Disclaimer: I own nothing seen in this story, including the X-Men: Evolution characters and the APs.
A/N: I tried to leave large spaces for a scene break, like you would see in a novel, but the format of doesn't let me. Instead of jarring your eyes with a massive line, I used 'o.o.o' for a more gentle look and flow.
Unbeta'd as of now. Sorry!
You only see what I let you see,
Nothing less, nothing more.
What you say is nothing new to me.
Honestly.
--"Kiss My Sass" Cobra Starship
When Isis was younger, her mother told her that what mattered was her and her alone.
"In the end, it doesn't matter what people think of you, it's what you think of yourself."
Of course, her mother wasn't here now to help her, now was she?
No, she was buried six feet under. In another state. Twenty hours away.
Not that Isis blamed her mother for being hit by a drunk driver, but the point remains--she was starting a new school, in a new state all by herself. Well, if you don't count the ghost of her dearly departed sister following her around.
"It's not that bad, is it?"
Isis glared at her sister's reflection in the mirror. "There was no hot water this morning, the bus was a full hour late, I missed the half of first period, and I now have a gaping hole in my shirt. Yes, it is that bad."
"It's not a gaping hole, more like a tiny pinprick. Besides, it will match the hole in your jeans. "
"Well, dear Lilith, when you actually have the need to put on clothes again, you can comment on my fashion choices," she snapped, heading towards the door. She already missed enough of Chemistry to begin with.
Her sister followed. "That was uncalled for!"
"Not now," she hissed under her breath. The last thing she needed was someone to see The New Girl talking to herself.
"And my name isn't Lilith, it's Lily," her sister continued. "Just because you choose to go by the horrible name Mom gave you, doesn't mean I have to."
Isis rolled her eyes, opening the door to her class. The teacher stopped lecturing and all eyes turned on her.
The teacher's eyes brightened. "You must be the new student! The office warned me about you."
"Er, yeah, hi," she said, weakly. She handed over the late pass the office had given her.
"Class, this is Isis, she's from..."
"Florida."
"Yes, Florida. You can have a seat next to Pietro. Pietro, raise you hand."
A boy with silver hair raised his hand half heartedly. Isis took the stool next to him, hiding her face behind her text book.
"That's the boy from my dream," Lily whispered in her ear.
Really? She had planned on combing the school for the boy from Lily's dreams and she ends up being seated next to him in first period. Fate must love her.
Then again, if fate loved her, she wouldn't have given her a sister that had premonitions in her dreams that sent Isis on missions to New York from beyond the grave.
Pietro gave her a look when she pulled out her notebook. "Don't even bother with notes, Ms. Chandler is the worst Chem teacher this school's ever had."
"Great," she muttered, pulling out the notebook anyway. She needed a way to talk to Lily without giving off the crazy vibe.
Still no clue about when this is going to happen?
"Nope. I thought coming here would help, but I guess not."
Lovely, I just moved to across the country to stop a catastrophic event that could happen in fifty years from now.
"Don't get snappy with me. And if the kid is sitting right next to you, it has to happen sometime soon."
You never know, he could have sipped that stupid stuff from Tuck Everlasting.
"That was a book."
I can see ghosts and you saw the future and you think someone can't run around looking like a teenager for the rest of his life.
"Oh, shut up. And he's looking, stop talking to me."
Pietro was looking at her. "Can I see your schedule?"
She handed him the green sheet of paper the office gave me. She cocked an eyebrow at him when he eyes widened. "Is there a problem?"
"Are you a genius?" he asked in disbelief.
"No," she said slowly, not sure where this was going.
He waited for Ms. Chandler's eyes to pass over them. "Half of your schedule is AP classes."
"Yeah, well, I want to get into a good college." She refused to get flack over her advanced courses again. She already fought enough for the office to put her into the classes. Sophomores don't take AP English Literature her ass.
The bell rang, interrupting Pietro's next comment, probably something about her being a rocket scientist or something. The boy didn't strike her as the wittiest kid ever.
"I can show you to your next class, if you want," he said, handing back her schedule.
"Really?" Isis asked. He seemed more like the type to kick the new kid, not show her around.
"Anything for a pretty face," he said, with a smile that he obviously thought was suave.
Great. He had the hots for her.
"Good job, Isis! Get the kid who might kill a few hundred kids to ask you out on a date next, maybe he'll invite you to prom," Lily said snidely as they walked out the door.
o.o.o.
Luck was on her side today. In Lit they were reading Of Mice and Men, which she had already read at her old high school; the teacher told her to follow along and to maybe get a head start on their next reading. Then, in AP Microeconomics, she found out the teacher taught in slightly different order then her teacher back home. She decided to stare at the clouds instead of listening to the lecture on positive externalities.
Problem was, a tall guy in front of her was blocking her view of the window. Did the guy have an iron pole for a spine or something?
Lily sat cross-legged on the desk next to, unbeknownst to the kid taking notes underneath her flats. She stared at the tall kid, too, an intense frown on her face. "I know him from somewhere."
Maybe he was featured in an article about pissing short people off. Ring any bells?
"Why are you so pissy today? And, no, not from there. He might have been in a dream of mine."
I'm not pissy.
"Focus, Isis. Dream."
Well, you said you saw a mass of high school students being wiped out from some crazy light wave, maybe he was one of them.
Her frown deepened. "No, they were a just a faceless mass. If he was in it, he was definitely a main player."
