SHEN

Shen sat at her desk twirling her pencil in her fingers, firmly ensconced between Kayla, a myopic armadillo girl, and Dean, a painfully self-conscious hedgehog boy, the only other two mutants in the class. Less by accident than design, though the administration would firmly deny it, they were all placed together at the very back of the class.

They probably wouldn't even be here at all if the school could get away with it, but with their test scores, it would be too obvious if they weren't allowed into the precalculus course. As it was, Mr. Venderuss never seemed to choose any of their raised hands, even if no one else was volunteering to answer him, like they were invisible.

It was a good thing none of them had any questions so far, or had required any kind of academic assistance. She couldn't see that ending well for them.

Common knowledge held that mutant children were cognitively impaired, ironic as the smartest person she'd ever known and probably would ever know was Nik's mutant father. So, when any of them didn't fit the stereotype, it made people uncomfortable.

She suspected that the academic failure of mutants had more to do with the school's expectations than the natural ability of the kids. Thus, she made the extra effort to outdo all her human counterparts, just to show the system up. And because it made her dad proud.

But not today. As Mr. V droned on about graphing trigonometric functions, her mind was elsewhere.

She was trying to figure out when things had gone wrong with Scout. While she tended to hang with Nik more than anyone else, she had noticed the change, subtle as it was. Lately her cousin had seemed edgy and impatient, like she was always waiting to be somewhere else. Somewhere she'd rather be than with them. It might not seem like much, but, in a family as tightly knit as theirs, such behavior was very unusual. When had that started?

As best as she could figure, the shift happened following Luke's party. Had something happened there? She wished she could remember, but her memories were shrouded in a haze.

The evening started off clearly enough.

"So, what exactly does music look like?"

Nik shrugged. "Like music. What does it look like to you?"

Shen crinkled her snout. "It doesn't look like anything. I'm listening to it."

Nik continued to gaze about, following something invisible around the room through dark-lensed glasses.

Jem, having broken off from the wonder twin's routine to chill with them, shook his head. "That's messed up."

Nik kept watching, "your loss."

Shen took another sip of her punch, feeling the telltale burn of alcohol slide down her throat. She'd known what was in it, well not specifically, but that it had been spiked with something and had felt very grown up, drinking it with maturity and moderation. Perhaps she had misjudged though. Her head was beginning to swim.

Tucked in between Nik and Jem on the sofa, she struggled up against the cushions that threatened to suck her down like quicksand and reached over Jem for handful of chips to soak up some of the punch.

Jem stared longingly at the Doritos and she paused halfway back, offering some with a look. His jaw clenched and he shook his head.

She shrugged and began stuffing them in her mouth, not immediately noticing the students that seemed to materialize in front of her. Three boys she vaguely recalled from the tutoring work she did.

"Shen, up for some party games?"

She glanced over at Nik who was frowning at the boys. Not a good sign. "No, I'm comfy here, thanks." Taking another sip on reflex, her head buzzed as though it were carbonated.

"What'd you have in mind?" Her eyes slid over to Jem, surprised by his unusual boldness. He really was trying to break out of his rut tonight.

One of the boys rolled his eyes. "Not askin' you, Hammy."

Jem's expression soured at the nickname he'd been trying to shake since middle school, on the surface a play on his name but with a needling implication towards the pounds he'd worked so hard to shed.

The third boy ran a hand through his dark, shaggy hair. "Told you she wouldn't want to get shown up. Brainiacs don't do games of skill."

Anger and wounded pride mixed with the booze burning in her chest. Show her up at anything skill based? As if.

Pushing off the couch, she managed a wobbly standing position. "Bring it on. I'll show you who sucks at games of skill." Were her words slurring? That probably wasn't good.

"Shen..."

She shut down Nik's warning before he could get it out. "It's cool. I got this." She hoped.

He shrugged and sank back into the couch as the boys led her to the garage, though Jem had opted to trail her like a disgruntled ghost.

There the ping pong table had been set up for beer pong. Basic hand eye coordination. She was going to smoke them. Then she stumbled, Jem catching her.

"I'm fine." Except, it didn't really sound like her speaking. She didn't normally have to concentrate so much on enunciating her words.

"I don't think this is a good idea." His brows knit together as he spoke.

She snorted derisively. "Please, I can beat these losers without even trying."

