Chapter 11: Lights, Camera, Action!
"Haley!" a voice squealed.
"Huh?" I turned around to see Angie and Natalie skipping toward me. "What?"
"Are you gonna tryout?" Angie asked gleefully with a hint of girly-ness in her voice.
"For what?" I asked.
"For the play!" Natalie shrieked as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She pointed at a blue and red poster with a Nosferatu-like vampire wings that said 'Dracula' at the top.
"Well?" Angie asked.
I chuckled, "No way! Why?"
"Because Natalie and I are gonna tryout," Angie said. "We wanted to know if you were too."
"Why would I?" I asked.
Just then the answer revealed itself. Jason, right now the hunkiest guy in school, came into view and walked down the hallway carrying a pile of books and papers. Out came Rogue with Kitty jogging up ahead to catch up with the Gothic when suddenly she ran smack into Jason. The two teenagers papers spilled across the hallway.
"Oh, sorry. Could I be any clutzier?" Kitty giggled girlishly, batting her eyelashes. It made me want to hurl. Ugh!
"No problem. Let me help," Jason said and, as the gentleman as he was, bent down and began gathering all the papers and books.
Angie gave a sigh, looking at the handsome boy. Natalie followed in unison and they both just stared at the boy with dreamy eyes. I wanted to puke at their girlishness. Hello! He was just a boy. Well … a cute boy. I had to admit, he had nice features. Pretty eyes, sweet smile, luxurious hair, a nice round…
Stop it Haley! I refuse to be another stereotypical girl chasing after some guy because she has nothing better to do. I assumed Rogue felt the same way considering she was rolling her eyes at Kitty and Jason's "love" scene.
"Don't you have a boyfriend?" Angie asked, pouting at Natalie. She obviously wanted to keep Jason all to herself.
"We broke up," Natalie simply answered.
"Since when?" Angie asked suspiciously.
"Since now," Natalie answered as Greg passed her way. She cleared her throat, "Oh Greg dear! We're done."
Greg looked surprised at her. So with his head down, he continued to walk past us in the hallway. Natalie had a tendency to have a lot of boyfriends at the same time. Or at least she never had the same boyfriend for too long. Her record, from what Angie had told me, was three weeks. That didn't really count though since that boyfriend was on vacation with his parents and once he came back Natalie broke things up. Well … at least she gave the boy some clarity instead of him coming to school one day and finding she already at three boyfriends lined up.
Angie crossed her arms and gave Natalie her death glare. I rolled my eyes at the two.
Before giving Kitty anymore time with Jason, Angie skipped up to the two and shooed Kitty away. She looked dreamily at Jason and spoke, "So, um, Jason, whatcha doin'?"
"Hanging posters," he answered, oblivious that the two girls were practically clawing at each other. I was relieved Natalie decided to keep out of this.
When he turned around, both girls stopped their hair pulling almost immediately and gave Jason their separate sweet looks. The oblivious boy continued, "Auditions for the school play are tomorrow night. Hey, you guys are gonna try out, right? We need girls who can sing and dance."
"So, like, what part do you play?" Kitty asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes.
I felt sorry for the poor guy. Flustered, he answered, "Uh, I'm the uh, male lead."
"You're gonna be Dracula?" Angie asked, making her voice sound bewildered. She wanted it to sound like it was the coolest thing in the world to be. This unfortunately made Jason more agitated.
"Cool. Well, then, duh!" Kitty began, slapping her forehead, "I mean, yeah, sure. Of course I'm gonna totally try out."
"Me too!" Angie declared. Kitty turned around and gave Angie a menacing glare.
"Great. Then I'll see you both tomorrow," Jason said, giving them both a sweet smile. With that he left them.
So before Angie and Kitty got into a major catfight, both Natalie and I pulled the Chinese girl out of the ring. She gave Kitty one last death glare and sped off to the girl's bathroom. Natalie and I looked at each, shaking our heads.
"Can you believe her?" Natalie asked.
"I never thought Angie would be all over a guy and actually competing with another girl for his attention," I said, shaking my head again.
Natalie shrugged.
When the last bell rang, declaring the school day officially over, I was walking out of the school gates when suddenly a blonde haired kid on a skateboard with a digital camera popped up in my face. I shrieked and glared at the boy named Evan Daniels.
