X-Men "THEIF": Part Three, Secrets

Mom kept me home from school the next day. I had a horrible fever and a wretched cough, both faked, of course. I didn't want to face Lance yet, and I wasn't in the mood to think about Pietro or my problem. Besides, I wanted to know Lance was still my friend for just a little while longer before I had to tell him what was wrong with me. There was no way he would still be my friend after he found out about it. Sure, he was cool and all, but a human being could only tolerate so much before they simply can't accept you as a person. I wouldn't accept me as a person, so how could I expect Lance to?

The phone rang all morning. Message 1: "Hey, Alaya… It's, uh, me. Lance. Best friends since six-thirty bedtimes? Listen, it's morning and you haven't called me back… I just assumed that when you said you'd call me back you meant right after dinner, but, uh, I guess… not. Well, see you in class, I guess. … bye." Message 2: "Hey, you aren't at school. Are you okay? I mean, should I be getting flowers and soup for you or something? By the way… this is Lance. The one who is worried about you." Message 3: "Oh, come on, Alaya; pick up your stupid phone! What is your problem, man?!" Message 4: "Um, hi. This is, uh, Kurt Wagner? …from math class…? Yeah, we don't usually interact, but I got this number from one of your friends, and the teacher asked me to tell you that the math homework is page 60, questions 4 through 17…? Okay? Okay."

And so on and so forth.

It was around five when Mom came home from work. She immediately came in to check on me. Or so I thought.

"Alaya, I am extremely disappointed in you. I didn't want to lecture you when you weren't feeling well, but coming home early without telling a teacher or calling me? Dying your hair? What brought this behavior on?"

"I didn't dye my—"

"Don't try to worm your way out of this conversation with excuses and lies, young lady! Do you expect me to believe that you dyed your hair by mistake? That your friend—Lance, is it?—dyed your hair against your will? You came home early yesterday by accident, right? Well, I've heard enough 'I didn't mean to' out of you to last two lifetimes. You are guh-ROUNDED. Do I make myself clear?"

I gaped at my mother in frozen shock. Never before had she so exploded at me the way she had just done. Never before had she yelled at me. Never before had she grounded me. Hell, I wasn't even sure if she knew what a grounding was until just then.

"I said do I make myself clear, Alaya Justine?"

I continued to gawk. What could I say to her? 'Hey mom, I'm a freak whose hair spontaneously changed color and can read minds when I bump into people'?

She would probably be more likely to believe that pink elephants with purple polka dots were falling out of a hole in the sky made by alien rabbit robots.

I had tears in my eyes for only a second. Then I looked up at her and said, "I'm sorry mom. You're right, my behavior has been terrible. I'm really really sorry."

She softened a bit and let a small smile on. "Okay, as long as you understand. I am willing to let you use your phone and your computer, but I want you home right after school and I will be dropping you off in the mornings for two weeks." She pinched my cheek. "Get some more rest, sweetie."

I stared at her as she left the room. She must have snapped under the pressure, because that had to have been the weirdest thing I had ever experienced.

Except my own weirdness, of course.

When the phone rang at four thirty in the morning, I was too groggy to think about not picking it up. "Hello?" I mumbled.

"Aw, man, Alaya, did I wake you up?" It was Lance. Good old jerk.

"Lance. It is FOUR THIRTY A.M. Of course you woke me up! Why would I be awake at four thirty in the morning? Why are you awake at four thirty in the morning?"

"Well, you had plenty of opportunities to pick up the phone all day yesterday. Maybe I'm awake at four thirty in the morning because I'm worried about you. Did you ever think about that?"

I stared at my hand for a while, silent. I had been the jerk. He really had every right to be upset.

"Hello? Lai?"

I couldn't talk. What I really wanted to do was burst into tears and spill my guts to him. He had to understand. He had to.

But he never would understand, no matter how much I wanted him to. Neither would anyone else. So I couldn't tell anybody, not even Lance.

"I'm sorry…" I said painfully as I hung up the phone. I tried not to cry.

Need I say that I failed?

School the next day was hell. I spent most of my morning trying to dodge Lance. But it wasn't Lance that tried to talk to me. It was Kurt Wagner, the boy who called me to give me a math assignment.

I was sitting at an empty table during lunch when he walked over and sat next to me. I tried to scare him away by glaring at him, but he just grinned at me. Then (THE NERVE!) he pulled out his math book and a sheet of paper. "Did you do the math homework?" He asked in what I assumed was a charming voice.

"Yeah…" I said. "Why?"

"I didn't, so can I copy yours?"

"No!" I practically yelled into his ear.

He flinched, too much to be a real reaction, and put a hand to his ear. I thought maybe I had hurt his feelings, so I softened up a little. "Sorry… I don't like cheating. Besides, I probably got 'em all wrong anyway, you don't want to copy mine."

He was still holding his ear and scrunching up his face like I had just hit him. Was he just being overly dramatic?

"Um… are you okay?" I asked softly. I reached out to touch the hand over his ear and he yanked away so quickly he almost fell out of his chair. Then he just got up and ran off.

I stared after him and watched as he sat next to a girl with brown hair, I thought her name was kitty. She put an arm around his shoulder and rubbed his ear lightly. I looked back at my food, wondering how I had hurt him. Maybe he had an ear infection or something. Yeah, that had to be it.

But somehow I wasn't so sure. He had acted just like me when my mind went wacko with voices, and he ran off without explanation. Maybe, I thought, Maybe he's like me, a freak.

I had strange dreams that night, dreams about being chased by mobs carrying torches and pitchforks. When I finally woke up at three in the morning I grabbed for the phone. I had to talk to someone. Where did that Kurt live? Even if I was wrong about him being another freak, he didn't seem like the kind of guy who would spread it around if I asked him not to.

Flipping through last year's Bayville High phone listing, I found the number to Xavier's School where he lived. The phone rang for a good three or four minutes before someone picked up. "Hello?" said the sleepy voice of Scott Summers, a boy I had seen hanging out with Kurt.

"Hi. Um… I am so sorry for calling this early, but, I kinda gotta talk to Kurt?" I said weakly, regretting the call already. Then a question popped into my head. "Hey… are, um, are you wearing your shades?"

"Uh, yeah…"

"Like, right now? At three in the morning?"

"Yeah…"

"Okay, thanks."

I waited and listened to Scott trying to wake up Kurt. "Dude." "Mmmph." "Hey." "Mmmrumblr." "Wake up." "Grrrowl." "Phone for you, nighty." "Who? Phone? Three AM?" "Phone for you." "Okay… um, hello?"

"Hi, Kurt. This is Alaya Robbins? Sorry for calling so early, but I really have to talk to you. Is Scott gone?"

"Are you kidding? He probably fell asleep in the hallway."

"I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for hurting you at lunch yesterday and areyouafreakcuzimafreakcanyouhelpmehehe!!!"

"Um… what?"

"S-sorry. I think something's wrong with me and you're like the only one I could think of to talk to."

"I think I'm starting to wake up. Listen, why don't we talk about this tomorrow at school? How's that?"

"Okay, sure." I said softly. "Um… I'm sorry about waking you up. And weirding you out."

"Ohh, trust me, you did not weird me out at all. If I haven't seen it all at this point, I never will."