After the talk with Tabitha, Jamie was beginning to feel a small bit better...espessially after the chocolate cake they made! Of course, as soon as Blob smelled cake he immediately gobbled down at least half, but it was no mind to them...that's what they made it for.

 Lance did not come home until the small hours of morning, which scared the small boy. Peeking out his bedroom door as Lance aproached, he noticed his ruffled hair, as though he had been gripping it in rage, and the shade of red his eyes had become, from what Jamie hoped was not from crying. If it was crying, he would feel...guilty.

 At seven A.M Jamie packed up his school supplies into his backpack. It would be a long walk, but walking was better than driving with an angry Lance, he concluded sadly. Now that Lance was mad at him, was he going to get kicked out of the Brotherhood? Todd didn't seem mad at him, and neither did Fred. Tabby seemed to like him more, and Pietro complimented the amount of sugar he used in the frosting. He opened the door slowly, cringing at the creeks it made, but slipped out when there was enough room for him to squeeze. There were sounds coming from the kitchen, like cups clinking together and muffled whispers. Sneaking slowly against the wall, Jamie peeked into the kitchen with interest.

  "Whee...funfunfun, alwayslovethecoffeecoffeecoffee!" The whispers were rushed and quick, and Jamie recognized them as Pietro's voice.

  "Pietro?" Jamie whispered, moving into the kitchen with caution.

 Pietro looked up, hiding three cups behind his back.

  "Oh shortstuffitsyou!" He grinned, and held out the cups.

  "DonttellLanceIstolehiscoffee!"

 Jamie nodded and moved torwards the door in the kitchen.

  "Whereyagoin?" Pietro asked, quicksilvering in front of him.

  "School."

  "Why soearly?"

 Trying to get around Pietro would not work in this situation...he was much too fast. Sighing, Jamie finally decided to tell the truth of the matter.

  "Lance is...mad at me. I'm walking." And again, he tried to push past Pietro. No such luck.

  "Icanhelpyouwiththat!"

 Jamie took his into mind.

  "How?"

"Commonjustgetonmybackit'llbetherideofthecentery!"

 Nodding, Jamie jumped onto Pietro's back and they sped off.

************ ************

 Tabby walked grogilly down the stairs of the brotherhood house, dragging her feet considerably at she forced herself into a chair when se entered the kitchen. Fully dressed and showered, being awake was not an option at this moment in time.

  "Morning, Pietro." She muttered, pouring a bowl of cereal with one hand and adding milk with the other. "You're up early."

 Pietro just nodded energetically and grinned at her, but the grin toned down a bit when Lance entered the room.

  "Hiya morninLanciepoo!" Pietro giggled, standing up and zooming to the cofee maker. "Wantsomecoffee? Imade it esspessiallyforyou!"

 Shooting Pietro strange looks, Lance sat down at the table and took the coffee, taking a small sip and swallowing with dificulty.

  "Pietro! This is NOT my coffee!" He growled in a grouchy voice, shoving the coffee cup back at Pietro in a fit of temper. "Where's MY coffee?"

 Pietro just shrugged and, grinning, quicksilvered out of the room.

  "HEY, SHORT STUFF, TOAD, BLOB ITS MORNING!" Tabby yelled shrilly, knowing that the occupants upstairs heard her. There was the sound of wood creaking as Pietro made another quicksilver entrance in the kitchen.

  "Short Stuff's not here." He said casually, leaning against the molding of the door and examining his nails. "Igavehim a ridetoschool."

  "You don't have a car." Lance pointed out, his face growing red.

  "Oh, don't worry your cutelittleheadoffLanciedoll! We ran!" And then he quicksilvered out once again.

 Tabby cleared her throat noticably.

  "Do you think...he went to school early because he...didn't want to see you?"

 Lance ran his hand through his already ruffled hair.

  "I'll bet...he told you?"

 Tabby nodded, crossing her arms defiantly.

  "I...I didn't mean to get so mad..." Lance said, putting his hands in his pockets and averting his eyes to the worn, dusty floor, "I was just so worried that someone would hit him, or something, that I just...flipped. I was...going to apolgize to him this morning...but he already left."

  "Lance...?" Tabby pried, reaching over and fixing his hair.

  "What?" He answered back, slapping her hand away. "I was!"

  "Laaaance...?" She pried again, reaching up and smoothing down his hair.

  "I was...thinking about it." Lance admitted, letting her fix his hair best she could.

