Hello again and welcome to chapter two of "Books, Coffee, and Genetics"! If one is looking for a disclaimer, one could find it at the very beginning of chapter one.
Now…ON WITH THE THICKENING PLOT!!!
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-R&R
Chapter Two:
"I loathe alarm clocks." Grumbled Mikey, as she fell out of bed, after desperately attempting to turn off her blaring alarm clock, which somehow always seemed to be just out of comfortable reach. Early morning sunlight poured through her open window, casting a warm glow on her room, which was arranged in a 'neat clutter'. Sitting up, she rubbed her arm where it had smacked into the dresser. She glared at the offending piece of wooden furniture before jumping up and pointing an accusing finger at the combined evils of the alarm clock and dresser.
"YOU CAN TAKE AWAY MY SLEEP, AND YOU CAN EVEN TAKE AWAY MY COMFORT! BUT YOU CAN NEVER TAKE AWAY MY FREEDOM!" she hollered at it before snatching up an armful of clothes and flounced off to the bathroom to prepare for the day.
After showering, she threw on a grey tee shirt over her black long sleeved shirt and a plaid pink school girl skirt, and was just tugging on her black converse before there was a knock on the door.
"Mikey! It's seven! You'd better hurry!" Called her roommate,
"AHH!!" screamed Mikey as she pulled on some pink leg warmers. "CRAP, CRAP, CRAP!" she chanted as she flung open the door, revealing a surprised looking Raph who held out a black messenger bag.
"Have a good day at work. See you later tonight!"
"BYE!" called Mikey as she grabbed the bag and sprinted for the door. Maybe, if she was lucky, her bus hadn't left.
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"Michelle! Hurry up and hang up those dresses! They are not going to wait around all day for you to take your own sweet time."
"It's Mikey." Whispered the said blonde under her breath as she followed her dictators…err…bosses orders. As she quickened her pace, she stole a glance at the clock; two hours until five…argh.
"Ay-yi-yi, Michelle!" snapped a tall, thin woman dressed in head to toe in black, with dark, dramatic makeup and a short, sleek black bob. The woman swept over and snatched the dress from Mikey's hands. "You're going slower than usual; I have no use for slow, useless people. You're off early." Snapped Francesca, the owner of Diamond Dreams Boutique.
Mikey, who was never one to question her superiors, grabbed her bag, clocked out and was out on the street in less than a minute. She hated working at the store, but a pay check was a paycheck and as far as jobs went she was lucky to have one. Knowing that her bus wouldn't come for a while, the curvy blonde decided that walking would most likely be the quickest route home.
She started down the street, but then paused and went the other way. Why go home when she could walk a few blocks and surprise Raph at work? And maybe pick up a book while she was there…
After fumbling around in her overloaded bag (a few people raised eyebrows at the muttering blonde with her bag propped up on her leg, who teetered back and forth as she searched wildly, and finally found what she was looking for with a exclamation of "BOO-YAH!") Mikey slipped a pair of black head phones over her ears and continued down the street.
She was just getting into a particularly good song when she dropped her ipod. "ARGH!" she scrambled to snatch it up and made sure it wasn't scratched, broken or stepped on. Sighing with relief, Mikey almost started off again when she noticed that when the ipod had fell, it had skittered over by the door of Crazy's.
"Must be a sign." Grinned the blonde as she entered the coffee shop. By the time she had re-emerged she was armed with a hot steaming mocha for her friend. Humming to herself she accidentally bumped into a tall guy with amazingly fiery red hair. Gritting her teeth, Mikey somehow managed to prevent spilling a drop of her precious cargo.
"Oops, sorry sheila, my bad." Apologized the redhead with a sheepish grin. Mikey shot him a glare which softened as she realized that it was truly an accident.
"No problem." She replied before heading off. Thank goodness she hadn't spilled Raph's coffee….wait a minute…RAPH DIDN'T LIKE COFFEE! Mikey froze and turned in mid-step before dashing back into the café.
The short brunette girl behind the counter was just handing the Aussie a rather large drink when Mikey ran up to the counter.
