BACK TO SCHOOL
CHAPTER 27: PERSONAL ISSUES
Jamie was in glass at the moment and he was trying to pay attention although it wasn't easy. He was the only on in glass that he knew and he hated it. Some people ignored him and then someone kept on throwing things at him so when they hit a clone was made.
He tried to tell the teacher but he wasn't interested so now Jamie had to sit in the back. At least now he must be out of the line of fire because no one had thrown anything. It didn't help that this history class was boring but at least it was the final class of the day.
Well the bell rang he signed picking up his stuff and making sure he was the last one out he had to be very careful in the halls making more clones of himself wasn't easy. He hated being so careful all the time his powers weren't even that dangerous.
But then again he was thinking about a few other things as well. He was getting used to high school and dating for the first time. But something else was bothering him it was something that he had kind of kept to himself for awhile now but it was getting hard not trying to think about it.
Jamie got his stuff from his locker and started on his walk home he didn't get a rid with the others he just felt like he needed to think. Maybe he should talk with one of the adults or maybe Vincent he always treated him with more respect and not like the kid of the group.
"Hey Jamie!"
He turned at the familiar yell and saw Paige running up to him, "Where were ya? Ah waited with the others but then ya never showed." She was a bit worried since normally he would have said something to someone about not showing up.
Jamie just shrugged, "It's nothing I just wanted to go for a walk."
Paige looked at him living with so many brothers and sisters she learned the various ways someone tried to avoid a subject especially when it was one of her older sisters when their mother asked them something that they knew they shouldn't have done.
"Well then I'll walk with you," Paige stated and they walked back to the mansion in silence. Jamie was still thinking and Paige was giving him looks now and then. Unfortunately there was only so much silence she could take and when they reached the park on the way to the mansion she stopped them.
"Okay we've been walkin' for like ten minutes in silence when are you goin' to talk about what's botherin' you?" She asked him grabbing his arm gently. "And don't try and deny it ah can tell there is something wrong."
"It's nothing," he insisted.
She gave him a small glare, "Don't make me hit you in the arm." She threatened and Jamie had spared with her long enough in training to know two things. She would hit him and secondly even though she was a girl she hits really hard.
He sighed looking around, "Can we go and sit down?"
She soften her face and nodded, they walked into the park and found a pair of swings that were empty since there weren't any free tables. They put their bags on the ground as they took a seat, Paige looked at Jamie as he was thinking about what to say.
In the end he started up from where is became, "Well first off things have changed a lot there are so many enemies out there now that I kind of wanted to be able to help more. Well lately my powers seem to be a bit better. I mean at first my clones were just there but lately it's kind of like…I don't know sometimes like I feel a link to them…"
"You think that you're powers are growing in some way? Isn't that good news?" She asked him.
Jamie shrugged, "I guess…It's just hard at times. See every time I take back a clone I got all their memories. It's getting harder and harder to remember which memories are mine and which were my clones. I mean I got memories of the same even from different perspectives."
Paige thought about that it was hard to imagine what he had to feel like, having so many different memories in your mind. "Are ya okay?"
Jamie was silent a moment, "I don't know." He said softly to himself. "Sometimes…Sometimes I wonder if I am the real Jamie…"
"What are ya talking about? Of course you are."
He looked at her a little upset with this situation as his eyes had a bit of pain in them, "But how do you know that? I make perfect copies of me and have all the memories and each clone has all the memories. Plus how do I know that I am the original? What if the original got absorbed a long time ago? I mean I couldn't even be the original one but just a copy."
He looked at his hands wondering if they were real or just a copy of someone that had been real. "What if…next time I use my clone and then merge back I'm absorbed into the clone and he takes my place?"
Jamie had no idea and all the different memories in his head and his improving link with his clones was only making it worse. He was scared that's what it was he was scared that he was losing his sense of self. Then he felt a warmth wrap around him as noticed blond hair over his shoulder.
