Chapter 8: Meeting Faith

Mindy grabbed her fish off the fire and took a large bite. Then she grabbed the other fish and handed it to Ahsoka.

"Here," she said. Ahsoka took it.

"Thanks," she replied, and took a much smaller bite than her newfound blonde friend. "So, tell me about this friend of yours, Mindy," Ahsoka said.

"Well, her name is Faith," Mindy began. "Faith Long. She's been my closest friend for years, despite the fact we didn't even go to the same school together. Whenever we hung out and someone walked past us and made fun of me, Faith would come to my defense every time, physically, verbally, any way. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that she was my best friend and I didn't ever want it to change!" Mindy's happiness quickly turned into sadness. "Of course, we lost contact with each other when..." She trailed off. "We haven't seen or talked to each other since."

"She sounds like a cool person," Ahsoka said.

"She is," Mindy replied, as she took a bite of cereal she had in a bowl in front of her. "She's really nice and understanding. And I'll finally get to see her again today!"

Ahsoka smiled, and took a bite of some pancakes Mindy had made for her.

"There is one thing, Ahsoka."

"What?"

"We can't let your identity leak out into the world."

"That makes sense."

"I mean, it happens all the time in the movies; the people discover the alien that the main kid is friends with, they capture it in order to do supposed 'research' on it, and in the process, that alien eventually dies," Mindy replied.

"Wow," Ahsoka said. "Do life forms from other galaxies really come here that often?"

Mindy chuckled slightly. "No, it's only in movies...most of the time. Except for now, obviously. "

"So, what are we gonna do?" Ahsoka asked.

"We're gonna whip up a disguise for you convincing enough to get into Faith's house," said Mindy. "Faith may be a kind and trusting person but you'll need to watch out for her mom."

"How come?"

"If she catches you as you are right now, then all that stuff I described earlier may happen," said Mindy.

"Well, then we gotta come up with something convincing," said Ahsoka. "What have you got?"

"Hold on," Mindy replied. "I have a jacket with a hood here." She got up, picked up a dark red hoodie from the picnic bench and brought it over. "Try this on," she said, handing the hoodie to Ahsoka. Ahsoka did as she was told, and the hoodie fit nearly perfectly. It covered Ahsoka's face, for the most part, with only the tips of her head tails hanging out from under the hood.

"Think this'll be good?" Ahsoka asked.

"Hmm..." Mindy looked Ahsoka up and down carefully. "I think so, but just in case..." Mindy picked up a hair band from the picnic table bench and handed it to Ahsoka. "Here. Tie your head tails back with this. I don't think you'll actually need this, but I don't wanna take any chances."

"Right. I understand," Ahsoka replied. She did as she was told once again. When she was done, her head tails were no longer stuck out, and instead looked like dyed white hair tied back in a ponytail.

"How's this?" Ahsoka inquired.

"That's good," Mindy said. "Until we get to Faith's house, you should be able to blend into a crowd."

"Good," Ahsoka said. "What time is it?"

Mindy glanced at her iPhone. "10:45," she said. "We should probably head out soon. You finished with your breakfast yet?"

"Just about," Ahsoka said.

"Okay, then, let's go," Mindy said as she put her plate aside and stood up.

"How do we get there?" Ahsoka asked. "On that thing over there?" She gestured to the motorcycle Mindy had used to get away from Josh 4 months ago, which was now lying on the ground of the campsite, rotting away.

"You mean the motorcycle?" Ahsoka nodded.

"No," Mindy replied. "That thing ran out of fuel once I got here and the next gas station isn't for miles."

"Oh," Ahsoka replied. "I guess we start walking then."

Mindy sighed. She hated long periods of walking, but what other choice did they have?

"Fine," she said. She grabbed her phone and they tore through the trees in the other direction towards Faith's house.

Ahsoka and Mindy stood on the front porch of an odd-looking house. At least, to Ahsoka it looked odd. This was the place, and they were completely out of breath.

"We're here," Mindy said, both excitedly and nervously. "You nervous?"

"A little," Ahsoka replied. "You?"

"Not really," said Mindy. "Actually, I'm kind of excited. I haven't seen Faith in so long. You're gonna like her so much, I promise!" She reached out her arm and knocked on the door.

"I'll be right there!" A voice called from inside. Faint footsteps could be heard from the inside of the house, getting closer and closer.

The door opened. It had been answered by a black girl. She was several inches taller than Mindy, a little chubby, and wore a black tank top with jean shorts. She was barefooted, and wore her dark hair up in an afro, held back only by a black headband which was barely visible from a distance. She wore a big, greeting smile, which turned even bigger when she saw Mindy. She spoke.

"Hey!" she said excitedly.

"Hey!" Mindy echoed back in the same tone of excitement, if not more.

The girl picked Mindy up and wrapped her in a hug. Mindy seemed uncomfortable at first, almost choked, but then loosened her arms and hugged back. Then the girl realized what she was doing, put Mindy down and apologized.

