"Harris!" Joe jerked his head from where he'd been resting it on his desk, blinking rapidly and looking around the classroom.
"Ye..yes ?" his teacher, a short, dumpy woman in her late forties, stood in front of Joe's desk tapping her foot, her hands on her hips and her left eyebrow raised.
"I asked you what the chemical compound for Calcium-Cyanide is..." Joe thought for a second, letting what the woman had just asked him stir in his brain.
Then he shrugged.
The woman sighed, letting her arms fall to her sides. She turned away from Joe and walked up the aisle of teens to her desk. "Not good enough Harris, maybe an evening of cleaning gum off tables will help teach you to stay awake in class."
She took a pad from the drawer of her desk, wrote a few quick notes on it, and walked back towards Joe to hand it to him.
"Yes Mrs. Morgan" She smiled curtly to him and continued on with her lesson.
Joe looked down at the paper-his detention was tomorrow night after school-and sighed as he slid it into his binder folder.
"Dude," a brown haired boy behind Joe leant forward and whispered over his shoulder. "That sucks. Looks like you'll miss Matt Schaffer's party"
Joe sighed and nodded. "Yeah, but I wasn't going anyway."
The boy behind him furrowed his brow in confusion. "Why?, I thought you were going to hit on Stacy Conolly?"
Joe nodded again, pretending to take notes in his folder. "I was, but these headaches are taking the life out of me. When I get home, I can't find the energy to stand up, let alone go to a party."
The boy suddenly took a more serious tone. "How long's it been now? Three weeks?"
Joe shook his head, raising his eyes if Mrs. Morgan had caught on to the little conversation going near the back of the room. "Almost five. I went to the doctor earlier this week and he said that it was just a string of migraines."
The boy shook his head. "Bull, absolute bull man. You should really get another doctor to check you out. Five weeks worth of headaches aren't just migraines...maybe you have cancer or something."
Joe chuckled, cutting himself off when he realised that the teacher may have heard. When he was sure she hadn't, he spoke again. "I didn't know you cared so much for me, Nick."
Nick shook his head. "Hey, I'm just looking out for my boy," he flicked his hand against the back of Joe's shoulder. "Besides, you can't die without nailing Stacy Conolly," Joe smiled. "Although if you tell her you have cancer, you might get a pity lay." Joe laughed out loud now, but was cut off by the sound of Mrs. Morgan slamming her meter long ruler on his desk.
"HARRIS, WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU?," Joe gulped, looking up at the fuming woman. "A WEEK'S WORTH OF DETENTION, STARTING TOMRROW!"
Joe opened his mouth to object, but decided it was best not to risk it. "Shit" he whispered as his irritated teacher handed him another detention slip.
Later...
Joe turned off the street and onto an alleyway between an old bookstore and a starbucks, his usual shortcut home, his blue eyes on the screen of his phone as he sent a text to Nick about the view of a senior girls ass he got earlier when she tied her shoe after third period. Halfway up the alley, he stopped in mid-step when he felt something cold against the base of his neck.
"D..drop the phone, and p...put y..your hands up," a nervous voice said. Joe did as he was told. "Good. N..now move for...forward," the mugger pushed the gun a little farther into Joe's neck, nudging the teen forward. He felt his knees start to shake.
The cold metal of the gun left his neck for a moment and, thinking that the mugger had run off, Joe began to turn around. "Don't try it." the mugger pushed the gun into the small of his back, and Joe realised the mugger had been kneeling to pick up his grounded phone.
"Alright...alright I'm sorry." Joe apologized. He raised his hands up again. They were trembling as if it were mid-winter.
He felt the gun leave his back and push against his neck again, then heard a series of beeps from his phone as the mugger played with the buttons. "You got any money?" the nervous stutter had disappeared. Obviously the mugger's confidence had risen.
Joe nodded and reached for his pocket, but the gun was pushed harder into his neck.
"Keep your hands up, I don't want you trying anything." he felt the mugger's hand enter his pocket, rummage for a second, then take out his wallet. "You got anything else?' The mugger jabbed his weapon in Joe's neck a few times. Joe shook his head. "Don't screw with me," the mugger jabbed him again, much harder this time.
"I swear...I don't have anything else." Joe said. He could hear the fear in his voice. Joe felt a hand on his shoulder and the mugger pushed him onto his knees. "You stay here and coun..."
"HEY!" The voice of another man tore Joe from his fear.
"HELP!...HE"S GOT A GUN!" the teen screamed over his shoulder to his savior.
The mugger pulled Joe to his feet and wrapped an arm around his neck, putting Joe in between the mugger and the "hero". "DON'T MOVE...I'LL SHOOT THIS KID!"
