Author's Note: Finally. The main character.
Chapter 2
"But Jess, I thought…I thought you loved me! How could you sl-CLICK." The glow from the antique television was extinguished and the dilapidated Victorian house appeared gloomier then ever. The only relief from the musty darkness the small lines of light coming through the dusty wooden blinds. The Scarlet Witch sighed with exasperation as she fell backwards onto the couch, throwing the remote aside as she did so. The clatter of dirty dishes reverberating from their encounter with the thrown remote only furthered her sigh on to a whole new level of vexation.
The jaded young woman ran a pale hand over her brow and squeezed her eyes shut. Today was not her day, then again, when was it ever her day? She had a raging migraine stomping around in her cerebellum with intent to knock her out, Freddy had finished off the last of the kitchen's meager pickings last night, and she was officially forbidden to leave the house to get the much needed groceries! No, according to the blue bitch she had far more important matters to attend to. Those matters coming in the package of an 18 year old girl from Florida who would be arriving all too soon. Well, she was assuming she was around 18 anyway; Mystique hadn't exactly been forthcoming with information on the girl. She didn't know the girl's story, what she looked like, or why in god's name she agreed to join their motley crew of losers. She knew only what Mystique had told her on the phone that morning after Lance had driven everyone to school in his lemon of a jeep:
"No you may not leave the house"
"I don't care if your freaking starving to death over there girl, we need someone to be here when she arrives."
"No you-well, yes but-No! Just show her the house, give her a room and try not to throw a hexing hissy fit."
"For-don't ask her anything. She's had a rough time…I guess. Just try to be…understanding or helpful or something. And don't even think about letting her fight with you and the boys, not until I get back on Tuesday."
"Yes. That's fine. Good, see that's done then. Oh, and Wanda…don't scare her off, okay? We need all the bodies we can get to keep up with Xavier, CLICK."
Wanda rolled her eyes in remembrance of the earlier conversation. One sided as it was. At least it's not another fucking teenage boy. She wasn't to sure she could have dealt with another lazy guy in the house. Unwashed dishes, clothes, unmade beds, random slime dripping from the ceiling at the worst possible moments. No she would probably have had to kill herself if it was another guy.
The doorbell cut the silence of the house and Wanda took one last look at the empty refrigerator. As long as she isn't a 400 pound immovable eating machine…Wanda cleared her minds of such thoughts before reaching a steady hand out to open the door, the unbearable screeching of rusty door hinges piercing her skull and making her calmness all but disappear. A pretty young woman stood expectantly at the door, book bag slung over a shoulder, luggage situated at her feet.
Wanda cocked a dark eyebrow unconsciously at the girl. Her shirt was a little to revealing for her own taste, a tight brown knit sweater cut low to reveal a lacey cami and the curve of two breasts. Well…that could be forgiven; Wanda smiled, if she keeps the boys away from me.
"Um…" the blonde at the doorstep stammered before overcoming her shyness with hasty words, twirling a strand of curly hair around her finger unconsciously. "I went to the high school earlier to kinda check it out, you know? I left my luggage in my car."
Wanda perked up. A car? That was a plus. At least she wouldn't have to be passenger in that god awful jeep anymore. "Well, I'm Wanda. Sorry you had to visit that hellhole first off."
"Oh, it doesn't seem so bad. Sorry I'm late, just got sidetracked seeing the school and all." The teen smiled abashedly at Wanda and shifted her weight from one hip to the other in an uncomfortable silence. She looked around slowly, taking in the full expanse of the boarding home before turning her attention back to Wanda. Wanda meanwhile continued to look behind her guest, searching for the car. The visitor cleared her throat.
"Huh? Oh yea. Well this is it. The infamous Brotherhood Boarding House for hopeless delinquents…and me." Wanda waved her arm like a magician at a stage show. She watched the expression on the girls face as she took it all in, remembering her own, rather heated first visit.
A shingle made that its opportune moment to slip out of place and fall clattering down the roof and into the side yard. Typical.
"Ummmm…seems nice?" The girl's statement really more of a question then anything.
Wanda laughed at the girl's false enthusiasm. "Oh come on, let's face it, the house is a fucking shit hole. But it keeps the rain out," Wanda rethought her statement before adding "if you stay on the east side of the house that is."
The two teens smiled genuinely at each other this time, wiping themselves clean of false expectations and pretenses. Wanda quickly snuffed out the uncharacteristic smile from her face before turning her back to the girl and leading the way in. "Come on in." Welcome to my personal nightmare…
After a not so lengthy tour of the house Wanda led Jordan, she finally coaxed the girl's name out after calling her 'girl' one time too many, to the room she would stay in. Luckily for the Brotherhood, their home had indeed been a boarding house at one time or another and thus had far more bedrooms then one would expect from a typical two story building. Wanda could only hope the time would never come when she would be forced to share a room with someone. Luckily there were still 3 rooms left before something that drastic would happen.
The raven haired mutant stayed at the door as her charge walked inside. "It's not much but you'll be next to my room if you need anything. And not next to the guy's thankfully. They stay downstairs."