"It's been so long! How've you been?" the girl asked.

"Good," Mindy replied.

"What's been going on with you? I gotta know!" Just then, the girl noticed Ahsoka. "Who's your friend?"

"Oh," Mindy said. "This is-" They hadn't thought of a fake name!

"Uh..."

"It's... Alaina!" Mindy said quickly. "Yeah! Alaina! That's it! That's her name!"

"Nice to meet you, Alaina," the girl said. "I'm Faith."

So that was Faith. "Nice to meet you, too," Ahsoka smiled and nodded.

"Come on in, you guys!" Faith said. The girls entered. Mindy was right. Faith was really nice. Faith led Ahsoka and Mindy through a comfy-looking living room with a red velvet couch the same color of Ahsoka's normal outfit, a few windows, a glass coffee table covered with valuables and picture frames, even ones with sarcastic headings, and light green curtains in front of the windows, then a hallway with white walls and cabinets and doors of the same color, one door open ajar at the end of the hallway. It looked like the master bedroom from what Ahsoka saw through the crack. Finally, they reached a door on the right side. Faith opened the door leading to a room that was undoubtedly was her room. It had light purple walls, a bed in the corner of the room, a huge window right next to it, a desk cluttered with a variety of supplies on top of it, and right next to the desk, a large brown boudoir and a much smaller closet. Ahsoka felt comfortable in this room.

"You can just sit down anywhere," Faith said. So the two sat crisscrossed on the floor while Faith closed the door behind them.

"So, what's happened, Mindy? I remember you were having some trouble with your family," Faith asked once she sat down.

Mindy began. Ahsoka braced herself. She started at the night she ran away from her parents, not mentioning anything about her ability tumor. When it got to be too much for Mindy to continue - although the tears did not come this time, just a bit of sobbing - Ahsoka continued for her. And when they were done, Faith sat for a moment, almost uncomprehending.

"Oh, my God," Faith said. "You've been through a lot since last time, Mindy. I'm so sorry that happened to you."

"It's fine," Mindy said, trying and failing to cover up her sadness. "It's all in the past now. Anyway, I'm not the one we're here for."

"What do you mean?"

"Ahsoka," Mindy said, as she turned to her Togruta friend. "You can take off the disguise now."

Almost as if taking an order from her Master, Ahsoka removed her hood and the hair tie from her head tails, letting them fall into their usual place. She unzipped the hoodie, slipped it off, and let it fall to the floor behind her, revealing her normal outfit. Faith was shocked and confused, to say the least.

"Mindy, what's going on?" Faith asked, and turning to Ahsoka continued. "Who are you? What are you? I wanna know right now!"

"Alright." Ahsoka took a breath and began. "My real name is Ahsoka Tano. I am the Padawan of Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker..." Ahsoka told her entire story to Faith of how she came to be friends with Mindy, and when she finished, it took a moment for Faith to respond.

"Sooo...you're an alien?" She asked after a minute.

"Well..." Ahsoka replied hesitantly.

"Technically speaking, yes, she is an alien," Mindy said on Ahsoka's behalf.

Faith chuckled. "Cool!" she said.

"Wait, so you're not mad?" Mindy asked.

"No!" Faith replied. "This is the coolest thing ever, having an alien in your house, and more importantly, getting it to be your friend! And any friend of Mindy's is a friend of mine, too. Don't worry, Ahsoka. Your secret's safe with me."

Ahsoka nodded in gratitude. "However," Faith continued. "If you're gonna be living on Earth for a while, you're gonna need a good disguise, because this-" she gestured to Ahsoka's outfit. "-isn't gonna cut it."

"That's why I came here with Ahsoka, because, as you can see, my costuming skills are definitely not...spectacular." Mindy said, giggling slightly about halfway through before regaining her composure and continuing. "I know that you're much better than me at makeup, and fashion and all that jazz. Do you think you could help us come up with something convincing?"

"Definitely!" Faith replied. "I mean, who knows how long Ahsoka's going to be on Earth, or if she's ever even going away at all?"

"Exactly," Ahsoka said. "If anything, I know that my Master is looking for me, but I don't even know how long it will take until I'm found. It may be only a couple days, or years."

"Yes," said Faith. "So we better get moving."

For the rest of the day, the girls worked hard to come up with a disguise for Ahsoka that would convince anyone they came across that she was a human just like the rest of them. The Togruta Padawan tried on various outfits and accessories until they found something perfect. Faith was able to create a wig that would fit perfectly over Ahsoka's head tails, as well as conceal them, and would feel good at the same time. She also came up with a makeup pattern for her face that completely covered up the white marks on her face, while also looking totally natural. Occasionally, Mindy had pitched in to help and even Ahsoka offered up a few suggestions, but it was mainly Faith who had the inspiration.

