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Chapter 7: Arrested Development


WOW! So this is utter, absolute, amazement, huh? Never in my life has anything this exciting ever happened! I mean, one minute I'm this normal teenager then all of a sudden I know the biggest secrets of secrets!

I knew I had to stop thinking about the whole humans possessing powers thing and whatnot, especially since my cousin Kevin's basketball game was being played, but if people only knew what I was going through.

Taking in a deep breath, I closed my eyes and reverted my attention to the basketball game being played at hand. I could honestly say this was the only sport I actually understood how to play.

The crowd exploded with cheers as the team Kevin was playing against scored a point. His team, P.S. 104, wasn't looking too badly though. I booed quietly and turned to look at my brother Max who was a real sports fanatic. Mom and Dad were in the seats behind us, surveying the game. I think mom tried to enjoy it, but was failing miserably. Dad was more of a football guy, but liked it nonetheless.

"Where's Kevin?" Max asked, looking out at the crowd of basketball players. The game was in intermission and I spotted Kevin getting a drink of water from a bottle.

"There he is!" I pointed out.

Soon the game started up again and the score was 81-82, in favor of the "other" team. It was the fourth quarter with 34 seconds left. Everyone's excitement rose and they all stood up with such anticipating thoughts.

An African-American, white haired woman was standing next to me and by her side was a couple, obviously rooting for their son. I marveled the woman's white hair for a minute and looked back at the game.

The star of the game, which was unfortunately NOT my cousin, was dribbling the ball and dodged from the offensive team. A silver haired head approached him and received the ball. He shot into the air but proceeded to miss. The crowd gave an "ooh" as a member of the other team stole the ball.

"Get 'im! Steal the ball!" I heard the woman beside the white-haired woman say.

"Set up your zone! Don't let 'em shoot!" her husband proceeded to instruct. I could tell these were one really dedicated parents and lovers of basketball. I bet their son dreamt of being in the NBA.

"Is it always this exciting?" the white-haired woman next to me asked. She had a silky, earthly tone of voice. It was actually quite soothing.

"No, this one's a real nailbiter," the husband answered.

I looked at the clock and now only 11 seconds remained with the other team still in possession with the ball.

"You can do it, Evan! Shoot! Shoot!" the lady next to me shouted, shaking her fist. Evan must've been the one with the ball (and the star of the game) because just then he jumped for the basket and shot the ball. The buzzer sounded of off just as the orange and black ball dropped through the net. "Evan" then fell down and slammed into a Kevin.

I was too excited to see what happened next because just then I began to jump up and down in bliss. Max waved his fist in triumph and I could hear my mom from behind let out a soft sigh.

Turning my head toward the lady with white hair, I was puzzled to see the look of shock on her face. It wasn't like the shock of actually winning, but like the shock of seeing something shocking.

In my curiosity, I looked over to the court to see "Evan" on the ground with brown spikes on his arms. Then they slowly absorbed into his skin.

Now this was just too much!! The people at that institute and the Brotherhood weren't the only ones with powers! There were more?

In a gymnasium full of people, this lady and I were still the only ones who had seen something like this. This, plus all the other things I had seen, was beginning to be a bother. This guy had powers too? Maybe my math teacher did too, and my mom, and that squirrel living in our tree. I felt like I was going to explode keeping this big secret to myself. I really wanted to tell my parents but who knows how'd they take it.

Besides, since the day I heard Jean explain everything to Fred, I was certain there was more to find out. The question was whether I should pursue this. Maybe I should just leave everything and try to avoid it for the sake of these people and my own sanity.

Looking over to my right, I saw Max with a shocked look on his face. He rubbed his eyes, shook his head, and looked decidedly to ignore this. Easy for him, I, on the contrary, knew I wasn't just "seeing things". This was real.

I looked down back onto the court to see "Evan" smiling and waving his arms in victory.

"Yeah! Woohoo!" I called weakly.

Kevin and a bunch of other teammates lifted Evan (who had very ugly blonde hair by the way). They later proceeded to go into the boy's locker room.

By this time people were filing out of the large gymnasium belonging to the P.S. 104 High School. My parents and I stayed and later met up with my aunt and uncle (who was brother to my dad). They were nice people, but I believed they were too pressuring of Kevin in basketball. They really wanted him to get a scholarship.

The adults went on to some conversation while Max and I strolled lazily on the court. There I also saw the woman with white hair and the couple. A few boy's came out of the locker room but Kevin was still in there.

"Evan did a really great job Vi," I heard my aunt call out.

"Thanks. He's really been practicing," I heard the response.

I look behind me to see the white haired woman and the couple on the court. I assumed Vi was the wife in the couple.

"Oh, this is my sister Ororo. She visiting here from Bayville," Vi explained, motioning to the white haired woman by her side.

