Chapter 1: Valentine's Day

February 13^th, morning, Maren

Since I had missed Gabe in our morning walk to school, I was now looking in the college library for him. At first I didn't see him, but walking around a bit provided me with the view of him sitting with a girl at a table. They were talking and laughing together. 'Who is she? What are they doing?'

Okay, so I'm a bit jealous. I hadn't spent as much time with Gabe in the past month as I had liked. We were both busy with college and work. He was getting more and more involved with the day to day operation of the restaurant while I had been working on my Thrusters after hours at the college workshop. I had to do my work mostly in private, since it had been classified and restricted.

Now I was seeing Gabe in the company of some girl and he hadn't even mentioned anything about her in our brief conversations walking to school earlier in the week. I was ready to go barging into their little get together, but just as I was about to go over, the girl leaned over to him and kissed him on his cheek. 'That does it! I'm done with him. That two timing dog... !' I didn't finish my thoughts about him, but just got the hell out of the library. Walking back to classes I reflected back to I came to be into this situation.

Less than two years ago I had been a boy myself. I had been sickly with a short life expectancy and really didn't like my life. After I had gotten MORFS, I changed into a healthy exotic beautiful hybrid girl. For a while I stumbled around trying to find out what my sexual preference would be. Then I had met Gabe and I was convinced that I was going to be a heterosexual girl. I had even thought about living the rest of my life with him, but now I had doubts about it. Oh, I wasn't questioning my girlhood anymore, and girls didn't attract me in the least. But wasn't it a given that the first crush or love interest never panned out?

A class later I was on my way to my next lecture, when Gabe showed up next to me. He sounded really casual saying, "Hi Maren. I'm sorry about this morning, but Paco made a problem that I needed to fix before coming to school. So, what do you say about dinner later today?"

I huffed and walked on quickly to my next class. Gabe still followed me, puzzled to my reaction. He asked, "Is there something the matter, Maren?"

Regally I replied, "Nope, nothing. I'm just busy, is all. Excuse me I'm almost late for class."

I left Gabe standing in the hallway perplexed, while thinking, 'Maybe I shouldn't have acted like that to him. But he should've explained to me about that girl.'

February 13^th, morning, Gabe

Staring at a disappearing Maren walking away from me, I wondered, 'What is her problem? Did I do something wrong? I already apologized for missing her this morning. Why is she reacting like that? I haven't even told her that I'm tutoring Harriet on her Geography.' It never occurred to me that I should have told her that first. I really didn't think that it would be such big news. I mean, I had helped several people in the school with some problem or something they struggled with.

It got me thinking about how I had gotten here in this situation. 'I changed from a full hybrid into an almost non-hybrid and with the hidden hybrid traits at that. Maren changed from a boy with poor health into this beautiful girl. Maybe the gender change is catching up with her now. Should I give her some breathing room? Then again, I didn't take those secret dance lessons just for the fun of it. Though I still suck at dancing I could now at least make an appearance on the dancefloor. Why did I agree to start dancing lessons anyway? I will never be as good as Maren.'

I was still thinking about it when I got into workshop. I needed to finish my special project, a trinket for Maren for tomorrow. I didn't tell her about it, because I wanted it to be a special surprise.

February 13^th, noon, Maren

I met Gabe again during lunchtime. I sat down on the seat that he had kept for me and started on my salad. I was trying to keep my figure because I had noticed that I had started to put on some weightThere was a dance contest at the end of the month, so I needed to be in shape and wear the nice dress for it.

Gabe didn't say much of anything to me, and I was wondering if he was mad at me for giving him the cold treatment this morning. My mood had lifted some, so I started, "So, Gabe? What are your plans for tomorrow?"

He looked at me innocently and asked, "Why? Is there something special tomorrow? It's February 14th isn't it? Nope, I've got nothing planned except a dinner in the evening with you.

Oh, I could hit him over the head; he could be so infuriating sometimes. He thought there was nothing special about tomorrow. Well, I should show him. I dug into my salad and didn't speak for the rest of the meal. I didn't notice the faint smile on Gabe's face, though if I had, I might have done things differently.

February 13^th, noon, Gabe

I almost blew it, seeing Maren getting upset with my casual answer. I couldn't let her know that I had three surprises waiting for her. Maybe I should have given her some clues, but I decided not to. My mistake.

Maren didn't speak at all to me the rest of lunch and left in a hurry for her next class. I tried to follow her, but she quickly got out of sight as a student asked me something. I vowed to make it up to her, but you know how it goes with the best laid plans, something always happens to screw it up.

After classes I went to the dance classes that Maren was in. Well, she was less of a student than an assistant teacher, helping out the actual dance instructor, though she mostly used the time to practice with Lance for contests. I arrived a bit too early and watched them all dance. It was a little depressing; I would never be that good at dancing. Then I saw Lance grab Maren's ass in an inappropriate manner. I was expecting Maren to hit him or something, but instead she stood on her toes and seemed to be kissing him. I started thinking, 'Is she so mad at me that she is looking for another boyfriend? I thought she said she didn't like Lance that way. I better get out of here before she sees me; I don't want to talk to her right now. Besides I need to get to work.'

