A/N: I'm baaack! Yup, see told you I would update more! Onto the story, and yes, there will be Warren in this chapter, just not that much. This chapter is getting to know Deja and her powers which are very confusing, even to me, her creator!
If you were wondering what Deja looks like: music101.files./2007/07/jennifer-lopez-j-lo.jpg (a younger Jennifer Lopez with all brunette hair, no highlights and stuff)
Benny Ciaramello is pretty close to what I imagine Michael as: /media/rm466457600/nm1797556 and /sitebuilder/images/benny-203x275.jpg (thought he did a good job in the episodes of FNL that he was in).
Disclaimer: Oops, forgot this last time. Yeah, really, I don't own this. Believe me, I wish I did.
Delusional
Chapter 2: Reality
"Ay yay yay!" Deja exclaimed while she and Michael walked to the cafeteria. "Ese, ese, ese... uggh! Ese hijo de puta! (That, that, that... ughh! That S.O.B.) I don't care if I'm a hero or sidekick or whatever, but to call my power lame!" Her hands flung up in disbelief.
Michael just scoffed as she ranted on.
"Ok, I didn't want to be, like a villain or something, so I did a pansy illusion of a that little neighborhood girl we used to know. Right? You saw."
Michael nodded.
"See, but then what's his face freaking banshee had to say that I was a wimp and a sissy. Nobody can do that to me. I mean, seriously, am I a fucking wuss?" She paused for a second to breathe and before Michael could answer, she rushed onward.
"No!! Why did you even hesitate?! No, okay? I'm not! Alright!?" Now, Deja sounded more and more like she was trying convince herself. "So that's why I made Joker pop out. You know. I mean, he was always so freaky in the comics and cartoons, I figured they'd have had to heard of him, or else they're freakin' morons. Anyways, Joker freaked him out enough. How can he be a hero? He was freaking out and calling for help. Jesus! And he called me a wimp."
Rolling her eyes, she finished with a "Hmph," crossed her arms above her black v-neck t-shirt and settled for a silence which Michael faithfully broke with a reassuring, "God. Jesus Deja. Of course I know you're not a worthless piece of shit." Deja smirked.
"And yes, I know you were trying to go out of your way and be nice," her smirk fell, "and I know Carla won't be happy to know that a picture of her was called wimpy," smirk reappears, "but I think our top priority right now is not your ranting, but my dying need for food." Rolling of eyes ensued on Deja's part. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders loosely, both of them continued toward the cafeteria.
Looking down as she picked at a hole in her faded black skinny jeans, Deja told Michael, "Thanks."
"No problem."
"No, seriously. I mean, for coming with me even though you have your powers in check and for sticking with me."
"Bros before hoes." She elbowed him. "Okay, fine. Your welcome. But you and I, we gotta stick together. You know. Like a familia. You and I are practically related so I'm always gonna have to take care of my little sister. And as big as a burden it is for me," thrust of Deja's hip just 'happened' to hit Michael " I will always be there. 'Kay mija? (slang, used like my little daughter, but also used as a general term of endearment for girls).
Deja just smirked and let him brush her thanks with humor. Both of them knew how serious the offering had been, but Michael wasn't one for grave situations.
Upon entering the cafeteria, they were greeted by a certain lanky boy with a black and white striped shirt. "Hey, sexy, need a real man to show you 'round?"
Michael stiffened a little and began to say something when a usually quiet Deja said without hesitation, "Uh...no."
"Oh, c'mon, you know you wanna..."
But by then Michael had broken with "Dude, what is your problem? My girl said no and I think she means it. Right?" He looked down at Deja. This was routine for them, if the other was being pestered by unwanted attention, the other played the role of a loved one.
"I think my boyfriend here is right." Eyeing the boy in front of her, and with a little more confidence, "I like my men tough, not thin. You know, macho. And as much as I think emo can look good on a guy, the stripes just don't float my boat." Then, tilting her head, she pursed her lips and continued "And you're just not going to cut it. Sorry."
Bringing Deja closer to his body, the Michael continued with Deja as silence ruled the crowded room. Once they were far enough away, Deja whispered, "Ugh, now I'm actually going to remember that guy. That means dreams. Nooo, what if I have a sexy dream of him. I mean, he wasn't exactly ugly." Michael snorted and she punched his abdomen, which was not soft. "This is serious Michael. I'll probably need to tell the head honcho of this place 'bout my defect." Deja's head now hung. Her hand covered the back of her neck as her dark brunette curls hung like curtains on the side of her face. Michael just kissed the top of her head, leaning down to do so.
