Once Upon A Time...

03. School Time

Summary: Not quite. It is still Saturday, which means no school. Still, there is a lot of school talk going on her.

“Aooww…” the raven haired James winced as Superman took a hit from the bad-guy, the swat from a gigantic hand sending the Man of Steel for quite a toss, one thankfully shortened by the outstretched hand of the super-sized Apache Chief.

“I wanna be like ‘em,” he turned to his new friend and fellow Super-friends aficionado.

“Uh-Huh,” Ororo nodded half-heartedly. ‘Wotta a dumb e‘pisoed.’ She wasn’t even paying attention, well, trying not to. The cause of her sullen mood? ‘No Wonder Woman in today’s Supafriends’ story.’

‘Hmph. Dum-dums.’

She stared forlornly at her Wonder Woman doll, caressing the plastic toy’s hair back, as if trying to provide and find some consolation in the fact that just a few hours later she would be getting, at least a part of, her W'ndr Wom'n-quota for the weekend.

As for James, he was having the time of his life. Usually it used to be just him. Alone. No one to play with or talk to, not that he talk all that lot, especially during the TV show. Still, having someone to keep him company, someone to play with…it was better.


His wide as saucers eyes narrowing, his mouth curving down in a cute stupefied pout, James groaned, his protest drawing Ororo’s attention to the boring face of a balding old man who had replaced the cartoon. ‘An’ just when the fight was getting to the good part.’


“We interrupt this program for an emergency news announcement,” oldie-moldy droned in his sleep inducing deadpan. “At 8:27 AM Eastern Standard Time, New York, mutant rights activist and proponent of the so called ‘x-gene’, Professor Charles Xavier was attacked and shot while stepping out of his car. Professor Xavier was in New York for a seminar. The shooter, an unidentified man in his late twenties has been taken into custody.”

“Whoa.” Ororo exclaimed as Professor Xavier’s photograph came up on the screen. He was that P’ofessor had comed to her school. He had been so nice. Did someone hurt him? Why did they do that?

“Shot once in the back and once in the shoulder, Professor Xavier was quickly transported away to an undisclosed location. Along with his personal aides, accompanying the Professor was his wife and fellow scientist Dr. Moira Kinross-Xavier. We await any update on the Professor’s condition.”

“As for the people behind the attack on Professor, although no one has so-far come forward to accept or claim responsibility for the attack, a communicate has been released by the New York chapter of the Friends of Humanity Organization. In their release, the FOH has praised the unknown shooter. They also state that it was the hand of God itself that was guiding their fellow ‘crusading brother’ and that this only shows that God himself is on their side to cleanse humanity of this mutant menace.”

“We now return to your scheduled programming.”


A second later, the Superfriends returned the first visual that of the Wonder Twins using their powers to transform into an eagle and a bucket of water.

Whatever they did next went unobserved by the two children in the room, for not only were they more than a little scared at hearing about someone being hurt, they had also just got a new topic to discuss. Mutants.

“I seen him,” Ororo broke the silence first. That Puf’essor Zavyer. I seen him at my school.”

“Oh yeah?” James turned to her, his eyes full of awe. “School?”

“Yup,’ nodding feverishly, Ororo started off in a complete rant, recounting every little bit she remembered about that day.

“I had worn my blue ribbon that day…” blah blah blah, once off, she carried on for the better part of ten minutes, only stopping in between to gulp in air before setting off again. “…and then he left. Nice huh.”

“Nice huh.” Expecting a response and not getting any, Ororo turned to the awestruck James giggles bursting forth from her lips at the ‘duh’ look on her alabaster skinned playmate’s face.

“I said, nice huh.” A second, louder repeat and a yank for good measure and James snapped free from his seemingly hypnotic state.

“Huh?”

“You even hear what I say’d?” Ororo frowned.

“School...”

“Yeah.” She nodded, feeling more than bit put off at not eliciting a favorable response to the excellent story she had woven. ‘It’d just like the news they give on the teevee,’ the budding TV-person patted herself on the back, even if were a mental pat.

“School,” James echoed himself. “You go to school?”

“Yeah-wuh?” What sort of a dumbo question was that? Didn’t everybody go to school, ‘cause if they did not then Ororo needed their names, to quote the next time when her mama blew away her excuses for not wanting to go to school. “Whaddyou mean go to school?” Maybe she heard him wrong.

“You go to school…” Nope, no such luck here.

“Yes. Yes. Yes. Yessssss.” There, that should take of his stuck-record questioning.

“…outside? Everyday?”

“Yaaarrggh.” Ororo shook her head rapidly, trying to clear her mind off the echo starting to linger within it. “Yes. Yes, I go to school. Yes, the school is outside. Yes, I have to go everyday, ‘cept Saturday and Sunday. Yes, I got to school, outside and everyday. Und'rstood?”

