"This is fan fiction for the Whateley Academy series. It may or may not match the timeline, characters, and continuity, but since it's fan fiction, who cares? To see the canon Whateley Stories, check out Whateley Academy at (http://whateleyacademy.net)"

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the Author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Chapter 49

“Okay girls,” Marie stood up from the table, “Let’s get you both inside before anyone starts showing up. We don’t want you parading around guests in your nighties.”

Sarah started pushing Kelly so she could get out from behind the table, “Let’s go, I can’t let anyone see me wearing this!”

“I could port us up to my room?” Kelly grinned evilly at Sarah.

“Uh no,” Sarah grimaced, “I almost barfed the one time you did that with me before. I’ll stick to walking, thank you.”

“You two go on ahead, I’m going to put this away before anyone else sees it was out,” Marie picked up the bottle of Metaxa.

“Sorry that I tried that last night mom,” Kelly stopped in front of Marie her head hanging low.

Marie hugged Kelly with her free hand, “It’s in the past, and I trust you to keep your promise, so it’s forgotten already.” Both girls stared toward the steps, “Oh and we are not going to church today so wear whatever you wish.”

Sarah turned around, “No church? Can Kelly and I go to the beach? We could walk to Sunset beach.”

“Or we could take the boat down to Clearwater beach?” Kelly added.

“Boat no, beach yes,” Marie smiled, “I don’t think the Coast Guard would find a twelve year old running at forty foot yacht by herself very funny.”

Kelly attempted to change their mother’s mind, “But we could talk Michael—”

“No boat,” Marie interrupted, “and make sure you take your phones with you. If I call you best answer and I want you both home by lunch time.”

“Yes mom,” Both girls chorused before hurrying off the boat, across the yard and into the house.

Sarah followed Kelly into her room, “Throw on some shorts and a top, I’ll grab the rest of the things we’ll need,” Before Sarah entered their joint bathroom, using it as a shortcut into her own room.

Sarah returned dressed in a pair of white short shorts and a blue sleeveless top. Kelly had put on a pair of short cutoffs and a white tank top and was brushing out her hair when Sarah came back into her room through the bathroom. Looking over at her sister, Kelly saw that Sarah had a large beach bag under her arm, the straps over her shoulder like a purse.

“Ready?” Sarah grinned when she saw Kelly nod her head, “Great, grab your purse and let’s get moving.”

Grabbing her purse, Kelly removed her phone from its charger putting it in her purse as the two left her room.

The walk to the beach did not take long, it being not much more than a half mile from their home. Sarah grabbed Kelly’s hand and pulled her into the women’s restroom at the beach, “Let’s change into our swimsuits first.”

Urging Kelly into one of the stalls, Sarah waited outside, “Hand me your clothes over the door, I’ll hand your swimsuit over and put your clothes in my bag.”

Looking in the stall Kelly thought that while it did look clean, she thought being able to put her clothes safely into the beach bag was better than laying them on the floor. “Okay,” Kelly went into the stall and closed the door behind her. AS soon as Kelly passed over the last bit her of the clothes she had worn, Sarah passed her over the bathing suit.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” Kelly gasped when she saw what Sarah had handed across to her, “I can’t wear this!”

“Well it’s not a nude beach so you have to wear something,” Sarah giggled.

“This thing isn’t far from being naked!” Kelly argued, “Mom would never let us wear something this revealing!”

“Oh quit being such a drama queen, mom was with me when I got them.” Sarah stated, “Do you think she would pay for something she wouldn’t let us wear?”

“Just hand me my clothes back, I’m not wearing this,” Kelly protested, “And there is no way mom bought me a bikini!”

“Shows how much you know,” Sarah giggled. “Mom bought us both identical ones. Now hurry up and get dressed so I can change too.”

A couple minutes later Kelly unlocked the stall door and stepped out, her face turning red as soon as she saw Sarah looking at her. “Wow you look great, I can’t wait to put mine on!” Sarah pushed past her into the stall that Kelly had just exited.

Sarah came out of the stall wearing the same white string bikini that Kelly had on. Sarah twirled once in front of Kelly smiling, “See we’re twins again!”

Kelly walked beside Sarah out onto the sand, leaning over she whispered to Sarah, “Guys are staring at us.”

