"Come on, guys! Focus!" The lead investigator and upper classman Reed Richards chimed. It was a Friday afternoon in the middle of April, and the group working on their science lab experiment was getting angsty. Reed clapped his hands together as the teacher nodded towards her student aid, Reed. He was far too advanced for any science classes they offered at Juxtemburg, therefore he became an aid to the chemistry teacher, helping students out during his senior year.
"Two minutes left, then it's time to clean up." Mrs. McDougall muttered as the intercom buzzed above.
"Mrs. McDougall, you have a call in the office." The speaker said.
"I'll be there in just a minute." Mrs. McDougall replied. The intercom buzzed off and the teacher told the class, "Please start picking up right now. I'll be right back. Don't let anything… get out of hand." She said hesitantly as she left the room.
Reed Richards looked at the watch glass on top of the beaker very carefully as the rest of the group hovered around him. He looked to his left to see his best friend Ben Grimm, who was writing down whatever Reed told him to. Ben was a senior also, but he failed chemistry as a junior, so he was retaking the class, and as an added bonus, Reed and him had a class together. Ben was very athletic and was on the football team, and was also voted as the football homecoming king. Behind Ben were Susan and Johnny Storm. Sue was a junior while Johnny was only in 10th grade, but somehow got into the advanced chemistry class with the other juniors. Johnny was sweet-talking some 11th grader like the smooth player he was, as Susan just rolled her eyes and watched the experiment. Susan was quite popular, and her schedule was quite busy. She was a cheerleader, but also kept up her 4.0 GPA. She had the brains, the beauty, and the brawn. To Reed's right hand side sat a girl named Juliet Morrison, also an 11th grader, but very outspoken and different from the others. She seemed quiet in classes, but that was because she was afraid to be herself. And right behind her was a boy named Victor Von Doom, a new student this year at Juxtemburg High.
The oddly paired group wouldn't have been so odd if it wasn't for Juliet and Victor, who were total social outcasts. Juliet being somewhat of a nobody and Victor challenging Reed in every academic event held at the school. Other than those two, the other four were practically inseparable. They were childhood friends, and over the past few years, there had even been a relationship between Susan and Reed.
The two were not exactly meant for each other though; Susan was too concerned with her popularity and Reed with his academics. There was no balance for the two, which is why they broke it up the past summer and neither blinked twice about it. It was complicated, and even though each one had feelings for the other, they never came to good terms with each other.
Juliet, on the other hand, had a bit of a growing crush on Reed Richards, even if she never admitted it to anybody. And Victor developed feelings for Susan after moving to New York this past year, and he made sure she knew it. Susan would never straight up tell him how she really felt about him, because nobody really liked Victor, but she had secretly loved all the attention she got from Victor.
The bell rang in the lab, and all the other groups gathered all their things, after packing away all the equipment into the cupboards. The lab was empty, except for Reed's group. "Reed! Will you please hurry up and take apart the experiment." Susan interrupted Reed's train of thought.
"Yeah! I need to go home. It's finally the weekend!" Johnny said, crossing his arms as he finally came back into the semi-circle that the group had formed around the table.
"Sorry guys, but I'm out of here, Richards, next time, don't take so long doing the calculations." Victor laughed and started to exit the room. "Susan, care to join me?"
Susan slowly shook her head and said "No, I'm going to help Richar- I mean Reed put up the equipment." She tossed her hair behind her and watched as Reed quickly flicked the Bunsen Burner off.
"Your loss." Victor rolled his eyes and exited the lab.
"Good riddens." Juliet plucked a piece of hair behind her ears after muttering those words.
Reed continued to watch the beaker bubble. "This is all wrong." He said and looked down at his paper. "It says that immediately turning off the burner, the bubbling should subside. It's been going for a good minute or so." He glanced at his watch then back to the beaker.
Then a loud popping noise quickly made it clear that the group did something wrong.
"That can't be good." Ben hoarsely said and got out of his seat.
Johnny came closer to the chemicals and said, "Cool!" He reached towards it with his hands and another crackle came from the beaker.
Susan hit Johnny on the back, "Jonathan!" She always acted as his mother.
Reed scanned over the paper several times during this fiasco and his eyes widened. "We've miscalculated on the amount of ethylene glycol. This isn't good." Reed said taking a step back.
Juliet got out of her seat and stepped behind Reed, as the others tried quickly to get as far away as possible. It was too late though. The chemical instantly emitted a shooting smoke towards the teenagers and splashes of the deadly chemical started spewing from the cracked beaker.
"Johnny!" Susan watched her brother get hit on the face with some of the fire being thrown from the beaker.
