#2 – Club

Tobias

I've never belonged to anything.

When I was still human, I used to toy with the idea of joining a club all the time. The problem was that I wasn't good at anything. Chess Club? No thanks; I liked chess okay, but I got my ass kicked at school often enough without it. Drama Club? Sometimes just looking in the mirror was hard for me. The idea of pretending to be someone else was nothing new, but there was no way I'd be able to pull it off in front of people.

It seemed to me that for every reason I had to join a club, there were a hundred not to. How would I pay the fees and the dues? My uncle didn't even give me lunch money. What if I joined and the other kids didn't like me? All I would be doing then was extending my daily torture for an hour after school.

"Tobias?" Jake asked, shaking me out of my reverie. "Would you mind?"

(Mind what?) I asked, embarrassed that I hadn't been paying attention to him in the first place.

He didn't get mad or roll his eyes. He didn't ask me what my problem was. He just gave me a knowing smile that said, 'Been there, buddy. Don't worry.'

"Following Chapman after school tomorrow. I'd do it, but I can't risk him figuring out that I'm paying attention to him. We have to know where he's going before he goes home – it could lead us to a new Yeerk Pool entrance."

(No problem,) I told him, and I meant it. I was trapped in a hawk's body; I had no home; I had to kill to eat; I had intergalactic bodysnatchers who would do unspeakable things to me to worry about. But, in a way, I was luckier than all of my human friends. Their whole lives were Drama Club, now. They were actors for 99% of every day, and they couldn't ever completely relax, even in their own homes. Anything I could do to make their lives easier, I would.

Even if they didn't have a choice about it, they'd taken me in and made me a part of their team. I shared a bond with them that I'd been looking for my entire life. I loved them all in different ways – even Marco. Marco cracked jokes and busted on me, sure, but it was in his eyes; a concern for me that hadn't been there before.

In the end, I didn't have to join any club. My club came to me.