"I don't like this, Bellamy," I knew how this conversation was going to go before it even started, for the most part, so I was prepared, "Why don't you just come home? Everything will be alright. Nothing like this will happen again."
My dad was easier to convince than my mom was. He made his bones through movies. The man dedicated himself to them, all his life, straight through college, so much so that he got his own theater. He didn't just show what was new, he showed what he liked. If there was anyone that could understand going off on your own adventure, it would have been him.
Granted, this wasn't some epic hero's tale. But it was my own little journey. Maybe he thought I'd figure out something about myself that I never would at home? For better or for worse, he figured it was something I had to see through until the end.
My mom took it all much harder. I believe that if I hadn't taken the time to come up with good enough responses to things she might say to me, she would have been on the first flight to New York to drag my sorry ass back to San Francisco.
"Yes it will," There wasn't any way to convince me that it wasn't, "Mom, I thought it was something that would blow over. It won't."
"I don't care about your powers. Your dad doesn't either. You know that."
"Other people do, and that's what I'm afraid of. What if more mobs come? What if they don't get me when I'm alone the next time? What if you guys are there too?" I didn't want to find out how well my middle-aged parents dodged bullets.
"I don't want to lose you."
"You'll always have me," I rolled my eyes at saying something so cheesy right after I said it, "It's just, I think going home would cause more problems than it would solve. The staff here offered me a place in the school, so it's not like I'll miss out on classes or anything. And it's not like I can't come back to see you guys. There's school breaks and summer vacations. I can come back whenever you want, I think."
"…I'm scared."
"I am too. But I'm not scared of something happening to me here. I'm scared of what might happen to you guys if I hang around."
The biggest reason I wasn't going home was because I wouldn't be able to stop people like the Friends of Humanity from doing the exact same thing they'd already tried to do to me again, or worse. This was a good chance to smooth out some of the rough edges of being a mutant.
If I was going to stay here, I had to take advantage of it somehow, in more ways than just the protection the X-Men were offering. That would only do me so much good, especially if I planned on having a life as a functioning adult in society without being taken out the first time something bad happened.
If I was going to be a target, at the very least I wanted to be the hardest target anyone had ever tried to take aim at. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.
There was also a certain amount of self-interest involved as well, I'll admit. It involved superheroing. Who didn't want to give that a shot at least once in their life? The thought of it was enough to motivate me to get up and get moving.
But I was calm, cool, and rational about it. I made it sound like I had spent plenty of time thinking all of this through. I was glad that I could be so persuasive, but I was also glad that she was so willing to listen. Right up until she started to cry on the other end of the line. It was like a punch to the stomach, but how much conviction could a person say they had if that were enough to change their mind in a matter of seconds? I went into this conversation knowing that there was a good chance that this would happen.
Fortunately, dad came to my rescue and replaced my mom on the phone, "Hey, it's me again, Bel."
"Hey dad," I didn't know what to say at that point. Even though I knew there was a chance it was coming, it still rattled me. I had a heart, after all, "…I didn't mean to make her cry."
"Oh, don't sweat it. The same thing was going to happen when you went to college. You just moved it up a few years." My old man tried to joke, but even he couldn't muster much humor, given the circumstances, "…Do you know what you're doing?"
"Nope."
I'm not lying to that man. Not about this. My cards were all on the table here. I had no clue what I was getting myself into, but then again, I didn't when I got my powers either. I didn't have a choice in dealing with those. It was going to happen whether I went to the Institute or not, so it was better if I approached things as bluntly as I could.
"Good. If you were enough of a dumbass to say yes to that, you'd be coming home with us tomorrow. If this is what you want, I'm not going to stop you. Hell, at this point, you're probably better suited to deal with danger than either of us are."
I wasn't so sure. I would be soon enough though, if I had my way about it.
"I'll come back to pack my stuff and get everything straight at home," I assured him. I wasn't just going to stay there and never go back. I'm pretty sure there are laws that would keep me from doing that, anyway, "We can talk about it more then, but I want to go to Xavier's, dad."