Paige and leaned over to hug him he looked liked he needed one and he did he moved into the hug taking comfort in it. Paige never knew that Jamie felt this way and those were scary thoughts to have going through your mind. No wonder he had been so moody today not sure if you were a clone or an original had to be a horrible experience to have to deal with.
"It's okay Jamie," She said softly to him as he slipped an arm around her hugging her back. "Ah don't have the answers but to me you are Jamie the real Jamie and always will be."
Jamie shut his eyes and he felt oddly comforted that someone else told him that. They stayed like that got a long time and Jamie felt better for it. He was glad to have a friend like her and to have someone like her in his life. It was no wonder he asked her to be his first girlfriend and was happy for it because in this moment he really needed her.
After a bit they pulled away Jamie blushing a bit, "Thanks."
She smiled at him, "No problem you'd do the same for me in fact you kind of did. Remember when we first met?"
He smiled at the memory being taken by Magneto and put in a cell with X23 wasn't easy to forget but in that time he had been there for her. He remembered how they had slept back to back on one of the only free cots in that room. He had also helped her since he was more used to being in these kinds of circumstances.
"Yeah I do and I'm actually glad we did met." He said and she blushed a tiny bit with a smile.
"Well…You should talk to someone about this like Mr. Xavier. Ah bet he can help with that." Paige saw him nod his head. He guessed he should talk to someone else it had felt good to get this out of him and to have Paige understanding about it.
They got up and Paige took his hand he looked at her smiling face and managed to find a smile of his own as they walked back to the mansion hand in hand.
-Savage Land-
Gianna Carina Esperanza AKA Static was in the Acolyte stronghold in their gym section. It was a large room that had been converted to a gym system with several of the equipment modified for several other mutants. The place was that same strange blue metal that the entire building was made out of. The building it self you could tell wasn't built by any human architects, there were some strange angles and designs to the place.
Humans (And by default mutants) tended to make buildings in squared like shapes but the buildings in the Savage Land didn't use as many right angles and had a lot of smooth surfaces or turning sections.
But buildings weren't on her mind as she was dressed in sweat pants, a tank top that were both black as the short brown haired Latino woman was going at a punching bag. Her hands were tapped up as she was taking out her aggression and frustration on the whole Spears' thing against the heavy bag.
They had lost one of their own, he had only just joined and then had lost Rocky in fact she didn't even know his real name. She felt weak that she had let everyone down and now she was hammering away trying to get this feeling of failure out of her. It wasn't working it only seemed to grow with each punch so she just kept on throwing them harder and harder.
She was throwing them out and she was alone in the gym at the moment all the other Acolytes were busy with other stuff. Gianna had always been alone it seems her father was a drunk bastard who like to hit people usually her mother.
When her powers first showed up she used them to stop her father but her mother freaked out. She could never understand why her mother stayed with him saying things like 'he wasn't always like that only when he drank' or 'he doesn't mean it' and other self deluding things. So when her powers showed up and her father recovered she left she knew what he would do to her when she wasn't careful.
So at fifteen she hit the streets she had to run with a gang just to survive and thanks to her powers she was their secret weapon. That is until they got busted by the cops and she was sent to juvenile hall, she gave them a fake name and since her parents never reported her missing they had no idea of who she really was.
After that she was put into a foster home but that didn't last long. After six months she left again on her own, this time actually trying to make a decent living. She got into a new city and managed to get a job as a full time waitress at this dinner. It wasn't bad, she had her own place which was a dump but it was home. Then when mutants got exposed she had to be careful she tried everything not to use her powers.
Then one day on her day off she came across a mob of people picking on someone, she later saw them after this blue haired girl about her own age. She would later know her as Anne Marie Cortez the younger sister to Fabian Cortez. Well long story short she got involved which outed her as a mutant and she had to run again.
But not alone she hooked up with her and her brother, another guy named only Random and they tried to make their way trough life then Magneto's people found them and she finally had a life. A life fighting for her people and the fact they had lost one hurt her.
