The More the Merrier

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna hummed softly to herself, elbow deep in sudsy water as she washed the lunch dishes and watched her kids in the back yard. They were supposed to be picking beans for dinner, but an impromptu game of tag seemed to have erupted in the middle of the chore... instigated by Jamie, no doubt.

Jennifer Cho fell into a heap on the uneven grass of the lawn, tickling Jamie while the girl screeched. Someone else was up the big tree, no doubt trying to figure out where best to put the tree house Ronnie and Scott had been attempting to convince Anna they needed. She didn't mind that the beans were forgotten - it was good for the teens to remember to be kids once in a while. Most of them had grown up much too fast.

The early summer afternoon looked so delicious she couldn't wait to go out and join them. But first, the dishes. And then she had to drive to the airport to pick up a new resident for the house. Someone Vipul had recommended to her - a young man from Cullen's Institute who needed a place to stay in LA while he figured some things out.

She hadn't even hesitated before saying sí, realmente! Anna set the last dripping wet plate on the drying rack, and pulled the plug on the sink. Drying her hands and arms, she called out the back door to the teenagers, reminding them that Tess was going to be home soon and Vipul was in the living room if they needed anything.

Five minutes later she was rattling down the road in the van, still humming.

[Carlos Calaveras]

From a bench on the pavement outside of Los Angeles International, Carlos watched the steady stream of traffic go by. Sedans, station wagons, SUVs and taxis – all of them picking up passengers, in various states of weariness, and their baggage. He didn't see the cars, so much as the absence of one particular car: his own, a Camaro '69 with tacky as hell flames on the hood. The fact that he wasn't driving into Los Angeles with Jacinda Blake in the passenger seat was something of a sore spot for Calaveras though it was hardly a surprise, for a guy with such notorious bad luck. With a frown, he stuffed a pair of white headphones into his ears and soon the bassline of the Dead Kennedy's California Uber Alles was drowning out that train of thought and all the sounds of the happy reunions going on around him.

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna managed to find a spot to pull up to the curb near where she could see a young Latino man moping. From what Vipul had told her, this had to be Carlos. "Hola!" She called out the passenger side window, unfastening her seatbelt as she put the van into park. "Are you Carlos? Calaveras?"

She popped the door open invitingly, waving him over.

[Carlos Calaveras]

In a world of his own, the seconds passed by until a persistent waving at the edge of his vision caught Carlos' eye. He blinked, abruptly realising that the woman hanging out the people-carrier was waving at him. Yanking out his ear-buds, Carlos crossed the path to the parked van. Vipul hadn't said much about the matriarch of Redencion House, but what he'd said was enough.

“Anna?”

The woman in the drivers seat nodded, smiling brightly, and Calaveras slid into the passenger seat, stowing his bag at his feet.

“¿Qué onda? It's good to meet you, at last.”

[Anna Fernandez]

"No mucho, y sí, it is good to meet you as well, Carlos." Anna smiled at him, using a bit of concentration to lower the temperature inside the van back down to a comfortable level as they pulled away from Arrivals. "I hope your flight was okay?"

She looked over at him, then checked the road next to her to make sure it was okay to change lanes. "Is that all you brought?"

[Carlos Calaveras]

“Travellin' light,” Carlos answered with a small smile and a shrug. He had arrived at Doctor Cullen's Institute with little more than the clothes on his back and a rucksack full of CDs and comic books that he had steadily traded away to other students. In the silence that followed, Carlos stared out at the cars drifting from lane to lane, as a shimmering heat-haze rose from the asphalt.

“Nice day out, huh. You think anyone will be at the house, when we get there?”

[Anna Fernandez]

"They were when I left," she said. The freeway was busy, but not jammed, and they were making good time. "The other teens have summer jobs, but I think the stars aligned and almost all of them have today off. So you're in for quite a welcome."

Anna looked sideways at him, then returned her attention to the road. "I'm not sure how much Vipul has told you about the House..?"

[Carlos Calaveras]

Carlos' eyebrows lifted at the mention of summer jobs. The kids at Doctor Cullen's institute barely left the school grounds, even during summer. A rare few – those whose families hadn't disowned them – would go home during the holidays but the majority boarded for the whole year, under the care of John Rhee and the rest of the faculty. He tried to picture the students working, and all he could see was Damien and Marty sitting, grinning, behind cash registers at Walmart.

