He opens his book to page 314 and listens to Bobby start stumbling over the chapter. He closes his eyes and bows his head over his book.
He sits at a table in the food court. There's nothing for him to do here, anyway, but he can't leave, doesn't want to leave, because someone has noticed him. She sat down across from him with a tray of corndog and fries a few minutes ago, and he can't figure out why. It's not like there're no other tables free, barely anyone eats lunch at 10:00 in the morning. She introduced herself as Shelley without the Mary and is now going on about politics, something he didn't bother with until Senator Kelly came along.
"I mean, the dude has a serious problem with actually settling down on how he stands on the mutant issue," she takes a sip of her soda, "like there's even an issue to settle on. Like," she eats a fry, "they're people, you know?"
"Yeah," he starts, of course they're people, he's one of them, but she shoots on-
"And now he's stirring up trouble, that's all it is," eats another fry, "in these games of who's the bigger dork, well, who'll get elected, I mean, you can't bounce back and forth without people wondering why, you ever wonder why?"
"Sometim-"
"Exactly! Maybe one of his children turned up mutant, that'd be a kicker, wouldn't it?"
"Uh,"
"Of course it would! You know, you don't talk much." And she finally pauses for breath.
"Um, why'd you sit down with me?" he asks after he's sure she's done talking for now.
"You looked lonely," and she smiles, showing a full mouth of braces.
"Oh." Now he's at a loss. He'd like to leave, but she did do something nice, but the other students said that if the normals ever found out they were talking to a mutant, they'd freak out.
"You wanna get some ice cream?" There, safe ground. Everyone likes ice cream.
"Sure!"
"James! Wake up, James!" And everyone giggles, like it's the funniest thing since Monty Python. He opens his eyes and smiles blearily, putting on a show, pretending. He wants to get back to Shelley but now they're doing a worksheet. Chemical formulas are a cinch, and he finishes in three minutes. He closes his eyes again.
"So, did you see Bedazzled?" Shelley chases a drop of melted chocolate ice cream around the cone.
"No, we, ah," and he stops. How to say it.
"Why not?" She smiles.
"I live in a boarding school and we don't get to see movies that often unless we rent them," he grinned trying to say pick another subject but it isn't working. Maybe she'll be charmed by my dimples, he hopes.
"Boarding school? Why? Are you a wild kid? A problem child?" She asks. She'll probably be a reporter when she grows up.
"No, I'm a-" now he's going to stamp his foot in his mouth.
"A what?" she grins. If he didn't know any better, he'd say she already knew the answer, but he does know better or so he thinks, so he lies.
"A gifted kid. Real smart, you know?"He tries to smile.
"Oh," she says. She sounds disappointed, but he's probably just imagining things.
"So if you live in a boarding school, and you're out here, where's everyone else?" she jokes.
"I'm playing hooky," good, safe ground, in a way.
"Hey, Jamie! C'mon, dude! It's lunch time," that's Richard, trying to whisper. It never works.
"Okay, I'm awake. Let's go," he says, irritated. Most days, Richard is his best friend, but now he just wants to see what's happening with Shelley and his other self.
Lunch is some boring cheese and ham sandwich, apple slices, and soda. It's shopping day tomorrow, thank God, but for some wierd reason, he can taste strawberry ice cream, so he closes his eyes.
"You wanna go to the bookstore?" Shelley asks.
"What bookstore?" There's no bookstore around here-
"That one," she points to a large Barnes and Noble across the street.
"Oh. That bookstore," sure, act stupid, be stupid, does she have a boyfriend? "Okay."
"Come on, Jamie!" she strides out the door, and he pauses. Something's going to happen, isn't it?
A car races by and she stops just short of being hit. He breathes a sigh of relief as she yells after it,"Jerk!"
He walks out the door and jogs to catch up with her. She turns around and screams.
"Jamie! What happened?" He opens his eyes and finds himself staring up at a circle of concerned faces.
