AN: Ok folks. The lines have been drawn. It's time to see just how well this chapter goes. Last chapter was near garbage in my opinion, mostly because I couldn't find a way to make Luke useful in the episode's plot. So now that I have a better episode to work with, I hope that you and I both like this chapter better than the last. Disclaimer: I do not own X-men Evolution or anything else that belongs to Marvel. The only thing I own is personal issues. Does anyone want to buy those from me?
Chapter 6
Fast Lane
The crowd was loud. The music was loud. The blood pulsating in his ears was even louder as he watched the show in front of him. It was organized mayhem. If he was as naïve as most other's would believe, he would've never understood why this had become so popular. But he knew. There was nothing else in the world like seeing road rage, rednecks, and giant trucks all put in a tiny area.
Luke cheered along with the rest of the crowd as Mud Slinger made a perfect jump, landing on the target car with his back wheels, crushing it. To spit on the car's grave, the driver spun his tires for a second, tearing the metal even more before he drove off. Feeling hoarse already, Luke turned to see his companions sitting in silence. Despite what their get-up would say, neither of the two were any fun at a show like this. Jean did look pretty in her outfit, though.
Stowing that thought away, he asked her over the crowd "When's the big guy supposed to get here? That's what you guys came here for, right?"
Jean was about to reply, but thought better of it. She didn't want to scream her lungs out to be heard. So instead, she simply pointed out to the arena floor. Emerging from one of the entryways was a cloaked man, standing high with a massive girth. He had his hair done in a Mohawk and when he dropped the cloak, he was wearing a wrestler's suit. Almost immediately, Luke opinion of this mutant changed.
"Are you sure we should bother with this guy? How can you be sure that he's a mutant with super strength and not a human with a lot of weight to throw around?"
'X-genes don't lie, Luke. He has enough power to be picked up by Cerebro, so he needs to be looked at. If we can help a mutant, any mutant, we should. That's what the institute is all about.'
'What about all the fighting, training, and bitter rivalry we have with the Brotherhood that you guys didn't inform me of? A little warning would've been appreciated when it comes to dealing with unknown mutants of shady character.'
Luke had reported back several things to the Professor after his little adventure with the Brotherhood, who had promptly informed the team. While Luke learned that the team already knew of Toad and Avalanche, or whatever Lance called himself, they didn't know about Crystal or Springload. Or the fact that Mystique was drawing them all together into a team much like the X-men with an unknown purpose and agenda asides ruining the X-men.
But what bothered Luke was the fact that the X-men hadn't connected the dots on their own. It didn't seem that hard to connect when two mutants who were opposed of the X-men were housed together by their benefactor, Mrs. Darkholme. Letting it die, Luke never heard a response from Jean nor did he expect one. She stopped talking immediately if he tried to goad her into a conversation she didn't like. That pretty much meant that she would never talk to him about anything unless she was the one who started the conversation.
Back at the arena floor, the large man was introduced. As a teenager.
'Dang that's a big ass teenager. How many boxes of Wheaties do you have to eat for breakfast to get that big?'
The rotund guy picked up two chains for his performance of strength, one in each hand and wrapped around his wrist. After making sure his stance was firm, (Not that it was necessary in Luke's opinion. After all, it would take a semi to move that kid) the signal was made for the trucks at the other end of the chains to start. Spinning their tires for a split second, Luke watched in near shock, waiting for both arms to get violently ripped off of the teen as the trucks pulled forward. But the teen held his ground firmly and didn't give an inch. And then, the monster of a teen pulled both truck back towards himself so hard that they collided, which he avoided by jumping well over the trucks. When he landed the tires popped underneath him and the trucks groaned from the new burden.
"Now that last part was cool. That's the only thing I couldn't have done."
Logan turned to his student and grunted. "Throwing trucks around is out of your range kid. I've seen you throw a few hundred pounds around, but trucks like that would pull you apart. This kid, big as he is, is the real deal."
"I wasn't talking about the trucks, Logan. I was talking about jumping that high when I weighed that much."
Before Logan could comment on that, the large teen performer began his bows, but was thrown off balance and tumbled into the dirt below. The crowd immediately began laughing, jeering at the show's main attraction, who they had all been impressed and scared of a few seconds ago. Funny how one thing could change the fickle mood of the crowd.
The mutant stormed out from the arena floor, anger plastered all over his dumb face.
'At least he didn't trip again.'
