X-Men: Revolution.

Chapter 9: Trouble.

            “Vinnie!” Evan called out as he barged into Vinnie’s room without knocking. He found her sitting on her bed, reading.

She looked up at him, shaking her head. “You realize that could have been very bad for you.” She laughed. “You know, not knocking, and everything.”

Evan stood there, obviously thinking about it. “Yeah, you’re right.” He mumbled, letting out an embarrassed chuckle. “But anyways, you wanna’ come outside? Some of us are getting together for a friendly game of mutant soccer!” Evan said excitedly.

Vinnie smiled. “Yeah, sure! That’d be fun.” She closed her book with a thump, and jumped from her bed. She grabbed her beaten up tennis shoes from the closet, and slipped them on.

            “I’m totally going to kick your butt, man.” Evan smiled, plopping himself onto her bed. His expression fell when he noticed his skateboard leaning up against the wall. “Hey Vinnie, what’s my skateboard doing in your room?” He asked curiously.

Vinnie was in the middle of tying her shoes. She paused, hesitating before answering. She cleared her throat nervously. “Um, I used to skateboard, and I wanted to see if I could still do it. Sorry, I should have asked.” She forced a fake, yet assuring smile.

Evan returned the smile and shrugged. “It’s no big deal. I was just wondering. I had no idea you could skateboard!”

            “Well, not anymore. I’m pretty bad.” She fibbed. “You can have it back.” She smiled, finishing the ties on her shoes. She jumped up, and walked over to the skateboard, grabbing it. “Here.” She smiled, handing Evan his skateboard.

            “You can borrow it whenever you want! No need to…” Evan stopped mid-sentence while observing his skateboard. “Geeze, man, where did you go skateboarding at? How’d the wheels get all jacked up?” He let out a fake chuckle. Vinnie could tell he was not too happy about the condition of his skateboard. She completely forgot to clean it up a bit before returning it to him. She watched as he picked grass and rocks out of the wheels. “Is this gravel?” Evan growled. “There’s not even gravel around here! Seriously, where did you go?” Evan looked back up at her, when soon he noticed bandages all over her legs. “Whoah, what happened to your legs? You took a few falls, I’m guessing?”

Vinnie felt her face go white. She realized grass had probably gotten into the wheels when she tossed it over the balcony when she was leaving, and the gravel had obviously wedged itself in the wheels when she accidentally rolled over the gravel driveway at The Brotherhood Boarding House. She looked down at her legs with several Band-Aids covering her skin from when she kicked out the glass window. Her mind raced as she tried to think of a lie, even though lying to Pietro proved that she was terrible at it.

            “Did you sneak out, Vinnie?” Evan gasped, gripping a handful of gravel he picked from the wheels.

Vinnie slapped the palm of her hand to her forehead. “Okay, yeah, I did. I was going crazy!” Vinnie pouted.

Evan bellowed out a laugh. “Vinnie! You’re going to get in trouble, man! What are you thinking?” He shook his head. “But seriously, where did you run off to that was so important?” He snickered when suddenly, it hit him. His face went blank. “Vinnie…” He mumbled, “you didn’t go to The Brotherhood house, did you?” He asked softly.