Sarah giggled, “Of course they are, guys do that,” While leading them both further out onto the sand toward the water. Sarah produced two beach towels and handed one to Kelly. While spreading the towel out on the sand Kelly took a good look around. The beach was not that crowded, other than the group of around fifteen guys playing volleyball, who all appeared to be all around high school age, there was couple that could have been in their early forties down at the water’s edge with two young boys the oldest of the boys probably just a little older than Anne was floating around in the water on a colorful tube. Off to their left a man and woman sat on one of the several benches provided, they faced away so Kelly could not tell how old or young they might be. Further down along the beach an older man with a boy about Kelly and Sarah’s age were fishing.

Kelly lay down upon the beach towel beside her sister. After some time had passed Kelly rolled over onto her stomach, “We going to do anything else other than lay here?”

Sarah rolled over to her stomach then began digging through the bag she brought. Holding a magazine toward Kelly that she found within, “Want a magazine to read?”

Kelly saw the front cover of the magazine Sarah was trying to hand to her, “Got any that I would actually want to read?”

Sarah turned the magazine so she could see the cover, “Oh that is mine,” then looking at Kelly with a devilish grin, “although it wouldn’t hurt you to read it too.”

“I think between you and mom I’ve been brainwashed enough?”

Sarah reached into her bag pulling out another magazine which Kelly snatched out of her hand when she saw it was Muscle Mustang and Fast Ford magazine, one of her favorites.

“Nope!” Sarah giggled, “It looks like we haven’t done enough yet.”

“What,” Kelly scoffed, “Lots of girls like cars.”

“Name one.”

“Me.” Kelly stuck her tongue out at Sarah, “Anyways I thought we came to swim, if I had known we were going to lay around all morning I could have kept my clothes on.”

Sarah grinned at Kelly, “But we look so much better in these.”

“To who,” Kelly thumbed over at the guys playing volleyball, “Them?”

“Of course silly,” Sarah giggled, “Why else wear them.”

Kelly tossed her magazine into Sarah face, “You’re terrible!”

“I had a great role model,” Sarah giggled tossing the magazine back into Kelly’s face. Opening the magazine Kelly flipped to the index and began checking out what articles it contained.

Kelly was deep into an article that was discussing the benefits of Ford’s FE block side oiling engine versus standard top oiling systems along with modifications to the venerable ‘side oiler’ engine that enhanced the unique oiling system and extended the life of the engine in racing when she heard a familiar voice, “Hi guys!” Kelly looked up to find Lisa standing there in a navy blue two piece swimsuit holding her own beach bag. “Hey Lisa, I didn’t know you came down here on Sundays.”

“Well,” Lisa smirked, “if my BFF would have called and let me know her and her sister were going to the beach I could have walked down with them.”

Sarah turned up on one elbow, “Sorry Lisa, mom doesn’t give us a pass on church that often so I wanted to get out of the house before she changed her mind.”

Lisa began spreading her towel out beside Kelly on the sand, “So how long have you guys been here?”

Kelly rolled to her side so she could see Lisa easier, “Not long, half hour maybe an hour at the most.” Sitting down on the towel she had spread out, Lisa dug through her bag retrieving a tube of sunblock that she began applying to her arms. “Sunblock?” Kelly questioned.

“Duh, redhead. Unlike you two and your perfect Mediterranean complexions, I burn real easy,” Lisa stuck her tongue out at Kelly. Covering everywhere she could reach, Lisa handed the tube to Kelly, “Would you do my back for me?”

“Uh sure,” Kelly shrugged, sitting up as Lisa lay down on her stomach. Squeezing some of the lotions into her palm Kelly began applying it to Lisa’s shoulders and neck. Kelly had applied sunscreen and lotions to his past girlfriends and his wife on numerous occasions, his hands knew exactly where and how to bring any woman to a state of peaceful bliss during a massage. Kelly’s hands while smaller now, still retained the muscle memory that had developed over the years instantly going on autopilot, massaging Lisa’s shoulders and neck as she worked the sunscreen into Lisa’s soft tender flesh.

Kelly slowly worked her hands down into the small of Lisa’s back when Sarah startled her, “You two need to get a room!”

“What?” Kelly jerked back away from Lisa.

“The way Lisa is moaning, people are going to think you two are an item,” Sarah grinned.

Lisa pulled her elbows under herself so she could rise up to talk, “Sorry.” Her face turning a deep shade of red, “But you can’t believe how great that felt.”