And she could. She did. At least she thought she did. Things got a little fuzzy, so it was hard to tell. Probably because it took a bit to adjust her senses to her present state, resulting in her having to drink a few beers. Or several. Things were blurry.

She knew Jem was saying something about slowing down. There was a lot of laughter. And the exaltation of victory as shaggy hair went down.

Then one of his friends was beside her, his cheap cologne burning her nose and blending badly with the drinks in her mostly empty stomach. He whispered something in her ear, though all she processed was 'hot' and 'exotic' as he trailed his hand down her side to cup her hip.

His other friend snickered and said something, the only part of which she caught was 'doggy style.'

Her brain finally caught up when his hand slid from her hip to her ass, squeezing.

Sonovabitch.

Grabbing his wrist, she pried the hand off of her backside, twisting it to flip him on his back. Screams accompanied the snapping of bone. She raised her leg to slam her heel down on his chest, when someone caught her ankle.

She looked over, surprised to see Jem's blurry face, as he hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her back.

"We should probably go." Nik appeared on her other side as if by magic.

Suddenly she didn't feel so good. Sinking against Jem, she groaned as the room started spinning. "Uh oh."

She didn't remember much of anything after the fight, until she'd woken up on the couch in Nik's living room the next morning, head pounding, wondering why the hell daytime had so much damn light.

Not very helpful.

"Ms. Hamato, would you care to calculate the period of this tangent function?"

Shit. He must have noticed her not paying attention. Well today was off to a freaking great start.

DREA

She wanted handcuffs, if to do nothing more than slap one around her mother's wrist and the other to a street sign, like four blocks back. Not that they would hold her mom for long, but Drea' was pretty sure she and Jem could make a solid break for it given the opportunity. That however, was not the case and to her sheer horror her mother walked them all the way to the front steps of the school.

Then it got worse.

Her mother, walking beside her, while Jem slipped further and further behind them, stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "I think we need to meet this Lukey boy."

"Luke, Mother. His name is Luke." Drea corrected, while keeping her head down, trying to let her hair fall in her face as a curtain. Not that it would help. Her copper locks were like an identifying trademark.

Stragglers, late like she and Jem, trickled into the school in steady succession and Drea was grateful they were at least late, so less people were likely to see her standing there talking to her mother.

Then it happened.

"Oh, my god, Andrea', is this your mom?"

Mimi Voss, Luke's younger sister.

Drea wanted to vaporize, her cheeks flushing as she pushed her hair from her eyes, looked up and saw Mimi wasn't alone. Brittany and Lucianna were with her, already whispering behind their hands, eyes on her mother.

Then it got even worse.

Her mother's gaze flitted over to the blonde hair, blue-eyed cheerleading sister of Drea's quarterback boyfriend, right to the whispering conspirators. Oh. Gods. No. She can hear them. And who knows what horrible things they're saying. Oh. God. Is she going to kill them? Or worse, is she going to confront them?

Jem began making the damned whining noise again as Mimi approached them, leaving Brittany and Lucianna to shuffle on up the stairs.

Her mother made eye contact with them, her gaze following each step as a smirk toyed at the corners of her lips. Oh, mom, please don't. Please.

But of course, she did.

"Ladies?"

Jem's whine sputtered into a choke and it took everything in Andrea not to elbow him.

Brittany stopped and Lucianna nearly ran into her, pulling her purse to her chest as she pressed herself close to the taller girl like she could protect her. "Are you talking to me?" Brittany pointed to herself.

Her mother slowly lifted and dropped her chin.

Brittany scoffed. "What?"

"My daughter's hair color is real, not from a bottle, unlike yours. I can assure you she isn't a slut, unlike the two of you who reek of so many males I can smell you from here, and it's not polite to talk about people behind their backs. If you have a question about my daughter you can just ask her."

She took a step forward and Jem started coughing. "Ahem, Drea' get your mom." In the most obvious way possible.

But what was she to do? The only people she knew that could stop her mother was her dad and Uncle Aries.

Then her mother took another step and another, slowly closing the space between her and the two girls. Brittany was taller than her mom, and tone, but didn't have the solid muscle arms that her mother did. Nor did she have a lifetime of training in how to snap people in two. Brittany must've sensed the energy radiating off Zoe's skin, because she stepped back, bumping into Lucianna who then bumped into the stair rail with a squeak.

"Oh, my god. Get away from me, you freak!" Brittany's eyes were wide, her arms wrapping around herself.