Johnny instantly hit the floor grabbing his face in agony, and Susan kneeled down beside him and tears rolled down her face. She felt the chemical hit her in the back and Reed and Ben both widened their eyes. She instantly straightened up before falling to the ground.
"Oh my god. Susie!" Ben growled as Susan lay next to her brother. Ben turned to Reed and Juliet. "We need to get out of here!" Ben got up, but was too late as he got hit in the chest with the spewing chemical and landed on the floor.
Reed looked over at Juliet and the back at the chemical. He saw a huge bubble that was bursting and would splash Juliet. As soon as he saw the bubble pop, he reached his hand over Juliet's face and the splash hit his arm and he fell to the ground as well.
Juliet's heart was racing, as she ran across to the other side of the room, leaping over the unconscious bodies of her group. And she reached the fire alarm and pulled it, she felt weak and very sick. The water sprinkler came on and soaked the whole room, along with the beaker emitting the deadly chemical splashes on the students. Juliet glanced over at the bodies lying on the ground before she fell unconscious herself.
The beeping of the heart monitor kept a steady pace in Juliet's room, as she blinked her eyes several times to see where she was. A big logo on the wall told her she was at Von Doom Hospital, owned by Victor's father. A nurse was standing beside Juliet, taking notes. "Good evening Miss Morrison. Feeling any better?"
Juliet sat up slightly and added a small nod. "Fantastic, actually." The nurse half smiled and put her clipboard on the side table.
"Great! The doctor said if you were feeling better, you were released. We ran some tests and they all came back negative for exposure." The nurse continued with a smile.
"Exposure?" Juliet asked, concerned. "What about the… others?" Juliet remembered the others all lying on the floor. "Are they okay? Were they exposed?"
"They are fine. Just a little worked up over the whole ordeal. They have been exposed to some radiation, but no symptoms have arisen yet. We are keeping them just an hour or two longer."
"Thank you." Juliet smiled and the nurse left the room. Juliet got her backpack that someone so kindly brought up to the hospital for her, and she grabbed her phone out of it. A message from her mom told her that she was still at work, and was informed that Juliet was going to be okay. It was around 6 o' clock and Juliet knew that her mom didn't get off of work until 9. "Looks like I'm stuck here." She muttered to herself, seeing as she didn't have a car.
Juliet left her room and saw Reed's name on the door that was right across the hall from her room. Juliet nervously ran her fingers through her hair several times to make sure it was straight. Then she knocked on the door.
A hoarse voice answered, "Come in."
Juliet opened the door and saw Reed in his bed, lying down. "You okay?" She whispered after running straight to his side and giving him a small side hug.
Reed shrugged. "I could be better. I just… I feel terrible. This is my all my fault. I'm sorry."
Juliet put her hand on his shoulder for comfort. His shoulder sank down with the impression of her hand, but she shook it off. "No, don't blame yourself. Everything is okay, everyone is okay."
"But, we could have been injured or worse." Reed said, and finally sat up in his bed. "How are you?"
Juliet looked into Reed's irresistible brown eyes and gave a small smile. "I'm… fine. Because of you." Her face grew pink as Reed stared into Juliet's eyes. Juliet grabbed her left arm with her right hand and bit her lip.
"Well, I couldn't let the chemical hurt anybody else after it hit Johnny, Sue, and Ben. I can't live with myself, knowing that I hurt them." Reed looked at his stats on his monitor and got out of the bed. "I have to go see if they're okay."
Juliet got up and followed him towards Susan's room.
She was sleeping peacefully, and Reed knocked at her door. Johnny's voice was heard saying "Just a minute." Footsteps were heard and then Johnny greeted the two at the door. "Hey! You guys okay?"
Juliet and Reed both nodded and glanced towards Susan's bed. "And you and Susan?" Reed asked, stepping in.
"We're both fine, but Susan's been… I don't know how to say this…. But…" Johnny started.
Juliet walked over to Susan's side and watched as her face stopped reflecting light so she became invisible. Juliet yelped as Johnny mentioned, "Every so often, she becomes invisible."
"What?" Reed rushed over to Juliet's side and saw the Susan was not visible. "She isn't…How is that even possible? Do the doctors know?"
Johnny shook his head and sat back down in the chair beside the bed. "No, or else they would have told me, don't you think?"
Susan groaned and then became visible again, blinking her eyes and rolling over. She was face to face with Reed and she jumped back. "Reed!" And the invisibility ensued.
Reed, Johnny, and Juliet all looked at the bed, confused.
Susan got out of the bed and stood in front of the group. "Are you guys okay? It's like you've seen a ghost."