"Get that camera OUT of my face!" I yelled, irked by his sudden appearance.
"Sorry Hales. Just thought I could get some footage of you for my class project," Evan said apologetically, yet he persisted to follow me around with the camera.
"Why do you want me on that thing?" I asked, pointing to the digital camera.
"Cause I wanted to," Evan replied stupidly.
"Oh that's absoltley marvelous!" I said in a fake British-accent.
"Really?" Evan asked.
"No!" I yelled, continuing on my walk. "And if I find any trace of me on that film I will slaughter you!"
Evan put down the camera and raised his hand in defense, "Ok, ok. Don't have to go all Charlie's Angels on me."
I sighed as he hopped on his skateboard and sped away. He took off down the stairs, camera in hand. He jumped over the side of the steps and over a few people. He swerved around, narrowly missing some kids. Next he ran through a boy handing a girl some papers, unfortunately knocking the papers down. He waved to them sheepishly.
Shaking my head, I walked down the steps to see Angie and Kitty arguing a few feet away. I ran over to them and called out, "Hey!"
Kitty and Angie looked over at me and then just turned away, walking their own separate ways. I sighed. Hopefully their little feud wouldn't last too long. I mean – come on! It's just a boy. A very handsome boy…
I shook my head.
Today I'd be walking home since mom and dad had to meet with Max's math teacher about his poor grades. Sometimes it's hard to be the smart one in the family (sigh). Max was the athletic one. I was all about brains while he was all about brawns. Seriously! Max played soccer during the summer, basketball during the fall, he used to snowboard during the winters before moving to Bayville, and during the spring he'd play flag football. What did I do? I parents forced me to play the piano during the summer even though I was horrible at it. In the fall I took a ceramics course with my mom, but it was horrible so I begged her to drop me out of the class. During the winter they had enrolled me in ice-skating even though I always fell down and landed on my butt. Finally in the spring I took up sewing but instead ended up getting lots of blisters.
I walked to a familiar sidewalk around the campus grounds when I saw the familiar Evan Daniels gliding in the air and falling into an alley. I ran toward the alley to see Evan lying in loads and loads of garbage. Ew! Ew! Ew! I ran over to him and called out to him beneath the many layers of garbage, "Evan! Are you ok?"
He groaned and rubbed his back, "Yeah. I guess."
Suddenly the sound of a snarl caused me to turn around. I gasped seeing a tall figure in the distance with a menacing glare. He was obviously a mutant, but what separated him from Evan (and me) was that he was dangerous looking. Crossed between a cat and man, the tall, yellow-teethed man was looking at Evan's digital camera. He put it down and then just ran off. I couldn't help notice that the evil-looking mutant needed serious tooth brushing. I mean considering the yellow teeth, he must also have bad breath. Hello! Anyone ever heard of a breath mint before?
Evan stood up from the pile of garbage and spikes protruded from his arms and legs. I gasped in alarm as he did this and then sighed. Obviously he knew that I knew since Jean and the Professor knew. Also considering he just used his powers in front of me …
He snarled, riding his skateboard out of the alley, "Man, somebody is lookin' for some trouble!"
I ran after him and found him crouching on the ground with the digital camera in his hands. Obviously he didn't know why the were-cat was so interested in his camera either. Maybe the digital camera was a lethal weapon disguised as a digital camera – or maybe not. After all, he had just looked at it and ran away. I made a mental note to myself to ask Evan who that were-cat was later.
"Aw, man. I hope it isn't busted," Evan sighed, examining the camera. Sighing, I contemplated that maybe Evan wasn't as insightful as me. He didn't even care what the were-cat man was up to. "Does it look ok to you?"
"It looks fine," I sighed. Maybe I was reading too much into this?
We walked down the sidewalk when suddenly Todd Tolensky appeared out of nowhere in his usual ugly appearance. He waved and hopped toward us.
"'Sup, Daniel? Woodrow?" Todd said, acknowledging the both of us.
"Todd you wouldn't know a were-cat-man by any chance, would you?" I asked.
Todd just looked at me like I was delusional and stuck a finger in his ear. He spoke, "I think the whole 'being a mutant' thing is getting to you Woodrow."
