Chiara had fitted in like a hand in a glove. To her, being a freaky freak in a school of freaks just put her at the bottom of the Ôfreaky' list, and that was okay, considering the fact there were other freaks on that Ôfreaky' list as well. Her confidence returned with the arrival of her personal belongings. Among them her huge birthday present: a black Harley and an instrument case including her flute, guitar, violin and piccolo. The harp came later. Having only been there a week, she'd started classes with some difficulty. As usual she struggled with anything academic, but her grades in the other Ôspecial' fields were steadily improving. Having Yuako for a roommate certainly benefited her. Usually Yuako checked
Chiara's homework, while Chiara practiced an instrument, picked at random by her new dorm-mate.
She was, surprisingly, making friends fast. Already she had gone to the movies with Yuako, Streak and Twist. They'd played tricks on those without mutations only to receive a severe talking-to by Cyclops when they arrived home. One evening, as she lazed about she and Yuako's dorm room, the lights began to flicker. "What the hellÉ" she stammered as Yuako came in carrying a shoe-box.
"No sweat." Yuako said. "Just Silence and Simon having an argument.
"Simon?" Chiara asked, sitting up, her loose hair a mess from the way she'd been lying.
"Erikson. The cute one who thinks he's God on Earth? Know him?" Yuako asked. She put the box down and pulled a dead mouse from it. She dropped it in Oscar's cage and sat back with a satisfied grin that deepened her dimples.
"Oh right." Chiara nodded. She hadn't really needed to ask who Simon Erikson was. She remembered him from her first day, and although she'd only been at the school for a week and a half, she could safely say she fancied him. "I take it he and Silence don't get along then."
"Not at all." Yuako said, making her bed. "Not at all." The lights stopped flickering, and from where she was, Chiara could hear someone storming up the stairs.
"Don't go down there." Silence said, poking his head in. Silence was like Streak's brother. Chiara had heard something about the both of them being tracked through the wild for the past two years, but she wasn't sure. Twist, who was Silence's girlfriend, had also been tracked too but had been on the run a lot longer. It seemed everything had worked out for the best, considering they had all met up at the Professor's mansion.
"Wasn't planning to." Yuako said as Silence disappeared. Chiara sat quiet for a moment.
"Do they do that a lot?" she asked, standing up. Yuako nodded.
Before her roommate could realize, Chiara slipped out of the door and started along the corridor with a random book she'd picked up. Her feet met the stairs, walking down to the living room. The TV was blaring, she could hear laughed and the sound of soda cans being opened.
She walked into the room, the sight meeting her eyes. Simon, Add McClain and two other friends were sitting in front of the TV, but they weren't really watching, more laughing and joking about someone one of them had just said. Two girls sat on the table behind them, giggling primly.
With a certain pride Chiara shook her long burgundy-ish hair over one shoulder and sat down at the homework table to one side. The two girls who'd been sitting on the other end both cast her cynical looks and sat down with Simon and Add's friends. Their male companions shrugged off their remaining laughs and turned up the TV.
Chiara pulled the book she'd brought towards her and glanced at the cover. It was one of Yuako's, The Art of Chi. Chiara rolled her eyes and looked at the back, but a sudden buzzing in her head made her stop.
"Could you please turn that off?" she asked Simon and his little clique who barely seemed to be watching the game again now and were more interested with flirting with the two girls.
She received no answer, but Simon looked up, shocking green eyes annoyed. Chiara bit her lip and looked down at Yuako's book again, embarrassed. After a while she heard the buzzing in her head again, noise from the TV's electric give-off and looked up to ask again.
To her surprise, Simon was sitting beside her, peering at her book.
"What ya reading?" he asked, not really sounding interested. Before Chiara could answer he'd picked up the book and looked at the cover. "Weird." He said, tossing it back on the tabletop.
Chiara wanted to explain herself, but she figured she'd probably only trip over her words. She twisted a ring on her right index finger and looked at Simon.
"Do you think they'd mind turning the TV off?" she asked nervously.
"Oi Add!" Simon shouted to the couch in response. "Turn the box off!
"Shut up Simon!" another guy beside Add yelled and they laughed and went back to their conversation.
The TV screen began to flutter. Static filled the room, fluctuating in Chiara's mind making it hard for her to concentrate.
"JustÉ make them." She told Simon, reaching for her head.
"Dude, you don't have to be so impolite." Simon chuckled, leaning back in his chair. He hadn't looked at her since she'd last asked, completely unaware of her headache.
"Tell the music geek to shut up!" Add called at him and Simon laughed in Chiara's direction. Chiara pulled up her head, the static filling her ears now, painfully making her eyes unfocused.
"Freaks like you." She said quietly. "Turn the damn thing off!" she shouted, slamming her hand on the table. Simon stood up and went back to the couch, staring at the screen. Their football game had completely disappeared now, the screen flickered between extreme static and shiny blackness.
"What the fuck is she doing?" One of the girls asked, glaring in Chiara's direction. "Siiiiiiimon! Make it stop!" she whined, grabbing at Simon's hand.
"If you want it to stop, turn the bloody thing off!" Chiara yelled at her.
"Shit." Simon said. "Quit it, you-" he started, but the blaring of the sound speakers made him stop.
Chiara could feel it building up in her head, the pressure was too much, but she couldn't shut the TV off. It way was too big and too far away to cover up, she could have just run out the room, but the pain in her head made her unable.
She could hear their voices raised around her: swearing, accusing, blamingÉ What a lot of bigots she thought and then immediately wished she hadn't. She opened one eye a crack and saw the television shaking, the sound blaring out of it, knocking the numerous remotes from the shelf above. Her vision swirled and she felt like she'd collapse.
Almost immediately after, something shattered and the pain in her head suddenly ceased. She breathed a sigh of relief and straightened and looked around.
"What the hell was that!?" Simon bellowed at her and her relieved smile vanished. The TV screen had shattered, almost exactly like Jenna's laptop. One guy was lying on the ground, a splinter of glass protruding from one bleeding arm.
"Oh shitÉ" Chiara whispered hoarsely. One week and she'd already hurt more people than she needed to. One week and she was going to be expelled.
A few more shards of the broken screen were stabbed into the couch, one had narrowly missed the whining girl. Add had been hit in the eye by a flying remote, and was lying on the ground groaning as if he'd been shot in the leg.
"I'mÉ" Chiara started. "IÉ I'm sor-" but the other girl cut her off.
"Nice job, freak." She spat. Something inside Chiara loosened her legs. An iron hand gripped around her windpipe.
She turned and bolted out of the building.