"Hi, um, I know I was just in here to buy a mocha for my friend whose working" she held up the mocha, "but then I remembered that she hates coffee and that if I brought her some she'd get all annoyed so instead I'll order a large green tee and a 16 oz white chocolate mocha." The blonde rattled off.
The girl behind the counter blinked her large hazel eyes. "Um…okay…do you want the other mocha or I can just replace it with the white chocolate." The girl, whose name tag indicated her as 'Janie', gestured to the drink in Mikey's hand.
"Oh." Mikey studied the drink and then grinned widely. "I'll just down it."
Mikey leaned against the wall near the counter as she waited for her drinks to come. Taking a sip of the mocha, which up until ten minutes ago had been in Raphael's possession, she scanned the café. It was small, homey and decorated in rich chocolate browns, deep velvety reds and warm creams.
"So, on a daily basis, how many shots of espresso do you take in?"
Starting at the accented voice from beside her, Mikey saw the tan red head grinning down at her widely. She blinked.
"Uh, a lot. Depends on how long I have to work." She added with a grin, after noticing that his drink was marked as with 6 shots. Quite impressive for a 24 oz cup.
The Aussie nodded in understanding. "Oy know just what you mean, moy boss is the meanest ole codder. Oy'm telling you he's a bloody slave driver!" his brown eyes grew wide. "Not only does he deny me moy lollies, but he also won't let moy drink any form of caffeine on the job…a regular nutter."
"Yeah, well my boss doesn't even allow me to speak to the customers, she thinks I'm inbred or something. She's really a witch." Mikey somehow doubted that his boss could be worse than hers.
"Yeah, well…moy boss wears a bucket on his head."
Mikey blinked.
"Seriously?"
"Would Oy lie to you sheila?"
"Uh, I don't even know you, and my name's not sheila."
This time it was his turn to blink.
"How bloody rude of me." He thrust out a hand, "The name's St. John. St. Jonathan Gabriel Francis Jeremiah Christopher Benjamin Fitzwilliam Anthony Zacharias Allerdyce."
"Holy crap, your name is even more messed up than mine." Mikey was too stunned to even shake his hand. He waved it a bit as he beamed proudly
"Yep!"
"Oh, Uh, I'm Mikaela Angelon Payne," she shook his hand, "but most people just call me Mikey."
"Well, Oy'm sure if there was a contest, you'd come in second place sheila…er…Oy mean Mikey."
"One white chocolate mocha and a green tea." Called the barista, Mikey withdrew her hand and finished the mocha with one gulp.
"Gotta jet, see ya around." She called as she tossed the empty cup in the trash, grabbed the other two cups and headed out the door in a quick pace.
"Later sheila!" reached her ears. She grinned and somehow managed to pull up her head phones as she headed up the street.
Chiming bells announced the fact that Mikey had entered Marcie's Book Store. Spying her friend and housemate heading her way she ran over and gave her a hug.
"Mikey! What are you doing here?" exclaimed Raph with a smile, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
"I got off work early down at the boutique today and thought I'd stop by and bring you coffee! Then I remembered, half way here, that you don't like coffee. So I drank your coffee, turned around and got you some green tea and myself a white chocolate mocha!" Mikey explained in one long breath and finished with a large grin.
Raph laughed and took the tea. "Thanks! I really appreciate it! Hey, do you mind waiting here about five minutes? Then we can walk home together." Checking her watch, the tall girl started to back up towards the back door "Once Bobby gets here I can leave. He just started working here last week, but whenever his shift ends it's always freezing in here! You might know him…I think he goes to our school…Drake is his last name."
"Yea, sure I can wait." Mikey shrugged, not familiar the name.
"Great! I'll go hang up my apron…he should be here by then." Raph said, turning and heading to the back of the store.
Sighing Mikey leaned against the counter, and noticed a boy around her age with dark brown hair and light brown eyes enter, he grinned at her and she grinned as he went into the back. So THIS was Bobby. She half listened to the greetings being exchanged between the boy and Raph in the back as she sipped her mocha. It took her all of ten seconds to get out of her shop, and yet here was Raph taking about ten minutes. She sighed again, this time with a ting if irritability. After a moment Raph popped back out and rattled off something about finding a book of hers she had left in the back.
