Disclaimer: don't own X-Men. Marvel does. The creator is probably rich, which I am not…
Ali slammed her fist onto her alarm clock, her hand crackling with blue energy. The alarm clock immediately short-circuited, the circuitry heating up before fusing together inside and overheating. How the plastic did not blow apart, Ali didn't know, and didn't care. She was just happy that it hadn't caught on fire like her past three. She groaned and sat up in bed, the entire room pitch black. She heard Rogue mumble something and stand up. Ali did also, and the two made their way to the door. From there on, it was a race to the bathroom. Rogue barely beat Ali, slamming the door and locking it. When she finally came out, Ali was half asleep, leaning against the wall.
Rogue shook her friend. "Wake up!" she hissed.
Ali's eyes slowly opened halfway, surveying her with sleepy eyes. "Five more minutes," she grumbled before closing her eyes.
Rogue gave her a hard shove, sending Ali to the floor. She became wide-awake instantly.
"Rogue!" she cried, feeling betrayed.
Rogue grinned. She had learned that it took a lot to wake Ali up, and so had reverted to her last option: sending her to the ground. Apparently, it worked.
Ali scrambled up and chased Rogue down the hallway. After her roommate turned the corner, Ali doubled back and shut the door of their room. She sighed with satisfaction. Payback was so sweet.
Sure enough, a moment later, Rogue came banging at the door, yelling for Ali to open up. Once Ali finished dressing in a bright red t-shirt and jeans, she unlocked the door and bolted underneath Rogue's outstretched arm towards the kitchen.
Breakfast was quick. Kurt, Kitty, Rogue, and Ali needed to catch a ride with Scott to school. Also, the four younger students were going to help Ali find her way through the maze-like halls of the Bayville High on her first day.
The school was much more crowded than the last high school that Ali had gone to. Upon thinking of her old school, memories of Melissa and her other friends drifted into her mind, images passing so quickly before her eyes that she could just barely see them. She blinked back tears and went to her first class: algebra.
The teacher, Mr. Matthews, was around his late forties, with a balding head and graying hair. His blue eyes were magnified, thanks to the large pair of glasses that rested upon the bridge of his nose. He directed her to a seat in the far back corner of the room, where she set down her books and slumped in the chair. She always did like the back of the room. She could do almost anything and not get caught.
The lesson was dull; Ali had already been through this chapter back in Britain. Once again, thoughts of her friends drifted through her mind, but she pushed them back. She had a new life here, and she would enjoy it, even if it killed her. Well, not that extreme.
Her next two classes, drama and chemistry, went quickly. But her final class was quite interesting. She had gym.
The P.E. class was doing track-and-field events. Ali tied her running shoes tighter on her feet and began to stretch on the green grass, basking in the warmth from the sun. It had been so long since she had run an 800-meter dash. She couldn't wait to get going again.
From across the field, two girls were deep in conversation.
"Look at her. She's acting like she's a pro. I'll bet that she sucks at athletics," commented one of them. "I mean, look at her: she's so skinny, she's got no muscle at all."
The other girl nodded. "You're probably right, Maddy. Don't worry, we'll beat her in the long distance races."
Maddy, the other girl, nodded. "You're right, Kirsten," she said. With that, the two walked over to the starting line, where the entire class was gathering.
Rogue, Kitty, and Kurt were in Ali's gym class. Rogue ran the 800-meter dash in the first group, taking second. Three other groups followed Rogue's before finally coming to Ali's. Maddy and Kirsten were running in it also.
Ali wiped her hand over her shoes quickly. She wanted the best traction possible without spikes. She pressed her front foot onto the asphalt, shifting her weight to the front of her body in anticipation of the start.
Maddy rolled her eyes and looked ahead. She too leaned on her front foot and set her jaw firmly. There was no way she was going to lose to the new girl.
The gun sounded, and the girls took off. Ali started off at a leisurely pace for the first half of the lap. She sped up a bit, staying about five meters behind Maddy, reserving all the energy she would need for the next lap. They passed the starting line about thirty seconds later, their chests heaving with every breath. The two hugged in the inside lane, Ali running at Maddy's heals. As soon as they passed the one-fourth mark, Ali took off. She sped off on the track, her legs moving faster than anyone else's. Maddy could only stare in disbelief. Is suddenly occurred to her that she needed to win, and she quickly shot off. Ali kept a good ten meters ahead of Maddy into the turn, where she lengthened the distance by about five meters. She put all her strength into the last hundred-meter stretch, moving her legs and arms as fast as possible. She couldn't stop. She had to beat her personal best; she had to win. Just keep going, she thought firmly.
Ali didn't relent on her speed or her output of strength. She practically flew across the finish line, moving so fast that everyone else could only watch in awe. Maddy arrived about fifteen seconds later, huffing and puffing. The gym teacher ran over to Ali, who was shaking with exhaustion. The teacher, Miss Schaffer, congratulated Ali on her time, telling her that she had just broke the record for the school district, and possibly the state of New York.
Ali smiled. Oh, how she had forgotten how much fun running was.
Maddy glared at Ali's back, stalking off the field with all the dignity she had left. That had been her record. How dare she break it. Ali would pay.
* * *
"I can't believe you broke Maddy's record!" Kurt cried in amazement. "Zat vas amazing!"
Ali smiled appreciatively. The group was walking home, because Scott needed to run an errand, and Jean was staying after for a Student Council meeting.
"You were, like, going so fast! You're like, the fastest runner there is!" Kitty squealed with delight.
Rogue nodded. "Yeh did reallah good today, Al," Rogue complimented in her Southern accent.
"Thanks," Ali said, a slight blush to her cheeks.
