Rise of the Werechipmunks (ONC 2022)

In Which Sophie's Potential Soulmate Wants Acorns

 Cora stared at the unconscious boy. "He's your what?"

"My second-chance mate!" Sophie grinned. The more she said the words, the more sense they made. Of course Nathan-Nate-Matt wasn't her real soulmate. His death was inevitable, a footnote, an inciting incident in her epic love story that, undoubtedly, would leave her body shaking with lust and her heart aching with love.

Sophie closed her eyes and pictured an idyllic countryside house, a man with the abs of an athlete and the face of a model, the conversation skills of a diplomat and warm heart of an animal shelter volunteer. She would be wildly successful, an actress maybe or an Instagram model, and she would read a book a day and never do homework again.

Cora squinted. "I repeat. Your what?"

Sophie's eyes snapped open. "Oh, uh, my second-chance mate. It's a thing. Here, I'll show you." Sophie pulled out her phone, clicked on the app, and Wattpad opened to a blank page. Something went wrong, a pop up read. Please try again later.

Sophie shook her phone. When that didn't work, she held it overhead like she was trying to touch the clouds.

"What are you doing?" Cora asked.

"The Wifi isn't—" Sophie glanced at her phone screen. "The Wifi isn't working." She tried to remember the best lines from her favorite second chance mate story—The Sassy Shy Girl and Her Second Chance Mate After She Got Rejected—but her mind was stuck on thoughts of cute guys and countrysides and wildly successful careers that didn't require doing homework. 

Cora was pulling her hair into a ponytail, glaring stubbornly at the unconscious boy. 

"Okay," Sophie said. "A second chance mate is a soulmate. But your second soulmate because the first one sucked."

"And people...like that? Shouldn't you just have one soulmate? Why wouldn't you accept them?"

"Well, sometimes they're shy or–"

"Sorry. What?"

"Yeah, sometimes. Because shy girls aren't fit to lead or something. Which, admittedly yes, is a little stupid. Or it's because they're blind or mute or haven't shifted yet for some reason."

"Huh?"

Sophie winced. She was pretty sure rejecting your soulmate because they were shy was not a plotline Cora was impressed with. "It makes slightly more sense when you're actually reading it. And some of them are really good! I'll find you one."

"And you think this random murderous werechipmunk is your second-chance mate?" Cora asked.

"Yeah! He's cute and..." That was about it, actually. Maybe she hadn't thought this through as much as she thought she had. "Oh! And he's the enemy of Nathan-Nate-Matt."

"Sophie...Do you think...just maybe...you could be in shock or something? I'm not sure you're thinking straight."

"But the best ideas are the craziest ideas!" Sophie looked at the boy again. A thin scar sliced across his neck, pale pink and straight as a ruler. Maybe it was a sign of his undoubtedly tragic past. "We should take him with us."

"Where would we put him?"

"In the car. Obviously."

"Do you have a medical degree I haven't heard of?"

"I have google!"

Cora sighed. "We can't just take a potentially hostile, probably dying, not human boy with us. It's kidnapping." As an afterthought, she added, "Also, it's dangerous."

A scream cut through the air, high-pitched and terrified, coming from the direction of the high school. There was a wet crunching noise and the screaming stopped.

Sophie crossed her arms. "We're not leaving him to die."

"Oh, come on—"

"I'm serious. He could be my soulmate! And it's human decency."

"He's not human!" Cora said. "And he killed Eric. And believe it or not, I don't want to die, Soph! This isn't a Wattpad book. This is real life and if we don't get far away from these monsters, they will kill us."

Sophie had only seen Cora upset twice before. The first time was when she got an A- on a Latin exam. The second time was when she was only elected vice president of the student body. Now, her face was white as milk, her hands were clenched into fists, and her lips were pressed into a thin line. In other words, she looked like she'd flunked her very first test.

"What if he dies?" Sophie said. "What if it's our fault? And what if—"

"He's not your soulmate."

"He could be."

"Okay, then he's probably not your soulmate," Cora said. She sighed. "Fine. We can take him to a hospital. Deal?"

Cora had a point. The chipmunks were vicious. They were powerful. And they seemed to be totally without mercy. Sophie still had blood on her shoes from Nathan-Nate-Matt's unplanned decapitation. 

"Okay," Sophie said.

By the time they finished pushing and shoving the boy's unconscious body into the backseat of Cora's car, Sophie was exhausted. He'd weighed more than Cora's parents' expectations and all of Sophie's fictional boyfriends combined. Maybe it was a werechipmunk thing: Sophie decided that all of that extra mass made his bones denser.

Cora started the car. The engine grumbled halfheartedly, sounding more like a lazy house cat than a fierce lion, and the car lurched forward. A sharp cracking noise came from the front of the car. The lights flickered. The car stopped moving.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Cora gripped the steering wheel with both hands, staring blankly at the dashboard.

It was fate. It had to be. Sophie grinned. She'd always wanted to save the world. It didn't feel like she could do much to help the world, but armed with extensive Wattpad knowledge in the middle of a battle between werewolves and werechipmunks, she knew she'd found her calling.

The car's engine had halted and only the occasional scream of terror kept it from being exam-time quiet. Sophie turned to face her friend. "Cora," she said. "I think we're supposed to save the world."

"No silly," the werechipmunk poked his head into the gap between the driver's seat and the passenger's seat. "We're supposed to destroy it. You guys have any acorns?"

Question! Is Sophie more likely to save or destroy the world?

Total Word Count: 3701 

Thank you for reading!!

-Harley