"Oh, I didn't know there were guys here!" Jordan exclaimed as she sat lightly down on the twin bed before her, testing its buoyancy and spring with a bounce of her body.
"Uhuh, four guys too many, including my good for nothing brother." Wanda snorted in reply. "Have a problem with it? Though I suppose I couldn't much blame you for it, knowing these guys."
"Oh, no! No problem at all, I just didn't know there would be guys is all. Not a bad thing." She turned eyes the color of blue delphiniums to meet Wanda's own and winked. "As long as they're cute that is."
Cute, sure. Just fucking adorable the lot of them. The bitter teen kept her comments to herself however, and was rewarded by Jordan dropping the subject all together. She watched the other adolescent stretch out on the plush bed, kicking off her sandals and dropping her lids until they were just barely open, azure pupils peering out from behind long mascara coated lashes.
She spoke softly in a voice scarcely audible to Wanda standing half a room away "It's great. Its all great, At least I feel secure here, people like me…you know? Its weird, I've never really been around other mutants before, but it feels good at the same time. It's like I've come to a home I never really knew until now. Maybe that's stupid but…I just have a feeling things will work out." Jordan allowed one eye to open and glance towards Wanda, gauging a reaction.
Wanda felt out of place and self-conscious listening to these words from a girl she had only known for 20 minutes. I've never been good at this emotional stuff, the gothic girl thought. She didn't really know how to bond or share feelings or any of that lovey dovey rainbow and unicorns crap. She didn't know and she didn't particularly care to know.
She fiddled with one of her bracelets for a brief moment of unspoken awkwardness before making her way out the door, keeping one steadying hand on the doorframe to say "If you need anything, you know where I am." There's the support you wanted Mystique. Eat it up. The door closed and Wanda left Jordan to her own devices.
"Get out of the road you goddamn hooligans!" Old man McRae shouted at the top of his smoke desecrated lungs, waving a formidable cane high above his toupeed head.
The teens in the speeding car laughed aloud, gripping white knuckled to the seat head rests to keep from flying about as Lance careened past the old man. A cloud of exhaust left the already winded geezer coughing in their tracks.
"Wahoo!" Lance roared in exhilaration as they rounded the corner of Saint Mark and West Haven. The old jeep leaned precariously on two wheels for a brief second before slamming back down to all four and whipping around the intersection.
Pietro grinned as the wind whipped through his streamlined hair, causing his bangs to flutter like so many seagulls. He turned to face the driver beside him and spread his thin lips further out in a deranged smile that only fueled Lance's insane driving. Lance matched his passengers signal with a grin of his own as he leaned forward in his seat closer to the wheel, nose nearly making contact with the cool plastic of the steering wheel. Don't mind if I do Pietro, don't mind if I do.
Todd was thrown across the seat into Fred's oversized gut like a stunt man falling into an air filled safety float as Avalanche pulled a burnout in the street. Satisfied with his tire marked masterpiece Lance reversed at a speed most would consider dangerous, or at the very least precarious, into the spacious driveway of the boarding house.
The riders were thrown forward at the sudden braking as Lance parked and turned off the ignition, putting the keys back into his jean pocket. Lance stepped out of the red vehicle triumphantly with a fond pat to the hood. "Good old Jeep. Never let me down do ya?"
"Uggh! Wouldn't mind a car with seatbelts, yo. I'm sick 'a being stuck in Blob's bellybutton every time you feels the need to 'rock the road'. Ruins my whole day, for real." This complaint was from Todd of course, the one who usually ended up flying back and forth during Lance's antics. His golden eyes lit up further when he looked past the object of his disaffection to see the clean white Avalon sitting further up the driveway, partially obscured by the holly bushes alone either side of the pavement's curving path. The other three followed Todd's inquisitive gaze to the strange car, exchanged glances with each other, and began running towards the strange vehicle.
Wanda stood, arms folded across her chest, legs spread and braced. All together she was quite an imposing sight, her aggressive stare and cuffed wrists only adding to the picture. She was what stood between the staircase to upstairs and the downstairs kitchen, an effective roadblock to the Brotherhood boys. She was keeping them and their curious little selves from making any unwelcome ventures upstairs to their new teammate's resting place.
"Aw, come on schnookums, we aint gonna pull anything! We just wanna check her out, see what's going on sweetums."
"Yea, she hot Wanda? Huh? Huh? Isshehotorsexyorcuteortallorshortorblondeorburnette- ororororororwhattellustellustellus!"
"Can she cook?"
"What's her deal?
"Just a peak toots; don't be jealous, you know you-!"
"ENOUGH!" The boy's unbridled enthusiasm was quickly tamed as Wanda took another deep breath. Not to shout this time, I'll speak slowly and calmly as one would to so many kindergarten children. "Look, I don't know what her deal is, nor do I frankly care. She actually seems like a normal kid, unlike some people I know." She followed this with an accusing finger towards the boys. "She's resting and Mystique expects her to remain resting and unbothered until she gets back. Now if you want to wake her up and disobey Mystique then fine, but don't think for a moment she wont use that dissention as an excuse to rip your over productive testicles from you miserable little groins and force feed them to you in a casserole. Got it?"
