Chapter 5- The Future Starts Slow
A/N: This may sound like the show "Smallville," but I would think the mutants would be a lot like Clark Kent and that would include Amanda Xavier. Also this won't be following "Dark Phoenix." I won't tell what happens in the movie as I haven't seen it yet, but I did read the plot.
14 years later...
Sarah Nichols picked up her backpack on the first day of school. It was Freshman year in New London, Connecticut. It was also one of the hottest first days of school ever invented. Sara had pulled back her long dark hair into a ponytail, but at eight o'clock the back of her neck was covered in sweat. "Sarah! Sarah Louise Nicholls, you'll be late for school," Sarah's mother yelled up the stairs, causing Sarah to wince at her middle name. When she was younger boys called her "Wheeze" when they found out her middle name was "Louise." The only one who didn't call her that was her rabbi. Her mom was Jewish and considering Jewish bloodlines, Sarah would go to Synagogue every Saturday with her parents as she was seen as Jewish.
Of course, technically Sarah wasn't really Jewish as she had been adopted when she was very small. Sara couldn't really remember her birth parents. The only memory she had was of a man with no hair in a wheelchair, but a person couldn't really call that a memory. And there was something special about the bald man, but Sarah couldn't remember that either. Sometimes at night she had dreams, but Sarah wasn't sure if they were dreams or imagined. She saw three people that were blue, a man who could move metal, and two boys; one shot fire out of his eyes and the other ran fast. To here some of the kids at school talk the people in her dreams were referred to as mutants.
"Coming, Ima," Sarah said, using the Jewish word for "Mother." When she was little people wondered why she called her parents Abba and Ima. They understood when Sarah explained that was what Jewish kids that followed the Jewish laws called their mothers and fathers. Her non-Jewish friends had teased her, but her father had said it didn't matter what people thought of what she called them.
Sarah came down the stairs and grabbed the pitcher of milk, pouring it into a glass. "Sarah, I have a PTA meeting. You and your dad are on your own for dinner," Naomi Nichols said.
"Okay. Can we have pizza tonight?" Sarah asked hopefully. Sarah loved pizza. Especially all-beef pepperoni with bell peppers. A lot of Jews wondered if the pizza was even kosher, but Sarah had checked. The pepperonis were all-beef, not pork.
Her mother sighed deeply. Her mother wouldn't even touch the all-beef, but she did like toppings that were okay to Jewish sensibilities. "All right, if you and Abba get me a chicken, extra cheese and tomato," Naomi said. Sarah's father then came in and went to the sink to wash his hands.
"Good morning, Princess," Jackson Nicholls said, kissing first Sarah and then Naomi.
"Jack, I told Sarah that I have a PTA meeting tonight, so I'll leave money for pizza," Naomi said.
"Thanks, Sweetheart. What's that you got there, Princess?" Jackson asked, looking at Sarah with a piece of paper.
"Permission slip to join the girl's basketball team," Sarah said, handing the paper to her father.
"No," Jackson said flatly.
"Oh, come on, Abba. I'm probably gonna sit on the bench most of the season. Most people don't even get to play," Sarah begged.
"No. Look, a lot of things can happen in the heat of the moment. And also, aren't the games on Friday nights? It's Shabbat at sundown," Jackson reminded her.
"But, Abba, you got to play basketball," Sarah said.
"It was different for me. I wasn't born Jewish with commitments on Friday and I am not a mutant who could hurt somebody by showing off. Look, I know it's difficult, but you've got to hang in there like we discussed," Jackson said.
"I'm sick of hanging in there, Abba. I just want to get through high school without being a total loser," Sarah said, walking out the door.
"Jack, would it be so bad if she was on the basketball team?" Naomi asked, touching her husband's firm, muscular arm.
"Naomi, a lot of things can happen in the heat of the moment and, also, what if Stryker was to find out I took Charles Xavier's daughter. He was going to experiment on her," Jackson said.
"I know. If Stryker was to find out we have Amanda Xavier, he would come here and take her and possibly kill us," Naomi said
He would do it too if we returned her to her father. But I guess we should be happy that she doesn't remember Stryker or Charles and his wife, Moira. You'd think with eidetic memory she would," Jackson said as he left his house.
Charles Xavier removed the helmet he wore when using Cerebro. It was time to look for new students for the school and every fall Charles would use Cerebro for that purpose. Of course it was rather discouraging when each time he failed to find Amanda. All mutants could be found, but for some reason that escaped him, someone had suppressed the x-gene in Amanda where her father couldn't find her.
"Dad? Mom says it's time for dinner?" Charles's thirteen-year-old son, David. Moira and Charles were relieved that whoever had taken Amanda hadn't succeeded in taking David. Of course it meant that Charles was more protective regarding his son. And stricter when it came to his boy too.
Charles smiled at David and stroked his son's light brownish-red hair. David had inherited Moira's red hair and his father's blue eyes. "Of course, son. I never like disappointing your mother when it comes to dinner," Charles said, pulling his son onto his lap and rolling the wheelchair out.
"Any new students, Dad?" David asked.
"A couple of new ones. I'll start going on the interviews tomorrow with Uncle Hank and Uncle Eric. The closest one is a fourteen-year-old girl who lives in New London, Connecticut. It looks as if she has eidetic memory, can defy gravity in a way and has your ability to regenerate and heal herself," Charles said.
"Hopefully she doesn't shoot electricity out of her fingers like I do. It's like I become an instant defibrillator when you and the X-Men go on missions. I don't feel thirteen, Dad. I feel like a piece of hospital equipment," David said sarcastically.
"I'm sure it could be worse, David. Now after we eat, we need to go over your schedule for this year. You have two classes with me this year. We need to decide at what time you and your class will meet me for literature and on how to be a mutant and control your powers," Charles said as they entered their private living quarters.