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'WATCH OUT GEN.X HERE COMES...' Part 1 written by Little Horn and Flonnua7a
Gloria sat up nervously in her seat. The gentle humming of the aeroplane’s engine had lulled the old lady in the seat next to her off to sleep. Jonothon was reading the in-flight magazine next to her. She looked around the plane. She had never been on one before. And especially never been in business class before.
All these high-powered business like persons were storing their briefcases and personal computers in the overhead compartments. Gloria wondered were they all going to the same conference or something.
Jubilee and Everett, sitting in the two seats on the other side of the plane, were pelting each other with the complementary peanuts the stewardess’s had given out, Skin was in the bathroom, enjoying his ‘last cigarette in America’. Paige was checking out the flight times and time zones, she was sitting next to the empty space that Skin was inhabited. Monet, next to Paige in the middle row, had turned on her walkman and was probably somewhere near sleep. Eve was sitting in the seat behind them, next to two boy’s ‘visiting their mother in England’. Two cute boys.
"Hey Jono."
Gloria nudged him.
{What?}
"So what’s air travel like?"
{Eh?} He dodged the leg of a passing businessman who threatened to bang into his elbow.
"Well, y’know. What’s the flight gonna be like?"
{What, have you never been on a plane before?}
She glared at him and he seemed to catch her drift.
{Ooh. Um.. pretty boring. Landing and takeoff are the most exciting. Other then that Sleep is a good idea. It is 7 hours y’know.} He stretched his legs out and sat back. (N.B. HA! I here you say! But trust me, you can stretch your legs quite comfortably in business class.)
"Sleep. Right."
"Will you two kids please stop that? Ah’m .. I’m trying to watch a movie."
"Ah! Jubilee! That one hit my eye!"
‘Need a fag. Must have a cigarette. I’d kill everyone here for a puff.’
"Eewww. I think I just heard someone having sex in the toilets."
{Hey, turn to channel 3 on the radio. It’s a Monty Python sketch.}
"Would you like condiments Ma’am?"
Gloria happily took a glass of champagne from the stewardess. Anyway, she was old enough to drink in England. And she was pretty sure they were in British air space. Weren’t they? Hehehe. Nice champagne.
{Hey gel. Champagne can get some people pretty tipsy. I mean people who can down three bottles of Jack Daniels in a row. Are you sure?}
Gloria noticed the world seemed to be spinning a little. Maybe she just needed another sip to calm her down. Flying made her pretty nervous. Heehee. This was a nice drink. The world seemed to look a wee bit funny, like it was twirling around. It was niceeee.
"I’m *hee* fine Jono. Heeheeheehee."
{Uh.. gel?}
"Hey skin?"
"What Jubilee?!"
Jubilee leaned over the aisle and poked Angelo in the arm.
"Um… can I borrow your peanuts?"
"Razzum.. frazzum.. why can’t you just use your own damn peanuts.."
Jubilee leaned over him and grabbed the peanuts.
"Ummmm.. thanks.."
"Sooo.. Your mother lives in London?"
Eve smiled charmingly at the two boys around her. She had complained about sitting in the middle, but noow….
"Yea. Are you with those guys over there?" The cute boy pointed to Jubilee and Everett, who were lobbing peanuts not only at each other, but now at Skin and Paige as well. Eve shrank back in case they saw her and waved. She took his hand down from it’s pointing position and squeezed it flirtatiously.
"No. I’m .."
‘Think Eve. Think!’
"I’m on my own as well. I’m going to visit friends in London." She smiled at him and batted her long eyelashes. He smiled goofily, laughed and stared at her dreamily.
"Soo Jonothon.. heehee .. did I telllll you about those people doing it in the toiletss?"
Gloria slurred out, after finishing her champagne. Jonothon pulled himself to the farthest edge of his seat.
{Only ten times gel.} He pulled out his sick bag and handed it to her.
{Take this, you’ll need it.}
"Did I everr telllll you you’re reaaaly cuute?" Gloria bent over in her seat and whispered to him. Jonothon looked around for salvation desperately., while pulling himself as far away as possible from her.
{Um.. gel. There’s an empty toilet. Why don’t you go in and make use of it when the time comes?}
"Would ma’am and sir please stop throwing popcorn around?"
