Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men, or any other property of Marvel. I have super-breaking-my-hands powers. The power to break my hands on command… or by accident. It's notable, but it's not really the most convenient superpower, to be honest.

Chapter 18: People Person

Flying exam day, the last trial for one of my elective courses. Everything about it seemed very familiar. It was lot like the Field Day test, right up to how hard I crushed it. I could have flown the plane we used with my eyes closed.

I hopped off with a pep to my step that a lot of the others that had gone before me hadn't had. Mr. Wagner got off of the plane behind me, making his last marks on the sheet he was using to grade me, "Zat is very good flying, Bellamy," He commented as we walked back to the rest of the class in the hangar.

I was so ready to be done with this class. It was the final test I had to take before I was finished for the semester, "Tell me I got an A."

Mr. Wagner laughed, but gave me the answer I wanted to hear, "You got an A."

It really wasn't fair to grade me to the same standard as everyone else. I broke the curriculum. Our teacher wasn't expecting to teach a student who would wind up being an ace by the end of the semester.

"BAM!" I shouted out loud, firing two fists full of light high into the air, "Thank you, sir!"

I had to take my victories where I could get them. Things weren't great. I still missed Miss Pryde, and we weren't any closer to finding a way to get her back, but we were assured that she was still alive, so there was a chance we could get her back someday. You had to try and put a positive spin on these kinds of things.

Once the test was done, I headed out of the hangar and for the elevator that took people back to the upper levels of the Institute.

My tests were finished. It was like a weight being lifted from my shoulders. Now I didn't need to worry about anything academic and could finish getting my summer plans set up. I was to head home for a few weeks to spend time with my family, but I'd be back at the Institute soon enough.

That was for later, though. Now, I had a get-together to troubleshoot for. I was really excited to get things underway. All I had to do was make sure the year-end party I had a hand in went off as well as possible, and that would be it.

Once I dropped off a stack of goddamn paperwork to Mister Summers, every responsibility I had to the school was fulfilled. I could then fully focus on debauchery.

When I got to the office though, I found some classmates of mine had gotten an early start on their debauchery.

I opened the door to find Noriko and David from the New Mutants behind the desk, breaking into Mister Summer's computer. Their stealth left a lot to be desired. Then again, Nori walked around with electric-blue hair. Subtlety definitely wasn't her thing.

I didn't say anything at first. I shut the door behind me, and waited. Nothing. Eventually I ruffled my papers. Both of them looked up like spooked deer in a forest. I tried not to laugh and keep a straight face. It was hard, "What the hell are you two doing here?"

David barely reacted, stoic, intelligent fucker. Noriko was the easiest to rattle – more expressive, "Bellamy. What are you doing here?" She inquired, trying and failing to play it cool.

I held up my forms and wiggled them in the air, "I have to drop off whatever counts for my year-end evaluations for the Paladins," I honestly scowled at that. What kind of psychopath made a kid taking his exams do extra paperwork? "What the hell are you guys doing? Did you break in?"

Neither of them denied it. Both Nori and David looked at each other before the latter spoke up, "Are you gonna tell?"

I raised an eyebrow in return, "That depends. Are you trying to take over the school or kill somebody on campus? Because I've walked that far in the snow before, and I'm pretty sure this time my word will actually mean something."

At least it better have been. My word should have been bond at this point.

"We're trying to see which team is next up to be X-Men," David explained, trying to prove his intentions weren't nefarious.

I didn't get it. To me, it seemed like high risk for little gain, "What does it matter?" I asked.

Noriko seemed stunned that I didn't care, "What does it matter? What are we doing all of this training for if some of us don't wind up being X-Men somehow? Talk about a waste of time."

I rolled my eyes, "I thought the teams were put together to make sure everybody knows how to fight."

"What do you think the fighting's going to be used for?" Nori shot back to make her own point, "Expecting a lot of attacks on the school?"

Had she checked out during the one time that an attack had happened on a school-wide scale this semester? "Yes. This place has been rebuilt how many times already?" Other places didn't have to deal with things like that, and definitely not as frequently as we did, "Our normal is not everyone else in America's normal."

David interjected himself in the middle of our debate before we wasted more of their window of opportunity, "Look, I don't want to be on the X-Men. I just want to make sure no one in charge is having any ideas," He said, without looking up from Mister Summers' desktop, "My dream is to go to Harvard, not to be some kind of superhero."

Fair enough. But he seemed to like being half in charge of his team with Sofia, "Well, nobody says you can't do both," I said with a shrug, "Then again, that's easy for me to say, seeing as how I never have to sleep. How'd you even get in there, anyway?"

David looked over at me from the screen and tapped at his temple. Oh, his power to absorb knowledge and skills of anyone in range. All he would have had to do was stand by Mister Summers and somehow record however he needed to get in while he had the info muddling around in his head.