“I would be happy do that for you?” All three girls looked up to see a boy, maybe a year or two older, had walked over from where he had been playing volleyball with his friends.

“I bet you would,” Lisa snorted.

Um, I, the guys wanted me to ask…” The boy stammered, “Want to join us for volleyball? Some of the guys had to leave and we don’t have enough now.”

Kelly thought she recognized the teen boy from somewhere but couldn’t place him, her curiosity getting the better of her she smiled up at him, “Sure, it beats laying here doing nothing.”

Sarah glared at Kelly’s back before looking back at the boy, “Go on ahead, we’ll gather up our things and be over in a minute.” After the boy had walked off where he would not be able to hear her, Sarah reached over and pinched Kelly, “What were you thinking?”

“Oww!” Kelly swatted at her sister’s hand, “Why’d you do that?”

“Because you never asked if Lisa and I wanted to play, you just up and told them we would!”

“What’s wrong with playing a game of volleyball?” Kelly huffed, “It’s something to do.” Picking up the magazine from where she had left it, “I can read this anywhere.”

“You do know why they invited us right?” Lisa rolled her eyes.

“Yea,” Sarah sighed.

“What?” Kelly looked over to Lisa then back at Sarah.

“So they can watch our boobs bounce!” Sarah groaned.

Knowing that Sarah’s chest was almost two cup sizes larger than her own and at least one larger than Lisa’s Kelly grinned, “Then you can distract them while Lisa and I win the game for us.”

Sarah’s eyes grew wide, while Lisa and Kelly were giggling, “I don’t believe you said that!”

“Well, it’s true that you are better equipped to distract them,” Lisa laughed.

“You too!” Sarah gaped.

Lisa shrugged, “If the shoe fits, or in this case, bra.”

Chapter 50

After winning the first game, then just barely losing to the boys in the second game Sarah pulled Kelly and Lisa off to the side, “Guys I really need to stop.”

“You okay?” Lisa asked.

“Um yea, but this top doesn’t have much support.”

“Oh crap I didn’t realize…” Kelly gasped. Turning around toward the guys they had been playing against, “Hey guys hope you don’t mind but we’re going to take a break.”

“No problem,” Jeff, the boy who had asked them to join them grabbed one of his two friends by the arm as he began jogging toward the girls, “Come on Bill.” Smiling at the girls as he trotted past them, “We’ll move that picnic table into the shade for you girls.”

After moving the picnic table into a shadow of a nearby palm tree, the boys jogged back over to the volleyball area to retrieve their own belongings.

Arriving at the table’s new location, Sarah reached into her bag, pulling out one of the beach towels that she and Kelly had brought, as Kelly sat down on the opposite side of the table.

Kelly’s barely covered rear had no sooner touched the wooden bench attached to the table, when she jumped up banging her legs against the underside of the table. “Damn!” Kelly rubbed her rear end.

Snickering, Sarah held the towel out toward Kelly, “Bench hot?”

Snatching the towel out of her hand, “You could have warned me.”

Reaching up to her chin with her thumb and fore finger, Sarah gazed up slightly, “Who was it that always told me that experience is the best teacher?”

Kelly rolled her eyes, before twisting around so she could lay the folded towel onto the bench before sitting back down.

Sarah pulled the other towel out of her bag, unfolding it enough for her and Lisa to sit on. After both had sat Sarah grinned over at Kelly, who was still rubbing her sore rear, “If it hurts that bad I am sure we can find some volunteers that would kiss it and make it better for you,” glancing sideways at the boys that were walking over.

Following her sister's gaze, Kelly quickly turned back to look at Sarah, “Eww, not just no, but hell no,” she said low enough so that only Sarah and Lisa could hear her.

“Well don’t look at me,” Sarah giggled, “I don’t swing that way.”

“Well you are my best friend,” Lisa grinned then changed her voice as low and sultry as she could, “but let’s find some place a little more private to do that.”

Sarah leaned over into Lisa pushing her with her shoulder, “You’re bad!”

“Yes but I’m so good at being bad!” Lisa giggled.

Before anything else could be said Jeff came up and sat down beside Kelly at the table, his longer shorts that he wore providing the protection from the heat of the bench that Kelly’s skimpy bikini bottom did not have. “Was that a car magazine you were reading before I came over?” Jeff focused on Kelly.