The tall stewardess bent over Jubilee and Everett’s seat and smiled patronisingly. They looked up at her innocently.
"Sure miss."
"Yes ma’am."
Jubilee and Everett smiled at her innocently until she was out of earshot.
"Old bitch. Tell us what to do. I’ll show her."
"Hey Jubilee." Everett poked her in the back, carefully concealing the large handful of peanuts.
"BLuUurRrgGgGg"
Gloria leaned over the toilet seat as Jonothon locked the door carefully behind him.
{Told ya so.} He threw a towel at her head and set her inhaler on the side of the sink.
"UuUuHh.. I ..feell.. awful.."
Jonothon snickered in his head. Gloria threw up again. She wiped her mouth with the towel.
"I’m.. never …… drinking again.."
{Good.}
"In an aeroplane."
{Er..}
"With cheap champagne."
Gloria picked herself up and wiped her mouth over the sink. She splashed her face with cold water and flushed the toilet.
"Hey, where do you think that goes?"
Jonothon peered down the swirling toilet bowl as the water disappeared into… somewhere.
Over the Atlantic Ocean..
"Oh my, there goes another plane."
The fisherman sat his ice-covered trout on the wooden bench. He wiped the grime and sea spray off his face shielded his eyes as he gazed at the passing plane. He pulled his thick yellow parka over his face again and wiped the ice out of his thick, white beard. His large, black rubber boots squeaked on the rocking wood of his fishing trawler. He spoke in a thick Canadian accent. His Scottish friend came and stood beside him.
"Better put the umbrellas up nur."
"Why?"
** SPLAT **
"That’s gross."
{Why are you whispering gel?}
Gloria moved back into her seat after having stared over the back at her and monitoring her activities.
"Umm.. nothing. Just that Eve is licking the inside of some poor boy’s ear."
{That is gross.}
"She doesn’t know where he’s been."
Gloria pulled down her eating tray and pulled out a piece of paper. She started scribbling on it.
{What are you drawing?}
Gloria held up her piece of paper. There was a small noose drawn on it.
"Wanna play hangman? It’ll pass the time. And we don’t need alcohol."
"My God!! Paige do you see that?!"
Paige pulled off her ear phones.
"What? I was watching a movie Monet."
Monet nodded over in Eve’s direction. To the seat behind them.
"Listen."
"Mmmmmmmm.."
" What did you say your name was?"
"Eve. But you an call me.."
Paige stuck her tongue out and made a disgusted expression. Monet looked at her superiorly.
"Yes. I know. And why can’t we can’t pull men like that?"
"I don’t know what you’re talking about Monet. I have a boyfriend."
Monet gave her another cryptically superior look as the sounds of Eve with her tongue stuck in some poor boy’s mouth drifted all over the plane.
"Ev. We’ve ran out of peanuts."
Jubilee reached into her bag for another pelting session. It was empty. Everett wiped the peanut shrapnel off his lap.
"I don’t know J. we’ve asked everybody in this cabin for their peanuts. And the only one who gave them was that old lady. And that was because ‘we reminded her of Charlie Brown’."
Jubilee stroked her chin thoughtfully. And concentrated in silence.
{Ummmm… E.}
"No!! You’re killing the poor guy!!"
"Mmmmm.."
‘Need a cigarette. Would sell soul for just one sweet, sweet Carolina puff.’
{Is it.. Oliver Reed?}
Gloria drew a little, unhappy face on the stickman and set down her pen.
"I’m sorry. LeadBelly."
She bit the end of her pen again and the clear case started to fill up with a clear liquid.
{Hey, is that Ms. Frost?}
Jonothon span around in his aisle seat and looked towards the cockpit. Gloria leaned on her armrest and stretched so she could see over the seat behind her.
"I thought the faculty were all going in to first class."
{Umm.. she’s coming towards us. I’d hide that little bottle of champagne if I were you.}
Gloria quickly grabbed the little glass bottle and threw it under the seat in front of her. Ms. Frost leaned her arms on Gloria’s window seat and the aisle seats that Paige, Monet and Angelo were sitting in. She looked visibly more relaxed than she had that morning. She smiled pleasantly at the pupils, and seemed to miss the fact that Eve had her tongue in a strange boy’s ear.
"Good Evening children. I just came up to reassure Sean that you were all okay. Why are you covered in peanuts Everett?"
