A/N: (READ! If you wanna know what’s going on) Here we go, a nice longer chapter with tons of pointlessness! Anyway, I’ve finally decided what it is I want to do with this fic! I’ve decided that, since many other ideas sprang up in my head while writing this, that I’m splitting this thing into a series of parts or books or something. Book One is “Return to Normalcy”, which sets the stage for the other ones. This one introduces most of the characters who’ll be starring in later parts and the beginnings of the relationships and whatnot. Well, what I mean is that Book 1 is about Todd and Wanda, Book 2 is Pietro and Lance, Book 3 is... some other people who’re introduced in this chapter... O.o And so forth. What I plan on doing is going into the Brotherhood, the “Acolytes” (dudes from Day of Reckoning, and plus some more because if they don’t have more guys, their odds of not-dying at the end of this series is pathetic >.>), and the X-Dorks and their little... relationships and what-have-yous.

Yes. This may be a little bit rushed because I’m leaving tomorrow for a few days and wanted to post this so that while I was gone, I wouldn’t have it looming over my head ;D And so... read! This chapter’s fairly pointless, but it’s really just intro-ing some peoples.

Oh, and a big thanks goes out to Psycho B foooor making me finish this! Because I probably wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for her O.o;;

The Brotherhood house was always pretty hectic before school, back when they actually went. During Mystique’s “leave of absence”, school days had settled down as the Brotherhood fell into the bad habit of skipping or showing up whenever the hell it suited them. With her return, she was very quick to restore some old rules, the main one being: be at school every day on time (most likely so she wouldn’t have to deal with them any more than she had to). And just like that, the morning rush was back.

“Man, Pietro, that’s my hair gel you’re wastin’!”

“It likes me more, Freddy, I give it a better home,” the speedster retorted smugly, running the glop through his impeccable snowy hair. Todd watched the two, a toothbrush negligently dangling from his mouth.

Sure, he may not’ve been the cleanest guy in the house, and his teeth weren’t as white as they could be (well, it wasn’t like he didn’t put up an effort to be clean... So he was a little scatterbrained at times and forgot to shower for a few days on end, but that didn’t make him a total stranger to the world of hygiene!), but even he wouldn’t stick that crap that Pietro and Freddy were so dearly fighting over in his hair.

“You can’t dictate what the gel likes, Pietro!”

“Why not? The results speak for themselves!”

Todd took the brush out of his mouth and spat in the sink. “Most guys fight over chicks, ya know.”

The two elder boys looked at each other, then to Todd, scowling almost identically. The scraggly teen bit his lip to keep from snickering as they said in unison: “Shut up!”

“Sure thing.” A little salute, and with that he hopped out of the bathroom and down the stairs. The two would be a while, and Lance was trying to cram in some last-minute studying for some test that was apparently going to decide whether he failed history or not, so that gave him some time to kill.

Yep, it was time to sit back and... watch the blank screen of a dead television set. Wow, killing time wasn’t as much fun as it used to be.

“...remember what we’ve learned today.”

“Yes.”

Todd blinked, then craned his neck to look up the stairs. Wanda had just stepped out of Agatha’s room, already dressed and ready for the day.

Must’ve been training, he thought simply as the girl came down to the living room. Geez, she probably has to get up pretty early for that shit.

Todd shuddered at the horrible thought of actually having to get up early. Oh sure, sometimes he had some issues with the way Mystique acted like he was a useless burden on the Brotherhood, but there were times that he was grateful to be the least favored member of the group. Hell, when you were on the lady’s good side, that meant having to put in waaay more work than he was willing to do.

“Todd,” Wanda said abruptly, startling the younger boy. The girl barely talked, and when she did, it was only when responding to something said to her. The idea of her actually starting a conversation was pretty new concept to Todd.

“I-- uh-- yeah?” he stammered in reply. Oh yes, he was smooth.

