Chapter 1
"Hi, Marina!" I heard my mom call as I walked in the door from soccer practice. "You're just in time, dinner's ready." Good, I thought, I was way too hungry to wait for another hour. I plopped my bags in the foyer, kicked off my shoes and walked into the kitchen. There my mother, Rogue, was making dinner. I saw her in the midst of vegetables, chopping up tomatoes for a salad.
"Hey you, how was soccer practice?" asked my Mom as she turned around toward me.
"Hard as hell tonight," I said. "Coach Carter had us doing some drills that we never did before. And he of course had us scrimmaging, non-stop, for an hour and a half. Basically, I didn't catch my effin' breath until after practice was over."
"Well it means you got a good work. As opposed to fat Moms like me who stay in the house and have nothing to do, except take a light jog around the neighborhood."
"Yeah, I guess," I said, still reminiscing over my long, drawn out and frustrating practice. "Hey, where's Dad?" I asked, looking around, noticing someone presence was missing.
"Oh right, he's still at work. Some project carried over late tonight, his supervisor asked him to look it over."
"Ahh, I see."
I'd always had a strong kinship my Dad, Bobby. He's was sweet, understanding, and a funny man. Just as daughter and father relationships are expected to be, ours was better. We just knew each other's every quirk, every mistake, every dislike—anything as if we had a mental biography about each. That's why when I walked in the door, and I was somewhat sad not to hear Dad's voice.
"Hey Mom, remember you told me, when I was little how when you were growing up there had been two men that always loved you, one including who was Dad. Well, I was just wondering—whose was the other man?"
That's when I heard the clank! Of the knife's blade on the countertop and saw the salad bowl crash to the ground in tiny pieces.
"Eek! God, mom!" I said startled by all the noise and rapid commotion. "Are you okay?" I asked.
She stood there frozen for a minute, without a word. Her gaze was lost into the tiled pattern on the wall.
"Mom? Mom!" I said, shaking her shoulder.
"Yes, dear. Listen, I'm sorry, I'll clean this mess, you can go upstairs and—"
"But do you need help?"
"No, no, I'm fine. Go on."
"Are you okay? Did that question freak you out or something?"
"I'll tell—"
And that's when I heard the door opening and the sound of my Dad's voice bellowing through the house, letting everyone know I was home.
"'Ello! Marie, Mari?"
"Yes, hon' we're in the kitchen!" my Mom called back.
"Alright."
As we waited for my Dad to set down his bags and come in, my Mom drew me near her and whispered in my ear, "I'll tell you tonight." And she went back to cutting the salad. I nodded, and walked out of the kitchen, unsure of what to make of the situation at hand.
"Hey there, Mari," greeted my Dad, giving me a light punch of the shoulder. "How was your day?"
"…Okay," I said. "Tiring."
"We'll talk about it over dinner."
"Yeah, dinner will be ready in five minutes!" my Mom called out from the kitchen.
I nodded and before I headed upstairs, my Dad punched me light in the shoulder again and winked at me. I smiled slightly and continued on up.
I came back down from upstairs and there my parents were already sitting down.
"Come on and join us Mari. We're just catching up on the day," my Dad informed as I walked in. I took a seat, and helped myself to some salad, and the nice beef stew that sizzled in the breadbowl before me. The fragrance of the beef stew filled my nose, and ticked the insides of my head.
"Smells good," I mused to my Mom.
"Yeah, I got it from this great recipe directory on line, and I thought you guys might've been in the mood for some beef stew. So, honey please continue."
"Well, my boss had me look over these proposals for the new gated community he wants to put down in Tampa," my Dad said, (he was a real estate developer). "And, uh, it was crazy, he thought this was Beverely Hills or something—he wanted to sell each house for 3.4 million dollars each and I said to him, 'you're out of your mind! no one in Tampa is looking to buy that expensive of a house.' Well he certainly can get carried away."
"Yeah, right," my Mom said in agreement. "Not everyone in this country is a celebrity and has money at their disposal."
"Yes, exactly," my Dad sai,d spooning the ocean of beef stew in his bread bowl.
"So, Mari—what happened at school today?"
"Oh, nothing much. As usual, work, work, work."
"Mmm, report cards coming out soon?" Dad asked.
"Yeah, I heard in a couple weeks."
"Hey Marina," my Mom addressed me. "We have something with you to talk about."
I perked up from my stew and looked back and forth between my parents, seeking the thing that they wanted to discuss with me.
"How would you feel," my Dad began. "Going to a special school for people like….us?"
"You mean, mutants?"
"Yeah."
"Err, I don't know," I said shrugging my shoulders. "Is there something up?"
"Yeah, well there is," my Mom said. "There's this school called Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters that is basically a school for mutants. And considering both your father and I went there and found the school to be exceptionally good, we wanted to send you there."
"Send me?" I asked quizzically.
"Yes, it's a boarding school. But you'll certainly have the opportunity to come home for major breaks—Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving," chimed in my Dad.
"So what do you think?" my Mom asked.
"I…barely know anything about it," I said.
"Do some internet research," Dad said. "They have a whole website up."