Hours later, they were done. Faith and Mindy stood back to see what they had accomplished. Ahsoka looked absolutely amazing. She had on a brown wig that completely concealed her head tails. The makeup on her face was flawless, and blended in perfectly with the rest of her skin, which had been left alone. She had on, instead of her usual outfit, a dark red cardigan the same color of her original outfit and a vibrantly purple tank top under it. For pants she wore a pair of light-colored skinny jeans, but kept her original boots on. Her gloves were also off now, but Faith had painted her fingernails black in order to fill any sort of void that was there. She looked like any other ordinary teenage girl. Nobody would have guessed that she was a Padawan training under Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker in a galaxy far, far away.

"Perfect!" Faith declared. "You look FABULOUS!"

Ahsoka smiled. "Thank you, Faith," she said graciously.

"You really do look great, Ahsoka," Mindy said. "You'll fit right in."

"Told you!" Faith replied. "Now, make sure whenever you go out in public or you come here, you're wearing this disguise. Got that, Ahsoka?"

"Got it," Ahsoka replied.

"Well, we better go, Ahsoka," Mindy said. "It'll start to get dark soon, and plus, we don't want Faith's mom to notice."

"That's right," Faith added. "My mom's kinda wild about this stuff."

"Yeah," said Ahsoka. "Mindy told me a little bit about that before we got here."

"Oh, so you know?" asked Faith. Ahsoka nodded.

"Okay, then I don't need to explain to you why that would be really, really bad," said Faith.

"Yeah, I understand," said Ahsoka.

"When can we see you again?" Mindy asked.

"Hmm..." Faith thought for a moment. "I don't know. I'll text you when I know what time I'll be free."

"Sounds good," Mindy replied. "We gotta go. Thanks again, Faith, for everything."

"Anytime. I'm always happy to help out a friend," Faith said, as she reached out and hugged Mindy first, then Ahsoka.

"Now, let me show you out." Faith opened the door to her room and held it open so that both girls could go out before her. Then she followed them out to the front door where the girls said one last goodbye before they were on their way.

The two girls kept each other occupied with conversation as they walked back to the forest. They were on a long empty stretch of road now that didn't look quite welcoming, and were squeezed to the side of the road in case of any unpredictable cars or trucks. Occasionally, Mindy would tell a joke and Ahsoka would chuckle at it, but they mainly kept it to just their personal lives or Mindy's fond memories of Faith.

"You were right, Mindy," Ahsoka said at one point. "Faith is really nice. I like her a lot!"

"I'm glad to hear that, Ahsoka," Mindy replied. "I honestly kinda knew you would."

Ahsoka chuckled a little again before she spotted something small in the distance. She stopped.

"What's that?" she asked.

Mindy followed her gaze. Farther down the road, she spotted what appeared to be a small animal, though it was barely visible even from a short distance.

"Hold on," Mindy said. "I'll try to see if I can spot it a little bit closer." Carefully, she approached the animal, and sure enough, when closer, was able to make out what it was.

Mindy gasped. "Aww, it's a cute little Chihuahua dog!" she exclaimed. "Hi, baby!" she cooed at the precious creature.

And the dog was absolutely precious. It had light brown fur with white on its paws, snout and tail. Being a Chihuahua, it had gigantic ears, but it also had big, compassionate eyes which could express a lot of emotion. It was very dirty, but was in fact, quite chubby, which either meant that it was lost, or that it was a stray that hadn't been out very long.

"A what?" Ahsoka asked, as she stepped up next to her friend.

Before Mindy could answer, a truck rolled along out of nowhere right into the poor little creature. Both girls jumped, and Mindy screamed a little. The sound that emitted from the Chihuahua sounded like a whimper, but it wasn't a whimper. It was a scream. The most shocking thing about the crime was that the driver of the truck didn't even stop to look at the damage he had done. He had stopped for a second or two, but probably figuring he went over a bump, kept right on going.

Immediately after the truck drove away, Mindy dashed over to the scene of the crime, with Ahsoka close behind.

The dog lay on the dirt road, whimpering, heaving, and sighing, trying to get a breath in. It was extremely injured, barely even alive. Mindy knelt down beside it and scooped it up in her arms like a baby.

"Oh God, Oh God, Oh God," she whispered to herself. "It's okay, little one," she half-whispered to the dog, trying to console it. "You're gonna be okay." Yet she could not even console herself, as the tears were streaming down her face now, and she choked on her next words between sobs.

"Ahsoka, we gotta get this thing back to the campsite now!" Mindy sobbed as she stared at the poor thing down in her arms.

"What?!" Ahsoka exclaimed. "But what about the thing that ran it over?"

"FORGET THE TRUCK!" Mindy shouted. She sniffed. "Besides, it's probably long gone by now," she added, slightly calmer now.

"True," Ahsoka agreed.

"C'MON! LET'S HURRY!" Mindy exclaimed, carrying the dog in one arm and frantically pulling Ahsoka along with the other as the two sprinted as fast as they could back to the campsite.