Chapter 5! Yay! Two in one day! Yippee! I love Saturdays when I don't have homework or any projects! (That's actually a lie I have math homework. But there's no way I'm doing that today!)

So I told something about this chapter last time. I guess I should've spaced publishing chapters 4 and 5 out a little more, but whatever. So be it. The end.

I hope you all thoroughly enjoy chapter 5!

Sam's POV

I think today may have been one of the hardest days I've eve lived through in my life. I don't even know how I made it without breaking down! If nothing, today has extended my breaking point because I know I reached it at least fifteen times throughout the day.

Cathy was talking to me like she did everyday; she'd talk about gossip she'd heard floating around the classroom, she'd talk to me about Danny, she'd talk to me about my Chris because she knows I kind of sort of really like him, she'd talk about how annoying Jeremy was, and today she'd started talking about how cute Max was. It was a regular Cathy talk day. Except I couldn't shake the thought that a deadly poison was circulating within her and one slip up on my part could send her to her death at any given moment. It wasn't a regular Sam talk day, that's for sure!

Then there was Danny. He rarely tells me anything about his inner feelings, I mean come on, he is a guys even if he is one of my best friends. But Danny does come to me when he doesn't know who else to turn to. Today, he needed to know at what point could one be considered jealous. He told me about how Cathy and Wendy were falling for Max. I assumed from this that Chris had previously called him out on being jealous and now Danny was starting to agree with him. And I tried my best to tell him that he was definitely jealous if the fact that the two girls he liked both fell for another guy was still bothering him. But I couldn't completely focus on that because I was too busy trying not to tell Danny about what happened with Nossida last night.

And then of course there was Chris. He knew something was up. I could tell. He kept looking at me with that concerned expression. And although he does look adorable when he's concerned, I hated the fact that I wouldn't be able to tell Chris what the problem really was. I would always meet his gaze with what I hoped was a convincing smile. He would smile back, but his eyes showed that I hadn't been convincing enough. Yes, today had been hard.

Yet here I was, still standing. I only hoped that I could hold it together until I could figure a way out of this mess. There had to be a loophole somewhere. There just had to be!

"Samantha, are you ready?" Nossida asked, breaking my inner thoughts. I shook my head to get back to reality and looked down at the winged alien. He was standing in a rowboat big enough for about three people. His hand was held out to help me in. I accepted his hand and climbed into the little wooden structure. It felt sturdy enough.

"Where are we going?" I asked as Nossida pushed the boat away from the dock and out onto the dark water. The moon's reflection looked like a silver ribbon on the water. We seemed to be rowing directly on that ribbon.

"To meet the others," Nossida replied. "Don't worry, I think they'll like you." I sighed. Sure, they can like me. That doesn't mean I'll like them!

"And where were we?" I asked. I had never known there was a lake within walking distance from Single Town.

"We're at Lake Agápi. It means love in Greek," Nossida answered. "I won't tell you exactly where it is. You could indirectly lead your friends to it if I did."

"But wouldn't you know if I did?" I asked.

"Not necessarily. If you hid it well enough, I wouldn't be able to pick up on it," Nossida answered. "So thus, I don't tell you how to get to where the lake is." I sighed and looked around. The world was dark.

After a few minutes, we came to a small island. The lake was very big, and we appeared to be in the center of it. On the island, a tall building stood in the light of the moon. Two lights shown in the windows, one from the ground floor, one from the third floor. I started to fell uneasy about this.

"Come," Nossida instructed, helping me out of the boat onto the small wooden dock set up on the island. We walked down the length of the squeaky dock and finally made it up to the door. Instead of knocking, Nossida simply pushed the door opened the door and pulled me inside. The foyer of the building was quite large and had a high ceiling. A large staircase that spiraled upwards stood right across from the stairs. There were hallways to the right and left of the foyer as well as a third hallway to the right of the stairway. Although it was darker than normal, I found the room very pretty. Hiding evil yes, but pretty.

"MARLENA! VINCENZIO! PENNOKO! I'VE GOT THE GIRL!" Nossida cried into the dark space. His voice echoed around. At first, there was no reply. Then a light turned on down the center hallway.

"We're down here, Nossida," a boy's voice called. Nossida lead me down that hallway into a room that looked like a living room. There was a couch against the opposite wall, and a collection of mismatched chairs everywhere else. The boy from earlier was standing in the center of the room.