The show was over after Fred, (or the Blob, whichever he went by) so the crowd began to disperse and Luke watched in amazement as every last drunk made their way down the arena steps without falling. It killed him how all of them could get so trashed at a state fair, but by tomorrow, they would all be fine. A little hung over, but ok. That's why the phrase 'Iron Liver' still held weight. Because the South was full of people who did nothing but get plastered on the weekends and stay hung over all week.
Ignoring his thoughts and growing jealousy, Luke shuffled through the crowd after Jean and Logan, who didn't bother to make sure he knew where they were going. They were just considerate like that. The trio of Institute mutants made their way to the performer's dressing rooms and were greeted by the sound of smashing.
Logan went on the alert, pacing forward carefully as he made his way down the hall. The sounds stopped, and just when the three got to the source of the sound, the door shut in their face. Logan snarled and nearly kicked the door in, but turned and left. Jean followed without question, but Luke wasn't so eager to give up.
"Why aren't we gonna stop and talk to him? Did we come all this way just to see a show?"
"Looks that a way, bub. There isn't a chance of us getting to him right now. Didn't you see who was in there? Mystique has already got her clutches on him."
The memory of the woman's nail's digging into his shoulder came to mind. For someone disguised as Mrs. Darkholme and has all the responsibilities of a principal, she sure did get around a lot. Luke could respect that. But he would never show it. The woman now hated him with a passion after she heard the news about what happened at the Brotherhood home/shack. Luckily, he had been able to take a day off since Xavier understood his plight when he had to move around with aches and pains. Floating might have gotten easier since he first tried, but it still hurt.
The trip back to Bayville was in silence, which was fine by Luke. His headphones were all the company he needed. Kurt would've been nice to talk to though. Night quickly turned to day and after a few hours of rest at the mansion, it was time for morning session and school.
This morning was a similar to the last session. It was a team building exercise where two teams would be made and they would have to either capture the flag or guard the flag. The attacking team would have three people, but the DR security was set on medium and only targeted them.
Luke preferred to be the defense team with Kurt, because the other team would never win. With Luke weighing the flag down as much as he could and without Kurt's teleporting abilities on the attacking team, defense was set. Jan couldn't lift it, Scott wouldn't try, and Kitty knew better.
But on offense, like today, Luke used his craftiness to earn his flag. The setting was always in a city type area and the flag was in a building with four entrances to it. That was three to many for someone like Luke. Today, it was him, Kurt, and Scott attacking. It was simple enough. Kurt would distract Kitty while Scott got handled by Jean, leaving Luke open for the snag.
Scott came into the building on the left side, as planned. This side had the smallest amount of items for Jean to throw around, making it safer for Scott. Kurt popped in on the right, near the ceiling rafters and was about to pounce Jean to disrupt her assault on Scott, when Kitty tackled him out of the air, preparing to phase them both through the ground. In a puff of thick smoke, the two were gone.
Watching all of this from the building's skylight, Luke lifted one glass window and spotted his target. The flag was wedged in between two crates to make it hard to get out unless you were pulling from the top. With his powers, Luke could pull it from anywhere in any direction. After all, gravity was everywhere at all times. That's how the Professor explained his powers during their last session and Luke went with it.
With a swift jerk of his hands, the metal pole came flying towards his open palm. Clutching the cold metal, Luke ran off towards his drop off point, making leaps across the rooftops by lightening himself. Making record time, Luke was about to pat himself on the back when Shadowcat rose up from the ground in front of him and leaped forward.
Without thinking, a pulse of gravitational force blew Kitty away, who was still solid from her jump off of the rooftop. If it wasn't for the fact he was in pain and he was sure he had caused a great deal of pain, Luke would've laughed his ass off when Kitty's face met that pulse. Clutching at his chest for a second as he caught his breath, the muscle-powered mutant jacked up a wet cough of blood into his hands. Ignoring that for the moment, Luke rushed over to her and made sure she was all right.
A few tears rolled down the preppy girls face as she bit her lip to hold back a cry. Her face was terribly red and her nose was the worst. A small trail of blood was leaking down it, instantly tearing at Luke's consciousness.
'It may be broken. Damn I wish I hadn't done that. Freakin' nerves are making me jumpy.'
In a matter of seconds, the simulation died and the team all assembled around Kitty. While Storm, the morning overseer, carried Kitty off to the med bay with Kurt, Scott rounded on Luke. A glow was barely concealed behind his visor, and if Luke could see past the red tint, he was sure he would see anger.