Noriko grinned and moved behind me to try and push me with her gauntlets to take a look at the computer, "Come on, Bellamy. Aren't you curious about what they think about you? You're telling me you don't want to take a look?" She was not strong enough to budge me against my will, and realized that quickly enough.

"Nope. I'm good," I said after she'd given up. I walked over to the desk and dropping my folder of papers down without going behind it to take a look. I had dealt with enough legit danger. I didn't need to see what was written about me on a computer to know that I could handle some stuff if need be, "Just hurry up. I'm not vouching for you if you get busted."

They did as I asked and dove into looking for what they were after. I kept watch for a moment out of common courtesy, seeing as how I would have been doing something against the rules soon enough myself. They seemed to be reading something or another, scrolling down and whispering amongst themselves.

"No way."

"What!? You've got to be kidding me!"

I didn't budge from my spot by the door, even when the New Mutant members seemed to be in disbelief about something. Whatever it was, it wasn't my business. At least, it wasn't until Noriko glared at me, "What? What did I do?"

She took a moment to size me up before telling me what he problem was, "How the hell are you a reserve X-Man?"

That was finally enough to bring me over, "What did you just say to me? I'm a what now?" We had reserve X-Men? This was news to me.

David turned the computer monitor my way to take a look. Despite what I'd said, they had gone ahead and looked up the briefing on me anyway. Right there, not far underneath standard things like my name, birthday, blood type, and all of that basic stuff was a recommendation that I should be considered as a reserve in case of emergency.

No one had told me about this. So it must have been in case of serious emergency. Like, an absolutely last resort, last line of defense kind of emergency.

So, you know... I was definitely going to get called in at some point in the near future. That was just how things worked around there.

"Want to see the synopsis?" David asked, snapping me out of my trance.

"No," I immediately responded, for all that my opinion on this meant.

"'Bellamy is well-suited to stressful situations; a very adaptable sort. When pressed, he is quickly able to prioritize, make decisions, and act instead of sit and wait. He has a take-charge attitude, which many of his peers respond well to. His combat abilities also do a lot to inspire confidence as well.'" David read out for my benefit, "'He is one of the most battle-adept students at the school, aside from a few special cases. In a very short time under our watch, he has excelled in several incidents where he should have been in over his head."

Noriko's nose scrunched up at the last part of that statement, "What incidents?"

There were plenty that could get thrown in there, so I listed them off on my fingers, "In chronological order, I'm guessing; getting kidnapped by the Reavers, the whole Field Day thing, and... Breakworld," I really didn't want to talk about that last one. Hisako and I barely told our teams about that hell of a mess, let alone anyone else.

She and I didn't always have the best relationship, but we were on the same page when it came to Breakworld. It wasn't some cool thing to talk about for bragging rights. We lost our teacher. We saw some terrible shit. We almost died a bunch of times, violently. Ten years down the line, it wasn't going to be some cool story we told during reunions.

Anyone that found out about it and started grilling us for details without taking no for an answer... well, a good tongue-lashing was the best outcome that they could expect.

"Yeah, we should get out of here," I said, waving the whole thing off. David and Noriko had seen all they needed to and quickly signed off before following me out. We hustled for a bit before we finally felt safe enough to slow down, "So you guys are gonna be at the 'you-know-what', right?"

Noriko seemed conflicted. It was a good chance to cut loose after a stressful time, but some of the people behind it rubbed her the wrong way, "It's being co-promoted by the Hellions. Gross. I can't believe you're hanging out with them."

Whenever certain members of both teams were in the same place, it was awful for anyone else to be around. In our spare time one day for shits and giggles, Ruth and I had worked out the worst combinations of Hellions versus New Mutants. Hisako and Eddie had overheard us and jumped in.

We wound up drawing a flowchart. It was pretty sweet, even though we had to destroy it afterwards so we didn't catch any heat from either team.

In no particular order of grudge: Julian and Noriko. Julian and David. Julian and Josh (notice a pattern here?). The kind-of-goth kid Kevin and Josh. Cessily and the quiet blonde girl Laurie. Sooraya and Noriko (entirely one-sided on the latter's side, admittedly).

High school sucks.

I wasn't about to be caught trying to defend Julian... mostly because it was appropriate for most people to have a problem with him, "They're all not so bad. It's 90 percent Julian, and as long as you hold your own, he's fine. Why do you guys have so much beef anyway?"

David let out a humorless laugh, "Where should I start?" He said, "Most of it is Julian. He's pulled us into a lot of trouble. He turned one of our own teammates against us to join his team instead. He tried to turn the whole school against Josh for being a Reaver in the past-."

Noriko picked up for David at that point, "-He treated me like shit when I first tried to come here because I was homeless. He can get away with almost anything because he's Headmistress Frost's favorite. Entitled, rich, fuckboy." She let out a grunt of frustration, "How can you stand the guy? He pulled his crap on you when you first got here."

