𝐒𝐖𝐈𝐅𝐓 (X-Men ~ Peter Maximoff)

A Game Of Luck & Coincidence

The concrete stairs leading up to the school's main entrance looked strange being empty. Everyday, for the past five weeks Jennifer had mounted those steps, and everyday they had been littered with people and rubbish. Right now though, thirty minutes after school had finished, they were bare, and Jennifer was able to walk down them without having to worry about being pushed or trampled.

When the school bell had signalled the end of the day, every single pupil had rushed out of class to swarm the corridors and exit the building – that is, every pupil except Jennifer. For weeks her teachers had been pressuring her to chase up the office to get her name on the register, and so, sick of weaselling her way out of situations, she had headed straight for the office.

The great thing about being in such a large school was that it was impossible for everyone to know everyone, so the office staff hadn't doubted Jennifer for a moment when she said she had been a pupil at the school for a couple of years and had somehow been booted off of the register. Sporting the true American spirit, the staff hadn't bothered to check the records and had simply slid a form across the desk and went back to talking between themselves. It hadn't taken Jennifer long to fill out the form, the majority of the fields being left blank, and after her name was put on the register for her selected classes, Jennifer was on her way.

What she had done was illegal, but didn't every teen do something illegal at least once? (In all honesty, if it wasn't for her situation, Jennifer probably could've gone her entire life without ever committing a crime.)

Being a normal teenager had come surprisingly easier than expected. Every Tuesday Jennifer and her newfound group of friends would travel into the centre of town to the diner where they would spend hours complaining about homework and gossiping about people that Jennifer had yet to meet. Being able to talk so freely was amazing, what with her only other source of conversation being her boss, who only really ever asked how school was going.

To answer that question, school was certainly improving, although it didn't always seem that way. It took a great deal of nightly homework to get her to catch up with the curriculum, and despite the strain on her eyes from reading it in the light of a fire, it had certainly helped her out in the long run. One of the best rewards of her late nights was in fact centred around Mrs Beatson (a.k.a. human block of granite) who had been so impressed by Jennifer's work that she moved her back a couple of rows in the class, no longer deeming her untrustworthy and in dire need of help.

With the constant homework and studying , Jennifer hadn't given much thought to her transferring/healing power, other than deciding she needed a better name for it. There was no reason for her to bother with it anyway though – the world had been saved so she was (un)officially retired, as were her abilities.

"Hey," someone tapped Jennifer's shoulder, startling her slightly. She had been too busy basking in her achievements to notice that she wasn't the only person on the sidewalk.

"Sorry," the stranger apologized awkwardly for scaring her before extending out his hand which held a ten dollar bill. "I think this might be yours, I found it on the school steps."

He spoke fast, causing Jennifer to lag for a microsecond as she processed what he had said. Reaching her hand into her backpacks side pocket, she looked around with her fingers to find nothing except a large hole at the bottom. Eyes widening at this discovery, she looked up at the stranger. "Yes, it is. Thank you so much!"

Jennifer smiled gratefully as the note was placed in her hand. That was her bus money for the next few weeks, and while she had plenty of replacement notes, she couldn't afford to recklessly lose them. In other words, this guy had saved her an extra hour of work.