BACK TO SCHOOL

CHAPTER 2: CONFRONTING OLD FRIENDS

Amanda made it to the mall and at the moment she was nervous about this but she had to start facing people she knew from school sooner or later and to be honest she knew that as soon as word got out about her she would be considered an 'outcast' like the rest of her friends at the Institute but that didn't matter to her.

She had no problem with who she was her parents had taught her to never be other people make her feel ashamed because of who she was or let other put her down because of it. At the moment she was in her favourite orange shirt and a dark long hem skirt as she walked to the main water fountain. It was a common spot to sit down or meet others. She was wondering if she was either early or late but then she saw them both there.

Wendy had short brown hair split down the middle and brushed behind her ears with glasses on her face. She had on a light blue top and light blue jeans that were rolled up a bit to show off a bit of her lower ankle and leg. Next to her was Carmen, she had tanned skinned and her brown hair was tied up into spikes at the back of her head. Carmen wore most loose fitting clothing like cargo pants and an red T-shirt that was cut off at the mid section.

Carmen was the first to notice her, "Hey! Amanda come on over amiga!"

Amanda gave them a smile as she strolled over to them it was so good to see them again she had missed them all summer. "Hey guys how have you been?"

"Well Florida was cool, went to see a few relatives there and did the theme park thing, saw a few of the sites, went to the beach a few times and of course took tons of pictures." Wendy had a small tan on her as they could see.

"Man at least you had it good, my summer sucked!" Amanda couldn't help but think that whatever Carmen had gone through she would blow it out of the water, "I swear if I ever do that again shot me dead."

"That bad?" Amanda asked her.

"El error más grande de mi vida, yo juro que el dinero casi no era suficiente bueno para ese trabajo!" (1) She spouted off in Spanish, her mother had taught her since she had thought it was good for her daughter to know of her heritage. "Let me put it to you this way, they were little monsters. I swear I was never that bad as a child."

Wendy and Amanda had to giggle at their friend, it was kind of funny and it was thanks to her that they both had learned a bit of Spanish. Mainly just to figure out what she said when she slipped into that. Wendy looked at Amanda, "So what about you? What have you've been up to?"

"Yeah I called your home earlier but it said that number was no longer in service," Carmen had been worried about that to be honest and she couldn't help but wonder if something had been very wrong.

"Yeah…Well…That's kind of a long story…" She shifted a bit and the two girls looked at each other they both had known Amanda for years and they could tell something was up with her.

Wendy was the first to ask her, "Amanda what's going on? Last time we saw you so nervous was when you were thinking of asking Kurt to that dance."

"Yeah sit down and tell us what's going on?" Carmen added in and Amanda sat down with them. She took a breath and started to tell them everything. How she went to that science expo and was hit with that machine that activated her dormant X-gene, how her family was targeted by the FOH and her house burned down, her parents hurt. That now she had powers and was actually living at the mansion, being kidnapped by Trask, the Sentinels he was building and how Kurt had been kidnapped and she went to save him with the others.

It took a good hour for her to tell them all and both of them were so totally stunned that neither one of them could take for a few minutes and just looked at her in astonishment. It was making her nervous until Carmen spoke up, "Ah mi dios." (2)

"Uh…yeah…" Wendy commented trying to get through it all.

"Man and I thought my summer sucked," Carmen shook her head, "But damn girl…All that really happened?" Amanda nodded to them it was a LOT to take in, "So…You teleport now, can look like other people and fire something from your hands?"

"Yeah basically that's what I can do now," She said a bit nervous.

"Wow…Hey uh…Just so I know that this isn't some type of mind job on me you think you can do something to show that this is all real?" Wendy asked her and Amanda looked around and showed her hands as they took on a white glow on them for a few seconds to make sure no one saw. "Okay that works for me, wow that's just…I don't think I can get a name for it."

"Well I can," Carmen stated, "I think it's awesome."

Amanda blinked a few times, "You…You do?"

"Of course what did you expect? For us to freak out and stuff and turn you away?"

By the look on her face both girls knew that she had been afraid of that so Wendy placed a hand on one of Amanda's, "Come on we've known each other for years. We're close friends through thick and thing."

