February 8, 2000
Melissa
My name is Melissa Chapman. This is the part where I relate how trivially crappy my life is. My father's my principal. My mother owns a beauty parlor. Both parents ignore me. My friend Rachel has turned into a mean, frigid bitch, and my boyfriend is dark, brooding, and homeless. Yadda yadda yadda. A month ago that was my life. Now it's totally different, but still the same. Sort of.
My parents still have their old jobs and they still ignore me, although now I know why. I also know why Rachel has turned cold and my boyfriend so broody and homeless. Because they are in a FRIGGIN WAR!!!!!
Apparently, my parents have been taken by alien slugs who go through your ear into your brain and like, take control of your mind. Yeah. That's what I said. Rachel and my boyfriend (who I used to call Terry, but his real name is David, long story) fight them by turning into animals and whatnot. Basically any living creature they touch. My evil slug-for-brains parents are called Yeerks, specifically Human-controllers, and my shape-shifting boyfriend and ex-best friend are called Animorphs.
Basically my entire world just got flipped upside-down.
It was Terry, I mean David, who told me all this. So for a few days it was really hard not to hate him. Especially since he told me this after turning into a baboon and abducting me from my home so his friends could kidnap my father.
I mean, I know he has a slug in his head that's a yeerk leader or something, but I mean a real boyfriend should not be kidnaping his girlfriend's father. That's just manners. Plus, David doesn't like my father (and I mean my real father not the slug in his head) for personal reasons he won't get into. Classic Terry. David. Whatever.
So basically my entire relationship with Terry is a lie. Mostly because Terry is a lie. There is no Terry. There's David. This is the stuff I was thinking about as I went to school.
Fifth Period English. Rachel was in that class. Rachel has always been civil to me, but from far away. She talked to me and she sounded concerned about me, but she always sounded like her mind was someplace else. However I have noticed she has paid more attention ever since she saw me with Terry at the Halloween Dance. David. Not Terry.
However, that didn't change the fact that Rachel was often snide and bitchy. I forgive her now, but for a while she was hard to be around.
She's a warrior. A soldier. Poor thing. My poor friend.
"Hey, Rachel." I said to her.
"What? Oh. Hi, Melissa." Rachel said, she seemed distracted.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"What? Wrong? Nothing's wrong. What could possibly be wrong?" Rachel said. She sounded air-headed. Rachel is never air-headed. If she feels like she can't focus, usually she breaks her pencil. Then asks me for one and gives it back without harming it.
"Hey Rach?" said a male voice.
Oh no, not again. Todd Sizemore. 'Sizemore means More Size' as he likes to say. Pig. He thinks he's God's gift to women. He's hit on Rachel several times over the year. Rachel always turns them down with particular scathing comments. One reason among many why she's known as a bitch around school. Not that Todd doesn't deserve it.
"How are you this morning, sweet thang?" Todd said, oozing bravado. No matter how many times Rachel has bruised (and sometimes shattered) Todd's ego, he always comes back.
"Um . . . fine? I guess." Rachel said, rather timidly. Very un-Rachel like.
"Fine?" Todd repeated, dropping the act and recuperating from shock. "Just 'fine'? No 'Fuck off'? No 'Get the hell away from me!'? No 'If you don't move, I'm going to yank your sack off like a paper towel'?"
"What?" Rachel said, mildly distracted again. "No. That's mean."
"I do believe the day has arrived." Todd said, seeming to blow up three sizes. "Rachel Berenson is burning for The Todd!"
"The only thing that's burning," I started, "is you when you pee. You were the last one to do Traci right?"
Todd began to seethe with anger. He looked at me and said, "If you weren't the principal's daughter . . ." Todd walked back to his desk.
"Rachel! Is something wrong?" I asked.
"You were mean to Todd." Rachel said.
"Talk about Pot calling the Kettle black."
"That's what David said to me."
"David?" I reacted without thinking.
"Uh . . ." Rachel faltered. "My friend David. Kind of a friend. I don't think he likes me thou- my friend David. Um, he's kind of like your friend, Terry."
"Kind of." I repeated. "Right."
"I shouldn't be talking to you about him." Rachel said and kind of scrunched up like scared little girl.
Something was wrong. She wasn't acting like Rachel.
When I got home my parents (the Yeerks) were out. I went to my room and sat at my computer. I put in my Sarah McLaughlin CD. I like the computer's CD player program because it plays the tracks in the order that I like. I popped it in and in a few seconds, it was playing "Adia". I then decided to log on to AOL IM. JadedLion was on.
Fluffer126: I need to talk to you.
JadedLion: Hold on.
I waited for whatever it was that David did.
JadedLion: Ok. Your parents are at the pool. They'll be there for hours. They won't be able to retrieve this conversation.
Fluffer126: How do you know these things?
JadedLion: I have my ways.
Fluffer126: What kind of ways?
JadedLion: Enjoying your Sarah McLaughlin CD?
"How does he do that?" I said out loud. I decided to change the subject. Appropriately enough, "Adia" ended and "Building a Mystery" started.
