Kennedy pawed through her purse, looking for her house key. They had been in front of her huge house for almost ten minutes while she searched. Tyler knew it wasn't looking anymore, Kennedy was stalling.
"Isn't that your key in your pocket Ken?" Tyler said, pulling a chain out of her back pocket.
"Oh, the one place I didn't check," Kennedy giggled nervously.
"Ken, what the hell was that? You don't giggle."
"I'm nervous as all hell, Ty, leave me alone!"
"Why, what's the worst thing they can do to you?"
"Ship me off to a convent."
"Kenny, stop being dramatic," Tyler sighed.
"Ty, I'm serious. My sister spent five years in a convent!"
"Your parents really sent her to a convent?" Jean asked, shocked, "Why?"
"They found out she was having sex with her boyfriend," Kennedy said, shrugging her shoulders.
Tyler was at a loss for words, "I didn't even know that you had a sister."
"Yeah, I don't like to talk about her that much. Madison came back all weird. She hardly talked to anyone."
"That's awful," Jean said.
"Yeah, and then she went missing about a year ago. She was back home for, literally, like two days. She was all weird. She wouldn't look at any of us. She only talked to Eden and Eden said that Madison felt 'shamed by her sins' and couldn't look 'good people' in the face."
Tyler raised his eyebrows.
"Then she said she was going on a 'spiritual retreat' for a weekend…"
"And?"
"She never came back. Nobody knows what happened to her. My parents searched for months, but everything came up dry. I'm not allowed to talk about her, we have no pictures of her in the house, my parents burned all our home videos of her. They think it's better to pretend she didn't exist."
"God Ken, I'm sorry," Tyler said.
"It's ok, I didn't talk to her that much anyway," Kennedy put her key in the doorknob, "In we go."
She opened the door and the three mutants stepped into a large entry room with white paneled walls, several coat hangers, and a long rug that led up to a set of double doors. The double doors opened and a middle aged woman in a light blue sun dress and a white apron bustled in.
"Hello Miss Kennedy," The woman said with a cheery smile, "It trust you enjoyed your afternoon? May I take your jacket Miss?"
"Hi Eden," Kennedy said, "And do I seriously have to ask you every day? Call me Kennedy or Kenny or Ken, anything but 'Miss'."
"My apologies Kennedy, your jacket?"
"No, I think I'll be needing it," Kennedy sighed, "I doubt we'll be staying long."
"We?" Eden turned her attention to Tyler and Jean, "Oh! Hello Mister Tyler! I didn't see you there, how are you?"
"Pretty good, and can you drop the 'mister', Eden?" Tyler smiled. Eden was the only person in the Taylor household who liked him.
"Of Course, Tyler. And I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know you. My name is Eden Keller, I'm the Taylor's head maid."
"Nice to meet you Ms. Keller, my name is Jean Grey, I was wondering if I could have a word with the Taylors, in regards to their daughter.'
Eden turned to Kennedy, her cheery face suddenly stern, "Kennedy Nicole Taylor, have you gone and done something stupid and gotten yourself in trouble?"
"Not yet," Kennedy muttered.
"No, no nothing like that at all!" Jean said, realizing her choice of words was very poor, "Kennedy's in no trouble! May I speak with them?"
Eden looked at Kennedy suspiciously.
"Eden, please!" Kennedy said. She just wanted to get this over with!
"I'll go alert them as to your arrival," and Eden bustled off through the doors.
The three stood in uncomfortable silence. Tyler took Kennedy's hand. After a few moments, a woman's agitated voice could be heard through the doors.
"Just showing up and thinking nothing of it? Did it ever occur to her that we could have been in the middle of something important? What was the woman's name? Jenna, Julia? Oh, Jean…Jean Grey. Well, let's see what this Jean has to say."
Kennedy rolled her eyes, "There's still time if you wanna, ya know, run."
"I might take you up on that," Tyler mumbled.
The doors flew open and an elegantly dressed woman sashayed in. She looked at her daughter and her company and snorted.
"Kennedy, how often must I tell you to give us notice before you bring company over, or that boy?"
"Mom," Kennedy said angrily, "Why are you being so obnoxious?"
"Don't speak to me like that!" Mrs. Taylor snarled. She turned to address Jean, "Ms. Grey was it? Jean Grey?"
"Yes," Jean said confidently, "That's me."
Mrs. Taylor scanned Jean up and down, often wrinkling her nose, "Well, what is it that you want? We were just about to enjoy dinner."
"Um, perhaps we could sit down somewhere?" Jean suggested, her confidence seeming to falter.
Mrs. Taylor pursed her lips, "Well, just invite yourself in why don't you?" she muttered. Then she turned on heel and sashayed out of the room.
Eden smiled nervously, "You may follow," she said.
"I'm so sorry," Kennedy muttered.