"Exactly what she said," Carmen added.

Amanda smiled feeling much better about all of this, she was thankful for this and guess it was stupid of her to think otherwise but after everything she really needed something from her old life to remain the same, "You have no idea what this means to me."

"Hey no problem Amanda," Carmen said wrapped her up in an arm.

Amanda hugged both of her friends close, "Well at least now there are a few more people in Bayville that aren't against mutants."

"A few more?" Wendy asked and then Amanda filled them in on Pam Cranston, Amy and Joseph McKnight.

"So you won't be the only others at least…Say if you guys are okay with this then…You want to come over and see my new room and meet a few of the friends I made there?" Amanda asked them both hoping they were for it.

"Cool!" Carmen sat up, "I've always wondered just what that place looks like I mean you hear all the rumours but it would kick ass to see what it's really like."

"Yeah and I think I saw it earlier and it looked…Bigger I think," Wendy had lived near it and so when she returned she thought the place looked different.

"It is we're just finishing doing some additions to the mansion," Amanda admitted, "In fact if we leave and find a nice spot we could take a 'short cut' as it were."

"Uh…By short cut do you mean…" Wendy was a bit nervous if she was talking about teleportation. Something that was science fiction but then again by the excited look on Carmen's face she knew that she would be all for it. Most likely because Carmen had no idea what the kind of things teleportation can do, like take you apart at the molecular level and then reassembled elsewhere. There were times she hated being the egghead of the group, although on the other hand it would be kind of cool to do something that should be only theory or shown on science fiction.

"Then let's do it I can't wait to see this," Carmen smiled as Amanda led them to an area of outside that no one could see them. She linked her arms with both of them and noticed that Carmen was excited and Wendy was nervous. She smiled at them to assure them and concentrated, focusing on her room picturing it in her mind and 'felt' it with her mind. She 'reached out' with it with her mind and all three young women disappeared in a flash of white light.

-A few minutes later-

Jean and Scott had arrived at the mall arm in arm as they took time to look through the place. They knew that with college things wouldn't be easy between them and that there was no telling how much free time they would have but they wanted to enjoy the moments they did have. They looked over at a few things and looked at the movie listings. When they agreed on a movie they noticed they had an hour to kill so they went to the food court to sit down and talk.

Elsewhere in the food court there were two people who both Jean and Scott knew but hadn't talked to at all since the day mutants were exposed. They were Paul and Taryn, both of who were just walking in the mall. Ever since that day both of them had felt like their worlds had turned upside down. For Paul he had been both angry and hurt that Scott had never trusted him, that is after the shock wore off from that news report. He felt like he had never known the real Scott at all that his best friend had been lying to him their entire friendship and that after all those years he never knew Scott at all.

For Taryn, Jean had been one of her closest of friends until that day. She just didn't know how to handle it, and she knew that she had handled it badly when Scott looked at her that first day of school after they came back and she just turned away. At the time she just couldn't deal with it, she just needed space and time to think but the thing was the longer it took the harder it got to go up to them and just talk. She had seen the way some of the people treated them and even though she didn't like it, she never stepped in to stop it, she felt that was also a mistake but she was afraid.

Then one day she saw Paul sitting alone and looking down and so she went to talk to him. They soon found out that both of them had the same problem and issues. It seemed that they were the minority at the moment with how to treat mutants and so neither one had anyone to talk to about how they felt without fearing they would be considered outcasts for their views. Soon the two found a solid friendship with each other.

It was also on this day that the two of them were in the mall together just hanging out. That was then Paul just froze for a moment and she looked at him wondering what had caught his attention she was about to ask when she looked in the direction of where he was looking and she too froze. There they were, Jean and Scott. They both had gone over what to say to them so many times but for Taryn nothing just seemed appropriate. She looked at Paul he looked like he was concentrating and she just knew what was going to happen, "You're going to talk to them aren't you."

"You don't have to come if you don't want to, if you're not ready."

