) Fifteen (
Chapter Two – Helping The Cause


October 2-


   The buzz of my alarm clock split the silence of my deep sleep. I awoke from a dream, well, more of a nightmare. It didn’t surprise me; after all, I hadn’t had a good day the day before. I stumble out of bed and look at myself in the mirror. I was a mess; I could tell I didn’t have a good night. As I got ready for school, I tried to avoid thinking about yesterday. I picked up my backpack and left for school.
   Obviously the school knew about Jenny’s disappearance, everyone was talking about it, whispering rumors as I passed them in the hallway. I took my seat quietly and laid my head on my desk. I glanced next to me at Jenny’s empty desk, fearing the worse.
   I couldn’t help but to think of what could have happened to her being all alone, she could have been kidnapped, or worse. Just then, the teacher, Miss Rowe, walked into the room with a sullen look on her face.
   “As many of you already know, Jenny won’t be at school today.” She announced, “Yesterday after school, her parents reported her missing, and she won’t answer her phone. The police are searching, but it’s too soon to predict an outcome.”
   As she talked, I got up from my desk and left the room in a hurry. I walked down the hallway to the bathroom. I leaned against the sink and put my head in my hands, and I suddenly felt tears running down my face. I felt so guilty about what happened.
   I didn’t feel like eating lunch that day, I just sat at the lunch table scribbling on a piece of paper.
   “Mind if I sit here?” said a voice from behind me.
I turned around and a girl was standing there, I recognized her from my grade, but we had no classes together.
   “No…it’s alright.” I said as she pulled a chair out.
   “I’m sorry about Jenny, I could tell that you were close.” She said
   “I would say it’s ok, but I would be lying” I said as I continued scribbling on a napkin.
   “My name’s Tiffany, I wish there was something I could…do”
   She then leaned in and whispered in my ear
   “Come with me”
   I got up and followed her out of the lunchroom and we went into an unused classroom at the end of the hall. She leaned against a desk and looked at me, as if hesitating to say something.
   “I...” She paused “I know about Jenny, I saw what happened in the gym yesterday.
   A sudden chill went over my body and my heart began to race.
   “You did?”
   She nodded slowly
   “Oh my God, please don’t freak out and if anyone finds out about…”
   “Don’t worry; I wouldn’t dare spread a secret like that.”
   “Okay…I just...”
   “I understand, I want to help you find her. But first, I need to know if I can trust you.”
   “Absolutely…why, though?
   “Well, I have a deep secret too, like Jenny. Have you ever noticed how I dye my hair a lot?”
   I nodded because I had noticed that, but didn’t think much of it.
   “Well, I….I am a shape-shifter. I can alter anything about my appearance. So when I change my hair color, I don’t have to dye it.”
   I had absolutely no clue what was going on, First Jenny, now Tiffany, is this like some kind of plague?
   “You have reason to be scared, after all it’s not every day you see a girl with four arms and one that can shape-shift…” She said
   “So, what all can you…do?
   She looked down and put her arms to her side, her body started to change; her hair went from red to a dirty blonde and got curly. Her face and her body changed. When it was over, she lifted her head and I looked straight into her eyes. She had changed her appearance into an exact copy of Jenny. I shivered. It was as if Jenny was standing right in front of me. I walked closer and reached out and touched her face. I ran my hand through her beautiful hair. I moved my hands over her shoulder and found myself caressing her body. I put my arms around her, and held her tight. I started to cry, it was kind of embarrassing. I let go of her quickly and turned around.
   “I…I’m sorry...” I said nervously.
   “It’s ok, I shouldn’t have done that.” She said.
   I turned back around and she was herself again.
   “So…When do we leave?” I said as my mood started to change at the thought of looking for Jenny.
    “I’ll be at your house at eight-thirty; you have a car don’t you?”
    “Yeah, I’ll be waiting.”
    I sat out on my front porch that night; it was about eight-fifteen. I had packed my stuff, and grabbed the car keys. It wasn’t my car; it belonged to my foster parents. I hated them; they never would tell me anything about my real parents, just that I was orphaned as a baby.
    “Hey” I heard Tiffany’s voice as she walked towards me.
    “You’re early.”
    “Hope that’s not a problem, is it?”
    “No, you just surprised me.”
    “I changed my hair a little, so I wouldn’t be too noticeable.”
    Her hair was now a dark blonde, like Jenny’s was.
    “Let’s go, my parents will be home soon.” I told her
    We got in the car and left in a hurry.
    “Where should we go?” I asked her as I pulled onto the interstate.
    “Lets head to Raleigh; it’s about fifty-five miles from here, and it’s the most likely place she went to.”
    We drove for a few hours, and stopped at a rest station. We were both sleepy, so we had a cup of coffee.
    “I have a question” I said
    “Yes?” Tiffany replied
    “Can you shape-shift into me?” I felt a little embarrassed after asking that
    “Actually, no, I can’t change into guys; I’m stuck as a girl. It sucks sometimes; I have had many opportunities where that would have helped a lot.”
     “Also,” She said,” I can change other people’s appearance too”
     “Oh really?” I asked curiously
     “Yeah, If I shape-shift, and take a DNA sample, that DNA can alter another person’s appearance if they are injected with it. For instance,” She opened her bag and displayed a bunch of vials,” I made these vials before I left my house, they have different DNA in case you might need to change your appearance for whatever reason during this trip.”
     “But, wouldn’t that turn me into a girl? That’s kind of a scary thought…”
     “Yeah, but you might have to, It could help you out of a tough situation.”
     “We better go; we are only a few miles from Raleigh” I said as I threw my coffee cup in the trash can.
     We drove a little more when we saw bright lights up ahead. Raleigh was a huge city compared to Appleton. I figured we should get a hotel room soon.
     “How much money do you have?” I asked Tiffany
     She checked her bag and pockets,
     “Damn, I left my money at home.” She said
     I reached down into a compartment under the dashboard and pulled out a debit card.
     “Bingo!” I said as I showed her the card, “It’s my parents, and I know the PIN number.”
     We got a room in a rather nice hotel for the night. I actually slept well, because all I thought about was that we might find Jenny the next day. We got up early so we would have longer to look for her, had a nice large breakfast using the debit card, and got on a subway to head downtown.
    As we sat in the subway, I turned to Tiffany and said, “Her arms…”
    “Hmm?”
    “Her arms were gone when I got home yesterday, they were under my bed, and all that was there was some dust.”
    “That’s odd...” She said
    The train stopped and the lady on the intercom said that we had arrived downtown.
    I looked up and a girl walking past caught my eye. She looked to be about eighteen, and had straight blonde hair. What really caught my eye was the fact that this girl had three breasts.

To Be Continued

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