True. But if anyone wanted to start a fire with me, I was more than happy to throw gasoline all over it. I liked certain amounts of conflict. It kept life interesting. The only thing Julian really could have done to set me off fortunately never came to pass. He had never messed with one of my teammates. For instance, had he ever started picking on Ruth -especially Ruth- it would have turned into something out of Gangs of New York.

"I can take care of myself," I believe I had made that abundantly clear to anyone who cared by now, "...Hey, have you ever actually beaten them at anything? Like, any Field Days? Head-to-head challenges? Anything?"

David scowled at the thought of being bested constantly by the Hellions, "No. and thanks for reminding me."

For a guy that didn't want to be on the X-Men, he was seemingly very salty over the team exercise losses, "Well, since you can't ever seem to fight him to get it out of the way like I did, you've gotta do it that way," I explained, "The more you beat him and prove you can do it, the more he'll fuck off."

"It can't be that easy."

Admittedly, no. There was more to it than that, "Well, I did save his ass once before too," I added, probably as an important aside, "All of you have your little conflicts and whatever. Blah," I spat to show how I felt about high school drama, "But Santo, Brian, and the others for the most part go as Julian does. If he chills out, they will too."

At least I thought so. This was not an exact science. I was no expert on people. I could only go off of my own experiences, and sound confident while doing it.

"He's probably pulling Sofia's pigtails too," David pointed out, "He's got a thing for her. But she won't date him even though she has one for him too."

"Everybody can see it too," Nori added with a sigh, "No accounting for taste in her case, I suppose."

"Oh yeah. That was probably why he started shit with me," I said, remembering those early days when I didn't know anything about the school, "He thought I was trying to sidle up to her when I first showed up," Which was crazy, as I barely knew the girl. Even now, there were plenty of people I knew better than her.

"And now you're after Pixie, right?" Nori asked, giving me a few nudges with her elbow, "Didn't take you for the type to like the sweet ones."

I rolled my eyes, but humored her regardless, "Yeah? What's it to you?"

"Nothing, nothing," Noriko waved her hands defensively, "I just think it's cute to think about you two hanging out."

"Uh-huh," I could think of many words to describe me and the things I got involved in. Cute was not one of them, "So... party? Everybody's going. Stop by, say hi to some folks, maybe grab a drink. You know, unwind a bit. Exams are over, baby."

David was thinking about it. I was about to give him a little extra nudge, when he caved, "Where is it?"

I could feel how big my smile was. Winning, in its various and sundry forms, was always good, "Exact details are need-to-know. No one's finding out until the night of, so no one blows what's left of our cover. I'll make sure to text you," I lifted my hand for the 'too sweet', but no one reciprocated, "...No? Okay."

XxX

The night of the party eventually came, and my plan had worked. Mister Summers had scrambled to get something together away from the school for he and Miss Frost to blow off some steam. When we caught wind that our number one guards would be away, we sent out the messages for the exact time and place.

People started showing up early. Lots of people started filing in once the actual time rolled around. I was giddy.

Saberwolf and Laura had contributed to the festivities by finding us a choice place. Salem Center had lots of nice property, and they were able to find a lakeside house for sale that was fully furnished from the current owners looking to sell, with running electricity and everything.

'But Bellamy,' you're probably asking, 'Won't someone call the police when they see a bunch of mutant kids getting strange in the empty house next door?'

To which I would reply, 'Yes. But we're four tree-covered acres from the nearest road, and/or would-be neighbors. Unless we set the woods on fire, there's really nothing we can do to attract any attention.'

I stood at the door, greeting people on the way in, thanking them for coming and letting them know what we had available. It was really boring, and it was here that I learned that while I didn't know a whole lot of people, a whole lot of people knew me. As in, people who I'd never had a class with, or anything, they knew my name. It stunned me. At first, I'd figured the Hellions' name recognition would have brought the people in. Apparently the Paladins had some prestige as well.

Some of my other friends had been running around, making sure everything was set up before the party started in earnest. Eddie was one of them, and hadn't gotten the chance to meet up with me when I'd gotten there. When we finally came across each other, he stared me down and seemed disappointed.

Eddie grabbed at my clothes and shook his head, "What the fuck is this? You look like you're about to hop on a stage and sing to some girls," As if that was a bad thing.

I had on some dark colored jeans and a white t-shirt underneath an open navy button-up shirt, hat firmly on my head. I thought I looked good, all things considered. On the other hand, he had on some shorts and a tank top. Skinny S.O.B… he couldn't talk shit about me.

"You look like you're about to go to goddamn pool party," I shot back. I'd taken some time to try and look good for this thing. I cleaned up well for a high school junior, if I did say so myself.

Eddie jerked his thumb in the direction of the rear of the house, "We've got the lake out back," He argued. A fair enough point, I admit, "Sun's out, guns out, Bel. You should know this. Your arms are bigger than mine."