"What was that for, huh? Is it that important that we capture a stupid fake flag that you'd hit Kitty like that? Or do you think it's funny? This has all been one big laugh to you, hasn't it? If we're such a joke to you, then why don't you just leave and go back to whatever it was you did before? We obviously aren't up to your caliber and are holding you back, so what's there to stick around for?"
Oh hell no. Scott was not about to rant on him. It was not the time of day for this kind of thing, nor was it Scott's place to lecture. Stupid leadership complex must've gotten to his head.
"It was an accident, Scott! You think I wanted to smack Kitty like that? You're mentally challenged! She jumped me, I panicked, and then she wound up hurt. If it was intentional, she would be across the room right now. And if you think that I'm not taking this seriously, then maybe you should loosen the strap on your goggles because you've lost oxygen to the brain. My life is on the line every day now until I find the woman that wants me dead, so I am taking this seriously. But if you don't want me to be one of your precious little 'X-men', then I won't. I'd hate to see the big bad Cyclops get angry with me."
Luke's tone as he defended himself and took shots at Cyclops didn't go unnoticed by Scot or Jean, who decided to speak her piece.
"Your hand is covered in blood and you say it was an accident? You hit her in the face! People don't accidentally try to knock someone's block off whenever they get jumpy."
"Maybe you don't, but I do. Ninety percent of the people who scare me or attack me want me dealt with, so my response isn't that over exaggerated. And I didn't punch her. I let off a pulse that she collided into. The blood is just what I coughed up from that pulse. If you guys insist that I was trying to pick a fight with Kitty, then by all means, do something about it. Oh, my bad. I forgot something. You can't."
And with that little piece said, Luke strode past them, bumping Cyclops on the shoulder as he past by. Then, the leader of the X-men did something very stupid. He took a swing at the back of Luke's head. Jean was shocked by what Scott did, but not as shocked as when she saw Scott go flying back in a tumbling ball. Turning back to Luke, who looked rather calm at being hit even though Jean could see the knot on his head forming, she glared at him before slamming into him with a telekinetic burst that sent him skidding back on his heels.
Luke turned to his new attacker and said one thing.
"Bad move, Red."
The next thing Jean knew was an overbearing weight pressing down on her, smothering her in it's pressure. She collapsed to the floor as more pressure built on top of her. It was getting harder to breathe and white patches were growing in her vision. He chest burned to get more air into it's lungs, but the weight would not have it. Her attempts to push back were futile, with her distraught clouding her powers. Before the world grew black, a flash of red erupted and the pressure was gone.
Tears streamed from her eyes as Jean caught her breath and blinked at the fight in front of her. Scott was mad, opening his visor as far as it would go as he tore into Luke with his laser vision. But despite the power visible to Jean, Luke was holding his own by merely standing there. The laser was being held back by an unseen force that fluctuated. The laser would creep forward, then be pressed back. She noticed this was in measure with Luke's breathing and promptly informed Cyclops telepathically before collapsing back on the floor.
Scott felt the faint whispering in his mind as Jean told him about Luke's protection. Remembering what he knew about Luke's powers, Scott started marching forward, still firing as strong as his visor would go. Luke felt the pressure increase, but didn't worry. In a few seconds, his arm muscles would regenerate and this would all be over. Scott wouldn't even feel it. But Scott saw his attack wasn't pressing through, so he decided to escalate.
Maxing out the limit on his visor, he came forward and noticed with much relish that Luke was being pushed back. The non stop attack was wearing down on Luke, who's breaths were getting raspier and raspier, blood leaking from his mouth and down his chin a little. It started to pool a little in a red puddle at his feet. But Luke was far from done, kicking the floor and sending a shockwave of gravitational repulsion that stopped Scott from walking forward, if only for a second. That second was all Luke needed.
Capitalizing on his regained arm function, Luke began to pace forward, arms in front as they repeatedly pushed back the red beam in rhythm with the forward thrusts he made. The two mutants met in the middle of the room and as Cyclops tried to bear down on Luke, he found himself unable to. Luke merely reached up and placed his hands on Scott's brow. Cyclops eyelids became heavier and heavier as they shut and he was unable to reopen them. Blinded, he lashed out violently in front of him but found nothing.
Luke seized the opportunity to grab a hold of Scott's flailing appendages and restrain him violently, throwing him to the floor and pinning him.
"Now you listen here, you stubborn little prick. You may be older and the leader of this little team, but you don't run this show and you don't run me. If Xavier has I problem with me or how I do things, then I will gladly leave and apologize to him. But you need to get over yourself. I'm not here to hurt anyone, but if you want a fight, then I will bring it to your front door like the pizza delivery guy. Do we understand each other?"