Whispering, he told her, "Its not a defect, just a part of the weird stuff that comes with your powers." He paused and then asked, "What do you want for lunch? I'll get it so you don't have to look up. Just follow me." She nodded, looking up at him briefly with a smile, her bangs hiding one eye.
Tugging on his sleeve, she whispered "Eating cafeteria food is like having moldy bread when you can have pan dulce, so I'll just have a water and apple. Can't have too much sugar 'cuz the 'excitement' and sugar will create spontaneous illusions. Thanks."
Michael nodded, retrieved an apple and water, and handed them to her. Hungry himself, he wasn't sure what would satiate his appetite, but settled on that day's pasta (who's sauce looked like lumpy mud), an orange, some chips and a coke. Finally, after he payed, Michael paused, thinking "Where to sit...?" He decided on going outside where too many people wouldn't overwhelm Deja and they could talk freely.
When Deja noticed that they were outside, she lifted her head and contented herself with looking around. Both of them sat against the school's walls, eating when Deja broke the silence by saying, "I meant what I said before. I'm thankful and all, but you don't have to hang out with me you know. Before, in LA, you and I were cool because we were freaks together, and we could blend, you know? But now that we go to a school with more freaks like us, you could go hang with them. I know you probably want a girlfriend and some guys to hang out with." She hadn't looked to her right where he sat, but she could here that he was no longer chewing. She continued, "I'll bet with your power, you'll have no problem. You can shape-shift into any warm-blooded 'thing' so they'll probably think that you turning into something totally scary or whatever would be totally awesome."
Silence returned but Michael finally said, "I'll let you know when I find somebody cool enough. But even then, they gotta be cool with you too. You, me, like I said, we gotta stick together. 'Kay? As for the girlfriend, sure, it'd be nice to have someone to make out with once in a while, but honestly, I don't want some girl full of crap. I had that, didn't like it. And you, well, although you can be a bitch, I think we've gone through too much together to just diss what we've got."
"M'kay, but I just wanted to..."
"Deja, just finish your apple. We're cool, okay. You're freaking out too much." Checking his cell phone, he noted, "Shit, its almost time to for class. See you round, we gotta get the stuff from our locker that Powers gave us for classes. C'mon!" She slung her back pack onto one shoulder, finished her apple and threw the core into a nearby bin. Her locker was first so she stopped and got her history stuff while Michael kept going with a "See ya."
Once she had the necessary things for her next class, she turned around and saw an oncoming crowd of people coming from the cafeteria. She ran into the nearest classroom and bumped into a black shirt under a black leather jacket. Backing up, she brought a hand to her nose, wiggled it and said, "Jeez ... ow ."
"You okay?" asked a gruff and deep voice. Keeping her head down, she didn't look up as she nodded.
"Ya, I'm good. Sorry." Then, she walked to the side, leaned against the wall and looked at the schedule. Running her purplish black fingernails through her bangs, she breathed out. "Don't look up" she thought. "Act disinterested, ignore him, let him go. Don't look up."
"You're one of the transfers right?" Noooo! Why did he have to keep talking?
"Yup..." she replied, popping the p.
"Do you know where you are?"
"Nope." Another popped p.
"What's your next class?"
"Ancient Supers."
"Oh, you're a junior."
"Ahuh."
No other question came, only the opening of a door. Deja panicked. "Ughh! He probably knows where freaking Room 214 is and I don't. Damn him. Now I actually have to converse with him. Just another dream waiting to come. Great..."
Taking a breath, she looked up and was slightly stunned as she started "Umm..."
"Yeah?" was the response but she was beyond that. Here was a hottie. He totally had the black, angsty, possibly deep look going on. The red streak in his hair boosted her curiosity but those eyes, the face, and the tall build, now that she was gonna remember. No doubt. She was gonna have dreams tonight, damn him to hell!
But, keeping her cool and hopefully blank expression "Oh, I was wondering if you knew where 214 was."
"I do."
"Could you tell me?"
"I could." Why wouldn't he just tell her where it was?
"Dude! Just tell me where 214 is!"
So called dude raised an eyebrow and said with slight amusement, "In this school somewhere."
"Ugh! Whatever. Buh-bye. Go die in a hole!"