Everett brushed the debris off his trousers and smiled sheepishly.
"I .. um.. she.."
"Where’s Mr. Cassidy?" Paige pulled off her earphones, curious as to why the usually father like Mr. C had neglected to come check on them. Ms. Frost shook her head casually.
"Oh, he was in the middle of his foot rub."
She checked on them all again. A small flash of worry passed on her face as she saw Eve with her tongue licking a poor boy’s ear, but it quickly passed. Gloria thought it looked like she was too drunk or drugged up to care. She also wondered what the heck went on in first class to make Frosty act so relaxed. Free Cannabis, maybe?
"Well, if that’s everything. I’ll be going back to my seat."
Eve leaned her head carefully on the shoulder of the boy next to her (Who now had a name: James.). They were watching the BBC news channel on the little tvs together, very romantic. He had been dubbing over the English guy’s voice in silly voices. At last! At last she had the elusive boyfriend!! Gloria would die if she knew she had used that word. She noticed Monet and Paige were staring at her from the seat at front. Ooh, life was good. His brother was sitting on the other side of her, looking less than pleased.
"Hey, those muties really are a fuckin’ plague aren’t they?"
Eve pulled her head off his shoulder and sat up.
"Huh?"
He pulled off his earphones and pointed to the screen, where some boring political guy was yakking on under the title ‘Mutant Problem’.
"I said, those Muties are a fuckin’ plague aren’t they?"
Eve heard two gasps from the seats in front of her. She felt her bottom lip begin to quiver a little. She had always been brought up in a very supportive, loving environment. She had never come across any problems with being a mutant. Nobody really batted an eyelash. She had never come across anything like this. Everyone in her family was ok with it. All her uncles, aunts, second-cousins, great grannies. Like, it was always like ‘You’re a mutant-so what? No big deal. You’re still Eve. It’s not as if you’ve joined the Republican Party.’
"What’s the matter? Don’t tell me your one of those ‘It doesn’t matter, you’re still you’ goodie-goodies." He scowled at her.
Eve put her hand up to her face and tried not to crumple. James’s brother looked at him disapprovingly. She felt her eyes starting to sting.
"Um.. ‘scuse me.."
She quickly pushed past him and dived towards the aisle and ran towards one of the toilets.
{Gel, did you hear that?}
Gloria and Jonothon leaned over in their seats and watched Eve disappear into one of the bathrooms hastily. They had heard the whole conversation. Everyone in the plane had. No one batted an eyelid though.
"Of course I did. Everybody in the damn cabin did. And don’t call me ‘gel’. Unless you want me to call you boy."
{I think you’re just peeved because that guy made your sister cry. And you’re the only one who can make her cry. Typical common psychology.}
Gloria turned around and poked her tongue out at him. She leaned over and looked at the toilet.
" * sigh * "
"So… how long till we hit London?"
{About two hours.}
Gloria leaned back in her seat and yawned. She had a headache form her hangover and since it was about four o’clock Massachusetts time, her body clock was commanding sleep. She stretched her legs against the seat in front of her and leaned her head on the cabin wall.
"Just out of * yawn * curiosity. What exactly did I say when I got drunk off that cheap champagne?" she yawned again and used her black, woolly jumper as a pillow.
{ How do you know it was cheap? And Err.. you said that you thought Carrie Ann Moss was really cute, um,. And that you thought that Adrienne would look good in a swimsuit and that um… you thought Paige had a crush on Mr. C..}
She yawned again.
"Good."
"Skin?"
Jubilee leaned across the aisle again and poked him in the arm.
"WhaAaAt?"
She curled back at his agitated and annoyed voice.
"Umm.. don’t you think you should go to sleep?"
"Why don’t you go to sleep you hyper active little sprite?!"
She recoiled again.
"All right, all ready."
"Ah.. I just can’t sleep after what that boy said Monet."
Paige pulled her pillow off Monet’s shoulder, who was being more than hospitable by letting Paige lean on her. Having super strength means that you can’t get a pain the neck and such.
"Paige, there are lots of people that feel that very same way, and no matter how many nights you lose sleep over it, it won’t change." Monet fluffed up her pillow and put it behind her head again.
"And I sincerely hope that you don’t keep me awake every time you start wondering about the state of affairs."