Not a single thing was heard from Scott, not even a grunt.
"I'll open your eyes up when the Professor gets done talking."
The old man in the wheelchair rolled in right on cue, with Logan not far behind to scoop Jean up and out of the room. The man didn't say anything as he rolled over to the two teens. Not a single emotion was displayed on his face as he came to a stop. Scott seemed to sense he was there, but didn't say a word. That was probably for the better.
"You two sure seem to have hit it off rather nice this morning. Care to explain what happened?"
Neither of the two guys replied.
"Come on now. Don't make me dig it out of you. Because if I had to, I may just end up leaving you two with the notion that you were 6 year old girls that still wet the bed."
Luke kept his silence, not knowing whether or not the man was bluffing. He knew Cyclops was gonna cave in a second anyways.
"I'm sorry Professor. We got carried away over what happened in the session. It was my fault for starting it."
The man was about to nod and urge the teen to continue on, when Luke cut in, voice full of spite.
"It wasn't your fault for starting it. If you hadn't have swung on me, then you would've been a pushover. But it is your fault for making me mad enough to make you swing. You aren't being noble or heroic by owning up to this. You're being a suck up. Grow up a little."
Scott's jaw clenched shut like a vault door in Fort Knox, but the Professor was the one to defend his student.
"So if Scott isn't right, then are you? Who do you think caused all of this, Luke?"
Gritting his teeth, Luke fought the urge to knock the man out of his stupid chair on wheels.
"I think you caused this, Professor. You have us do morning sessions, compete us against each other, Kitty tries to get the jump on me to win, but I hurt her on accident. Scott goes ballistic, I make him even madder, and then we fight. Everything me, Kitty, and Scott did was all basic reactions to the circumstance you put us in."
"Very good. I'm glad you came to that conclusion. But the real question here is, are you comfortable with that? Are you comfortable to the fact that I am testing you in such a way? I'm not denying that what we do here is dangerous in its own way, but can you handle this?"
Luke didn't know what to say. He was sure that the Professor was gonna snap and kick him out. He never expected the man to turn it back on him. What was he supposed to say? If he said yes then he was a jerk to the ninth degree. If he said no, then he probably would have to leave.
Without a word, the teen strode off from the two, tapping Scott on the head as he left to let the boy open his eyes again. He exited the Danger Room and headed over to the locker room, or more importantly, its sink. Cutting the water on, Luke spat out all the residual blood still leaving a bad taste in his mouth. Rinsing and gargling till he felt better, Luke changed into normal clothes and went back to his room for a shower. The question Xavier asked was still ringing in his head, almost making Luke wonder if the man was still asking him telepathically.
Marching down to the kitchen, Luke was met with the full team assembled over cereal. How nice. Ignoring them, Luke went to the pantry and busied himself pretending to look for something. There was only 4 more minutes until time for school anyways. Leaving the pantry with a oatmeal bar, Luke turned to the fridge and pulled out a full carton of milk. Glancing at the table, Luke saw a half-empty one that needed to be drank first. If only there wasn't 4 hostile teen mutants hovering over it.
Placing the full carton back, Luke hissed at the strain his arm was feeling. Even though his arms were fully functional, they were incredibly painful to move around. Turning to the table and grabbing the milk, Luke tipped it over and poured milk into his glass. Or he tried to. Not a single drop of milk came out.
Setting it back on the table, he turned to a very rough looking Jean, who was staring at her toast vacantly. She couldn't be the perpetrator. Staring at bread crumbs was way to distracting for her to block the milk telekinetically. The others on the team didn't have the ability to freeze the milk or hold it back in the container. So that meant a new mutant was among them, or his powers were acting up.
Leaving the milk, Luke capped it and put it back in the fridge, digging out a Dr. Pepper to chug down instead. The current company was killing the mood for his drink, so he left and went back to his own room. He had to grab a jacket and his bag anyways. Checking the time, Luke went down to the garage, ready to leave the mansion, even if that meant he had to go to school. That was a scary thought, once Luke stopped to think about it. But it was staring at the empty parking space that reminded him his bike was trashed.
'Shit. So that means I gotta ride either Scott or Jean to school. This is gonna be a long morning.'
The other four mutant students came to the garage without a word, but the look that Kitty gave him was a little reassuring. She didn't look mad or upset, but maybe a little scared. 'Not that I can blame her. I'm sure she's heard what happened by now.'
