Chapter Text
Ororo stops and turns back to him. Perhaps that's why he's extra tense this morning the others going to Philadelphia. “They've already left, the Professor, Dr. Grey and Mr. Summer's left first thing this morning.” She tells him.
“They've left... they've left...” John mumbles under his breath. He tiredly repeats what she told him.
He's torn... he's happy that Ms. Monroe isn't going, she's nice and he wouldn't want her in harms way but also he knows she has a powerful mutation and she could helped if something went wrong.
Things could always go wrong, in his experience.
John runs his hands on his jeans. His nerves getting the better of him he starts to go for the lighter in his pocket.
“St John, eat, class is going to start soon.” Ms. Monroe's voice stops him. He takes his hand out of his pocket and nods.
He unwraps the muffin and takes a bite. He's too nervous for it to taste good.
The other students come in. Bobby says hi or something. John is too distracted to pay much attention to anyone else.
About halfway through class he puts his head down on the desk and tries to block everything out.
At the end of Class Ms. Monroe explains that they will have substitutes in their other classes. “Dr. McCoy will be filling in for Mr. Summers and I'll take over for Dr. Grey so I'll see some of you again this afternoon.”
John packs up his stuff including the banana he'd been given early he gathers up his trash and takes it to the trashcan.
“St John, I've gotten an update.” Ms. Monroe calls after him from her desk. She's listening to a voicemail on her phone. “Mr. Summer's says they are at Child Services and everything is going well so far.”
“going well...” John breathes out and tries to focus on the words. He nods and turns to leave.
She can tell he's stressed. “Try to relax John, this isn't the first time they've done something like this. Everything will turn out fine.”
He wants to believe her.
He keeps a death grip on his book bag straps all the was to his next class.
Dr. McCoy taking over Mr. Summers's class isn't a bad thing. John hasn't really like Summers's class at all this week. Math isn't his favorite subject and Summers isn't his favorite person.
Dr. McCoy doesn't single him out or make any real demands of the class, which John is thankful for. He can't concentrate, he just doodles listlessly on his notebook page until the class is dismissed for lunch.
He debates if he should find Ms. Monroe and see if there's an update.
The idea of asking starts to make his heart race. He tries not to panic... he's not actually doing anything, he doesn't have to do anything.
He breathes in through his nose, and out and tries not to freak out.
He lets himself be carried along with the crowd to the Dining Hall.
He gets in the serving line. It's chicken nuggets and fries, which is a great school lunch and looks really good here, like name brand and everything. He should be excited but he's too nervous nothing sounds or smells good.
He takes the offered food and gets a bottle of water and makes his way to the table.
“Whoo! One more class and it's the weekend!” Jublilee sits down right after him and exclaims loudly.
John flinches.
“And Dr. Grey isn't here so John and I have Ms. Monroe again.” Kitty adds.
“Aww lucky.”
“I bet that means you'll get to watch a movie or something!” Bobby nudges John and earns a blank look in return.
“Where is it that you think Dr. Grey, the Professor, and Mr. Summers have gone? Do you think they've gone on an important mission?” Piotr asks curiously.
“They could be bringing another student back.” Kitty says with some intrigue.
“Hope they're better behaved than the last one. ”
John's heart races, he wonders if he should tell them what he knows. He does know where they went so he could truthfully say. But if he says where they went then he would have to say why they went and why he knows and he doesn't want to have to tell too much about himself. And talk too much.
“So what are we doing this weekend?” Jubilee changes the subjuct.
John sits looking out at the table his heart beat still thumping in his ears.
“Computer club is meeting on Saturday afternoon!” Kitty says excitedly.
“Eww lame, why are you meeting on a Saturday?”
“Gus got a new game in the mail, he's going to show us on Saturday!”
“That's really neat Kitty!” Bobby says also excited. “Do you play any computer games John?”
John blinks “games?” John shakes his head.