Chapter 2
The room stood quiet, while I vigorously searched on the computer "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters." I read on to read about how the school was there for kids who had special needs aka mutants, and the founder and lead professor of the school, Professor Charles Xavier had been there from the very beginning and had a lot of the experience. I searched the faculty—there was Ororo Monrue a.k.a Storm who taught physics, Professor Xavier who taught english and philosophy, Scott Sommers who taught computer science and Professor Logan who taught combat and over looked the teams at the school. I searched on the school's website for a swim team, since my mutant ability did allow me to grow a mermaid-like tail while in water. I checked over and over, to see if I had missed anything and it was sure that they did not have a swim team. Just girls' and boys' lacrosse and basketball. Nonetheless, they did have a lake in which you go swimming in when it was nice out. But right now, it was the middle of April so it was too cold to go swimming. The rest of the school seemed really nice—manicured lawns, endless amounts of woods, and the school looked like a mini castle. Just everything seemed comfortable yet antique. And I decided that yes, I would like to go it would certainly be a change for me when the small town of Carroll, New Hampshire had really nothing going for it. It was while I was done with researching the school and checking my email that my Mom popped her head to say good night.
"How you doin' there, squirt?" she asked as she came in and placed her hands on my shoulder.
"Oh, alright. I checked out the school, it seems alright, only downfall about it is that they don't have a swim team, or soccer team for that matter."
"Well, I'm sure you'll have the opportunity to develop your skills, Marina. Especially swimming since that is your prime ability, things like that are always taken care of at the school," informed my Mom as she took a seat on the bed.
"So, what was it earlier that you wanted to tell me about?" I asked.
"Oh yes, about the two men that loved me when I was your age," she looked up at the ceiling as if fishing for memories. "Yes, there was your father, and this other man named Logan who taught at the school and—"
And then a bell went off in my head. Hey! I'd seen that guy on the website! He was a tall scruffy man, very well built, scruffy face, mutt n' chops. His picture that was up on the website portrayed him as a very gruff man who dealt with no funny business.
"Hey! I saw him on the website," I said.
"Oh, you did? He's still around," she looked at the floor. "But he was the other guy I'd fallen in love with when I met your father at school. He wasn't a teacher then, he was seeking help from the Professor—therapy sessions and things like that."
"So, like was he an enraged guy or something?"
"Umm, to some extent he was but that's just his general demeanor."
"Ahh, I see," I said. "So what happened? Did Dad ever find out about him?"
"Listen, we can't talk too loud," my Mom said hunched over. "But your father did have an inkling about me liking him and all of that, and to be honest—he was right, I loved the man with all my heart. But no, I never told your father about him."
"And did some big fued happen or something?"
"No, but before you were born there was this anti-mutant cure that came out and each mutant in the country at the time had the option of being vaccinated and I decided to go, just because at that point in my life, I'd never really hugged, kissed anyone before that point. I think I told you what I was like? I would basically suck people's life force out of them and I just wanted that to end—I was desperate. And so when I was vaccinated and everything was okay, I went back to the school a little later and met up with Logan. And that's when the affair went ten fold—"
"And I think I know what happens then!" I said embarrassed and holding up my hand up to my eyes.
"Right," my Mom confirmed. "And a couple of weeks later, I'd found I was pregnant and err—"
"But wait, you were involved with dad at the time, right?"
"Yeah, we also had carried our relationship further."
"So…wouldn't that confuse you?"
"What do you mean?"
"That I may not be Dad's kid, naturally…"
"No, don't be silly, Marina! You're my and Bobby's kid. I don't think Logan would've accepted the idea of having a daughter!"
"But, Mom, seriously. I'd always noticed that I never looked like Dad, you know Bobby…"
"Yes you do!"
"No, what did he look like growing up? He was blonde, right? And blue eyes. So, so far I didn't inherit any of that from him—I've got brown hair and hazel eyes. And his features are a little feminine for a guy as well, don't you think? And I didn't get that from him either and—"
"Marina, stop! You've been on the computer too long. Come on, shut if off and get to bed."
"But, I—"
"No, buts. Shut it off and then its bed time."
"Mom, seriously—"
"Eh, listen to me. Or you'll be grounded."
I nodded and shut off the computer. As soon as my Mom saw the screen blink off she kissed me on top of my head and left. She shut out the light, and I was left in the dark, by myself. Okay, seriously, it'd seemed she was avoiding something—fluffing me up and saying that my Dad was my real Dad but I did not believe it. Like I'd said, I never inherited any of his features, traits. It was probably by coincidence that we shared powers that were alike—his ability to manifest ice, and my ability to swim really well underwater. But still that didn't mean much—two separate mutants who lived on the opposite ends of the earth could have the same powers and still have no blood relation whatsoever—it has happened before. My mind was telling me that I was just getting carried away and was going mad—it was probably my homework load and not having enough "me" time to sit and down and comprehend life properly. But my heart was telling me something else. It was telling me that there could be a possibility that I wasn't my father's child. This father that was named Bobby Drake, this man that I lived in the same house with.
And with what my heart said, I believed.
Chapter 3
It had been confirmed about three weeks after me and my Mom's conversation, that I'd been accepted to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. With that, I had to say good bye to friends, the few that I had, and family. My parents took me to the train station, there we said goodbye and I was off.
When I arrived in Albany, a woman with warm brown skin and bleached white hair came and picked me up. I walked onto the platform and there she was. Her name was Storm, now I'd remember that she was the teacher that taught physics.
"Hi there, sweetie? Are you here for Xavier's school?" she asked warmly.
"Yes, I am."
"Marina…Drake?" she asked looking at a slip of paper in her hands.
"Uh, yeah that's me," I said readjusting a heavy bag on my shoulder.