Luke knew that it was going to alter any kind of developing team dynamic between him and the others. From now on they would see him as a powerhouse and stronger than them. But he wasn't. If Jean hadn't given that warning push, then she could've hit him over the head and dropped him. But she didn't know just how serious Luke got when he had to fight. Scott didn't know it, but his optic blasts did push Luke back for a bit while his arms recovered. If they hadn't healed back as fast, then he would've splattered Luke across the walls.
And even if circumstance did allow Luke to 'win', he still felt like he had lost to a bulldozer. He hurt all over, especially his heart. While the most dangerous muscle to use, Luke knew it was his most powerful. Scott had pushed him that far and Luke was going to be feeling it for a long time. Luke knew he wasn't the strongest guy around, but he also knew he wasn't a pushover. There was no way his pride would let someone like Scott beat him over such a stupid reason.
Smiling back at the younger girl, Luke dropped his face back to neutral when Jean started talking. She wanted a truce, or at least temporary peace while they were at school. Xavier didn't want the kids to expose themselves and if they fought, then that was bound to happen. She didn't have to tell him twice. He could hardly move, let alone fight.
"That's fine. I understand if you guys aren't happy with me or whatever, I'm sure I wouldn't be in your shoes, but no hard feelings or anything. It was all an accident and I think we should just bury the hatchet, so to speak."
3 out of 4 agreed, while the fourth just stayed silent. Luke was fine with that. If he wanted to be a baby over this, then he had every right to.
"So how are we getting to school? Is there a bus or something that comes by here?" 'Please let there be a bus. I can't stand being around Mr. Prickly over there and it'll only make him madder if I ride with Jean all the time. Plus, it's not like she really forgave me for choking her out like that.'
"Yeah, there's a bus that comes by here really early in the morning and after 4th period. If me and Scott are busy after school then you guys can ride it back here instead of waiting on us. But didn't you have your own ride Luke? I remember Logan saying something about there being two motorcycles in the garage now."
Rubbing the back of his neck, he tried to explain the best he could without really explaining. "There was an accident. So no, there's no bike anymore. I'll have to get another one soon. Maybe this afternoon."
Letting the subject drop, she looked over to Scott, who nodded. Scott hopped in his convertible with Kurt not far behind him. Glancing at the small room between Kurt and Scott, he shot a look of permission over to Jean. She nodded, and he happily climbed into the backseat of her van while Kitty giggled away in the front seat. She turned back and looked at him, her eyes bright now.
"So you and Scott, like, really got into it in the DR, right? You and him got into this big argument over what happened and stated fighting? So that must mean you're really strong if you walked out of there fine."
"Trust me, I'm not as fine as I look. And yes, we did fight. But what did you think happened in there?"
"I dunno. One second I was jumping at you to drag you through the floor, and then the next thing I know I'm on my butt and my I fell like I was hit by a wall. I don't blame you or anything though. I could tell by the look on your face that it was accidental."
Luke smiled at that and let the conversation die as the vehicle made it's way to the school parking lot. Stepping out of it, Luke eased his way over towards the main building just as the first bell started ringing. Arriving at class in time, Luke sat down in his seat and glanced over to Crystal, who was pretending she hadn't noticed him.
'Oh please don't let her still be upset over the other day. What's she got to be mad about? She freakin wreaked my bike and left me skidding on the ground. I need to ask if it's still in their yard.'
Before he could speak, a shadow descended on him as a pile of papers and worksheets slapped down on his desk. His teacher was daring him to say something, but Luke kept his mouth shut about all of the make-up work. After Mrs. Barnes had gotten out of earshot, Luke leaned over and whispered "Hey, do you still have any of this stuff? There's like 15 pages of work here."
For a single solid second, she didn't respond, then the blonde girl finally looked over.
"Nope. We had to turn it all in yesterday. But don't worry to much. It was easy enough for me to finish in a class period so I'm sure you'll be done in your 3 days. But if you're willing to pay the cost, I could take a second set of notes for you so you can focus on the worksheets."
Bullcrap. She had the most shit-eating grin he had seen in a while. He knew if he asked then he wouldn't get an actual answer, so he decided to do the smart thing.
"Ok. Thanks a lot for that. I figure that things would be weird between us now, but this is cool. I don't want to make us being enemies personal. We can still be friends right?"
Crystal ignored this and focused back on the board to begin scribbling way, but Luke could see the slight upturning of her lips in a smile. Getting back to his school work, Luke began marking away at the multiple choice while wondering what all she had in mind for him. She had already tricked into skipping a class and that was as a new friend/fellow comedian. Now that he was her friend/rival jokester/enemy, how much farther would she go?
