Disclaimer: I don't own X-men: Evolution.
paprika 90: Thank you SO much for your review! It means a lot. Yes, Jean and Scott are the only ones living at the institute – for the moment. This takes place a little before the actual first episode so there's still a lot to be covered.
Readerrr Grrrl: Whoa, those are a lot of R's. Anyway, thank you for your review and I will try to make the chapters a little more desiring from here on out. I'm a neat freak and I pay attention to everything (I'm bit of a paranoid), so that's probably why my grammar and spelling is good. And those are a lot of questions. To answer them, you'll just have to keep reading!
Chapter 2: First Impressions
On Saturday, Max was taking forever in the bathroom so I panicked trying to get ready for the football game. Not to mention I kept tripping over all our unpacked stuff. I crashed into Spike, our favorite Labrador retriever, twice. He didn't seem to mind the first time but the second time he was annoyed with me.
"Mom! Hurry Up!" I called, running toward the car.
Just then Max ran right in front of me, cutting me off.
"I call shotgun!" Max shouted and made his way to the passenger's side of the car.
"What!?" I yelled in disbelief. "You can't do that! It's my school's football game."
"Yeah? But you don't even like football, let alone go to a game?" Max countered.
I rolled my eyes. It was true. I hated football. I had to play it a couple of times in P.E. and unfortunately always ended up being pummeled to the ground. The worst part about it was I had to play against boys and with boys. They were always expecting something from you and always yelling. I could just smell the pressure thinking about it. Not that you could actually smell pressure…
"Max!" I whined, pulling him away from the door. Mom came from inside the house just in time and pulled us apart.
"Kids, if you don't stop fighting no one will be sitting up front," Mom explained, annoyed by our behavior.
I crossed my arms and glared at Max. Unfortunately things didn't go exactly my way, so Max got to sit up front. I don't even know why he was coming. After all, it was my school.
Once Mom parked the car I practically jumped out of the car. Max ran ahead to the refreshment stand where he greedily purchased some food. For some reason my little brother managed to eat SO much, yet never gain a pound. I wish the same thing happened to me.
Mom had a bright smile and was walking beside me. She probably wanted to make a good first impression so she could get into the PTA and "hopefully" in the president's chair. At Max and mine's old school (back in San Francisco), our mother just had to be so involved. She was in the PTA and ran all the charity events.
"Mom," I began.
"Yes dear?" she asked.
"Don't embarrass me ok? First impressions are everything, you know?" I explained.
Mom rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Teenagers."
I climbed onto one of the bleachers and sat down next to a short red haired girl, staring intently at the game. Mom (in attempts not to embarrass me) subtly sat down in front of me. I sighed and decided to watch the game, not that any of it would be a worthwhile experience for me.
"You don't look like you're from around here," the girl next to me casually remarked.
I shook my head, "I actually just moved in from San Francisco."
"Cool," the girl next to me said, "My name's Natalie. I'm a freshman this year."
"Really? Me too," I smiled. I actually made a potential friend.
"Bayville High's ok. I mean, high school is high school right?" Natalie pointed out.
I nodded. She was right. No matter what high school you were in there was always the stereotypical cheerleader, stereotypical jock, gothic, nerd, and so on.
"So how long have you lived in Bayville?" I asked.
"Nine years," Natalie calculated. "About. My brother Duncan's the star quarterback for the Bayville Hawks, our football team. He is such a bonehead."
"I heard about him," I said quietly.
"Probably. He is popular and totally ignores his little sister. I'd just love to smack him one day, you know?" Natalie pointed out.
"I know exactly how you feel. I have a little brother. He's the brattiest, most annoying, pest…" I trailed on when I heard Mom cough rather loudly below me.
I laughed sheepishly. "The point is that brothers maybe annoying, but there still family."
Natalie laughed awkwardly. Suddenly she gasped and stood up like somebody had just shocked her. She gasped, "Somebody just grabbed my butt!"
"What?" I asked. Weird.
"You know what, I'm gonna goget us some food," I said, raising my eyebrow.
"Ok," Natalie said, slowly sitting back down.
Standing up, I began to head out toward the refreshment stand. On my way I saw some cheerleaders looking at Max as though he was an adorable teddy bear. I rolled my eyes. No way could Max have made friends with high school cheerleaders. Not yet!
