Chapter 8 – Confusion and Coaching
"Okay Molly, you appear to be fine," Jean said as she smiled at Molly who was sitting on one of the medical beds, "You just appear to need rest and that cut in your side needs to be kept clean and dry for a few days."
"Thanks," Molly said as she hopped off the bed and winced a little before heading out of the medical bay and up to the main school. Her hair was still scruffily tied back from the fight and her jeans and t shirt appeared to look a little tattered. She headed straight for the office where she knew everyone would be, not even knocking as she headed in.
"Ah, Molly, how are you?" Xavier asked as he looked up at her.
"A bit sore, a little confused," Molly said as headed to an unoccupied seat and sat down, Logan heading over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Confused?" Logan asked as he looked at her.
"How did Stryker know where to find me? And what happened to Marcus?" Molly asked as she looked between Logan, Scott, Pete and Xavier.
"It appears that Marcus was working for Stryker, I believe he may have been sent here to gain your trust and lure you away from the school," Xavier explained to her.
"I always knew there was something not all that right about that kid," Logan muttered as he patted Molly's shoulder, making her wince a little, "sorry kid, go and get some sleep," he added, taking his hand away.
"Yeah, see you in the morning," She said as she got up and headed towards the door. Pete stood and followed, nodding to the others in goodnight. He wrapped and arm around Molly's shoulders who was glad for the company.
Molly wandered around a few days later, not allowed to join in in the danger room session due to the cut in her side still healing. She headed down the stairs and past the gym, backtracking a little to watch a class that were in there at the moment. They were learning walkovers, something she'd been doing since before she could walk a beam.
"Morning Molly, fancy helping?" Scott asked as he spotted her in the doorway.
"No, I'm okay, just watching," she replied as she leant in the doorway.
"Well if you're going to watch do you want to sit down?" Scott asked as he headed back to one of the kids who was a little stuck.
Molly headed in and sat down on the bench. She hadn't done any gymnastics for a few weeks and missed it a little; unfortunately she wasn't sure whether she was healed enough for anything like that, not wanting to put too much strain on her side.
She watched for a few minutes before kicking her shoes off and heading over to the beam, running her fingers over it before placing her hands on it and pushing herself up in to a perfectly straight handstand.
"Should you be doing that?" Scott asked as he walked over to her.
"I don't see why not. Nothing hurts," Molly replied as she stood up on the beam.
"Just, don't tear anything, you're still healing," Scott said as he gave her a look.
"I won't," Molly said before focusing on the end of the beam and doing a double twist dismount. She smiled before noticing the look on Scott's face and adding, "What? It's not as hard as a triple."
A few of the younger kids were watching her by now. They'd never seen her do gymnastics before as she tended not to do it when there was a class.
"You're Molly right?" A young girl asked, walking over to Molly when Scott had gone back to teaching.
"Yeah, I am," Molly said as she leant on the beam.
"I'm Kristy; can you teach me some gymnastics stuff? Scott can only teach me so far," The girl said as she smiled at Molly.
"Sure, what sort of stuff are you doing?" She asked.
"I can do a walkover on the beam but I want to learn the stuff you were doing, the flips and things," Kristy said as she nodded her head towards the beam.
"Okay, jump up and show me," Molly replied as she moved away from the beam and smiled at the girl who lifted herself on to the beam before doing a walkover.
Scott stood the other side of the gym, watching Molly teach Kristy, an idea popping in to his head.
Molly was still working with Kristy a few hours later; Logan stood with the professor and Scott in the doorway watching her coach the young girl.
"She really relates to her," Scott said as he leant on the doorframe.
"I've never seen her smile so much," Logan added, watching his adoptive daughter.
Molly spoke to Kristy briefly before the young girl skipped over to her stuff, picked it up and headed out the doorway, saying hello to the professor as she passed.
"You were looking good there kid," Logan said as he walked in and over to where Molly was stretching herself out on the beam.
"Thanks but I was only helping, she asked and I couldn't say no to her," Molly said as she turned to face Logan, only just noticing the professor was there, "good morning professor."
"Good morning Molly," The professor said as he headed over to Molly, "I see you're quite a good coach to the younger pupils."
"I wouldn't say I was coaching, more assisting," She replied, not really feeling like she could be a coach.
"Well, whatever you call it, I want you to coach the girls that are getting a bit too advanced for Scott to teach," The professor said as he smiled at Molly before adding, "no objections, you're becoming a nuisance," smiling again and heading out to which Molly simply smiled.
"Looks like you got yourself a job," Logan said, ruffling her hair before heading out after the professor and Scott.
Molly sat on the beam for a moment, thinking about the job she'd just been given and smiling a little after a moment before hoisting herself back up on the beam properly and going through a few simple elements.