The rest of the morning slipped by rather quickly as Luke was burdened with all his make up work. Lunch was an eager break for the teen until he saw the new faces in there. The big guy from last night, Fred Dukes or whatever his name was, had a full tray of food and looked ready to vacuum it all away. But Luke was more worried about the other new face sitting in a corner table with Lance and Todd. Terrence was at school today, after finally being enrolled by the principal. The new student looked up and caught Luke's stare, but merely smiled as if he knew something Luke didn't and went back to his food. Suddenly, Luke didn't feel hungry anymore.
Making his way to his normal table of him, Crystal, and whoever sat with her, the mutant felt his neck hairs stand on end for a second and ducked despite the complains his burning muscles were giving him. Looking back, Luke saw that the table Fred had sat down at overturned while a bunch of football players were covered in crappy food. Angry, they began to throw the food back at the large target and an all out food war erupted. Glancing around at his surroundings in the chaos as adrenaline began dulling the aches of his body, Luke dove under a table and tilted it up on its side, covering him. Crystal made her way back there as well, food covering some of her face. Luke just laughed as she rubbed it off and flicked it at him.
Terrence stood up from his spot and nodded to his two new teammates. Toad scooped up a rather hard roll and handed it to Terrence who wound his arm back like a pitcher. Lance began to concentrate and let a small tremor roll through the room as his eyes rolled back in his head. It disoriented most everyone in the room, but no one knew the source. The table Luke was hiding behind collapsed just as Terrence threw his roll on target and ran out of the room, looking pale.
A few seconds before the small quake, Luke had grabbed Crystal by the shoulder and maneuvered her to be right in front of him so he could get most of the food off her face. She had done a pitiful job on her own, so Luke decided to help her out. When the table fell down, neither had time to react before the roll collided with the back of the cheerleader's head and knocked her straight forward into a viscous head but of Luke's nose.
"Shit! Oh for crying out loud, what is your head made out of, rock? My nose…" Luke whined, while Crystal merely rubbed her forehead and giggled a little.
"One of the many reasons people call me crystal is because of my hard head. That, and I'm flawless."
"Did they mention you can be bought on nearly every corner for less than a dollar at the right vendor?
Once again, Luke's natural instinct to verbally lash out had scored. Not a word was said by the blonde as she turned to see the food fight come to an end. Pushing herself up, she turned to Luke to see him already standing and cleaning himself off, despite the fact he was never tagged with food. Glancing down while Luke was busy watching everyone else, the cunning girl saw some mashed potatoes to scoop up and smear into Luke's face. And she would have done that, if not a hand catching her wrist in a steel tight grip. Starring down at his rival in prankertude, Luke simply ticked his tongue wile waving a finger in her face like a child.
"Did you actually think I would take my eyes off of you?"
If she were any other kind of girl, Amanda might have just let that one die along with the faint blush on her cheeks. But she wasn't, so she had to open up her mouth to say something back. Luke had another idea however and simply put his finger in front of her lips, shushing her. Until she bit him.
Stepping back and shaking his stinging finger, he glanced at the proud cheerleader in front of him.
"I guess you're this freaky for all the guys who put things near your mouth, huh?"
Faintly, but ever so present, Luke's conscious decided to pipe up and say that maybe he shouldn't have gone that far. But he didn't care. Leaving the flabbergasted teen, Luke left the cafeteria as Jean began to leave as well, with Scott not bothering to hold the door for him along with her. Ignoring this, Luke went to History, and once again resumed make-up work. The class soon ended leaving the teen with a problem he had yet to face.
His computer class was empty when he looked inside the room, but as soon as he stepped inside the class, the door shut behind him loudly. Turning, Luke caught sight of his teacher and was already swearing.
The teacher was a young woman, probably in her late 20's with dark hair that rested past her shoulders and was rather tall. Luke still had to look down, of course, but not as much. She immediately pursed her lips and began her rant in an annoyingly condescending tone.
"You are either an incredibly stupid child, or an amazingly ignorant fool. To let a simple note deter you from even knocking on the door or asking the main office if I was here is utterly irresponsible on your part. And then you have the gall to simply not attend school yesterday, as if to avoid any disciplining for it. I'm not sure how any other teacher would handle this, but I will simply not stand for this. Sit down and don't open your mouth for anything until you are out of my classroom."
Rolling his eyes and blatantly defying her last statement, Luke asked "Where do you want me to sit?"
