Hey Guys! This is my first FF story in X-Men so please let me know if you have any Critique and Review please! You don't even have to sign in! Thanks!
I do not own X-Men or Steak and Shakes. Both are Great though
"Do you even love me? Did you ever love me? Or was that all a lie, just like everything you else you've told me?" Cassandra accused Trevor, her bright blue eyes meeting his dark brown ones. Cassandra turned away biting her lip and tried to fight the tears that she knew were coming. Instead of him leaving like she expected he grabbed her shoulders and turned her towards him and drew Cassandra close.
"Cassandra ever since I've met you, my life has been a mess. But I can't imagine living any other way without you. When I say things I sometimes get carried away, but I've meant every word I've said to you," Trevor said studying her face, the face he needed. He tilted his face towards hers, pausing ever so slightly before finally leaning in to-
"GEMMA!"
Gemma whipped her head up out of her latest romantic novel and looked questioningly towards her elderly grandmother at the front of the store.
"Gemma," her grandmother called her voice hinting a slight polish accent, "I am not paying you to read your books and listen to your music! There are cans here that need stacking!"
"But you don't pay me!"Gemma called back smiling. Everyday her grandmother yelled at her for the same thing and every day she answered the same. Her grandmother shot her a look and hobbled to her office to continue doing paperwork.
"There will always be paperwork my Gem," she would say after a long day at the store "and I will always hate it. When you are older I will make you do it and you shall hate it to,"
Gemma rolled her eyes and began to wind her ear buds around her iPod. Her Grandmother of course had thought it was a waste paying so much money for it, but Gemma had saved up the money she made all last year and had been able to finally buy the latest generation. Slipping her the bright purple iPod into her apron- quite ugly thing that her grandmother forced her and the college boy Frank who worked there too to wear- she hopped off the seafood counter next to the lobster tank. It was her favorite spot in the small grocery store, because she enjoyed watching the lobsters attempt to break free to no avail.
As Gemma walked to the soup section to begin her slave labor, she couldn't help noticing how much the store hadn't seemed to change at all since she had been a child. Except for the one register that Frank usually manned and the lobster tank, everything was the same as it was when her Grandparents had bought the place when they first immigrated here from Poland. It was fun as a child to be able to tell her friends how her grandparents owned the local small grocery store. Now the grocery store was on the brink of bankruptcy and the only thing that kept the store alive was the lobsters. For some reason people in the small town couldn't get enough of the undersea critters.
To be fair they were the only store in town to sell them. We live in the suburbs by New York City, so a lot of people on their way home from work stop by for last minute things needed for dinner and lobsters. Gemma remembered how she named all of the lobsters when they first began selling them. She named them all after crushes and friends. But after a while Gemma would mix them up and eventually gave up naming them and called them all one name. You.
Snapped out of her memories, Gemma bent down on the old luminom tiles and began to put chicken noodle soup back onto the shelves. After a while she finally lost feeling in her legs and daydreamed, forgetting about the cans entirely
xXx
Gemma's cell phone rang around 6:30 and she looked at the caller ID. Claire, her super athletic and energetic best friend.
"Hey Claire. What's up?" Gemma asked still stacking and shelving. By now she had made it to Mushroom cream.
"Don't tell me. You forgot again didn't you," Claire huffed.
"No I didn't forget… What didn't I forget?"she asked. Gemma had no idea what she was talking about. Claire could be talking about a long lost relative's birthday to the shelter's annual "Spay and Neuter Your Pet Day!" And anything in between.
"School is in two weeks and you haven't come out to run all month! Remember, you said we'd go running once it wasn't so god awfully hot? Well it's not hot right now. Do you have clothes to change into," she asked. Then without bothering to hear her answer she said "Good. I'll be outside the store in 15. Be Ready!" and hung up. "So much for goodbye," Gemma thought shaking her head.
She stood up and felt all of the blood rush back to my legs. That felt good. And a little weird at the same time. Any more cut off circulation to her legs and she would live the rest of her life in a wheel chair. Luckily Gemma had a spare change of clothes for any just in case moments and I grabbed them from the office where my grandmother was still bent over paperwork.
"Grandma, I'm going running with Claire. She'll give me a ride back up to the house, okay?" she asked already walking out of her office.
"Alright, fine, fine, go. I was just about to close up the store anyways. Be safe Gem," Grandmother said waving her hand towards Gemma and not even turning away from the paperwork.
After stopping in one of the bathroom stall's to change into the work out shorts and a tye dye t-shirt she had brought, Gemma began to put her hair up into a ponytail while looking at her reflection in the cracked mirror, that her grandfather kept saying he would replace. "For 17, I'm not to tall, only 5'5, and my boobs could be a cup bigger," thought Gemma. Her hair was a curly light brown mess which reached a little farther down then her shoulders and her green-blue eyes looked wild. To top it all off, a few freckles were sprinkled over Gemma's nose and cheeks.
Overall, not to be vain, she thought she was pretty, but not gorgeus like Claire. Everyday Claire looked like she just came off a runway in Paris and had all of the boys drooling over her. Except she always made time for Gemma. She never became obsessed with popularity like some of our friends and was always nice.
Looking at the time on herphone, Gemma knew she would be here already leaning against the hood of one of her parents Mercedes. She half ran half walked out of the bathroom and to the doors of the store. They automatically opened to reveal Claire, her platinum blond hair up in a ponytail glaring at Gemma with puppy dog brown eyes.
"You're late," She growled in a way friends do to each other. Not that Claire would actually ever growl at someone on purpose.
"Oh shut up. Come on we're wasting daylight," I rolled my eyes and began jogging towards the setting sun. Sometimes Gemma wondered what it was like to be like Claire. To have loaded parents and not have a care in the world. Unlike her, she always felt weighted with her secret. She wondered if even Claire who liked everyone would still be her friend if she found out.
xXx
When Claire finally dropped Gemma off at her house it was 10:50. After their run they had stopped for shakes at Steak and Shakes. Claire ordered Strawberry and Gemma chose Chocolate as they always did. After talking and gossiping for nearly an hour, Gemma was ready for her soft bed. She undid the lock at the black iron gate and waved goodbye to her friend who flashed her lights and left.
Finally inside the house, Gemma tiptoed by her grandparents room and ran up the stairs to her own room. Only when she closed the door did she fall onto her bed in a heap. After a few minutes she got up and forced herself to change into her PJs. Her room wasn't anything special. It was eggshell white with a queen size bed in the center opposite a small T.V. The bed was covered in layers of soft blankets and quilts and was great for frosty mornings. By her window on the left side of her room she had a small desk cluttered with old school papers. She walked over to the window and opened it with a whoosh of cold air.
After changing she flipped on the 11 o'clock news and settled into her bed reading yet another romance story. Gemma couldn't get enough of them. Ever since she was little she has dreamed of true love and prince charming. She still did. Not that she ever told anyone, but she wondered where he was, right then. Was he wondering who she was to?
After changing positions on her bed she accidently turned up the volume of the TV. Grabbing the remote she was about to turn it down when she saw the headline:
MORE MUTANT VIOLENCE & RIOTS AGAINST MUTANTS
Leaning closer towards the TV, Gemma felt her stomach twist painfully as she watched a video of people rioting mutants in the streets of New York City.
"Today in New York City, several orginazations protested the legality of Mutants here in America and supported a new bill in Congress which would make all Mutants register with the police and local government," said the woman on the screen. "In the past few years Mutant violence against people has risen 35% and is still rising. Many people and government officials believe that the freedom we allow the Mutant's is to blame. The bill will be voted on next week,"
Gemma felt sick. As she put her book down she felt a sharp pain on her index finger. Papercut. Silently looking at her finger, Gemma saw it slowly repair itself and fade away.
What would people think if they knew what she could do? Gemma didn't want to know.
No Kurt this chapter but he'll be in the next one I promise! Please Review! It just takes a second and means a lot!
If you want to know, I imagine Gemma looking like Alexa Davalos.