nearly running me over. A sign on the side of the truck said 'Graham's Travelling Circus,' so I proceeded to cuss out Graham, his circus, and several of his close family members. Unfortunately, the driver didn't seem to hear me, 'cause he just kept right on going.
I grumbled to myself as I walked past the alley, continuing on towards the woods and clutching my book to my chest. I wasn't too far when I discovered a nice little place. It was a small clearing with a thick patch of moss growing under a random tree. I plopped down into it, leaned my back against the tree, then opened my book and started reading.
Several chapters later, I heard the sound of leaves being stepped on. I barely had time to look up when a boy about my age stepped out from the trees. I peered at him and was a bit shocked to find it was Marco. I was about to demand to know why he was out here when he beat me to it.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, sounding surprised.
Well, now I couldn't act surprised, just because he was. I held up my book. "Reading." I replied calmly. "It's where you look at letters and words and figure out what they mean."
"Oh." He said, then added, "I didn't know you could do that."
"Yup." I nodded, eyes going back to my book. "Doctor Suess are my favorite."
"Awwww…you're reading big girl books….I'm so proud of you." Marco informed me.
"Thank you ever so much." I replied dryly. "We all know that my lifelong dream is for you to be proud of me."
He snickered. "You staying out here long?"
"Probably not. I should be heading in soon." I was sort of curious as to why he wanted to know, but I didn't say anything. Probably just making conversation.
"Oh, okay. I'll see you in school, then." He waved and started off.
"Bye." I called, waving myself, then returned to the book.
I had only read about another paragraph when I heard a voice call from the trees.
"Wow. I think that's the nicest I've ever seen you be to someone who surprised you like that." A large black wolf trotted into view, followed by my midget of a cousin.
"Heya Sammie, Ara. And I know. Aren't you ever so proud of me?" I replied, even though I was starting to wonder why I hadn't bitten his head of for first sneaking up on me, then insulting me. Okay, well, it wasn't the teasing that bothered me. It was the sneaking up. That tended to make me crabby. And when I'm crabby I'm usually a bitch. Hmmm. A mystery.
"Uh-huh. Soooo…..someone's got a crush…." Sammie said, grinning.
"I do not! Ew! How could you even suggest I have a crush on Marco!" And yet…no. I do not like Marco.
"Whatever you say. CoughReeselikesMarcocough." Sammie covered her mouth with a pale hand, like she was really coughing.
"Oh, shut up and get lost. You are obviously delirious. I don't know what else would put that idea into your head." I turned my nose up at her, then buried it into my book, pretending like I was very interested in it.
"Mmm-hmm. Lalala…Reese likes Marco….Lalala…." She called even as she and Arabus turned tail and headed in a different direction. "Oh, Reese? I just have one thing to say to you, even though you won't get it. Save the skunks, Earth Sister. Save the skunks."
I didn't really hear her right then. I was too busy informing myself exactly how stupid this whole thing was. So Marco and I had had a class together for like, four years. So we liked to sit in the back and talk about how stupid school was. So we liked to trade cheerful insults. So what? So what if he was kinda cute…Okay, sort of really cute….I so did not like Marco. The idea was idiotic. It was insane. It was ludicrous! Yeah, that's a good word. Ludicrous…..I like that word….
Then I registered Sam's last comment. Save the skunks? Why did that sound familiar? Because…because it was a joke Bri had told me. No, not really a joke, a….Well, I couldn't really remember what it was. But it was something Bri had said. And now Sammie was saying it. So…was it possible Sammie could be Bri? Or maybe Sam had said it, too, although I didn't remember her saying it. Well, I guess the only way to find out was to ask her. The answer was worth her possibly thinking I'm insane, right? Right. I pushed myself off of the mossy floor and started towards home.