She had forgotten how nice it was to live with another girl. Don't get her wrong, she loved the boys but they weren't exactly a perfect fit for every conversation. Sometimes she wanted to indulge her inner vapid teenage girl, and the best person to do that with was another teenage girl.

The guys liked her too, although Lance still grumbled about having another body to account for. Jacelynn however, was really hoping Tabby was going to stick around.


Math was so fucking infuriating.

So, like, why even bother going?

Her tutor would probably have killed her if he found out (or more aptly, do the whole 'I'm not mad I'm just disappointed' speil), but they had their last session about two weeks back. There was no more money coming in to make his time worthwhile. But it was fine. She could totally do it on her own.

Y'know, if she could ever bring herself to actually go.

The halls were essentially empty as she approached her locker with the aim of dumping her books into it. Her combination was muscle memory at this point and she wrenched the door open. Immediately, something fell out. Instinctively she snatched it out of the air, assuming it to be a loose leaf of paper or something.

It didn't feel like paper in her hand however. When she unfurled her first, she found it wasn't paper at all.

A feather? She wondered, turning it over in her hands. Why would someone put a feather in my locker? Some weird joke? It's not even a strange or gross one it's probably like a rav-

A raven's feather.

Jacelynn stiffened, eyes darting around. But there was no one else around.

This was either a really specific coincidence, or not one at all.

Was Mystique reaching out to her?

Was she still in Bayville somewhere?

Was this a test? Did she know that they hadn't been keeping up with literally anything? Had she attempted to make her presence known to her and she hadn't picked up? Did Mystique know that they were making a wreck of her house? Had there been other clues? Was this just the latest, most painfully obvious clue, and it was the only one she was smart enough to pick up on?

God. What did she do now?

Part of her wanted to run to Lance and tell him about this─as official unofficial leader it was probably something he should know about─but would he even believe her? The others probably wouldn't. Hell, would she even believe herself in their shoes? 'I found a feather in my locker and I'm convinced that Mystique is not dead and also hasn't given up on us AND she is cryptically contacting me.'

Fuck, they would think she was insane.

It was there, standing in front of her locker with her heart pounding a mad rhythm in her chest, did she hear the sudden commotion around the corner.

That was weird─around the corner was just some lockers that didn't belong to anyone, a janitor supply closet and a boy's bathroom that was blocked off because of too much graffiti.

Jacelynn was deciding to pointedly ignore it when there was a yelp. A rather familiar one─Todd?

Ah, fuck. Now she had to go check it out.

She stuffed the feather back into her locker and shut it, and then quietly made her way over.

"Tolansky, have you forgotten our deal so quickly?" asked a guy's voice. She peered around the corner and saw only the back of his head. He looked pretty athletic though─maybe he was one of the jocks on the football team?

"No I haven't! I swear man!" Todd was on the ground, and frantically shuffling backwards. Confusion and anger on his behalf flared in her mind at the sight of it, but she made herself stay put until she knew what was going on.

"I dunno, it seemed like you were about to tell Kelly," mused another male voice, a mixture of fake thoughtfulness and smug enjoyment.

"And where would that leave us? You know we would have to let him know about all the times you stole from us."

"And we would also beat the shit out of you,"

"And we would also beat the shit out of you," the other agreed, "Maybe what you need is a reminder? A taste of what's coming if you slip up," he finished, the tone of his voice menacing and faintly amused.

"Hold on, hold on, let's come to a peaceful agreement here yo-"

Okay, time for her to step in. Of course, they weren't going to be scared of 5'8 Jacelynn, so…

She quickly glanced behind her to make sure there was no one else around. With the coast clear, she made a quick change to her illusion.

She rounded the corner, just as Todd was raising his arms to block the blunt force of a hit.

"Hey," she spoke loudly, doing her best to mimic Fred's voice, "What are you two doing to my buddy?"

One of them whipped around, anger in his face, and just about growled, "What's it to you?"

The other─apparently the smarter one of the pair─seemingly very quickly weighed their chances of winning a fight against the 6'7 brickhouse that was Fred and decided he didn't like the odds very much.

"We were just having a chat, ya feel? No worries though, we were actually just on our way out. C'mon on Jones," he said quickly, squeezing around her and shuffling away.

"See you around, Tolansky," the other said, before following his friend.

"Yeah, yeah totally," Todd replied, unfurling from the position he had found himself in. He waited, however, until they were out of sight before exhaling deeply. "That was close. Thanks Freddie."

At that moment, she resumed her normal Jacelynn illusion. "Don't mention it," she replied.

"Oh. Jacelynn. That was pretty convincing─you even sounded like him."

She shrugged. "Lots of practice, lots of exposure."

"Well, anyway," he picked himself up, " I gotta get hopping. Go to… class or something."

"Oh no," she threw an arm out, "Not before I ask you a couple questions. Like, for example, what the fuck was that? What is going on?"