Lance blinked. Fred shifted his immense bulk away from the stairs. Pietro gulped and sped away to the living room to immerse himself in some much needed television. Wanda allowed herself the briefest of satisfactory smiles before marching her triumphant way up the creaking stairs to her own room. She wasn't one for words, really. She much preferred the more physical path her hexing took. However she did realize the occasional power of words.
Especially when a threat was involved.
Before slipping into her own room for some solitude and music she stopped in front of Jordan's door. She allowed herself a peak through the keyhole into Jordan's room. All seemed normal, the new girl laying asleep, still in her jeans and sweater atop the comforter.
"Enjoy the solitude while it lasts girl."
Jordan awoke a few hours later to the last lingering of the sun through her streaked window. Pink and orange reflections from clouds decorated the sky as the sun sank from view. When she was young she used to cry when the sun sank, when the sun died. Her mother told her that whenever it sank from her own window, it rose at another little girl's window on the other side of the world. This always dried her tears, always made it better. Every end has a beginning She barely had time to bring herself back from past reveries before reality crashed into her room. A silver blur whipped through the door around her room to stop suddenly in front of her four poster bed
Jordan swung around from looking out the window to face the early guest, desperately pulling up her covers in a vain attempt to conceal the exposed skin from possible roaming eyes. She managed to get the comforter up to her chin in enough time to prevent to much embarrassment. Her cheeks flushed with pink flames of discomfort. God, I can't believe I'm blushing…
The white haired boy at the foot of her bed allowed himself a cocky grin before bowing deeply with a quite unnecessary flair and announcing "Dinner is served!" in a horribly clichéd butler accent. He stood up straight and added "Down the stairs and to the left. In case you forgot where the kitchen was." With another flash of silver the skinny boy was gone, leaving fluttering papers in his wake.
Well…apparently I slept a bit longer then I thought. She hadn't wanted to sleep the afternoon away. She didn't realize she had been tired enough to sleep. Apparently I was tired. Apparently. She had only meant to lay down on the welcome plush of her new bed for a few minutes, absorbing the new environment she had migrated to.
It defiantly was cooler here then in Florida. Cooler by far, she had to unpack one of her sweaters from the black clothing bag in her trunk before she walked from her car to the door of her new home. At least she had everything easily accessible; she was told to expect the cooler climate by the Raven woman who gave her directions and gas money.
The trip had taken quite awhile and the gas money was invaluable as she had to refill her tank quite a few times along the way. All in all the drive hadn't been that bad. A chance to be by herself, listen to music, eat crappy truck stop food. Well, that last part hadn't been to enjoyable. But at least she hadn't gotten sick…too sick anyway.
Her mind turned from travel food to the promise from the albino boy of food downstairs. She sniffed the air as she got out from the tangle of blankets. Well, she mused, at least it smells good. Can't say much more about it till I go look at it. If it looks edible then I'll give it a thorough tasting. She smiled at her own skepticism. But who wouldn't be skeptical of the cooking creations of 4 boys alone in a house?
Jordan slipped into a less revealing pair of sweatpants and a nightshirt. She fought back a blush from the remembrance of her housemate catching her in just her panties staring, in what must have looked a most vacant way, at the sunset. She firmly promised herself they wouldn't catch her off guard like that again. Got to get used to staying in close quarters with other people; with boys. Especially now…her mind tried to wander off to uncomfortable territory but was halted by force of will and turned around to focus on food.
Food. Food was a safe thought Jordan told herself as she padded barefoot to the door of her room. Peering out left and then right for signs of what she didn't know, Jordan stepped out of the relative safety of the bedroom into the open hall.
Barely one timid foot had placed itself firmly on the wood floor before it was sent flying off like a tree frog losing suction with a leap. Jordan caught herself with a well placed arm on the doorknob, preventing herself from landing square on her bottom.
She watched shaken as a dirty blonde haired boy leaped by, oblivious to the near fall he had caused her. She watched surprised at what seemed to be a young teen hurtling through the hallway towards food, what normally be a common domestic scene, turned bizarre by the fact that he appeared to be…hopping. On all fours. Her puzzlement turned to amazement as she watched him traverse the final seven steps in one mighty leap to land almost naturally at the bottom and continue on his way.
Jordan sucked in a little breath. She had heard about all the different things other mutants could do, but she had yet to see it in real life. The speed of the earlier mutant had been overshadowed by her embarrassment at his spying her nude form lost in thought. She was expecting it, but not quite prepared for it all. Their powers were just so…different from hers, much more interesting and remarkable at least.
She pondered over these things as she followed the steps down to the first floor, turned left and faced her first formal introduction to the Brotherhood Boys…
AN: next chapter pretty much finished: Jordan's intro to the boys, a party at the b-house, Pietro in a slump….Maybe we'll actually see Jordan's powers, eh? Like I said the title is a clue to Jordan's "gifts". If you think you know….then guess away!