  "And you're going to apoligise....?"

 Lance sighed.

  "After school. I promise."

********** **********

  "Hey Jamie!" A familiar voice called to him from the halls. "Wait up!" Jamie slowed down enough for Sarah to catch up to him.

  "Hey, Sarah." He greeted, not stopping his quick pace to mathmatics.

  "So um...Jamie, how'd the deal with your bro-i mean, how'd the deal with Lance go?"

 Slowing down, Jamie concentrated on the floor.

  "I...didn't get a chance to talk to him. I...think he's still mad at me."

 Sarah slowed down her pace to match his.

  "Well, since you know, you're being all, outgoing and stuff...there's a dance tonight, and I was um, wondering if you'd go with me. We'll be extra careful, no one will get close enough to make those other you's come out. I PROMISE."

 Jamie smiled and nodded.

  "Sure, Sarah, I'd love to go with you."

 Sarah nodded.

  "Jared, Jimmy, and Jake are getting together after school to get ready at Jimmy's massive wardrobe closet. They invited you! I'll see you at the dance!"

 And she skipped away happily.

********** **********

  "Alright, alright, lets get down to buisness." Jimmy muttered, examining what he had to work with at the moment. Jared was a mess, (they had played softball in gym), Jake seemed paranoid out of his wits, and Jamie was pulled away from all the others. Jake was the only non-pathetic one of the group, besides Jimmy himself, of course.

 First off was Jamie, the most pathetic of the lot. They situated him in the baggy jeans he was wearing tha day, along with a white muscle shirt and a orange hawaiian shirt over it.

  "Wow!" Jamie exclaimed, examining himself in the mirror before turning abruptly, his eyes wide. "I almost forgot, I have to call my brother!"

 The other boys gave him weird looks, but motioned torwards the phone freely while digging through Jimmy's closet. Nodding in appreciation, Jamie picked up the cordless phone and dialed the number to the brotherhood house without hesitation. The number has been imprinted into his mind long before.

 Tabby's mock-seductove voice picked up on the other line.

  "Hello, you have reached the Playboy magazine hotline, how many supscriptions would you like?"

 Jamie grinned.

  "Two subscriptions, please." He giggled, unable to hold it back any longer. Jared, Jimmy, and Jake each raised an eyebrow at him.

  "JAMIE!" Holding the phone about two feet away from him, Tabby's voice vibrated the earpeice. "Jamie WHERE are you? I've been worried sick!"

  "I'm at my friend Jimmy's house." Jamie answered once the mouth peice was once again close enough to talk into. "We're getting ready for the dance."

 If the in Jamie's hand had exploded, it would not have caused as much noise as Tabby did at that moment.

  "A DANCE?! Are you INSANE?! Any other time I would be happy for you but NOW?! Lance is already mad that he waited at the school, and now you're going to a dance, with people, who KNOWS what might..."

  "Shhh!" Jamie spit into the phone as loud as he could over her screaming. Her voice quieted and there was silence, so he continued his rehearsed speech. "Sarah and I have it all planned out. We'll stay a little ways away from everybody, I swear. Don't worry. Well, Tabby, I gotta go!"

  "No, Jamie wait..." Click. Tabby's voice echoed as Jamie hung up the phone, and turned to grin at his friends.

  "She said yes."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 Jamie walked into the dance with Jimmy, Jared, and Jake. They were the J crowd boys, as it had been since he had come to this school. The moment he entered the doors of Bayville Elementery, when he went over to a person and introduced himself, trying to make friends, they would not even stop what they were doing, but point to the closest J crowd member before heading on their way. The J crowd consisted of four boys, Jamie, Jared, Jake, and Jimmy, and four girls, Jessica, Jannette, Jenny, and Jaquoline. Jannette and Jaquoline were twins, and only ever talked to the J crowd girls. None of the J crowd guys could figure out why, so they just went with it.

 Jamie was situated in a white sleeveless shirt(the collar was ripped, courtesy of Jimmy when Jamie admitted it was choking him), jeans that, although they were two sizes too large,(not saying that Jimmy was FAT, he was just...larger than all the other J crowd guys). Over the white sleeveless, he wore a short sleeved hawaiian overshirt, colored orange for individuality. Considering he was the J crowd member with the largest wardrobe, Jimmy had provided all the members with clothing. ("You gotta look cool," he admitted, touseling his own spiked hair as he contorted Jamie's into a similar fashion. "Chicks dig cool.")