She looked a little sheepish for a moment, and said reluctantly, “Can we... um, talk?”

He blinked, caught off guard by her question. Truth be told, Todd had been expecting something more along the lines of “Could you, um... not step within ten feet of me ever again?”, since that was about all girls ever said to him. Then again, Wanda wasn’t like the girls at school. She didn’t even go to school, since Mystique and ol’ Aggie hadn’t deemed her ready yet. The process of getting her used to civilization (though Todd hardly considered a high school “civilization”) again was going to take forever at the rate they were taking it.

Pushing his “Oh my God, a girl’s talkin’ to me and not tellin’ me to go away!” anxieties aside, Todd said, “Sure, Wanda. I’m all ears-- man that’d be a sucky mutation, bein’ all ears... I mean, can you imagine what that’d-- uhh... heh?” Abruptly, the teen stopped himself from babbling further and managed a toothy yellow grin (Oh yeah, ‘cause THAT’S gonna charm her, yo.) that didn’t do a very good job at hiding his nervousness.

She laughed a little bit-- well, sort of. It was like a really reluctant, barely audible chuckle, but it was there! Todd almost beamed proudly. He’d gotten Wanda to slightly chuckle! It wasn’t much, but hey, it was a start.

Of course, just as soon as she’d laughed, her serious demeanor was back in place again as if she never heard Todd’s dopey rambling. “Can we go outside? I mean, I just really need to get out of here, away from... I just need some fresh air.”

“Uhh... sure.”

Oh, yeah, man, don’t sound TOO thrilled.

Todd hopped off of the couch and started for the door, when a thought suddenly stopped him in mid-step.

Shit! I’ve gotta go to school!

Okay, let’s think this through. School? Girl who wants to talk to me? Go somewhere where people pick on me? Girl? Watch Lance try to get into Kitty’s pants? Girl? Hmm... I THINK they can manage without me for a day.

Well, it was a tough decision (okay, so it was a very simple decision that took an all of two seconds to come to), but without further debate, he followed Wanda out of the house, leaving whatever high school soap operas the other three boys were involved in behind.

“This food’s so gross.”

“Picky, picky.” St. John Allerdyce dipped a greasy fry in ketchup and dangled it in front of the other boy’s face. “This is the breakfast of champs, my friend.”

“What, three-hundred pound champs?” His companion pointed a finger at him and said, “You just wait ‘till your metabolism dies, Allerdyce.”

“Thanks, mum,” the spiky-haired blonde grinned, then promptly shoved the fry in his mouth. “You need to eat more, y’know. What’s this ya got, anyway?” He grabbed the younger boy’s drink and took a sip, then made a face. “Sprite? Come on, you need more than Sprite to get ya through the day! Here, take some of my burger.”

The redhead’s nose wrinkled at the thought of the burger. “No! That’s just a heart attack waiting to happen!”

“Jesus, Fabian, you’re such a--”

The other boy held up a hand to shut Allerdyce up, eyes peering at something behind the Aussie. “Hey, behind you,” he murmured.

Allerdyce turned his head to look out the window behind them. As he did, a pair of eerily familiar teens walked past the Gut Bomb. Okay, he knew they were important somehow-- well, at least the girl was; he didn’t recall much at all about the guy-- but at the moment, that didn’t strike him. What did strike him was what a nice ass the chick had. And those vinyl pants... yes, those were always a big plus. Briefly, he wondered what a chick like that was doing hanging around with a squat little kid, before his companion kicked his shin from under the table to regain his attention.

“Ow! You didn’t have to kick that hard!”

“I thought it’d be best to snap you out of your reverie before you began drooling on yourself,” the redhead remarked with an innocent smile that would’ve been convincing, had St. John not known what kind of vicious bitch Fabian could be (especially when ignored).

“Thanks. I really owe ya one,” John murmured dryly as he rubbed his aching shin.

“Should we follow them?”

