Roomies R Us

[Jacinda Blake]

Jacinda had left Professor Rhee's session for the day and was heading back to her shared room, early. She didn't feel like heading to one of the common area's, she was feeling a bit tired. Although, in retrospect, her session had been a success, she had learned that, to a degree she did have some control over her abilities. So long as she remained calm.. She wasn't sure what would happen the next time she was frightened or upset and she didn't want to think about it either.

She opened the door and let out a sigh. None of the other girls were in. She was still dying to talk to some of the other students about their unique situations. Just to see if they had gotten into any messes like she had and how they had handled them.

Jacinda flopped onto her bed and staired up at the ceiling. She missed her sister. She wondered how the little twerp was doing. Lucy had always been close to her and she hoped that her little sister remembered the good times that they had shared and didn't share her parents sentiments about how there was something wrong with her. She lay there long minutes until she heard footsteps coming up the hall. She wondered briefly if it was someone she knew, but she didn't have any psychic mutant abilities, she would just have to wait and see..

[Tess Abrahams]

Tess Abrahams had not expected a class structure to be so brutal. Having been homeschooled her entire life, the young girl was used to tackling subjects at her own pace and then plodding through them, the freedom to do extra research or take a break always available. It was an awkward shift to go from such leniency to the whirlwind of being bustled from class to class every hour and a half. By the end of the day Tess was almost dizzy.

Which was why it was a blessing that her final class was gym. It gave the athletically-inclined mutant a chance to let any residual tension go. Today they had played field hockey, and though she'd never tackled the sport before, Tess had found the aggressive competition a delightful release. Of course, it meant that she was now drenched it sweat and rather flushed but such were the sacrifices that had to be made. Tess had never put much stock in beauty.

She was not pretty, not in the commercial sense. But Tess Abrahams had inherited the delicate face of her mother and the dark colouring of her father; combined they left her with a fresh-faced openness that was compelling. With a frame that was in top form after years of conditioning, Tess managed to pull off a tomboy charm that promised to mature into something decidedly more dangerous with time.

"Ouch...ouch...ouch..." A scrape on her knee from a particularly bad tumble made Tess wince with every step, but she was smiling happily beneath her messy nest of brown hair. As she neared her room the girl pulled her almost-undone ponytail down, letting the long brown mass fall about her shoulders. All the girl could think of was stripping off her dirty shorts and t-shirt and stepping into a hot shower...

"Oh." Tess paused in the doorway, her hand on the knob. It made sense that she had roommates--there were three beds in the room, after all--but it was the first time Tess had ever seen anyone else in the room. She studied the girl, staring mostly out of surprise, and then shook out of her reverie and gave a small wave. "Hi. Um, I'm Tess. This is my room. And yours too, obviously. Nice to meet you...?" She trailed off, not knowing the striking girl's name.

[Jacinda Blake]

Jacinda sat up, swinging her denim clad legs over the side of her bed. "Hey, nice to meet you, Tess. I'm Jacinda."

She recognized the girl from a class with Professor Rhee earlier. She had been a bit too unnerved to look around too much. Some of the other students abilities were quite openly visible and she didn't trust herself to not stare, everything being so new to her. However, she had noticed Tess, mostly because she had been sitting with Carlos and he was a familiar face. She thought she remembered them chatting, maybe they were friends? That would be a good thing since she already liked Carlos a lot.

"I think we had the same class early this morning with Professor Rhee? I was the late arrival, although there was so much going on at the time I think I sort of snuck in. You're friends with Carlos, right?"

[Tess Abrahams]

Tess smiled warmly and nodded. "Yep. Him and Marty--you know, Marty right? Batdude?--they were sort of my welcome commitee when I got here a few weeks ago." She shut the door with a backwards kick and crossed over to her wardrobe as she chatted. Tess removed a clean set of sweatpants and a worn t-shirt, which she tossed onto her bed before stretching out on the floor.