There was a time and a place for everything. And while there was a lake, this wasn't a beach party. We were still in upstate New York, "I am the host, fool. It's my job to present myself as casual, welcoming… but a symbol of taste and-," In the background, something caught my eye, "Hey! You kick in if you want to touch the kegs! 5 bucks to drink all night! Otherwise, B.Y.O.B!" I yelled at a sophomore trying to get over with our refreshments. When he skittered off, I turned back to Eddie and shook my head, "I swear, we try throw everyone's raggedy-ass a party, and they don't even care. Where is everybody else?"

Eddie had been there even before I had, making sure everything went right, "Hisako and Blindfold are coming later with the New Mutants," He said, having kept track of our merry crew, "Julian, Santo, and Brian are helping set up. The emo kid is around here somewhere. Cessily isn't coming until later, and Sooraya isn't coming at all, as far as I know."

I thought about the out-of-place member of the Hellions. I couldn't see her walking around in the kind of place we were going to be in later, "Yeah… I guess if you're not the party type, there's better things to do than sit around and watch a bunch of drunk toddlers all night."

I felt a little bad. She was a very respectful, religious type, and she'd always been nice to me.

Eddie seemed to share my sentiment, "It's kind of a shame. I've got a feeling she's really pretty under that burka," He mused, before giving up the thought. Anything further would have been marginalizing her religion, "I'm not gonna try to strong-arm anybody into cutting loose though."

"Sooraya does not wear a burka. It is a niqab."

Both Eddie and I leapt twelve feet away when we realized Laura had been standing six inches from us for what had probably been a decent while. She kept her normal expression, but there was a lift to her brow, as if to say we were idiots.

"How long have you been there?" I asked first, trying to get my heart-rate down. From where she'd been standing, she had been right out of my peripheral vision.

"Since you yelled at that student," Laura specified, her brow furrowing as she tried to figure out just what our problem was.

Eddie levitated in place, never setting himself back down after jumping, "Holy-! I think I just shat out my heart."

There was an honest expression of confusion that I could see on her face, "You know, I'm pretty sure she's not even trying to sneak up us either. I told you before, you've gotta quit doing that," She didn't really do anything out of any sense of malice. Not since I'd met her, at least, "What's up, Laura?"

She shrugged her shoulders, hands shoved in the pockets of her little black jacket, "You told me it would be good to give this a try, but I do not know what I should do to interact during this... party," She said, "What do you think I should do?"

"Whatever you want," The way she furrowed her brow told me that this wasn't good enough advice, "I mean, we've got food, drinks. There's lots of people who are going to be here, so you can find someone you like talking to or want to be around," She just stared at me blankly after that one, "...Right. Well, you can take the party to the lake like the flying ginger will here, or you don't really have to do anything."

"Yeah," Eddie stepped in, realizing that I was struggling to explain things, "There's a big-ass TV over there, we'll have some stuff hooked up, so you can chill out and watch TV. Just relax. What do you even do for fun?" He asked, trying to reach for a straw to grasp at. Laura didn't answer him for an oddly long time, "...Oh boy. Bel?"

Way to pass the buck back to me, buddy. I put a hand on Laura's shoulder, "If you don't want to do any of that, it's fine. If you need anything, come find me," I was supposed to be playing host after all, "Hell, if you want to leave, you can. Just make sure you tell me first."

Eddie and Hisako would tell me when they were leaving. Eddie would probably stay until the end. Ruth would probably stick close to all of us all night long and leave when Hisako did. Laura was the most likely to lone wolf it, and wander off without saying a word. I didn't want to be up all night after the party wondering where a member of my team was.

Laura agreed easily enough. It made me question if she really wanted to be there, or if she was just there because I had suggested she do it. Either way, she was there, and she was my friend. I wanted her to be comfortable with where she was and what she was doing.

"Come on," I said, gesturing with my head for Laura to follow me, "We've got to order a metric fuck-ton of pizzas for this thing."

"A fuck-ton is not a unit of measurement, Bellamy."

"Pssht. It is tonight."

XxX

Music pumped in my ears and through my body as I threw back a quick shot of vodka in the kitchen and tucked the little glass back away in one of my pockets.

We'd really gotten started at 8. The party had been going for almost 2 hours, and things seemed to be well. I hadn't seen any drama yet. No one was fallout drunk yet. No property damage had occurred. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. All good things, and everything I could hope for.

When I looked out back, I found kids hanging out by the lake. Guys and girls in swim trunks and bikinis, playing around in the water. There were lights on by the water. If anything would get us busted, it would be that, but hopefully people weren't paying too much attention on the other side of the lake.

I maneuvered my way through the crowd of people inside of the house, careful not to get any drinks spilled on me as I moved through the premises to try and get outside. I had tried to take a headcount of people entering, but stopped when I'd gotten to sixty and kids kept coming. It was a moot point. From then on, I only paid attention to the people that I knew on a name basis who showed up.

A lot of people gave me pats on the back and other stuff when I tried to get through the crowd. A few almost made me stumble. I must note that I wasn't drunk. I'd only had two or three shots, far apart from each other since things got started. I had a pretty decent buzz going, but other than that, I felt fine.