 Although his confidence of the situation had somehow overpowered his nervousness at the time that they had been getting ready for the dance, it immediately returned as soon as he stepped into the dark gym.

 What am I DOING here? He thought to himself as he was lead through the almost empty gym torwards a corner where Sarah and the rest of the J crowd waited. I should be at the Brotherhood house, baking a cake with Tabby, while Lance and I talk out our differances. That's where I should be, not at a dance, where someone might hit me, and find out my powers...

  "Jamie?" Jamie looked up into Sarah's hazel-green eyes, crested with curiosity. "Are you okay, Jamie?"

 He nodded and pulled her somewhat away from the rest of the J crowd.

  "I'm just...worried...about...you know..."

 An odd smile crept onto Sarah's face as she gently grabbed his arm and pulled him torwards a large table piled with candy bars and sodas.

  "Let's get some snacks, Jamie."

 Jamie followed Sarah, smiling. Maybe this night wouldn't be so bad after all...

  "SARAH!" A snobby female voice came from beside Sarah and Jamie. Two voices echoed the first, sounding appauled and just as equally snobby.

  "Who is that you're WITH?" The voice continued, and Sarah turned around to examine the owner. Long, slender legs situated on a practically perfect body, with short, glittery blonde hair pulled back into a half ponytail. Wearing a short miniskirt and a scowl, Sasha Clulist stood in front of them, Sandy Fathin and Selina Elrond standing like loyal servents behind her. Sarah wasted no time showing off.

  "This is Jamie Ma..." She started, but was cut off by Sasha's breathy, gloating tone once again.

  "I KNOW who it is, Sarah." She interrupted in an almost frustrated voice, but her eyes looked surprised when she examined Jamie up and down. "What I want to know is WHY have you the sudden interest to ditch your OWN kind?"

  "Your OWN kind!" Sandy and Selina echoed in unison, their eyes both holding identical looks of amazement.

 Staring at the three, Sarah held tight to Jamie's arm.

  "Own kind?" She wondered, although the answer was obvious.

  "You used to be with us ALL the time, Sarah." Sasha stated dramatically, as her lemmings shook their heads in what was thought to look like sad dismay. "But then...you started hanging out with the J crowd! You abandoned the S crowd!" Pointing an accusing finger at Sarah, she shreiked the last statement with such a firey passion that nearby students standing by would inch closer to veiw the sudden commotion.

  "S for SNOB, Sasha!" Sarah spat back, just as firey. "You and the rest of the S crowd are nothing but a bunch of self absorbed..." The crowd, now growing exceedingly large, gasped. "...Abercrombie and Fitch..." The crowd gasped again. "...rich anorexic NOBODIES!" The crowd let out a final gasp, then started murmering with approval at Sarah's thoughtful argument.

  "I am NOT anorexic!" Sasha cried angerly, stepping closer to Sarah with her platform sandals threteningly. Sarah stepped forward also, her rage overpowering the immediate notice in size differance.

  "Aha! I'm glad I found you, Jamie!" A cheerful male voice laughed behind Jamie as the two girls in front of him shot insults at each other like a western shootout. Jamie whirled around cautiously.

  "Oh! Hi Sam."

 Mr.Reegan save him a smile, and brushed away a hair from his eye.

  "Now you're getting it. Well, Jamie, could I see you for a moment...in the hallway? It's less crowded there."

 Jamie nodded and allowed himself to be lead out of the gym by Sam.

^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^ ^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^

  "...abandoning your friends! We were like FAMILY to you, Sarah!"

 Sarah was beginning to get annoyed of Sasha's voice. Turning her head for a moment, she looked for Jamie. Jamie?

  "Jamie!" She whispered, abruptly leaving the overreacting Sasha in her dust as she ran through the crowd, searching the whole while. "Jamie? Jamie? Oh no!"

 Poking her head into the dark hallway, Sarah expected it to be empty. What she saw was that it was anything but.

  "Jamie!" She cried, sighing with releif. "I'm SO glad I found..."

 Five faces turned torwards her, four of them Jamie's plastered up against the wall.

  "Uh oh..." Sarah whispered, stepping back slowly. "This CAN'T be good."

  "So, Mr. Madrox." Sam growled mysteriously, a death grip never leaving Jamie's now somewhat purple arm. "Your little girlfriend knows your secret, too?"

 Jamie let out a yelp as he was pulled roughly in front of Sam, and then both dissapeared into thin air.

