Chapter Five: Snake Charmer part 1
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Now on with the fic
Tai looked up at the clock at the front of the class, there was still a few minutes to go until the end of chemistry and he'd already completed the work the teacher had set them, as well as his homework. The Phillipino mutant twirled his pen between his fingers as he looked around the classroom, bored out of his serpentine mind, his gaze eventually settled on his lab partner, Anna Creed, he couldn't help but notice how the suns ray that filtered through the window made her green eyes sparkle like emeralds. He remained like this until the bell rang, signalling the end of the class and the end of the school day, Tai threw his books in his bag as the other students filed out of the classroom, eager to leave, Tai was so preoccupied with checking he'd got everything that he didn't notice his lab partner hadn't left the classroom.
"Tai?" she asked him, at the sound of his voice he immediately looked up
"Yes Anna?" he replied nervously
"Do you mind if I walk with you?" she asked him, he nodded and they walked outside in an awkward silence. Finally Anna decided to break it
"Man, the teacher sure set us a lot of homework didn't she?" she said
"I managed to get through it in the lesson" Tai replied
"Oh, I was wondering if you'd work on it together with me but since you've already…" Tai realised what she was saying and quickly interrupted her
"I'd be happy to give you a hand with it, I'm pretty good at chemistry" he quickly said, praying that his holo-inducer didn't fail him now.
"Wow, thanks, I'm not really good at it, could you come over to my house about eight? Then we can work on it together" she said, giving him her address
"Sure, I'll be there" Tai replied immediately
"Then it's a date" she replied before turning and walking home. Tai quickly ran over to the X-van and hopped in, not even Kittys insane driving could dampen his spirits at that moment.
"The Patriots Of Humanity? Pretty grand name for a bunch of thugs" Wolverine said, scowling as Beserker and Amara told him and the other senior members of the Institute what had happened at Bayville high a few hours earlier.
"My thoughts exactly" Scott added, he'd been in a bad mood ever since Beserker and Amara had told him about it back at the school.
"And this Graydon Creed is the student body president?" Professor Xavier asked them
"Yea, they held the elections while we were away fighting Apocalypse" Beserker replied, wondering what else they'd missed while they'd been away. When Creeds name was mentioned Wolverine immediately looked up
"Did you say Creed?" he asked, suddenly very interested ion what the two young mutants had to say
"Do you know him or his family?" Cyclops asked him
"Nah, forget I mentioned it, it's probably not the same person I'm thinking of anyway" Wolverine said, the Professor quickly returned to questioning the students
"This could cause problems" the Professor said, his expression grave
"Well there's an understatement if I ever heard one" Wolverine muttered to Cyclops, who nodded in agreement
"What should we do if he keeps this up Professor?" Amara asked him
"There's not much you can do except try to endure it. Principal Kelly is looking for the slightest excuse to expel you and these Patriots Of Humanity seem determined to give him one" the Professor said, wondering if anything else could be done
"Perhaps we could appoint a liasion beteen the Institute and the school, someone who can help resolve any problems that arise" Storm suggested
"Well count me out, I aint exactly a people person" Wolverine said gruffly
"Yes I think we can all agree people are not your strongpoint Logan, I was thinking more along the lines of you Ororo" the Professor said
"Me? But I'm not qualified" Storm said, her eyes widening in surprise
"I can't think of anyone who is, but you do have a gift when it comes to dealing with troublesome teenagers" the Professor told her, remembering how she'd handled her nephew when he'd first come to the Institute
"O.K then I'll do it" she replied, conceding defeat
"Excellent, I'll contact Bayville High and make the necessary arrangements, in the meantime you should inform your classmates not to try and aggravate young mister Creed and his friends"
"O.K Professor" Beserker and Amara said in unison before leaving the room
"You know, I really don't think it'll be that easy" Beserker said to Amara as soon as they'd left the room
"Honestly, I don't think so either" she said in agreement.
Meanwhile upstairs Tai (with his inducer off) was in his room, getting ready to head over to Annas later, he'd changed out of the clothes he'd been wearing at school into a pair of brown combats, a green shirt and a green hoodie, he double checked his homework to make sure he had gotten everything right, eventually his roommate Kurt noticed his happy mood.
