Chapter #51Like Night and Day by: rugal b.   Alex Day gives you goosebumps. Whenever you see her you want to tense up. Whenever she walks near you, you feel tingly. It's an uncomfortable feeling that you hate because it's a reminder of something that you would like very much to forget. Memories that if you could you'd completely erase from your mind.
It was late in the summer after sixth grade. Your parents had come to you with news that had them both excited. They'd been trying and trying, they'd said, and their efforts and a look at your grades -- always very good -- had convinced the St. Francis Xaviers boarding school to accept you as a student for the next academic year. One of the most elite schools not just in the country where the sons and daughters of the rich, powerful and influential received not just an academic education but a valuable social one as well. Your parents, of course, were thrilled. However you didn't have the heart to tell them that you weren't. Nothing about it sounded appealing but for them you suppressed it and smiled and nodded.
What followed was the worst experience of your life.
For a start you were required to live at the campus some miles outside of town. Isolated enough to keep away "outside influences" and isolated from your friends. So you tried to make new friends but ran into the problem of an elite boarding school like St. Xaviers: there you were nothing special. So many kids who came from families with wealth that made your own family's seem middle class. That didn't bother you in and of itself, rather it was the attitude of the others, haughty and dismissive of you, that did. Plus as a local raised in Saratoga Falls you'd been regarded as a "hick" which, of course, made no sense but to students like the mutants, as the nickname goes, that didn't matter.
Nobody made sure to remind you of this more than Alex Day. She was "from" Saratoga Falls in that her family had purchased land in the area and moved there a little prior to their daughter's enrollment. In reality her family was old money New England stock with a history, so you'd heard, that stretched back to the days of Hamilton and Jefferson. To someone like that your own family's wealth and history was quaint.
You did not belong in that place and you were reminded of it every day. Before you had been a big fish in a small pond but at St. Francis Xavier's you were a small fish in an ocean of great white sharks. You hated it and by the next year, eighth grade, you were in Schuyler as your grades hadn't been "where they should be" to continue justifying your enrollment.
But among the "middling sorts" (as the mutants liked to say) you felt much more at home. So imagine your shock when on the first day of school last year who do you see in your English class but Alex Day herself looking radically different than what you remembered. The uniform and fancy clothes replaced by stuff that looked much plainer, her long hair chopped off and much shorter, girls like Davina Macklin and Victoria Benjamin replaced by ones like Rae Caldwell and Holly Floyd (among others).
You'd wondered if her family had fallen on hard times, if she herself fell victim to the same things you had. You wanted to settle things with her on the one hand as well but on the other her own teasing that you could still remember caused her mere presence to make your hairs stand on end. Then you'd heard the story: that she'd had a falling out with a friend, painted obscene graffiti on a building and got kicked out, enrolling at Eastman and reinventing herself as a "cool juvenile delinquent".
You don't associate with that crowd so it was another reason to keep you away from her. For her part she never seemed to say anything to you and you wonder if she had forgotten all about you. But it was probably better this way because you're not sure what you'd say or how you'd act if she did try to talk you. In a way you can see some vague similarities in the both of you but the reflection, whatever it is, isn't accurate beyond the superficial details.
* * * * *
Kristy's feelings about Alex and especially her year at St. Francis Xavier's are strong to the point where you lost yourself once you saw Alex. By the time you came back you were already in your seat in Ms. Schaeffer's first period calculus class. It's a serious class and Schaeffer is a serious teacher so you don't have the ability to drift off and instead have to get through it as best you can though thankfully Kristy is bright enough to make it easier than you'd have thought.
In fact you're able to get through the first few periods of the day without any hiccups. You're amazed at just how well the stuff from the book works that you've been able to make it through nearly half a day with nobody suspecting that "Kristy Carlson" might not be who she appears. Especially as before yesterday you had never even heard of her. It's as you're leaving Cussler's current issues class third period, heading off with Amy Rhodes and Susie Maitland to the fourth period lunch you share (Diana and Susanna have fifth along with Kerri McKenna) that you're given your first real shock.