"Any relation to Bobby Drake?"
"Yea, he's my Dad," I said, doubtfully.
"Your mother's Rogue?"
"Yup."
"Hmm, very well—let's get a move on."
We reached the school an hour and a half later. Storm pulled up the car and pressed a button to a small box.
"Uh, hello, Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, can I help you?" a gruff voice sounded over the small silver box.
"Hi, Logan, it's me, Storm."
"Hey, Storm."
The box beeped and the gates swung slowly open, she pulled in. The school looked grander than it did on the website, the stone was old, big windows, a large 19th century door stood in front of the school which I could tell was the main entrance.
"Here we are," said Storm, turning the car off.
"Cool," I said, still flabbergasted by the building's beauty. "It certainly is a big lookin' house."
Storm smiled and retrieved my things from the trunk. She handed me my belongings and we walked in. The inside had a warm, mahogany interior. There was a grand stair case that straddled the foyer. I looked around, as if I were a little kid in a wonder land of candy. There was some room to the left, down the hall that obviously was the game room—bleeping, blasts and shots that came loudly from that corner of the house and occasional cheers.
"Well, I'll show you to your room before I show you a tour of the place, yes?"
"Sure."
"Alright, follow me."
Storm led me up the stairs and we made an immediate right. Right on the other side of the corridor was my room. A small plaque on the door was mounted, it read Marina Drake and Illyana Rasputin (Magik).
"Wait," I said, stopping and pointing to the plaque. "I gotta share with someone?"
"Sure do, we have an overwhelmingly number of girls here, so you're lucky if you have to share with one person."
Storm opened the door. I walked in—the room was a little musty but very well lit. And a figure of a girl moved and startled me.
"Hello, there," chimed in a sweet voice. "Can I help you?"
"Hi, Magik," Storm said. "This is your new room mate, Marina."
"Hi, there," I said, waving.
"Hello."
"Well, hey look, Marina. You can unpack and meet me downstairs, alright?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Okay, see you in a bit."
There was an awkward silence after Storm left. As I zipped open my bag and started putting things in drawers, I could feel the girl's eyes on me. I peeked slightly over my shoulder to see if she was, and she was.
"Think I'm watching you?" she said, starting to file a nail.
"Uh, no."
"What's your name again?"
"Marina," I said. "What's yours?"
"Illyana but I'm known around here as Magik."
"Cool. Is Magik like a mutant name or something?"
"No, not a mutant name—an alternate name, an alias."
"Oh, sorry," I said.
"No, don't be. You've probably never been to a mutant school before, am I right?"
"Yeah, well no," I said correcting myself.
"Hmm, I see."
She began to file her nail again as I unpacked, folded and placed clothes in drawers.
"What are your powers, Marina?"
The question caught me off guard.
"Oh, I have an exceptional ability to swim—every time I get in the water I get something like a mermaid tale and have eco location and---"
"Yes, yes I get it. Something like a dolphin," she chuckled.
"What are yours?" I said a tad annoyed about her cutting me off and calling me 'dolphin.'
"I can teleport places and also have an ability to perform sorcery."
"Oh, wow," I said.
I looked back at her, over my shoulder—I sneered slightly under my breath. She did look like the classical sorceress—white blondish hair, startling blue eyes, pale skin. She was also very slender. She tramped around our room like feline, a certain air to her that she knew everything.
When I was done unpacking and relieved that I was, I proceeded downstairs in attempt to find Storm for my unofficial, guided tour of my new home, and school.
Chapter 4
The tour had taken an hour or so—the place wasn't as big as I'd dreamt of when I searching on the computer that night but it was big enough that it would take a couple of days before I knew where everything was for sure. I'd walked around the school that day, nonchalantly looking for Professor Logan. I didn't want to make myself obvious but nonetheless, no had seen my face around here before, so there really was no worry. But he was nowhere to be found. I decided to decompress in the game room. There was a big maroon couch set off to the side that I decided to sit on. It was probably just me and being over exhausted, but it drew me in and I felt all my body's tension melt away. Within minutes, I fell asleep. "Oh, you've got to be joshin' me, Doug! Come on!" The yelling of a boy awoke me. I jolted in my seat and rubbed my eyes and I looked up. Some boy playing foosball looked at me and smiled. His surrounding friends kept looking at him as if wanting to stab him. He must've been the one they called Doug. "Come on, dude! Really, this is some annoying shit." He raised a slick eyebrow to them and walked off. It was only then that the grogginess from my nap disappeared and made me realize he was walking towards me. I watched as his lanky, lean figure stride toward mine on the couch. He had soft, observant blue eyes and dirty blonde hair, his jaw line was strong and square, his face covered with early peach fuzz. For some random reason, my heart skipped a beat at his simple beauty. He surely was cute, there was not denying it."Hey," he said plopping down next to me. "Don't mean to be rude, but you look new."
"Yes, I'mma, I'm new," I stammered, still stuck between recovering from my nap and trying to get over his looks.
"Name's Doug a.k.a Cypher, what's yours?"
"Marina," I said.
"Nice to meet you," he said holding out his hand.
"Thanks, you too," I said shaking it.
"So, how'd you end up here?"
"Not any particular way. My parents just decided to send me off to mutant school., no particular reason why," I shrugged. " How about you?"
"Same reason," he said. "Well, sorta. My parents are biologists and they moved to South Africa to study animals, I have family who live in Bedford, New York but basically they didn't know what to do with me, so they shipped me here."
