Chapter Seven: How Daniel and President Bush Ruined My Day At Rex Plex

Or

Rex Plex, Hannah, and Vodka

"Are you sure you're up to this?" Evan asked me for the umpteenth time. It was sweet that he was so over protective, but there was a limit and he'd gone over it about an hour ago.

"You don't wanna break anymore ribs." Kurt wasn't as bad as Evan but he was approaching an annoying level very quickly.

"Listen!"  I whirled around, snapping my helmet to my head. "Evan your aunt drove us out here. If she didn't think I was up to it I'd be home in bed with Logan guarding my door. Ok? I'm fine. It doesn't hurt and it's been three weeks! Mr. McCoy even said I could be out here."

Where was 'here' you ask. Evan has lately been totally shmoozing up to Ororo so that she'd drive him out to Rex Plex across the Hudson in New Jersey. The shmoozing worked and she agreed, but didn't think it made much sense to only bring him. So she asked the rest of the mansion if they wanted to go. Most were busy this weekend so it was only Evan, Kurt, Bobby, and of course me. Some quality time with the boys, not that I minded. 

Evan and Kurt were pretty worried about me because of my recent injuries. And see Rex Plex just happens to be one big sporting complex with nice sections for skate boarding, rock climbing, and blading, three of my favorite sports. Of course I tend to fall doing some of the more extreme things and I don't have the sense to stop even if I'm thoroughly bruised and busted. Bobby took the 'just let the girl skate and climb and if she falls on her ass we can laugh' position, basically what I was thinking.

"Come on!" I said defiantly almost glaring at Evan and Kurt.

For the past week I'd been working in the Danger Room to gain back my strength from bed. But nothing energizes you like being in an over filled noisy building with other people who love action as much as you do. Plus this was a whole lot more fun than nine-inch claws or laser beams coming out of your cousin's eyes while dressed in navy blue spandex. For four hours I worked off various strains of stress caused by Daniel, Hannah, mothers, French, teachers, and ribs. I fell a lot in the beginning, admittedly bruising my chest, but it was worth it.

Ororo said she'd be picking us up at around five thirty so at four we pulled off our skates and went over to the food court. We stuffed our selves with enough junk food to last for months while talking about mundane things to pass the time. The little TV's positioned in the corners of the counters went on at four showing a Knicks vs. Lakers game. Evan and Bobby got into a heated debate over Kobi Bryant and Shaq basically blocking out everyone else not talking about basketball. In the middle of the first quarter the TV's went black showing only a bouncing NBC peacock in the middle.

"Hey!" Bobby and Evan finally noticed that the game was no longer playing. "What happened?"

After a few minutes the three familiar NBC chimes played and a little message scrolled across the bottom of the screen. It flashed through so quickly that it took three tries before we could decipher it thoroughly.

"Ve interrupt ze Knicks/Lakers game to bring you zis announcement live from Vashington D.C." Kurt read aloud. "Please hold for zis important coverage."

These days I preferred not to hear any news from Washington. It meant that they didn't know anything about mutants and nothing bad could happen. I did know though, thanks to Hannah's mouth, that their house had had some visitors over the weekend.

"Could they hurry up?" Evan said impatiently. As soon as he said it the peacock disappeared and was replaced with the president standing in front of a crowd of reporters with the presidential seal behind him. Why did I think my Saturday at Rex Plex was about to be ruined in the worst way?

"I thank you for joining me on such short notice." Said President Bush as the reporters quieted. "There has been some interesting new information placed on my desk recently. The information states that apparently there are some super humans- or mutants- in our mists. I know that it seems difficult to believe, but after I reviewed the information the FBI found evidence of mutant testing facilities in Canada and other various countries. This is, unfortunately, all the information I can provide you at the moment. I'd like you now to please turn your attention to one of the top genetic scientists in the county, Dr. Nostrum…"

That was where our attention trailed off and we took one collective gulp, then another and another. I stopped twirling my skateboard and it dropped to the ground with a clang. Evan's followed mine and we all sort of stared at each other. Kurt nervously glanced back to see if they were still going. They were. The Doctor was giving the reporters the 411 on genetic mutation.

"We should go meet your aunt." Bobby said tonelessly to Evan.

"Yeah. Auntie O, right." Evan blinked thoroughly. "Maybe it's not gonna get as bad as your mom saw it."

'Optimism' I thought squeezing my hands into fists. 'Think optimistic.' I dug deep finding one thing. "She said she saw robots hunting down mutants. Big robots. The country doesn't even have money to help our pathetic schools, where would they get the money to fund a lets wipe out mutants program?"

"Ja. I agree wiz Amori. Zey don't have ze time or ze money, and zey'd have to find us. If zey do try to find mutants zey can't expect us to come wizout a fight." Kurt said picking up his things as we readied to leave.

"This country," said Evan a little scathingly. "Can do anything it puts its damned mind to.  It might take awhile but if they really want it, they'll get it. They don't call us the most powerful country in the world for nothing."