Joe's eyes found a beat-cop entering the alleyway, his hands out in front of his torso in a non-threatening manner. "Okay. Okay, stay calm. All I want is for everyone to get out of this safely," The officer took a small step forward, and the mugger replied by tightening his hold on Joe, choking him.
The cop stopped in his tracks, and Joe's eyesight began to fade.
"Alright...but please listen, that kid's going to get hurt. Please let go of him," The mugger shook his entire upper body frantically, and in the process, waved Joe around like a ragdoll, causing him to fade even quicker. "PLEASE, YOUR GOING TO KILL HIM," he heard the policeman shout.
Joe's eyes began to glaze over, so much so that now he could only see an outline of the policeman at the end of the alley. Bright colours began to cloud his vison,
flashing in front of his face like strobe lights at a rock show, then a sudden rainbow flash made him black out.
0oo0oo0
"Doctor? How is he?"
"There's nothing wrong with him. His headaches may be a little more severe for a few days, but he should be fine to leave tomorrow."
"Phew, Okay, thank you doctor."
Joe opened his eyes, only to close them again straight away as a bright light above him hurt his eyes.
"Arrgh...someone turn that off,"
"Joe? Honey it's your mom, do you remember?" Joe felt his mother grab onto his hand.
"Jesus Kerry," Joe heard his father's voice. He could make out the man's slight Scottish brogue anywhere. "He passed out, it's not like he got hit with a hammer." Joe couldn't help but grin at his father's comment.
He opened his eyes again, this time the light was off and he could see around the room without the stinging in his eyes. "What happened?" he looked to his mother, a thin, pretty woman in her late forties, with dark red hair and hazel eyes, then to his father, a tall man, slightly overweight, with the same crystal blue eyes and jet black hair as Joe.
"Well," his mother began. "You were found in that alley by the bookstore," Joe nodded. "The doctors said that you passed out due to dehydration."
'Dehydration?' he thought. No, he was choked out. And why would a police officer just leave him there? did he follow the mugger?
"What about the mugger? And the cop?"
His mother scrunched her brow, and she rested her small hand of Joe's exposed forearm. "What do you mean?"
"I mean where is the guy who pulled the gun on me and the cop who found-"
"Excuse me?" an elegant female voice drifted into the room. The three members of the Harris family turned to the doorway, where a beautiful dark skinned woman with bone white hair, accompanied by a handsome man with short brown hair wearing red lensed glasses and a gorgeous young red head with high cheekbones and bright green eyes, stood.
"Yes?" Joe's father said, a curious look on his face.
The dark skinned woman stepped into the room, and offered her hand to shake Joe's father's, who took it hesitantly. "My name is Ororo Munroe. I am the principal of Xavier's institute for gifted youngsters in New York. You must be Mr. Kenneth Harris?"
Joe's dad nodded, his curious look replaced with a smug grin. Everytime a stranger knew his name it made Kenneth very proud, and he would grin smugly and stick his chest out like a silverback ape.
"Why yes I am," He said, shaking the dark skinned woman's hand vigourously. "How can I help you?"
The woman smiled widely. A beautiful smile of flawless white teeth. "I am here on behalf of the Xavier institute. I would like, with your permission of course, to have my colleagues run a quick test on your son."
Kerry grabbed Joe, who was now sitting up, and hugged him to her breast. "No! I'm not having some stranger do experiments on my son!"
Joe pushed his head from his mother's chest. "Mom! please!" he blushed a little, causing him to suddenly become dizzy.
The woman-Munroe-raised her hand. "I assure you it will not harm Joeseph in any way. In fact, we can do it right here right now."
Kenneth looked down at Joe, who shrugged in his bed. "What would this test include?" Kenneth crossed his arms over his chest, his smug look replaced with one of concern.
Munroe smiled her flawless smile again. "Just a quick looking over by Jean here," the lovely red head smiled at Joe, who couldn't help but blush again. "To determine if he is eligible for a position at our school."
Kenneth thought for a moment, turned to look at his son, then back to the strangers. "Okay," he conceded. "But if anything goes wrong-"
"I can assure you that no harm will come to Joe," Munroe cut in. "This test has been done dozens of times." The glasses wearing man walked around to the wooden table next to Joe's bed, and set down a previously unseen suitcase.
"If I may ask, could we please be alone? It's only for a moment." Munroe said to Joe's parents.
Kenneth hesitated, then nodded a small nod and began towards the door, his wife trailing behind. "We'll be right outside Joe. Call us if you need anything." Joe nodded as his parents left, then felt a little uncomfortable as Jean closed the door behind them, leaving him alone in the room with three strangers.