Finding some of my other cohorts getting some air on the still crowded back patio, I threw my arms open wide in celebration, "I love it when a plan comes together!" I yelled, throwing my arms open wide, almost winging a porcupine kid in the face, "Whoops! Sorry, Max!"

"It's all good! Would have hurt you worse, dude!"

No doubt. Would have gotten an arm full of quills for it. Throwing out limbs half-hazardly in a room full of mutant kids. Not the best idea. Halfway bleeding out surrounded by others with music blasting would have been quite a way to end my night. It would have been strangely appropriate though

Sitting on the railing, watching over all of the proceedings, Hisako still played the pessimist, "This is going surprisingly well," She admitted, "...I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Her negativity towards anything that was my brain child was not well-received by Julian – the person that had put up most of the resources to make the party happen, "Oh, come on. Quit being dramatic. We did this right. Why does something have to go wrong?"

"Because we're involved," Hisako deadpanned, pointing her cup my way, "More specifically, because he's involved. We don't have a good track record of things going smoothly."

"I should probably be more offended by that than I am," I felt the need to say, "But that's why I've gone to great lengths to make sure nothing goes wrong."

Hisako remained unimpressed, "You goaded two people into leaving-."

"Yeah, he did!" Santo interrupted from the background.

"-You convinced Julian to buy all of the beer."

"Yeah, he did!" This time, it was Julian who yelled before quietly pulling me aside, "I'm getting reimbursed for that, by the way, right? Not that I need it, but, you know."

I understood. Even if the guy came from money, making him pay for everything would have been a dick move, "We made everyone who showed up kick in some cash. Ruthie?" On cue, Ruth pulled out a wad of cash rolled together with a rubber band, which she then threw over to Julian, "See? We good?"

"Good enough," Julian said after flipping through the bills, counting it all up, "Yeah, this just about covers it. Way to go, Marcher," I gave him a thumbs-up in return, "Where's half my team?"

Santo was easy to find, and Brian wasn't too far away. It was the others he was looking out for. I gained some respect for him trying to keep track of all of his friends.

I started listing Hellions to help him out, "Sooraya didn't come, but you knew that already. That Kevin is off trying not to touch anybody, and I think Cess is staying close to him," Which seemed odd to me, unless it was for more than platonic reasons, "Does she have a thing for him, or something?"

"Yes," Julian said, sounding annoyed by the entire affair, "But he's dead-set on that girl from the New Mutants. What's her name? The blonde one."

There was a moment of compassion from Hisako, "And Cessily is stuck on him? That sucks."

"You're telling me," Julian grumbled, crossing his arms as a dark look came across his face, "That's just one of the problems we have with those losers."

Nope. Not tonight. I nipped that in the bud in a hurry, "Ah, no," I said to the telekinetic, "This whole thing wasn't put together so you could spend the whole night raging about something. Have a drink, grab a slice of pizza, and save that shit for tomorrow."

Despite the ease with which negative emotions came to him, a quirk of a smile found its way to Julian's face, "I'm pretty sure Santo ate the last of the pizza."

"What? We got like fifteen boxes!"

"You know how many big mutants are here? You should have doubled up."

"AAAAAHHH!" I rubbed my hat around on my head in exasperation. I had gotten like a slice when I'd brought the boxes in. Now all there was to eat were chips and stuff, if there were still any of those.

Hisako clicked her tongue and wagged a finger at me, "Don't ever go to a party planning to eat, Bel. That's day one stuff, mister expert."

Oh, what would she know about it? I rolled my eyes and went along my way to check in on more of the party. When I made it back inside, I felt a tug at my sleeve before Laura slipped into my line of sight. She had taken note from earlier to try and keep from scaring me.

She seemed fine, which was good. A scene hadn't been made, so that was also good. However, I was hardly prepared for what came out of her mouth, "Bellamy, someone asked me to have sex with them. What should I tell them?"

Of all the personal things to come out and ask me…

I squinted at her and then looked around the party as though I would actually spot who she was talking about. I did not, "They asked you to what?"

Laura didn't repeat herself, instead going into better detail for me, "They did not say it in those words. They tried to be subtle," She pointed up, "He asked if I would like to go upstairs. I could be wrong."

I sighed and rubbed the hat on my head, "No, you're not wrong," Which led to why she was asking me about it. She had free will, didn't she? "Do you... do you want to have sex with anyone?" I asked.

I wasn't judging if she did. Absolutely not. After all, somebody had to get 'em some strange on a Saturday night, and more than a few obviously would. When I said the house was fully furnished, that meant bedrooms too. Poor, poor homeowners.

Laura didn't even have to think before she answered me, "No."

My response was just as instant, "So just say no," I said, as if it were obvious. It seemed easy enough to me, "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do, and you don't need any other excuse."

Especially when it came to banging somebody. 'No' should have been the only thing you needed to say to move past it.