Mikey muttered a 'whatever' and scanned the bookstore, she noticed Kurt Wagner, a boy in her history class from school, heading towards where Raph had disappeared to moments before. Over by the computers, his friend Kitty Pryde was typing away like a madwoman. Not seeing any one else in the store Mikey turned her attention back to her mocha.
"So can I help you with anything?"
What was it with strangers wanting to start conversations with her today?
She turned and saw Bobby smiling at her; she shook her head and gave a polite smile.
"Naw, no thanks, I'm just waiting for my friend…Raph." She rolled her eyes "She's off finding a book or something."
"She really loves to read, are you much of a reader?" he asked,
"I love to read, but I'm not half the reader she is. I swear she reads like, five books a day." The two grinned.
"Yeah, I'm not much of a reader, but I need the money you know?" Bobby gave a shrug.
"Tell me about it, I'm working horrible hours with a horrible boss at a horrible store waiting on horrible customers to help them find horrible clothes to match their horrible attitudes and all for a horrible pay. It's horrible." Sticking out her tongue Mikey made a disgusted face, causing the boy to laugh.
"Yeah well, at least you don't have to wear an apron." He tugged at the garment.
"Oh come on, you know you love to wear it. So trendy. So…groovy." She finished off her coffee and held it up questioningly. Bobby took it and threw it behind the counter in to the trash. Taking a glance at the clock Mikey groaned.
"Raph! Where are you? It's been like ten minutes! Come on! Forget about the book and let's go!" she called, crossing her arms.
Suddenly, a familiar looking guy with brown hair and red glasses came rushing from the back of the store, he was carrying Raph, whose skin had turned silver. Kurt was at his side looking worried. She heard Bobby and Kitty, who had been making her way towards the desk, gasp.
"HEY! What did you do to her?" demanded Mikey as she ran over to her friend, glaring at the face she could not put a name to. She knew mutants were not really truly accepted into this community, heck, they were persecuted.
"Iz zat your friend?" Asked Kurt cautiously.
"Yes!" Mikey said, then saw something. "Who broke the pendent?"
"That isn't important. What is important is getting her to a place where she'll be accepted and where we can fix the pendent." Scott told her, shifting Raph in his arms. Mikey was about to snap at him when a lighter voice broke in.
"Wait…like, you knew she was like this?" Kitty asked, Mikey nodded.
"Mhmm…she is my best friend." The blonde told her, slightly annoyed. "Her name is Raph and mine is Mikey. Now, if you're taking her somewhere you better believe that I'm coming too." Glowering Mikey grabbed her purse and Raph's from the desk.
"But, vhere ve are going is, um…" Mikey watched as the German teen exchanged a look with the boy she now realized was Scott Summers.
"Where we're going is just fine. Remember…Xavier and his mind, Kurt? He'll be able to fix any damage done…"
Mikey had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, and decided on looking annoyed.
"Oh…right. Letz go, zen, before anyone else comes in." Mikey followed the three to a cherry red convertible and watched as Scott lowered her friend into the back seat.
"Um, it doesn't look like there's gonna be enough room. How 'bout I wait for Bobby then, like, walk home with him?" Kitty suggested.
Scott looked thankful "Yeah, that'll probably be best. Thanks Kitty. I don't know if we're even going to have room for these two," he said, indicating Mikey and Kurt.
Mikey claimed the shot gun with a single shout and hopped into the front seat. She saw Kitty giggle and call out "Have fun, boys!" before going back inside.
"Aw man…I never get shotgun." Kurt grumbled.
Scott wearily shook his head then slide into the driver's seat. "Um, Kurt, why don't you just move her feet a bit and sit there?" Scott asked as he pointed to a corner of the backseat.
"Fine." Kurt said begrudgingly as he sat down.
The drive was long and awkward, especially for Mikey who was worried about her friend and where they were taking her. She stole a glance back at the pendent which hung at her friend's neck. What would the people where they were going think of the silver elflike girl? Worries and doubts filled her mind, and an uneasy feeling sank into the pit of her stomach.
What would happen now?
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There ya have it!
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Love you all!! (And remember, the faster and more you review, the faster the chapters with come!!)
-R&R