"You know about that?" I asked surprised. I knew Evan and everyone else living in the Xavier Institute would know, but how would Todd know?
"'Course. Practically half the mutant community knows," Todd said, and began counting off on his fingers, "Lance, Freddie, Pietro, the X-Geeks, Mystique…"
"Mystique? The Mystique who tried to kill me?" I asked dumbfounded.
"Yeah. What happened with that?" he asked.
"Well I'm alive aren't I?" I asked, peeved off.
Luckily I was alive. And luckily Professor Xavier hadn't told my parents about me being a mutant. Maybe he sensed that off of me. I wanted to tell my parents. I really did but for the moment I couldn't. Not yet. Not now. And speaking of the 'X-Geeks', who I was assuming to be the 'X-men', none of them had approached me about being a mutant except for Jean of course. I saw her twice that school day and we had made eye contact. I sensed she wanted to come over and talk to me, but I hadn't given her a chance. I keep running off. I guess being a mutant is a big deal around here. And when a mutant's powers 'manifest', word spreads quickly.
Todd looked at Evan, his finger still in his ear. He trailed, "So Daniels…"
"What do you want, Tolensky?" Evan asked, just as annoyed as I was.
"I heard about your movie. Check me out," Todd said and with that leapt up on the railing, doing a handstand. He then jumped to a nearby window, back flipped off the window, and slid down the railing. "Style, charisma. The Toad's got it all, yo. So start shootin' already."
"Take a hike, Tolensky. I got too much respect for my craft," Evan said.
I took pity on Todd but the toad/mutant didn't seem to mind. He shrugged (probably thinking it was Evan's own loss) and hopped away.
Evan looked at me, "Oh yeah! I just remembered. Jean said she wanted to talk to you at the mansion tomorrow. See ya!"
With that he just rolled off on his skateboard. He made me want to sneer. Evan wasn't a very talkative or even attentive young lad. Plus, I knew what Jean wanted to talk to me about. Professor Xavier still wanted me to come to the institute and he was asking Jean to try and persuade me, thinking she was the best person for the job. Yet no matter who tried persuading me, my final answer would be 'no'. I didn't want to be an X-man. Ororo practically attacked me. I had seen how they had recruited Evan when we got arrested. I didn't want to be an X-person!
I would go anyway though – just to tell them 'no'.
The following morning I woke up bright and early. It was a Saturday and I hadn't forgotten to meet Jean at the institute.
I got up, ran to the bathroom, changed my clothes, brushed my teeth, and ate breakfast. My dad was at the head of the table reading the paper. My mom was reading 'Reader's Digest' while making her famous blueberry waffles and Max was reading the back of the cereal box. I was the only one without reading material but I didn't need one. My mind was far off someplace else.
"Mom, can you drop me off in front of the Xavier Institute later?" I asked.
She gasped, "Did they make you an offer?"
"No. I'm just going to see a friend there," I explained.
"Oh well, your friend can still make you a good recommendation," my mom said.
I sighed at her ignorance – at everyone's ignorance. They knew not of what the Xavier Institute really held, which was a secret like no other. They didn't know of the mutants who lived there. They knew nothing of these 'X-men'. They were unaware of the fact that there were many others like them in all areas of the world. How horrible was it to delude these people! I kept their secret against my better judgment though. I had to.
Once my mom dropped me off in front of the institute I hopped off and stood in front of the gates. It opened up automatically like it had before. I took two steps in and the gates closed behind me.
"Haley!" a female voice called.
I turned around and saw Jean standing there waving at me with perky smile. It irked me how happy she was even though she was a total freak. She was a prep though. She was involved in extracurricular activities, had a steady boyfriend, had a very long list of friends with more charms on her fingers than I could count.
"Hi," I said, pretending to sound ecstatic. I know I'm putting up a fake façade but I can't honestly be rude to her.
"I'm glad you decided to drop by and, hey, I know where you're coming from. It's not easy to take things like this too lightly," Jean said in a motherly tone. Ugh!
"Thanks," I said. I guess I could wait to tell her 'no'. No rush. Besides, it couldn't hurt to look around. My mind was made up though. I would never EVER become a stupid X-man.
