I DO NOT OWN LOGAN
The next morning, I wake up exhausted. Another nightmare. This time, it was about that night with the Munson's. I can't get the look of Nate's face out of my head as X-24 killed him. The look on Kathryn's face as she held her gun, and realized that her son was dead.
I crawl my way to the shower room down the hall and take a shower so hot that it almost scalds my skin off. I scrub every part of my body, hoping that it'll wash away the memory of the nightmare. But when I step out of the shower, towel wrapped around myself, and look into the mirror, I'm surprised to see that I look horrible. My skin is pale and my eyes have dark circles around them. My dark hair hangs around me, the wet strands clinging to my face and shoulders. I look like I just stepped out of a horror film.
When back in my room, I dry off and get dressed in comfortable clothing. Today's a school day. At least three times a week everyone under the age of eighteen has to attend school…or what passes as a school around here. But I'll take sleeping through Alyssa Wu's lectures to working out in the field any day. Her class is the only place where I can get any real sleep. I brush my hair out, but, unsurprisingly, I still look like the girl from The Ring, so I give up and make my way to the cafeteria.
When I arrive, I find that the door to the cafeteria is unsurprisingly stuck again. The damn thing is always getting stuck but they refuse to fix it for some unknown reason and I have to push with more effort than I'd like for it to open (a safety hazard if you ask me). I apparently use too much effort because the door swings open and slams against the wall at full speed, making a noise loud enough to make every single pair of eyes swivel towards me. Great. My eyes are automatically drawn to where Jean, Brad, Angie, Paul, Tina, and Hank (another former member of the X-Men) sit together. They all watch me intently but I can't care less as I make my way to where they have breakfast set up.
I grab a plastic tray and move to get some food, but before I can do that, I'm interrupted.
"Laura!" Rictor calls out from behind me. And the fact that he told Jean my personal business comes flooding back to me; and my anger from last night returns. I hear him walking up to greet me, probably to tell me about what he did. But I have no patience for him anymore. I turn around and, with lightning fast speed, I slap him hard across the face with my plastic lunch tray. Rictor stumbles back quite a bit, and the lunch room once again goes silent as the loud noise of the plastic hitting his skin echoes throughout the room.
Once the shock wears off, Rictor looks at me with regret on his face. He knows that I know. But I'm not done yet.
"That," I start, speaking in Spanish, "was for telling Jean about my personal life." I grab a square of cornbread and shove it in his face, almost down his throat, making him cough and choke a little. "And that is for everything else." I grab his shirt and drag him close to me, so that our faces are almost touching. And even though he's a foot taller and has about fifty or more pounds on me, he looks scared shitless. "The next time you think about telling someone we don't know about my personal life, don't bother. Because if you do, it won't be the humans you have to worry about. Got it?" He gulps.
"I'm sorry, okay! I didn't mean to tell her, it just came out!" Rictor responds, also in Spanish.
"Save your excuses for someone who cares, Rictor. Just keep my name and my story out of your mouth, got it?" He reluctantly nods. I give him one last death glare before letting him go, and he hurriedly returns to his seat. Having lost my appetite, I leave the cafeteria and make my way to my quiet place: a large tree located about half a mile into the woods from the west entrance of the building. The tree has a flat area about thirty feet up, in which I sit and just think. Nobody usually bothers me when I hide here, but now I have no such luck.
About fifteen minutes after I arrive, I hear footsteps nearby. I look over the ledge of the tree to see Jean step out of the brush, seeming to know exactly where I am. Rictor probably told her my hiding spots, too. Jean looks up and spots me, looking surprised that I'm up this high.
"Laura!" she calls out. "Can we talk?" I roll my eyes so hard I almost fall out of the tree. Why can't she leave me alone? She doesn't know me and I don't know her. "Please," she pleads, sensing my hesitation. I shake my head. Might as well. She's not gonna leave me alone otherwise. I drop from the tree, and brace myself as I land hard on my feet, in a crouching position. I straighten up and look up at her but don't say anything.
"Listen, Laura," she begins. "From your confrontation with Rictor in the cafeteria, I gather you know that he told me that you're the daughter of James Howlett, also known as Wolverine." I nod, scowling deeply. "And I just want to formally meet you." Huh? I thought she was going to ask me to be her test subject with that time machine. "If you didn't know already, I knew your father a long time ago, and… well, I just wanted to see how he was doing. Have you met him yet?" And I realize that she doesn't know that he's dead. I forget that nobody by my friends and I know that he died. I nod my head but don't say anything else. "I never knew he had a daughter. You look like him you know." I give her a look. I do? I never really saw the resemblance. "Yeah. The color of your hair, your nose, the shape of your face. And you obviously have his temper." She gives a low chuckle. "But unlike him, you don't talk much. I think back in the cafeteria was the first time I've ever heard you speak. Do you speak English? Or just Spanish."
"Why does it matter?" I finally say. I close my eyes and try to keep myself under control. "Look, I appreciate the fascination, but I didn't exactly want my parentage out in the open. So if you could keep it to yourself, that'd be great. Now if you'll excuse me." I walk away from her, leaving her stunned. But I don't care. I just need to get to class. And as soon as I slip into my chair at the table, I lay my head on the table and have one of the best sleeps I've had all week.
A/N: What did you guys think? Don't forget to check out the "revamped" version of this story, under the title "Laura". It's basically the same thing except more mature, in my opinion at least. The next chapter should be up either later today or sometime next week. Please review!
~Gina