“I'm not sure how much Vipul has told you about the House..?”

“Uh, not a lot. Mostly how different it is to Cullen's, you know? He said the kids here go to a normal highschool..?”

[Anna Fernandez]

"Si, Redencion House is not ...it is not like a boarding school at all." She smiled. "It is a second chance for mutant teens, which is why I chose the name. If you are of school age, you go to school. Most of my kids have been abandoned by their families to the system, and Redencion is the last stop for them. Either they make it with me, or..."

Anna's voice trailed off, her tone sad. "Or they don't. So, yes, this is about as far from a prep school as you can get. We're not talking scholarship kids, most of the teens you'll meet are already criminals and a breath away from living under a bridge."

She shook her head lightly, and chuckled. "Lo siento, sometimes my thoughts run away with me." Anna looked at Carlos, her slim shoulders shrugging a bit. "But, as I'm sure Vipul told you, the House is home not just to teenagers. Anyone who needs a place to stay is welcome under my roof, as long as there are no drugs, and their mutation is not a danger to the other residents."

She paused, and added, "And no gang stuff, either."

[Carlos Calaveras]

“No gang stuff,” Carlos agreed with a nod. He wasn't sure just how well known his connections to La Raza were, but he was almost certain that Pedro wouldn't be trying to call him up as a soldier any time soon. The two brothers hadn't spoken since Carlos had taken off to join the Cullen's Institute.

“You get any.. hassle from the gangs?”

[Anna Fernandez]

"You could say that," she said, turning on her blinker and changing lanes to get into position to take her exit. "I will be honest with you, we are in a tough spot right now. Tres Once, the local gang, has decided that it doesn't want a house full of mutants and mutant lovers on its turf. I've remained neutral, of course, but there is a mutant gang that has taken offense to the 3-11's position and has taken a lot of their territory - including my neighborhood.

"Things are fairly quiet right now," Anna added. "But I can understand if this makes you feel uncomfortable about staying at the House. All I can say is we watch out for our own...and would expect you to do the same. As an adult living in the House there are some unspoken responsibilities, like watching out for the teens and trying to be a good example to them."

She didn't like talking about the gang activity, and had to work at not making it too cold inside the van as her stress response triggered her power. Taking the exit, the van rumbled on towards home, the faded paint job on its side just barely proclaiming it to be from Redencion House.

[Carlos Calaveras]

The hairs on the back of Carlos' neck rose as he felt a slight shift in the temperature. He rubbed one hand absently against his bare upper-arms. Though it wasn't exactly publicly acknowledge, the faculty and students of Doctor Cullen's Institute were no strangers to uncertainty and instability. Whether they were contending with the out of control powers of a new student, or jetting off around the world to go toe-to-toe with mutant terrorists, they had seen more than their share of danger.

“That's no problem. The professor's always had us look out for the younger kids, anyway.

“Say, you have many people at the house who are my age?”

[Anna Fernandez]

"Si," Anna said, smiling. "My brother Jake is just a few years older than you, then there's Aidan, and Tess. Say," she added, stopping at a red light and looking at Carlos. "You probably know Tess already. She went to Cullen's at one point."

[Carlos Calaveras]

“Tess?”

Both eyebrows arched upwards. Tess Abrahams had been Jacinda's room-mate and – along with Chris 'Ghost' Wilde – their accomplice for a great deal of mischief. Unfortunately for everyone else involved, Tess had gotten into a little more than mischief with the Brotherhood. It'd been a while since he had spoken to her, though Carlos had the impression that she and Jacinda still called and texted eachother from time to time.

“Seems like everyone from Cullen's is making the journey west,” he added, shaking his head.

[Anna Fernandez]

"The East coast isn't for everyone," Anna said diplomatically, "And the nature of a boarding school is that usually the students are from other places and usually return to them."

She pressed on the gas, the van rumbling back into motion and jostling its inhabitants back and forth a bit. "You are from southern California, yes? So this is a home coming for you. Of course they are always tearing down landmarks and building new shopping centers, so it probably all looks different."

Anna turned right onto a smaller road that was lined with palm trees and low rent storefronts.

[Carlos Calaveras]

“We moved a lot when I was a kid but yeah, we spent a few years on the west coast. I don't recognise anywhere around here, though,” Carlos added, waving one hand vaguely at the narrow road as they passed by dollar stores, food markets, a pawnshop and a tattoo parlour. It was all unfamiliar and Carlos found himself feeling a hint of longing for the stately grandeur and immaculately cut lawns of the institute he'd spent the better years of his life as a part of.