He had a sudden fixation with the wall to her right and wouldn't move his eyes anywhere else. "I'm not supposed to say."

"There is no one around but us─and if you wont tell me willingly I will force it out of you." she threatened.

"...I mighta got myself into some hot water with some jocks. 'Cuz like one day I was out on my own, pickpocketing and shit. Then I happened across these guys and they were stoned out of their mind so I thought 'Hey, easy pickings.' But I fucked up and got caught and they were pissed at me for tryna steal and how I caught them doin' drugs. I was all like 'I don't judge do whatever you want' but I think they just really didn't want to get caught and they said they would kill me if I told anyone. And they got me good that day so I'm not too keen on a repeat performance, ya know? So nothing major." The words tumbled out of him at a breakneck pace.

Her jaw dropped. "Oh my god. And they've been antagonizing you for how long?"

"A couple of weeks."

"Why haven't you said anything? We would have kicked their asses for you!" Those fuckers were so, so dead; the brotherhood did not take kindly to anyone messing with their own.

"That's the point!" he threw his arms out suddenly, "You guys would just be able to do it with no second thought! I-" he visibly deflated, "I wanted to deal with this on my own. Pull my own weight for once."

Her gaze softened, "Todd," she started, "You know none of us give a rats ass about that."

"Yeah, but I do. I gotta fight this fight on my own."

"Okay then," she put a hand on her hip, "And fight you will. But not without some practice."

"Practice? What do ya mean?

"I mean that I'm going to teach you to kick ass sans mutant powers. You're going to learn how to properly fight."


Todd flopped onto the ground, breathing heavily. "This is going awful dawgette."

Jacelynn lowered her arms, "Well... I wouldn't go that far."

"I would."

He was not exactly off base. They were out of school for the day, and she had been showing him some basic moves before doing some mock sparring. He'd done okay at first when he was just mimicking her movements, but when it came to actually applying anything, he was miserable and she overpowered him every single time.

"You won't get any better lying on the ground though."

Todd groaned, "You're gonna kill me, man, if we keep this up."

"Just for a little while longer, then we can pick up again another day.

He groaned again, but to his credit, rolled back and pushed up with his legs, jumping up and clearing the distance between them.

"I'm jealous of you sometimes, Todd."

He looked at her incredulously, "Really?"

"Totally. You've got crazy strength in your legs my friend, like you made that just look effortless…" She trailed off before she could finish her sentence, realization dawning on her, "Oh my god, we've been going about this entirely the wrong way."

"We have?"

"Yeah! Todd, you don't have any strength in your upper body-"

"Ouch."

"Because your mutant power has put it all in your legs! We're going to be shifting gears," she grinned at him, "You're going to kick your way to victory."


Later that night, Jacelynn was lying on her bed with a phone next to her ear.

"So, are you coming to the party tonight?" Risty asked. Risty might not have been in the exact same grade, but she was pretty okay by Jacelynn's standards, which was a high bar that most other students at Bayville didn't have a shot in hell at clearing.

"Party? I thought everyone was complaining there were none this weekend."

"It was a bit last minute in planning and all, but it's going to be fun. I mean, it's at a mansion, so it has to be."

Jacelynn sat bolt upright in her bed, "A mansion?" she questioned. Her mind was already swimming with visions of all the useless but expensive trinkets that would have to be lying around everywhere. Pietro probably wasn't doing anything tonight, and together they could sweep the place of its valuables and still have time to enjoy the party.

"For real, love. It's at the Xavier institute, and I've only been inside once but man! That place is like the definition of expensive."

"Ah," she sank back down, her excitement quickly dispersing. "I don't think I'm going to be on that invite list Risty. That lot aren't exactly my biggest fans."

"Don't you live with Tabby now? Can't you be her plus one?"

"I don't even think she's going. She said she wanted some distance."

"Aw, that's too bad. I was hoping you would come. Anyway, I should start getting ready. Chat with you tomorrow?"

The pair said their goodbyes, and Jacelynn stuck the phone back on the receiver.

Just as she was lying back down, a thought struck her.

Sure, she wasn't on the Xmen's good side, but she didn't have to be her.

She didn't even have to be a 'her' at all.

Forty minutes later, Jacelynn was walking through the doors of the mansion, joining the steady stream of students from Bayville high flooding in.

This was an awful, awful idea. It probably made the top five in the rankings of dumb things Jacelynn had done.

But she was here. Might as well enjoy it and hope there were no telepaths home.

She had gone with a tall dark and muscular type of guy─decided his name was Chase and if anyone asked, he was here with his friends but didn't know where they were. She also took the liberty of borrowing some clothes from Lance's closet. She was ninety percent sure he wouldn't mind if he found out.

Okay, well more like sixty percent, but what is done is done.

The first thing she took notice of, as she looked around inside the place, was just how extravagant it was. She had always been aware that these people lived in a mansion, but only now was it really hitting her how rich the adults in their lives were.