Fluffer126: Is there something wrong with Rachel? She was acting funny. She was timid and not at all her usual bitchiness.
JadedLion: Something wrong? You could say that.
Fluffer126: What happened?
JadedLion: Rachel morphed a starfish. A kid sliced her in half. Both halves demorphed and we are left with two Rachels. One super-wimpy, the other super-psycho.
Fluffer126: Rachel's psychoness distilled? Sounds frightning.
JadedLion: Very. SuperPsychoBitch already screwed up our chance to destroy the AMR. We're trying again tonight. Hopefully without either of the Rachels.
Fluffer126: Without them?
JadedLion: Jake says we only need a minimum of six. We can do without Rachel. Both of them, but Aximili thinks PsychoRachel might follow us. Worse yet, she may kill her counterpart.
Fluffer126: Is there a way to get them back together?
JadedLion: Erek and Aximili have an idea. So do I, but no one likes my morphing a sponge theory.
Fluffer126: You and I have very strange conversations.
JadedLion: I know.
JadedLion: How are you holding up?
Fluffer126: Right now? I have a chair under my butt.
JadedLion: And it's a very cute butt. It's also a wise-ass!
Fluffer126: LOL.
Fluffer126: I wanna see you.
JadedLion: Is this so you can accuse me of more atrocities and attempt to inflict physical harm against me?
Fluffer126: Hey! I'm a gymnast. I can kick your butt.
JadedLion: Ha Ha. Again with the butt. You are all about the ass, aren't you?
Fluffer126: I'm not answering that. And what's with the spelling out "Ha Ha". It's the twenty-first century. Use LOL. Get with the program.
JadedLion: No. LOL is stupid. I will not use LOL.
JadedLion: I will not use it in a box. I will not use it with a fox.
Fluffer126: I can't be a fox. You can though. For two hours, right?
JadedLion: Funny. Some of us don't need morphing technology to be a fox. ;D
Fluffer126: Don't charm me, David Hunting. ;)
Fluffer126: So can I see you tonight?
JadedLion: We going for the AMR tonight.
JadedLion: *We're
Fluffer126: I would like to see you once before you die.
JadedLion: I'm not going to die, Melissa.
JadedLion: Melissa . . .
JadedLion: Melissa? . . . . .
I stewed to myself before answering him. I was still kind of mad at him, but I wanted to see him. I just kind of . . . . needed to. I felt stupid. I have never felt this way about a boy I hardly knew. Of course, I never dated a boy who was fighting a secret guerilla war with aliens.
Fluffer126: Come to me when you can.
I signed off. I don't know why I didn't wait for his answer. David makes things so difficult. "Witness" finished playing. I hadn't noticed when it started. That's when "Do What You Have to Do" started.
". . . created you a monster, broken by the rule of love.
And fate has led you through it, you do what you have to do.
And fate has led you through it, you do what you have to do."
Silliness. I don't know what I'm still doing with him. I've dumped boys for less than this.
But I care for him. God help me, I care for him a lot. I wouldn't go so far as to say the "L" word, but I just know I would be very sad if he was suddenly gone from my life.
All the more reason I hated the fact he was part of this war. This is what if must be like to have a boyfriend at war. But I'm only fifteen! This sucks.
I must be crazy. I'm actually thinking about joining him. Joining the Animorphs. Of course, according to David, joining the Animorphs and joining him maybe two different things. I don't want to go to war, but I can't stand sitting on the sidelines waiting for news that my boyfriend or friend is dead.
Either way, David won't have it. He says he doesn't know where the blue box that gives the morphing power is. And even if he did, he isn't so sure he should give it to me.
"No." he said. "I'm not losing another girlfriend to this fucking war."
What other girlfriend? Another thing David won't tell me. Although he says he should given the circumstances if "it ever gets to that point". Whatever the hell that means.
I did my homework. I ate dinner with my alien parents. I went to bed. It was after midnight when I was awaken by what I now know as thought-speech.
Melissa. Melissa!
"Terry?" I said groggily.
Not Terry. David. And don't use my name. Yeerk or no yeerk, your parents will have themselves in your room faster than a Bug Fighter if they think you're smuggling a boy in.
I opened the window and a small robin flew in.
You wanted to see me?
"I wanted to see you, not a bird."
Geez, you're picky. David said as he demorphed. I looked away. I couldn't help it. I couldn't watch him morph yet. Even though he says he does it pretty, not weird-ass ugly like the others. (Except Cassie) It was still weird to me. "I'm done."
I turned around and I started to say something, but instead I just hugged him. And he hugged me back. We just kind of stood there for a minute.
Maybe if I just hold him I can forget he's a shape-shifting soldier in a war against brain-stealing alien slugs. No such luck.
"How'd it go?" I finally asked.
"We failed. PsychoRachel did follow Jake and me, but then something extraordinary happened. WimpyRachel followed her."
"The wimp tailed the psycho?"
"She was suddenly struck with the sense that it was her duty to stop her sick, twisted other half."
"Good for her."
