Indigo//X-Men daughter story

[14] There's nowhere you can go that isn't where fate meant for you to be

Hank places a hand on my shoulder. "That was nice of you to help out Scott today, does he seem like a good guy?"

"Good and evil don't exist." I stiffin. "But...he was okay. I guess."

"Well, I'm glad you're making some friends." Hank smiles.

I instantly brush him away. "Scott is not my friend."

"Oh, but I thought-"

"It's like you said." I start. "I was just helping him out."

My words come out harsher than I intend and end up leaving a bitter sting. They're the truth though. I've only known Scott for about two days. He doesn't mean anything to me and I don't mean anything to him. He just needed someone to show him around, to introduce him to the school. Now he can move on and meet people he actually likes. He doesn't have to stay stuck with me.

💙💙💙

"So you told him you were friends?" Jean questions from the end of my bed.

I shrug. "Well yeah, I guess."

"And then not even two hour later you...what? Changed your mind?" She asks.

I just sigh and continue rummaging through my backpack.

"I didn't change my mind. Scott was never my friend in the first place. I don't know why I told him he was, maybe I just wanted to be nice."

She sends me an unsure glance. "Or you were actually warming up to him and then he did something stupid."

"He didn't do anything." I bite my lip.

"Oh really?" She starts. "You know, you're a predictable person, Elle."

I look up from my bag. "Am not."

"Are too," she laughs. "I mean, ditching people is kinda your thing."

Her words perce into me like a sharpened knife, more so than she probably intended. I can't stop myself from thinking back to last year, to thinking back to...I shake my head. I don't want to think about my old friend. I won't let myself anymore. Everytime I do it just makes me want to run away, just for a day. To get a chance to actually say goodbye. The one thing I never wanted to say, the one thing I now wish more than anything I could.

Like an uncontrollable current, another distant face sprays across my memory. I think about my dad far more than I'd like. He even seems to be manifesting himself into my dreams now. My dad left me behind. He had every chance to stay, to make things work but he still left every time. Sometimes I play with the idea of ending up like him. I have to admit, it doesn't always immediately strike me as a terrible future. He's brave with strong beliefs...he's also stubborn though, stubborn and more often than not wrong. Those two elements never mix well. To even think that I could be carrying a semblance of his character...in this moment it leaves a bitter taste lingering in my mouth.

"I'm not leaving Scott," I say with a heavy breath. "If he wants to see me, he knows where I sleep. He's just...probably not going to talk to me anymore."

Jean leans back and looks me in the eyes. "Were you the one who did something stupid?"

"What? No." I quickly say. "Besides, you're making this all a way bigger deal than it actually is. Scotts nothing special, trust me."

She shrugs. "I don't know. He seemed pretty nice to me."

"Didn't he literally run into you yesterday?" I arch a brow.

"He apologized earlier." She says. "He actually was really kind about the whole thing."

I roll my eyes. "Scotts just another new student. He's lucky he had that whole innocent look going for him, with those bandages over his eyes and whatever sob story his brother told to Charles. The professor can never help himself when it comes to people who are...well, helpless."

"Yeah...You know, that's probably why he enrolled me. I'm the most helpless one here after all." Jean says, somewhat bitterly.

"I didn't mean you Jean...don't twist my words."

We stare at each other for a while, a layer of thick tension filling the air. For a moment it even seems like our feelings are manifesting into something real, something physical. A rough sound buzzes around us, like an electric fence. With a blink of an eye though...it's gone.

Jean leans back on her shoulders. "I'm sorry. Anyways, if it's worth anything to you, I really like Scott."

"You do?"

"I mean," she smiles, "he's funny, nice, and even you've gotta admit he's pretty hot."

I frown. "Like...he has a fever?"

Jean burst out into laughter. "You can't be serious."

"What?" I ask. "What's so funny?"

"I swear, you're only a year younger than me, right?" She asks.

I squint my eyes. "Why does that have anything to do with this?"

"Because I meant hot as in...You know, handsome."

My eyes go wide and I instantly am at a loss for words. "Oh."

"Do you not agree?" She smirks.

"He's fine, I guess." I say with a slight frown.

She doesnt stop smiling. "Well I think he looks like a movie star."

I tilt my head to the side. "Maybe a background actor."

"Really?" She insists. "You don't see anything in him at all?"

"I meant what I said. He's just another new student, nothing special." I say.

Jean sighs and lets out a breath. "Whatever you say."

I stare back down into my bag but despite my best wishes, I don't even make a single move to continue digging around through it. I just can't believe that Jean is so eager to stick up for Scott. Sure, he's a cool guy and...No, that's all he is. Just some cool new guy who's coming here and trying to change everything. Well thank you very much but I'm fine with how things are going. No ones in immediate danger, my biggest issue is getting sat next to some bratty girl in English. Things don't need to get complicated right now. If I've learned anything at all in my fourteen years of life, it's that once things get complicated...people get hurt, and then people die.

"-Elle, Estelle?" Jean calls, bringing me back to the present.

I frown, cursing myself for thinking so much of the past these last few days. It's a dangerous place to get stuck.

"Huh? I'm listening." I say quietly.

The corners of her mouth slightly droop downwards. "The math homework. I was asking if you found it yet."

I quickly look down and pull out my blue folder, opening it up and handing Jean a set of papers.

"Yeah, here you go."