"I bet you could beat anyone in a race," Kitty added, her face aglow.
"Oh really?" asked a voice. The group turned around just to face the Brotherhood of Bayville.
"You really think that she's faster than me, do ya?" asked a silver haired boy. "Well, you're wrong. No one's faster than me."
"Like, buzz off, Pietro," Kitty snapped.
"What if I don't feel like it?" Pietro asked cockily.
"Then ah will," Rogue growled, stepping forward and removing the glove from her right hand.
"Hey, yo, we don't want to cause no trouble. We just want to meet the new girl, yo," Toad said, his tongue suddenly flying from his mouth to catch a fly to eat.
Kurt, Kitty, Rogue, and Ali all shuddered with disgust. If there was anyway to make anyone regret meeting the Brotherhood, it was Toad with his lack of hygiene and love for eating flies.
"So who are you?" asked another boy uninterestedly. His brown eyes looked everywhere else but her, searching for something worth his attention.
Ali crossed her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes. "I should be asking you the same thing. I don't even know who you are," she replied, a slight edge to her voice.
Lance nodded. The girl wasn't stupid, that was for sure. "I'm Lance. Lance Alvers," he said.
"Name's Ali," she replied.
Lance nodded.
"I'm Blob," said another guy. Only he didn't look like a teenager. He looked like an overgrown man with a huge weight problem that could easily take down a fighter jet.
"Uh, hi," Ali replied, glancing at Rogue, Kitty, and Kurt who were arguing with Pietro.
"Hey, Blue Boy. Here's a tip: leave matters such as this to people who actually know who their parents are," Pietro snapped.
Kurt's eyes flared. "I do know who my parents are, Pietro," he replied angrily. "And at least I have some who care for me."
"My father does too care for me!" Pietro whined.
"Sha, right," Kurt snorted.
Ali stepped over beside Rogue to help if needed. She didn't like Pietro, and had a feeling that something bad was going to happen.
Pietro's gaze shifted to her. "What do you want?" he snapped.
"Me?" Ali asked. "I want you to get the hell out of here before I have to make you. And I want to never see you taking cheap shots at my friends ever again, got it?" Ali asked, her voice iced over with a controlled fury.
"Really? Well guess what?" Pietro said. "I'm not gonna."
Ali's eyes blazed. "Too bad."
Her hand shot out, blue electricity flying from it towards Pietro. The silver-haired mutant barely got out of the way in time, even with his amazing speed. The bolt of energy, though, hit Blob, although nothing really happened. He just absorbed it.
"Hey, don't shoot at me," he yelled, rushing towards Ali.
Kurt grabbed Ali and ported away to a safe distance. Rogue, meanwhile, grabbed Blob's arm and absorbed his powers, throwing him a good distance away. Toad's wicked tongue lashed out towards Rogue, which she quickly dodged and grabbed.
"Uh oh," he said. Rogue flung him away, sending him sailing into a tree.
Unbeknownst to Rogue, Blob was charging at her, intending to knock her to the ground permanently. Kitty spotted it and ran forward, grabbing Rogue and phasing through the ground. The two reappeared behind him, Where Rogue grabbed him again and threw him far away.
Meanwhile, Kurt and Ali were dealing with Pietro. Ali's temper was rising, her frustration that she couldn't hit the speed-demon welling up inside her. Finally, her anger burst, as well as her powers. A large field of neon-blue electricity surrounded her, the crackling energy shooting through the air in every direction. Pietro jumped around, dodged the blasts of mutant power every chance he could, but to no avail. He was finally hit, the energy charging through his slim body. He fell to the ground, motionless.
Ali's eyes widened. Her powers died, and she ran forward to the fallen boy. Please, don't let him be dead, she thought desperately. She had never meant to kill him, only stop him.
After finding a pulse, Ali began to relax. Good, he was alive. Please, Lord. Don't let him die. Don't let anything happen to him because of what I did. It was an accident, I swear, she thought.
"C'mon, we've gotta go!" Kitty cried, grabbing Ali's hand and pulling her towards the institute. But Ali's mind lingered on the mutant, Pietro.
* * *
"Alison, you should know better than to attack someone," the professor explained in his study. As soon as the four had gotten home, the professor had ordered them to come to his study.
Ali nodded shamefully. Why did she think that the rules here would be different from those back in Britain? It had been foolish; she had been foolish.
"And as for the rest of you. You all aided in an attack that should never have happened.
There was a small celebration at the institute that day. Everyone was proud of Ali, especially Beast and Logan, who had not thought that she would be running so much so soon after she had been released from her wheelchair.
Rogue smiled. It was nice that her friend was getting so much attention so soon after arriving, but something ebbed away at her. For some reason, she wanted to be the center of attention, too.
In her room that night, Rogue sat on her bed reading a book from the Dracula series. Ali bounded in suddenly, all smiles. "Hey, Rogue," she said cheerfully.
Rogue mumbled a hello and tried to go back to reading.
Ali sat down on Rogue's bed beside her and hugged her, careful not to touch her pale skin.
Rogue was surprised, but quickly pushed Ali away. "Why the heck are ya huggin' meh?" she asked angrily. She did not want to hurt her friend.
"Because you encouraged me to go to school today and said that I would do fine in gym. You were right, Rogue. Thanks for helping me while I was stuck here in this place, too. You're a true friend," Ali replied.
For some reason, Rogue suddenly felt that she didn't need any limelight, as long as her friends cared about her. For her, that was more than enough: it was more than she could have ever asked for. It was true friendship.
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hey all!! Sorry this chappie is so short, but I wrote it in less than an hour. R&R!!
~Jojo