Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men (who have been strangely absent from this story) or the church (which has been strangely over-involved with this story).

A/N: I'm sorry if this is a bad chapter. I want to get to the actual good chapters, which are still to come. They will be better, I promise.

Chapter 10 – Beaten By the Truth

"Theresa, what's wrong?"

I slammed my backpack down in front of my locker. "For the thousandth time, nothing is wrong!" I snapped irritably. "Why does everybody insist that something is wrong with me?"

She put her hand on my shoulder, and I jerked away. I was getting to be just like Chris was before he left. I understood him much better now that I had my own secret to hide.

"You haven't been acting right lately," Willow told me. "Did something happen over break? Something that you haven't told me?"

"No," I said shortly, dumping books into my locker with a bit more force than was required. "Nothing happened."

My friend shrugged. "Sorry I asked, Miss Crabby."

I whirled around. "If all you're going to do is stand there, psychoanalyze me, and insult me, I'd just as soon you leave!"

"Fine." Willow stalked off down the hall, then turned the corner.

I sighed and picked up my books for English and World History. The only problem with this mode of defense was the fact that it tended to drive people away from you.

"Now, since we will be doing a book report for Friday, I have put together a very useful handout for you all that explains everything about a book report that you need to know. Theresa, dear, would you pass these out for me?"

I took the stack of paper Mrs. Nenna was holding out to me and stood up, seething inwardly. However, I refrained from thinking about how much I despised her. I certainly didn't need another weeks' worth of detention.

Why on earth did Mrs. Nenna think that she needed to spoon-feed us everything anyway? Heaven knows we weren't intelligent enough to comprehend the concept of a book report on our own.

Tuesday, November 30th

Mr. Smith, the teacher in charge of detention today, said that he won't make me do anything if I can keep myself busy for all of the ten minutes I'm supposed to spend in here. Mr. Smith rules.

I've decided that I will conduct an experiment tonight to determine if I truly am psychic. I'm going to try and lift something rather heavy with my mind. Of course, if something happens today at school, I may not need to test myself.

Hmmm. The ten minutes are almost up, between thinking and writing. In about forty-five seconds, I will be going to the cafeteria. Not that I'm going to eat any of that disgusting garbage that they'll have left by the time I get there.

Thank goodness for the bell. For once, that obnoxiously loud noise is beautiful. I am out of here.

I trudged out of the In-House Suspension Room, which was usually just used for detentions, with my composition book under my arm. When I got to the cafeteria, there were still ten minutes left before fifth period.

I ducked inside and made my way over to the table where Willow was sitting. In my absence, several other girls and one guy had settled themselves around her, and they were huddled together, talking earnestly. I walked up behind Willow. "Hi!" I said loudly.

They all jumped and looked up. A few of the girls were wearing strangely guilty looks, so I suspected that I was being discussed.

"Well, we'll see you later, Willow," one of them said brightly. Then they all got up and wandered back to their normal tables.

"Hi Theresa," Willow said, trying gamely to sound actually happy to see me.

I sat down across from her. "I'll go sit somewhere else if you want them to come back, you know."

She waved that comment off. "Don't bother. They just wanted to gossip. I'm not much of a gossiper."

That wasn't true, but I didn't feel like getting into a confrontation just now. I had already lost one person close to me; I didn't need to drive another away. I glanced over at the teacher on duty: Mrs. Rand. Oh, wouldn't the health class have a grand time discussing feelings if I showed weakness.

There were a few moments of silence. I adopted an angry-seeming glare and turned it in Willow's direction. This went on for about a minute before she finally said, "Theresa, stop acting like your dumb brother."

At that point, the weight of all this was just too much. That's why I put my face in my hands and burst out in tears.

"Theresa?" Willow leaned across the table. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong…" I choked out. "Everything's…fine."

Mrs. Rand came bustling over. "Now, now, dear, whatever's wrong?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. Nothing."

The teacher put her hand on my shoulder. "Come dear, just tell me what's happened."

I couldn't hold it back any longer. "Chris is gone!"

