Chapter 4

Hours had passed and Ellie had not moved from the front door. She sat on the floor, her small body curled up tight as her sad eyes focused on the deep red wall beside her. The house was quiet without Eli and she hated it. Why did she have to tell him to go with Charles and Kitty? She sat quietly, regretting her decision to let her brother leave her when she heard a distinct "poof" on the other side of the door.

Half excited and half nervous, Ellie stood up and faced the door. Her already ripped jeans tore a bit more over her thigh as she pressed her body against the door. With a deep breath, she aligned her right eye with the peep hole in the door. She furrowed her brow when she saw a cloud of colored smoke and a basket on the front door step. Ellie pushed back from the door and started biting on her thumb nail.

She was curious to see what was inside the basket but she had no way of telling if it was a trap that someone had set for her. After all, her brother was just discovered as a mutant hours earlier, so couldn't the same be said for her? No, she hadn't used her powers since they had arrived in Bayville, so that mustn't have been it.

Without a second thought, Ellie tore open the door, grabbed the basket, and shut herself inside the house once more. She locked the door and carried the basket into the kitchen, setting it on top of the counter. She bit her thumb nail once again before opening the basket. She was confused at its contents.

Inside the basket was a thin black, watch like device that had a large red X on the front where the face should have been. Ellie set this aside before pulling a large wad of cash from the basket. Her blue eyes widened as she flipped through the green stack, the image of "20" and "10" showing every few seconds. After setting this aside as well, she noticed a jug full of water and a couple of sandwiches. A note stuck to the side of the basket caught her eye, and she read it to herself.

"Ellie, these are a few gifts from the Professor. I told him that you had no water, so he has made arrangements for the city to turn it on for you tomorrow morning before school. He's such an awesome guy, huh? I sent you all of the money that I had in my bag when I left because the Professor will be giving me an allowance, so you should have it. It's really awesome here El, there are tons of mutants here. I think that you would really like Mr. Logan. I'm not sure what his mutant power is yet, but he reminds me of you. Oh! The watch looking thing is actually a communicator that links you to me. Just push the X in the middle and I'll answer when I can. I really miss you Ellie. I'll see you at school tomorrow morning. I love you El. -Eli"

Ellie held the note to her chest as she forced herself to calm down. She looked at the generous gifts that were in front of her and nodded to herself. This confirmed that the Professor was a decent man. Her stomach grumbled and she grabbed one of the sandwiches for herself.

The Brotherhood House

It was an early Thursday morning and the Brotherhood house was filled with the sound of grumpy teenage boys. Pietro sat in the living room, anxiously shaking his foot as he watched his housemates move from room to room to get ready for school. Pietro scrunched his nose up at Fred who walked passed the living room and into the kitchen wearing only his boxers. Todd leaped into the room, joining Pietro.

"Aw jeeze, Toad! How long has it been since you've showered?" Pietro asked as he waved his hand in front of his nose. Toad sniffed his shirt.

"About a month," he admitted. Pietro rolled his eyes.

"Are you losers almost ready? I swear I could have gone to China and have been back before any of you were dressed!"

"Shut up Pietro," Lance spit as he leaned against the open door frame. Fred waddled into the room behind him.

"Yeah, why're you in such a hurry to get to stupid school?" Fred asked. Pietro zipped around the room at lightning speed before stopping in front of Fred.

"Because Blob, today that new mutant should be in school. Did you all forget about our plan to snatch them away from the X-Men?" Pietro asked as he looked around at them.

"As if anyone would leave that cushy mansion for this dump," Lance said before crossing his arms.

"Yeah, I hear they have huge rooms over at that institute, yo," Toad added. Pietro ran toward him and swatted him in the head.

"Ow!" Toad yelled as he clutched onto his greasy hair.

"Remember, we are looking for anyone new with the last name Dingo, alright? If you see them, come find me, got it?" Pietro told them.

"Yeah, whatever. Let's go," Lance said, unimpressed with the plan. The boys followed him out to his jeep and sped off down the road.

"I have no idea where I'm going," Ellie thought to herself as she nervously walked down the street.

She gripped the straps of her backpack as she passed an elderly man who smiled at her. She ignored his friendly gesture and hurried past him. She rounded the corner and noticed a few boys huddled around a Bus Stop sign. Ellie was not sure if this was the school bus route and she did not want to ask, so she waited for a moment. The sound of screeching tires caught her attention.

She watched a green jeep speeding down the road with four teenage boys yelling at one another in it. She raised her eyebrows as they flew past her, impressed that such a small jeep could carry that big of a boy in the back. The sound of a bus opening its doors pulled her attention from the jeep. The side of the bus read "Bayville High" so she hurried up and climbed on.

Ellie bit her bottom lip as she scanned the bus for an open seat. Her heart started to beat quickly as she noticed none of them were open. The bus driver cleared his throat.

"Sit down kid," he told her. Ellie glared at him before nervously looking around again.

"You can sit here if you want," a brunette boy said a few seats away from her. Ellie sized him up for a moment before reluctantly sitting next to him.

"I haven't seen you on the bus before. Are you new?" he asked. Ellie shrugged, not looking at him.

"My name is Bobby Drake in case you were wondering," he stuck his hand out to her. Ellie sneered at his hand before looking at him.

Bobby was an average looking teenage boy in her eyes. His brown hair could have used a quick brush through it and his khaki pants sagged a bit exposing his blue boxers. He had a sweet smile but Ellie was not going to make an attempt to befriend him.