"But-."

I pointed right in her face to stop her excuse, "Ah-ah-ah. No. There are no 'buts' in this situation if you're trying to keep somebody out of yours," I said to her, "Why would you need to ask me that?"

Laura tensed and quickly clammed up, "I... do not wish to talk about this."

Whenever she shut herself up, it was really hard to get her to open back up. If I wanted to know more, and that was probably not the time or the place for that kind of talk, I wasn't going to get it then. I gave her a pat on the shoulder that I hoped was comforting, "Other than that, how are things going? Is this too much for you?"

"I am not unfamiliar with settings like this," She said.

That wasn't a yes or a no. Such a confusing girl, "Well if things get to be too much, Hisako and Ruth are out back and Eddie is-," It wasn't hard to catch sight of my friend floating above a crowd in the living room, leading the kids gathered there in... something, "-Making an ass of himself."

Saying that out loud was the magic word, as Eddie spotted me and Laura at the back of the room. He grinned widely and gestured for me to come to the front, closer to the music. I shook my head no. He wouldn't take no for an answer.

Cupping his hands to his mouth, he actually shouted over the music and got everyone's attention, "Ladies and gentlemen, the guy who thought this whole thing up is among us! Turn around and give it up for the solar-powered man with the plan himself! Bellamy Marcher!"

They did just that. All of a sudden, dozens of eyes were all on me. Laura was smarter than I was, and quickly made herself scarce the moment people started turning around, leaving me alone with the awkwardness. Damn her. And every single one of us would have done it to another one of us. What a Paladin thing to do. She really was one of us.

I waved and smiled, moving through the crowd until I could get to Eddie, yanking him down to the floor by his pant leg to throw an arm around his shoulder, "What in the blue hell are you doing?" I hissed at him. I could smell the alcohol on him, "How drunk are you?"

"Fairly," He admitted shamelessly, "Come on, dude. I'm your hype man! It's what I do!" He defended before reaching out to the sound system to turn the music down, "Bellamy says he wants to say a few words!" He said out loud to the people.

Cheers rang out through the house, while I tried to get out of it as gracefully as possible, "What? No the fuck I didn't," Eddie backed away, leaving me among the throng of mutantkind, "I-, you-, goddamn it, Eddie," I said the last part to myself.

I never felt like I was particularly good at this kind of thing. I could run my mouth just fine, but I did the best spewing my particular brand of bullshit to a handful of people. You know, a more intimate kind of setting. There were others way more gifted at addressing crowds.

Resigning myself to my fate and deciding to give Eddie a swift kick in the backside as soon as I got out of this, I fell back on my number one piece of advice for success: fake it 'til you make it.

I cleared my throat and stood up on a footrest nearby, "Hey. How's everybody doing tonight?"

Cheers and woos went up. Always an easy way to get a response. Of course, it would have been a sad state of affairs of I had asked that and everyone had stayed silent. It would have meant that the party sucked.

"I'm gonna make this quick so we can all get back to having a good time," I said, getting some people to raise their cups in the air, "I've only been here for, what, six months? Well, I just wanted to say, even though this place scares me to death sometimes... even though it's really rough around here from time to time... I've never had more fun anywhere else in my life."

"Yeah! Xavier's!"

I couldn't help but laugh at that ringing endorsement of our school, "A lot of that is all thanks to the Paladins. I love you guys," I could see Eddie float above the crowd, hands cupped to his mouth to heckle me from across the room, "Shut up, Eddie," Some laughs at my main man's expense, "But a lot of it is all of you. Every day I wake up, I have no idea what to expect from you nutcases, and I wouldn't have it any other way. So thanks for making this the craziest semester I've had at any school. Let's do it again in the fall."

There. I kept it short and sweet, and I got a pop at the end. That's public speaking 101, folks. Say what you need to say, and get out of there. Slap some hands on the way out, look around for who it was that pinched my butt in the crowd. That whole deal.

I found Laura in the kitchen, comparing two different flavored bags of chips, "Thanks for backing me up in there," I said sarcastically, reaching into one of the bags she held to get some for myself.

Laura was completely unapologetic about leaving me high and dry, "There was nothing I could actually do to help you," She had a point. That didn't make it any better.

"Have you ever heard of emotional support?" I asked, "That would be like me ditching you in the middle of this house full of weird people and leaving."

"You did do that," Little Miss Claws was quick to point out, correctly, I might add. I couldn't help but see the way she munched on her chips afterwards as kind of smug.

I had to take a moment to try and spin things in my favor again. Thankfully, I had chips to chew on to buy time, "…I mean like, really leaving. And taking Eddie, Hisako, and Ruth with me," When Laura tensed up and stopped eating, I felt more bad than victorious, "…I wouldn't actually do that, you know. I'm not that much of a dick."

"No. There is a problem outside."

"How can you tell?" I asked, before I saw some people gathering by the windows and door at the back, "Forget I said anything."

Outside, wouldn't you know it, the full roster of the New Mutants were confronting the present members of the Hellions, down one member. I seemed to have made it just in time, as the more excitable members of both teams were moving in to get physical.

I fired a beam of light that cut into the ground between them, drawing a line, "Hey, all of you, cut it out!"

One night. They couldn't go one night without finding an excuse to get into it. I had asked everyone to be cool. Personally gone up to everyone and begged them to let go of whatever stupid grudge they had going on hold until tomorrow.

"You can do this any other time. You can't do it here. I won't let you. I don't care who started it. Whoever throws the first punch, I'm throwing the last."

"Stay out of this, Bel. This isn't about you."

"Yeah, it's time for these jerks to learn a lesson."

I couldn't make 11 people back down from a fight all by myself. I had no authority and I wasn't that badass. Even if Laura had my back, which she seemed to if her claws slowly sliding from between her knuckles was any indication, we would just make it worse.

I let the glow fade from my eyes and hands, putting up an arm to hold Laura back, "Fine. I will stay out of it. But the bouncer won't."

Noriko and Julian stopped glaring at each other to turn and look at me in confusion, "What bouncer?" The latter asked.

David was the first to spot him, "Uh... guys?" He said, pointing up to the darkened roof of the house, where my protection detail was lying in wait to prevent any problems from arising, "Bellamy, what is your wolf thing doing here?"

"Working security," Wolf spoke for himself, the sharp edges of his metal body gleaming in the light. The red eyes of his visor stared down at the riffraff, "Please disperse. This is meant to be a peaceful gathering," He requested as the chainsaw emerged from his back and started to softly rev.

A massive wolf robot created to hunt mutants was a better deterrent than one loudmouthed teenager who could throw light around. Expensive too. It took me guaranteeing him three brand new, pristine games of his choice to get him to help. And he wouldn't share them later either.

Jay Guthrie put his hands up and backed away. Good man, "I'm not in this," He said, using his wings to lift off of the ground.

All it took was one. One person bowing out. The one with the lowest threshold for it. Jay was the single most neutral member of his own team. Sooraya would have been the same for hers had she been around. After Jay sat out, the rest of the chain began to break.

First Laurie, because she really didn't have much of a taste for the inter-squad warfare. Then Josh, because they were dating. Then Kevin, because he had goo-goo eyes for Laurie. Then Cessily, because she empathized with Kevin.

Santo would get bored and wander off if too much time passed before fists started to fly. Julian would admonish him for a lack of focus, while at the same time losing his own. Sofia would blow the whole thing off once the tension broke (way to go, Santo). David would stay level and let cooler heads prevail, and he would encourage Noriko to do the same and calm down.

It worked like dominoes. Knock the first one down, the rest would follow.

As the two sides broke apart and made their way to separate areas of the party, I pulled Laura to the side and spoke softly to her, "I've got a new thing for you to do if you're bored," I said, "Stick around the New Mutants or the Hellions. Whichever ones you think you can stand the most. I still want you to enjoy yourself, but make sure nothing else kicks off. Call Wolf or me if it seems like something will."

I didn't think it would again that night – at least not with the entirety of both teams at once – but better safe than sorry.

Laura nodded and went to walk away before stopping. She fixed me with a gaze from her deep green eyes, scrutinizing me, "You lied to me."

I felt taken aback. I didn't lie any more than any other teenager, but I definitely kept from lying to my friends, "What? I never lied to you about anything," I argued.

Laura shook her head and told me her reason for saying so, "When you came to find me that evening in the cafeteria, you said that you were not good with people," She recalled the conversation we had back when she'd first been placed on the Paladins, "What you just did, you displayed an understanding of human nature and the personalities of the people around you. You knew exactly how they would react to everything that just happened. Someone who is bad with people could not have done that."

While I was always one to accept credit where credit was due, this time she was giving me too much for what I did, "Just because I understand people doesn't mean I'm good with them. I controlled the situation, Laura. I had to bring Wolf in to diffuse it," I walked past her toward the house and gave her a pat on the back, "If I were good with people, I would have been able to talk them down myself."

I appreciated her confidence in my abilities, but it was important that she had an accurate picture of what I could do. That she believed in me was encouraging. I just didn't want her to put me in a situation where I would let her or anyone else down.

But man, throwing a party was more work during the damn thing than I thought it would be. I walked around to the front and sat down on the stoop outside. There were still people around there, talking and taking a break from the smothering atmosphere inside. I could see the appeal to getting away for a bit.

A pair of arms wrapped around my shoulders. I caught the scent of a familiar girl as a weight rested on my back, "You really handled that well! At least by what I could see from the window," Megan's voice drifted into my ear, "Everyone was expecting a big fight."

"I was expecting a big fight," I said with a sigh, leaning back against her, "I'm glad I did this once, so I know to never do it again."

Megan was the single most chipper girl I'd ever met, "Oh, come on! At least you did it! Nobody else can say they pulled off something like this lately," What a bright soul, "I can't believe you got all of this together!"

"Spread the word that you've got beer, food, and everyone's gonna be there, watch the people show up."

It must have been in my words just how spent I was from everything I'd been doing all day. Running all over town, keeping things in line, "You look kinda tired," She observed.

Mentally tired? Yes. I might have actually been able to get to sleep that night. I turned my head and put my forehead against Megan's cheek, "Hey. You wanna get away from here for a little while?"

She took me up on my offer and we started walking together. She stayed on the ground as we walked through the trees, close to the lake. The way the moonlight reflected off of the water and onto her almost made her glow.

I was caught staring and put on the spot, "You look really cute tonight, Pixie," I said, using her nickname, "Should have tried to stay boo'd up with you all night instead of trying to be responsible."

Megan tugged on my hat and gave me a big, white grin, "Pretty cheeky, aren't we? Hitting on me and taking me away from the party like that. Most guys are just asking girls to go upstairs instead!"

When she put it that way, it did sound like I was trying to get in her pants, "Oh, you know me. I'm just a big overachiever," She pulled my hat down over my eyes and I laughed, "I didn't even mean it like that. Not that I wouldn't be down if you were interested."

I was just playing around with her. We'd gotten pretty close, but I found it odd that she hesitated, "…You wouldn't have anywhere else to take us if we did leave," She said. There was an implication there, and it wasn't lost on me.

It made my eyes go wide. Was she serious? If there was even a chance, I had to probe the possibility, "I don't really have a roommate. Just Saberwolf, and he's here keeping watch over the place."

And were it to lead to me getting laid, I would lock his metal ass out for the night. Without a moment's hesitation. He would be fine. He could sleep in the common area. He would understand.

…No, He wouldn't.

He would get over it though. I'd just up his bouncer's fee from two new games to a Nintendo Switch.

This was going well. It was going too well, actually. I'd dodged too many bullets today. Logic dictated that something was bound to come up that would screw me over. It had happened way too much for me to just be blindly optimistic.

I wasn't the only one who felt that way apparently. Megan started glaring at nothing in particular, which started making me jumpy.

"What?" I asked, looking around as though I would be able to spot whatever it was that had her on edge, "What is it? Did someone blow up the house? Set the woods on fire?" It would have been just my luck.

Megan's nose wrinkled up, as if she were daring the world to try and throw something distracting at us to ruin our privacy, "No... I'm just waiting for something to butt in on us,"

Both of us stood there and waited quietly for several seconds, anticipating some kind of interruption. A text. A phone call. A friend running up to us. An inconsiderate drunk busting us out on getting close. Nothing.

Was the Lucy that was the universe finally going to let good old Charlie Brown Bellamy kick the football? I decided to take that gift and run with it.

"Fuck it, I might as well," I muttered to myself.

Megan looked back to me in confusion until she caught on to what I'd been going for, "Oh," She said quietly, reaching up to wrap her arms around my neck, "Yeah, you should."

I leaned in, closed my eyes, and finally got my goddamn kiss. It must have been pretty good, because Megan didn't rush to end it. She pressed herself against me, and I was more than happy to hold her there while we tied tongues. I heard her wings beat in the air a few times before we finally broke apart.

Megan kept her eyes closed for a few seconds and stayed on her tiptoes savoring the moment before finally cracking an eye open to look at me, "You taste like vodka, Bel."

How embarrassing. She tasted sweet to me. It was a shame I couldn't return the favor, "Sorry."

Had I not been slightly lit before heading outside and then got sidetracked several times, I probably would have popped a stick of gum first to clear the alcohol taste.

She stood back and crossed her arms, seemingly judging the kiss, "It wasn't bad though. And aside from that, you're a really good kisser," She admitted with a big smile and a rosy blush, "I'll give you a solid B."

I could feel how stupid the grin on my face really was. It didn't matter. I was a winner tonight, "That's the most important exam grade I got this semester."

"Second-most important, maybe," Megan corrected, giving me her hand to grab hold of, "Weren't you going to 'take me upstairs'?" She asked with a wag of her brows.

Yes. Yes I was. And valuable time was wasting.

A gentleman wouldn't go into any further into the evening's details, so I won't. I will say, however, that I didn't make it back to clean up after the party. On my way back to the dorms with Megan, Saberwolf was informed via secondhand text that he could find another place to sleep that night.

Also - and this is a handy piece of information for you girls with superpowers - did you know that there's no such thing as a 'walk of shame' when you can fly?

...Goddamn it, I love this school.

That's the chapter, and the end of the semester at that, ladies and gentlemen. There were lots of good times, and plenty of bad as well, but-.

…Oh dear Lord, I just had to hold myself back from making an Extraordinary Times jokes. Let's wrap this up before I say something I can't recover from.

I'll have more stuff later. Until then, I hope you enjoyed.

Kenchi out.