Part 2 – Revealing Fear
Nearly two months later, it was like Kari had been there the whole time. She had made a few friends, and several enemies. Mostly consisting of John.
Kari still labeled him as an antisocial, narcissistic jerk. The reason was, he liked to show off a lot. Understandable. But because of the rules at school, all he could do was toss fire between his hands. Even then, it was a tiny flame, and he normally just did it when he was bored. No on ever seriously used their powers. He was full of himself, Kari thought. He wasn't as antisocial as she thought, just normally around certain people.
Like her.
He just made insulting comments about her. But when he was showing off, he talked a lot. He was mainly friends with Bobby. They were pretty close. Subconsciously, Kari wondered how Bobby could stand him.
Kari's main group of friends consisted of Rogue, Kitty, and Bobby. John just followed Bobby around, so she was kind of stuck with him all the time. But, nonetheless, she was happy there.
She was still lazy, and only really liked to listen to her music. But when needed, she worked hard, and she loved to hang out with her friends, even if it was only sitting and watching their mouths move, but their voices drowned out by her music. It was a strange feeling, having friends. Back at home, since everyone thought she was a mutant, they all ignored her. Or more like, ran from her, scared she would attack them or something.
As for actually being a mutant, she still denied it. There was no proof of any mutant power in her, which got her picked on a lot. Other students would tease her, call her a human, and say she didn't belong there. Most of the time she ignored them. But when the case got serious, she would tell them off. She had a knack for using big words, which either confused them, or made them try to show off to prove her wrong. Normally, they would just get angry and storm off fuming. Kitty sometimes joked that Kari's mutant power was "the ability to piss people off by intelligently insulting them".
"Sounds about right," Kari had agreed.
Of course, everyone knew that the only person's vocabulary that could compete with hers was John's. This was the main reason that most of their fights were verbal and not physical. Kari wasn't the least bit afraid of him, he just irritated her. And one particular day, he nearly pushed her over the edge.
It was a Friday, and they were all up at the top of the bleachers like usual. Bobby and Rogue were sitting on the second step, Kari was on the third, leaning against the fence and listening to her music on a low volume so she could still hear her friends' chatter. Kitty was sitting on the second step above her, and Mr. "Big Shot" Allerdyce was sitting in his usual position. Leaning against the fence with his legs stretched out on the seat, flicking his lighter back and forth.
"Does anyone else think that news reporter on channel six is REALLY weird looking?" Kitty said after pause.
"Yeah, because he looks like Kari," John snickered.
"John, don't start," Bobby warned.
"It's true. She does look like a guy, has anyone ever told you that?" he added, making a sideways glance at her.
"That's it."
Kari sprung from her seat and leapt for John. Kitty held her waist as she flailed in attempt to reach him. He just laughed and she gave him a death glare.
"THAT'S IT, ALLERDYCE! ONE OF THESE DAYS YOU'RE DEAD!" she yelled.
"Not before you," he said casually.
"John, cut it out," Rogue said with narrowed eyes.
"Tell her to quite bragging," John said with a shrug.
"ME? Oh that's it, man, you're going DOWN!" Kari started flailing again as Kitty sighed and tried to push her back into her seat. Eventually, after another sixty-second struggle, Kitty calmed her down and got her to sit. John shook his head mockingly with a tiny smile and kept staring at his lighter as he clicked it back and forth.
"Why are you such an ass?" Bobby asked, shaking his head at John.
"You tell me," he answered.
"Oh, good point. How can some one so ridiculously stupid NOT be an ass?" Kari said matter-of-factly, crossing her arms.
"Say that one more time, I dare you." John gave her a sideways glare. Kari turned until her whole body was facing him. She fixed her eyes on his.
"You're — a — ridiculously — stupid — ass." She said in a slow threatening tone.
This time it was John who jumped. He went clear over Kitty and grabbed Kari by the shoulders.
"JOHN!" Bobby screamed. The two managed to roll down the bleachers a few feet and stop in between two seats.
"GET OFF ME!" Kari yelled.
"John, leave her alone!" Kitty demanded. The other three rushed for them. John had his eyes fixed on hers, giving the angriest glare Kari had ever seen.