She didn't answer, her dark eyes revealing exactly what she wanted to express to Luke. So Luke decided to take a seat exactly in front of her desk. Glancing around at the rest of the class, Luke asked again "Where is everyone? The tardy bell should've rung by now."
At this, the teacher sat down in her plush chair and snippily informed him "You are the only student I have in this class right now. The other students either transferred or are in alternative school right now."
"So it's just me and you right now? Why would they even have this class if only one student is taking it?"
"This class is required by the state but is normally taken by 9th graders here. So everyone here has already taken it. But since it was on your schedule at your old school and you haven't finished the course yet, the councilors decided to place you in here. You and some other boy your age, Terrence. He's in my morning class, however. He was much more enjoyable than you are turning out to be."
Ignoring the jibe at him, Luke merely sighed at his lucky escape from Terrence. If they had the same class together, then he may as well just give the school a check for all the property damage they would do. His teacher returned to silence as she typed away at her school board.
"What am I supposed to do now?"
His teacher sighed exasperatedly, pulling open her desk drawer to grab what sounded like a near empty pill bottle. Popping the top on it, she poured two small round pills out and downed them with a single gulp. Placing the bottle back and glaring at her one and only student, she replied dryly "Nothing. Just sit there and be quiet."
Luke took the hint to shut up with a grain of salt, letting the lack of noise appease the woman before disrupting it by drumming his fingers on the desk. The faintest of twitch in her finger gave away just how annoyed she was to Luke. He stopped for a moment, then began again faintly humming. The twitch persisted, but the woman refused to glare at anything asides her monitor.
'One last piece. Then she'll flip.'
"Lollipop lollipop, oh lolly lolly lollipop. Badum dum dum…"
"Shut up! Shut up right now or go to the principal's office. You are so infuriating!"
Luke just smiled sweetly at his teacher before commenting off-handedly "You know, you never did introduce yourself to me. As a matter of fact, I never introduced myself to you either, so I apologize. I'm Luke Hensley."
Needless to say, 4th period was the longest period of the day for Luke, as well as his favorite. But when it was over, Luke soon found himself in a problem he hadn't faced before. As he left the school building, he spotted Crystal heading over to her car, and he also saw Kurt making his way towards a bus. He was now torn between either hanging out with her, or his teammates/housemates. And even though he was supposed to live with those guys, Luke was learning that their company wasn't the same as Crystal's.
Taking off after the blonde, he caught up to her just as she made it to her car and stopped her from opening the door with his hand. She turned and looked at him, before forcing the door open with her surprising amount of strength.
"Hey, no need to be like that. I was just wondering if I could ask a favor? I'll owe you one or something."
This gained all the attention Luke needed to quickly position himself comfortably in her front seat as she sped down the road, her destination uncertain. She glanced over at him every now and then to see what he was thinking, but his blank look kept him in the clear.
"So I was thinking that since my old bike is probably folded in half in a river somewhere that I should get a new one. I also thought that since I was getting a new one, it might as well be one that the chicks dig. And since Kitty and Jean are the only other girls I really know around here and they're busy, I decided to ask you."
They both knew that the last statement was a lie, but neither dared confess it.
"You want my opinion on what bike you should get?" To say she was confused by this would be an understatement.
"It's only fair since you wrecked my last one."
"Technically, you wrecked it by driving over those sharp and pointy rocks." She just had to point this out.
"And we all know that you grew those rocks out of the ground with the intention of me doing just that. And that's a pretty cool power. You can make rocks sprout up wherever whenever." The casualty at which he addressed her powers was unnerving. He had already figured part of it out with just one demonstration.
"Oh please. My powers are not that simple."
"They never are."
His cryptic answer led to the silence that filled the car until they arrived at the only dealer in town that handled motorcycles like Luke had had. Stepping out of the car and strolling over to the Kawasaki line-up, he turned to his companion and asked "Please tell me you aren't a Harley-Davidson kinda girl? I hate those loud things."
The lack of reply didn't concern Luke as he made his way through the line-up until he hit the model that was the same as his, give or take a few years.
"Found it. You like this one, right? I used to pick up all the girls on this thing in Virginia. But then again, those girls just wanted to ride somewhere to do anything. So I need to ask a girl with a little class if she likes this one. Maybe I should've come here with Jean after all."
Finally, he provoked words out of her. "Fine. I'll just leave and you can call her up here. If she's not still being raped by that fat guy."
Luke turned to the pissed blonde and questioned seriously "What are you talking about? What's that Fred guy doing with her?"
