Hello. My Name is Eve

Chapter 2

Notes: "Thoughts"

Addy's diary entries

Chapter 2

About three hours after Addy left for school, Jen was interrupted from washing dishes by a knock at the door. "That's strange," she thought to herself. "I wasn't expecting company today." Collecting herself, she slowly walked to the door, opening it to reveal a bald man in a wheelchair. "Can I help you?" She asked, trying her hardest not to sound rude to the stranger.

"Pardon my intrusion, Mrs. St. Peter," he said with a posh sounding British accent. "I'm Professor Charles Xavier and I run a home for gifted youngsters. I must speak with you regarding your daughter, Adelaide."

Lunch period had started, at least that's what Jean assumed given the thoughts of the people around her. Most of them seemed happy to be free from the boredom that came from sitting in a classroom for most of the day at least for the moment. She felt a nudge on her shoulder and looked to see Kitty, who seemed very concerned.

"There are, like, so many kids here," she said to Jean, gesturing with a hand to the masses. "How are we supposed to find this girl?"

Jean put a hand to her chin as she glanced around, noticing that some students were taking their lunches to the courtyard outside. Why wouldn't they? The cacophony inside threatened to suffocate them. It was then that the red-haired telepath noticed something familiar among the stream of students heading out - or rather, someone.

Of course, she would recognize Addy's dual-toned hair from a mile away. At first, Jean didn't realize it was her because she was facing profile. As the angle changed, though, and she could see more of Addy's left side, the telepath knew that this was their target.

"There she is," said Jean, motioning for Kitty to look in that general direction. "The one with the brown and ginger hair."

She was sitting at a table alone, meticulously writing something down in a small pink book. A look of concentration flashed behind her glasses. "That is definitely her," Kitty exclaimed, pointing in Addy's general direction. "Are we sure she's a mutant, though? Other than her hair, she's like completely normal looking."

"So are we," Jean responded, her eyes not leaving the target. "The Professor thinks she may at least be a telepath. I'll try to read her thoughts." She tried to focus, concentrating solely on Addy and her brainwaves... but there was nothing. Normally, it didn't take much effort for Jean to enter someone's mind, but this time, some sort of wall was keeping her out.

"She's blocking her thoughts," Jean told Kitty through the psychic link she'd established.

Dear Diary,

I see these two girls staring at me. I've never seen them at this school before; I know they're looking at me because they keep gesturing in my general direction. I've got a bad feeling...

Addy lifted her head from the words she was writing and stared in the direction of the two strangers. They seemed to be high school students just like her, the dark-haired one couldn't have been older than freshman age whereas the ginger-haired one was probably an upperclassman. Maybe they were new students? Then again, rarely anyone at this school, be they new or otherwise, really took that much of interest in Addy. A flash of recognition suddenly came to her as she recalled a small piece of the earlier vision. Both of them were in it! They were wearing different outfits but it was definitely them. This piqued her curiosity greatly.

"That's weird," she thought to herself, observing them closer. "They're not talking to each other, but the way they're acting makes it seem as though they are. Maybe I should try prying into their thoughts."

Clearing her mind of any distractions, Addy focused on the two girls, seeing if she could get anything. As it turns out, she got a lot. The two of them were having a full on conversation with each other... and it was all about her! A panic rose up into her throat as she quickly jotted down these words in her diary:

Oh my god! Those two are having a full on telepathic conversation and it's all about me. What the heck is going on here? Are they like me?! What do they want from me?! That's it! I've got to make a run for it! To anyone who finds this diary, tell my parents I love them more than words can say.

And as soon as she wrote down those last words, Addy swiftly got up and started running. She ran back inside, and made a beeline towards the hallway. She didn't have an exact destination in mind. All she knew was that she just needed to get away from those two.

Jean was the first one to notice Addy take off. Their mission target wasn't exactly subtle about it. A look of panic flashed over her teal eyes as she pumped her legs, urging herself onward. With an increase in heart rate, the telepath said, "Adelaide's on the move! We have to follow her!"

"You don't have to tell me twice," Kitty responded as the two began their chase. The ginger-brunette definitely had the advantage of the head-start, but the other two girls were determined to catch her. They rounded one corner... and then another... but Addy had mysteriously disappeared.

"Where'd she go?!" Kitty questioned, looking around but finding no trace of her. "She like vanished!"

"She couldn't have disappeared completely," Jean thought, trying to focus hard on the girl's presence. Unlike her previous attempts to read the mind of the target though, she heard something this time.

"I just have to wait here until my next class." Definitely Addy. "Hopefully, those two won't find me until then."

Reestablishing the link with Kitty, the telepath revealed her findings. "She's hiding from us. I know the Professor warned us that she could be suspicious of us, but I didn't expect her to react that quickly."

"But how could she... disappear like that?"

"I don't know for sure. Most likely, she either ran incredibly fast or teleported."

A pause between the two of them before the younger mutant asked, "How many powers does she have?"

"I'm not sure the Professor even knows, but her mutation is a strong one. Her signature on Cerebro was like a Fourth of July fireworks display."

"So what do we do now?"

"We can't go rushing up to her immediately. Let's let Adelaide calm down for a bit and then we approach her."

Unbeknownst to the other two, Addy had been listening in on that entire telepathic conversation from her hiding spot. "Professor? Cerebro? What are they talking about? This doesn't make any sense. Why were they in my vision?" So many questions bore down on her that it took her a moment before she realized there was a substantial crack in her mental shield.

"Oh perfect!" She said out loud, thankful that no one was around to hear her. Fiddling with one of her braids out of stress with one hand, she pulled out the noise canceling headphones with the other. "Just what I needed right before study hall." Carefully putting on the headphones, Addy slunk down the hallway to the study hall classroom, trying her hardest to look inconspicuous.