"How come you're in such a good mood all of a sudden?" he asked him
"I'm helping sssomeone with their homework" he replied
"What's so special about that?" Kurt asked
"I promisssed her I'd help her" he replied, Kurt smiled when he realised it was about a girl
"So, does she have a name?" he asked him
"Anna, her name'sss Anna" he told Kurt then Tai realised he hadn't told anyone yet, or was even sure he'd be allowed to go
"Will the Professsor let me go?" he asked his roommate
"I don't think he'll refuse, even with all the trouble around here" he replied
A few hours later Tai was checking his work yet again as Scotts car pulled up outside Annas house
"Remember, the professor said to be back by 9 pm at the latest" Scott told him
"Don't worry I won't forget" Tai replied, getting out of the car and walking up towards the house, before Scott drove off he looked up at a nearby tree where Kurt and Kitty were hiding, he nodded a the pair and they nodded back, all of them knew how hard it was to make friends outside the Institute being a mutant and they'd all resolved to do their best to make sure this went well for Tai, Scott especially, he'd read Tais folder and he knew how much this meant to the Phillipino mutant.
Tai reached the front door and hesitated briefly before knocking, a few seconds later it was opened by a woman with the same hair and kind eyes as Anna
"Hello, I'm here to see Anna" Tai said nervously
"Ah, you must be Tai, please come in" she replied, Tai quickly followed her inside. Up in the tree Kurt and Kitty kept as close a watch on Tai as they could as he headed up to the first floor of the house, where he was greeted by Anna
"Hey Tai" she said, smiling warmly
"Hello Anna, you look nice" Tai said before he realised what he'd said
"Oh, thanks" Anna said, blushing slightly, after a few awkward seconds of silence Tai replied
"Let's get down to work" he said, Anna led him down the hallway, with Kurt teleporting from tree to tree outside to keep up with them, on the last teleport he missed his landing and wound up reappearing in thin air, he reacted quickly and wrapped his tail around the branch he'd been aiming for, acting as a safety line.
"Hey did you hear something?" Anna asked Tai, looking out the window, Kurt remained motionless, hanging upside down form the branch as Kitty motioned frantically for him to stay where he was.
"I didn't, it'ss probably just a bird" Tai replied before Anna shrugged and kept on walking, outside both Kurt and Kitty breathes a sigh of relief. As Tai neared the end of the hallway he saw a door with the Patriots Of Humanity symbol spray painted on it.
"That's my brother Graydons room" Anna said as she noticed him looking at it
"He's your brother?" he asked her
"Well, he's not my real brother, he's adopted, I guess you and your friends already know about him" she replied, not looking too happy about acknowledging her connection to the mutant hating fanatic.
"Come on, we'll never get anything done if we stay out here, which way's your room?" he asked, trying to change the subject, not linking seeing her unhappy. She showed him to her room and they both went inside. After an hour Kurt and Kitty were getting restless in their tree, so far there'd been nothing out of the ordinary, just Tai helping Anna with her homework. Kitty wished she'd agreed to meet up with Lance instead of letting Kurt talk her into helping him and Cyclops. Just as she was about to ask Kurt to teleport them both home she spotted a car pulling into the driveway and elbowed Kurt (who'd fallen asleep) sharply in the ribs when she saw who'd been driving it.
"Hey what was that for?" Kurt moaned, annoyed at his sleep being disturbed.
"Look" she hissed, pointing down as Graydon Creed walked up the driveway and went in the house. Suddenly Kitty was glad she'd decided to help Kurt after all.
If Tai was lucky Gryadon would have just gone into his room without ever seeing Tai and the evening would have gone as planned. Unfortunately Tai wasn't very lucky that week and after leaving Annas room to go the bathroom (where he planned to change the batteries in the holo-inducer), it happened to co-incide with the time Graydon was getting ready for bed.
Tai had just finished replacing the batteries when the door opened, Tai's eye widened with fright when he saw Graydon Creed walk in.
"Well well, so what my parents told me was true, my sister's hanging around with a filthy mutant" he sneered, Tai backed away
"Look, I just came to help her with her homework, that's it" he said
"Maybe, but I think she'd feel differently about hanging out with you if she saw what you really looked like" he said, grabbing Tais arm with his left hand and crushing the holo-inducer with his right.
"Have a nice evening" he said, leaving the bathroom as the holo-inducer flickered and then failed completely. Tai looked at his serpentine self in the mirror, at a complete loss for what to do.
In the next chapter – Will Tai finally be able to overcome his fears and let Anna know what he really is, or will the cavalry arrive in time to save him
To be continued, please review