"So where are you from Jacinda?" Tess asked as she arched herself into a bridge. She stretched out her back, and then pulled her right leg flat against the arch of her spine, hooking the ankle on the opposite shoulder to keep it in place. "You don't mind if I stretch, do you? I don't want to gross you out or anything..."

[Jacinda Blake]

Batdude? Jacinda had no idea who Marty was, but she was sure she would need time to mentally prepare for someone named "Batdude". She rolled onto her stomach on her bed and pillowed her cheek on her folded arms at the foot of the bed so she could maintain the conversation with Tess.

Tess was a marvel, Jacinda couldn't believe that even with a mutation the human body could bend like Gumby. She couldn't help but be amazed, rather like watching the contortionists at the Circus, but far and beyond even their skill.

"Nah dosen't bother me, I caught you stretching a bit earlier and already got over my freak out." Jacinda smirked.

"I'm a local from New York, upstate." Jacinda felt the need to come clean to someone. She wanted to see if she really could let her fellow class mates know what she had done and still find acceptance at the school.

"Did you happen to catch the news the other night about the weather anomaly?"

[Tess Abrahams]

By this time Tess had rolled herself up like a cinnamon bun and had to twist her head up to look at Jacinda. Her face was slightly flushed from bending her neck in such a position but she certainly didn't look uncomfortable. "Yeah, I read about it online."

Unfolding slowly Tess shook her head. "It just goes to show you that global warming is a major threat. I mean, the amount of flooding in Cambodia is up thirty percent in ten years, polar bears are facing extinction in our lifetime, New York is being havoced by hurricanes." She snorted angrily. "We have got to get our emmisions under control and start instituting some serious Mother Earth love."

[Jacinda Blake]

So the school hadn't let on about what had happened at all. Jacinda buried her face in her arms then peeked up, tension furrowing her brow. "Yes to the first, yes to the second and agreed. New York however.. that was my doing."

"Upstate New York, Apple Valley to be precise. It was Homecoming night at my school. My abilities picked that night to make an appearance. I thought the FBI was going to haul me off and have me shot. God, it was horrible."

Jacinda rolled over onto her back, not wanting her new room mate to see her upset and figuring she could hide it. It had been scarey waking up in jail, like some kind of demented crack killer, but it been far worse in the gym. She hadn't meant to scare her friends, or damage anything but the more they surrounded her, the more they tried to get her under control the more terrified she had become, losing what control she had. Now that she had had a while to think on it, she had come to the conclusion that her abilities had been on a sort of auto-pilot protecting her, blowing people away from her she perceived as a threat..

"Anything like that happpen to you, Tess..?" Jacinda asked quietly.. She knew that a lot of the students had gone through bad times with family and even the government who mostly wanted them quarantined and studied.

[Tess Abrahams]

"That was you?" If she hadn't already been sprawled on the floor, Tess surely would have ended there so real was her surprise. She looked solemnly at Jacinda with this new knowledge; so she wasn't just a pretty face after all.

Questions nagged at her curious mind, but it was obvious that Jacinda was embarrased and probably hurt about the events. Tess decided to answer her question first, to break the ice and let it be known that they were all freaks here.

"I got kicked out of the Olympics." she replied, bitterness creeping into her voice. Tess stood and, clothes in hand, went into the closet to change. She emerged, looking tense. "I was--am--a gymnast. I'd been training for years, you know, special diet and seven days a week with my coach. It was brutal. But I qualified for the Games."

Tess sat on her bed, crossed her legs and began to pick at her toenails. "Anyway, after I qualified me'n my coach decided to enter a local meet, as a sort of reprief from all the training we'd been doing. I wasn't taken it seriously and during my beam routine I took a fall. Landed on my head and my neck twisted."

She paused. "It should have broken, everyone knew it should have. So then the rumours started going around and pretty soon I was disqualified and barred from any and all gymnastic events. They called it cheating, in the politer circles."

