The day dragged on and saw us all out at the basketball courts after our last classes ended. Hisako, Ruth, and I were posted up on the bleachers, where we had kicked Eddie away from in order to ask Cessily out. She was with a few other girls that went to school, but conversation aside, her attention seemed focused on her surroundings, trying to solve an unspoken mystery.
She had been smartened up to some degree. Clearly, she was expecting something.
Eddie, meanwhile, had refrained from taking another step her way after he'd gotten out of casual speaking distance from the rest of us. God, he looked awkward, trying and failing to make it seem like he was just chilling. As welcome a distraction as it was from my ongoing trials and tribulations, it was kind of painful to watch, and he hadn't even initiated a conversation with Cessily yet.
"He's gonna blow it," Hisako declared, shaking her head pitifully.
Whatever happened to believing in your friends? She was his identified best friend, not me, "He's not gonna blow it. He's fine," I sighed back.
"Right. Sure," She chuckled at my expense, "You'd better check again. Look at his face, he's scared to death!"
I squinted and observed Eddie as well as I could from a distance with my eagle-eyed vision. He looked like a man set to go off the high dive for the first time, "But why? He talked a big game this whole time! How's he scared?"
Hisako slowly angled herself toward me to give me the full scope of her dismissive attitude, "Why do you think he needed you to get him a date in the first place?" She asked as though it should have been obvious the whole time.
Suddenly, I saw it, but it didn't make sense. I had seen him flirt. I had heard him whine insufferably about someone hooking him up. Now that I did, I needed him to come through, "Look, Cessily is expecting to get asked out. Julian didn't tell her who was gonna do it, but he got her hopes up. If Eddie pussies out, he's probably gonna restart my beef with the Hellions, and they'll be in the right this time."
Hisako didn't have an answer for me, nor was she very helpful in coming up with a solution, "Guess you better cozy up tighter to the New Mutants for more allies."
No. That was not an option. I hadn't succumbed to high school's clique bullshit yet and I didn't plan on doing it then, "Fuck that. Ruthie, put me in Eddie's head," Our telepath dutifully did as I asked, 'Eddie, quit being a bitch and go talk to her!'
He shivered and looked around sharply before turning back to where our team was observing from, 'Bel, get out of my head! Blindfold, get him out of my head!' He demanded once he knew what was going on.
I held up a hand to keep Ruth from ejecting me. There was a job to be done, and damn it, it was going to get done, 'No, you will listen! You wanted me to make this happen for you, and I did! Now put your big boy pants on and finish this!'
'You didn't do anything! She doesn't know it's me that's gonna ask her out! What if she says no?'
I felt like pulling my hair out. Hooking a friend up was not supposed to be this difficult, 'Then you're in the same position you were in before any of this started!' I continued to shout at him in our heads, 'Dude, you'll flirt like a moron in class and talk shit, but when go time rolls around, you fall back? Come on! You seemed so excited about this a few hours ago.'
The more we went back and forth, the more he seemed to panic at the thought of marching across the yard and talking to Cessily, 'Under false circumstances! I thought you talked to her already and she said yes! The deal was supposed to have been sealed! This is not what we agreed on!'
Sealing a deal? What did he think this was, a charity dating service? Well, until UNICEF got into the goddamn matchmaking business, this was the best he was going to get. He wasn't going to get a girl handed to him on a silver platter. He had to do something himself.
'What, do you want me to go on the goddamn date for you too?' I stopped and went wide-eyed. That gave me an idea. I looked over at Ruth to ask her an unvoiced question. The little mind-reader nodded yes, and I grew devious, 'Fine! I'll do this myself! Last chance. Float your ass over there and ask that girl out before I have Ruth hijack your brain and do it for you!' A fear the likes of which I hadn't seen on Eddie's face formed at that moment. I had him, 'You have ten seconds! Ten! Nine!'
Some unholy combination of curses and angry noises drifted back through the mental connection before Eddie walked off to do as he was commanded. The closer he got, the more the nerves seemed to offset his anger, leaving him somewhere in the middle, and oddly composed, by the time he got to her.
Hisako let out a hum as we returned to our previous position as spectators from afar, "That seemed intense, from the look on your face. Think whatever you said worked?"
I let out an irritated grunt, "Doesn't matter. He went over there. That's all that's important," Once Eddie's episode was over, I gave her a sidelong glance before looking away again, "So, how are you doing?"
She acted like the whole concerned leader thing was a pain, but I knew she appreciated the sentiment, "My powers are back, Bel. You saw me armor up this morning."
"That's not what I mean," I said, giving her a nudge, "Breakworld was one thing. Getting kidnapped was some scary shit on its own. I just want to make sure you're okay upstairs."
Hisako raised an eyebrow with a ghost of a smile, "Shouldn't I be asking you that instead? I'm not the one who destroys the world. You are," She tried to play it cool, but there was real concern there.
"I'll be fine," I still wasn't convinced, but again, I wanted to believe in Mister Rasputin. He was taking steps to make sure we got all of this figured out, so I was giving the benefit of the doubt, "Apparently, I'm supposed to go and get checked out by some specialists."
Hisako seemed skeptical that we could just find help so easily, "Specialists on galactic-scale power that you may or may not have?"
I gave her what I hoped was a confident wink, "The X-Men ain't the only superheroes in the world."