"Wow! Biologists, that's crazy, I mean not crazy but way cool," I said laughing and stumbling over my words once more.
"Yeah, I know!" he said laughing along. "Hey listen, those boys over there are daring me that I can get you on a date but I'm thinking that's a little far fetched, at least for now, who knows. But let's say that since your new and I'm guessing you haven't really met anyone, you hang with us for a while how does that sound?" he flashed me a smile.
That nearly knocked me off of my seat, a dare? What the hell did he mean by a dare? But something in me told me was legitimate and wasn't the type to play any games with me. I mean after all, he was the one to come over and introduce himself.
"I..uh, sure. Why not?"
"Cool. Well, by beginning, lets start off by playing some foosball."
I nodded, a big smile crossed my face. He shot out of seat and held out his hand—and that's when I accepted the hand of my first friend of mutant high.
Chapter 5
The following day, I receive my schedule of classes. I was in Professor Logan's first period combat class, then Storm's second period physics class and third period, Scott Sommers' computer science class. I had the same first and third period classes as Doug, which was good and meant that I wasn't alone.
But the class that had stood out to me most that day, of course, was Professor Logan's. The first day, or at least my first day, he made us put on these hi-tech computerized sunglasses that when you saw through the lenses, simulated a fight scene. Since all the kids in my class had taken this class before, I just stood there—yes, with cars blowing up beside me, huge metal rods flying through the air and patches of fire blazing at my feet. I watched as the others tumbled, flipped, punched, kicked made up, computerized opponents. During the forty five minute fight session, I stole glimpses of Professor Logan. At times, he would just be standing smoking his cigar, eyes glazed over as if none of this commotion was going on. Other times, he'd be scolding a kid for their fighting technique, saying it wasn't right, and be showing them how to fight properly. And there were those occasional times when he'd look at me and wondering why the hell I was doing just standing there.
"Hey, kid," he roared over the noise of the simulated battle. "You're gonna have to fight sooner or later! You're not gettin' an A for standin' around!"
"I know," I yelled back, dodging a flying car door. "Eventually."
"What do you mean eventually?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're in my class aren't you? Participate! Get in there and try a punch."
I ran on and decided to go join Doug. He was in full combat—swirling around, punching. He huffed and puffed, when he saw me he smiled breathlessly.
"Hey, Marina," Doug said. "What's up?"
"Not much. Professor Logan is forcing me to fight."
"It wouldn't hurt you," he said smiling and taking a punch. "Just think of it as a workout, you wanna get in shape, right?"
"Yeah, I guess. But I would make an ass out of myself if anyone saw me fighting."
"No you wouldn't. Come on, right here's a guy! Take a punch—now!"
I pulled my hand back into a fist and took a strike. The computerized guy's eyes crossed and he fell flat on the floor. I'd been expecting for my hand to throb but it didn't, I smiled to myself.
"Hey! Nice one, give me a high five," Doug held up his hand, I slapped it. The battle began to settle down and our computerized sunglasses turned off. Professor Logan had switched off the system and was about to end class with his closing statement.
"Alright class," Professor Logan began. "Nice one today. A few of you have fallen back a little bit—your fighting style has gotten sloppy, I don't know why—if its personal reasons, leave those at the door when you enter my class. Tomorrow we're going to continue on level 5, fight 2. And hopefully move up to fight 3 later this week. Alright, class dismissed. And you, missy, I want to speak to," Professor Logan said, gesturing to me with his cigar. Ah, shit! I thought to myself. I must've been in big trouble.
There was a shuffle as the kids, left. Doug said, he'd catch up with me in computer science, I agreed and said goodbye. After the room was empty, all there was, was Professor Logan and I. I walked timidly and looked at the ground as I made my way up to him. I dug my nails into my palms, what was he going to say?
"Remind me of your name," he said.
"Marina, Marina Drake," I stammered.
As I said, "Drake" his head snapped up, his eyes narrowing in on me.
"Bobby Drake's daughter?"
"Yeah."
"And uh," he said tripping over his words. "your mother's,..Marie?"
I nodded.
"Okay," he said blinking, resituating himself. "You're new, right?"
"Yeah."
"Alright, I'll sympathize with you, only for today," he said holding up a finger. "But you're gonna have to find a way to catch up with the class. "
"Fair enough," I agreed. "What should I do?"
"Practice with friends, go through a few fight moves. Well, anyway, nice meetin' you, Marina."
He looked me up and down awkwardly before walking out. He pushed the button for the automatic doors to open and he exited. I was left in the room, alone. I turned to walk around the room and as I did, I reflected on the moment that Professor Logan and I had just shared. It'd had seemed, to my noticing, that when I said my name Drake that he'd frozen up. And furthermore, when I'd said I was Marie's daughter, he seemed to have turned still, lifeless. He stood there like petrified stone. It was weird, normally introductions with teachers like that were not as awkward as this one. But I knew there was something lying beneath the surface here. And I was determined with all my might to find out what it was—whether Professor Logan was my father or not.
Later that day, a whole bunch of Doug's friends and I decided to go for an unknown, unofficial trip down to the lake and soak in the hot water tub. The good and bad thing about it was I wasn't the only girl but then again the girl that was coming was my bitchy and conceded roommate Magik. Magik was a girlfriend of one Doug's friends, so she had the excuse to come but still I wasn't too thrilled. This was my time to hang out and get to meet new people, and I didn't want a scum bag like her to ruin my time.
