The Marble Notebooks

Chapter 46

Pietro was surprisingly quiet the whole ride. He kept fiddling with the radio to find music, which I didn't mind. After driving around for a bit on the highway, we came to a familiar exit. Last-minute, I swerved the car and took the exit off the highway. We drove down through the desolate town to the long paved road lined with tall trees. We reached the stone walls and I pulled up to the closed gates. Pietro finally sat up from being fully reclined in the passenger seat to look at where we stopped.

"Is this... the school?" He asked me with a slight smile on his face.

"Yeah," I sighed. "I... I didn't know where else to go,"

"This is perfect," He nodded. "Buzz the thing," He said pointing to the keypad.

I hit the call button a few times and the Professors familiar voice came through the speaker.

"We don't have any scheduled visitors today, sorry." He said.

"It's Bucky and Pietro," I said back to the speaker.

We waited in silence for a moment. Then the keypad buzzed and the gates slowly began to open for us. I parked the car in the circle and Pietro was out and waiting at the door with his bag before I could even unbuckle. I joined him on the steps and the Professor opened the door and allowed us to come in.

Pietro looked like a child on Christmas morning the way his eyes lit up as we entered the school. Children were in the halls, as always. One kid phased right through us and up the staircase. Another extended her arms like elastic and grabbed onto the railing to pull herself up to the third floor.

"Welcome Pietro," The Professor said. "I've been wanting you to visit,"

"It's sick," Pietro smiled looking around at all the kids that were shuffling around us to get to their classes.

"What do I owe this visit to?" The Professor asked looking at me.

"Uh... I dunno," I shrugged.

"Mhm," The Professor nodded. "Pietro, would you like to sit in on a class?"

"Yeah, yeah," Pietro smiled. "Nothing too boring,"

"Of course not," The Professor chuckled. "Scott!" The Professor shouted at a kid down the hall and he came jogging over to us.

"What's up?" He asked as he looked us both up and down.

"Pietro, this is Scott, Alex's younger brother,"

I didn't know Alex had a brother. He wore these strange glasses that almost looked like they were attached to his face.

"Scott, take Pietro with you to your mutant history class," The Professor instructed. "Pietro is a mutant, he needs to catch up on what he's missed all these years,"

Pietro thanked the Professor and followed Scott up the stairs and to a classroom. The Professor told me to follow him and we went to his study. I shut the door behind us. The Professor had me take a seat and I sat on one of the couches across from his desk. It felt weird being here without Julia. Granted, I've only been here the one time with her. But it also felt nice to be here. I know how comfortable Julia is here and how much she's missed being here while she was hiding out at the compound with us. So in a weird way, I felt like I was fulfilling some desire of hers just being here.

"So, you're losing hope?" The Professor said as he passed me a glass of scotch.

"Something like that," I sighed and downed the glass with one swig.

"You shouldn't be," He shook his head. "I know it seems like no progress is being made, but every sighting just brings us closer to them," He said.