She patted me on the back. "Oh, that's terrible, poor child. Up you come, let's go to my room and talk about it."

Willow was staring at me. I stared right back. You think it was easy to say that? I told her mentally, trying to reach her alone. She shook her head a little, but whether it was in response to my question or the contact, I couldn't quite say.

Later

Mrs. Rand took me to the Guidance Office after fifth period, and they told me that I could either call my parents and go home early or stay with Mrs. Rand until school let out. I opted for Mrs. Rand. Despite the fact that she's rather sugary-sweet and sometimes a little demeaning, she's quite nice. She had her heart in the right place.

After I asked her about her views on mutants, I decided to tell her why Chris ran away. I was so happy when she said, "That church comes up with a load of demons every time they want to start in on somebody. I don't believe a word of it." Now, if only my parents had said that. Whoever it was, though, I was glad to have someone on my side that wasn't another mutant.

I stopped short of telling her about my powers. It was probably a good thing, too, because we were in a very quite class sixth period, and unless I told her mentally and risked scaring her, they would all hear. So I'm keeping that information to myself, for now at least.

It's nearly the end of seventh period now. I stopped crying, thank goodness, just before fifth period came stomping in. I think it was because I finally had someone to tell that wouldn't say anything anti-mutant. It made me feel better, that's for sure.

The bell just rang. I've got to get out of here. Boy, isn't this bus ride going to be fun.

"Theresa!"

I turned around from my locker. Willow was standing a few yards away from me. "What do you want? To call Chris stupid again?"

She took a few steps closer, though it looked for all the world like she just wanted to be out of there. "No, I came to ask you exactly what happened? Sabrina told me you were with Mrs. Rand all afternoon."

I finished dumping the books I needed tonight into my backpack. "I started crying, I stopped crying, I talked to Mrs. Rand. That's what happened."

"Sabrina said that…that…that…"

"Well, go on, spit it out!"

Willow shifted from one foot to the other. "She said that your brother was a mutant, and that's why he ran away. He was a…demon."

I imagine she must have seen fire in my eyes just then. "Well, maybe she's right. Chris was a mutant. However, he wasn't a demon!"

"But Pastor Rick said – "

"Do you seriously believe that Chris was a demon? Come on! You've met him! He's perfectly normal!"

She shook her head. "No, he was moody and quiet and tried to bite my head off."

"Did you come to talk to me about how my brother acted before he left? If so, you can go."

She took a few steps backward. "I came to ask you why you were acting the same way. I'm worried about you."

That just put the final touch on my anger. "I'm acting the same way because I am the same, Willow!" My Geometry book lifted itself out of my backpack and hovered at head level. "We have the same problem. Does that answer your question?"

She just turned tail and ran down the hall as fast as she could. No doubt my parents were going to hear about this within the next day.

I sighed and plucked my book out of the air. I turned to shut my locker, but it was already closed. I must have shut it while I picked up the book. I shoved the cursed textbook back into my bag, zipped it up, and trudged off down the hall. Great. Now I was screwed. There was no other word for it.

Later that night, I emptied my backpack of school stuff. Then I grabbed some jeans, some T-shirts, my hoodie, my journal, and several pens, and stuffed them all in the bag. I was going to leave the next morning while Dad was in the shower. I didn't want to see anyone before I left.

Then I sat down to write my letter.


Dear Mom and Dad,

I really don't have a whole lot to say to you. You have been acting like heartless, insensitive jerks lately, and I don't want any part of that. I'm going to leave and follow Chris. I'll be a lot happier among my own kind.

Don't look for me. I don't want to be found – at least not by you.

Your former daughter,

Theresa

I folded up that message and tucked it into an envelope. I would leave it somewhere that it would be found tomorrow morning. I was thinking about the top of the stairs. If I was going to cause some sort of uproar, I might as well make it big.

The last thing I did before I fell asleep was poke a hole through Chris's feather, tie it to a string, and turned it into a necklace. That way I wouldn't lose it. I never wanted to lose him again.