"Turn to page one hundred and twelve and work on problems three through twenty-two for the rest of class. You may talk, but keep it to a dull roar, please," the teacher said, the class already filling with the student's voices.
Tall Guy turned to face her. "Hey, I'm Scott."
"Isis."
He seemed conflicted behind his red sunglasses. "I don't want to sound like an idiot or anything, but--do you get this?"
"For the most part, yeah. Why, need help?" She figured she should make nice with the guy if he might have been in Lily's dream. Keep her options open and whatnot.
She walked him step through step on the first problem. By the time they had reached number twenty she only had to make a passing comment.
"Thanks," he said as the bell rang. He helped her pack up her stuff and walked her out the door. "Do you want to eat with us at lunch today?"
Lily huffed in annoyance. "Another one? What, do you exude pheromones or something?"
He saw her hesitate. "I mean, I figured since this was you first day and all you might not have made any friends yet and you might want somewhere to sit. You don't have to if you don't want to."
Isis laughed at his nervous babble. "No, it's all good. I'll sit with you at lunch. Come find me by the doors though, because I'll probably get lost."
"Great, see you there." He walked off whistling.
"I don't like the cut of his jib," Lily said as Isis made her way to her next class. "And what's with the red sunglasses on during class? There's something fishy about him."
She made a noncommittal sound that was washed away in the noise of the hall.
"Hell, I don't like this entire school, too many abnormalities. And prophetic dreams about mass murder. No good can come from this."
o.o.o.
Isis was right about getting lost in the cafeteria. It wasn't large by any chance, but there were enough people stuffed into it to make navigating difficult. She sighed in relief when she saw Scott standing a few feet from the door.
"Hey there," she said when he walked up to her. A pretty redhead followed him, a friendly look on her face.
Scott seemed ready to introduce the girl, but she beat him to it. "Hi, I'm Jean."
She shook the girl's eagerly waiting hand. "Hi, I'm Isis."
"And I don't like her," Lily said from over her shoulder. "She seems like she has a goody two shoes with an added stick up her ass."
Isis snorted, covering it up as a sneeze. "Bless me," she said, offhandedly.
They maneuvered their way to a large, empty table. Scott waved for her to sit down and said, "The others will be here soon."
An energetic boy she had in her Chem class showed up first. "Hey, Scott, did you hear about the new girl? I heard she's already Pietro's gir...oh."
Scott glared at him. Well, Isis assumed he did. "Kurt, this is Isis. She's having lunch with us today."
She nodded at Kurt as he sat down, subdued. Jean pulled out a neat, tiny bento box and a pair of chopsticks.
"Ten bucks says she's a vegetarian that eats only organic food," Lily commented, floating in midair. She had a habit of doing that if she forgot to concentrate.
On cue, Jean looked at her and said, "I'm a vegetarian and the school never seems to serve just a salad. Have you ever had sushi?"
"I'm allergic to fish," Isis lied. In truth, she just hated fish, but allergies went over better.
"Oh, shame," Jean said, looking slightly off put.
Isis fingered the ham sandwich lying in her plastic bag, debating on whether or not to take it out when another voice sounds at the table.
"Well, if it isn't wonder boy in all his glory."
It had to be Pietro. She was right about the witty comments.
A hand rested on her shoulder and she looks up the stupid mop of silver hair. "What're you doing here, Isis. There's better company at my table."
Scott answered for her, annoyingly enough. "She wanted to eat with us, Pietro."
"I smell a pissing match," Lily said in a sing song voice.
"Well, she obviously doesn't want to sit with you now that she knows I have this lunch."
"I doubt she'd want to eat with people who don't bathe," Kurt added, joining in on the fray.
Lily floated over Pietro's shoulder, hanging upside down. "What is it with guys and answering for girls? Do they really think they know what we want?"
Pietro's hand was tightening into a fist. "You wanna say that to my fist?"
"Oh, for the love of," she said, flipping right side up. "Will you stop them so I don't have to listen to stupidity like that?"
Isis stood up, blocking Pietro from Kurt. "Look, I didn't mean to step into you Blood versus the Crips battle, I just wanted to eat my lunch. If it makes you happy, I'll sit with you tomorrow."
He glared at the table, but slowly walked back to his own. She watched his friends, at least one of them looked like he didn't bathe, send her nasty glares as he sat down.
"I hate guys with an unholy passion," she groaned, slumping back into her seat. "No offense," she added when she saw Scott's hurt look.
"It's alright," he said, "I just wish you didn't need to see that on your first day."
She waved her hand in dismissal. "It's high school, I'm used to the drama."
o.o.o.
"Well," Lily said, floating over Isis' bed, "that was an eventful day."
Isis dropped her Headstand pose, resting in Corpse pose. "Yes, it was. Now I'm trying to de-stress so will you please shut up."
There was an entire minute of silence before Lily cracked. "It's really boring being dead, y'know?"
She cracked one eye open to look at her sister. "Well, my life is pretty boring. Instead of following me around all day maybe you should try a rock star or something like that."
Lily stretched, a residual movement left over from living days. "Maybe I'll go haunt the nightlife while you sleep tonight."
"There has to be at least one upshot to being awake twenty-four seven," she said, returning to her relaxation. Lily said something like this every night, but she never left Isis' side. There was no point in doing anything if she couldn't be heard.
After a few minutes, she joined Lily in bed, completely relaxed. They fell into an amicable silence, falling asleep to the noises outside the window.
"You owe me ten dollar, just so you know."
She wished the pillow she threw at Lily actually hit her for more than one reason.