The other kids don't see anything wrong with his being quiet, he's been quiet all week, he never seems to say a whole lot even when they try to talk to him.
Kitty is still trying to warm up to him, he seems better some days than others. “Well if you were interested in seeing you could come by on Saturday, the club's got a few games that everyone can play.”
Jubilee still just thinks John is strange. “I'm sure he's got other plans, brooding in a corner somewhere maybe.”
John narrows his eyes at her... as far as he can tell she'd just another kid, in a long line of kids through the years, who's just decided to pick and poke at him for reasons he doesn't quite understand.
“I bet you'd like it, maybe you could come with me John.” Bobby tries to be encouraging, he wants to be friends with his roommate. He just can't seem to figure John out. Today he seems like he's not feeling very good still. “If you're feeling up to it.”
“Maybe.” John says not particularly enthusiastic. He takes a bite of a chicken nugget and makes a face.
“Hey, if you don't like the food, it's not too let, they won't care if you go get something else. Especially since you're new.” Bobby suggests.
“I'm fine...” John looks down at his plate like it's some kind of extreme food challenge.
John eats a chicken nugget and painfully swallows it.
“You look sooo totally fine.” Jubilee says sarcastically.
“I'll eat them if you don't want them!” Piotr offers.
“Back off.” John can't help but get defensive over his lunch even if he doesn't feel like eating it, it was still food given to him. He wraps his am around it protectively.
“Feral” Jubilee says under her breath.
John sneers at her and tries to get through lunch.
When he enters Dr. Grey's class he sees it's Ms. Monroe sitting behind the desk and he's unsure if he's in the right place for a second before he remembers she said she'd be subbing for Dr. Grey this afternoon.
“John could I see you for a moment?” She calls him to the front.
Everyone is still getting into the class and no one seems to be paying the interaction much attention.
He steps up to the desk and Ms. Monroe speaks in a soft voice.
“They're done at the state office. They've had your custody transferred over, they have your documents and the State of Pennsylvania is no long concerned with your whereabouts or mutant status.”
John blinks.
He can't believe it's over that fast. 'well it wasn't like there was anyone to put up a fight for him.' He thinks bitterly.
“The Professor and Jean are very good at getting things like that taken care of.” Storm smiles. “We'll look after you St John, you don't need to worry.”
He nods, a little unsure but he lets himself feel a little optimistic too.
“They've got one more stop to make and then they'll be heading back.”
'One more stop, one more, one... more.' He knows where they plan to go and it worries him more that then going to Child Services.
“Go on and take your seat John.”
John's feet take him to his sit and he slouches down in it and doesn't hear much of what's said next.
“Good afternoon class, I'm filling in for Dr. Grey today and she said it would be alright if we watch a movie.”
There's an excited buzz amongst the students.
Ms. Monroe wheels a TV cart out from the corner. “I'm going to put in Tom and Huck, Dr. Grey would like you to write down at least four things that they do the same as the book and at least four things that they change from the source.”
“Awww.” Some of the students voice their disappointment.
“Ooohh you can do it.” Ms. Monroe smiles at the students, starts the movie and turns the lights off.
John tries to focus and do what she'd told them to.
He gets out a pen and a piece of paper, he's pretty sure he can't do the assignment, He hasn't read the book like the rest of the class.
He knows that it's an old book about a boy.
He didn't know it was about running away and being raised by someone who's not a parent... who is 'trying to do what's best.'
Huck is homeless. Living off of stolen food.
John feels his breathing start to catch in his throat.
his palms start to sweat and feel tingly. He doesn't like it. He takes a deep breath and opens and closes his hands in hopes that they'll start feeling normal.
The characters go to the cemetery late at night and a man is murdered in front of them.
John tenses.
He blinks and breathes in through his nose. He rubs his hands on pants and tries not to rock but he can feel himself rocking slightly in his chair.
He sees the steam mutant bleeding on the diner floor.
Kitty looks over and notices John is moving odd in chair. “John?” He doesn't seem to hear. “John are you alright?”