Bayville! What a coincidence.

"What a coincidence! My husband's brother and his family came here to visit from Bayville as well," my aunt laughed.

"You know what they say," Vi laughed in return, "What a small world."

What small world it is.

Later Max came up to me with a pondering look on his face. He spoke, "Have you ever seen somebody with spikes on their arm?"

"Sure. It probably means you haven't had enough sleep," I lied.

This secret, or whatever it was, was becoming part of me life now. It was one of those things that I lived with and kept. Nobody even asked me to keep this a secret but I was anyway. It wasn't like the first time I lied to my little brother, but if there were anyone in the world, Max would be the first person I'd tell all this too.

"Oh," Max said thoughtfully, "You're probably right."

I had learned a few days ago that Max was staying up late and watching late night shows. I was at first mad, but then impressed by his capability of sneaking around without being caught by mom or dad. Of course, that wouldn't stop me from blackmailing him about this when the time came.

Finally Kevin came out of the boy's locker room with a black haired boy by his side. They said their good-byes and walked in different direction.

"That was quite a game you had there, son," my uncle complimented.

"It was all Evan. I made a few shots but…" Kevin began.

"Those few shots got you to win this game," my aunt contradicted.

Kevin shrugged.

"So does anybody feel like celebrating? I'll take all of you guys out for some pizza. What do you say? My treat," my dad asked.

"Dan, no. It's my son's game. I should be the one to pay," my uncle explained.

My dad shrugged approvingly, "Well, if you insist."

Mom rolled her eyes and we all began to walk off to our separate cars. I turned my head around for a moment and then looked back straight. I let out a gasp as a felt a light breeze fly past us. That was weird. I've never heard of a breeze indoors unless the window was open or something and right now, there were no windows open.

We all went to The Pizza Place for our pizza. We ate. We talked. We laughed. I didn't do much talking. I was too busy thinking. I had been doing that a lot lately. I was in deep thought. I kept replaying ever incident so far that I had seen.

First it had been Scott's beam eyes. Then it had been Todd's freakishly long tongue. Later it was Kurt's blue tail and disappearing act and Jean's telekinesis. During the food fight it had been Kitty disappearing through the floor. Now it was Evan's spikes. I wondered how it would be like to live like that.

To keep your powers a secret from the world must have been a great deal of difficulty. Not even to tell your closest friends would've been hard. I know it had already been hard on me and I didn't even have powers.

Hmmm.

What if I did have powers? I wonder what they'd be. It's so weird to be thinking like this. It felt like I was in some supernatural/science-fiction novel.

If the world did know about these people's powers then how would they react? I'd like to say I've reacted in the most sensible way possible, but that's me. How would other people react? Don't these people ever wonder that as well? I'm sure they did.

"Hey, are you going to eat that last pizza?" came a voice.

I looked over to see Kevin looking eagerly at the last pizza left.

"Go ahead," I said waving him off.

He licked his lips and began munching down the pepperoni pizza. I didn't like pepperoni. I liked "just cheese" pizzas.

"Aw man, I just remembered something," Kevin said.

"What?" I asked.

"Evan and me were supposed to go down to the school tonight. We were going to catch this locker thief," Kevin explained casually.

"What? Are you out of your mind or something!? You could get arrested!" I cried.

"Relax. We wouldn't get caught, just the locker thief," Kevin shrugged.

"What locker thief?" Max asked.

"He's been rippin' us all off – Evan, Greg and me. Mostly Evan though. It's been going on for nights now. We go to school the next morning and all our money is gone," Kevin explained.

"Well you deserve it for leaving your money in a locker," I remarked.

"Whatever. I have to go call him," Kevin sighed.

Kevin did call Evan on his cell phone and after that he explained Evan wasn't going to go either, since his aunt was there and they were having a long barbeque. It wasn't long before my family and I had to leave for Bayville. I congratulated Kevin and quietly told him the consequences that would result in him breaking in the school to catch this locker thief. I don't think Kevin got the message.

The next day school went by slowly without any interruptions with anything strange. Today dad picked me up and we all went to Kevin's House. Aunt Lillian and Uncle James had invited us over for dinner.

The adults were talking to each other after dinner and Kevin, Max, and I were upstairs roaming around. Suddenly the sound of ringing could be heard and Kevin hurriedly grabbed his cell phone from his pocket.

"Hello?" he answered. "Greg can't make it? No, it's fine … yeah I'll see you at the school."

Kevin hung up the phone and threw it on his bed. He began to quietly tiptoe down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" I asked accusingly.

"He's going to the school to catch the locker thief. Weren't you paying attention?" Max answered the obvious, following me from behind.

"I know that!" I shouted, rolling my eyes.

Kevin finally reached the bottom and pulled a skateboard from inside a closet.