Now, the other eyebrow came up as Deja stalked out of the room. Bursting out of the classroom, tons of faces turned to look at her, and her defiance diffused. Head down, she turned to the right and after about five steps, 'Dude' called out, "Other way." She turned around, looked at him and gave him the middle finger as she walked by.
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"Now, for homework, you will write one page descriptions of at least 3 heroes and or oracles of Ancient Greece. Citizens know them as regular men with talents in their fields, but as supers, we have been able to identify which were really citizens, and which were genetically enhanced." Then, the teacher, a young woman by the name of Ms. Gilbert, took a breathe and clapped her hands. "Okay. Class is over, I'll let you out early. Except for you Ms. Vurano. I'd like to speak with you please."
Students shuffled out, but Deja remained seated, head resting on her bent arms on the desk. She heard the clicking of heels on the aluminum floor, then a chair being pushed somewhat close to her desk. "Ms. Vurano, could you please look at me?"
Taking a deep breath, Deja lifted her, running her fingers through her hair. "Ahuh."
"As you know, I'm Ms. Gilbert. Besides being your history teacher, I am also going to be your therapist. My powers deal with sleep and dreams so I am going to try to assess and solve your situation." Deja eyed her, but let her continue. "We won't begin today, but these lessons will occur during Save the Citizen, which is every other day on your schedule, am I correct." Deja nodded. "And one more thing. I know you'll be getting lots of make up work from other classes, so all I request you to do for this class is to read the chapters until now." Deja nodded once more.
Both of them were quiet for a while, then Ms. Gilbert inquired, "Could I just ask some quick questions about your dreams?" A nod. "Are most nightmares?" Nod. "How associated to you have to be with someone for them to appear in your dreams?"
"Very little. Usually a small conversation will trigger memories during the dreams.
"And how are these dreams associated with your power?"
A minute passed before Deja answered, "I think that with the power of creating illusions I got this loaded imagination. Its like a tsunami really. When I was a kid, I loved fantasy and sci-fi 'cuz they brought out other worlds and stuff. You know? Even now, not so much when I'm conscious since I'm more of a realist, but my imagination revolves around what if scenarios rather than fantasy. I always dream, no matter how tired I am. And I remember them too. All of them, no matter how horrible." Then Deja pauses for an intake of breathe and to find how to explain something that cannot be grasped. "So, even my best friend, well, I've seen him die a billion different ways, live all these awesome lives but somehow, I can stand it. With other people though. I think because they're temporary in my life, I don't know all the possibilities so my imagination comes up with stuff.
"I've always had this need to know. Anything. And my imagination makes it all up. Then, later, when I use my powers, I have all these memories, or fake ones, and I use them. And it seems that because I "see" so much, its an overload and sometimes, I can't differentiate between what was and is real, to illusion. So, when I' conscious, I just try to avoid people, hoping that I'll have less to recollect and think about. But, when I wake up, I have to convince myself I was just dreaming because everything was so real." Drifting off, Deja couldn't help but remember her last nightmare, of all the worries and hopes she had dreamt about for this one day, and none of them had been real.
By the time Deja had finished, her elbows were resting on the desk as her hands held up her forehead. Ms. Gilbert still sat quietly, her eye brows a little more furrowed, and lips in a slight purse, trying to make something of this girl's situation. "Have you ever explained this to anyone else?"
"My dad didn't get it, and my mom tried to, but she couldn't. They're citizens and they thought maybe I was just a little crazy or high. But when I created my first illusion of my dead dog when I was ten, they seemed to get that I wasn't crazy, just weird. That's how I met Michael. His mom's an empath or something and my citizen pediatrician then sent me to her and then I explained it to her. She got it. I hadn't connected my dreams to the people I'd seen yet, so I still was a kid, you know, little socialite. That's how I met Michael. He was her son and we became really good friends and I got to know him, which limited tons of scenarios I could have dreamt about him. Eventually, he was just joking about how I said 'I had a dream about you last night' so many times that I just told him. I was like twelve and he thirteen, so he could get a better grasp. Plus, he had powers, so that just made it a little easier. So yeah, I've told about six people."
"Who was the other one?"
"Michael's dad."
Ms. Gilbert nodded. After a minute or so, she said, "Thank you Deja. It was nice to begin to know you. All I'd read was your file, which was minimal so getting to see you in person and hear your point of view was definitely better." Deja smiled slightly. "If you ever need to talk or alert me of anything, you may." Walking to her desk, Ms. Gilbert looked in her purse, took out a piece of paper from her wallet and handed it to Deja. "In case of emergency or important alerts, staff are given a number which is their own exclusively and this is mine. Principal Powers and I thought that you should have this number."