  "I-invisibility?" Sarah gasped in disbeleif, staring at the spot where Jamie and Sam had just a second before been. Her eyes noticed an envelope lying lonely on the floor, so, picking it up, she examined it.

  "Professor Charles Xavier" was written in spidery red writing on the front, but no more details were given of the strange envelope. One multiple remained sprawled out on the hallway floor, and Sarah picked him up gently.

  "Common! We gotta go give this to Lance."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 Standing outside the Brotherhood house, the rain poured down upon Sarah's head. The multiple with her had walked with her in the rain the whole time, and showed her where the brotherhood house was. At the stairs, however, the multiple suddenly vanished from her wet, lonely side.

  "Wait!" She called, and tears welled up in her eyes. "COME BACK! PLEASE!"

 She walked up to the door cautiously, tears somehow running like a waterfall down her face as she looked for the doorbell. Finally, she resorted to knocking.

  "Get the door, Tabby!" A voice that sounded like Lance's yelled from somewhere in the house.

  "Get the door, Freddy!" A female voice yelled back.

  "NO! Get the door Toad!" A deep voice rumbled from somewhere close to the door.

  "FINE, YO! I'll get it!" A final voice reasoned, growing louder as it came closer to the door. It clicked open, revealing what a boy about age fifteen.

  "Uh...I'd like to t-t-talk to L-Lance?" She stuttered out, sobbing. The boy that had opened the door yelled for Lance, who soon appeared.

  "Who is it...?" He started gruffly, then saw Sarah standing there. "Sarah?" He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her small form inside out of the rain. He lead her into the kitchen where Tabby was, and sat her in a chair.

  "Whats wrong, Sarah?" He asked, sitting in a chair parallel to hers. Tabby came and leaned forward against the backing of his chair, looking worried.

  "Something happened, didn't it, Sarah?" She asked, pushing a cofee cup of hot chocolate torwards the girl. "Something happened at the dance, didn't it?"

  "DANCE?!" Lance roared, standing up and cornering Tabby, the ground starting to shake underneath them. "WHAT DANCE?!"

 Tabby cleared her throat and tried a soft, gentle approach.

  "Lance...there was a dance tonight at the Elementery school, and, well...Jamie was asked, and he REALLY wanted to go...so..." The hardest part had come. "I let him." She said meekly, feeling the shaking of the ground increase underneath her.

  "YOU...YOU...I CAN'T...HOW..." But in the time it had took him to get angry, he simmered down. "I..I'm sorry Tabby..." The ground grew calm.

  "What happened Sarah?" Tabby asked, putting a hand on Lance's shoulder sympathetically. "Where's Jamie?"

  Sarah's sobbing never ceased as she pulled out the somwhat soggy envelope and handed it to Lance. Reading who it was for, he ripped it open and read what was inside.

  "They...it...TABBY!" He cried, looking on the verge of hysterics. Tabby grabbed the letter and read it hastily.

  "THEY KIDNAPPED HIM! They're gunna put Jamie in the CIRCUS!"

^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^ ^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^

 Jamie cried out as he was pushed roughly up a flight of stairs.

  "HEY!" He cried, pushing on the hands confining him. "Ugh...lemmie go!"

 A snakelike voice tickled the back of his neck as he hissed into Jamie's ear.

  "Don't try it, freak. Before you could even get halfway down those stairs you'd have no head and one less leg to stand upon."

 Immediately, his struggling stopped.

  "W-where are you taking me?" He asked, his fear rising along with his panic.

 The man behind Jamie just pushed him forward aggressively, not answering. After walking up many flights of stairs, they finally reached an open door revealing a large room set up as an office. A black leather chair was placed behind a rather ratty looking desk, making the chair look expensive and new.

  "In there, and don't say a word." The the snake man ordered, shoving Jamie into the office room and slamming the door behind him.

 Jamie stared around the room, frantically trying to plan a way out. Maybe the door was unlocked. Stupid idea, but perhaps. Racing torwards the door with surprising speed, he grabbed onto the doorknob and tried to turn it. Why had he thought it would be unlocked?

  "Don't even bother, Jamie." A familiar deep voice said with amusement behind him. "Even if you DID get the door unlocked, you'd have quite a hard time getting past my gaurds."

 The Rhode Island accent was so evident he could smell it. Turning around, Jamie stared at the man in the large, expensive leather chair.

  "Why am I here...Dad?"