"Kevin, no! You're going to get arrested. It'll be on your permanent record! Or worse, what if you get seriously injured?" I shouted.

"Relax Hales. We won't get caught," Kevin said casually.

"What, now you can magically tell the future or something?" I asked.

I realized at that moment what I said could have been truth. From what I had seen this could've been the case for any person. I doubt it was the case for Kevin though. He was just stupid. He didn't have one clue how this could end up. I mean, what if this locker thief had a gun or something?

"No, but it'll be fine," Kevin said.

"Then I'm coming too," I said.

"What! No!" Kevin protested.

"I though you said everything would be 'fine'?" I asked.

"You can't come!" Kevin shouted.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Just because," Kevin explained.

After some minutes of arguing Kevin finally allowed me to come along. Luckily he had a spare skateboard and I had learned four years ago from my friend Sean in San Francisco how to ride one. He was a junior in high school now. I wondered how he was doing and quickly shook my thoughts away.

"Can I come too?" Max asked.

"No, you have to stay here and buy us some time," I explained and ran out quietly through the back door.

Kevin and I exited through the backyard. Kevin hopped on his skateboard and rolled off and I followed quickly from behind, trying to stay some feet away from him in order to see where he was going.

I felt so spontaneous. I knew we'd probably end up getting caught but I didn't care, which was weird for me. Usually I cared, deeply. Right now though, I was so caught up in the moment. Besides, I was a good girl. I would just blame everything on these two (Kevin and Evan – hey that rhymes!).

"Wait up!" I cried as Kevin sped off faster and faster.

He was way too fast and seemed to gain speed each time he rode.

"Kevin!" I cried, panting.

I tried desperately to catch up to him but found myself growing weaker and weaker by the moment. I stopped to catch my breath and before I could call out for Kevin again a breeze brushed past me. For some reason it reminded me of that breeze I had experienced at Kevin's basketball game.

Usually I would have run away from the mysterious breeze, bur right now I was running toward its direction. I ran and then skateboarded until I finally found the P.S. 104 High School.

"Kevin!" I hissed.

I heard a muffled sound and turned to see a pair of feet dangling from a dumpster. I heaved the lid of the dumpster up and found Kevin dangling from inside.

"What happened?" I asked, humor mixed in with worry.

"I don't know, it happened so fast," Kevin explained, getting a banana peel out from his hair and standing up. "One minute I'm standing here and then the next I'm being hurdled around and thrown in this dumpster. You probably think I'm crazy Haley, but there was a serious mini-tornado going here."

I looked awkwardly at Kevin for a while and then spoke, "Are you sure you just didn't get hit in the head and then you wandered aimlessly to this dumpster, bumped into it and then toppled over and then the lid just fell down?"

"The mini-tornado story sounds more realistic that that," Kevin said shaking his head.

"Oh really?" I asked.

"Yeah," Kevin began when suddenly we heard a sound in the distance.

The sound sounded like wind and then stopped for a moment.

"I'm going inside the school," I said boldly.

"Go ahead, don't expect me to come with you," Kevin said.

"Wimp," I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

I raced inside the school when suddenly Evan came skidding to a halt at my feet. Came with him was what looked like a … mini-tornado!

"What is that?" I cried.

Evan ignored my question and got up, looking me over, "Wait a minute, who are you?"

"Haley, Kevin's cousin," I answered.

We didn't have much time to chat because just then the mini-tornado sped around and sent us up tossing into the air. I ended up getting thrown onto the floor which really hurt by the way.

To my amazement the mini-tornado began to slow down to form a silver haired boy wearing a pale green outfit. He was tall and his arms were crossed.

"W-what? Who are you?" I asked in my shocked state. I was honestly surprised to see him there.

"Call me Quicksilver. I'm a mutant and you are…" the boy began when suddenly Evan returned behind him.

"You?" Evan asked, pointing at Quicksilver. "You've got powers too?"

Quicksilver slapped his forehead and turned around to revert his attention to Evan, "Duh! Finally! Remember, Daniels, anything you can do, I can do better."

He then sped off toward Evan and grabbed a wallet from the African-American's hand. He opened it and grabbed some money from inside its contents and threw the wallet away.

"Mind if I take that back?" he asked.

"But, why would you wanna rip me off?" Evan asked dumbly.

"Kicks, man! For the challenge! Look, when you live as fast as I do, there ain't enough things to occupy my time," Quicksilver said, spinning around. "I gotta entertain myself. Heh, and you thought you could stop me. Well, eh!"

Quicksilver smacked Evan and continued, "Wrong again!"

"Don't bet on it," Evan angrily answered, rubbing his red cheek.

I watched from the sidelines as a long brown spike protruded from Evan's hand. It was weird to actually see that happen. It makes you wonder – how do they do that?