Paige sighed and gave up on sleep as Monet happily drifted back into it. She looked around at the seat behind her. Eve still hadn’t returned to it, and it had been half an hour. Maybe she had locked herself in the toilet and decided to stay there. Hmm. She’d like to clean that little boy’s hash. But it would compromise the team’s security. And it wouldn’t be very ladylike.
"Shut up James and go to sleep."
His brother huffily rolled over in his seat and nestled his head into his pillow. James crossed his arms and sulked.
‘Why? Why was I born like this? Why couldn’t I just be normal like everybody else? Why did I have to be born like..’ he looked at his hands. Freakish hands. And He had just scared away a really hot girl. His older brother whacked him with a copy of Time magazine.
"Just go to sleep Jamie."
{Gloria. Wake up gel.}
Chamber poked her in the arm.
"Urmff.. wha..?"
She opened her eyes and saw that all the high powered looking business men and women were standing in the aisles retrieving their luggage. Monet and Paige were packing up whatever they had taken out of their bags for entertainment, Jubilee and Ev were getting their luggage from the overhead compartment and Skin was fidgeting and looking anxious to get off. Eve had emerged from the toilet, she was in the aisle beside her and had all her bags. Gloria rubbed her eyes and got up. Jonothon handed Gloria her bag and pulled her into the crowded aisle.
"Rrrr.. what time is it..?"
{Ten o’clock in the mornin’. Ahh, it feels great to get back to good ol’ Greenwich mean time.}
Gloria rubbed her eyes, bent over and looked out the plane window. It was dull and breezy looking outside. Great, British weather.
"Yea, well. I love the good ol’ USA and my watch is still set to Massachusetts time, so for me, it’s…" She checked her watch.
"Eight o’clock. And I don’t wake till nine."
{Good to know that a seven hour flight hasn’t dampened your feisty spirit Gloria.}
Gloria stuck her tongue out at him. All the executives turned and stared.
"Umm.."
She brushed off her calf length, black, lace trimmed skirt with her hand and wiped her mouth.
"Good to see you’re up Gloria. I thought we’d have to wait until one of the stewardesses dragged you out." Monet chided sarcastically, from beside her.
"Where’s Ms. Frost? We can’t leave without her and Mr. C can we?"
Paige hefted a large piece of baggage and leaned it on her armrest. She looked around nervously for their teachers.
"Ahh!!" Mr. Cassidy strode past all the groggy executives and stretched his arms. He stopped in front of his students.
"Ahh! ‘Tis so good to be so close ta the homeland. I can feel it callin’ me!" He grinned at all the gen. X’ers and out his arms cheerfully on his waist. Gloria leaned over to whisper to Jonothon.
"Is it me, or is he a very sad, strange little man?"
{I suppose he’s excited to be so close to Ireland… I guess.}
The two Frosts came strolling down the aisle, looking very relaxed. Emma pulled of her sun-glasses and smiled for once in a while.
"Children.. Mr. Cassidy will be going straight onto the next Aer Lingus flight to Ireland, so you can say goodbye to him now. That means Adrienne and I will be in charge of you for the next week."
Paige looked up at Mr. Cassidy and seemed sad.
"For how long Mr. C?"
"Ah, only a wee week dear. Get the good old Irish air in me lungs."
" * cough * Loser * cough *"
Jubilee and Gloria snickered. The gen. X’ers looked carefully round at one another. A week with just Frosty and Adrienne in charge? This would be a walk over.
"So kids. Emma suggested that we might want to just catch a taxi to our hotel, leave the bags there and then go round London. What do you think?"
Skin was too bust hastily puffing away on a cigarette to notice her. Jubilee, Gloria and Ev. were looking around the vast foyer of Heathrow Airport. Jonothon had ran straight to the nearest Virgin records and Monet was reading a book in W.H. Smith’s.
Paige was the only one listening.
"I think that’s a pretty good idea."
{KIDS!!} Emma used her telepathic powers to call all the absent pupils over. She pulled her bag over on her shoulder and started to lead the way out.
"So were gonna get a real black taxi, huh? Kewl."
"I want to go into the Soho district."
"I wanna go on the tube!!"
"I think the museum of the moving image comes highly recommended."
"Watch out London!! Here comes Generation X!!"