[Jacinda Blake]

If there was something that Jacinda knew a lot about, it was the kind of pressure people could put on you when they wanted you to be the best. With her it had been school. The pressure on her from her parents to attend an Ivy League school as both of them had, was paramount on their minds everyday. Jacinda hadn't really minded, it was just what she was expected to do and would have..

With Tess, it had been the Olympics. Jacinda knew what those athletes put themselves through to be the best. She could only imagine that it had crushed Tess to be disqualified, never mind considered a cheat. She frowned and sat up. "Let me guess, the fact that you could have died or wound up paralized for life, never mentioned right? Just a bunch of 'She's a Mutant, quick run!'"

She knew she sounded cynical, even bitter. Maybe she was. It was one of those things that time was going to have to heal, but having someone to talk about it with was definately a good first step.

"Ahhh.. forget it. We are here now, right? At a school for the Gifted and we can be ourselves, that is the point, isn't it? To learn to live with the abilities?"

[Tess Abrahams]

"Yep. Whether we like it or not." It was meant to be lighthearted, but there was all too much truth in the room to allow the words to fall as lightly as intended. Tess shrugged and offered a wry smile to Jacinda.

It was almost noon and the room was hot, even with the windows ajar. Outside a beautiful day was passing. On a whim, Tess looked over at her roommate. "Hey, do you want to go grab some food? I'm starving, and we could eat outside. It's gorgeous enough."

[Jacinda Blake]

Jacinda lit up instantly. "Sure! That sounds great, I'd love to." She hopped off the bed. Moving around to the closet door, she checked her appearance in the mirror and found that she looked a bit better now than she had when she had entered the room. The shadows were gone from her eyes and she had a smile on her face.

"Ready when you are. I'll let you lead, last time I went out looking for food I almost killed Carlos. In fact, that's how I met him." She laughed..

"Aside from you, he is the only other person I've really talked with, so maybe we'll run across some other students and I can cease being the new kid.." She rolled her eyes and made a face.

[Tess Abrahams]

Tess grinned and exited the room with purposeful strides; her stomach was on a mission.

"You really gotta meet Marty, he's great." She said as they rounded a corner and began to bound down the stairs. Conversation gave way then to more feminine subjects, such as Amber McGallen and whether or not she stuffed her bra. It was of some debate, seeing as how the student never wore a top fitted enough to make a clear decision.

Lunch smells drifted out from the cafeteria and more than a few mutants were already heading in. Someone had once said that cafeteria food was the absolute worst, but this had (thankfully) proven false at Cullen's. From the scent of things, macaroni and cheese was on the menu. Tess licked her lips in anticipation. "Dude, I hope you're not one of those girls who doesn't like to eat. Because I don't want to be the only one grinding."

[Jacinda Blake]

"Are you kidding me? With this butt?" She looked over her shoulder at her posterior, then back up at Tess and smirked. "Let's eat!"

Jacinda got in line and picked out a couple side dishes, mac and cheese amoung the first of her selections she also grabbed a pudding cup topped with whipped cream and a plate of french fries, squirting a liberal portion of ketchup on the side. She grabbed a soda from the cooler and balanced the lot on a tray, heading for a table while Tess finished picking out her lunch.

"Hey! Over here?!" Jacinda hollered and nodded towards a corner table. Tess nodded so she sat down and popped open her cola, tucking a straw into the can.

[Tess Abrahams]

After heaping salad greens on her plate, Tess debated at the macaroni tray whether or not to be moderate with the starches. Since it was likely that in ten years she'd not be able to eat mac 'n' cheese at all, without it going to her hips, Tess opted for a heaping spoonful. Then one more, for good measure; carpe diem!

Rounding out her meal with a bowl of cut fruits and the same pudding Jacinda had taken, Tess carefully crossed the quickly filling room and took a seat adjacent the other girl. She wasted no time in spooning a mass of steaming pasta into her mouth. "Mmm." It was good enough to induce a sigh of pleasure. "I haven't had real cheese in forever; my mom's vegan."

