Jake and Marco both
looked down at the leather pouches around their necks. Jake's face held
an expression of confusion, Marco's of pure revulsion. They walked slowly
up the dirt driveway to Cassie's barn, where a
meeting was to take place. Marco began
to rant, and Jake sighed in annoyance, rolling his eyes. He had listened
to his best friend's opinion a couple times from the minute they
got on the school bus.
"I can't believe this.
An egg! This is a Home Ec. Class assignment?! I though we cooked pies an'
checked out babes and…well, y'know! Home Ec. Stuff! And we're supposed
to take care of this stupid thing for two weeks!" Marco threw up his hands
in a helpless gesture, then adjusted his backpack, which had started to
slip down his shoulder. Jake blinked, remembering something. He removed
the bookbag from his shoulders and
rummaged through it.
Jake pulled out his
planner and flipped it open, squinting at the letters. "Well, actually,
we're going to take
care of our 'children' for three weeks,
actually..so..um.." His voice trailed off as Marco scowled at him. "What?"
The shorter teen let
out an exasperated sigh. "Nevermind. Anyway, here's the barn. Let's go."
They jogged up to the doorway, then stopped, listening to the conversation
with mild interest. Nothing like listening to two girls
talking without being noticed.
"I think I'll name it Adam." Cassie looked down at the egg she held carefully in a work-gloved palm.
"You want to name it Jake, you know it." Rachel teased. Marco snickered, and Jake felt the back of his neck growing red.
"It's cute enough." Cassie looked up at the noise coming from the entrance, saw her crush standing in the doorway, and blushed deeply.
Jake smiled gently, and sat down next to her, pulling out his own and staring at it. "Mine doesn't have a name, but…"
"Hah, there's one for the welfare agencies. Man refuses to name his own child." Rachel interrupted sarcastically. "He's reeeal prepared for the real thing. Cassie? I know you love him, but don't marry him.." She grinned as Cassie gave her a death look, showing perfect white teeth.
Both Jake and Marco paled.
"The..the real thing?" Marco asked shakily.
"Marry?" Jake's eyes got wider than usual.
"Oh, that's just typical. They go all macho when it comes to sports and fights and stuff, but make one mention of romance and parenthood, and they get all sickly-looking and stammery." Cassie teased, getting up and starting to clean the cages that lined the wall of the barn, shooting Jake a smile.
"D-do not!" Jake stammered. Damnit.
"We handle romance just fine, Cassie. Look at Jake. You've kissed him twice and you've only just noticed him since we started morphing." Marco smiled suavely, and Jake kicked him in the shins. "Hey, ow!"
Tobias ruffled his feathers indignantly, having flown in without them noticing. His thought-speech voice dripped with pretended sweetness, and Rachel smiled at him.
Marco snatched Jake's egg away, and started to juggle it with his own and a rubber eraser, hoping to oppose Tobias' opinion. "Hey! Live egg juggling! Woo-h-" One of the eggs fell, cracking open on the dirt floor of the barn. Marco promptly stopped. "That was YOUR egg, Jake."
"No way, Marco. You juggled them, the broken one's yours."
"But.."
"No buts, Marco. You flunked." Jake smiled, and snatched the one intact egg away from his best friend.
"Quick! Cassie! Your parents gone to the grocery store lately?" Marco inquired with a desperate tone to his voice. His eyes widened and he leaned forward as Cassie smirked.
"Well…how much is in that wallet of yours?" She grinned mischeviously, eyeing Marco's bulging left jeans pocket.
"Cassie!" Jake gave her a disapproving look.
"What?"