Chapter Fourteen

Marco:

Well, that was the end of our whole stupid adventure. We discovered the Yeerks were starting a dating project and went through a whole fiasco trying to figure out how to stop it, only to have Visser Three pull the plug on the whole deal. Basically, we could have stayed at home and done nothing, and the problem would have solved itself. Awesome.

But if there's one good thing that came out of all of this, at least our misadventure at the Sharing's offices solved my problems of what to do with Melissa.

See, I stopped by her locker the next morning. She looked kind of sad.

"Hi, Melissa," I said.

"Hey, Marco," she replied. "I've got some bad news."

"What?"

"My dad grounded me for life yesterday," Melissa said. "Apparently, a whole bunch of people saw me streaking at the Sharing last night."

"You went streak—?"

"NO," Melissa said. "Like I told Dad, I was at home the whole time! I don't know what the heck he's talking about!"

I felt kind of bad for Melissa. She had gotten in trouble for something I had done, and there was no way I could ever explain it to her. And then I felt bad because her getting in trouble with her dad was good for me.

"So, basically, you're grounded for no reason," I said.

"Yeah," Melissa said. "Majorly grounded."

"That stinks," I said. "I'm sorry that—"

"That's not all. Dad also checked the class attendance records, and found out that I skipped class with you yesterday," Melissa said.

"Uh oh," I said.

"So in addition to grounding me forever, he's forbidden me from talking to you ever again."

"That seems...harsh," I said. "Actually, that totally stinks! We can't hang out anymore?"

"No," Melissa said. "I'm sorry. I don't know why my dad is being such a jerk."

It's because he's an evil alien from outer space, I thought.

"Oh well," I said. "Maybe it's for the best. Your friend Rachel said she'd kill me if so much as looked at you again."

Melissa laughed.

"So this is goodbye?" I asked.

"At least until I'm un-grounded," Melissa said.

"Okay. Goodbye, Melissa," I said, hugging her.

"Goodbye," she said. "If your phone ever ends up in my backpack again, I'll know what to do."

"Thanks," I said. "See ya."

I turned around and made the long journey back to my locker. At least, it seemed long to me.

Jake caught up with me soon afterwards. "I saw that," he said.

"Yippy for you," I muttered.

"Marco, I know it sounds corny, but I'm proud of you," Jake said. "You did the right thing. I'm not sure I would have been able to break up with the only girl who's ever shown any interest in me."

"Since when is Melissa the only girl who's shown interest in me?" I asked. "Jake, you may not know it, but tons of girls are into me."

"Really?" Jake asked jokingly.

"There's plenty of fish in the sea, and I have a shark morph. Life isn't so bad."

Plus, I didn't need a girlfriend anymore. I had a girl morph now.

Life was definitely not bad at all.