"We bonded them back. Aximili and Erek's plan worked."
"That's good." I said, blandly.
"What's wrong?" David asked.
I gave him a snide look and said. "I'm still kinda dealing with the whole thing. It's bad enough that I'm afraid one day my parents will take me for a walk down a steel pier. I'm also worried that my boyfriend is going to get himself killed."
"There's nothing I can do about it. I can't ignore the yeerks. They're a plague. I can stop them. I told you about my dreams, right?"
"Calvca. I remember."
"Well, I think I actually was infested and something, my weird morphing, my fever, maybe a combination, but something put us in a coma. All I remember is Calvca telling me my plan might work."
"What plan?"
"I don't remember."
"You told me you were also worried about destroying the universe."
"I know." David said suddenly very agitated. "I keep trying to forget that part. Why me? Why am I the Beast? What makes me the Beast? Does it show? Do I have some trait or mark that shows to all the knowing world that I am the Beast?"
"David? I'm thinking we should tell Jake and the others."
"About you? No. That's a bad idea."
"Why?"
"One, Rachel will kill me. Two, Jake will kill me. Three, Rachel will kill me. Four, why should you?"
"Because it's the right thing. Only you six humans know about the invasion. Let me join, and you'll be that much stronger."
"Do you have a death wish?"
"The seven of you have survived this long. What not eight?"
"Because the more in numbers we increase the more liberal General Jake the Mighty will feel about the expendability of human life."
"You still do it."
"We didn't have a choice!" David said. "Fate or Chance (or perhaps Fate for some, Chance for others) was responsible for them going into the construction site. Fate or Chance crash-landed Aximili into Sandy Hook Cove. Fate or Chance was responsible for me finding the Escafil device."
"Why am I different?"
"You have a choice. You know exactly what you're choosing or not choosing. Why would you conceivably choose this life?"
"Fate. Chance. Choice. They all play parts, David. I chose to help you. I chose to fight for freedom."
"I chose not to help you."
"David!"
"Melissa! Listen to what you're saying. Think for a minute. Do you really want to turn into animals, fight scary-ass aliens, and basically screw up your psyche for life?"
That got me. "No. But I also don't want you to do it. And if you have to . . . . I don't want to learn of your demise second-hand."
David started to caress my cheek with his hand. He looked into my eyes. He had to awkwardly slouch to do it because he's nine inches taller than me and my eyes were downcast.
"I care for you too." He said with a smile.
That made me smile back. "Don't change the subject."
David tried to kiss me, but I pulled away. I haven't been able to kiss him since 'that night.'
"Sorry." I said.
"Don't apologize. It's all right." David said sternly. David was very sensitive to my feelings and understood why I was having trouble. But his understanding offered no protection from getting his own feelings hurt. I felt bad, but I . .
"I should go." David said, as he morphed into a bat. He always goes bat when he's pissed off . . . and it's night.
"Um . . ." I tried to think of something to say, but I didn't really want him to stay either. "How's Rachel?" I finally said.
She'll be fine. David said as he flew out.
I climbed back into bed. "Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." I said to myself.
Next Day. Fifth Period English. I tried to get myself to talk to Rachel, but I think of anything to say. Rachel seemed to be in a daze, although not the airheaded-ness from yesterday. The bell rang and our teacher dismissed us.
"Rachel." I finally called out.
"Melissa?" Rachel said. "What is it?" she said with genuine concern.
"Um, I was thinking, maybe we should go to the mall sometime. You look like you could use some Capitalistic Therapy."
"Mall? You mean, go shopping?" Rachel stammered.
"Yeah. You know. Like we used to."
"I'm kind of busy." Rachel said coldly.
"I understand." I said as Rachel walked away.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Why do you let everyone walk away?
But that's when Rachel walked back to me. "You know what? We should go shopping. The Valentine's Day dance is coming." she said sounding a lot like the old Rachel. Almost. "I'm sure we both need new expensive shoes we'll just kick off in first ten minutes. And we'll probably need dresses that will make the men folk slobber."
I laughed and smiled. "Yeah. Sounds great." I said. "Are you going to bring that guy you brought at Halloween?"
"Tobias?" She said, seeming to snap back to reality. "Hopefully. Do you have someone special you plan on bringing?"
I smiled inwardly. "Hopefully."
******************************************************************************
This was supposed to be an easy chapter. Sorry it took so long, but the sh*t level in Augustine Quill's life has risen a few notches.
One, they're starting to lay off people at my work. Slightly stressful.
Two, I recently had opening night of a play I'm performing in. Moderately stressful.
Three, my doctor found a mole on my back that looks bad. They want to remove it and do a biopsy. That's doctor talk for "It might be cancerous." Very stressful. I hereby strike the words 'melanoma' and 'cancer' from conversations you might have with me.
But don't worry. Augustine Quill isn't going anywhere. And the next chapter should be up in few weeks. Of course in Quill-time that could mean Spring Equinox, but I have a soft commitment to Elcolo9 and his fans, so I better keep it.
'Til next we meet,
Augustine Quill.