"Well, you could say that…."Johnny said, snickering.
"I was just startled by Reed, that's all." Susan retorted.
"Sue, look at your hands." Reed insisted. And as she did, all she saw were the floating sleeves and the bracelet she had on her right wrist. She screamed and backed up into the bed, tripping over her feet. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Reed reached out, instinctively and his arms stretched right past his sleeves and he caught the invisible girl.
Reed looked at his arms as he brought Susan back to a standing position. "Incredible. It seems as though the chemical has altered our DNA." Reed said, fascinated. He brought his arms back to normal.
Johnny and Juliet stared at each other incredulously. Reed turned to the two and his eyes got wide, "We should check on Ben."
Johnny rolled his eyes and the group went to the next room over. They heard grunting and moaning. It sounded like Ben was in pain. Then after a moment of silence, a large crashing noise was heard. Reed had merely knocked on the door, but Juliet pushed him to the side and just opened the unlocked door. "BEN?" She yelled and ran into the room to see a broken bed splattered on the floor with a giant man made of rocks sitting on top of it. A gasp escaped Juliet's lips as she saw the creature. The rest of the group entered the room, staring in awe at Ben.
"Ben?" Reed said, kneeling down to face Ben. "I'm so sorry. I never meant for it to end up like this. I never wanted any of this to happen."
Ben, who had seemed to hit a growth spurt, said in a deep voice, "Reed… What happened?" He got up off of the collapsed bed and Reed stood up with him. The group eyed him suspiciously.
Reed explained to him about his theory of the chemical altering their DNA, and clearly it left a lasting effect on Ben.
"You okay buddy?" Reed asked and looked up at him for support. Ben looked past Reed and saw none of the others had been affected like him.
"Am I okay? Look at me!" Ben said and flipped his side table up as it raced across the room. Susan immediately turned invisible and Reed quickly took a few steps back to stand in front of Juliet, Johnny, and Susan. Johnny furrowed his eyebrows and took a step around Reed to face Ben.
"Dude! Calm yourself!" He said, rage tipping his emotions. Johnny balled up his fists and Ben merely just stood there.
"I'm a rock! Literally!" Ben yelled back.
Suddenly, Johnny's fists lit up with fire and crawled up his arms, turning his sleeves into ash. "Wha-?" Johnny said, putting his hands in front of him. He jumped back and said "WHOA! I'm… I'm on FIRE! I'm ON FIRE!" Reed inspected Johnny's hands and kept shaking his head.
"This is all so impossible. The chemical we all came in contact should have killed us…" Reed looked over each person, "Not that I'm… complaining." He half smiled and touched the ceiling by stretching his arms up past his sleeves.
"Now, that's just gross." Johnny said and his hands went back to normal.
Ben looked from Reed to Johnny, then to the two girls in the corner. "So, what can you girls do?" He grunted.
Juliet stepped forward first and touched Ben's rocky exterior. "It's… actually rock. You know what this means?" She paused and looked up into Ben's blue eyes. He shifted in his stance and Juliet replied, "You will be practically unstoppable. You're a walking bullet proof person!" Juliet looked back over at Susan, Johnny, then Reed.
Susan quickly stepped in to cover the silence. "I can turn invisible." She sighed. "It's so boring."
Johnny cracked a smile and muttered, "She is so right."
Susan softly hit Johnny on the shoulder and Reed stepped past Juliet to face Ben. "And…. You? Jul…Juliet?" Ben stammered as he looked over Reed's shoulder.
"I can't do anything. I wasn't… I didn't get hit by the chemical." Juliet said softly, clearly embarrassed. She took a few steps backwards away from the group.
Reed looked over Ben's upper body and shook his head. "It had to have been the chemical. It altered all of us… but how?" A small sniffle escaped Juliet's nose, as she rubbed her heavy eyes. Tears filled them, but she didn't dare cry in front of this group. Instead, Juliet turned and ran out of the room, too embarrassed because she was the only one who didn't gain an inhuman ability. She felt more alone and isolated than ever. The door slammed behind her and she ran down the hospital hall and out of the wing they were in, until she found a waiting room. She sat in one of the chairs in the corner and cradled her knees up against her chest and she rest her chin on her knees.
In the room, Ben, Johnny, and Reed all looked at each. "What's her problem?" Susan asked, as she flipped her hair. "I mean, she can't be seriously mad that we all gained these freak powers and she didn't get one." Susan rolled her eyes and Reed looked at her.
"Susan. Calm down. She's…. just in shock, I'm sure. I know Juliet doesn't have many frien-" Reed tried, but Susan cut him off.
