Fifth grade, over six years ago. My mutation activated over six years ago.

I've been running ever since then.

Probably not the best choice to run away when you're only eleven, but I certainly had the speed for it.

Turns out father was right all along. Humans can't, don't and won't accept what's different.

What's unique, what's special.

In a word: better.

Mary couldn't. I showed her what I could do, and she freaked out.

After she refused to even look at me, school wasn't fun anymore.

Sure, no one picked on me after they found out what I was, and I was still the smartest kid there, but with no friends, it kinda ruins the experience.

It was all father's fault. You don't just tell an eleven-year-old boy that he has super powers and then say he can't show anyone!

I blamed him for Mary being afraid of me, and I ran away.

I left, I ran away from father, from Mary, from the suburbs. I just chose a direction and took off...not the smartest choice I've ever made, but it worked out for a little while.

A policeman found me sleeping in a park, and took me to social services.

They placed me in lots of foster families, but none of them felt right.

So, I kept running. It's my nature, isn't it?

Six years can change a person; I've come to learn that very well.

I learned how to lie and steal. I guess the mutation helps me in those departments. I used to be a horrible liar; now though, lies jump from my lips with only a split second's consideration. I don't even have to think before I make up a story.

That's good.

With all the lies I've told in the last year, I'd probably go insane from keeping them straight. I've had to come up with a million different explanations about my family, my home, my past, my age, pretty much everything.

At least it keeps things interesting.

The last foster family I stayed with was about a year ago, after that I got it into my head that I could survive on my own. I ran away from them, and stole money from people until I had enough to find a place to live.

I stayed in school all this time, mainly just for the distraction.

I remained one of the smartest, but other than that, everything was different.

No longer the little nerd; I had grown taller, stronger, and I'm told- more handsome. I'm not afraid of anyone anymore, I'm more confident... the word arrogant comes to mind, but so what? I'm the fastest living thing on the planet, and even without my powers, I can still take care of myself.

I don't need anyone.

School was okay by itself, but I was bored by the second I got home. I had a lot of free time on my hands, which is the worst!

For kicks, I joined the basketball team. Sure, I could have joined the track team, but where's the challenge in that?

Basketball took up a lot of time, thankfully. With the practices, team meetings and games, about four days out of the week were full. That still left three days to be bored with, but it's better than having all of my days unoccupied.

The game is fun, too. Running, yelling, cheering fans, a guy could get used to it.

I was one of the coach's favorites...until he showed up.

Evan Daniels.

While the coach was making us do drills outside, the coach caught him skateboarding in the parking lot. It must have been one of those dumb Hallmark-card, Kodak moments, because the coach just stared Evan down, and then made him do drills with us. The coach liked what he saw, because the next thing you know, Evan is on the team.

This will sound weird coming from me, but it happened so fast!

All of a sudden, this new kid- this stupid skater- is on the team, and getting all of the praise. He was an okay player, not bad really, but the coach always gave him the winning shots, instantly making him the team champion.

I didn't really like him that much, but on occasion I would drop by his locker to see how he was doing- and how much he made for allowance during the week.

He didn't seem to mind, to him I was just another teammate, just one of the guys.

I always knew that there was something funny about him, like he had a weird secret. After a game, I found out what it was.

He had somehow grown spikes on his arm and they even cut the gym floor. He knew it, and made his spikes shrink back down into his skin. They disappeared completely, and he played it off as if nothing happened. No one else seemed to notice, they were too busy cheering him, but I know what I saw.

Was he a mutant too?

When I first found out about my powers, father had told me that we weren't alone. There were other mutants in the world, and they all had different powers.

Daniels having a mutation might be interesting. It would certainly amp up the competition!

He had planned to catch his locker thief, what better time to reveal myself?

I glanced at an article I had cut out of the newspaper a few weeks ago. It was about mutants who had made themselves known in public, and how dangerous they were, just more of the 'mutants are bad' propaganda.

There was also a picture that went with it, of Magneto.

He was a tall, muscular man hovering above the ground in front of a military building. He was wearing a chest plate of blood red armor over a black body suit, a dark purple cape, and wearing a matching helmet.

His face was stern, serious. He had short platinum hair like me; his eyes were cold light blue; his name was Eric Lehnsherr.

My father.

The article had said that he was stealing special ops equipment, but I hadn't paid any attention to that. All I saw was him.

Yep, six years can change a person a lot.

The name described him; 'Magneto' for his power over all forms of magnetism.

He had once told me that name, saying that many mutants liked to choose a name for themselves once their powers activated.

I hadn't chosen a name yet, but maybe now that I've chosen to reveal my true self, it was time.