“I've got family out here still. We just haven't talked since I first shipped out to Cullen's.”

[Anna Fernandez]

"Mmhmm..." Anna slammed on the brakes as a souped up Honda Civic cut her off, and then gently pressed on the gas, the van lurching forward again. "Sorry about that." She glanced sideways at him. "Nothing like California drivers to keep you on your toes."

A few more minutes of driving brought them to Banyon Street, and the van rattled and groaned in the driveway as she turned it off. "Well, here we are."

[Carlos Calaveras]

Carlos pushed the passenger door open and, stepping out on to the driveway, took his first look at the house. Windows looked out from each of the three floors, the curtains drawn back to let in the light, whilst the sound of voices and laughter filtered out from somewhere inside. Carlos hitched his holdall up over one shoulder and nodded to himself. It wasn't quite the Cullen Insitute, but it was a step up from the single-floor place the Calaveras kids had been crammed into, once upon a time. He looked back over his shoulder at Anna.

“You did all this yourself? Place scrubbed up good.”

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna climbed down out of the van and closed the door with a bang. No matter how careful you were, the drivers side door was always loud. She took a step away and pulled up short, looking down to find her shirt was closed into the door.

"Oh, I didn't do it alone," she said, struggling momentarily with the door and freeing herself. "My oldest brother is a contractor, he helped a great deal."

Anna walked toward the front door, "Come on in, we will find you a room and get you settled."

[Carlos Calaveras]

Carlos followed Anna into the house's foyer, scuffing his sneakers on the welcome mat as he knocked the front door shut with his elbow.

“I just need a room till I can find a place of my own, you know? I don't wanna be getting in peoples way here.”

[Anna Fernandez]

"Of course," Anna agreed. "It looks like most everyone is out back," she added, but the thump of music somewhere upstairs indicated that at least one person was still inside. "Come on - oh!"

Ronnie bounded down the stairs, taking them in two jumps, and nearly obliterating Anna at the base. "Oh my God, I'm sorry!" He had landed awkwardly to avoid the collision, and stumbled into Carlos. "Sorry, sorry -" the sixteen year old recovered, and pressed himself against the hallway wall. "Wow."

Anna took a deep breath, her heart beating a little rapidly from the near miss, and said, "Ronnie, this is Carlos. He's staying with us for a while."

"Hey, nice to meet you, man." Ronnie stuck his hand out toward the newcomer, and added, "Sorry about that again. I don't usually crash and burn like that."

[Carlos Calaveras]

He clapped his hand into Ronnie's, grinning at the kid. He wasn't the first, or the last, person whose first impressions of Carlos Calaveras had been made moments after almost falling down a flight of stairs.

“Hey man, no worries. I have that effect on people, you know.” He looked back to Anna. “Should we head out back, see the others?”

[Anna Fernandez]

"Sure," she agreed, giving Ronnie a funny look, and then leading Carlos to the kitchen and the back door.

[Aimee Connors]

Aimee looked up as the backdoor opened, sitting on the deck in the shade with a book. "Hi Anna, oh -"

She gave the stranger a little wave as he stepped out behind Anna. "I guess your trip to the airport was a success." She smiled at Carlos. "I'm Aimee."

[Tess Abrahams]

From the side of the house, where the driveway bled a concrete river through the yard and to the detached garage, there was a clatter of hollow scraping noises punctuated by a deeply grieved muttering, a pained sort of dismay that brought to mind wild animals whose offspring had succumbed to the merciless laws of natural selection.

"Plastics in one bin, paper in the other. That's not so hard is it?!" Tess Abrahams appeared in a flurry of marching limbs, a pair of full plastic garbage cans dragging behind her. The woman shook her head, long hair tumbling in a disapproving wave, and continued to haul the rescued refuse bins back toward the garage.

"Recycling isn't just for hippies anymore, you guys, it's practical. And it's a lot easier to just do it the first time around so I don't have to sort through the - oh, hey, Anna, Carlos - nasty, congealed garbage that's been sitting in the sun -"

Nearly to the garage, Tess stopped and rewound the scene in her mind. The rubbish bins suddenly toppled upright as she released them and spun around, eyebrows crawling up to her hairline. "... Carlos!"