"Many? Puh-lease! She has zero friends. And it's very obvious why." Susan sat down in a chair in the room and innocently smiled at Reed.
"Susan, please. We're the closest thing she has to friends. And I'm going to try and talk to her. You need to be more sympathetic to others." And Reed left the room to Ben, Johnny, and Susan.
Juliet hugged her knees and slow tears welled down her cheeks, as she slowly wiped them away. She buried her face into her hands and sobbed, thinking 'What am I doing? I'm such an idiot. Thinking Reed Richards was actually starting to become my friend. To think that I was becoming friends with this group. They hate me, just like everyone else. Why do I even try?'
"Juliet?" She heard a young man's voice call her name. Juliet rose her head from her knees, and saw Reed standing in front of her. "Juliet?" Reed repeated when Juliet stared dumbfounded at him. "Are you… sure you're okay?"
Juliet shook her head and uttered the word "No", with her sore voice. Reed quickly stretched his arms around Juliet and embraced her in a hug with his incredibly long arms.
Juliet's radiant smile lit up and her soft child-like laugh echoed throughout the room, which made Reed smile. "Stop it." Juliet playfully said and tried to push his rubbery arms away. At the first touch, she hesitated, but when her hand came in contact with Reed's arm, her eyes widened. Reed watched her, until he finally unwrapped his arms and sat next to her in the waiting room.
"Juliet. What's wrong?" Reed asked.
"It's… stupid." Juliet replied and leaned back in her chair.
"No, just… maybe I can make you feel better?"
"I highly doubt that." Juliet said but thought 'You could make my entire life right this very moment.' She looked over at Reed with watery eyes.
"I'm sorry, for anything I may have done to upset you." Reed replied.
Juliet shook her head. "It's nothing you did. Trust me. You saved my life from blocking the chemicals from hitting me. I will forever be in your debt. I'm not upset by anything you did. It's everything, altogether. You wouldn't understand." She let out a long sigh and Reed pulled her closer to him.
Juliet's heart skipped a beat, and Reed's stretched out hand softly placed her head upon his shoulder. She slowly gave a half smile and started to relax. "Juliet…you… it was all my fault. I already had so much guilt on my mind, I had to save you. It was my duty, my responsibility, after letting my other friends down. It was the only thing that gave me a peace of mind, saving you. And it was nothing really…"
"But you got hit in the process."
"That's not the point. I caused the whole incident. I'm the one to blame." Reed said.
Juliet lifted her head off of his shoulder and crossed her arms. "But you guys are all okay. You guys are alive."
"Barely." Reed muttered. "And… look at Ben. He is all disfigured and rocky and… different."
Juliet rolled her eyes. "Then fix it. You are really smart. I bet you could figure out how to reverse all of this. But maybe, you guys were given these strange abilities for a reason, instead of getting hurt." Juliet stated in a whisper. "Think about it. You all should have been placed in some sort of isolation cell just because of you being exposed to those kind of chemicals. You guys could have died for all you know, but you didn't. You guys, instead were given inhuman capabilities. Come on, Reed. Face it; you have the ability to stretch yourself." Juliet grabbed his arm and pulled on it, as his arm yanked forward a few inches more than it should have. "That's not normal, and these abilities were solely given to you." She let go of Reed's outstretched arm, stood up, then looked down at Reed. He stretched his neck up to be eye to eye with her.
"Juliet…"He said.
"No, Reed. Stop acting like you care. Don't treat me like a charity case. I was just trying to help, but you… you just had to ruin it." And Juliet walked away. Reed got up, and started to follow Juliet through the automatic doors that led outside, but was instantly squished in between two invisible walls.
"Wait." Reed heard a voice and saw Susan appear out of thin air. "What was that charade?" Susan asked, with a mischievous smile on her face. Reed's body was smashed between the two invisible walls created by Susan.
"A rittle herp?" Reed insisted.
Sue let down the shields and blushed, "Sorry." She smirked and took a step closer to him. "Now what was that all about?" She asked again.
Reed looked down at Sue. "Excuse me?" Reed replied and looked past Sue to see Juliet sitting on a bench outside, alone.
"You and… that freak?" Sue rolled her eyes and laughed.
"Whaa-?" Reed tried, his face growing red.
"Wait a minute…."Sue gasped. "You… like her! What the hell Reed? What about us? You can't possibly like her. I mean, seriously?" She started laughing.
"Come one Susan, grow up. She's a nice girl? Why do you have to be so mean to other girls?" Reed said, and shook his head. "I don't know what I ever saw in you." He muttered and started to walk away to the doors that led outside.
"Reed! Wait!" Susan said in a whiny tone.