That was the question was she ready for it? She had been thinking and now presented with the chance it just came to her. These were one of those things you were never truly ready for but you just had to bite the bullet and do it. "No…But I'm still going with you."

Scott and Jean were just talking when two presences came up to them. They both turned and neither one expected to see those two there. Paul shifted a bit, "Hey Scott...Look I know it's been a long time and you can tell me to take a hike but…can we talk?"

Scott blinked a few times and looked at Jean. He never expected to see Paul again, although truth was he had missed him, they had been friends since the first day of high school. This was a pretty big shock but on the other hand he had always meant to talk to him it's just that things always got in the way. He looked back to Paul and thought about it. "Yeah…Okay sure, Jean I'll be right back."

Jean nodded her head she knew how close Scott and Paul had been at first so she wanted them to hopefully patch things up. She watched Scott and Paul go over to a nearby table and sit down. Taryn looked at Jean for a moment both didn't know what to say to each other. "So…How have you've been?" She asked Jean.

"That's…Complicated but at the moment…I guess things are good," Jean had no idea what to say to her she used to be one of her best friends and now it was like they were just strangers. But there were a lot of things she wanted to say and now she wanted to get them out in the open, "Why are you doing this? After all this time why are you suddenly talking to me again?" She demanded.

Taryn was taken aback a bit but she sat down and gave her a serious face, "Because I think we need to settle a few things, or at least I do and this may be the only chance either one of us has left."

Jean thought about that, she had thought about all the things she wanted to say but then everything got so complicated and it just didn't seem important anymore. True was this might actually be the best if not the only opportunity to talk to her. "Okay…Then lets just start with why after all our years together you just ignored me?"

Taryn sighed she figured that would be up first, "Well I could also counter with why you lied to me and never trusted me for years but we'll get to that later. How was I supposed to take it? I find out one of my closest friends and the boy I was seeing were lying to me and it was like I had no idea who you two were anymore. I was so confused and I just didn't know what to think, I spent a month just in my room trying to make sense of it all."

Jean guessed the confusion part made some sense, every mutant went through that when their powers emerged, "But how come you never once tried to talk to us then? To try and understand?"

"Jean do you even remember what high school was like?" Taryn crossed her arms, "I mean anyone that was close to you guys were outcasts or those that spoke up for you or mutants in anyway." She sighed, "I didn't like how you guys were treated but…I was too scared to stand up against it. You used to be in the popular crowd and you know what that's like."

Jean lost a bit of her fire at that, she did know. She had done a few things she regretted back those days like ignoring her friends and taking Scott for granted. She was stupid back then she knew that now, it was like an addiction when you were popular. "Yeah…Okay that I can see…"

"But you could have called at least…"

She nodded her head, "Yeah…I know it's just that the longer it was the harder it got."

Jean was still angry with her and still a bit hurt but she could hear the pain in her voice and it was getting harder to stay that way. They were both silent for a moment and both girls had no idea what to say, so Taryn decided to speak up, "Well…At least you and Scott seem happy."

Jean nodded, "Yeah we really are."

"He's a great guy…you know I was always a bit jealous cause when we were together I had this feeling he was thinking of you when we were dating. I mean you have any idea how that hurts? I hoped that when we were together that he would get over you but he never did."

"I…I didn't know that, but no offence I'm glad that we're together now. When I saw you and Scott together I just got so jealous that he was with you. I thought he was totally into you then."

Taryn smiled and shook her head sadly, "No he wasn't no matter how much I tried…I guess it wasn't meant to be. Although given that you were with Duncan you should have either dropped him and gone to Scott or just let him go. It was kind of rotten to keep stringing him along like that."

Jean was shocked by that, "I did not!"

She rolled her eyes, "Please, you so did. He was like a puppy around you and you just ignored him for that jerk Duncan."

Jean's mouth opened and closed a few times trying to say something but she couldn't. It hurt to hear that but deep down she knew that she was right. Jean closed her eyes and took a breath, "You're…Right I know that now, believe me I regret that the most back then…"

Taryn sighed as well, "I'm sorry to bring that up, seeing you two together it does look like you two are the perfect couple at least. So…I can't fault you there," She grinned for a minute, "I bet you've never been happier."