"Do you talk like ever?" he laughed. Ellie sneered at him.

"Do you shut up, like ever?" she shot back, mocking him. He laughed and smiled at her.

"I like your sense of humor!"

"I take that as a no."

"Can't you just tell me your name?"

"Why?"

"Why not?" Ellie hesitated.

"Ellie. Ellie Dingo." Bobby's eyes lit up.

"Wait, do you have an older brother?" he asked her.

"No. I have a twin brother," she corrected him. He smiled.

"So you're the infamous Ellie that Eli can't stop talking about." Ellie perked up.

"You know Eli?" she asked quickly. He nodded.

"Sure do. He lives at the Institute with me. I'm like him, you see," he explained. Ellie's eyes widened.

"What can you do?" she asked him in a whisper. Bobby looked around impishly before balling his hands together.

Ellie watched him closely as he started moving his hands together. After a few moments, he parted his hands and a spiked ball of ice was revealed. Ellie examined the frozen figurine before smirking to herself.

"No wonder I don't like this kid," she thought to herself as she imagined herself torching the figurine.

"Cool, right?" Bobby asked, obviously impressed with himself. Ellie shrugged.

"I've seen better," she said before standing up. Bobby dropped the ice out of shock from her comment as he watched Ellie walk off the bus.

Her dirty white and black sneakers hit the pavement hard as she stepped off the bus. She looked around at the girls that were walking around the outside of the school and she raised an eyebrow. She was sitting in what appeared to be a sea of exposed midriffs and cleavage. She looked down at her own attire.

Her deep red t-shirt hugged her body but it covered her stomach, and her jeans fit her well, but they were torn in a few places and drug behind her sneakers a bit. The black hair tie that clung to her wrist left a small indentation on her skin from being too tight, but at least she could pull her hair up if she wanted to. The other girls did not look like high school kids, but she sure did. She pushed a few strands of her hair behind her ear, before walking into the building.

Ellie held her class schedule in her small hands as she looked around the hallway. Her first class was Advanced English, and she had no idea where to even begin looking for her classroom. Without a moment to think, Ellie was pushed into lockers, her schedule falling onto the floor. A large blond boy with a varsity jacket held a football in his hands and was laughing. He looked at Ellie unsympathetically.

"I almost missed that pass because of you, kid," he told her. Ellie sneered at him.

"Why are you throwing a football around inside anyway?" she spit back at him. The boy noticed her schedule on the floor and smirked at her.

"Listen newbie, I'm Duncan Matthews and I run this place. So stay out of my way," he told her as he pointed the football at her. Ellie swatted it away from her.

Duncan was approached by a few boys and they started laughing. Ellie felt her hands growing hotter and hotter but she fought the urge to use her powers. The boys walked away and there were only a few people left in the hallway.

"Here, you dropped this," a very large boy said as he held Ellie's schedule out to her. Ellie looked at him a bit surprised.

This was the boy that she saw in the jeep this morning. He was very tall and had to weigh a few hundred pounds. His blond Mohawk was styled perfectly while his overalls were stained. He seemed harmless enough, so Ellie took her schedule from him.

"Thank you," she said. The boy smiled down at her.

"No problem. That loser's a real jerk," he told her. Ellie nodded in agreement.

"My name's Fred by the way. Fred Dukes," he added.

"I'm Ellie," she replied with a small smile.

"You're bleeding a little bit, on your ear." Ellie touched her pierced ear.

"I think my ear cuff hit the locker. It'll stop soon enough."

"Probably. Well see ya around." Fred started to walk away when Ellie made a quick decision.

"Fred, wait! Can you tell me where my first class is?" she asked as she showed him her schedule. Fred examined it before smiling.

"Sure that's right down the hall, room 122 with Mrs. Graines. She's really annoying, be sure to be on time or you'll have hell to pay," he told her. Ellie smiled at him when the late bell rang.

"Great. Well I'll see you around Fred, thanks a bunch!" Ellie said as she ran down the hall. Fred waved at her before walking down the hall.

Ellie walked into her first class quickly and stopped in the doorway when the teacher stared at her. The entire class turned toward her, curious about who she was. Mrs. Graines glared at her.

"What do you want?" she asked. Ellie stiffened.

"I'm new," she said as she held up her schedule as if that proved it.

"Sit down back there. For future reference, be on time to my class." The students chuckled as Ellie walked to the only open desk in the room.

She dropped her back pack onto the ground and sat down on the green plastic chair. She noticed a silver-haired boy was sitting next to her with his chin rested on his fist. He was staring at the blackboard with a bored expression on his face but his knee bounced up and down beneath his desk. Ellie jumped when the teacher spoke.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce yourself?" she asked, her hands on her hips. Ellie stood up from behind her desk.

"I'm new. I just moved to Bayville," Ellie said unhappily.

"Do you have a name?" Mrs. Graines said, annoyed. Pietro turned toward her now.

"Ellie. Ellie Dingo," she replied. Pietro dropped his hand to his desk and raised his eyebrows.

Ellie sat down quickly, her eyes narrowed and focused on the teacher. Pietro studied her now, hard. Her blonde hair fell to the small of her back and her long legs were stretched out under her desk. He squinted at her, making sure he took in every physical detail of her from her chipped fingernail polish to the small freckles over her nose. His eyes widened when he noticed an X-Men communicator strapped to her right wrist.

"Gotcha," he thought to himself with a smirk.

A/N: Any thoughts? Anyone? Thanks to the few of you who are reading this, it means a lot! Hopefully you are enjoying it.