Re-Evolution: Episode 1: The Shadow Over New Salem

Surprisingly, the twins  ran into each other a lot sooner than the end of the day, sooner than either of them expected or hoped. It happened as students assembled in the gym for phys ed class. As Greg filed in with a gaggle of other chatty guys, it was becoming increasingly obvious to Morgan, who had gotten there a minute earlier, that this was supposed to be a boys gym period.

Morgan tensed, her bag slung over her shoulder as she stood awkwardly by the bleachers. She'd yet to change into her actual outfit for today, having planned to do so after phys ed, and she knew that she looked increasingly and distressingly out of place among the crowd of young men.

Her fingers tightened on her bag's strap, as she nervously took a step forward and tried to corner the gym teacher, stammering, "S-so hey... uh, is this a co-ed gym class or what?"

The gym teacher, a heavyset man with greying hair and a red cap,  frowned and looked at his clipboard. "It isn't supposed to be. What's your name?"

"M-Morgan Connelly." She said , her eyes flicking around to the crowd.

She watched as Greg walked over to them, having suddenly noticed his sister’s presence, his body language stiff, and aggressive.

"Hey. What's going on here?" he demanded..

As Greg stalked over, too many eyes for her comfort turned their way. Her jaw tensed, and she gripped her bag. "...Maybe I'd better go."

"Not so fast," the coach said, holding up a hand. "Your name's on my list."

"It's a mistake!" Greg hissed.

In the crowd, one of the boys whispered to his friend, before the two of them broke out in a quiet snicker.

Around them, more whispers began to ripple through the knot of boys as Morgan visibly shrunk back. 

"Greg!" she hissed through her teeth "Don't yell at the man!" She glanced at the coach with a half smile, hiding her teeth. "It...I... ah, should probably talk to the principal. it's pretty obvious that I don't ...belong...here.."

"Not so sure about that, now that I got a good look,." a blond boy 'fake-whispered' to his friend. A giggle went up from a few of the others.

In the crowd, a ratty looking and slouchy boy gave the blond a sidelong grimace, his gaze flicking between the gossiper (who was being joined by other whispers now), and the scene. He rolled his eyes.

Greg's fists clenched, and Morgan watched with increasing dismay as dark mist started to rise from around them. "Get out of here, Morgan. Go talk to the principal. I'll *handle* this."

Morgan's eyes widened. "Oh fuck." she whispered under her. Not this again. "Greg...I...I..." 

She backed up, first towards the group, then averting and moving towards the door. "Don't get carried away."

While Greg’s increasingly heated confrontation took center stage, Morgan used the diversion to flee the scene.

000

Greg could feel the anger and frustration prickling just beneath his skin as he puffed his chest at the out-of-shape peon of a gym coach.

“Well?” he demanded, too irritated to think about how his scowl might show his fangs.

The coach grimaced, flipping through the pages. "I see a 'Morgan Connelly' assigned to Locker 38b, and on the class roster, son. No need to get heated, I'm just going by what it says."

"Well your roster is obviously wrong, sir," Greg snapped. "As you see, my sister must have been put in class with me by mistake." The mist around his hands was starting to get more and more visible.

"Aren't they twins?" "They look identical to me." "I thought twins could only be.... you know."

From the back of the group a young man with wavy brown hair looked increasingly concerned. He jogged forward with a deliberate half smile on his face and grabbed Greg's shoulder, giving him a sly little wink before glancing at the teacher.

"hey uh, Coach? Sorry to step in , but I got a bit of news. Student Council President wanted to give ya a message from the principal. Says it's somethin' about a mixup in the class roster."

Greg prickled as he was touched, but his shoulders relaxed a moment later, and the mist vanished. "See? A mistake."

This didn't entirely stop the whispering, but it did diminish it somewhat.

The boy grinned wider and nodded his head affirmatively. "Yeah, sorry I didn't come by earlier Coach but I got held up back in Chemistry" He snapped his fingers, pointing a pair of finger guns at the teacher. "We cool?"

"Yes. I suppose so." The Coach looked at the list with a shake of his head. “You boys go change and do a few laps around the gym while I see your president to make sure about this. And if I see anybody slacking off, it's dodgeball all week."

There was a quick murmur of worried agreement and annoyance through the crowd, who dispersed toward the locker room to start to change.

Greg looked up to find Morgan, and seeing that she had slipped away he glanced at the boy who had intervened instead.

He was a fairly slight young man, with wavy brown hair cut in a short and sporty style and a cocky little grin on his face. He had a kind of boyish handsomeness to his features, and warm brown eyes currently crinkled with the grin plastered on his face.

"Hey man." He put his hands on his hips "Feeling a little more chill, or do I gotta lay down some more of the ol' Bobby Drake charm?"

Greg grimaced, and looked away, seeing that the coach had gone. 

"I'm.... chill enough," he grumbled. "I can't believe this bullshit."

Bobby pulled out his cell phone, sending a quick text with a nod of his head. 

"Yeah, people can really suck--especially when they bump up against something they don't understand. But don't worry. I've got the Student Council Prez workin' on a solution for you now. "

"The *solution* is to put her in the girls class where she *belongs*," he growled. Then his voice softened. "But.... thanks for your help, I guess..."

Greg moved toward the changing room and Bobby trotted along to follow him 

He held his hands up "Hey, hey, that's exactly what I meant, man. Ororo's gonna make sure the paperwork and everything goes nice and smooth. Dunno why the mix up happened, but she'll sure fix it come hell or highwater."