"Hello, Samantha. I am Vincenzio Adrian Hyson. And it is a pleasure to meet you," he said. Vincenzio had dark blue eyes that almost looked purple, sandy blonde hair that wasn't too long but long enough to be considered long, and fair skin that obviously tanned easily. (His face was that perfect sun kissed tan that they always give the surfer dudes in movies.) He was good looking; I'd give him that.

"Hi Vincenzio," I replied, unsure of what else to say.

"Oh, please, call me Adrian," Vincenzio replied. "It's kind of like my nick name."

"Alright," I responded, not really wishing to talk to him anymore. He was the reason I'd nearly broken down today.

"Oh good, you've returned Nossida," a woman's voice said from behind us. I turned around to face a woman that looked at least thirty with long auburn hair that fell to her hips and glistening green eyes. She didn't look bad, but her presence definitely radiated evil. "It is very nice to finally meet you, Miss Samantha." I nodded in reply. I didn't know how to respond. I wish I could say the same about you, but honestly, I wish I wasn't meeting you right now! Yeah, that sounded classy alright!

"I am Marlena Hyson," the woman continued. "And you are going to be the deceiver in my plan to conquer the Earth." She smiled. I had to admit, she was a beautiful woman. In a wicked sort of way. She probably could've won one of those modeling shows.

"Would you like to explain the plan to her, Marlena? Or shall I?" Nossida asked.

"I will. Once Penn gets down here," Marlena replied, moving back to the door. "PENNOKO!"

"I'm right here, mother," a quiet voice said from somewhere behind me. I turned to see another boy closing a door that I hadn't noticed off to the left side of the room. This boy was slightly skinnier than Adrian and had jet-black hair that was about the same length as Adrian's. But what really struck me about the boy were his emerald green eyes.

"Oh good. Then I can begin my explanation," Marlena said. "Okay, let's start with the goal of the plan. I want to take over the world. And for the time being, all I wish to do is claim it as my own. Total domination will come later. But to even claim the world as my own, I will need to dominate some part of it. And that part is Single Town, home to Earth's MBC team. Why you might ask? Because it will be easier to achieve domination without you four trying to stop us. So we're going to take the MBC out of the equation from the beginning.

"Now, Samantha, you might be wondering what you have to do with any of this. Well, we won't be able to destroy the MBC without getting to them from the inside. And that will be your job. You will find away to weaken the rest of the MBC so that we can proceed with our plan. How you will weaken them is up to you.

"After you have weakened the MBC, these three boys will step in. They have devised some plan to conquer the city. So they will accomplish that and then we will have our base for world domination. That's about it for now. Any questions?"

I was utterly speechless. Sure, it hadn't been one of those really long, super elaborate speeches that told every little detail of the plan. But that had been just as effective! I still wasn't cool with the idea of betraying my friends. And that seemed to be what I had agreed to last night. Great.

"You won't have to weaken the MBC alone. We have another scout coming," Marlena added when I didn't respond. "I know that you are reluctant to hurt your friends. But trust my word child, you will not regret helping me." I looked into Marlena's eyes. What was that supposed to mean? You will not regret helping me.

"Um, you forgot one thing mother," Adrian said shyly.

"Oh yes! How could I have forgotten that," Marlena exclaimed. Her smile changed from utterly wicked to warm and friendly. "There is a custom on our planet, Vykaria, that when a boy turns 26, he must marry. Adrian has recently turned 24. And before coming here to Earth, Adrian had picked you to be his wife, Samantha."

"What? No!" I cried. "He's 26! I've been thirteen for a month! That doesn't work!"

"Actually, I does. Adrian is 26 in Vykarian years. In Earth years, he is also thirteen," Marlena explained. "It works out perfectly."

My day wasn't getting any better. Not only did I now have to keep an even bigger secret from my friends, I was also arranged to be married to some guy I barely know. I repeat, great.

"So, my dear, are you still willing to help us?" Marlena asked. "Or do you wish for us to, you know…" She didn't have to continue. I knew what she meant. And I couldn't let that happen.

"Danny's jealous because Cathy likes another guy," I said, looking at the floor. "We could use that to our advantage to weaken the MBC."

"Very good." I didn't have to look at Marlena to know she was smiling.

I despised her. But not more than I currently despised myself.

SAM JOINED THE BAD GUYS!

Yep, she did.

But she doesn't like it, remember that.

P.S. Pennoko will also be referred to as Penn or by his middle name Trent like his brother goes by his middle name. (Just in case I don't mention it again. I will try to mention it, though.)

I hope you enjoyed it!

Read on!