He feels the awful mutant hater grab him by the collar.
His fingers find the lighter in his pocket and pull it out to hold it.
He holds it tight.
He closes his eyes and fights the urge to flip the lid open.
He's not suppose to use fire.
His heart is thumping in his chest, he's not in danger.
'I'm in class, I'm in class, I'm in class... they're in Philly.'
The lighter lid flips open.
“...John” he hears a voice close to him and then there's a hand on his shoulder and John flinches away and opens his eyes.
Ms. Monroe is standing over him looking concerned. “John can I see you in the hallway?”
The color drains from his face. 'This is it, he'd lasted a week... a rough and long week but a week and now he's being a disturbance and he's done.'
He pocket's his lighter and grabs his notebook and book bag and follows Ms. Monroe out in front of the whole class.
They're all seeing him screw up.
His breath catches in his throat.
Kitty was glad when Ms. Monroe noticed John. Kitty was really getting concerned like maybe he was feeling sick or something. She didn't know how to help him, hopefully the teacher could.
Ororo notices in the light of the hallway that John is looking pale.
She had been trying to keep an eye on him when she could since this morning and he's paler than he has been all day.
She knows he's stressed out today and it seems something is definitely wrong.
She had noticed something was the matter while sitting at the desk in the front of the class doing some reading. She saw John fidgeting out of the corner of her eye. She had tried to make her movements look casual like she had just gotten up to see what everyone was doing, then she saw the lighter in John's hand and knew she had to do something.
He hadn't lit it but it was open and she couldn't have that.
He looks miserable standing in front of her now. Tire, miserable, and upset.
“What's going on St John? Why did you have that lighter out?”
He looks down at his shoes and shrugs.
“Come now, there must be a reason...”
He shakes his head.
“Just because a movie is playing doesn't mean you can slack off and you are certainly not suppose to have a lighter out.”
he nods his head.
He hasn't looked at her yet and this concerns Ororo. She's seen since she met him that he really doesn't look people in the eye very much. Right now though he's focused solely on the floor.
“St John will you please look at me?”
He obliges her and looks up.
When he does she sees pain filled, damp eyes that look lost.
Her heart breaks.
“oh St John, come here and sit down.” She directs his to a bench nearby in the hallway.
He sits with his bag clutch in front of him. He feels awkward and angry and anxious.
She sits down next to him and speaks in a soft voice.
“What's got you upset?”
He could say so many things, if he could get the words to form and come out of his mouth. If he could only make her understand but he feels like it's all too much, he can't figure out what he's feeling to tell her.
“I don't know.”
Storm thinks he must just not want to talk about it. “The Professor, Dr. Grey and Mr. Summers can take care of themselves. I'm sure they will be heading back soon. They don't want you to worry about them.”
“I...”
She knows that that's church people did some horrible things to him, she imagines it would be upsetting to know that the X-men were going to go see them.
“Do you know what Mr. Summers's mutation is?”
John shrugs, no one's told him and he didn't ask... he just assumed he had like insect eyes or something he didn't want people to see since he never took the glasses off.
“Laser eyes” She says with the slightest smile.
John reacts much like she thought he would. He raises his eyebrows surprised. “what?”
“If he takes the glasses off lasers shoot from his eyes. He wears a special visor when out on X-men missions so he can control the lasers.”
John nods thoughtfully. That was actually a good thing to know.
“Are you feeling calmer now, do you think you can go back and watch the movie?”
“I... think so.” He isn't sure, he thought he could just watch the movie before but it brought up so many uncomfortable memories. Maybe it would be fine... maybe he could just ignore it.
“There's not much longer left in class. If you need to get a drink of water or use the bathroom or take a break you can get up and excuse yourself.”
John looks at her, that wasn't something he was used to when it came to classes. Usually teachers were like, 'you need my permission to move and don't think about just getting up and walking out.
“Come on, lets get back in there.”