She spoke in her tenderly voice, "I thought that maybe you could look around and see what everyone's up to. It'll give you an idea how things are around here."
With that she left me to be all by my lonesome. It didn't bother me though. If she had decided to stay thought it might have bothered me. I'd feel awkward and uncomfortable with her standing over me ever second. Maybe she sensed that too.
I was walking around the outskirts of the mansion where I heard a pair of masculine voice. When I peered around the corner to see who it was it happened to be two men in costume. What is this – Halloween? One looked just a few years older than me but the other one looked much older.
"Wolverine! Watch your back!" the younger one said as a net came flying at the older one.
This was supposed to help you control your powers. I didn't need help controlling my powers. Sure I went a little off in Biology the other day but it was just a one-time thing. No biggie. If I needed to control my powers I could do it myself. How hard could it be to control something about yourself? It's like controlling your hormones or something. No big deal!
As the two were dodging Frisbee things, Evan came skateboarding down the path with that digital camera of his. I almost bumped into me but he luckily went around me just in time. He rode by where the older man known as Wolverine was and the younger man was, shooting them while he rolled.
"Now that's reality T.V.," he commented.
Suddenly spiked balls came out of the machine the two men were practicing on and they flew at Wolverine. Metal claws extracted from his knuckles and he sliced them to bits, but they kept on flying. I gasped as they were heading toward Evan and in a moment's notice I was running toward Evan. In my act of bravery, I pushed Evan down from his skateboard and I fell down with him.
I breathed a sigh of relief but fear struck me as one of the spiky discs got sawed into the side of the mansion. The other one was decapitated in a statue (a statue that had attacked me recently) and the third one was sawed into a tree branch. Are they crazy to have those things!
Looking over at Evan, I spoke, "Are you ok?"
"Yeah," Evan said, just as perplexed as I was.
"Your welcome," I said sarcastically.
Evan was snapped into awareness and he looked over at me. He spoke, "Oh, yeah, um, thanks, for, um…"
"Saving your life," I completed for him.
"Yeah," Evan nodded. He seemed to be off in his own little world.
By now Wolverine and the other guy were running towards us. Wolverine looked angry under his mask and yelled at Evan, at the same time with worry in his voice, "What do you think you're doin' here, bub? Those things coulda taken your empty head right off!"
"I-I was just tryin' to get-" Evan stammered.
"Give me that thing!" Wolverine said enraged, and snatched the digital camera from Evan.
"Hey!" Evan protested. "Give it back!"
I was still lying on the ground when suddenly the younger man offered me his hand. That was when I finally recognized him to be Scott Summers. Weird how different he looked dressed in that costume. He offered me his hand and I graciously accepted it.
"Are you ok?" he asked me.
I nodded, "Thanks."
"I should be thanking you. Luckily for Evan if you weren't standing there then we'd have a big mess to clean up," Scott chuckled.
I shuddered at the bloodied image. Double Ew!
Suddenly all eyes were on Wolverine and Evan. Wolverine was looking at the tape and the were-cat-man was on it. He spoke, showing his malicious yellow teeth, "Thanks for showin' me where Logan is, kid. I owe you one."
"Who the heck was that?" Evan asked surprised.
Are you kidding me? Had he really not noticed the were-cat-man standing there yesterday holding the camera? Was he that oblivious to what the world around him contained? It's like he was off in his own little world all the time. He constantly needed a chaperone so his head wouldn't slice off.
"Sabretooth," Wolverine growled in a low breath.
"He's got old issues with Wolverine and it looks like you've clued him in to our location," Scott clarified.
Suddenly the alarms around the institute began to blare out. Wolverine growled again in his rugged manner, "Ya think?"
The sound of footsteps could be heard from behind me and I looked to see Jean's redhead coming at me. She looked worriedly at me and spoke, "Haley, I think you better go inside. I don't want you to get hurt. We'll take care of this."
"But-" I protested.
"Please. Sabretooth is very dangerous and I don't want you getting hurt," Jean said, her eyed filed with worry.
With that I left.