What a regular little ray of sunshine.

*~*~*

We were all fidgety on the way back to Bayville. Seats kept getting iced, and the leather needed some patching by the time we got back home. We were out of the car in a flash, and we expected to find Professor Xavier, but he'd left already for Washington D.C to do some damage control. It was obvious to me that he wasn't planning to wipe the minds of senators and the president, so when I say damage control it's not in that sense. He was just meeting with them (the senators at least) to see what their exact plans regarding there new knowledge was. The rest of us had these instructions- Relax, and don't let this interfere with your lives. Right. If your step-father had just possibly ruined your and god knows how many others lives would you relax. I think not.

You can bet that school was interesting on Monday. The subjects that everyone wanted to talk about were mutants and if they were real. The lunchroom was literally buzzing. And if that wasn't enough people were still asking me if I was on Coke or Ecstasy, and if I was could I get some for them (I was accosted by like five people with that last question on the way to my lunch table; it's still really sad). I got to my lunch table, sat down, and to block out all the noise of the cafeteria I put on my headphones. Jay-Z on volume setting ten. I coulda blown out my eardrums, but at least I wouldn't be dealing with people. Next I took out my History essay that was due next period and started writing it. I acknowledged Scott briefly when he sat down and started lecturing me on doing my one thousand-word essay forty minutes before class (such a slave driver). Remy and Jean joined us and Remy shut Scott up for me, for which I was very grateful.  Towards the end of the period I turned my disc-man off and became reasonably social. I left for AP History with Scott and Jean twenty minutes before the bell so we could stop at our lockers and get our hundred pound textbooks.

"Don't forget to put you CD player in." Jean smirked leaning on the locker next to mine. "Mr. Dunston wasn't pleased the last three times he caught you listening to it."

"And what painful detentions those were. JarJar's evil anyway."  The students of Bayville who have Mr. Dunston call him JarJar because he really does have a frightening resemblance to that annoying Star Wars character.  "There was no reason to make me help the janitors clean the guys bathrooms. Did you know that guys in this school are still peeing on the radiators?"

"Gee thanks for sharing Amori." As I slammed my locker Jean looked over at Scott with a raised eyebrow. Scott rolled his eyes sighing.

"Let's just go to class." He said changing the subject.

Scott, Jean and I walked down the hall and rounded the corner. I, still writing my paper, managed to walk straight into the Queen Bitch her self. We stopped and stared at each other. Jean and Scott looked on warily holding a collective breath probably praying that we wouldn't get into a bitch fight.

Hannah was dressed very un-Hannah like. Instead of her normal I'm-Jennifer-Aniston look she was wearing an old Bayville High pullover and old faded flares. Her dirty blond hair had no highlights and was pulled back into a plain ponytail. And *gasp* there was no make up on her face. It was at this point when I found out that she actually had acne like the rest of us teenagers. Slung over her shoulder was her field hockey duffle and it looked like it was about to burst. The normal air of popularity that surrounded her was gone and her face now looked grim and determined

"Amorise." He said in formal greeting.

"Hannah." I said back in the same tone. I hadn't had to talk to her since we'd gone into her house and I didn't really want to. "Sorry I knocked into you."

She poked her tongue to the side of her cheek, drumming her fingers on the strap of her duffle bag. "You'll be happy to know I'm leaving Bayville."

I managed not to make a fool out of myself by jumping up and down with joy in the hall.  "Why're you telling us this?"

"Well I figured you'd like to know that the bane of your life is leaving." She said almost bitterly.

The bitterness in her voice annoyed me. It meant that she thought I shouldn't think that she was a pain in the arse, and that was a totally wrong assumption. She'd given me hell since I moved to Bayville. I had every right to think she was.

"I'm glad." I finally said. "Make sure you take that bastard of a father with you." Over to the side Scott and Jean groaned. Obviously they didn't think me stating the truth about her father was worth possibly getting into a fight.

Yeah right Her voice sounded in my head. I almost fainted; in fact it was Scott that saved me from hitting my head on a locker. It's him I'm getting away from. God Amori you act like you've never seen a mutant before. Telepathy is one of the most common mutations you know.

The smugness in the last sentence made me want to punch her in the nose but Scott, seeing my fist, grabbed my hand, holding me back. This made no sense. The girl had let her father tell the government about us, and she was a mutant herself. Now she was running. Part of me wanted to kill there, and the other part of me wanted to knock her over the head and drag her to a psychiatrist. 'Cause, Lord did she need one.

"Listen." She said, speaking again. "I've been totally protecting you since dad kicked you out. Why do you think I started those drug rumors? Duh, so no one would believe dad if he tried to tell them that you an your sister were mutants." She pursed her lips. "And what did I get for it? A bruised shin. And when he attacked the three of you I was the one who wiped his memory while he was unconscious so he couldn't remember who'd been in the house."

"You couldn't have done that." Said Jean. "The most powerful telepath in the world tried and he couldn't."