“Yea,” Kelly looked curiously at Jeff, still trying to determine where she should know him from, “Muscle Mustang and Fast Ford.”

“That’s cool,” Jeff smiled at Kelly, “I’m helping my dad restore his old Monte Carlo, he says it’s mine when I get my license.”

“What year?” Kelly gazed over at the boy questioningly.

“Seventy-two,” Jeff affirmed proudly.

Kelly grinned, “Yea that body style is cool, they remind me of a long nosed Chevelle.”

“Not many girls would know that is the only real difference between them,” Jeff laughed.

Bill sat down beside Jeff while John, the third of the teen boys sat on the other side of the table beside Lisa Both began passing out bottles of water they had fished out of the cooler they had brought along. “I’ll take my CRX over those old gas guzzlers. I run low fifteens in the quarter mile and doesn’t take every dime I own to keep it full of gas.”

“Does that mean it’s fast or something?” Lisa had no clue as to what all that meant.

Sarah, having been Kelly’s shadow for years, knew her way around under the hood of a car and around the drag strip, giggled, “Well it means it could out run your mom’s minivan but not any of the Kelly’s… Um Kelly’s dad’s cars.”

“There’s no replacement for displacement,” Kelly grinned over at Sarah, trying to stifle her own giggle.

Bill puffed out his chest, ready to defend his pride and joy of a car when he realized he had seen one of the two sisters, he couldn’t tell which one as they looked so similar that it could have been either one. The only way he could tell which one was which right now was because both of them were together and Sarah was obviously a bit more well-endowed in the breast department than Kelly. “I’ve seen you before!” Bill puzzled, looking back and forth between Kelly and Sarah, “At the drag strip, but I’m not sure which one of you was there?” Looking toward Kelly, “The man who owns the scalded rat, the Chevy Monza with the big block in it said that all the time.” Bill looked between the two boys he was with, “That car is pure wicked! The whole front is motor and transmission, he actually gets in it through the rear hatch!”

Turning his attention back to Kelly his eyes went wide, “He’s your dad?”

Kelly nodded, “But it was Sarah you saw with him.”

“Yea uncle Kel used to take me with him a lot of weekends,” Sarah grinned.

“Uncle?” Jeff sounded very confused, “You two aren’t sisters?” Sarah nodded, while at the same time Kelly was shaking her head no. Anything Sarah may have wanted to add was cut off as she began digging into the beach bag for her phone that was going off.

“I thought they were twins,” The last boy, who had been very quiet up until now, quickly looked away from the group.

“It’s a long story,” Lisa quickly explained, “Kelly’s dad and Sarah’s mom were brother and sister. When Kelly’s dad died Sarah’s parents adopted her, so now they are sisters.”

“Um, sorry about your dad,” Jeff fumbled for words while looking over at Kelly with a sad smile.

“That was Mom,” Sarah put her phone back in her bag, “She said people are already showing up and wants us to come home and change before too many others get there.” Kelly nodded as she stood up from the bench.

“I’ll walk with you guys,” Lisa quickly began to get up also.

“I can give you girls a ride if you want?” Bill quickly offered.

“Thanks but no,” Sarah smiled over her shoulder as the three girls headed toward the women’s restroom. “If Mom saw us pull up in a car full of boys she didn’t know Kelly and I would end up grounded until we graduated college.”

Chapter 51

Turning off the sidewalk into their driveway, Kelly saw several cars she did not recognize in their driveway as the trio walked up and entered the house. “You aren’t coming?” Kelly looked back toward Lisa, who stopped at the end the driveway.

“No, Mom and Dad told me we were going some…” Lisa stopped suddenly at the sight of one of the cars in the drive, “Whoa, who’s limo?”

Spotting the blue and white flags on the short sticks attached to the front corners of the limousine, “Probably our grandfather.”

“Wow, my best friends are like real life princesses,” Lisa giggled.

Kelly shook her head, “He’s a politician, not royalty.”

“Too bad,’ Lisa waved as she began walking further down the sidewalk, “It would be so cool if you were.”

***

Kelly spend much of the afternoon listening to the well-wishers that came and went while many of them had to have Kelly and Sarah stand together so they could comment on how amazed they were that the two looked so much alike. Several hours passed and most the guests had left when Mrs. Poulos, Helen’s mother, caught Kelly by herself.