Andrea wanted to die. "Mom, stop. Seriously."

But Zoe's face schooled into a smooth, emotionless mask, her eyes locked on Brittany. "Keep. Your mouth. Shut. And leave. My daughter. Alone. Got it?"

"A-a-re you threatening us?" Brittany stammered as Lucianna tried to hide behind her.

Zoe snorted. "Hardly. This is me being nice." Then she winked. "Have a good day, girls and make good choices." Then she turned her back to them, taking a step before looking back. "Well, go on to class now." Her eyes flickered to golden slits then back. "Shoo!"

Lucianna whimpered, pushing Brittany forward. "Go! Go! Go!"

Brittany's eyes shot to Mimi. "Are you coming or what?"

Before Mimi could answer Zoe clapped her hands. "I said shoo!"

Drea closed her eyes. Please be just a bad dream. Please be just a bad dream. Please. But when she opened them, she was still there poised to be the future laughing stock of the entire school.

Brittany squeaked, grabbed Lucianna by the arm and stomped her way through the front doors.

Andrea looked helplessly to Jem who was rubbing the back of his head, looking off toward the parking meters.

Mimi, who was either crazy, or genuinely friendly, thrust out her hand to Zoe. "I'm Mimi, Luke's sister. It's nice to meet you."

Zoe smiled a very human smile, the cat in her retreating back into its holding cell. But the damage was done and Drea felt sick as her mom accepted Mimi's hand. "Nice to meet you. You and Luke should have dinner with us soon. My brother owns Deniangelo's Pizzaemporium, we could meet there one evening."

Mimi's smile never faltered and Drea wasn't sure why that didn't sit well with her. The human girl was always polite, even more popular than Brittany and Lucianna. But most humans didn't walk right up to a hybrid and offer their hand, and they didn't do what Mimi was right then.

"Oh, my family loves Deniangelo's." She flashed her straight, bleach-white teeth and Zoe nodded, the cat in her already pushing on the bars. Drea' recognized her mother's suspicious smile. A sly thing if you didn't know her well. Mimi didn't seem to notice she was like a little bird flying to close to the ground right then. That's when Drea' realized, whatever she was feeling in her gut apparently had some merit, or her mother wouldn't be transitioning.

Mimi tucked a blonde curl behind her ear as she proceeded to tell Zoe dinner sounded great, but it wouldn't be until Monday before she and her brother could make it with their busy sports schedules.

Then Mimi showed her hand.

The blonde rocked back and forth on her toes, making small talk with Zoe a few minutes before her gaze darted to Jem and back. Three times. Andrea counted them. Three.

Mimi was brave though, Drea' had to give her that. "Jem," she called to him.

He straightened like a puppet on a string, his head whipping around in surprise. "Huh?"

Zoe was smirking now, glanced at Andrea as she pressed her lips together trying not to laugh. Andrea wanted to sink into the sidewalk. Be quicksand. Be quicksand. And, Jem don't be a nerd. Jem, don't be a nerd. Jem-

"Will you be there, Monday?" Mimi cooed.

"Where?" Jem rubbed the back of his head as he ambled toward the cheerleader.

Oh, my god he's a nerd.

"The Pizzaemporium. Deniangelo's?" The apples of Mimi's cheeks darkened and a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her cute upturned nose suddenly became visible. "For dinner, Monday night? Luke and I are meeting Andrea's parents. Would you like to join us?"

Jem's eyes widened and his jaw did some weird thing that looked like it just locked up. Then he stood there. Blinking. Like a nerd. Until Andrea couldn't take it anymore.

"That's his parents place," she answered, nudging Jem in his side. "He can be there."

Mimi's blonde eyebrows shot up. "Oh! Your parents own it? That's great! We should eat there more often. It seems like it'd be a great place to hang out after school." She reached out and touched Jem's arm. "It could be like our new thing."

Jem's Adam's apple bobbed but no sound came out. Andrea's teeth ground together. Why was he fucking this up? Embarrassing her as bad as her mom! Her head pivoted toward him. "Jem, answer her, so my mom can go on home and we can get to class. We're already late."

"M-m-mo-" His voice cracked and he cleared his throat. "Monday. Night. Dinner. Yes."

"Great!" Zoe clapped him on the shoulder and he winced. "Well you two head on in, and Mimi it was nice to meet you, we'll see you Monday night. Andrea's father and I look forward to meeting your brother."