He looked like he was biting back another comment. Maybe a quip. He kept talking. Greg was starting to get the impression that it might be difficult to stop him. "Anyway. Glad I could help. I'm no stranger to the kinda bullshit those guys were up to so I thought maybe I could , you know...do my part to mellow things out."

Greg looked back over his shoulder. "Huh, you sound like a real social bomb defusal unit," he grunted.

"What can I say? I got a way of helpin' people keep a cool head." He mimed those finger guns at Greg. "I'm a real people person."

"Yeah? and how's that work out for you, Bobby?"

They strode into the boys locker room, where Greg gave the stink eye to anyone who looked like they were even thinking of talking about his sister. He hated the way the room quieted a little as he came in. He found his assigned locker, threw down his bag heavily and started to get out his things.

"Eh, I got my good days, got my bad days. Haven't gotten my nose punched in for like, what? a few weeks now? And counting." Bobby slid in next to him, and began opening a locker. "Looks like we're locker buddies, huh?"

Greg glanced at him, and then away, starting to get changed. "Guess so."

Bobby began to strip as well, shrugging off his leather jacket and wriggling out of his t-shirt . For such a small man, he was rather toned with muscle. A runner maybe? He had little to no body hair, and a quite pale, almost icy complexion. As he tossed the shirt to the side, a scar or two were visible here and there on his torso. Greg couldn't help but notice all of it.

‘Must be more to this guy than meets the eye’, he thought to himself.

"Anyway, yeah. It works out alright, except when it doesn't. Then it backfires real bad. Just ask my ex." He beamed at Greg. "So you're new in town, aintcha?"

"Yeah we just moved here," he nodded. He paused for a moment. "It's Greg, by the way. Greg Connolly."

"Nice to meetcha, Greggy." Bobby offered his hand with a grin Greg noticed as he did so that the other boy’s eyes flicked over his own toned, and slightly shimmering body quickly in return. "Welcome to New Salem. Believe it or not, it's a real friendly place. You'll fit in just fine."

"Yeah... I hope so," he sighed. He shook Bobby's hand, awkwardly, as he noticed Bobby notice him. Then he moved to put on his shirt.

Bobby turned a little pink, but masked it by pulling on his gym shirt which for some reason had a little cartoon of the Snow Miser from the old christmas special on it.

"Hey, trust me. You’ll be fine." Bobby winked, as he shimmied into his gym shorts. "Hell, you can even consider me your first friend if ya want."

"Sure, why not," Greg sighed. His own shirt was just a plain black tank top, one of many he owned for the purpose.

"Hell yeah." Bobby offered him a fist bump, which Greg returned slightly exasperated. "Hey, we should hang out later. Like, maybe you should talk to Ororo later about your sis...and we can work something out huh? Maybe get a soda? Chill?"

"Sure, sounds cool," he nodded. He wasn’t about to turn down any friends on the first day. Bobby seemed normal enough anyway, even if he was a motor mouth. Greg tied his sneakers, and stood up to stretch. "Who's Ororo?"

"Student Council Prez." Bobby explained as he tied his sneakers on, and tossed his clothes into the locker. "She's a good friend of mine. We live in the same, like, boarding house."

‘Boarding house?’ Greg wondered to himself. But instead of asking he said, "My last school didn't really do student government."

"No? Huh, sounds kind of shitty. Student Council's done a lot to help us out, you know? And with Ororo at the helm, we're in good hands. She's got a real way about her, ya know?" He winked "as long as you ain't on her bad side at least."

"I'll try not to get on it then." He nodded. "Think you could help me out with that Mr. Charming?"

Bobby ran his hand through his wavy hair, and flashed his bright smile. "Yeah. I think I might just be able to manage that for ya, Greg. Don't worry. I'll put in a good word."

"Thanks, Bobby. You seem like a pretty chill guy."

"Trust me dude, I'm the chillest guy you'll ever meet." he promised, winking at Greg with a sly air. "So hey. Where'd you and your sis come from? "

Greg shrugged, jogging with Bobby back into the gym. "Up in Maine."

Bobby kept good pace with him as they headed out with the other boys. "Maine, huh? I know a dude from Canada. They're like, pretty much the same, right?"

Greg smirked a little, as his mood finally started to lighten. "Oh yeah, definitely. One difference though."

"What's that, Greggy?" Bobby raised his eyebrow

"People from Maine are less polite," he chuckled, kind of wishing the kid would stop calling him ‘Greggy’. ‘But fuck it, at least I made a friend. Bobby seems pretty nice.’

Bobby laughed. “The guy I know ain't that polite neither. Maybe he's actually from Maine, who knows. I'm gonna ask him next time he puts me through the wringer."

Greg raised an eyebrow at the phrasing, but didn’t ask. "You find out, you tell me, yeah? Maybe he's my long lost brother."

"I'll let you know." Bobby smirked; "But uh, if you *are* his brother then we're all in trouble."

"Should I be worried?"

"Dunno, how much do you think you'd take after him? 'Cause he's built like a bear and hairy as one to boot, and does not appreciate my attempts at humor. Like a feral fuckin' wolverine with a teaching licence."

Greg's eyebrows went higher and higher as Bobby spoke wondering just who this guy was to Bobby, until he got to the bit about the teaching license, where he let out a breath and smirked.

"Ahhh, does he teach here, or is he like, your personal trainer? I noticed you're a little built."

"You know what?" Bobby punched his shoulder as they jogged "why don't you ask Ororo about that one when you see her? She'll fill ya in."

"Well now I'm curious."