Grabbing Kelly by the arm, she spoke softly so that only Kelly could hear her, “I know the truth! Those men didn’t attack my daughter and her husband did they?” Tightening her grip on the young girl's arm, “They were chasing you. You ran into their house and got them involved in your gene filth! My daughter lost her leg and her husband because of you,” She hissed, “Mutant scum!”

From where Helen sat in her wheelchair, she saw Kelly run off toward the end of the dock as her own mother came walking back toward where she sat. “Momma what did you say to her!” Helen demanded of her mother.

“It’s no concern of yours,” Her mother snipped as she approached. Looking over to her husband, “It is time we went home papa.” Walking around Helen, her mother grabbed the handles of Helen’s wheelchair and tried to turn the chair around toward the house.

Helen reached down to the side grabbing the wheels of the chair stopping her mother from moving it with her in it while twisting around so she could look back at her mother, “What did you say to her!”

“I told her the truth, her kind isn’t welcome here.” Mrs. Poulos jerked the wheelchair, “Now let’s go.”

Gripping the wheels of the chair tighter so her mother could not move it, “I’m not going anywhere! That girl just lost her father, my husband! You apologize right now mother!”

“Her kind!” Marie shouted. “That’s my daughter you insulted!”

Jake saw the look in his wife’s eyes as Marie stood, reaching around Marie’s waist as he stepped behind her, “Calm down dear, I’m sure she didn’t mean to insult anyone.”

“That is a thing!” Mrs. Poulos spat.

With both hands Marie tried to free herself from his strong but gentle grip while glaring daggers at the other woman, “My daughter is not a thing! And the only kind that isn’t welcome in MY HOME is your kind, the kind that attacks little girls because they THINK they are different. I will not sit still while you insult my daughter and family. GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE NOW!” Marie screamed.

Helen’s father walked quickly over to his wife grabbing her arm, “Momma, let’s go.”

“Helen?” Helen’s mother looked down at her daughter.

“I’m staying!” Helen

“Come Sabella,” Helen’s father pulled his wife’s hand away from the wheelchair, “You have insulted our friends and embarrassed our family.”

“But Helen…” Mrs. Poulos tried to keep her husband from pulling her away from the wheelchair.

“Helen is a big girl, she doesn’t need or want your help right now.” Ed stated, “And I don’t blame her. The way you are acting toward that child is shameful and I will not tolerate it either.” Looking over at Jake, “Jake I apologize that I allowed my wife to disgrace your home. Rest assured I will not allow her to offend your family again.” Jake nodded while fighting to hold back his own wife from unleashing hell on earth.

Once Ed and his wife left, Jake released Marie who quickly ran across the backyard to Kelly, where the young girl was sitting hugging her knees drawn up to her chest, at the end of the dock near the bow of the sailboat.

“Sarah?” Helen stopped the girl when she got out of the chair she was in and began to follow her mother, “Would you mind helping me get this chair out there so I can talk with your sister?”

Sarah looked at Helen then to her father, who nodded to her, “Um sure.” Before walking over behind Helen’s wheelchair to begin pushing it across the yard.

Crossing the yard to the boat dock, Sarah and Helen could see that Marie had sat down on the wooden dock and pulled the smaller Kelly into her lap.

“No,” Marie shushed the small teen she held in her lap, “you’re my daughter now, you are going nowhere.”

“But she knows what I am,” Kelly sobbed.

“I may not have any fancy gifts like the ones God gave to you,” Helen forced Kelly to look up at her, “But Heaven have mercy on anyone that tries to hurt you, because that is the one thing I won’t give them.”

“My momma doesn’t know anything. She has been ranting about you causing the fire that killed,” Helen swallowed hard, “killed your father. You weren’t even in the country when that happened! As for what you are? I knew there had to be something for your father not to bring you out here to live with him. Family is, was too important to my husband, it’s just as important to me. Had Helen not beaten me to it, you would be calling me momma instead of aunt. Anyone try to hurt you will have to come through me.”

“And me too,” Sarah grinned.

Smiling up at her other daughter, “It’s starting to get late. Why don’t you take Kelly with you so you both can get ready for bed. You both have school tomorrow. Oh and please make sure Anne is does the same.”

Chapter 52

“Try again!”

Kelly glared over where her doppelganger stood, “How many times do I have to do this before you realize it won’t work. It’s a god damned sword not a dog that I can train to come when I whistle!”