I was walking around the institute from the inside thinking about how dangerous the life of an X-man really was. Jean Grey wasn't a really annoying, preppy person either. Sure it was annoying how motherly she acted and it irked me how 'perfect' she was. Good grades. Athletic. Etc. Despite all that I knew she would be a good friend – a caring, motherly friend, but a good friend nevertheless.
Jean gave me a tour of the institute. She should me this 'Danger Room' where the mutants living at the institute do their practices. The institute was a large place, larger than I had expected when I had came there two times before. This time I had been taken to places I hadn't been before.
The redhead telekinetic went on her way and I was left to be by myself again. Just then the sulking face of Evan Daniels could be seen. He looked sad and guilty and my heart went out to him. Jean had told me to stay in the institute since Sabretooth was still on the loose and could harm me as well, even though I wasn't part of the X-men. She hadn't quite given me the details and everything so I went over to him and in a friendly tone greeted, "What's up?"
"I am a horrible person!" Evan groaned.
"No! You are not!" I protested.
"Yes, I am. I mean how stupid am I? I've ruined everything," Evan cried. "Auntie O's probably gonna ship me back home now."
He told me how his digital camera had led Sabretooth to know where the institute's whereabouts were. Apparently he had been taping the institute and Sabretooth and found him doing so. That's why he had been looking at the tap earlier before.
"You'll figure something out," I reassured.
Evan looked unconvinced when suddenly the sounds of two females arguing could be heard. Both our ears perked up to acknowledge the presence of Rogue and Kitty Pryde. They looked both equally annoyed at each other and I couldn't help wonder why.
"I gotta practice my audition and you been hoggin' the soundtrack all mornin'!" Rogue argued.
"Hey, I bought it. Get your own," Kitty retorted.
I recalled the auditions for the Dracula play earlier today. Angie told me she was rehearsing the whole day yesterday and that her feet were VERY sore. I sympathized how she felt but shrugged since I couldn't possibly do anything for her without touching her feet.
A sneaky smirk emerged on Evan's face. Apparently he had formed a plan inside his tiny little head and he was about to carry it out.
"Ladies, ladies, maybe we can all help each other out here," Evan smirked.
"What do you want?" Kitty and Rogue asked simultaneously in an irritated voice. They glared at each other once more.
"Look, you two think you can stop arguing long enough to help me do something important?" Evan asked. He looked at me. "You too."
"Why me?" I groaned.
"What do you want us to do?" Rogue asked, crossing her arms.
"I'll explain on the way," Evan said, a hint of sneakiness mixed in his words. "But just to warn you first? We might have to do a bit of improvising."
It was night by the time Rogue had taken out the motorcycle from the garage. She and I shared the motorcycle and it didn't seem to bother me although remembering the snowmobile incident…
Kitty and Evan were sharing his skateboard. When Evan had explained his plan, we learned our destination was to the woods. I was a bit excited and nervous at the same time considering this would be the first time I'd be partaking in a 'mutant-type adventure'.
When we got to the woods, it was silenced by darkness, but not for long. Evan pointed at me and I nervously looked at my hands.
"You can do it," Kitty supported. I smiled thankfully to her for her encouragement and then looked back at my pale skinned hands.
"I can do this," I repeated to myself. I closed my eyes and stretched my arms out in front of me. I raised them atop my head and a bright light emerged. I panicked as I began to loose focus and the light seemed to be stretching out in various ways from the oval it was construed in. I gulped and closed my eyes, trying to regain my focus. I stretched my arms and the light exploded in midair, engulfing the woods in its brilliance. I sighed and fell to my knees in exhaustion.
Evan had his camera out now that there was some lighting, thank to my powers and I. Awesome huh? I felt so proud of myself that I wanted to brag.
Music could be heard from Kitty's CD for the Dracula play. Kitty began to dance, but Rogue just sort of swayed in place.
"C'mon, Rogue, get with the program! Shake that thing," Evan encouraged. Rogue snorted.
"Hey, she's got her moves, I've got mine," Rogue retorted.
"Yeah, girl, you gotta go with it, you know? You're like a walking zombie or somethin'," Kitty said, sort of in an encouraging manner as well.
"Go Rogue!" I cheered.
"Hey, listen, Rogue, how 'bout you shed them gloves and give K-girl a tiny tap?" Evan suggested. I shook my head. Who talked like that?