Their staircase was bigger than the boarding house hallway. The mansion's dining room was the size of their kitchen and living room put together. Just the snack food set out on the large mahogany table easily doubled what the brotherhood had in their cupboards at home. Hell, there was enough there to keep Pietro and Fred satiated for a couple of days.

Her stomach churned with hunger and jealousy.

She forcibly tore her eyes away from the frivolous amount of food on the table. Not worth taking when there were so many eyes around. Her time was better spent elsewhere.

The X-geeks mansion was disappointingly pretty barren of expensive rich decor, most things she found that sparked her interest were far too large for even her to covertly smuggle out of the party.

Most of the rooms themselves were also decently boring. Lots of shared bedrooms, all in varying states of clean to messy. She found a wallet on a nightstand and scored twenty bucks, but that was the most exciting swipe of the night at that point. She had a good suspicion that it was Evan's room though, so at least Pietro might get a kick out of it when she told him.

She needed to get going soon─the longer she stayed the more likely one of the telepaths would make their way home, and then she was fucked. She found herself wishing she'd had thought of a way to bring Pietro with her. Superspeed aside this would be a lot more entertaining with some good company.

At that point in the night she was ready to give up and go home.

Then she happened across the kitchen.

It was huge, of course. Nicely decorated, recently renovated, presumably filled with food behind the white wooden cabinets. Everything the kitchen back at the house was not.

A thought struck her. Perhaps they needed some help destocking their kitchen. As their guest, she was truly obliged to help out where she could.

Jacelynn found one of those plastic reusable bags and quickly set to work, opening everything and scouring for foods her friends would eat. If only Pietro was here, she thought to herself as she sifted through the cabinets, with him here it-

She stopped suddenly. Jesus christ, why could she not stop thinking about him? This was weird, and starting to become an issue. Was this just more evidence that Lance was right? Ew, she hated when that happened.

She shook her head. She was moving on borrowed time right now, and she could not get caught up in her thoughts about that stupid speedster she happened to live with. With a new resolve, she set back to work.

It wasn't long after that when she managed to stuff the large grocery bag to the brim and was about to go back to find a second when the metal sheets slammed down in front of the windows.

She jumped back, mind racing. "Oh fuck, they have theft alarms in their kitchen," was her immediate reaction.

She really did not want to face down the full wrath of the X-Men for stealing food of all things.

Jacelynn grabbed her bag and bolted.

Racing out of the kitchen she made for the front door, noticing that all of the windows were slowly getting blocked off by what had to be military grade steel. That didn't bode well for the one and only exit she was aware of. She weaved around the blissfully ignorant and oblivious classmates as more of the windows closed up around them.

There, the door! In sight, she burst forward, slamming through the double doors with enough force to send her vaulting forwards, tumbling down onto the grass of the lawn. Mostly unharmed, she picked herself up off the ground, collecting the few stray cans that had rolled onto the ground.

She had made it without a moment to spare, it seemed. The front doors were tightly sealed and seemingly impenetrable. A bit of an excessive security measure, she couldn't help but think. There was a part of her that wondered if they would be able to figure out it was her that stole the food, not some random guy.

She did not want to stick around and find out.


"Oh Lance," she called in a singsong voice. "I have a surprise!"

"Whatever it is I don't want it," he responded.

"Geez, someone is in a bad mood tonight," she scoffed, shutting the door behind her.

"Where even were you anyway? All your note said is that you were out until eleven," he commented, the sound of his voice coming from the kitchen table.

"I was undergoing a super secret covert-ops mission where I infiltrated the realm of the rich and powerful," she replied, coming up to and leaning against the arch that led into the kitchen.

Lance was stuffing─were those envelopes?─into his pockets, and replied without bothering to look up. "Which means?"

"I snuck into the X-Men party."

That caught his attention, and he looked at her in confusion. "Why?"

"For fun, mostly," she shrugged. "But you can't judge, because I brought this back with me," she said, holding up the bag of stolen food.

He stood, taking the bag from her and rifling through it. "There's so much of it?"

"You should have seen their kitchen Lance. There was so much of everything."

"This might hold us over for a few days, maybe we can get the heating turned back on in time for winter," he spoke so quietly it was almost impossible for her to hear.

"The heat got turned off?" She questioned, "I had thought it was chillier in here than normal."

He stiffened. "Yeah, I missed a payment last month. It's okay, if I don't need to buy food I have enough to cover it."

"How come you didn't mention? Should we be worried about-"

He abruptly dropped a can of soup he had been looking at onto the table. "There isn't anything to worry about. I'm taking care of it."

"Lance-"

"I'm going to bed. Thanks for getting the food Jacelynn."

Guys, it only took me a month to upload. Are you proud of me? JK JK

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! It's a little more focused on the subplots I've been weaving through some of the chapters ( and continuing onward!), and I'm pretty happy with how this one came out.

As always, please review! I respond to anyone with an account and cherish reading them all.