“Naaah.” The Aussie shook his head. “I think we’d seem a wee bit suspicious. ‘Sides, we’re gonna be at that school a’ theirs-- uh. What time is it?”

Fabian blinked, then looked down at his watch. “Seven-twenty-seven. School starts at seven-thirty, right?”

“Yeah... Oh--”

“Shit!” they both proclaimed, jumping from their seats and grabbing their backpacks before running for the door.

“Late on the first day. We’re bloody brilliant spies, aren’t we?” the blonde teased as they sprinted towards Bayville High. They tried to make good time, though apparently the distance from the Gut Bomb to the school were a bit more than the two had expected.

“Well... this ain’t so bad. I... get to... burn off my future ‘eart attack, and you... burn off the whole load ‘a nothin’ you ate,” St. John laughed, though he was clearly becoming a bit exhausted. His pace gradually slowed down as Bayville High came within their veritable grasp.

The redhead rolled his eyes and slowed down to a walk as they neared the entrance of the school. “Yeah, this is just swell. I can’t believe he sent us on this idiotic assignment.” He looked back down at his watch again and flashed St. John a small grin. “We made good time, at least. Only a few minutes late.”

“Great... See? Mags can... count... on... us...” John managed between gasps. He tossed his backpack to the ground and leaned against a nearby tree, catching his breath. “And ‘ere Remy said we wouldn’t even make it to th’ school. We showed him!”

“Well, it would be rather pathetic if we couldn’t even make it this far, you know. Come on, let’s get our schedules.”

St. John nodded, and with that, the two Acolytes entered Bayville High.

Lance Alvers watched the back of Kitty’s head, frowning. They were only ten minutes into Chemistry, and he came to the conclusion that he did not like the new guy.

There he was, right about to talk to Kitty-- confront her yet again about the incident in the mall, and explain his side of it-- when the new guy stepped in and immediately stole her attention away with his stupid good looks (Blonde hair and blue eyes? C’mon, that’s just SO overrated!), his stupid “badder boy than Lance” look, and his stupid Australian accent. Geez, what did girls see in accents, anyway?! They just made things harder to understand, and they ruined chances for normal guys with normal accents (like Lance) to get girls!

Lousy exotic accents...

It was first bad enough that she kept on gawking at the guy ever since he stepped into the room, but then she also had to make a big show over getting him to sit next to her, all the while totally blowing off Lance’s existence.

I need to get her attention away from him... Maybe I should make the floor shake the next time he stands up! That way, he’ll fall over and possibly injure himself! Or at least look stupid, thus making me look better!

Oh, it was a devious plan, indeed. Lance grinned to himself, now watching the two with a small sense of triumph. He’d show that new guy his place! He’d teach blondie to sit next to Kitty and humor her advances towards him with that damned accent of his!

And so, he bided his time, ever so cleverly ignoring the lecture his teacher was giving the class as he instead watched the two like a vindictive hawk of sorts.

Finally, his moment of truth came-- well, he supposed truth wasn’t a fairly accurate term for it. Maybe justice. Well, really, “the American way” was probably the best term, seeing as how he was an American and his newfound rival (who seemed to be totally oblivious to the rivalry) wasn’t.

Anyway, Lance’s grin widened as the new guy-- John, he guessed, judging by Kitty’s giggle-filled conversation with him-- got up to throw some piece of paper away. As the blonde ever so casually strolled back to his seat, the rock tumbler made a slight hand gesture to get the ground moving.

“Ow! My ankle!” came the yelp he had been hoping for, though not from where he’d been expecting it. It sounded distant, like it wasn’t even in the same classroom... How odd, considering that he hadn’t manipulated his powers to any extent that would’ve affected the other rooms significantly...

Wait. He thought for a moment, then came to a terrible realization. This classroom’s upstairs, which means that... I just went and fucked around with a class downstairs...

Oops. Lance smacked himself for not taking that into consideration.