In the lingering silence that followed her outburst, Ororo started to grow worried. Maybe she shouldn’t have shouted like this. ‘Mamma had sayd to not shout, fight or take anything that wasn’t mine.’ Suddenly afraid, she slowly turned her head, hoping that no one was coming to catch her. Maybe if she said sorry then-

“Whoa!” Already a bit unnerved, Ororo all but leapt out of her skin at the sudden outburst from the boy sitting a few feet away from her. “You go to school. Out. Everyday. You’re soooo lucky.”

‘Huh?’ Now it was Ororo’s turn be dumbfounded. “Y-Yeah,” she nodded warily. “Doesn’t everyone?”

“No,” James shook his head, the glimmer in his eyes fading a bit. “I don’t.”

“What!” The disbelieving exclamation echoed in the room. ‘He don’t go to school! An’ he’s calling me lucky?”

“Yeah, I don’t.” The boy’s shoulders slumped a bit. “I have to stay home. I get sick y’know.”

“No school?” Just as James did at the revelation of her going to school everyday, Ororo’s mental faculties braked to a stop at his not having to do so. “No. School.”

“Uh-huh. I have pr-prywait tuition. Mr. Clements three days and Mrs. Johnston two. There’s a class room-” He stopped midway, his eyes lighting up again, this time around at the sound of a jeep rolling up the driveway.

“He’s here.” Two words and he was off, leaving a more than little confused Ororo gaping behind him. What did he mean, ‘he’s here’? Who was ‘he’? More importantly, how was she to get off going to school?


Her curiosity getting the better of her, Ororo shook herself out of her stupor and started towards the direction that James had taken off in, heading to whatever it was that had caught his fancy.

Still a bit unnerved by the new surroundings and the sheer size of it, the snow haired girl advanced slowly, slowly down to a snail crawl at the voices reaching her ears. Stopping at an open door, she stuck her head out slowly, just in time to hear, “James. Stop troubling your brother.”

Standing in the middle of the large room, just inside the front door, were three people. One of them James, Ororo wondered who the other two people were. ‘Brother!’ the light bulb lit within her as she trained her eyes, first on the other boy and then at the slighter shorter woman. Clearly older than both James and herself, Ororo concluded that this must be James’ older brother, which would make the woman…

“But mom-” James edged even closer to his brother who had his arm draped over his younger brother’s shoulder. He was so looking forward to this elder brother’s visit from the boarding school.

“No buts. J.J. is tired from the journey and needs his rest. You can play with him later.”

“Mom-” John Jr began.

“What did I just say?” Ororo frowned at the woman’s tone.

Whatever James’ response was, it so soft that even straining her ears, Ororo could not make it out.

“Good. Now, go to your room.” With that, Elizabeth Howlett started to lead away her first born away, most probably towards his room.

Ororo watched as the clearly dejected James watched after the duo, his head falling to his chest as they disappeared through one of the doors on the far side. Watching him standing there, his clad to the gills in clothes form looking incredibly small, the headstrong Ororo reached a decision. She did not like that woman. Not at all.

---

By the time James returned to his room, not only had Ororo made her way back, she also had hastily strewn out both her toys as also a few of his, all in part to put up a show of her having stayed in the room, of not followed him…of not having witnessed what she had.

“Hey!” She greeted him seeing him walk through the door, his eyes still holding a hauntingly lost look in them, and even possibly a few shed tears.

“Hey.” James flopped down beside her. Reaching, half-heartedly, for one of the plastic saucers from Ororo’s tea set, he fingered the smooth cheap plastic. Turning it upside down, just so that he would have something to do, he finally looked up at her a clearly false smile plastered on his face. “Tell me mobe.” He slipped on the ‘r’.

“Huh? More?” More about what?

“About your school.” For a child whose only outings were the visits to his father’s factory or to the odd party or two that he was healthy enough to accompany his parents to, even the smallest experience of the outside world was worth grasping, worth cherishing.

“School?” For Ororo there wasn’t much to tell, after all it was dumb old school, with its dumb old classes, dumb old Mr. Buckstein. Buck buck bucccccaakkk!

“Yeah. How you go there, how big is it, how many other children come there, your friends…anything.”

“Anythin’ huh? Hmm, Let’s see,” Ororo wracked her mind sifting through her treasure trove of memories marked ‘school’. “Got it.”

“This one time, in drawing class…”

Note: Well, that was a short one, wasn’t it? I had planned for James telling about his home-schooling (and even showing Ororo his class room), but somehow that didn’t sit quite well with the mood in the latter half.

As for the last line, it’s a ‘kiddy’ take on that famous line from American Pie, by Michelle (Allison Hannigan). “This one time, at band camp, I stuck a flute in my p…” (You know the rest.)

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