Reed turned to see Sue out of the corner of his eye. "Yes Susan?"
Sue rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "I'm… I'm sorry." She struggled through the two words, but finally managed to blurt them out. "Juliet is… a great girl."
He smiled at her and said, "Thank you Sue. I just hope she… doesn't hate my guts." Reed left the waiting room to go outside, where Juliet sat on a bench. Susan had another mischievous smile on her face as Reed left. "That stupid girl, thinking she can have my guy. She'll never see it coming." She went back to her hospital room to start plotting.
Juliet looked over at Reed when he sat down next to her on the bench. "What do you want?" She angrily said.
"I wanted to apologize. I didn't think that this would have such an impact on you." Reed said, taking Juliet's hand into his.
"Well…"Juliet started, "It's obvious I don't have friends, but a tiny part of me thought that today things would change. I thought your group of friends would accept me, for who I am. It would have been nice." She looked up at him and continued. "But, then… this happened. This one in a million freak accident happened, and now… now I'm more of an outcast to you guys. There will never be a chance for me to be friends with you guys now. It's the way the world works. We're too different now. You've got your… powers…" She scowled, "And… well, I'm still just the freak…" She sighed and added, "Thanks for your concern though."
She stood up as Reed made his rebuttal. "Juliet. You don't understand…"
"Save it Reed. I don't need any more harassment from your guys. I knew this whole thing was too good to be true."
"What are you talking about Juliet, please just let me finish…" Reed paused and Juliet stood still for a moment. "Juliet, I… I like you. And I don't care what anyone else thinks. We don't know each other very well, but I want to change that. I want to get to know you Juliet, because you seem like a really great girl, and no matter what anybody says, we're friends."
Juliet stared at him, struck with guilt. Her face turned a bright red and she sat back down next to him. "You… you mean it?" She stumbled.
"Every last word." Reed smoothly prompted and took her hand into his. "What are you doing tonight?" He asked and looked into her eyes.
"Well, since my mom doesn't get off until 9, and seeing as I don't have a car, I'll be hanging around here… until my mom can come and get me." She sighed and said, "I don't really get out much."
Reed smiled and looked down at his watch. "Well, the nurse said they would be releasing us at around 8, after checking all of our vitals. Maybe, if you wanted, you could stick around in my room until then. My parents came by earlier, they were on their way out of town for a business trip, but they dropped off my car."
Juliet smiled bigger and said, "That sounds… nice"
"Fantastic" Reed said and pulled Juliet towards him.
The once sunny sky had now faded into a dark grey abyss of clouds. There was an ominous feeling looming over the area and the first drops of rain were felt by Juliet.
"It's sprinkling!" Juliet yelped.
Reed looked out towards the hospital parking lot and saw light sprinkles of water. "Yeah, we better get inside." Reed recalled a time when he was on a date with Sue at central park. They were taking a small walk, talking. Reed was miserable, because all Sue wanted to talk about was herself. The entire evening, it was all about her, and Reed respected and knew that on a date you should get to know the other person better. But, Sue never gave any time for Reed to talk. Reed was already mad, but just as soon it started sprinkling on the two of them, Susan had screamed like a little girl and complained about how her hair was getting ruined the entire walk back to a cover, even though Reed thoroughly enjoyed being out in the rain. Reed had somehow managed to survive that date and all the antics Sue put up that day. This time, a little rain wasn't going to get between him and his date.
The rain started to pour heavier and Reed looked at Juliet, who was smiling playfully. "What are you talking about? I love the rain! I'm staying out here!" Juliet answered as her hair started to get drenched.
"Really?" Reed questioned and stayed alongside Juliet. "Are you sure? Sue always hated the rain. I just assum-" Reed got caught off.
"I'm not Susan. And I love the rain." Juliet pulled on Reed's arm to pull them into the now heavily pouring rain. The two stood there, getting drenched in the cold rain. "This is the best rain!" Juliet commented, holding onto both of Reed's hands with her own as they faced each other. Rain matted Reed's hair and a small smirk appeared across his face and he looked at Juliet. "It's so beautiful." She said, looking up into the sky. As she started to bring her head facing forward again, she closed her eyes.
"It really is." Reed said, staring at Juliet's soft features on her face. Drops of rain glistened at the end of her eyelashes and ran slowly down the sides of her cheeks. Reed took his right hand and wiped a drop off like it was a tear. Juliet whisker her eyes open to see Reed's dark brown eyes staring back at her. She leaned into him, draping her arms around his neck.
Reed took both of his arms and wrapped them around her waist. It was out of the blue, but in the heat of the moment, Reed leaned in and let his lips slide onto hers. No words were left to be said between the two.