She was so lost in the memory she didn't noticed someone had been calling her named until a hand gripped her shoulder and turned her around. She nearly hit the person but stopped when she saw the brown haired mullet and face of Lance Alvers.
"Gianna didn't you hear me?" He had gone off to find her since she had seemed kind of strange after it. She had gone off alone and no one had really seen her. He went to find her to see what was wrong she was his first friend that he made here. Plus he liked her she was a lot like him and guessed had it rough as well.
Gianna slowly pulled away, "Sorry I'm just…"
"Kicking the crap out of something to make you feel better?" She shot him a look and he pointed to her knuckles. "You should stop before you break your hand off."
She looked down to see a few red spots she didn't even notice it now and as the adrenaline dropped she started to feel the sting. She started to unwrap it and saw a few of her knuckles were a bit bloody. Lance got a towel and handed it to her as she wrapped it up.
"What's going on?" He asked.
Gianna sighed as she leaned against a mirror looking down. "We lost him, that shouldn't have happened. We should have been stronger, I—"
She stopped at that and Lance got where this was coming from as he leaned next to her. "Hey you aren't to blame hell Magneto was there and he's like one of the most powerful mutants there is. If he couldn't get him out then how could you? Besides the stupid X-Geeks were there and those military guys too. The odds were against you from the start."
She was silent a moment she still felt guilty about all of this. "I know that in my head…But not in my heart."
"Yeah well…damn it I'm no good at this kind of stuff. The whole cheering people up and stuff I don't know what to say to make you feel better."
She smirked a bit from his candour, "Well at least your trying and that's something at least…I don't think I'll ever be able to let this go how do you deal with losing a team mate?"
Lance thought about it he wasn't sure about that. Sure Wanda wasn't with them but she left because she chose to, but nothing like this. He didn't even know that guy really that they had lost. "I don't know…I guess…Just one day at a time."
She sighed guessing it would be something like that.
Lance her stayed for a moment and then he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Come on let's at least get that hand looked at and…well...maybe we can go get something to eat? It might make you feel a bit better at least."
She gave a small smile and then decided on something, she kissed him on the cheek. She had never had anyone that really seemed to care about her. "Thanks for caring Lance."
"Sure anytime." He said as he helped her to see a healer.
-Xavier's Office-
In Xavier's office he was holding a class on mental control he held these weekly for those with mental powers. It used to be just him and Jean but now with Danielle, Gale and now Betsy it was getting to be a real class.
Xavier watched as all four of them were sitting with closed eyes controlling their breathing as they started up on their mental exercises. It was a routine he had developed himself over the years and had several different exercises. There was one where you had to keep your mind as blank as possible for as long as you could this helped to clear your mind.
There was another that helped you to build up mental barriers against your own powers although he was starting to develop one for helping to fight of telepaths given the number of enemies they had with telepathic powers. Jean herself wanted this most of all after her experience under Mesmero, in fact it was because of that incident that he started that up.
Now the girls were doing a meditation exercise to help them remain in control it was slow paced but then it needed to be. He checked on their progress lightly skimming their minds. Jean was a bit distracted he didn't know of the fight she had with Scott.
Jean and Scott had made up although Jean's mind was still thinking on those events as she tried to push them away. Gale was doing much better now she had trouble especially after her short relationship had ended with Amy. But she seemed to be getting better now and so was her concentration.
Danielle was doing fine too her powers made it a bit harder for her to get in touch since it was more subconscious based but together they were making progress in her controlling it. Betsy was struggling of course still not used to her powers but she was starting to get some control.
After some time Xavier called a stop for today. "Alright I think that will be enough for today, and you all have done well." The others smiled and went off to do things like finish homework or hang out with the others. "Betsy can I see you for a moment?"
The teen with purple dyed hair paused, "Sure thing," She sat down across from him, "Was there something wrong with what I was doing?"
Xavier smiled at her and shook his head, "Not at all just wanted to know how are things going with you here?"