“It’s no wonder that Krisi will not come when you call! Krisi is not some pet animal you can whistle for, she was forged out of the chaos, just as our ancestors were. She is not just some inanimate piece of metal forged into a tool, she is alive, she has purpose, she is our companion and the key to all this.”

Kelly stomped over to the dark wooden rack that held the sword, Reaching down she grabbed the sword by the hilt, “Okay now I…” Kelly was stymied when the sword refused to move from the rack.

“You are as bad as an over muscled barbarian!” The double giggled, “You think Krisi would allow anyone to wield her?” Kelly’s double seemed to be looking past Kelly at nothing for several seconds, “Krisi is angry with you, making any further work with her impossible at the moment. So let’s work on your fighting, come at me!”

“I know how to fight, I’ve had years of training.”

Both hands on her hips Kelly’s double raised her head and laughed, “I’ve seen you fight, you fight like some bullheaded gladiator, using brawn in place of cunning and intelligence. I’ve forgotten more about fighting than a mortal could learn in several lifetimes. Come put your years of training against mine.”

“Fine, if it will get this damn nightmare over any sooner.”

“Nightmare?” the double laughed again, waving her arm around to show their surroundings, “You believe this realm is not real?”

“I’m dreaming,” Kelly stated, “I don’t know why you only come in my dreams but this is a dream.”

“You fail to understand the true depths of the universe, my dear sister.” Kelly’s dream twin smiled at her, “You remember when my sister brought me to you asking for your help? The things you saw as she led you out of that place? Do you believe those were a dream too?”

“You couldn’t pick a better place?” Kelly snorted her disgust, “Desolate wasteland as far as the eye can see with armies fighting constantly with each other, this place makes Afghanistan look like a theme park.”

“This place is not of my choosing, we were appointed its governess. Compared to what can happen here, Afghanistan is a theme park. Now fight me!” the double disappeared in a cloud of red smoke, reappearing in front of Kelly punching Kelly hard in the stomach before disappearing in the red smoke. Reappearing behind Kelly she landed another blow below Kelly’s ribs on her right side before kicking out Kelly’s knee, driving her to her hands and knees. “I said fight me!” the double yelled.

“How is this even close to fair?” Kelly gasped for breath.

“Am I using some weapon you do not have?” The double grinned, “We have the same abilities, why you choose NOT to use them is your issue.”

“How can I fight someone that keeps blinking around teleporting all over the place!” Kelly not so much questioned her double but herself.

“What’s that saying humans have?” Kelly’s double grinned, “Fight fire with fire?”

Without warning Kelly ported up beside her double and swung. Her blow found only a quickly dispersing cloud of red, not a second later Kelly felt a blow to her back. Quickly teleporting again, Kelly unsuccessfully tried to land another blow only to see her double disappear before reappearing and striking her again. They fought all around the top of the mesa the two girls’ forms blinking in and out, appearing and reappearing. While Kelly never seems to get an upper hand on her double, she did manage to begin dodging her doubles attacks, teleporting away before the blow could land.

Trying to watch her opponent for any weakness she could exploit Kelly noticed that each time her double reappeared she was already striking, it was as if she preplanned her move ahead of time, winding up for the strike before she teleported. Kelly continued to watch what her double was doing when she blinked away as they fought back and forth. Seeing her double begin to crouch into what Kelly thought to be a leg sweep as she disappeared, Kelly teleported to a spot she thought would land her behind the sweeping leg beside her double while pulling her own leg up into a side kick. Her foot connected with her double’s head, although the double blinked out before she fell to the ground, appearing behind Kelly striking Kelly once again.

Round and round they continued, Kelly managing to land more blows against her opponent but nothing to the extent that her double was giving her. Kelly realized she would never best her opponent the way they were fighting, move and countermove. Her double was too familiar with using their teleporting ability to form perfect counter moves to everything Kelly tried. Kelly needed to up her game, not just counter what her double was doing as that would never gain Kelly the upper hand. What she needed to do was change the game.

Throwing a punch Kelly knew her double would blink away from, Kelly watched her double carefully for signs of her fist passed through the red cloud of her teleporting. Crouching down Kelly spun a leg sweep behind herself just as her double reappeared. Seeing her double draw back her right arm winding up for a strike Kelly spun around grabbing her double’s wrist as she reappeared. Using her doubles own momentum Kelly pulled her off balance while striking with her opposite elbow to her double’s face, Kelly’s double went to the ground face first.