We all met there around four o'clock. Doug and I were the first ones to arrive. Eventually everyone else came, one by one as people came, Doug introduced me—this guy was Mike, this guy Seth and the one going out with Magik was named Greg. When everyone was there we all took off our clothes and proceeded into the hot tub. The afternoon was cool enough which made the temperature of the hot tub not too hot.
We all piled in—shoulder to shoulder. It ended up that I was sitting next to Doug. But as seconds ticked by, I felt my mutation kicked in. My legs turned into a full fledged tale and my fingers grew webby mesh between them.
"Ooh, shit! What's happening?!" hollered Seth, mocking me.
"Oh, shut up!" Doug said, slapping his arm. "She already told you what happens when she goes into the water."
"Haha, I know that. I was only teasing her," Seth said.
"Yeah, whatever," Doug shot back.
I saw him slide a look to his side, to see if my feelings were hurt in anyway.
"Hey, I think it's awesome. We should call you Mermaid or something," Greg said.
Magik shot him a look, and glared.
"Squid is more like it," she croaked under her breath.
That's when I felt my pot boil over, my body fill with heat and I shot back,
"Listen, Ms. Know-it-all, I know I may be new here but you need to get down from your high horse and realize that there are better people than you out here!"
She looked like she'd been stung by a bee, her face scrunched up. I heard a collection of "oh"s go around the hot tub.
"Yeah?" she said. "Well look here, I'm not the one sitting here, single, with a bunch of guys, handing myself off as a slut!"
"Excuse me? I'm not the one prancing around here with pounds of make up on my face, passing myself off as the real slut."
"I'm not a slut!" she yelled.
"Guys, guys!" Doug said, trying to intervene.
"Yes, you are!" I said getting up, deciding that I should leave. "And do you know what happens with people like you? You're forgotten about once you're dead. Let your body rot in hell for all I care!"
With that, I splashed my way out of the hot tub. I ran down the steps, grabbed my towel from the side, and pulled my jeans on. I heard someone else slosh out of the hot tub. Then I heard flip, flops as foot steps raced behind, to catch up.
"Marina! Hold up," I heard Doug's voice call.
I turned around and crossed my arms.
"What?!" I snapped.
"Whoa, hold on, I didn't do anything," he said defensively, holding up his hands. "What the hell happened back there?"
"It was bound to happen. She'd always been getting under my skin. It was bound to happen sometime."
"It didn't have to."
"Well, it did. I'm done with her, I'm requesting a room change."
"You can do that but listen, it's gonna be kind of hard for me. You're a friend of mine, and I happen to be best friends with Greg and I don't want this being some type of 'friend for friend' or 'mate to mate' kind of a thing, you understand?"
"Yeah, whatever. I'll just find a way to deal with her on my own."
"But you heard what I said, right? I don't want this becoming world war three."
"Doug, it won't, I promise, but you should know anything involving girls is bound to become a universal fight," I joked.
He laughed, and brushed back his bangs. As I watched him, my heart skipped a beat. I bit my lip, and looked sheepishly down to the ground.
"What?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing," I said, shrugging it off.
"Well, err, I should be getting back—they'll be wondering what the hell I'm doing here. I'll catch up with you in class tomorrow, alright?"
"Yeah, sure."
And with that, Doug stepped into me, and gave me a hug. It was a little awkward, his body was a little too far for it to be a proper hug. I reacted by standing there with my arms hanging their by my side but they automatically snapped up and wrapped around his body. When he let go, he smiled. My head was spinning a thousand times a minute, my body felt whoozy.
"Bye," Doug said.
I waved. I couldn't utter a word out of my mouth. I walked off and up the hill, on the path towards the school. All the way there, I slight smile crossed my face.
There may have been obstacles, like Magik, that came up once in a while. But it took people like Doug, without little effort, to bring them back down and make you feel as if nothing had happened.
Chapter 6
Weeks have dragged on, making life seem like a roller coaster ride—it had its ups and downs. Accelerating and spontaneous one moment, as if no worry in the world existed, and then confusion and corruption in the other moments. As always, it was unpredictable and there was no telling how to measure it. But I'd been moved from the room I shared with Magik and was now rooming with another girl. Occasionally, I would see Magik in the halls, or whenever I hung out with Doug and his friends. But we made no passing comments to each other, it only made the situation worse, other people felt awkward and eventually we got nowhere. However, it was funny how that one afternoon when Doug and I and a bunch of his friends went to the hot tub that the name "Mermaid" was suggested as a nickname. Funny enough, within hours I was being called Mermaid instead of Marina—it eventually became official, and was written in my records as my alias name.
While all these other things happened, my investigation with Professor Logan seemed to have progressed. He ended up offering me some extra lessons on the side in order for me to catch up with the class. But might I say while he was nice enough to offer, he was still rough as hell when it came to teaching and refining my fighting style. He said I had a sissy punch and would have to work on that—"more strength, fight for it Marina!" he would push me on.
But it was after combat class one day that Professor Logan pulled me aside and complimented me, which was rare, since he was quick to judge or criticize.
"Marina, good work today," he said, stamping out his cigar.
"Thank you," I said, on my way out of class.
"Hey, umm…I need to speak to you for a second."
"Alright, what about it?"
He gestured for me to come and stand close to him. Before I did, I waved goodbye to Doug and went toward Professor Logan.
"Yup?" I said.