"What?" Rogue asked angrily, crossing her arms.
"No way!" Kitty protested, equally as angry with her hands on her hips.
"Listen to me, just enough to rip Kitty's moves," Evan explained.
"Might work. Just concentrate on 'em," Rogue shrugged.
"Okay, but you'd better not like, lay me out," Kitty warned.
With that Rogue removed her gloves and gave Kitty a tiny tap. They both shivered.From what I had learned, Rogue's powers allowed her to take another mutant's powers or a person's memories/talents by a single tap.
"Whoa," Kitty said.
"That was like, pretty icksome," Rogue said. Evan and I burst out laughing as she said this. Rogue didn't think it funny though. She spoke, disgustedly, "Am I talkin' like her?"
"Okay, let's get on with it. Action!" Evan commanded.
Kitty turned up the boom box and I looked up at the lights I had in place. Slowly the energy from them was draining as the lighting was beginning to dim.
"Lookin' good. Lookin' good," Evan commented.
"Hey Haley! Do something about those lights," Rogue suggested as she danced next to Kitty.
I nodded when suddenly our long awaited presence of Sabretooth appeared.
"Evan," I hissed.
He nodded and kept filming the girls when suddenly I looked at the two light specks in my hands and turned around. I threw them with full force at Sabretooth and he crashed into a nearby tree.
The lights were growing dimmer.
Sabretooth was obviously angered by this. He snarled and pounced nar where Evan was standing. He picked the African-American boy up from the shirt and sneered, "You're mine."
As planned Rogue removed her gloves as Sabretooth lifted Evan above his head.
The lights disappeared and we were engulfed in darkness. I shot my hands up like before and a big light speck exploded into the sky like fireworks. Hopefully they had gotten the message. When I looked back at Sabretooth and Evan, Evan's spikes were all over his arms and legs. He reminded me of a porcupine…
"You gotta be sharp if you're gonna mess with the Spyke," Evan smirked. Sabretooth growled and flung the blonde boy at Rogue. They both toppled over on the ground.
"Ready?" I asked Kitty and she simply nodded.
The brunette walked in front of Sabretooth. She taunted in a singsong voice, "Oh Mr. Cat?"
Sabretooth sneered, "I'll take you!"
He charged at her and Kitty smirked, "Right, I am so sure. Huh?"
The were-man phased right through her and landed on the ground instead where a blast of light (coming from me), hit him straight on.
Finally Wolverine had arrived. He spoke, "Pickin' on kids, Creed? Big mistake."
The two rivals exchanged a series of insults and finally Wolverine flung Sabretooth but he ended up landing on his two feet. Cats land on all fours right? I guess it goes the same for were-cat-men. Rogue appeared from behind Sabretooth and zapped. Before my very own eyes she began growing fur. She had fangs, claws, pointed ears, and longer hair.
"Aw, and I just shaved my legs last night!" Rogue complained.
"You planned this, didn't you, porcupine?" Wolverine asked Evan.
Evan nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. He spoke, "Um, a-a little bit. Yeah."
"Well, don't do it again! You coulda all been killed!" Wolverine yelled. "And don't give me them puppy dog eyes, half-pint. You're grounded and so are the rest of ya."
"Um, for how long?" Evan asked.
"I dunno. 'Til she-wolf there gets a haircut anyway," Wolverine answered.
Rogue crossed her arms and pouted.
Wolverine may have had a tough, mean exterior; he still cared for his students. Plus I wasn't grounded. Wolverine looked at me, "And just because you don't live here doesn't mean you're not in trouble either."
I laughed sheepishly.
Scott was kind enough to give me a lift home but Kitty, Rogue, and Evan insisted on coming as well. When I got out of the car Kitty asked, "So have you like decided to come live with us now?"
I blushed and answered, "Well before I didn't want to. My mind hasn't changed, but now I think that the institute won't be such a bad place to live in. Who knows? Maybe I'll change my mind some day."
Kitty smiled as Scott's red, white striped car revved around and sped off toward the institute.
The day had certainly been adventurous, so to contemplate 'someday'?
Why not?
Violet: Thanks to all who reviewed. Keep on reviewing! Thanx!