Kelly stood there trying to anticipate what her double would do next. Not blinking away before she hit the ground confused Kelly, could she have actually hurt her double badly enough to force her to stop or was this some kind of ruse. Before Kelly could decide if her double was truly hurt, her double rolled over onto her back and after coughing up some blood began laughing.

Concerned that she had really hurt her double Kelly kneeled down to one knee beside her double, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” The double raised up with one elbow behind her to support her while wiping blood away from her mouth with her other forearm.

Noticing her double was missing a tooth when she smiled over at Kelly, “Shit, your teeth!”

“Yeah I think I swallowed it,” The double laughed again. “But that’s not the point, the point is that you are learning how to use our abilities.”

“Shit, I’m sorry!” Kelly pleaded, “I didn’t mean to…”

“Hey calm down,” A red cloud appeared where the girl lay on the ground. “See good as new!” Kelly heard her double’s voice behind her.

Kelly turned around while standing up to see her double standing there as if she was never hurt, “How did you do that?”

“Remember how well cutting our hair worked?”

Chapter 53

Finishing her morning ritual of Tai Chi Kelly walked back into the kitchen to find Helen there with her mother, “Helen how’d you get here so early?” Kelly was surprised.

“Hi Kelly,” Helen smiled, “After how my mother acted, I didn’t want to be around her. I still can’t believe she would talk about a child in that way. I can’t live in the same house with someone that has that much hatred, your mother offered to let me use your guest room for a while.” Leaning forward from her wheelchair Helen picked up one of the two large boxes of donuts that were on the table, “I got your mother to run me down to the donut shop this morning, thought you girls might like something a little different for breakfast.”

Kelly smiled wide spotting the name written in fancy script across the box, ‘Mmmm Delicious Donuts’ seeing a large powdered donut through the clear cellophane window, “That’s awesome, thanks!” Taking the box from Helen before sitting it back on the table to open it and retrieve the powdered sugary delight. Taking a paper napkin from the holder in the center of the table, Kelly went over to the counter unfolding the napkin onto the counter. Taking a knife from the wooden butcher-block knife holder Kelly carefully cut the fragile donut in half as if it were a bagel, placed it on the napkin then into the microwave.

Once the microwave counted down the twenty seconds she programed into it, Kelly pulled a spoon from a drawer and a jar of peanut butter from an upper cabinet. Spreading a generous portion of peanut butter on each half of the now very warm donut, Kelly sat down at the table, picking up one of the halves and took a bite, closing her eyes as she savored the taste. Kelly opened her eyes to see both Helen and her mom staring at her.

Helen gave Kelly a knowing smile, “The look you had after biting into that reminds me of…”

“The look a girl has after she has done something that you are way too young to be doing, young lady.” Marie quickly interrupted Helen.

“What?” Kelly gasped, before she realized what her mother meant, “That! No way is that ever happening!” Kelly picked up the napkin that held the other half of her donut and got up to leave the room, “I, I need to go get ready for school before Sarah wakes up and hogs the bathroom.”

Helen looked over at Marie after Kelly left, “Way to go, mention sex and she runs for the hills. Have you gave her the talk yet?”

“Both her and Sarah,” Marie smiled as she sat down at the table with her coffee cup. “Although I’m pretty sure Kelly isn’t interested in boys yet.”

“We know that can change quickly,” Helen chuckled then her expression became troubled, “Not trying to change the subject, did you notice how she ate that donut just like her father, microwaved, peanut butter and all?”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Marie took a sip of her coffee, “None of the girls or Michael will touch a Bologna sandwich without putting potato chips in the sandwich, exactly like he used to do, except Sarah is even worse and has to have barbecue chips and only barbecue chips.”

“You sure about that?”

“Even though Kelly did not spend the amount of time with her father as my children did, he did take quite a few trips, spending weeks at a time gone. Now that we know he had a daughter I think it’s obvious where he went on those trips.”

“To visit Kelly?”

Marie nodded.

***

“Hey where’d you get a donut?” Sarah came walking into Kelly’s room through their shared bathroom.

“Helen bought them.”

“Helen’s here?”

“Yeah I guess she spent the night,” Kelly shrugged.

Looking down at the peanut butter covered donut, “And you cut that donut slathered it up with peanut butter right in front of her?”