"Ahh, listen. This has nothing with how you're doing in class but more of a personal thing".
"Alright."
"I don't want this to surprise you but I knew your mother when she first came here."
"No that doesn't surprise me," I said chuckling. "She'd mentioned she knew you too."
"She did?" he asked surprised, he waited a moment. "What about?"
"Oh, well. I don't know—"
"That we liked each other very much," he said continuing my sentence.
"Yes."
"Did she tell you at all, about us?"
"That she liked you while she was going out with my Dad, yeah she mentioned that too."
"So, she did tell you some things?" he said.
"Yeah, she did. My mom and I share everything."
"But I don't know if she told you about what happened when some vaccine for anti-mutation and what she and I did, did she?"
I traced back in my mind to the night, my Mom and I had talked about her affair with Professor Logan. And it rung in my head, she did.
"Yeah," I confirmed.
"Well, I don't know if she said this either but a couple of weeks later your mother came back to me said she thought she was pregnant…with our baby. And I was watching you today, and I couldn't get over how much you look like her."
"Thanks," I said, awkwardly. "But," I began on. "She did tell me all of this—you know, what you just told me and over the years, I've noticed that I look nothing like my Dad, like Bobby," I tripped over my words. "Don't you think, if there ever was a possibility, that I could…" I looked up into his eyes. He was listening intently. "be…your daughter?" I cringed.
No expression came across his face. He looked me strongly in the eye, and then the strangest thing. He raised his hand to my face. He started out by my ear—he went around the circumference of it. He traveled over to my nose, and traced his fingers down the front. His fingers then walked across the edge of my lips, all the while focusing as if he were painting a painting. He circled my chin and in the end, he held my face gently. His eyes once again, came to meet mine and they locked once more.
"I think I would know my daughter if I came and saw her," he said taking his hand off of my face. "And I think I have."
Unexpectedly, a smile crossed my face and I leapt into him. He caught me and spun me around. His strong arms propelled me through the air—I laughed like a little girl on a carousel. He set me back on the ground. He took my hand, stroked my cheek.
"Oh, by the way," he added. "You look nothing like Bobby. You've got your mother's hair, eyes. And look," he said laughing and pointing. "You have my nose, my mouth."
He drew me too him once more. His grip was forceful but I wanted every part of it. Here he stood, the other half of me. I was sure I'd staked this one out perfectly.
Chapter 7
After the sweet moment I'd just had with Logan, I ran to my room and scrimmaged through my bag for my cell phone. Even though, we were not allowed to use them on school property, my mom had packed it just in case if there was an emergency. I turned it on, impatient—the hokey diddle stretching out my time. I smacked the cell phone against my hand, "come on, come on!" I growled. It seemed ages before I was allowed to dial. And when I did, I pounded those keys. Now it was a matter of time, waiting for the dial tone to change to my Mom's voice.
"Hello?" answered a female a voice.
"Mom? Mom, it's Marina!"
"Oh, hey sweetie! How's school?" she asked excitedly/
"Great. But I have something to tell you," I said.
"They're treating you okay? Do you have friends?"
"No, no Mom listen!" I said. "I think I was right that night."
"What? What are you talking about?" she asked confused.
"Okay, remember a couple of nights ago when you were telling me about your fling with Professor Logan?"
"Oh, no we're back to that. Did you talk to him?"
"Err," I exhaled. "Yes, I did."
"Marina! Oh jeez," she said.
"Mom, it just came up, I didn't bring it up!" I said defensively.
"Marina, as I've said, you're not his child."
"How do you know?" I shot back/
"Because…" there was a long pause at the other end. "Hold on."
I heard her place the phone down, and walk away. In the distant background, I heard a shuffling of papers, and a shut of a drawer.
"Ok, here I am," she said.
"What did you get?" I asked.
"It's the paternity test from seventeen years ago— and I've never had enough in me to open it," she breathed.
"Mom, are you okay?"
"Yes, honey but I'm going to send it to you. I don't want to know the results okay? Don't call me about it, don't come back home and tell me about it. This is only for your knowing, for Logan's too," she started to sniffle on the end.
"Mom, you just could've opened it and told me."
"Marina, I can't! You don't understand—"
"I don't understand why you just can't tell who my father is!" I yelled, stomping my foot.
"Marina, please!" exclaimed my Mom. "I'm sending this to you, like I said I don't want anything to do this."
"But Mom—"
"Marina, you're going to loose this opportunity, if you continue any further I'm burning this and otherwise you'll never know!"
"Fine, fine," I said, trying to release my anger. "Just send it, I'll give you a call next week."
With that, I hung up and threw my cell phone at my bag. I dropped my head into my hands—tears streamed from my eyes. What was it with my Mom? Was she ashamed if I'd been Logan's daughter? What was so wrong about him versus Bobby? I didn't get it, even though Logan had the impression of an arrogant bastard, he still had a soft, sweet side to him. The way he lifted me today and spun me around seemed right—there was something about it that made it seem we were a father and daughter team. What my heart had said that night when my mother was strongly denying me of being Logan's child, I still believed—probably more so now. I would find out soon, though. That unopened paternity test would tell me who I came from, and what I was about.
"Marina?" there was a knock at the door. I looked up, I quickly wiped my eyes and got up. I answered it. It was Doug.
"Oh hey, what happened?" he asked looking at me quizzically.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Besides the fact that I look like complete and utter shit."
"Well, you kind of do, what happened?" he asked again.