Februari 13^th, afternoon, Maren

During dancing in class, Lance suddenly grabbed my ass. Maybe I should've zapped him, but instead I rose up on my toes and whispered to his ear, "If you don't get your hand away right now, you're going to lose it forever."

Lance quickly put his hand back to the small of my back and apologized, "Sorry Maren, I slipped with my hand. It won't happen again, I promise."

"Damn right it won't happen again, you know I'm not interested in you romantically. You're getting off with a warning this time, but next time I'm using my power on you."

Lance swallowed hard and just kept on dancing with me. I smiled inward, I scared him good.

After dance class ended I was looking around for Gabe, but didn't see him anywhere. Was he upset with me for my second cold treatment at lunch? Normally he would never hold a grudge, and certainly not this long. I was really disappointed that he wasn't there to take me home.

Lance offered to take me home, but I said I was taking the public transportation. I was so distressed that I didn't even see the mugger waiting for me as I walked to last part towards home before he suddenly appeared in front of me. He was a very big hybrid man, possibly a hybrid of a bear or something. He stuck out his hands with vicious looking claws towards me and growled, "Hand over your purse girly, or I'll maul you to pieces."

I simply pointed my left hand at him and powered up a lot by disintegrating a several air-molecules around my hand. I zapped him with my patented maser-lightning and give him a huge jolt. He twitched for several seconds with his hair and fur spiking out from his skin before falling down like a log. He was still sizzling as I stepped past him. "You shouldn't threaten girls like that. Some can take good care of themselves," I sneered at him.

Arriving back home, I was still upset enough that my family noticed. Well, Isabel always notices of course, she's an Empath, so she can sense any mood I'm in. She kept quiet about it, though I was certain that she would ask me all about it later. Mom definitely noticed, but she didn't say anything, just raising her eyebrow at me.

"So, why are you ready to kill someone?" asked my sister when we were alone in my room. "I could sense it from across the street."

"It's nothing," I tried to dismiss it.

"You're not getting out of it that easy. I know there is something bugging you." Isabel pried on.

"I can't get out of this, can I?" I asked.

Isabel shook her head. "Well, if you must know, I think Gabe and I are drifting apart. We had a bit of an argument and he wasn't waiting there to take me home. On top of that I almost got mugged on the way home."

"Dare I ask if the poor sap needs to be buried or just ended up in the hospital." Isabel said with fear all over her face.

"He was still breathing when I walked past him, so I think hospital. I just didn't care enough to call 911."

Isabel put her arm around me for a hug and I leaned in to her. "Why are men such idiots?" I murmured.

Isabel answered me softly, "They are men. That's all the explanation you need. You were one of them not too long ago, you should know. Though I think Gabe is one of the exceptions to the rule. I know that he cares a whole lot for you, just give him a chance to explain and apologize. I think you both just need to sit down and talk things out."

"Thanks Isabel. So, how are your studies for being a councilor coming along?"

She screwed her face, "Don't remind me. I think they want me to be a doctor first and a shrink later. You've got it easy with your engineering study."

"Don't count on it; I've got my own problems with that."

Later I thought things over while waiting to fall asleep. 'Isabel is right; I should sit down with Gabe and talk it out. I know he's not the kind of guy to cheat on me.'

February 14^th, Valentine's Day, morning, Maren

In the morning I had another disappointment. Gabe wasn't at our usual meeting point. I walked by myself to school and was nearly there when Gabe came running up from behind. He said a bit out of breath, "Sorry for not being on time..."

I looked at him, his hair was still wet, so I guess he worked out and had a shower. "Did you have a nice workout?"

"Yeah, I did. I had to get something out of my system. I think..."

I interrupted him, "We need to have a talk about things. Soon."

Gabe looked at me, "I agree, but we're almost late for class, can this wait till lunch? Don't forget that we have the dinner appointment tonight."

I was about to answer when the first bell rang and we had to hurry to get to class. The professor was a bit annoyed at the late arrivals. Another girl was in late with me and we both got the 'very annoyed' look from the professor. He really had it in for us that class, asking us questions all the time. Fortunately I had prepared the lesson and answered everything correctly.

Near lunchtime I looked for Gabe and I found him alright. He was talking to that same girl again and this time she did more than just talking. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth. I watched it for a second before turning around and running out of the building. I was so mad that I even drained the batteries of the present I had made for Gabe.

A little later I was sitting on a bench and a familiar voice sounded behind me. "There you are. I've been looking all over for you."

I turned around towards Gabe. "I bet you have. What lame lie are you going to put on me? No, save it, I don't even want to hear. Some of my friends were right. We are not compatible. You're a dog hybrid and I'm a cat. We don't belong together. I don't want to see you anymore." With that I powered up and gave him a large jolt of electricity, completely forgetting that it only fueled his power as an electrical elemental.

I left him standing there and ran away with tears in my eyes. I didn't want him to see that I was crying. I was hurting inside from my own words, I had really loved Gabe, and now I practically told him to stay away from me. I skipped the rest of the classes and went for a long walk and some Ice-cream. The Ice-cream from the mall wasn't as good as Everybody's Place, but I didn't want to talk to any of Gabe's co-workers or even worse, Gabe himself if he was out of school early.