"Kristy Carlson!" calls out a voice that immediately causes you to freeze up. You know who it belongs to, yet you don't want to see and confirm it. But it doesn't matter as you feel a hand on the small of your back and see the voice's owner slide into your periphery. "What is up?" asks Alex. "It's been a long time since we've talked huh?"
"A... a little bit," you stutter. "What, uh, what brings you around?"
"Whaaaat, I can't talk to another ex-mutie?" she asks. "Not like there's a lot of us around here."
"Um, well no, that's not..."
"I've been wantin' to talk to ya for a little while now actually," she continues, "but I've never had an excuse ya know?"
"Uh huh."
Alex shifts to stand right in front of you and gazes up (because she's quite short) with a grin. "So I figured hey, fuck the excuses right? Who needs 'em?" she explains. "But I guess catching up is as much of an excuse as any, huh? 'Cause I was thinking we could hang out after school for a little bit. Ya know, see what's been goin' on since we said sayonara to Hubris Hall."
"Excuse me, but I don't think Kristy wants--" Amy starts but a side-eyed glare from Alex causes her mouth to snap shut. Much like Kristy, neither her nor Susie hang around the type of crowd that Alex does.
"So whaddaya say? You in?"
"I don't..." you start not sure of how to say. Kristy's own feelings are overwhelming you and you can feel yourself getting hot as your stomach twists itself into knots. "Would anyone else be there?"
"I'unno," Alex shrugs, "Rae and Izzy maybe? Maybe not? If you want 'em around." She casts another glance to the side and catches both Amy and Susie glaring hard at her. "Well look, it's all up to you okay? You wanna chill for a bit, meet me up at the front of the school after eighth and we'll do whatever."
With that she scampers off and you lose sight of her in the crowd.
"I don't know what her deal is," Susie says as the three of you begin walking once more. "Didn't you say she teased you when went to Xavier's?"
"Yeah, I don't know," you say barely able to think straight. "Maybe she wants to apologize?"
"Or she's up to something," Amy adds. "Even if you just think about Eastman, well, you know how she is."
* * * * *
have you thought of a second beta?
That's the question that Maria had texted to you just after you had sat down with Amy and Susie and some others like Morgan Hurley (a cellist from the orchestra) and Shannon Berger (a member of the volleyball team). And a few boys as well, none of who hold Kristy's interest.
But Kristy's interest in boys right now isn't what has your interest, rather it's the question Maria had asked and the possibilities that present themselves. Any of Kristy's friends would of course make for a good second beta and you're still keeping them in mind but that conversation with Alex preoccupies your mind at the moment.
If Alex wants to hang out and leave it up to you then you know the perfect place. Someone like Alex, with her family and ties to Xaviers and the Eastman underground scene, would make for a good beta and your sure for those reasons Fairfax would deem it a good choice. Maybe through her you could get your foot in the door to Xavier's. Imagine how impressed the others would be if you could turn a mutie into a beta. Alex could certainly help you out there.
But what if you didn't want to hang out with her alone?
Kristy cannot help but get a bit awestruck by Rae Caldwell because Rae radiates her own, unique energy and damn it she's just cool. She doesn't seem to care what others think and is at once aloof and thorny and yet that makes her more intriguing which makes her cool. If you could get in good with Alex then you might be able to get in good with Rae and can you imagine what someone like her could do for Will Prescott's popularity if you could slip a mask onto her?
But it could all just be a pipe dream anyway and Alex is trouble. Kristy's own feelings, her own doubts and her own distaste are playing heavy on you too and they're all saying that getting involved with Alex could be a bad idea. Besides if you wanted an in for Xavier's, Kristy has other ways of making it happen. Ways that are, admittedly, about as enticing to her as hanging out with Alex.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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