Yeah, why?” Kelly looked up from where she sat at her vanity to Sarah. Kelly opened her mouth and her eyes widened as she realized what Sarah was leading to.

“You may look like my sister, but you’re still as clueless as any boy I’ve known.” Sarah reached down picking up the uneaten half of Kelly’s donut.

“Hey that’s mine!” Kelly shouted as Sarah raced out of the room.

Kelly caught up to her downstairs in the kitchen. Sarah had a spoon doing something to the donut. Walking over Kelly could see that Sarah was creating a valley of peanut butter around the center of the donut. Tossing the spoon in the sink, Sarah reached over to the fridge and pulled out a squeeze bottle of chocolate syrup that she used to fill the valley created by the peanut butter. Putting the chocolate syrup back, Sarah picked up the donut and napkin and took a bite of the modified creation, “Mmmm, now that’s how you were supposed to do it.” Holding the donut out for Kelly to try.

Realizing what Sarah was doing Kelly took a bite of the donut. Kelly’s eyes widened surprise at the taste, “Oh my god this is so good!” Before her change Kelly had not been that big on chocolate before her change, actually avoiding anything that used chocolate as a major ingredient.

Sarah pulled the donut back as Kelly reached for it, “Uh, this one’s mine. You make your own.”

Sarah twisted around at the sound of the doorbell. “That’s probably Lisa, come on sis we got to go,” Sarah practically pranced out of the kitchen the high ponytail she had her hair in bouncing along behind her.

They could all hear Lisa once Sarah opened the door, “You got donuts!”

Raising her voice so that she could be heard by the two girls in the other room, “Lisa would you like a donut to eat on the way to school?”

“I’d love one,” Lisa entered the kitchen, a backpack slung over one shoulder. “Hi Mrs. Kontos, Hi Mrs. Lekka.”

As the teen reached the table to pick out a donut, Helen saw the graphics on Lisa’s backpack depicting several female anime characters all of which had different animal or monstrous characteristics. One of the anime girls looked to be covered in brown fur and had large fangs, another had green skin with darker green hair. This one also had what appeared to be a fish’s dorsal fins on the back of each of her legs and arms. Across the bottom of the graphic Japanese characters in bold.

“What is that on your bag Lisa?” Helen asked.

“Mutant High! It’s my favorite show,” Lisa grinned, “It’s Japanese Anime, we can’t get it here, but I can watch it on the Internet with subtitles. It’s all about these kids that turned into mutants that go to this special high school for mutants. Some of them have some really cool super powers but they all worry about the same things we do, you know school, clothes and important things like that oh yeah and they learn how to control their powers too.”

“The Japanese do seem to be a bit friendlier towards mutants than most countries,” Marie stated.

“But the school isn’t in Japan,” Lisa enthusiastically demonstrated her knowledge of the show, “In the show an earthquake made a huge part of California into an island, it’s called Angel’s island now and the school is in Angel City. The government of the island wants to be under Japan and not the US, which had been a real pain as the US has sent in the army and the school kids have to keep driving the army out.”

“It sounds like it would be a great idea for a school,” Helen smiled, “One where Mutant children would be safe from hate groups, someplace they could learn how to control their powers while finishing high school.”

“I heard that Japan was going to throw all the MCO agents out of their country,” Lisa commented while pulling a glazed donut from the box.

“Even if that country wants to do that it would take time, maybe years to do it,” Helen thought about the immense legal battles that would have to occur to remove the organization out of a country the size of the United States.”

“I think the MCO does serve a purpose but,” Marie looked up at Lisa, “they are only as good as the people they hire. When I was at the mall with the girls I saw one of their officers had of all things, a ‘Humanity First’ pin on his lapel. I seriously wonder about any official group such as the MCO, police or FBI that would allow a member of a hate group to become one of their officers.”

“I agree with your mom,” Lisa grinned over at Kelly and Sarah, “Mutants are people too.”

“I never said that but you are correct Lisa. Persecuting someone because they have a different religion, speak another language, look different or have special abilities is prejudice, plain and simple.” Marie smiled at the thought of how the youth were so much more accepting than older generations.”

“We should get going guys,” Sarah interrupted.

Once the three were out the front door Sarah handed the donut, or what was left of it back to Kelly, leaning over and whispering into Kelly’s ear, “I’ll always have your back sis.”