You've probably never heard of me.
Once, I was known as Jack Matthews. Now, I go by another name.
I am the Shadowalker.
And this is my story.
I've never really liked schools. I've been to so many, and they all seem the same. Timetables and subjects and useless ideas that are outdated by the next year. Oh, and don't forget the bullies.
Bullies. Every school has at least one, some stupid jock with more muscles than they have brain cells to use them. I've had the time to study them, during classes where they taught us useless ideas that are outdated by the next year, during our ridiculously short breaks, and I've come to a conclusion: somewhere, someone makes their life hell, too. The bullies move and work like carnivores around the herbivores that are the rest of us. They prey on the young, on the weak, on the loners. It's a pity, then, that I'm a loner.
It was a normal school day, other than the sunny sky in the midst of a series of storms, when it happened. I was closing my locker, spinning the combination lock to secure it, when along came the school bully. He was your average jock guy, massive muscles and a tiny brain. The best insult he could come up with was "hey, dipshit."
"Hey, dipshit," he said. Told you.
"Greetings, steroid-fed, pea-brained mountain of bodily tissue," I replied. Never a good idea to use smart words on a bully, but he had pain on his agenda from the moment he set eyes on me. Always the same guy. I don't even know his name.
Becore the bully could answer, a call came over the loudspeaker.
"Could Jack Matthews please report to the principal's office immediately." The bully sneered. He slowly backed away and headed down the hall. Oh, wait, did I forget to introduce myself? I'm the school punching bag.
I walked briskly down the hallway, wondering what the principal wanted. Was it not enough that, despite not listening in class, I was a straight-A student? Or perhaps it was nothing to do with my grades... Perhaps it was more to do with that SR-71 which had landed near the school...
I opened the door to the principal's office slowly, peeking inside. Yup, this was not my grades. All I could see through the door was a bald man in a wheelchair. I slowly shut the door again, leaning against it, wondering what to do.
"You could try coming inside."
I looked around sharply, trying to find the source of the voice. It sounded as if the person were right next to me, yet there was no one there. I pressed my ear against the door, listening to what the bald man was telling the principal.
"He's right outside, you know. No, don't get up, let him choose to come in if he wants to."
I frowned. This man knew exactly where I was, yet he hadn't seen me. He also seemed to understand that I wanted my entry into the room to be my own decision. Who was he?
Against my own better judgement, I pushed open the door and stepped inside.
"Ah, Jack, good of you to join us," the bald man greeted me pleasantly enough. The principal looked at me, his gaze hard.
"I recognize you!" I exclaimed. I had had a feeling that I at least knew of him, if not knew him personally. "I've seen you on TV! You're Professor Charles Xavier!" The bald man inclined his head, seeming surprised that I knew of him.
"But then..." I began. He raised his eyebrows expectantly.
"That SR-71 outside..." I continued.
"My X-Men are waiting there, yes." I was confused, surely the X-Men had nothing to do with me?
As if he'd read my mind, which I later realized he probably had, he continued.
"We are here for one simple reason: you." He raised his hand to stall my questions. "We haven't much time, and this will be much faster as a monologue." I nodded.
"Firstly, yes, you are a mutant. Your powers have not yet manifested fully, but they will the next time you are severely stressed. Your powers, as we have managed to ascertain, are useful to opponents of the X-Men, namely Magneto and Weapon X. Therefore, I have come here in person to invite you to join me and hundreds like yourself at my school for the gifted - and when I say 'gifted' I mean 'gifted with mutant abilities.' We haven't much time before Magneto and his Brotherhood get here, so if you accept we will have to move now."
I blinked. Xavier hadn't taken so much as a breath through that entire statement.
"Okay, I'll go with you. Magneto isn't the nicest person, from what's said on the news, so if you're against him I'm with you." Xavier smiled.
"Let's go then." He thumbed the controls for his wheelchair and practically shot out of the door. I was after him in a moment, jogging to keep up. We turned together through twisting corridors and past groups of people avoiding class. Everyone who saw us stared for awhile before returning to their original conversations. Everyone except one. The bully.
"Be careful, Jack," Xavier said, sensing the bully.
"DIPSHIT!" The bully shouted, "I'M COMING TO GET YOU!"
Really? He still couldn't think of a good insult? Man that was cliche.
Finally, Xavier and I burst out of the front doors and shot toward the waiting stealth plane. The boarding ramp opened to allow us in, and a white-haired woman dressed in black beckoned to us.
"Come on, come on! Scott's firing up the jets, we have to go!" I recognised her, and almost stopped in my tracks before sprinting toward the jet, quickly outpacing Xavier's chair. As he reached the ramp I was buckling my seatbelt. As he rolled into place and locked his chair in, the plane was taking off. I looked out of the window, watching as the Brotherhood of Mutants destroyed the school searching for me.