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."