"Thanks. I'll put it in my phone." Deja took the paper, put it in her pocket and stood up. Retrieving her back pack, she looked at Ms. Gilbert and told her, "You know I've taken tons of drugs and tried lots of stuff, but none of its worked."
Ms. Gilbert shrugged. "I can't assure you anything because I've never met anyone like you before, but I'm going to try and help you as much as I can. I see this as somewhat of a personal case since when I was younger and before I learned to maintain my power, sleep was hard to get because of my fear of the constant nightmares that came with my power of dreams. It seems that powers of the mind deal much stronger consequences than physical ones, don't you think?"
Deja liked the genuine response and her usually wary conscience decided that maybe this woman was worth trusting. "Cool." Ms. Gilbert brought her hand out and Deja returned the gesture by shaking it.
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Having left the classroom with still time to spare, Deja decided to go to the tree she had just gone to that morning after she retrieved her things from her locker. "Wow, that was just this morning" she thought. The day had seemed to take forever. Sitting down, she grabbed her big black headphones rather than her earbuds, turned her iPod on, and Getting Away With Murder finished its last seconds. The softer intro of Stay With You by the Goo Goo Dolls began. Shaking her head to clear any thoughts, she settled down and began to read about the history of Homer's tales and whether or not some of them might have been true.
Sometime later, she heard a bell ring, signaling that class was over, but Deja didn't notice, mouthing Seether's Rise Above This while trying to understand how the oracle of Delphi may really have had the ability to see the future without Apollo's aid. As her fingers patted the book's pages with the rhythm of the song, she saw dark combat boots and a pair of green polka dotted flats appear in front of her.
Closing her eyes, she thought, "Michael, hurry up. People are bothering me!" Not that he would hear her, but maybe silent pleading would help.
She pretended that she was engrossed in her music and reading, but the one of combat boots kicked her shin. She winced "Shit!" Pulling off her headphones, she yelled "What the hell is your problem?!"
Apparently, she had interrupted a scolding, where green girl from this morning was now telling annoying 'dude' from the classroom earlier that kicking her was unnecessary and mean. Deja could swear she heard her call him 'meanie.'
"Oh, hi. I'm Layla, remember this morning I was with Will, my boyfriend." Deja nodded. "Well, this is Warren. And even though he isn't saying it, he is sincerely sorry for kicking you." Both Deja and the newly dubbed 'Warren' rolled their eyes. Layla continued on anyway. "I just wanted to welcome you and say hi a little more 'cuz I think we got off on the wrong foot."
"Ahuh..."
Then, thankfully, Michael's voice yelled out, "Hey Deja! You comin'?"
"Yeah, wait a sec!" she called back. As she began to gather her things and stuff them in her back pack, she said to 'Warren and Layla,' "It was nice chattin' and all with you, but seems like I'm needed elsewhere." Then, after walking past them, she began to jog to Michael.
"Did I guess right when I thought you needed savin'?" he asked as she looped her arm though his.
"Yup. Thanks. Green girl from this morning wanted to chat."
"Maybe you should let some people in. More than just me Deja. You see how it works, after a while, too many possibilities are ruled out for your dreams. You could at least try." But as he said this, Deja was vigorously shaking her head.
"Its not like I don't want to get to know people, but I just don't want to risk anything at this point. I'm content. I'm enough for you right now, well, you're enough for me for a long while."
"Promise you'll try Deja. At least with one person."
"Maybe, no guarantees. When you find someone cool enough to hang with, I'll find you someone I'll talk to more than just once. Si?"
"Yeah, yeah. Fine."
Then, to ease the conversation, Deja lightly thrusted her hip into Michael's side and announced, "Remember though, I've always gotta be your uber-duber-awesomely-cool-fan-freakin-tastic girl, right?"
"Fo sho!" Michael joked. And for the rest of the distance to the bus and during their bus ride, Deja leant her head on Michael's shoulder, thinking that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have someone else.
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A/N: So, I hope you liked it. Please review. Its always encouraging. And I'll try and update fast, maybe once a week, possibly twice, but school is now approaching so I can't make every other day updates. Sorry. Review purdy please! With a cherry on top?