This is gonna be a lonnng day. He sat back and frowned, spending the rest of the class period zoning in and out of the lecture on... acids or something.

After the bell rang, Lance stayed behind for a moment, hoping for another chance to speak with Kitty.

No such luck. She very promptly gathered her things and left with the rest of the class, leaving Lance behind with John and a couple of stragglers.

Well, this was a waste. Damn, if only this class wasn’t upstairs, then my plan would’ve worked! Of course, how that would’ve actually affected Kitty, he didn’t know.

Lance sighed and shrugged his backpack on. As he turned to leave, a hand clapped on his shoulder, and he turned around to see none other than John standing there.

“You need something?” Lance asked in a less-than-pleasant tone of voice.

“Yeah-- ah... I don’t really know my way ‘round ‘ere and--”

“Sucks for you,” the brunette muttered, rolling his eyes as he again turned to leave the classroom. Oh, sure he could play nice and totally mature and help the guy out, but that would... go against all that Lance stood for. Well, come to think of it, it had nothing to do with anything he “stood for”, but the plain and simple fact of the matter was that Lance had no desire to help John find any of his classes.

“Hey!” The blonde chased after the other boy and, catching up with him, said, “You aren’t the friendliest guy, are you?”

“What gave you that idea?”

“Gotta love America. Everybody’s just so bloody polite ‘ere.” John offered Lance an easygoing grin, despite the semi-hostile vibe coming from the rock tumbler, and said, “I’m John, by the way. St. John Allerdyce.”

“Lance Alvers,” the other grunted reluctantly.

“Great! Well, now that we’re all chummy, how ‘bout showin’ me to my next class?”

With a great sigh, the surly teen said, “Fine. What’s your next class?”

“Um...” John pulled a folded sheet of paper out from his pocket and looked down at it with a scrutinizing gaze. “Oh, fun, it’s American Hist’ry with Mrs. Scro-- Scruh-- somethin’ or other.”

Aaargh! No! Why?! Lance thought despairingly, as he forced a smile and said, “Oh.” Indeed, he could barely contain his... happiness at that revelation. “I’ve... got that class, too,” he muttered. “C’mon.”

Pietro watched the blackboard with a blank expression. There really wasn’t any need to take notes, seeing as how he could just skim the textbook later and have the entire chapter memorized in a couple of minutes. This gave him ample time for other things, such as... going over every stupid little aspect of his life and hopefully not get angsty over how complicated things were now that he was sharing a room with Lance and living under the same roof as Wanda again. Of course, he wouldn’t have to think of such things, had Todd not cut school today. Hell, he wouldn’t have had to think at all if Todd was around to distract him.

Not that he was surprised in the slightest that the Toad skipped class today. He used to do it all the time, and old habits died hard. What bugged Pietro, though, was the fact that Todd skipped out with Wanda.

What the hell can she tell him that she can’t talk to me about?! I’m her freaking brother-- who... she hates. A lot. Possibly violently. He thought back to their “reunion” a few weeks ago, and shook his head. Okay, very violently. There’s no “possibly” in there.

He sighed, resting his head in his arms as he stared off. It seems like everybody I care about is being distant lately. Haven’t had any contact with Father in months, Lance hasn’t exactly been Mr. Dependable since his renewed obsession with Pryde, he added venomously, and Wanda... well, she hates my guts. At least Todd ‘n Freddy are still around-- well, for the most part. Actually... Lately, Todd’s been kinda-- No. But... Noooo. Nowaynohownuhuh! Todd SO doesn’t have the hots for my sister! She’s-- my SISTER!

The thought of Todd pining over his sibling was sickening, really-- not because it was Todd lusting over her, but, well... he couldn’t bring himself to even consider her in the “Dude, it’s a girl! Huh-huh-huh” way. Then again, he didn’t really think of any girl in that way, but that was beside the point!

