CHAPTER 10: Weekend Break

(MIKE'S POV)

It was Sunday morning. I had a day to kill until Jake brought us all together to tell us about the Yeerk Pool entrance at their school. So that left me with one whole day to do as I pleased, in a world where the Animorphs are real and I had the power to morph any animal I touched…

So I decided to go shopping. I know what you're thinking, but believe me I when I say that I had to go shopping. The Ellimist had done great setting me up with a house, furniture, and other things that would be too big for me to carry back to my place in the woods (somehow I doubted they would deliver there). However, anything else I might need for my new place I would have to buy myself. What I didn't get was the strange rules the Ellimist played by. He gave me a fridge, so why wasn't it stocked with food? There was a TV, DVD player and Wii console, but no DVDs or games. He's a strange guy the Ellimist, but since he also gave me my own bank account book with contained ten thousand dollars in it, I wasn't going to complain! True the money would have to last me for as long as I was staying here, but that didn't mean I couldn't live a little.

I picked up some food and drink for my fridge and then headed over to the mall to check out some of the more interesting stores. I admit I went a bit crazy in the DVD section, and I bought a few CDs and games too. Let's just say it took a while to carry them all back to my house in the middle of the woods.

After dropping off my shopping at home, I headed back into town. If I was going to be living here, I figured I should start to learn my way around the place. True I could have done that from the air in my hawk morph, but the bird's eye view wouldn't help much for when I had to walk around the city as a human. I was a slightly tempted to go looking for Erika, maybe even track her movements for a few days to see if she was a Controller, but the sane part of me realised that sounded way too much like stalking. My suspicions of her being a Controller weren't an excuse to spy on a possibly innocent girl. Even so, I would have liked to see her again. Maybe if I spent more time with her I might be able to work out if she was a Controller or not.

Suddenly realising that I was hungry and that it was around lunch time, I headed over to the McDonalds across the street. I figured it was probably safe to eat there as long as I didn't order a Happy Meal.

"Mike! What a surprise!"

To my amazement, it was Erika calling out to me. She looked like she'd just sat down to eat, and had obviously seen me come in.

There is a God, I thought. And he has a sense of humour…

"Hey Erika, nice seeing you again." I replied with a smile. Controller or not, she was very cute and I don't talk to cute girls everyday.

"You want to sit with me? I'm here alone so there's a spare seat."

"Sure, just let me get some lunch."

Okay, so at least she doesn't have a Happy Meal, that's good. Of course, maybe they haven't added a Pool entrance here yet. Besides, even Controllers need to eat, so I'm no closer to knowing anything really. I sighed to myself as I waited in line for my food. You think first dates are scary? Try dating a girl who might have an alien slug in her head!

Wait a second, did I just call this a date?

"Welcome to McDonalds can I take your ord-"

"Not the Happy Meal!" I blurted out without thinking.

"Okayyyy. What do you want then?" The confused guy at the till asked me.

I gave him my order and prayed to God that he wasn't a Controller. Since the guy didn't look at me suspiciously or invite me to get a slug shoved down my ear, I assumed that he wasn't, so I took my food over to Erika's table.

Luckily I managed to keep the conversation about her for a while, as there wasn't much I could really tell her about my life here. I didn't go to school and I lived in the woods. Those are two things that don't go down well on most first dates. So instead I asked her about her school, her hobbies, etc. Sadly none of it help me find out if she was a Controller or not, and I didn't think it was wise to ask her if she was a full member of The Sharing. To be honest, I was a little afraid of what the answer might be.

"So anyway, I've not seen you around school or anything before Mike. Did you just move here or something?"

Oh yeah, I moved from a place really far away!

"Um, yeah I've only been in town a few days." I said. "My parents haven't signed me up for school yet."

"I knew you weren't from around here. What state are you from?" She asked.

"Oh I'm not from the States." I replied. "I'm English."

"Really? That's cool. I should've guessed from your accent."

"What accent?" I'd never thought I had an accent before. "Do I sound British now guvnor?" I said in an exaggerated British voice.

Erika laughed. She had a nice laugh.

"Well you don't sound like the British stereotype, but you definitely don't sound American." She pointed out.

"Well you don't sound like the American stereotype."

"That's because I'm not from Texas."

"And I'm not from London!" I winked.

She laughed again, but then her mobile phone started to ring and she answered it.

"Hi Vicky! I'm out with a friend. Sure I'll be there Monday night. See ya then!"

"Something happening on Monday?" I asked as she finished the call.

"Just getting together with some friends. Girl's night out. Anyway, I better get going before my mum starts thinking I've been kidnapped or something. You know what parents are like." She rolled her eyes.

"That's okay, we have parents like that in England too." I said with a smile.

"You still have my number right?" I nodded. "Good, call me sometime!" And with that she walked out, leaving me feeling on top of the world. All thoughts of Yeerk Pools and Controllers were temporarily washed away.

It's a beautiful day, a cute girl likes me and unlike the rest of the kids in this town, I don't have to worry about school tomorrow! I thought happily. I think I'll go for another fly round the forest…