"Alright Joe," Munroe said. "I would like to offer you a place at Xavier's," Jean sat on the bed next to him and began running her fingers over his temples. Her touch was unbelievably soft.
"Huh?," the teen replied. "But you haven't run any tests yet?"
Munroe chuckled to herself. "This test was only so we could get your parents out of here." he watched as Jean took a device that looked rather like a heart rate monitor out of the suitcase and placed the small nodes on Joe's forehead.
"Why?" Joe said, the device on his head was ice cold.
"Joe, you're a mutant."
Joe thought he misheard. "What?"
Monroe sat on the other side of Joe's bed as Jean took the nodes from his head and placed the device back in the suitcase. "Joe, you're a mutant. I asked for your parents to leave so I could break the news to you subtley."
"Oh yeah," Joe scoffed. "You were real subtle." Munroe grabbed his hand and looked him straight in the eye.
"Joe please, let me explain. Sometimes...Sometimes parents reactions to this kind of news can be scary," Joe looked the woman directly in her dark brown eyes, hoping to find any sign that she was lying. A wink perhaps, that would show she was playing a trick with him.
She was dead serious.
"I asked for us to be alone so you could make a decision without their influence."
"Wait...Wait," Joe said, lifting his hand from Munroe's gentle grip and in front of his chest. "Slow down. How exactly do you know I'm a mutant?"
This time it was Jean who spoke. "At the institute there is a machine I can use to detect young mutants. I noticed you when your powers activated," Joe just looked at her. "I checked your medical records before we came in, and I think that those headaches of yours are being caused by your powers awakening."
Joe thought the situation over for a moment. "Prove it."
Munroe nodded. "Jean?" the redhead nodded, placed her hands on the sides of Joe's head, and closed her eyes. Her hands were soft, and her touch delicate.
"This may feel weird for a moment."
Joe suddenly felt like his head was about to explode, clenching his eyes together to counteract the weird pressure he was feeling in his head. "Joe?, open your eyes."
he did, the first thing he noticed was that he was looking at himself, as if he was standing in front of a mirror, being choked by the mugger. He watched his own eyes began to fade as the oxygen was cut off from his head, the begin to flash a multitude of colours. Red, green, blue and more. Joe had no clue what was going on, then his jaw dropped in amazement as several small orbs burst from his eyesockets. They span around Joe and the mugger from a moment, then one burst away from the pack and into the police officer's chest.
The officer screamed in torment. Joe tried to run to him, but found he couldn't move, and watched in horror as the man who'd tried to help him fell to his knees, then onto his face, stone dead. Joe's mouth fell open as he watched. Another scream made him turn around, and Joe saw his body fall to the blacktop as the other rainbow orbs span around the mugger like a hive of angry bees, before each one of them flew into the mugger's body, exploding in a bright flash that took over the alley.
When Joe opened his eyes once again, he found himself back in the hospital room, the three strangers surroundin him.
"What was that?" he gasped, wide eyed and panting.
"It's a trick I picked up a while back," Jean said. "It's a reconstruction of your memories into a realistic vision. Are you alright?" she rubbed Joe's back, and he nodded.
"I...I killed that mugger." he said after a moment, realising what he'd done.
"I'm afraid so." Munroe said.
"And the cop...who was just helping me-"
"If you decide to come to Xavier's, we train you to control your powers."
Joe looked up at Munroe, his panting had calmed slightly. "Do you promise?"
The woman nodded. "Yes. We can help you control, and advance them."
Joe nodded. "Okay, I'll go."
"That's good Joe," Munroe said, standing up and walking towards the door. "Get some rest. We'll pick you up from here tomorrow night when you get out. Until then, goodbye." she opened the door and walked out. The guy with the red lensed glasses closed and picked up the suitcase, smiling to Joe as he turned away.
"You made the right decision Joe," Jean said, smiling to him. "If you need anything, call me." she handed him a small white buisness card with the name JEAN GREY printed on it, as well as her mumber and the address of Xavier's on the back, before smiling again and leaving after her cohorts.
Joe looked out the window, watching Munroe talk to his parents, who gave a few sideways glances to Joe, before Kenneth shook her hand and the three left.
Joe's parents walked back in, smiling at him. They began talking, but he paid no attention to them. His mind was on what had just occured. It was a hell of a lot to take in. But he had seen what he could do, and he had seen many times on the t.v what damage mutants that were reckless with their powers could do.
"Joe?"
Joe looked up to his father. "What?"
"We asked if you were sure that you wanted to go to this...school?"
Joe turned to his mother, who smiled sweetly, then back to his father, who had a serious look on his face.
"Well," he sighed. "It's sure beats a week's worth of detention."