"How many times am I going to have to kill you?" he growled.
"You haven't yet," Kari answered. To everyone's surprise she was completely calm.
"I can change that."
"I dare you to."
"What's going on up there?" asked a voice. Kari felt John jump and look down on the ground at the bottom of the bleachers. Storm was standing there.
"Nothing, they just tripped," Bobby said quickly.
"All right. Stay out of trouble." Storm gave them a suspicious look, then turned and started walking away.
"Get off of me."
John looked back down at Kari. For the first time in her life, Kari saw panic in his eyes. This was probably because of the look he saw in her eyes. They almost had an evil tone to them. Her eyes were narrowed, and she looked absolutely serious.
"NOW," she demanded. Bobby grabbed onto the back of John's shirt and pulled him up. He kept staring at Kari's eyes. When she stood up, she had her back facing them, and when she turned around, she was completely fine.
"What?" she asked, noticing John's stare.
"John, are you okay?" Bobby asked.
"Yeah," John answered quickly, "Let's go inside, it's getting dark."
Completely suspicious about his motives, Kari watched him walk down the bleachers with Bobby and Rogue.
"You all right? You took a pretty bad fall." Kitty gave Kari smile and she nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine. He's just a jerk."
They shook their heads and headed after the others.
After eating a few snacks and reaching their room, it was almost 8:30. The three girls said goodbye to Bobby and John (well, Kitty and Rogue did) and shut the door. John kept his eyes on the door until they turned a corner.
"That jerk. I hate him." Kari glared at the floor as she kicked off her shoes.
"Most people do, he's a show off, just ignore him." Kitty pulled back her blankets and headed to the closet for her pajamas.
"Kind of hard when he follows us around, " Kari said.
"He's Bobby's friend. I don't mind him that much, he's just annoying sometimes." Rogue pulled on a nightgown and sat on her bed.
"SOMETIMES?" Kari repeated, giving her friend a skeptical eye.
"She's got a point," Kitty said to Rogue.
"And why was he looking at me like that?" Kari wondered aloud.
"Maybe he was actually scared you would hit him?" she suggested.
"He was on top of me, Kitty," Kari said blatantly. Rogue and Kitty cracked small smiles.
"Oh, you guys are sick, shut up." Kari threw a pillow at Rogue and they all laughed.
"But seriously, he couldn't be scared of me, I mean, I have no powers remember?"
"Minus your 'ability to piss off people by intelligently insulting them'," Kitty added.
"Of course," Kari agreed with a smile.
"Well, I didn't see anything about you that was frightening. Maybe he finally realized he was being stupid." Rogue tossed Kari her pillow and leaned back onto her own, yawning.
"I hope. It would be a miracle." Kari caught the pillow and set it at the head of her bed.
"I'm not joking, man, I saw them. They changed! She is a mutant!" John exclaimed honestly.
"John, you heard what she said, even the teachers don't think she's a mutant." Bobby was sitting cross-legged on his bed, which was to the left of John's.
"You have to believe me! I know I saw them change! She looked…evil." He said the last word with in undertone, almost.
"She was probably pissed because you knocked her down," Bobby said in Kari's same matter-of-fact tone.
"I know that, but I mean, she almost looked like she was going to hit me."
"DUH!" Bobby said loudly.
"I can't explain anything to you, can I?" John asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Look, if she is a mutant, which for now, she still ISN'T," Bobby added, "She would have told us!"
"Maybe she still doesn't know. Maybe we should ask Professor Xavier." John leaned back on his hands.
"You do whatever you want, but I'm telling you, you didn't see anything. You were panicking because you got caught, that's all."
"Maybe…" John stared at the lighter in his hand. He flicked the top open and watched the flame flicker every time he exhaled.
"John, go to bed." Bobby slid under his blankets and rolled over so his back was facing John.
"Yeah, fine," John shrugged. He clicked his lighter shut loudly, almost so loud that Bobby jumped slightly. Not even bothering to pull up his blankets, John lay down on his back and stared at the ceiling. He turned off the light and flicked open his lighter again, staring at it with curiosity.