The point was, actually, that the more Pietro thought about his pal possibly lusting over his sister, the more it filled him with this odd feeling of... rage. Strange, he never really felt this way before. He loved Todd-- really, he did. The guy was like the little brother he never had! However...

I’m gonna kill him if he touches my sister. Wait... Why am I thinking about this?! Could it be my latent “overprotective brother” feelings that I should’ve used to save her from being institutionalized all those years ago? Could it be that I’m actually jealous because she won’t even look at me, but she’ll run off for a while to hang out with Todd? Could it be that-- the ground’s shaking. Lance?

Pietro looked up at the ceiling in accusation, his fingers gripping his desk for dear life. Of course, some people weren’t as used to the periodic tremors as he was...

“Ow! My ankle!”

And there was the perfect example. Some new kid was unlucky enough to have been standing when Lance (presumably, since Bayville wasn’t exactly known for its earthquakes) threw his tantrum, and promptly stumbled and landed in a pretty uncomfortably position-- well, judging by the way his foot was twisted.

“Oh, great,” Mr. Madson (or Coach Madson. It was always good to have a lazy coach lording over a class, since he was usually too preoccupied with thinking about the school football team to really care about petty things like teaching) muttered, just as the tremors stopped. “Maximoff! Take, uh, what’s-his-name to the nurse’s office.”

Why me?

“Sure thing,” the lithe mutant responded, hopping out of his desk to approach “what’s-his-name”. He crouched beside the fallen teen, getting a good look at him for the first time.

Oh... Hello. Nice hair... It looks all silky! he thought with a small grin, holding back the urge to reach out and stroke said silky hair (which would get him smacked in the process, most likely). The guy was definitely cute, though not in the rugged “Lance” way. Actually, he was far from rugged... like, if “rugged” was a small island, he’d be all the way on the other side of the planet. No, this guy was different. Very cute, despite the fact that he looked very “damsel in distressy” at the moment.

“Ow ow ow...”

“Here, lemme help you up,” Pietro said, offering his hand. The boy pushed some scarlet hair away from his eyes and looked up at the speed demon, first confused, then with some mild recognition.

Ooh! Pretty eyes! To go with the pretty hair! Maaan, I wish he’d hurry up and take my hand, though, ‘cause I reallywannarunnowand-- OOH! The lights are on! Wow, I feel great! Lively, energetic... vivacious! Whatamomenttobealive!

“Don’t touch me!” the redhead hissed in a quiet voice, so that only he and Pietro could hear. And with that, the “perfect moment to be alive” was promptly killed.

Pietro, feeling excessively impatient at the moment (though he really didn’t know why. Well, normally, he was a pretty impatient guy, but at the moment, it was like... tenfold), snapped, “Why the hell not?” Without further ado, he grabbed Prettyboy by the arm and hauled him up. The moment his skin made contact with the other boy’s, an odd feeling surged through him. It felt kinda like the last time Rogue touched him, only... backwards... and very, very pleasant. Oh, and tingly. Suddenly... he wanted to run like the wind and be free... like... the wind!

“Ow! Watch it!” the redhead cried as Pietro hurriedly dragged him out of the room (his newfound energy making it a little more than difficult for somebody with a twisted ankle to keep up). “Ow! Stop-- I--!”

“That’s right, son, walk it off!” Coach Madson called proudly, then turned back to the class to finish up the lesson.

“I need to ask you something,” Wanda asked rather bluntly. They’d been walking for some time now, not really saying much of anything to each other. Actually, Todd was beginning to think that this was some elaborate plan of hers to lead him into the empty park and kill him, then bury his dismembered corpse and... okay, well, that was a little morbid, now that he thought about it. Wanda didn’t even have a motive that he could think of, and besides... well... she couldn’t very well kill him if she had a question.

At least, she couldn’t kill me until AFTER I answered her question!

“Yeah?”

She nodded. “Pietro. I-- I just wanted to know how he’s been and... you seem to be pretty close with him.”