"Alright, let me through," Mr. Summers pushed his way through the crowd, "James, are you all right?"
"Yeah," he whispers, "what happened?"
"You fell over, or fainted. You looked like you got hit," he stares suspiciously at a couple, telekinetics, both of them, "Did someone hit you?"he asks.
"No, no I'm fine." He stands up woozily. He's not fine, and he doesn't know what happened. Did Shelley get hit?
He opens his eyes, barely, Shelley's crying. Why? What happened? "The other one died, did you know he could do that?" a paramedic leans over him, but he's looking at Shelley.
"No, I didn't know." But she did. She saw it in his mind, that's why she sat down across from him.
"It's going to be all right, son," the paramedic says, checking something on his chest.
He got hit. Shelley's fine, but his duplicate isn't. It created another one, when it got hit, but that one died. Died? Part of him died? He has to tell someone. But if he does, they'll know that he played hooky, they'll know that his dupe, his dupe's dupe died. They'll do something, do what?
Would they send him away? Where? Where do you send the bad mutants that have nowhere to go? Prison? He can't tell them.
But he does.
"It got hit, or something," he's saying to Mr. Summers.
"It? That it is you, James. That was the most incredibly irresponsible thing I have ever heard of in my entire life!" he yells.
"Scott, calm down. Which hospital are they taking him to?" Professor Xavier asks.
"Mother of Mercy, I think."
"Good. Scott, take James to the hospital. He needs to absorb his duplicate. Were there any witnesses, anyone the duplicate talked to?" the Professor asks. He has to know. He can read people's minds, he knows.
Jamie lies anyway, "No, no one."
* * *
"A guy got hit, um, blonde hair, teenager, what room is he in?" Mr. Summers asks, all business.
"Room 210," the lady answers, and they run. The wait in the elevator is forever, with Mr. Summers glaring at him all the way. He can't see Mr. Summers' eyes, but he knows he's in trouble anyway. And what'll they do to Shelley?
He pushes open the door. The room is dark but he can see himself lying on the bed, looking so small. Strange tubes lead in and out from under the sheet. They even hooked up a beeping machine.
"J-Jamie?" Shelley's sitting in the corner, still sniffling. She notices Mr. Summers and her eyes widen, "I, uh," she whispers.
"James? Who is she?" he asks sternly, the only way he knows how.
"This is Shelley."
"You said there weren't any witnesses. You lied-"
"Isn't the bigger issue me? I mean, the me on the bed over there?" he interrupts, watching the body with a morbid interest. Watching his body.
"How do you reabsorb it?" Shelley blurts, and he remembers that she's here, watching, what are they going to do about her, and something sinks in.
"You know, but, it…"
"I saw it. In your… you know. Your mind," she blushes and forges ahead, "It sounded like an echo, so I pushed, and well…Number three was ionic."
"Excuse me?" the moment would be so perfect without Mr. Summers, the eternal chaperone.
"I uh, um." Why doesn't one of his dupes know more about girls? And why don't they teach you more about this in Sex Ed.?
"I think you have to touch it," she tilts her head, "the body. The other one, um, died."
"I heard. Saw. Something," died. As in not coming back for a long time. Like his parents. As in not coming back ever.
He steps toward the bed. What'll the doctors do about not finding the other him in here? More likely, what'll the Professor do about them so they won't know there was ever another him?
He reaches out and touches himself on the arm. Though covered in bandages, they cleaned the blood off- it looks so small- it's him- it's gone.
* * * *
"What about The Grinch?" Shelley asks. She clutches the phone tightly to her ear.
"Seen it."
"Don' wanna."
"Sure!" That was Jubes, Kitty, Jamie. All that matters to Shelley is Jamie.
"Great! The Grinch it is," she smiles, perfectly straight teeth. Two months later, and Shelley has moved in to the Academy. She fits right in, and it helps to have a boyfriend. To Jamie, it helps to have someone to talk to, to listen to, a significant other. A Shelley.