"I'm related to him by blood, and he was unconscious. That make it a lot easier." Hannah spat back.

"Then why didn't you take all that stuff about mutants out of his head?" asked Jean.

"I tried. Didn't work." She said. "I just wanted you know this before I left Amori, I'm not all bad. I look out for fellow mutants."

"Sure." I said trying the wrench from Scott's hands. But obviously he knew I wanted to rearrange her face so he kept his grip solid. "You're not all bad. And I really believe you look out for 'fellow mutants'. You really helped that night when I got thrown out. Thanks."

"Where're you going?" Scott asked neutrally.

"Hawaii."

"You're stupider than ya look." I said shaking my head, letting out a low whistle. "How the hell are you gonna afford to go to Hawaii?"

"My mom lives there. Maybe you know her Scott. Sharon Masters." Hannah shot Scott a look.

Scott paled, releasing me. "You've gotta be kidding. Hannah, I swear to God if you do anything to him…"

"Like I would." She flicked a stray piece of hair away from her face. "He's my bro."

Jean glanced at Scott with sympathy. I glanced at Scott for explanations. Who were the Masters?

"Oh, look at the time" Hannah glanced at her watch. "Five minutes till class, and three hours till my flight. I'd better get going. You know what with security and all." She shifted the weight of her duffle bag and grinned. "Amori, Scott…don't get hurt. Jean don't hurt them. Ciao."  To my surprise she hugged Scott and I briefly like we were old friends parting.

I tried pinching my self as we watched her disappear down the hall. When that didn't work I banged my head up against a locker. I shook my head a few times too.

"God I've always been good." I muttered as Jean and Scott started dragging me to History. "I don't smoke, I'm a virgin, I don't even date, I don't drink under age…well ok there was the one time that I had some of Remy's stash. Wait that's it isn't it. The Vodka's catching up to me. This is one big hangover…"

"No that was real. Very real. Hannah's leaving." Scott's voice broke through my mumblings. "She's going to live with my brother."

"The Masters?" I asked. "That's where I knew the name from right?"

"Yeah." Scott grimaced. "This is too weird. Hannah just happens to be going to live with my brother. Your cousin."

"Excuse me?" Jean almost yelled. "Did you just say cousin?"

I smacked my forehead. "It's a long story. Scott, we have two periods left in the day. Would it really kill us to leave early? Just this once? We can go back to the mansion, we can explain our relation to Jean and you can explain exactly how you met your brother so I can decide if I think Hannah's telling the truth or not."

"Fine." Well this was a first. Scott does not skip school. "And you, Amori, can explain what you and Remy were doing drinking Vodka."

Damn. Damn. Damn.

*~*~*

Back at the mansion we snuck in and crept up to my room where Scott and I explained everything to Jean and Jean and Scott explained how Scott had been reunited with Alex and the things that had happened during that time. Amazingly it was quite similar to what had happened on the show. I then explained what Remy and I had been doing drinking Vodka. Unfortunately Logan chose that time to walk past my room and heard enough (even though the door was closed. Some time I curse that hearing of his) to ground me and Remy (luckily it was about three thirty when he walked passed so he didn't know we'd ditched school early). I'll be washing uniforms and dishes for the next month.

"Be happy it wasn't Xavier or Ororo who caught you. Logan can't punish you as much as they can 'cause he likes a good beer as much a Remy likes his bourbon." Jean looked to me then Scott. "I can't believe you two are cousins. Why didn't you tell the rest of us?"

"A lot of people think we date incognito. If word got out that we were cousins…I'm sure you can use your imagination."  I answered.

Seeing as the others, except for Remy and Kurt, had no quick way of getting home the mansion was quiet for another hour. The three of us stayed in my room discussing more trivial things. Jean and Scott pulled out homework and I pulled out my snowboard (I have no work ethic). Rubbing it down always helps me relax after excruciatingly stressful days. I honestly did feel calmer after pushing the cloth up and down a few times and thinking about snow during the upcoming Christmas break. Ah, Christmas. Now there's something I hadn't thought about in a while. Casually I glanced at the calendar. It was December fifteenth. Oh boy.

"You know it's almost Christmas." I mentioned.

"You're right." Jean raised her eyebrows. "I'd almost forgotten. Are you going to see your brother Scott?"

"Yeah." Scott grimaced. "Now we get to see Hannah too. Joy."

"We?" Jean asked.

"Amori and Lara are going too. Right?" Scott grinned at me as my jaw dropped.

A lot of thoughts were going through my head. The most prominent of them was there's no snow in Hawaii. For the life of me I don't know why the hell I was rating snow over Hawaii. Scott laughed at the goofy look I had plastered on my face.

"You said you wanted to meet Alex." He said. "And he asked if I'd bring you guys when I went down for Christmas."

"Hawaii." I said when my mouth could form syllables again. "We're going to Hawaii? When were you going to tell us? This requires major shopping you know."

"We're leaving next Monday." He smirked, and then ducked his head back to his work.