“Oh. Yeah, we’re cool,” he shrugged. “I mean, it’s hard not to love a guy who can belt out ever song in the Rocky Horror Picture Show at amazing speeds.”

“I find it fairly easy,” Wanda murmured under her breath, then shifted her gaze from the ground to the younger boy. “So he’s been all right?”

“Yeah-- well, he gets the VIP treatment, y’know, so he’s got it easiest outta all of us, I guess.”

“Figures.” There wasn’t even an attempt at hiding the bitterness in her voice.

Todd kicked at a bit of dirt on the ground, not really sure what to say. Well, there was always “Yep, being Pietro is quite the life! Too bad you were in a mental hospital while he got off easy! Wow, you sure missed out on a lot! Shucks, oh well!”, but he was sure that would get him punched. Still, he couldn’t sit there and not defend his friend. Pietro and Freddy were the only people who were always there for him without fail, so it’d almost be a crime not to stick up for his pal.

And so, Todd, attempting a nonchalant voice said, “You know, you shouldn’t be so hard on Pietro. I mean, from what he told me, there wasn’t anything he could do...”

“Have you ever been abandoned by somebody you cared about?” she asked softly. “Have you ever been tossed aside like garbage by people you thought loved you?”

“Yeah. Lance,” he muttered without thinking.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, he just up and left us one day. No warning,” he said with a dry little laugh. “Nothin’. We just... woke up one morning, got ready for school and waited around like idiots, thinking he was just takin’ his time for once. Finally Tabby barged into his room and... he was gone. Lance just ran off to the fuckin’ X-Geeks ‘cause he was tryin’ to score with Shadowkitten or whatever the fuck her stupid code name is.”

Wanda watched him, listening impassively-- well, he assumed so, anyway. The girl had this way of seeming like she was listening to every word, catching every detail with those sharp blue eyes that were always locked on--

Shit, when did I start noticing her eyes? Well, the look like Pietro’s, all dark and-- shit! When did I start noticing HIS eyes?!

“But... yeah,” he said, bringing his little story to an absolutely thrilling conclusion. “So I do know what it’s like to be left behind by somebody... Maybe not to the extent that you were, but... um... hey, you can always talk t’me, y’know. The Brotherhood, we’re like a family-- only we usually ain’t this sappy.”

Wanda cracked another smile, her dark lips curving reluctantly, parting just so he that the whites of her teeth were barely visible. He had to admit, she wasn’t bad looking at all, and when she smiled... well, it sent a kind of sick feeling to his stomach. Not a “She’s a freak; I’m so gonna hurl!” sick, but a different kind of sick. A more... enjoyable sick, if that was even possible.

And then... she said something that totally sent the mood crashing.

“I don’t have much faith in families.”

“You can trust me, you know. A fellow ditchee.”

She tilted her head to the side, examining his sincere expression with those stormy blue eyes of hers. “I think...”

“You think...?”

“I think you’re the first friend I’ve had in years.”

A/N: Done! I feel... accomplished! Anywho, the title of this chapter was a line that was in the rough draft and got cut for some reason O.o; And uh... uhhh... oh yeah! Don’t expect Pyro to be getting together with ANYBODY any time soon in this fic because... I don’t plan on it. Yet. XD Oh, and as for the rest of my fics (yes, another run down):

“Tumbling Down” - Slightly less stuck than before. Plan on working on it during A-Kon
“Pietro Maximoff Blah Blah Labyrinth” - Who knew ONE FREAKING PARAGRAPH would stick the whole fic on hiatus?!
“Empty Pages” - Not going to be updated unless I stab myself in the face, become depressed, die, un-die, and listen to my old Marilyn Manson CDs for ten hours straight then listen to some other stuff, then-- well, you get the picture. Can’t write it unless I’m very depressed, and since I’m not, it’s on big hold :D

See ya next chapter! (please :D)