Manners prevailed while the girl chewed and swallowed her mouthful. Then, fork heading back down for another go, Tess asked, "So is anyone else in your family... you know, a mutant? Or is it just you?"

[Jacinda Blake]

Jacinda set her soda can down and picked up a french fry, stabbing into the ketchup and staring at it thoughtfully before she ate. "Just me.. In fact the last words I heard from my Mother were 'I hope she hasn't spread this to her little sister!' Isn't that great? Apparently I am a case for the CDC.."

She sighed and began munching the salty little grease sticks at an alarming rate. French fries clearly must be comfort food to her. She wiped her hands on a napkin, leaving them go for a minute in favor of the pasta which Tess was making look so good, she gave it a quick nibble.

"They do have good food here at least.. " She picked up her soda and took a sip through the straw, swallowing down her food.

"I don't mean to sound so glum, I know things could be a lot worse. I just feel like... I am still Jacinda Blake, I still have the same brains that got me into school, just because I am this too is no reason to act like I'm dead."

[Tess Abrahams]

Tess nodded in agreement; though her own parents were fully supportive (a lucky kindness), she was beginning to find that hers were a minority. "That's awful. You must really miss what it was like before."

A lump in her chest signalled that she had been eating too fast, so Tess placed her fork down and forced herself to sip water. After scarfing half her plate the initial ravenousness had been placated. There was time to actually taste the meal, and concentrate more fully on conversation.

"Hey... maybe this summer, if you're up to it and stuff, you could jet back to Oregon with me. My family always volunteers at this big wildlife rehab center--I promise it's not as lame as it sounds, it's actually really cool." Tess made a face. "My brother Felix is a pain, but if you came along we'd get our own tent."

[Jacinda Blake]

Jacinda didn't really know what to say. She hadn't expected to make friends so quickly, and now that she was, she felt once again that there might actually be some salvaging of her life. So what if she was a mutant? It wasn't like she was the only one, and she was finding out that they were a pretty fantastic crowd.

"I'd like that, it sounds great. Do you think the school would give me permission, it's not like I have parents who would just sign a field trip form for me."

Suddeny she was worried about what would happen when school was out. She was already a Senior. Could she possibly learn in one year of school how to live in society with her abilities? Would she be able to stay at the school? Maybe they needed a tutor or something.. Her mind began to spin and she found she wasn't paying attention to Tess.

She picked up her pudding cup.. "Sorry, I went off in my own little world for a minute. You still want to go outside? We could have our desert under a tree?"

[Tess Abrahams]

"Yeah, but let's run back up to the dorms real quick. I'm thinking that sweats aren't going to be very comfortable out in the sun." Tess shoved a last mouthful of fruit in her mouth. Grabbing her pudding, she waited for Jacinda and the two started for the stairs again.

It was clear that Jacinda was having a rough go of things, and even though Tess couldn't sympathise, she empathised. It would have been awful to have one's family against them, on top of the rest of the world. As they scaled the staircase, Tess picked up on their earlier conversation. "I don't see why you wouldn't be able to come camping. My folks have been down here and met Mr. Daniels and everything. And it wouldn't be like you were going to Indonesia or anything."

They rounded the corner and let themselves into their room. Tess quickly grabbed a pair of cotten athletic shorts and dug under her bed for the sandals that had been cast aside last week. One flipflop was procured, slightly bent from the weight of a textbook. Tess looked without success for it's mate. "D'you see another shoe like this anywhere?"

[Ghost]

As Jacinda turned to join Tess in her search, a sudden icy chill ran up her spine.

[Jacinda Blake]

She wasn't sure but Jacinda thought she had seen a stray shoe under her bed earlier that day, she turned to hunker down and look, but she suddenly shuddered.