Unfortunately for Evan, Quicksilver sped around and pushed him over. By this time I had come to terms of what Quicksilver's powers were: super speed. Nobody could move that fast!

"Too slow! What a surprise?" Quicksilver mocked.

"Uh-oh," I silently murmured as I heard sirens from the distance.

"You know, I think you're gonna need some more time to work on those powers of yours," Quicksilver said thoughtfully as the sirens began to grow louder.

Oh no! He was going to leave. And then the police would find Evan and me in here and then they would arrest us! My prediction was proving to be correct.

"What do you mean?" Evan asked dumbly. Man! Why was this guy so slow?

"Can you say 'scapegoat'?" Quicksilver asked. He looked over at me and winked, "Sorry babe."

Like a twister, he vanished down the hall and then after a few seconds a pair of flashlights shone in our eyes, blinding my vision. Being handcuffed is not a could feeling; it makes you feel like a common criminal – something that I was not.

Jail is a horrible place. I'm literally now the good girl gone bad. It was so dirty in there and smelly. I'm sure before me their was a fat guy with tattoos named Otis in here.

Evan and Kevin were in one separate cell and I was in the other.

After we had been arrested, Kevin was trying to calm me down. I was literally screaming in his face and turning flamingo pink. He was probably hoping my lungs would soon collapse but the whole drive home I was yelling in his face and my lungs did not collapse. Because of my outbursts the police officers required that we be kept in separate cells in order to keep Kevin alive.

I looked up hopefully as the sound of a sliding door could be heard. I wanted my parents here but at the same time couldn't bear their disappointment in me. I had always met up with their expectations and something big like this could easily bring their pride in me down.

Just as I looked up I saw the white haired woman Ororo, Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Evan's parents, my parents, Max, and Kevin's parents. Everyone went his or her separate ways.

"Haley! Honey! Are you alright?" Mom asked me with tears in her eyes.

"What possessed you to go break into a school like that?" I heard Kevin's mom shriek.

"Evan, what happened?" I heard Evan's mom console.

"I'm so sorry mom and dad. I knew it was wrong I just did it anyway. I just didn't want Kevin to get hurt," I explained. "So I went and thought I could stop him from doing something stupid. I know I should've told you before I did anything. Can you ever forgive me?"

"It's alright Haley. We're just so glad your ok," Mom sighed.

"I'm sorry! I'm so stupid. First of all this isn't Haley's fault. She was just trying to stop me from going," Kevin explained. I smiled softly as I heard Kevin defending me. Kevin was released from his jail cell soon since his parents had paid his bail ahead of time.

"Mom, you have no idea how much I regret this, but I didn't do anything! I promise!" I protested. "Neither did Kevin or Evan."

"We believe you honey," Dad said, and he was telling the truth. I could tell.

"We're going to go pay your bail ok. C'mon Max," Mom said and she, dad, and Max left. Tears swarmed in my eyes and slowly released. They trickled down my cheek and I quickly wiped them away.

"Welcome to the downside, pal. Misuse your powers: go to jail," Scott said silently, although I could still hear him.

"It wasn't me, man," Evan protested. "Haley and Kevin didn't do anything either."

"Hey, I believe you, Evan. In fact, I know you didn't do it," Jean said. How does she know he didn't do it? That's weird.

"Evan, please listen to me. Let us help you," Ororo said pleadingly.

"So, we'll make you a deal. The Professor will use his influence to get you outta here and you give the Institute a shot. Whaddaya say?" Scott asked.

Oh, I see what their doing. Their forcing him to go to that institute so he can learn to control his powers.

"Like I've got a choice?" Evan snorted.

"Hey, hey, you've always got a choice. We just … want to help you make it the right one," Scott explained.

"Okay. Deal," Evan said as Scott stuck hand through the bars. They shook hands. A deals a deal.

A few days later, back in Bayville, the charges against me were dropped since they couldn't find any evidence against me. I was from Bayville, which was too far away to conclude that I was the locker thief.

I luckily still had my parents trust, but was grounded for two months.

Evan had transferred her not long after that conversation I had witnessed exchanged between Evan and the people from the institute. He was now playing basketball for Bayville and his first game was ironically against P.S. 104.

I supposed that Evan might not have seen me see him use his powers. Quicksilver certainly had. He had said he was mutant. Now I knew what to call these people: mutants.

My parents had forbidden me to go to the basketball game so I was stuck home. I was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about going to jail and everything. Natalie and Angie would have laughed to just hear that good girl Haley had gone to jail. Of course, I hadn't been charged with anything luckily.

Mutants. So I was in a world full of mutants. I had almost gone to juvenile hall and all I found out was a new vocabulary word: mutant? Why was my life so difficult?


Violet: Thanks a bunch for reading! R/R!