Everything That Never Was - Marvel's Runaways

iv. the conjuring

For the briefest moment, when Jules woke up on the couch at the Wilder's, she thought the whole night had been a bad dream. Then the pounding headache returned along with the throbbing of her throat and reality hit her. Somehow someway she had managed to throw a boy who was twice her size across the room without even moving her arms.

How do you even do that?

As she made an effort to roll off the couch, a very ecstatic brunette ran over and helped her up.  At that point, Jules knew she still had to be dreaming.  There was no way on the face of the planet that that all was really happening right then.

"Molly?" Jules groaned, refusing to take her eyes off of the girl as she tried to figure out what was real and what was fantasy.

"Shhh," Molly murmured comfortingly.  "Don't stress too much.  Chase said someone drugged you at the party and that you should take it easy."

Drugged?  That would make sense, Jules thought.  Though she didn't remember drinking anything.  And she couldn't think of any drug that gave someone the ability to move people with your mind.  Still, Jules went with it because it was more comforting than the alternative.

As their dynamic duo wobbled their way out of the living room they had been in and toward the guest house where their ex-friends— friends?— were gathered, Jules watched Molly out of the corner of her eye. Out of everyone the youngest from their group had probably changed the least over the past two years.  Other than the height jump— though she was still shorter than Jules by a few inches— the girl hadn't changed that much.  She still had her rambunctious curls and her infectious smile.  Her attitude seemed to be similar as well.  She still appeared to be kind, energetic, and, well, innocent.  It was comforting for Jules to notice that.  It made her feel as though not everything had been completely thrown away, that pieces of her childhood, of who she was, still remained. She and Molly had a lot in common as well. Or at least they had one thing in common: no parents. Which made knowing they still had each other even more comforting.

The two teenage girls could hear the group before they saw the group, or at least more specifically they heard Alex and Chase.

"-a party?!" Was the last part of what Alex had said, and the first thing they heard.

"She wanted to go, Wilder. Don't try and blame it on me." The familiar harsh voice of Chase Stein quipped back.

Jules could picture the scowl that would come across Alex's face at that comment. His eyes narrowed and his dark brows probably furrowed in disbelief. He was probably thinking that there was no way Jules, his Jules that he knew so well, would ever willingly go to a party. Except she had, and suddenly she felt like she had betrayed him.

"How long have they been going at it like this?" Jules asked Molly. She did the best she could to keep her voice hushed

Molly shrugged in response, "Since they got here."  The older girl's heart plummeted at the sound of that.  She hated when people argued, especially when it was about her.  You never knew when your last conversation with someone would be, so she preferred not to fight with people.

The moment they could, the two girls made their way into the room with the others, silencing the argument the two boys were having in an instant.  Even not have being in the room, you could tell that there was tension between the boys so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

Alex stood to one side of the room. His hands were gripping the arm chair in front of him. The predictable scowl had consumed his features.