Big City Field Trip (Part Four)

Mister Summers was a motherfucker.

My detentions varied day-by-day. Once, I had to help out in the library with Karma, the Xi'an lady that had been on about Megan and me before. Another day, I had to be the living practice dummy for everyone in self-defense class when they were doing throws. It was never the same thing twice, and it always sucked.

The worst was saved for last. Friday afternoon after class, I had to clean the whole goddamn hanger. That didn't mean taking a mop to the floor, or whatever. It did mean I had to move shit all over the place, and then clean all of the vehicles, Blackbird included. Then I had to run maintenance on the goddamn plane. It all took hours. Everything had shut down for the night by the time I finished. Everyone was in bed.

I sent Megan a text, letting her know I was free, because she had asked me to. It was too late to do anything together, and she was probably asleep, but it was a courtesy.

I'd missed prime hangout time with my friends and my girl, and because my body was a solar power plant, I wasn't tired enough to sleep, meaning I would be up all night to remain pissed. I bitched out loud all the way from the main mansion building to the boy's dorms, not that anyone was around to hear it.

My night didn't wind up a complete bust though, as before I made it inside, I caught a glimpse of a lithe figure moving fast across the lawn. I tensed for a fight, but it was moving away from the buildings and into the woods. Whatever it was didn't want to fight, and Saberwolf hadn't gone after it yet, which had to mean that it was someone from here, didn't it?

Either way, I made to follow, and the individual tried to hide from me, then outrun me. Big mistake. They made it over the wall when I followed and landed in front of them to stop them, "Aha! Gotcha, bitc-! Laura?"

There Laura stood, with a bag packed to last her a few days, and an expression of being caught red-handed.

I looked at the bag, then at her, and put two-and-two together, "You're not ditching the school again, are you?" In my own self-centered mind, I felt that if she was, it was because of me.

"No!" She protested a bit too loudly before lowering her voice, "I must go to New York. Just for a short time. If I asked to leave, the staff would ask questions," Questions that she clearly wasn't too keen on answering.

I immediately came to a quick conclusion, "Is this a Facility thing?"

"No. It is a personal matter, but it does not involve that; at least, I do not think so," She shook her head clear of the thought, "I was recently contacted by a man claiming to be my brother."

I kept waiting for the punchline to a joke that never came, "...But you're a clone."

"Yes. That is what confused me. And Logan is away on a mission. I cannot speak with him, and he isn't answering the number I have for him. I don't know when he will be back, and he will only be there for so long," She reached into her jacket pocket and handed me a letter.

It was in Japanese of all things. Being that I was still trying to learn it, I could only decipher ten-percent of it, and even that was dodgy. I had to take Laura's word for it, "I didn't even know you knew Japanese."

"I am fluent in many languages, Bellamy," Laura said as she tucked the letter away and shifted the bag on her back, "I will return in a few days. I cannot guarantee that I will return before Monday morning."

'-So, don't go with me,' was what she was trying to imply.

It didn't matter if things were weird between us at the moment. I couldn't just let her fuck off to New York City by herself, "Look, I know I'm not your favorite person in the world right now, but I can't let you just go off alone. And if you really feel like you need to go, well, I've got your back."

I thought she would argue. She had before. But she accepted quickly, without a fight, "...We should get going, then."

And there it was. We were off on another whimsical field trip. Seriously, Eddie was due one of these by this point. I'd gone on at least one with all of my teammates except for him. How did he keep avoiding these?

While Salem Center didn't really have a cab service that ran after midnight, you know what did? Uber. And amazingly enough, there were multiple drivers willing to head out and take two teenagers to New York City in the dead of night. It occurred to me that they might rob us, but they would have gotten the short end of that stick if that had been their intention.

It left Laura and I sharing the backseat of a car for an hour-long drive, with a driver more concerned with their music than making small talk with their passengers. While that was fine, as Laura wasn't much of a conversationalist, and I didn't like talking to randoms just to pass the time, it didn't do anything to clear the air between us.

I eventually decided to take my chances, because it was going to be a rough weekend if we couldn't even talk, "Is talking forbidden outside of need-to-know stuff, or can I just shoot the shit with you?" I said, watching Laura as she gazed out of the window at the passing sights, "Even if you have problems being around me, I did like hanging out with you. You're good company."

Instead of shirking away, she turned met my side glance with a strong, direct gaze, "You know why I find being around you difficult."

I had to wince, "Yeah, I know," We'd already had that talk. If I could be a snarky dick, Laura could cut to the bone by how frank she could be.

I wanted to say I was sorry, but what would I be apologizing for? What would I even say? Something like, 'Oh, sorry for breaking your fucking heart every time my girlfriend comes up around you,' or how about, 'Sorry that you can probably smell the sex on me after every time I'm with her, even when I take twenty-minute showers. Just ignore that, and how it makes you feel.'

"Did you want to talk about it?" I asked as the two of us rode along, music playing quietly in the car.

Laura kept her hands shoved in her pockets, her focus set on getting somewhere she could get a ride, "I do, but I don't. I don't know what to say. I already know where you stand."

"You should try cleaning out the hangar in the basement," I remarked, trying to bring some levity to the conversation, "You have plenty of time to think about shit to say while picking up after the X-Men. Yay... fucking detention."

"For what it is worth, I am on your side," Laura said, "I find the school's policies to be... confusing," She finished with a furrowed brow.

I had my own gripes, but the way she spoke, it sounded like she'd been thinking about hers for a while, "How so?"

"Everyone is unique, and should take pride in their peculiarities, but should strive to fit in and be normal," Laura started to explain, "Students are learning to defend themselves from those who would harm them, but we should not fight. All students are equal, but it is clear that those with abilities that can be applied in combat are held in higher regard."

The more she said, the more of a point it seemed like she had. Maybe she had felt that way before? She didn't talk a lot. Times like this made me remember how smart Laura actually was, and how much thinking she probably did keeping to herself while the rest of us acted like idiots.

Eventually, the New York skyline came into sight, which meant we needed some course of action plotted, "When we get to the city, I will begin searching for Daken," She looked at me as though she were rethinking her plans on the fly, "I didn't expect support, but since you are here, it would be foolish not to use you."

'Daken'. That must have been the guy's name. I gave Laura a thumbs up, guessing how this would go, "I'll hang back and come in guns a'blazing if anything kicks off," Why not keep things simple until the situation on the ground demanded a change? "Hopefully this meeting with your brother goes more peacefully than my meeting with my son."

"To my knowledge, I do not end up destroying the world in the future, so we may be safe on that front."

I did a double-take in her direction, "D-did you just make a joke?" Sure enough, there was a smile tugging at her lips. I couldn't help but smile too, "Oh, I get it. The claws come out when it's just me around. You must think I'm a pushover."

"I have pushed you over several times in the past."

"Now you're just bringing up old stuff."

I didn't know if Laura was acting to try and put her best foot forward possible, but with her trying to tease me, it felt good to think that we could get back to some kind of normalcy of being friends.