As
the bell rang, signaling the end of class, Todd gathered his books
together and joined the press of bodies making their way out the
door. He was still confused as to what had happened earlier, and he'd
been unable to concentrate on the lessons as a result. Being punched
in the face had somehow hurt his attacker more than him; he had no
idea why. What he really needed was the chance to test this out, see
if it would happen if -
Someone punched him in the chest.
Before
even looking at who had done it, Todd closed his eyes for a moment.
No, it hadn't hurt at all.
"Awesome," he said, and
opened his eyes.
Lance stared back at him with a combination of
confusion and irritation. "Dude," he said, "I didn't
hit you that hard, but since when do you think being punched is
awesome?"
Shrugging, Todd turned and headed down the hall.
"Kinda a weird story, yo. I had me the one o' the strangest
fuckin' mornin's o' my life."
"Did it involve putting
any gags in with my stuff?"
"Huh?"
"The
trick pen, dumbass."
"Maybe you didn't hear me, yo. I
said 'huh'."
"No idea what I'm talking
about?"
"Nope."
Lance nodded. "Pie-Pie.
It's always freaking Pie-Pie."
Todd looked at him
sympathetically. "Speedy been prankin', has he?"
"Yeah.
Fooling around with a pen so it got stuck to my
hand."
"Damn."
"Hmm..." Lance looked
speculative. "You said you've been having a weird day. Think Pie
coulda caused it?"
"I dunno if even he could come up
with the weird shit's been happenin' to me."
They arrived at
Lance's locker; the older boy spun in his combination and opened the
door. "Enlighten me."
Todd opened his mouth, then
paused. "Uh..."
"What?"
"I think I'm
'a be interrupted"
Lance blinked in confusion, shut his
locker door - and was smacked across the face by Tabitha, who'd been
waiting patiently on the other side of it.
"Jesus!"
Recoiling
back, Lance pressed one hand to the freshly-created welt on his cheek
and glared at the blonde girl. "What the fuck was that
for?"
Tabitha glared at him. "Firing up like that and
screwing up my spare time."
"What?"
"Fourth
period. You set of a tremor. I start running around to see if you're
okay, you get me all worried..." she tapped one foot
impatiently. "...and it turns out you're firing blanks. What
gives, mudslide?"
"Tabby, I have no idea what you're
talking about."
"So you're denying it?"
"She's
right, yo," Todd put in. "Right at the start of fourth.
Thought yo' musta had somethin' happen, but it died down so quick I
figured it weren't a problem."
"I didn't," Lance
defended himself. "I swear to God. I mean, yeah, there was a
tremor, but I can't cause all of 'em. It wasn't me."
"Whatever."
Tabitha snorted and led the way down the hall. "This has just
been one supremely fucked-up day."
"Amen," Lance
and Todd said in unison. After a moment Todd looked around.
"Hey,
where's Freddy?"
Lance looked around. "Huh. Big guy
probably didn't hear the bell. I bet he's sitting out by his
tree."
"He's got Chemistry now, right?" Tabitha
asked. Todd nodded.
"Same as me, yo. Better go find
'im."
----
At first, they stared. There was really
nothing else to do.
It was some small mercy that somehow nobody
had come out to see the spectacle before them. If they had, the grand
'secret' about mutants would have been out pretty damn fast. Anyone
could have worked it out.
It just wasn't natural for someone
that big to move that fast.
The basketball was rebounding off the
ground at an incredible pace, the repeated dribbling impacts on the
court surface sounding like a drumroll. This speed evidently wasn't
fazing Fred; he raced up and down the basketball court at the speed
of an Olympic sprinter, popping the ball through one hoop and then
the other. He was giggling a little and cheering himself on as he did
so.
"Jesus titty-fucking Christ on a pogo stick," said
Lance.
"With bunny ears on," Tabitha agreed.
Todd,
just as stunned as either of them, managed to sum it up in a single
word: "Damn."
At the sound of their voices, Fred
turned, and his broad face burst into a thousand-watt smile.
"Hey!"
he called excitedly. "You guys wanna shoot some hoops? I ain't
usually a fan o' this, but I was kinda bored and feelin' real
energetic-like so I thought it'd be fun. I been gettin' heaps of
hoops. You wanna play?"
Lance raised his hands to slow the
big boy down. "Fred, I-"
Fred threw the basketball at
him. It smacked squarely into Lance's face, rebounded off his nose,
and shot into the air. Lance's head jerked back, his entire body
jolted at the impact, and he fell spectacularly ass-backwards onto
the ground.
Fred's face fell.
Even as Lance's head was thumping
on the ground as he finished his magnificent fall, Fred was racing
forward; the stars hadn't cleared from Lance's vision before Fred's
enormous head appeared above his and blocked out the sun.
"Oh
Jesus, are you okay?" Fred's face was the picture of alarm. "I
didn't mean it, I swear, I thought you were gonna play. Aw shit, are
you hurt? Maybe I better go get a Nurse. I guess I better. You sit
still, I'm gonna be right back. Should I get you some water? You want
water? I bet you do. I guess I better get you some water. I
-"
"Freddy." Lance sat up and rubbed the side of
his face. "Shut up."
"Okie."
Looking around
at Todd and Tabitha, who were trying not to laugh too loudly, Lance
scowled. "This," he announced, "has been the most
severely fucked-up day I've had a long time. And with you morons
that's saying something."
Helping his friend up, Todd
looked thoughtful. "It's kinda weird," he said slowly. "I
been feelin' strange since breakfast. An' Freddy's been actin' weird
since then too. And this day been seriously fucked-up, yo."
"I
feel fine," Tabitha said.
"I feel great," Fred
enthused, then remembered he was supposed to be shutting up and put
his hands across his mouth.
Lance shook his head. "Todd's
right. Something funny's going on. You feel weird, I feel weird,
Freddy's acting weird however he feels... Iunno, Tabs. Maybe
whatever's going on didn't happen to you?"
"Something to
do with our powers, yo," Todd put in. "It's like, somethin'
going on with that."
"Maybe something new kicked in?"
Lance suggested. "Boss-man tried another gadget on us or
something? That might explain it why we're acting weird."
"But
nothing's wrong with me," Tabitha insisted. "Whatever's
wrong, why the hell would it affect you three and not me?"
"Omigod!"
Fred suddenly burst out, forgetting once more that he was supposed to
be shutting up. "What about Pietro? He was gunna run to school
this morning and I woulda seen him 'cause we have classes together.
But he never came! I weren't too worried 'cause I figured he was
skipping or something. But what if something's wrong? We oughta check
on him. I guess we should. Let's go!"
The enormous boy
bounced on his heels, appearing to be a combination of concerned and
excited. The other three stared at him for a moment before
shrugging.
"He's right," Todd said. "We better make
sure Speedy's okay. He ain't the most stable guy around,
yaknow?"
"Don't you have class?" Tabitha wanted to
know. "You were worried about flunking."
"I'm 'a
probably flunk anyhow, yo. 'Sides, all the weird shit's been goin' on
today, I need to get away."
As they reached the jeep,
Tabitha looked speculative. "So," she said slowly.
"What?"
Lance asked.
"Well, it's just that you were talking about how
weird things are happening... Todd said it's not hurting when people
hit him, Fred's acting all hyper..."
"No." Lance
cut her off. "Save it. I got no idea what's happening, but we're
not gonna figure it out like this. We get back to the boarding house,
we find Pietro, and we figure it out from there. Okay?"
"Huh."
Tabitha blinked, then shrugged. "Sure, whatever. Pie-pie can't
be that screwed up."