"Oh, it's my mom, she's being really difficult."
"Fight?"
"Yup, estrogen wars."
"Yeah, I'd rather not get involved."
"You shouldn't," I mused.
"Ha! Well uhh, I came by to find out if you wanted to get out of here and take a walk with me down to the lake, what do you say?"
"Sure, besides I need it."
I stepped out of my room and shut my door. We walked down the steps and to the back of the mansion—my stomach churned, I was wondering if I would see Logan and what was going to happen. But we didn't see him, and we headed outside. The walk there was silent. When we were a few paces away, I wanted to admit the truth to Doug.
"Hey, Doug," I began. "Something's been bugging me ever since I came here."
"About me?"
"No, not at all," I chuckled. "You know Professor Logan?"
"Yeah, what about him?"
"Well," I said stopping to collect my thoughts. "I think…I think he's my Dad."
Doug took a double take. He raised an eyebrow at me.
"Whoa! What?"
"I think he may be my Dad," I repeated.
"How the hell is that possible?"
"Well, see when my mom was a student here, she had a thing with Logan and err…a couple of weeks later she came back to him telling him she was pregnant."
"With you as his kid?"
"She didn't know, she was involved with someone else at the time. So she didn't know if it was me who was the other guy's baby or Logan's."
"Wow, and did you talk to Professor Logan about this?"
"Yeah, I did. And who knew, he thinks the same," I admitted.
"Shit, dude this should be on like Jerry Springer or something!" he joked.
"Doug!" I said, slapping his shoulder playfully. "This is serious, don't joke like that."
"Okay, sorry," he said recollecting his bearings.
"And my Mom said she's sending me the paternity test, from when I was baby and wants me know who my real dad is."
"Does she know who it is?" he was still smiling.
"No, she'd rather not know," I said guiltily.
"Ooh, baby mama drama!" he raised his hands mockingly.
I raised my hand to slap him again, but I missed as he swiftly moved back and I almost fell forward. He ran to the dock and stuck his tongue out as if we were little kids on a playground. I chased him up onto the dock. I tried to catch him but it was before I knew it that he was off the dock within seconds and in the water. I was stunned, I didn't know where he went. Then he resurfaced, and was shocked at what just happened. By that time, I was roaring with laughter, I keeled over and was on the ground—tears filling my eyes.
"See what happens when you try and mess with me?!" I hollered at him in the water.
"Shit! It's cold to," he said splashing around.
"Don't mess with me again," I said kneeling beside the edge. "If I help you out, do you promise me that?"
"Yeah, okay but hurry its too cold!"
I lowered myself and reached out my hand. He took it. But then without the help of hoisting himself up, he pulled my arm, and with that, I was in too. The water stung my skin with its coldness. I resurfaced and saw Doug laughing really hard.
"I could risk one more time," he chirped.
I splashed a bucketful of water at him, we laughed. The water fight went on for what seemed like two minutes but as he was winning and I was eventually backed up toward the dock. I couldn't do much more. I watched as Doug swam closer to me, he stopped. His gaze was intent, his lips parted. Something in my stomach got a hot flash. All I did was look and back and forth from each of his sea blue eyes. He inched nearer. The hot flash got hotter, stronger. And before I knew it, Doug was two inches away from me, when our lips met. Everything went blank—it seemed the lake had drained and that we were floating—yes, just the two of us. His lips were soft, the kiss sensual. Every cell in my body rattled against my bones—my head spun.
When our lips left each other, we locked eyes. All we could do was look, something had changed in Doug's gaze. I couldn't pin point what it was but it was something sweet.
Chapter 8
Four days later is when the paternity test from my mother arrived.
I was sitting at lunch with Doug, his arm around my shoulders—we'd now been going out for a couple of days--with Seth, Mike, Greg and Magik. Throughout the lunch period, Magik and I shot looks at each other but nothing verbal manifested between us. I could've sworn that when my body went tense, Doug's grip on my shoulders increased, as if holding me back and whispering to me—Remember what I said, this is not a mate for mate thing. So, looks continued between Magik and I.
"Yeah…so Reese flew threw the air and ended up fracturing, hell what is it Doug?" Seth asked him.
This had become normal—the guys would just come sit around and talk about sports, girls, or food. The conversation never really varied besides those three points.
"No, I think he ended breaking his arm or something," Doug said.
"Could be," Seth agreed. "But then again, it makes you think what kind of lawsuit this is going to be, someone from the Broncos hitting one of our players—no, no, no."
"But then again, it could be within game limits, something accidental—so they can't carry the blame outside of the stadium," Mike offered.
"Nah, I think this could be intentional. There'd always been a war between Reese and Knight—come on Mike, you saw the move he did on Reese. It was completely uncalled for!"
"Yeah, I was just suggesting an idea," Mike retorted.
It was then when I felt a hand on my shoulder, Doug's arm left in alarm, he and I turned around to see who it was. It was Logan. He looked down and in his other hand he held a white envelope. By any chance, could that have been the paternity test my mom sent?
"Hey," I greeted.
"I have something for you," Logan handed me the envelope.
"Is it from my Mom?" I asked.
"Believe so."
Logan's eyes switched to Doug. He looked Doug up and down and looked back at me.
"Is he treating you, well?" mused Logan.
I laughed uncomfortably. I looked at Doug, and back at Logan.
"Yeah, he is," I said nodding.
