Here's a confession, I don't own any X-Men Evolution characters. Well for a while I had this thought in my head about what was going on in Tayrn's mind around Day of Reckoning to Mainstream. This is what I came up with.
Confessions of a Human Girlfriend
I know what you're thinking: Taryn, what a shallow bitch.
Well I'm not shallow. Well no more than your average high school girl. And I'm actually pretty sensitive about things. That's why I was attracted to Scott Summers in the first place. And it didn't hurt the fact that it ticked Jean off.
Now before you go jumping to any conclusions let me explain my side of the story. I mean that's the purpose of this whole thing right? Look Jean's nice…or at least I thought she was nice until she started hanging around Duncan.
Sometimes I wonder if Jean really is able to read minds because it doesn't take a mind reader to figure out what Duncan saw in her. What she saw in him is a whole other story. Maybe she was just so desperate about hiding her little secret she just put up with him. Which is pretty ironic. Duncan was using her for status and being popular and she was using him to hide her true self.
Whoever that is. All this time I don't think any of us really knew Jean. But this does explain a lot. Why she was always being excused from tests and classes to go on 'special projects' with her housemates at that creepy school.
Not that all of them were creepy. There were a few that were normal. Or I thought they were normal. At the time we all thought a lot of them were eccentric geniuses or something. A lot of Goths cover themselves up. Or that girl from Nova Roma or whatever that place is called transferring to class in the middle of the school year.
But I'm digressing. I'm talking about how shallow Jean is.
I mean don't think I haven't noticed things. I'm not completely clueless. I've seen her around off campus, always hanging out with those other Institute kids. But the second she steps onto school she fell back into the whole popularity inner circle without a thought. As soon as she walked into the halls she pulled away faster than a speeding bullet into our little world of popularity, leaving them out in the cold.
See what I mean? Jean gives a whole new definition to the word shallow.
I can understand a little of them trying to fit in. Hiding is one thing, but to flaunt it like Jean did? That really burns me up. Here she was pretending to be something she wasn't. God knows how many thoughts she's picked up or times she's read our minds.
She claims she never purposely did that. Yeah right.
I mean she's lied about everything else hasn't she?
Take her feelings about Scott for example. Here she is flirting with him one minute and then she goes off with Duncan the next? She claims she and Scott are 'just friends'. Please. Who does she think she's fooling? Even though Scott was cute he wasn't nearly as popular as Duncan was.
And it really broke my heart to see him pining after Jean like a lovesick puppy. Even if I couldn't see his eyes I could tell how hurt he was. That's why I knew I needed to give him a break.
Yeah I was glad I got Scott for the Monster Mash…That's what we now call the Sadie Hawkins Dance disaster. Which we later learned was the mutant's fault. Big surprise but I'm getting a little ahead of myself here.
Let's get down to the real stuff shall we? The day I found out along with the entire world my so-called boyfriend and best friend's big secret. Here I am casually talking with my friend Janice about…ironically, how nice Scott was and how maybe I could have him set her up with someone when I turn on the television. You know, check out what Carson Daily has on?
And there it was: my friend Jean in some freaky spandex getup running around fighting a giant robot with some other weirdoes on TV! And by weirdoes I mean not just her Institute friends but with the Brotherhood Boys…the school hoods and losers!
At first I thought I was hallucinating or it was some kind of video hoax my creepy little brother made. But then Janice tells me that she's got the same thing on her television. Something that looked like it was out of a science fiction movie marathon was right in front of me. And it was real.
For the rest of the evening I was glued to the television set like the rest of America. At six PM I learned that my boyfriend Scott Summers was a mutant. I watched as police and the army went over what was left of their mansion investigating everything. It turned out everyone there at the mansion was a mutant. Even my former chemistry teacher Mr. McCoy who turned into some kind of blue furry ape was there. He had been hiding out at the mansion after nearly killing poor Principal Kelly.
So not only was my boyfriend and so called best friend mutants, they were harboring a fugitive from the law. As well as doing god knows what with those powers of theirs. To say I was in shock the rest of the night was the understatement of the year.
"But he seemed like such a nice boy!" My mom wailed. Scott had picked me up for our dates a few times.
"I knew there was something weird about that kid," My dad growled. "Are you sure you didn't know what he was?"
Duh of course not! I really couldn't grasp what was going on. It all seemed like it was unreal you know? Like something out of a movie. Little did I know that I had a few big scenes coming up!
The next few days were a nightmare. There were reporters all over the school. The police were asking questions to everyone! Even me. I was one of the first ones called in. They called me in the middle of class and talked to me for four hours in the principal's office. Four hours interrogating me like I was the criminal! They even had some guy from the army talking to us all for crying out loud!
I mean how overboard is that? The closest thing I ever came to being a criminal was jaywalking. Or cutting off a mattress tag. Okay once I sort of 'borrowed' my dad's credit card to get this cute dress. But this…
And then of course there were the reporters camped out on my lawn. Yeah they found out I was dating Scott Summers and they all were hassling me and my family to get the big scoop. They totally wrecked the lawn. Dad turned the hose on them. We literally had to take the phone off the hook. We had so many people who either wanted to interview us or make money off of me by selling my story to the networks or some jerks that called me a species traitor and threatened to kill me!