It was in that moment that Andrea's amusement at Jem's antics dissolved.

She'd just agreed to her parents meeting Luke.

No. It was worse than that.

She'd just agreed to her dad meeting him.

JEM

Jem wandered into his American Lit class in a daze.

"Thank you so much for deigning to join us, Mr. Hamato."

He nodded absently, Ms. Leam's sarcasm rolling right off him as he took his seat and pulled out his chemistry book.

Mimi Voss had spoken to him. Mimi Voss. Holy shell he had dinner plans with her. How did that even happen? Freshman or not, she was on track to be captain of the cheer squad, student body president, probably homecoming and prom queen. Her future as school royalty was a foregone conclusion. And she'd spoken to him.

Suddenly, the humiliation of being walked to school by his aunt, who had actually said she could smell the males, males not boys, on the school's current queen bees seemed a lot less important. That and the veiled death threats among the moment when he seriously believed Aunt Z would be committing public murder of minors. How could any of that matter when he'd be eating dinner with Mimi Voss?

When he'd tagged along to Luke's party, he'd been just another no one…

"Een youa fayshe, bitsh!"

Jem flinched at Shen's taunt as her opponent downed a beer and groaned internally when Shen, unnecessarily, drank another one of hers.

Normally it was obvious that Shen, studious, rule-abiding Shen, had been raised under the watchful eye of Uncle Leo. Until moments like this. Startling reminders of Aunt Karai's influence on her upbringing.

What was he even doing here? He hated parties.

But Scout had convinced him to come. And of course, they'd argued so much on the way over that his hands ached. So, after dragging him there, his sister had promptly ditched him for Drea and Nellie.

Fine. Whatever. He didn't mind kicking back with Shen and Nik. Except for Nik seeing stuff that wasn't there, like he was perpetually on something. And Shen getting hammered and channeling her mom. Other than that, things were fantastic.

The worst part was that he'd actually taken Scout's advice and tried to loosen up and have some fun. A lot of good that had done him.

Now he was stuck, leaning against the wall in the garage, watching Shen needlessly pound her eighth beer while rubbing her victory in her opponent's face. As much as could be done to someone passed out drunk anyway. Yay. What a great time.

"Are you sure you shouldn't slow down a little?"

Shen looked at him with unfocused eyes. "For za lasht time, I'm fiiiine."

Whatever.

Then, the taller of the two-spectating jerk-faces came over to congratulate her, hooking a hand around her waist. "Damn, I didn't think you had it in you, Bookworm." He leaned in. "You know, you're pretty hot, in an exotic kind of way. Luke's got some rooms upstairs where we could get a little more privacy."

Jem blinked. Had this near stranger just propositioned his cousin? His drunk cousin.

"Woohoo! Ben's gonna do it doggy style." The guy's friend announced to the entire garage of their peers.

Shit. Shen was out of it. He needed to shut this down.

As he pushed off the wall to intervene, the guy's lips brushed one of Shen's pointed ears. "So, what do you say?"

Jem had only covered half the distance to her, when her would be suitor made the mistake of groping her butt.

In a blur of motion, she had him on his back, snapping his arm like kindling.

Oh shell, she was too sloshed to hold back.

Concerns shifting, he barely made it in time to catch her foot before she caved the guy's chest in. Not that the loser didn't deserve a beat down, but he wasn't worth Shen getting in that kind of trouble for.

She thrashed against him as he dragged her back, landing a very painful elbow into the soft cartilage of his side. Why couldn't Scout be here? She'd lock Shen up in a heartbeat.

To his relief, Nik ran over, grabbing Shen by the other arm and mitigating the damage she could do. Fortunately, everyone in the room was too distracted by the boy screaming on the floor to notice how unhindered Nik was by his blindness.

They'd barely lugged her out of the garage and into the driveway when she suddenly went limp in their arms. He didn't have a chance to even guess at what had happened as Nik abruptly heaved her over to the lawn where Shen promptly heaved her guts out onto Mrs. Voss's azaleas.

Best night ever. Thank you so much, Scout.

In an instant, he'd gone from nobody to somebody. He didn't know what he'd done to earn his good fortune, but promised to pay it back tenfold.

"Mr. Hamato, would you care to discuss the symbolism of the scarlet letter that Hester Prynne is forced to wear?"

"Boron is 10.811 atomic mass units." He answered dreamily.

He was having dinner with Mimi Voss.