"Honestly? I guess it's going well things aren't as bad when I showed up…well except that Rogue keeps avoiding me like the bloody plague."
Xavier sighed at that he knew it wouldn't be easy for Rogue. "I'll have a talk with her."
"No please Uncle Charley don't," Betsy didn't want the girl to have anything else against her. Getting her in trouble with Xavier wouldn't help her case. "Please I can deal with this just give her time I'm guessing that girl is kind of stubborn and it will just take her a bit longer. I may not be as good as you or Jean but what I picked up on accident tells me that girl has issues."
Xavier raised an eyebrow at this, he remembered her as a young playful girl but all that time away he had forgotten that she had grown up in that time. She obviously had gained some insight as well over the years about people. "Well then I'll let you handle it your way then but other then that I'm glad that things seem to be working well."
She smiled and nodded, "Yeah it's going well here, nice people and stuff. Sure school is a bit touch and I miss my family but thanks for letting me call them now and then. I know it's not cheap."
"It's no trouble at all most of the students here when they join up spend the first few months keeping in touch with their family and friends almost on a daily basis."
"Well then that's good so are we done? I got something to do for a chemistry glass." Xavier nodded and she smiled and got up. She opened the door and was face to face with Rogue. She groaned in her mind thinking that maybe the universe has a sick and twisted sense of humour.
There was a silent moment as Rogue's socked face was covered up and the two girls shared an uncomfortable silence. Betsy took the initiative, "Sorry." She said as Rogue moved aside giving her room and Betsy walked past her as Rogue walked into the room.
Xavier sighed at the action and Rogue knew why he had, she knew that she should give the new girl a chance but it was just so hard. It wasn't easy since everything she said and how she looked and sometimes acted reminded Rogue of Risty and then all the pain that went along with it.
She waited for him to say something about it but he was strangely quiet on the topic.
"Well Rogue what can I do for you?" Xavier asked her wondering why she was here.
Rogue actually blushed a bit given that this was kind of embarrassing. "Uh…Ah kind of…Need to replace mah bed."
Xavier's brow furrowed in confusion at that, "Why, what happened to your bed?"
"It…It kind of got broke." She shifted uncomfortably she really didn't want to get into how it broke. It was too embarrassing for her but she needed a new one.
"Rogue how did you break your own bed? You didn't lose control of your strength again did you?" He knew that she still had a bit of difficulty with her new level of strength. But then again accidents did happen with those born with these kinds of powers. He had to replace many things over the years and even rebuilt the mansion and expanded it.
So he didn't have to worry about money more about if she needed a bit more help in her self control.
"Yeah that was kind of the reason," She said hoping he'd let it go.
"Kind of?"
"Please don't make meh say it…" She closed her eyes. Xavier waited and Rogue couldn't take it so she figured it was best to just get it out of the way. "Fahne ya want ta know? Ah busted it havin' sex that's how!"
The look on Xavier's face normally would have been funny as hell from that but Rogue was a bit too mortified to say anything. "Ah was with Vince, we were getting…ya know…and we got a little carried away. It's not like we tried but we're the only ones where we don't have to worry about hurtin' the other person with our strength!" She threw up her arms.
Although now they would have to be careful about that it never occurred to either of them that this could happen. They were just getting a little frisky with making out and it led up to clothing being taken off then while ending it the bed had just broke. It was another problem with having super strength you couldn't turn off.
Xavier raised up a hand to get her to stop, he knew that she was eighteen and sexually active and as long as they handled it as adults he saw no reason to stop them. Although this wasn't something he had foreseen. He massaged his forehead for a bit, "Well now…I think I'll have Ororo help you in finding a new one. Do you need just the mattress?"
"Uh…no it broke all the way…" She looked away playing with one of her bangs.
Xavier sighed, "Very well but you two try and learn restraint in the future."
Rogue nodded and quickly left she really didn't want to spend anymore time on this conversation. She also resulted to get herself a more sturdy bed especially one with a metal frame.
NEXT UP CHAPTER 28: SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME