2 February
Panic. –n.1. a sudden overwhelming fear, with or without cause, that produces hysterical or irrational behavior, and that often spreads quickly through a group of persons or animals 2. an instance, outbreak, or period of such fear –adj. 3. of the nature of, caused by, or indicating panic 6. suddenly destroying the self-control and impelling to some frantic action –v. 7. to affect with panic; terrify and cause to flee or lose self-control 8. to be stricken with panic; become frantic with fear
Rogue was waiting for something to go wrong after the incident with Alison the earlier night. She hadn't left her room for dinner like she said she would, but she also didn't get the chance to play with Alison's powers, either. She wasn't sure if it was because her powers wore off that fast or if it was because Rogue spent the rest of the night in relative silence.
Unfortunately, nothing really went right the rest of the night, either. Thankfully, most of Rogue's classes that doled out the projects left most of the time for working on them. For the most part, the school day was relatively peaceful.
One incident threatened to tear that peace apart and throw it away like garbage.
Rogue wasn't thinking when it happened.
She was in a pretty good mood, despite the ominous voice she was trying to suppress in the back of her head. It was a nice change after the dismal mood she was in the day before. For some reason, that good mood translated to a more outgoing personality than she'd ever tried before.
"Oh, hey, Anne, how's it goin'?" Rogue asked. Anne, a short black-haired girl, was a freshman stopped at her locker between classes. She was crouched low to pull the heavy books from the bottom of her locker to transfer them to her backpack.
She looked up from where she squatted, her hair falling into her face to make her expression unreadable.
Rogue continued: "Am I gonna see you at the club tomorrow night?"
Anne let Rogue's question hang in the air for a moment. "Who are you?"
Rogue was confused for a second until she realized what was happening. She took a full step backwards, crashing into a passing student, in alarm. The force of their impact caused Rogue to spin around, but the passing student only stumbled. He threw her a disgruntled look before continuing on. No skin to skin contact, at least.
Rogue turned her attention back to Anne. "Ah – Ah'm so sorry!" Rogue said quickly. What was she supposed to say? She named Anne, she couldn't say it was a mistake. "Ah …" Rogue turned quickly, disappearing behind a couple passing guys to get away. She got halfway down the hallway before she realized she was walking in the wrong direction.
Pulling off to the side of the hallway, Rogue leaned against the brick wall to take a breath.
Those were Alison's memories. Alison was friends with Anne. Alison could expect to see Anne almost every weekend she sang, leading a growing group of people that enjoyed her music. Ally was good at singing and word was quickly spreading. There was just something so special about Alison's shows.
Rogue didn't have long to collect her thoughts, and whatever thoughts she did collect may not have even been hers. She needed to get to her next class. She only had a few seconds left until the bell rang. When Rogue passed Anne's locker again, she was gone.
"Hey, you okay?"
That was Veronica's voice. Veronica was Rogue's friend, right? Rogue turned around to greet her, but found herself surprisingly short of breath.
"What happened?" Veronica questioned.
"Ah jus' made a big fool of mahself," Rogue replied. She followed Veronica into the classroom, settling in beside her.
"Yeah? How so?"
"Ah … Ah dunno. Nothin' big. Ah jus' thought Ah recognized someone in the hall an' said hi. Ah jus' lost mah marbles over it."
"Dude, that's it?" Victoria laughed and clapped Rogue on the shoulder. "She'll forget about it by tomorrow and life will go on."
"Yeah, Ah guess so," Rogue conceded. She wasn't so sure. This was a little more than a simple mistake. Would Alison stay in her head forever now, too?