"Ugh.. you go ahead and change I think, I'm going to keep my sweater. " She scrunched up her shoulders, a creeping sensation stealing over her. She sat on the side of the bed and had an uneasy look on her face like she had just been given bad news, but it passed quickly and she knelt on the floor, pulling up the cover. She spotted the sandal and waved it in the air like a victory flag.

"This the one..?" She smiled..

[Tess Abrahams]

Poking her head out of the closet, where she'd retreated to don a fresh pair of shorts, Tess nodded. "Ha ha, yep! Thanks."

Jacinda lobbed it over and Tess caught it, slipping it onto her one bare foot. After a moment's thought she turned and rummaged about in the closet, digging under a pile of clothes and sneakers. From under the mess a neon green frisbee was rescued, held up by a grinning mutant teen. "Just in case we get bored."

Tess eyed Jacinda and her sweater doubtfully. "You sure you don't want to change? It's like seventy-five degrees out there..."

[Ghost]

On the wall behind Jacinda, a faint shadow appeared and closed in upon her, then disappeared. In her hair, she felt the touch of gentle fingers.

[Jacinda Blake]

Whatever Tess had been asking Jacinda had been lost. She was frozen, mouth slightly agape. Half of her wanted to spin around and ask Tess if there was some kind of mutant Peter Pan's shadow person that appeared suddenly on the wall of their room, but she was unable to move. She wasn't exactly afraid, so much as in shock.. Time seemed to slam into a standstill along with Jacinda, she couldn't say how long she stood there, frozen stiff, not breathing, she was sure that she felt something brush through her hair. Positive, in fact. She was not given to bouts of imagination, something was going on..

..and she couldn't move..

[Tess Abrahams]

At first Tess tried to convince herself that she'd imagined the looming shadow figure. It was a trick of the light, something to do with the way the sun streamed in through the window and the breeze blew the curtains.

Of course it was much harder to believe when Jacinda was rooted to the ground, an expression of mute horror on her face.

Tess swallowed thickly, her heart thumping so hard she felt momentarily dizzy. The two girls stared at each other, both breathing in short gasps.

"Jacinda," Why was she whispering? Tess's eyes flicked to the door. "Let's just go. Quick."

[Ghost]

The silence was suddenly broken by a loud, piercing ring. The alarm clock on the bedside cabinet sprung to life, its bells clanged so violently that it trembled across the wooden surface of the cabinet and fell off. It crashed to the floors and broke, splaying its mechanical innards across the bedroom floor.

[Jacinda Blake]

The sudden unrelenting ring of the alarm clock jolted Jacinda out of her petrified state with the accuracy of a bucket of ice water. She jumped, sucking in a long denied gulp of air and turned toward the offending noise. She heard Tess, and she agreed. They should go, but Jacinda was still watching the alarm clock like it might jump off the cabinet and bite her. When it crashed to the floor and smashed to bits, she reacted much like any other high school aged girl would in the situation.

She ran, grabbing Tess on the way through the door, they both ran down the hall like the were escaping a particularly scarey haunted house at a Fair, rather than their dorm room. It was only when they blasted out the front doors of the school and spilled outside did Jacinda start laughing.

"Oh.. my.. God!" She doubled over, gasping for breath from the scare and from the mad dash out of the school.

"Did you see that?!" Of course, they both had.

Jacinda wasn't as scared as she was making it seem. She was more curious than anything. "Tell me that was some trick Carlos was playing on us?"

[Tess Abrahams]

A sort of giddy relief spilled over Tess as they burst outside, and she shook her head at Jacinda's query, laughing too hard to answer. There was nothing funny but the giggles still spilled like water from her lips. Jacinda's laughing only fueled her own and Tess waved her hands frantically as her stomach began to hurt.

"I-i-it better not have be-haha-en!" Collapsing onto the ground, Tess wiped sweat from her forehead. "Oh man, oh man. That was weird. I swear I thought I saw..." The sentence went unfinished, as it's truth threatened to end the relieved humour of their escape.

"... d'you think we ought to go check? Make sure Carlos isn't up there laughing his butt off?"