Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, Thursday Fandom Time
Evan had frightened Ms. Guthrie the other day. He could tell, he really hadn't needed to ask at all, with the way she froze, looking over his shoulder at the file he'd pulled up on one of the school computers. It had been a few days back, the same day that Cyclops had shown up at the school to try to talk Wolverine and some of the other teachers over to his own side, and Paige still looked shaken when Evan passed her in the hallway.
It bothered him more than he'd care to admit, how just the act of trying to find out more about the person everybody said he bore a striking resemblance to could frighten somebody so much. It left him feeling uneasy, too. It didn't matter what Angel said he saw when he looked at him, and once Angel had left to join the fighting, Evan had lost even that bit of comfort, left alone to deal with Quire's constant bullying. Even that, he took in stride. He was here for a reason. He had to be. And even if it meant being accused of being some miniature version of a genocidal super villain, it was the sneers and jibes from the other students that told Evan so much more than any of the faculty cared to discuss.
He knew who Apocalypse was. He just still couldn't see how anybody could possibly believe that they were supposed to be connected. All they really had in common, in the end, was that little bit of the face, the lines that traced up from their lips to their ears. Right?
Classes were attempting to continue as normal. They really were. But the faculty had been pared down to what was pretty much a skeleton crew, classes being taught infrequently by the staff's junior members and sometimes even by the janitor, which meant that Evan had an afternoon off. He'd chosen to spend it reading, a book by Richard Bach that he'd pulled from the school's library, and after a brief bit of harassment courtesy of Quire, he'd been approached by Ms. Guthrie while he was still sitting there and scowling at the textbook that had been tossed at him.
"Evan... have you got a moment?"
Evan glanced up at Paige, quietly tucking Quentin's textbook on evolution underneath his copy of Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah. He offered her a bit of a smile, though it was still a little sour.
"Sure I do. I'm only reading," he replied, and then started to pull himself to his feet. Paige stopped him with one hand held up, and then turned to take a seat under the tree beside him.
"Would you like a break from this, Evan?" Her eyes slid down to the textbook that he'd tried to hide, and then moved back up to look at him. "I can talk to Kitty, you know. Find you a place to go for a while, at least until we have enough people on hand again to keep an eye on punks like Quire. We're all stretched a bit thin at the moment, with Rachel and Bobby and everyone gone. And we've all noticed the way they pick on you, Evan."
Evan's shoulders bunched up a little more, his own gaze turning down at the extra book in his hands. It would have been difficult to miss, he thought sourly. Even for teachers like Mr. Starsmore, who seemed to go out of his way to avoid him.
"It isn't anything I can't handle, Ma'am," he offered, and tried again to pull himself to his feet. "Uncle Cluster said I should come here, and that you all have a lot to teach me. I couldn't just--"
"It wouldn't be permanent, Evan. It's just summer camp, on a fancy-looking little island. With more kids your age, who probably wouldn't even know who--" She stopped short, teeth worrying at her lip, and then she pulled herself to her feet and tucked a brochure into his hand, deftly taking the textbook from him in the same motion. "Just think about it? You don't have to decide right now. But if you do choose to go, come and talk to me, or to Kitty, and we can arrange for you to head off to the island as early as Saturday."
And with that and a shaky sort of smile, Paige turned and walked away, leaving Evan standing there in the shade of a tree, blinking down at a brochure for some place called Fandom High.
And he'd be lying, he realized, if he were to go back to the teachers and tell them anything except that he really, really wanted to go.
[ooc: Establishy! NFI and NFB for distance, but OOC is welcome!]
It bothered him more than he'd care to admit, how just the act of trying to find out more about the person everybody said he bore a striking resemblance to could frighten somebody so much. It left him feeling uneasy, too. It didn't matter what Angel said he saw when he looked at him, and once Angel had left to join the fighting, Evan had lost even that bit of comfort, left alone to deal with Quire's constant bullying. Even that, he took in stride. He was here for a reason. He had to be. And even if it meant being accused of being some miniature version of a genocidal super villain, it was the sneers and jibes from the other students that told Evan so much more than any of the faculty cared to discuss.
He knew who Apocalypse was. He just still couldn't see how anybody could possibly believe that they were supposed to be connected. All they really had in common, in the end, was that little bit of the face, the lines that traced up from their lips to their ears. Right?
Classes were attempting to continue as normal. They really were. But the faculty had been pared down to what was pretty much a skeleton crew, classes being taught infrequently by the staff's junior members and sometimes even by the janitor, which meant that Evan had an afternoon off. He'd chosen to spend it reading, a book by Richard Bach that he'd pulled from the school's library, and after a brief bit of harassment courtesy of Quire, he'd been approached by Ms. Guthrie while he was still sitting there and scowling at the textbook that had been tossed at him.
"Evan... have you got a moment?"
Evan glanced up at Paige, quietly tucking Quentin's textbook on evolution underneath his copy of Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah. He offered her a bit of a smile, though it was still a little sour.
"Sure I do. I'm only reading," he replied, and then started to pull himself to his feet. Paige stopped him with one hand held up, and then turned to take a seat under the tree beside him.
"Would you like a break from this, Evan?" Her eyes slid down to the textbook that he'd tried to hide, and then moved back up to look at him. "I can talk to Kitty, you know. Find you a place to go for a while, at least until we have enough people on hand again to keep an eye on punks like Quire. We're all stretched a bit thin at the moment, with Rachel and Bobby and everyone gone. And we've all noticed the way they pick on you, Evan."
Evan's shoulders bunched up a little more, his own gaze turning down at the extra book in his hands. It would have been difficult to miss, he thought sourly. Even for teachers like Mr. Starsmore, who seemed to go out of his way to avoid him.
"It isn't anything I can't handle, Ma'am," he offered, and tried again to pull himself to his feet. "Uncle Cluster said I should come here, and that you all have a lot to teach me. I couldn't just--"
"It wouldn't be permanent, Evan. It's just summer camp, on a fancy-looking little island. With more kids your age, who probably wouldn't even know who--" She stopped short, teeth worrying at her lip, and then she pulled herself to her feet and tucked a brochure into his hand, deftly taking the textbook from him in the same motion. "Just think about it? You don't have to decide right now. But if you do choose to go, come and talk to me, or to Kitty, and we can arrange for you to head off to the island as early as Saturday."
And with that and a shaky sort of smile, Paige turned and walked away, leaving Evan standing there in the shade of a tree, blinking down at a brochure for some place called Fandom High.
And he'd be lying, he realized, if he were to go back to the teachers and tell them anything except that he really, really wanted to go.
[ooc: Establishy! NFI and NFB for distance, but OOC is welcome!]