Sighing, I took out my wallet from my back pocket. I flipped it open and was shocked to discover all my money gone. I fumed right then and there. Max had better not have "borrowed" my cash.
Putting a hand to my head, I felt frustrated. Suddenly I caught sight of a roguish looking boy under the bleachers. He grabbed a wallet from a man's back pocket, took out the cash and a credit card and threw the wallet back in the corner. I was shocked and even more shocked to see loads of cash he was carrying. I crossed my arms, ready to pummel the boy for all he was worth. He was a robber! A pickpocketer! Even more, he stole from me!
I was about ready to charge under that bleacher when I saw three football players, a blonde and two brunettes, start walking over there. Maybe they could teach that idiot not to mess with me, but then I began to fear that they could do something much worse than I would ever think about. Looking at the frog…unusual looking boy, I felt sympathy toward him. He didn't even look like he took showers: at all.
Groaning, I crossed my arms again. What's a girl to do? I looked back and then saw the blonde football player toss the gecko guy into a pile of mud. Ooh. That must have hurt. I didn't want to get involved, especially since I had always been taught to avoid trouble. Besides, the little gecko stole my cash. I couldn't be absolutely certain, but I was sure. However, my conscious kept bothering me. I knew there could've been a better way to handle this.
I groaned for probably the fifth time and headed back to my seat, ready to explain to Natalie that my cash had "disappeared," when suddenly I saw a brunette with sunglasses walk over to the scene and wave his hands in peace. I looked around to make sure no one could see me, and ran toward the bleachers and hid behind a bleacher stand where I could get a better look at the fight. Call me a wimp, but I really didn't want to get involved in this. These were huge high school jocks, against pure and simple gymnast likeme? I don't think so.
"What do you care about this scuzzo, Summers?" the blonde jock asked.
"Not much, but I'm not crazy about three against one, either. So how 'bout we settle this peacefully?" the brunette with sunglasses explained.
Wow, this guy was bold.
"I think me and my buds are gonna squash this slimeball. So, you and your stupid sunglasses at night can just bail," the blonde jerk said and threw the gecko boy into the ground yet again.
Next thing I knew I heard the brunette yell "knock it off" and tackled the blonde into the ground. The "Summers" character had Duncan in a tight restraint. Swings were thrown and I shut my eyes, anticipating what could happen. By this point I was rooting for the brunette and his stupid sunglasses at night.
The gecko boy hopped up and began to run away from the scene and the two jocks (who hadn't seemed to do much) were calling after him. "He's gettin' away!"
I looked up and saw a tall redhead approach the scene. She put her hands out, calling for the brunette, "Scott? No! Scott!"
The blonde threw a punch at Scott and he went flying into the support beams. What happened next you couldn't imagine.
Scott's glasses slipped from his eyes and his eyes shone a ruby red. You couldn't comprehend how fast the glow traveled, but from my eyes they seemed to take forever. My screams echoed in within the outbreak of the rest of the people.
The blonde boy went flying out, the red beams hitting right on target. My eyes widened, my heart beat faster that I could count. It was quiet only for a quarter second, but in that quarter second I could hear myself breath, my heartbeat quicken, and my mind race.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
My breathing stopped short as my senses resumed. I looked up and saw a propane tank explode and fire engulf it. I looked back to see the brunette finally close his eyes and the redhead look out at the explosion. She seemed almost familiar with this.
Was this a dream? If it were, I wanted to wake up. Now.
"Max! Haley!" I heard my mom's voice remarkably well through the crowd of screams and horrified parents and teens.
"Mom!" I heard Max cry. I didn't look back at the boy named Scott and the redhead. I ran out as fast as I could and made my way through the crowd to my mom.
I embraced her and Max.
"C'mon kids, we…we…have to go to the car," my mom swallowed, her words hard to escape.
"Ok mom," Max sighed. I merely nodded and ran over to the car.
That day didn't feel real. It couldn't be! No red beam could ever just pop out of someone's eyes. It never happened to me before. It was impossible. Science was my best subject, and it didn't explain what had happened. Where was Einstein when I needed him the most?
One thing was for certain. I would never ever forget what happened that day, as long as I live.
Violet: I hope everyone liked this chapter as well. The next chapter will be about Haley's first day of school. Remember: read and review!!!
