𝐒𝐖𝐈𝐅𝐓 (X-Men ~ Peter Maximoff)

The Calm

Ellie was caught in a delicate game of tug of war with Linda's hair, or more accurately, the large wad of pink gum that had gotten stuck in her permed hair. The pulling, stretching, and yanking had been going on for at least ten minutes now, with little to no progress whatsoever. How Linda had managed to get gum there was a mystery to everyone, and it only made the situation more hilarious. Linda wasn't quite as amused at the situation though.

"What do you mean, it's not coming out? I need to look perfect on this date tonight, I can't just walk around with this, it'll ruin everything!"

Ellie sighed, readjusting her fingers, once again trying to pry the sticky substance away. "I don't know what you want me to do! It's not moving."

"Ow!," Linda squealed after receiving a particularly harsh looking tug. A few people from surrounding tables looked over to see what the commotion was, but immediately looked away when they met Linda's death stare.

"Sorry."

Ellie looked around trying to find a solution to their issue, and it didn't take long for her eyes to land on the supplies in Mary's hands. "Hey, pass me those scissors."

"What?!"

Jennifer sighed as Ellie lunged across the table, leaning back in her seat to avoid the hand trying to grab the sharp object that Mary was moving about in order to keep it away from the crazed girl. Linda was being pulled backwards, objecting and shouting to Ellie's plan, her hair still firmly held in her friends other hand.

From the other side of the table, Jennifer and Gale shared a look over the bodies of the three people in between them. It was pretty strange that the two of them, relatively calm and quiet, had been dragged into a friend group so loud and outgoing. There was no point in even attempting to stop the chaos that had attracted the attention of half the school, so, after a moment of thought, the two made a joint decision to eat Linda's untouched slice of sponge cake and Mary's jelly, passing half of each serving over the ongoing fight for scissors, thankfully staying out of the way of flying limbs.

Mixing a spoonful with both dishes, Jennifer realised that while the world was a mess and there was every possibility that mutant kind was on it's last straw, it wasn't her job to care about it anymore. Unrealistic expectations from teachers, stressful assessments and lunch breaks like this – that was her life now, and if something did happen then she would just have to burn that bridge when she got to it. As much as there was no point in living in the past, there was no point in fretting over a future that may never arise.

The ideal future was good enough, great even, and hopefully she could through it ignoring the countless spinoffs designed to drag her down. She could see her future being so bright, so full of discoveries and love – she had an opportunity to do something great, and she refused to miss her shot on a tiny bit of fear and apprehension.

"I got it!," Ellie shouted, momentarily holding the gum in her hand triumphantly before seeing how disgusting it was with coiled hairs still attached to it, which caused her to drop in suddenly onto her empty lunch tray. Wiping her hands on her jeans with a grimace at the yuck of it, she turned to Linda. "No need to thank me or anything."

Rolling her eyes, Linda scoffed. "Yeah, thanks. My head hurts now."

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you want me to leave it in there?"

"Guys, enough," Rebecca interjected before an argument could start, walking over from where she had just got lunch. She had been selected for the homecoming committee, meaning that she now spent the majority of her free time planning themes, colours ad decorations for the end of June, which seemed like ages away, but apparently wasn't enough time to organise the event. It was weird to have such a big member of the group missing so often, and maybe that's why everything had gone far too dramatic for anyone's taste, with no one to offer any suitable solutions.