Crystal shrugged her shoulders and put her hands on her hips. "I don't really know. I just heard around school that she was being all friendly and that he left school with her. He probably took her being nice as being hit on, but whatever. He's her problem for now."
Rather than be worried, Luke remembered just how hard he had been hit this morning by Jean's warning shot.
'No way she can't take him. She's got that in the bag, if she's actually being attacked or whatever. Plus Scott practically stalks her everywhere, so Fred doesn't really stand a chance.'
Turning back to his motorcycle of desire, he asked once again "So do you like this one or not?"
She walked over and looked at it for a moment, before nodding her head. "Yeah, this one's cool. It's better than the other one over there because it doesn't look like a 4 year olds. This one will do."
Grinning, Luke walked over to one of the men patrolling around outside that had ignored them so far and asked "Is the guy that deals with Kawasaki gone for the day or is he still in?"
A few minutes later, he was sitting down with Crystal in a comfy chair while an older grey-headed man began clicking away at his computer. Luke had already filled out his order, so to speak. The man had to check the registry to find a motorcycle to match his description, get the exact price, order it over to this dealership with all the paperwork, then sell it. It made Luke glad he didn't have to work at a job like this. Or anywhere at all for that matter.
Amanda glanced sideways at Luke, wondering inside her head just who the guy beside her was.
'How could a kid younger than me afford another motorcycle to replace the one I destroyed? Is he really all that rich from being a hired out mercenary like Terrence? And why does he want me here with him? I wrecked his bike in the first place, so why would I be here for him to buy the next one?'
The man turned, probably wondering about how Luke could afford this as well, and told Luke that they had found his motorcycle in Pittsburg and that it would be delivered here by the end of the week. Seeing as that was all they could do, the two left and returned to Amanda's car. The sun had gone down surprisingly fast and the last of the day's light was shining straight in Luke's eyes, despite the fact that the sun was on the other side of Crystal.
Thinking about why that was, Luke turned over to his insane driver and bit his tongue to keep from shouting. She was sparkling. And in more than just his mind playing tricks on him because she was pretty. She was genuinely sparkling.
"When did that start happening?"
She didn't say anything for a second, but replied back "Last week when I learned what I could do. I've been covering it up with make-up, but I doubt that it'll help much longer. And then I'll be a freak."
Luke opted not to say anything for the rest of the ride home, but when they arrived at the mansion, he asked her to stay out in the car and wait on him. Something about a present that would make them even.
After waiting for what felt like an hour, Luke finally emerged from within the building, cleaning his ear with one hand and holding something behind his back in the other. Opening the car door, he jokingly said "I think you should owe me now. I just got chewed out terribly for not helping Jean and grounded forever, but I got what I wanted."
With that, he threw what appeared to be a watch from behind his back. She caught it in her hand and examined it for a moment. It looked like a standard women's athletic watch. At his urging, she put it on.
"There. Now hit the button on the side and look at yourself in the mirror."
She did as instructed, mystified by the tone in his voice and odd instructions. She soon saw why Luke was being so mysterious. He had made her stop glittering. Jumping out of her car, she slid over the hood and grabbed Luke into a tackle of a hug that knocked him off his feet.
"You're so cool for this! I won't have to worry about school or cheerleading anymore. I can be normal!"
"Yeah yeah. The watch can be turned on or off from the side button, battery life is 10 years, waterproof, blah blah blah. The point is that you owe me now. So get up and go home and let's forget you just tackled me."
She helped him up before punching him in the arm.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it. To anybody. No one knows about those watches so if you tell anyone, we will destroy your's. Now have a good night."
Luke walked back inside to the mansion as Crystal drove off like a maniac towards her own home.
'And I thought today was gonna be bad.'
AN: I am so sorry guys. Really. I could not begin to describe how bad I feel for waiting an entire month to update. But there is just cause, with spring break, state testing, my English teacher, being sick, my English teacher, and some internal problems involving my English teacher. But I'm back on track, I already have notes on the next chapter and while you read this I may just be starting up on writing it. It's gonna introduce another OC that I like and further push how far I can make my characters go before I stop torturing them. I realize that Scott may have seemed weak in this chapter, but Luke is just that strong. I never intended for him to be a weak character. But I will say this. If Scott would have split his beam into multiple shots, Luke would've been toast. But that's neither here nor there. If anyone doesn't like the fact that I made Scott look bad, well don't worry. I doubt I could get away with it anymore. Song Title's from Bad meets Evil. So until next update, see you guys later. Big Wi11is, out!