Jean sighed, "It's alright. I'm gonna say you take after your father?"
Kennedy scoffed, "I think I was adopted."
Kennedy, Tyler, and Jean walked into a large living room. There was fine china and expensive fabric all over the place. It looked like if you took a step, the entire room would just shatter.
Kennedy plopped down onto one of the white couches. Jean and Tyler remained standing. Her mother was sitting on an opposite couch, her legs crossed, sipping tea. A tall, stern man, Kennedy's father, was watching Tyler like a hawk.
The man spoke first, "So, my wife tells me you have something to tell us, in regards to our daughter?"
"Yes, actually, I have quite a lot to say, if you'll listen. But first, I think Kennedy would like to talk to you," Jean said, her confidence back.
"What is it Kennedy?" her father said in an uninterested tone, "Dinner's getting cold."
"Um, Mom, Dad, there's something I have to tell you."
"Yes, Kennedy, I can see that, hurry on with it," Mrs. Taylor sighed.
"All right," Kennedy shrugged, "I won't beat around the bush, then. Mom, Dad, I'm a mutant."
Her parents were silent for a moment, then Kennedy's mother rolled her eyes, "Kennedy, if you thought that was funny, you were wrong. Now send that woman and that boy on their way. It's time for dinner."
"Funny? It's not supposed to be funny, it's the truth!"
"Enough Kennedy! Send them home and freshen up!"
"You don't believe me? Your own daughter? What do I have to do to prove it to you?" The hairs on the back of her neck began to prick up.
Tyler noticed it first. He put his hands on Kennedy's shoulders, "Kenny, calm down," he said soothingly.
"Get your hands off my daughter!" Kennedy's father yelled.
"No!" Kennedy yelled, "He's my boyfriend! He can put his hands on my shoulder if he wants!" Kennedy's eyes began darken and her nails began to grow.
Jean had now stepped in, "Kennedy, calm down! They're just confused! They don't understand!"
Kennedy seemed to calm down at this. It was as if her mind was reminding her that this would be extremely confusing for her parents.
"We are not confused!" Kennedy's mother yelled, "Our little girl has been corrupted by that," she pointed at Tyler, "menace of a boy!"
Tyler ripped his hands off of Kennedy's shoulder, "I haven't done anything to her! You don't even know her! She's perfect the way she is, you'll just never accept that!"
"Perfect?" Her father scoffed, "She thinks she's some kind of mutant freak! No child of ours could possibly be a mutant!"
That was the last straw. Kennedy back up a few feat and changed into a huge black bear. She roared and stomped around the room, destroying everything she could.
Her mother screamed. He father picked up a vase and through it at Kennedy, hitting her on the side of the head.
Kennedy changed back into a human, a trickle of blood dripping down her face, "Yeah," she said looking directly at her frightened parents with piercing eyes, "No child of yours is mutant."
She turned and ran from the remains of the living room, Tyler and Jean not far behind. They ran into the entry room and Kennedy saw Eden standing by the door. Kennedy was suddenly very sad, Eden had been like the mother she never had, she didn't want to be hated by her.
But Eden was smiling.
"I love you for who you are," She said, "And you're still you."
"Thank you," Kennedy said. They exchanged a hug and Kennedy darted out the door with the other two mutants.
They fled the property, finally stopping at the end of the street, panting.
"Yeah," Jean said, "That didn't go over too well."
"Really?" Kennedy said, putting her hand up to the cut on her head, "It actually went better than I thought it would," There wasn't a trace of sarcasm in her voice.
"You okay Ken?" Tyler asked, brushing her slightly bloody hair out of her face.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm all right," she said taking Tyler's hand in her own.
"No, you're not."
Tyler was right. Kennedy was holding back hot tears, she finally let them spill. Tyler pulled her close and mumbled, "Shh…it's okay, it'll all be okay, don't cry. Don't be upset."
Kennedy sniffled, "I'm not so much upset, just, more pissed than anything. I mean I knew my parents wouldn't understand, I knew that they'd probably kick me out of the house. I was prepared, and that doesn't bother me. What hurt was, when my dad said that I wasn't his daughter anymore, just because I'm a mutant. It was just like, 'ouch' ya know?"
"Don't worry too much about, Ken, he didn't mean it."
"Ty, you don't understand. He did. I don't even think they love me, I'm not sure if they ever did."
"Ken, don't talk like that."
"No, really. It's okay. I'm not really sure I ever loved them. I mean, I thought Eden was my mom until I was six. That's how small a role in my life my mom played. Eden's who I'm gonna miss."
"Yea, me too. She's the only one who didn't hate me."
"Eden liked you a lot. She's the one who made those cookies for you on your birthday."
"Yeah, those were really good," Tyler said dreamily, "Hey, wait a minute! You said you made those!"
Kennedy laughed, "I lied."