Traitor? How the hell could I be a traitor when I DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING?
But even then I still cared about Scott. I had dreams of him knocking at my back door, bruised and beaten. And I'd manage to somehow hide him in my room and take care of him and…Well I won't go into that much. You get the picture.
But of course that didn't happen. The next time I saw him was on the national news. There he was, blasting that…person with those eye beams of his. That's when it hit me. I saw all that uncontrolled raw power and I remembered how many times I had asked him to show me his eyes. Once I remember grabbing his glasses trying to take a peek. If Scott hadn't stopped me…
How close had I come to death? And he didn't even tell me? Needless to say that night I had very different dreams about Scott. It still creeps me out to this day how close I came to being blasted.
But that's not the biggest injury. Oh no. After the whole Congress thing and they moved back into their hole in the ground to rebuild. I waited for Scott to explain himself for me. And waited. And waited.
Does he call me? Does he send a card? Even one lousy freaking e-mail saying 'Sorry about your life being turned upside down. My fault. Want to grab a burger and talk about it?' Does he?
No. Nothing. Like our relationship never even existed.
Jean didn't even drop by to ask about missed homework. That in itself was a clue that something was really wrong. Later on as I watched the tapes of them together on the news, leaving that dam where Juggernaut rampaged. I saw it.
Scott had his hand around her waist.
Like he was her freaking boyfriend.
And she looked at him like she was.
I was praying it was some kind of paranoia but I knew it wasn't. I was never so livid in my life! Just like that, Scott dumped me for her…Little Miss Phony without even telling me!
The day before those freaks came back to school I felt like one of them. I wasn't the only one who caught on to the fact that Scott had moved on with Jean. People were whispering, pointing at all of us who had dated any of the Institute people. It hurt. We all felt like we were on display. Except for Duncan. The man is so clueless they should really put his picture next to the definition clueless in the dictionary! Angela Brannigan, the girl who was with that Evan kid on Monster Mash night, she went home crying in tears. I thought being fried was bad but that girl could have been shish kebob!
Oh yeah there were some friends who stood by me. My real friends. People I could trust. Those girlfriends who actually talked to me like Janice and Terri during the whole ordeal. They supported me when I needed them. They were standing by me when those mutants walked by us. When Scott walked by me and glared at me like I was the bad one in this so called relationship!
I swear I wanted to slap those stupid sunglasses off of his face. Then I remembered why he wore them so I just gave him a look and turned away.
I haven't spoken to any of them since that day. About them yes, but not to them. If I did I think I'd actually try and kill them, especially Jean. You know something, I don't think there's a jury of teenage girls that would convict me.
Now things are somewhat normal in my life. The irony is that now I'm the most popular girl in school. I guess being lied to by two mutants has its advantages. All the teachers and students (Well the ones that matter) are so nice to me. I even got the MVP award from the soccer team after a recall. I've taken Jean's place in nearly every respect.
Almost every respect. I am not dating Duncan. Give me some credit.
So now do you understand why I haven't forgiven them after what they did to me? Still think I'm a heartless shallow bitch? Well if you still do remember who was lied to constantly and ignored like yesterday's sandwich when push came to shove. They used me! I'm the victim here and I have had it! Maybe mutants didn't directly attack me, but I was a victim all the same!
How dare they ask us to trust them when they never trusted us in the first place?
How dare they insist that they mean us no harm when all it takes is one accident and people could get hurt?
How dare they cause trouble for the whole school and not take any responsibility for it? They're the ones who let those monsters loose at the dance! I was nearly eaten along with half of the student body because of them!
You're heard about playing with fire? Well I was playing with a death ray and I didn't even know it!
They wrecked our school, tarnished our good name (especially in the sports department) and turned our lives upside down!
And they think they can just waltz back into our lives after nearly ruining them and they claim they deserve to be treated like everyone else when they so clearly are not like everyone else?
They think they can say 'Oh yeah, we're all mutants. We have these powers that we've been using to do stuff and blow things up and fight giant robots and other psychotics. Maybe every now and then we might go crazy and hurt someone but that's okay because we're just like you. So just go about your business and pretend we're like you even though we're more evolved than you.'
And we're just supposed to forgive them like that? Fat chance.
They lied to us the whole time and put us in danger and they have the gall to complain about how everyone is mean to them at school? Please.
I don't hate them because of their powers. I hate them because of how they used them. They played us all like it was some kind of game for them. 'Let's pretend we're normal high school students and see what we can get away with'.
Not that they're getting away with anything now. We're all watching them like hawks. Both students and teachers. The one thing we all agree on now. They can't make fools of us all and get away with it. Not anymore.
And they complain how nobody understands them? Listen you mutants never wanted us to understand you! Or else you would have told us about you long ago!
You say we should trust you, but you broke our trust long ago.
You haven't earned the right to be trusted. You lost it.
And you still think I'm shallow? I don't care. I'm through being thought of as insignificant. Second best. I'm not second best to anybody, least of all some freaks who didn't see me as a person like them!
I'm nobody's supporting character.