YOU CAN RUN . . .

BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE

Chapter 2

(Disclaimer: No, I still don't own them.)

After that, it seemed like he couldn't lose her if he tried. Every time he thought he'd got away this time, he turned around and there she was. How did she do it?

"How does she do it?" he asked at lunch.
"Do what?" Toad asked.
"Follow me around! It's like she's Super Glued to me or something. Thank God we don't have any classes together, or I'd really go nuts!"
Wanda smirked. Pietro pretended not to notice.
"I mean, I can't get away from her! It's like she's got some kind of radar that homes in on me wherever I am--"
"Maybe she can teleport," Lance said.
"Or run after you really fast," Fred suggested.
"I don't care! All I want is to get rid of her!"
Wanda couldn't hold it in any longer. The laughter exploded out of her like an erupting geyser. Pietro glared at her. "What is so funny?"
"Pietro the Playa, running away from a girl!" Tears were running down her face, she was laughing so hard. "It's your fault, you know, for sleeping with her."
"Could you please not broadcast that all over school?"
That just made her laugh harder.
Pietro got up to return his tray . . .
. . . and ran into Stephanie again.
"Aaaahhh! I thought you had a different lunch period!"
"I changed it, just for you."
Please, just go away! He was acutely aware of the Brotherhood watching both of them with interest.
"Why do you keep following me?"
"Because I love you, Petey! I--" Suddenly she went pale. She clapped a hand over her mouth and sprinted from the lunch room.
"Wow, what'ja say to her?" Toad said.
"Nothing! I dunno, maybe she's sick." Please, God, let it be something that keeps her out of school for a few days! I need a break!
"Yeah, sick of you," smirked Lance.
Pietro would have hit him if Mystique (as Ms. Darkholme) hadn't suddenly joined them. "Something wrong with your little friend?"
"I hope not," he said.
"Wanda, go and see if she's in the girls' room."
"Do I have to?"
"Don't drown her," Fred said.
Wanda, looking murderous, stalked off in the direction of the girls' bathroom. It seemed like forever until she returned. "She said she's okay now. She just ate too fast or something." She seemed almost . . . disappointed.
Mystique nodded. "Probably the cafeteria food."
"What's wrong with the food?" Fred demanded. He was on his third plateful of mystery meat and instant mashed potatoes.
Pietro felt . . . well, he wasn't sure what he felt. Was he actually starting to like Stephanie?
Naaaaahhh . . .
Just then he felt a familiar pair of arms encircle his waist. "I'm baaack! Misss me?"
Help!

"I don't think this is the time or place for that," Wanda spat. "Besides, lunch period's almost over."
Stephanie let go reluctantly. "I wish," she sighed, "we were in the same classes, so I'd see you all day long!"
Like you don't already?" "Yeah," Pietro said. "That'd be nice."
"But we can see each other after school!"
"I guess."
"Great! I'll meet you by the gym entrance right after the final bell!"
Wait a minute! "Uh . . . won't your parents worry if you don't come home from school?"
"They won't even know. They're traveling on business again. I think they're in Europe somewhere."
"And they just leave you all alone?"
"Yeah. Well, the lady next door's supposed to look after me, but she's addicted to the Game Show Channel. She pokes her head in between 'Wheel of Fortune' and 'Jeopardy', but that's about it."
Pietro could sympathize, having a father who'd been more out of his life than in it for the past decade or so. "Do they even call?"
"Sometimes. In between meetings and stuff. Mostly I call the hotel and leave messages for them."
The bell rang, signalling the end of lunch. For once, Pietro wasn't rushing to get away from his clinging amour.
No wonder she's so desperate for affection. She doesn't get any at home. Poor girl, I should be nicer to her . . .WHAT AM I SAYING?

Pietro's last class was absolute torture, but not for the usual reason. Usually he kept one eye on the teacher and the other on the clock, willing it to go faster. Not today. Today Ms. Whatsherface could go on and on as long as she liked; it was okay with him. Anything to keep the final bell from ringing . . .
Figures. The one time I don't want this day to end so soon, the clock seems to be moving double-time! Maybe I can get detention for something--
Even as he was thinking this, the bell rang.
Too late.
He gathered up his books and shuffled out into the hallway like he was on the way to his own execution. The classroom was depressingly close to the gym entrance, but when he got there, there was no sign of Stephanie.
Great! She's not here! I'm gone!
"She's in the bathroom," Wanda said, coming around the corner.
"Gaaah! Give a guy some warning when you sneak up on him like that!"
Wanda just looked at him.
"Whaddya mean, she's in the bathroom?"
"She's sick again."
"Maybe we should just take her home." Yeah, that's the ticket! Oh, wait, she'll probably want me to stay with her or something. Crap!
"I'll go see if she's okay." Wanda started toward the girls' bathroom, but Pietro zipped ahead of her.
"No, I'll do it!"
"Are you crazy? You can't go in the girls' room!"
"I won't look at anything!"
"Stay right here," Wanda ordered him. "I mean it. If I come back and you're not here . . ."
Pietro gulped. He didn't want to know what his sister would do to him. "O-okay."

Wanda went inside and looked around. She couldn't hear any noises anymore, but that didn't mean anything. "Stephanie? You still in here?"
"Yes," Stephanie called from the furthest stall.
Wanda walked down to the end and stood outside the door. "Do you need any help? We can take you home if you want."
"No, it's . . . I think I'm okay now. It doesn't happen more than once or twice a day."
Once or twice a day? "How long have you been throwing up?"
"I don't know . . . maybe a week or so. First I thought it was the flu or something. But I didn't have a fever or anything, so I thought it might be food poisoning . . ."
Suspicions were starting to arise in Wanda's mind. She asked the other girl a question, to which she replied in the negative.
"I see," Wanda said. "Wait here, I'll be right back."
She marched out of the bathroom, went over to where Pietro was standing, and punched him right in the face.
"Ow! Hey! I didn't move!"
"That's not for moving, you idiot! Do you know what you've done now?"
"What? Poisoned her?"
"No." The look she was giving him was angry enough to kill a plastic plant. "What you did," she spat, "was get Stephanie pregnant!"
"Oh, well, that's okay then," he said, before the words sunk in.
Pregnant?
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Interlude--Xavier Institute

"You track down the source of that weird Cerebro signal yet, Chuck?" Logan asked.
Professor Charles Xavier looked up from his work. "No, not yet. I've managed to pin it down to the area surrounding the high school . . ."
"The high school? You ask the kids if they saw anything?"
"Yes, I've already tried. None of them noticed anything out of the ordinary."
"And you can't track this kid until he uses his powers again?"
"Exactly." Xavier pushed himself away from the Cerebro control panel. "I've set it to alert me if he--or she--is active again. Till then, there's not much else we can do."

(Chapter 3 coming soon! Time to tell the parents!)