Jean gave a weak smile back, "Yeah…I am. Have you seen anyone?"

Taryn just shrugged, "I've dated a few people here and there but nothing major."

Jean looked over to Paul and Scott, "Well what about…"

She laughed, "Don't even go there, he's the only true friend I got and I'm not ruining that one. No we're just friends since we were the only ones we could talk to about how we felt about everything. At least not without being judged by the other."

Jean and Taryn started to talk a bit more, but the atmosphere slowly started to lighten up again. Their friendship was in no way repaired there was a lot of damage on both sides that needed that to happen, but it was a start. Perhaps in time they could regain the friendship they lost as they started to slowly rebuild the trust and friendship they had between each other.

The talk between Scott and Paul was pretty much like that with Jean and Taryn a bit tensed at first since neither one knew what to say first so Paul just came out first. "You know you really hurt me Scott," Scott looked a bit confused at him, "I thought we were best friends and you lied to me our entire friendship when I saw you guys there on the TV I didn't want to believe it. I had thought that we were close and good buddies and that you would have trusted me with this."

"I know and believe me I wanted to but it wasn't just my secret to tell…" Scott did feel bad, all that time lying to him and everyone just weighed down on him for a long time. There were moments when mutants came out that he was actually relieved. It was like a weight lifted off, although it seemed only to be replaced by another one.

Paul guessed he made a point with that, but he still felt hurt about that, that Scott never asked if it was okay to let him in on the secret. He was sure he could have handled it but it was too late to do otherwise. There was a silence for a moment before Paul spoke up, "Just so you know…I hated all the crap I saw you guys go through."

Scott nodded his thanks, he didn't blame Paul for keeping his distance, after all the crap they had to take with Kelly and the students he didn't want anything else to get in the crossfire. He had seen and heard of some of the stuff Amanda had dealt with when she stayed with Kurt after mutants were exposed.

"I would have called but…Well I was just giving you space man. Plus I didn't want to get you involved with all the crap that was going on too."

"Thanks," Paul said, "But I still should have been there, I mean I still remember how we used to hang out all the time and stuff…I miss those days."

"Yeah so do I in some ways," Scott sighed and sent a hand through his hair, "Things were just so simple back then."

"Yeah they were," Paul nodded with a small smile remembering all the good times. "You know maybe now you can tell me something…" Scott looked up at him and Paul grinned, "What's really up with those shades dude?"

Scott gave a small smile and laugh, "Well the thing is this red stuff is the only thing keeping my powers in check without it I can't open my eyes."

Paul didn't expect that, he had seen Scott fire some red beam out but he didn't know that, "Jeez you serious?"

Scott's face got a bit more serious, "Yeah remember how I told you what happened to my parents?" Paul nodded remembering when Scott let him in on that painful day, "Well I got brain damage right to the part that controls it. So all I see is red, it's either that or I'm blind."

"Man," Paul leaned back in his chair thinking about that, and how much that had to suck. "I take it Alex knows all this?" He remembered when Scott had told him he had found his little brother that he had been told was dead.

Scott grinned, "Oh yeah and guess what?"

"You're kidding?"

"Nope he's a mutant too, in fact he's living at the mansion now."

Paul had to let out a laugh it was strange just how much you can miss out on a person's life, "Man that's got to be strange but nice for you."

"Yeah it is," Scott smiled as he felt a bit more at ease. The two of them started to catch up and Scott was surprised by what Paul said about Taryn and how they met and had become friends. He looked over and saw that Jean was starting to patch things up as well. It was nice to have their old friends back in their life or at least somewhat back. He wasn't kidding himself he knew that he and Paul would have to work on it but he missed this. Just him and Paul hanging out and talking like in the old days, sure he had friends at the mansion but with Paul he had a lot of history with him.

He wasn't so sure that maybe he and Jean should go to the movie at the moment. He got the idea that trying to repair some old friendships before it was too late was just a bit more important.

NEXT UP: MEETINGS

(1)Biggest mistake of my life, I swear the money almost wasn't good enough for that job.

(2) Oh my God