"Good, if he weren't well then he would have to deal me/"
"Oh, Professor Logan, I'd rather not."
"Boy, just checking. Just know this is who you're gonna have to deal with if anything happens with her."
Logan gave him a hard pat on the back that nearly knocked him off his seat. I gazed the envelope over, I decided it was something I'd rather do alone and not in front of all these people.
"Hey, can you guys excuse me? I need to do this one quick thing."
"Hey, wait!" Doug said, grabbing my hand. "Do you want me to come with you?"
"No, not this time. I'll be alright."
"Ok, I'll see you later."
"Yeah."
He grabbed my hand before I left, pulled my toward him, and gave me a quick peck on the lips. "Good luck," he breathed in my ear. I gave him a smile and walked on with Logan inside the mansion.
"Where do you want do this?" he asked me.
"What do you mean?"
"This," he pointed to the envelope.
"You know about it?"
"Yeah, your Mom gave me a call late last night, saying she was sending you something that she'd want the both of us to go over."
"Oh, sure," I said awkwardly. "Whatever. I guess we can sit here."
There was a small loveseat that Logan and I both sat in. I fumbled with the envelope in my hand. I hadn't noticed but my hands were shaking. "You okay, kid?" Logan asked. I looked up at him and sighed, I shrugged. "I'll be okay, just nervous as hell." He huffed and rubbed my back, I decided to just go for it. I ripped open the top of the envelope and took out the folded piece of paper. I opened it up the folds and read on. There was a complicated gene coding table that was on top of the paper, but right below it were the names of my parents. I took in a deep breath. It read "Anna Marie" as "Biological Mother" and "Logan" as "Biological Father." My breathing stopped, my hands froze.
My gut instinct had been right, the man sitting right beside me was my father. I dropped the test, and tears welled in my eyes. Tears of joy, tears of relief, tears of anger. It had been a seventeen year old secret that my Mom kept from me—never telling me who my Dad was, never telling me who else I belonged to. It had also been a great relief, because I didn't have to search anymore, I knew who it was. And I was sure heck as happy to find it was Logan. But part of me, deep down was upset. Why had my mother raised me with a false father? Telling me he was the real deal? I knew he wasn't! I'd always felt it wasn't so and I had the results right here, in my hands.
"Marina. Marina, hey kid, you okay?" Logan asked.
"I…I, uh," I wiped my eyes. "I'm sorry, so many thoughts are going through my head right now…"
"Like what?" Logan inched himself closer to me on the couch—he put an arm around me.
"Like, I feel like my mom has been cheating me all these years."
Logan didn't speak, he just shook his head. He turned my face toward him and wiped my tears, his thumbs gracing the bottom of my eyelid.
"You're okay, Marina. Believe me, I hadn't know either, she didn't tell me anything either," he confessed.
"Not even just one thing?" I asked, looking into his eyes for the answer.
"Nope. Nothing. See," he said, readjusting himself on the couch. "Your mother had been keeping secrets from me even when we started to see each other, before and after the anti-mutant cure. I'd only found out it was a secret when I found out she was involved with Bobby and I saw them sucking the faces off of each other in the back of the school one night," he squeezed his hand into a fist, his knuckles turned white.
"So, basically..she lied to both of us. That—"
"No, no. Don't start," Logan scolded.
"Sorry, I just thought she would never have done that, she doesn't seem the type of person to do that," I said.
"Well, hon', you gotta understand your mom was a troubled teen when she was around here, she was angry, insecure, scared—just so many things. She was tortured, poor thing."
"But why did she have to lie for all this time? I don't understand!"
"Might've been scared, I don't know. But at least we know what really is and what isn't."
I nodded. I folded back the test into the envelope and I placed it beside me. I was still crying slightly, but the grip of Logan's embrace stabilized me.
"And you know what?" he said.
"Hmm, what?"
"I didn't need a 'effin test to tell me who my kid was," he smirked. "I could've guessed with my eyes closed."
I lightly chuckled. He gave me a shook and said,
"Hey, I think father and daughter need to take a walk. What do you say?"
"Yeah, sounds good."
Logan got off the couch and held his massive hand out, I propped myself up. We walked out. Lunch was just wrapping up, I spotted Doug throwing his trash out, he spotted me as well. We walked and met on the path, Logan following behind.
"Hey, looks like you were just crying, you okay?" Doug said, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"She's fine, bub, let her to me for a lil while would ya?" Logan gave Doug a slight push in the chest.
Doug stumbled backward but caught himself, he huffed. Logan defensively took me by the shoulders and led me down the path, into the woods.
And it'd seemed the world had changed from the moment I'd opened the envelope to now. Everything was brighter—the leaves glinted a rich emerald hue in the sun. Showers of sunlight leaked through the canopy of the rich wood from overhead.
"Whatchya think about, kid?" Logan asked.
"I don't know, just trying to take this all in."
"Hmm, same here. But no worries, I'm here."
He planted a kiss on my cheek. I giggled and tickled his side. He jumped back and laughed. Joy filled his face, his cheeks were red.
"You know, Marina," he said, shuffling his boots through the dirt.
"What?" I said.
"I love ya and you're one heck of a kid."
I looked at him and a shot into his arms for another hug. He squeezed me tight. And that's when I felt my time tables change—he was me, I was him. Father and daughter together at last. Like Logan said, we knew what was right and what wasn't. And right now, this hug, this embrace and the growing relationship, felt right. Everything was right. And surely, there were no secrets here.