Chapter 110 – Stare

[2009 – September]

Five minutes before classes started, the bell rang which prompted us to walk toward our classroom. The first class of the day was English language arts and it was a class that we all shared which was convenient.

It didn't take us long to arrive at the classroom and since the doors had already been unlocked we filed in and took our seats. Thankfully, a group of seats was still empty on the window side of the classroom, so we could sit as a group even though they were individual seats, as the classroom was only equipped with one-arm school desks.

I sat right next to Jean while facing the windows on my left side. Laura sat on Jean's other side and Pietro, Yukio, and Ellie sat behind us.

There were a few other mutants in the class, including Scott, Rogue, and Sooraya, but I wasn't very interested in getting closer to any of them, especially not the first two.

The teacher was an older gentleman who seemed a bit strict but turned out to be a good educator who was rather passionate about the subject he taught. As it was the first day after the summer break and the beginning of our senior year, Mr. Stanley gave us a short introduction to what the school year had in store for us.

It seemed that we had to write a lot of essays about different subjects and reading materials for this school year, which was mostly to help us improve our grammar. Grammar, reading, writing, and spelling were naturally a bit boring, not to mention that for someone with a perfect memory like myself it was also a rather superfluous exercise.

Literature by itself though seemed interesting and I kinda looked forward to the different reading materials that we would be working on throughout the year. I always loved reading in my last life, and while I had different priorities in this lifetime, I didn't mind relaxing every now and then, especially not if there were some good books to read.

Still, while I listened to what Mr. Stanley told us, I couldn't help but take a few looks around to inspect my classmates, though only two of them stood out. One was a pretty blonde with a ponytail who seemed to listen intently in class, while the other was a lanky teenager with brown hair who stole a few glances at the blonde every now and then.

I wasn't surprised to find that I recognized them from my memories of the movie 'The Amazing Spider-Man', as Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker, as I had known beforehand that I would meet them at this school. My Extrasensory Perception also told me that Peter was still a normal human, which meant that he hadn't yet found out about his father's research.

The reason why I had known about which version of Spider-Man I might encounter, was that I knew from the information that Emma had passed on to me that Oscorp Industries existed as a business with ties to the Hellfire Club, in fact, Norman Osborn was the Black Bishop.

Oscorp Industries was tied to the military via various military contracts for different technologies and research projects, which had given Norman Osborn enough influence to be of value to the Hellfire Club, which was why Selene had recruited him as the Black Knight a few decades ago.

He had later risen to become the Black Bishop which was the highest he could reach, as the seats of the Black and White King had been left empty ever since Emma had risen to take up the mantle of the true White Queen.

From what I understood, the Hellfire Club was very interested in the research conducted by Oscorp Industries, as it represented a source of power. This was especially true for the research done by geneticists like Dr. Connors and others, which might allow the Hellfire Club to create super soldiers.

I didn't have any particular thoughts about that, and I wasn't very interested in the Club's dealings either.

Still, I had seen a picture of Norman Osborn and had read about the fact that he was afflicted with a deadly genetic disease. In fact, he had given up major shares of Oscorp Industries to the Hellfire Club to borrow the Club's financial resources and influence in hopes of speeding up the research that could save his life.

At this point, Emma herself had a thirty-five percent share of Oscorp Industries, while other club members owned another twenty percent collectively.

Seeing Peter here, I realized that I might have to tell Emma about Conners and his experiments in case things went as they had in the movies, otherwise, it was possible that she might suffer a loss when things would inevitably go out of control in the near future.

Alternatively, I could also interfere with the plot of the movie as I did like this version of Spider-Man the most, and Peter was arguably a good guy who deserved a bit of help.

It might also be a good idea to ask Emma about the assassination of Peter's parents, as it was likely that the Hellfire Club had a hand in this as well. Thinking about it, it was rather obvious, as where else would Norman Osborn have recruited a contract killer, if not from the criminal organization he was part of?

Still, after mulling over this issue for a few minutes, I put it aside for the moment, seeing no reason to make a decision so soon as there was still time.

Listening to class with one ear, I turned my attention to Jean, who was listening carefully to what Mr. Stanley said as he introduced 'The Great Gatsby' as the first book this year that we were going to read as a class.

To be honest, I hadn't read that one in my last life but I had heard a lot about it, so I was looking forward to that. At this moment though, my attention was solely focused on Jean while I rested my head on my arms.

The way she brushed back her hair before throwing a shy look in my direction told me that she was very aware that I was staring at her. I couldn't help it though, especially not when I saw the slight blush that crept up her cheeks.

In the end, she turned towards me slightly and stuck her pink little tongue out to flip me off before she turned back forward and tried to ignore me. Suppressing the laughter that welled up inside me at her silly actions, I just smiled and also turned my head away to give her a break.

A few moments later though I sensed someone staring at me and when I turned around, I locked eyes with Laura whose head was also resting on her arms. Her clear green eyes gazed at me silently, the same way I had looked at Jean a few minutes prior.

Her hair was done up in a loose bun, two strands hanging free to frame her face while her full lips naturally carried a red hue. Her eyebrows were sharp and her ears seemed to be a bit pointed, even though it was hardly noticeable.

At this moment she looked like a beautiful she-wolf, just silently watching over me, observing me with only the faintest hints of longing in her gaze.

I couldn't do anything else but stare back for a few long moments, finding it hard to break eye contact.

It wasn't the first time I noticed Laura looking at me like this and I naturally wasn't oblivious to her feelings, especially since we had become much closer over the last few weeks. We sparred often with each other, and Laura also came by to eat with us almost every day as she didn't know how to cook.

Sighing to myself, I finally managed to tear my eyes from her and turn my head back forward, knowing that nothing good could come from this. It wasn't that I felt disturbed by her gaze, or that I felt pity toward her.

On the contrary, I felt attracted to her. In fact, I had felt that way the moment I met her. She was strong and beautiful, and I knew that she carried darkness within her, like I did. I had felt inexplicably close to her since the time I had laid eyes on her for the first time.

I knew it wasn't love though, as these feelings paled in comparison to what I felt for Jean, but I also knew that Laura and I weren't normal friends.

Still, I was with Jean, and there existed no force in this world that would make me willingly do something that might hurt her. At the same time though, I couldn't find it in me to reject Laura and push her away.

In a way, I felt a bit trapped, and I wasn't sure that I could escape this feeling without hurting either Jean or Laura.

Sighing to myself again, I decided to just focus on class and not think about anything else, grateful for the opportunity to take my mind off things for the moment.

Coincidentally, Arya picked this moment to poke her head out of my collar and looked around curiously while rubbing her face against the side of my neck as if to comfort me, seemingly aware of my inner conflict.