(REWRITING) The Skylar Experiment : Coveting

Prologue

May 2016, Oakwood

Lauren examined the paper on the table carefully, zoning out the chatter in the cafeteria. Emma watched her mindful friend while twirling a strand of copper hair around her finger. 

"Mhm," Lauren made a sound with her mouth. 

She held up the sheet, flying over the lines with a pen. After a moment, Lauren handed Emma her paper in a decisive gesture and leaned over. 

"It has gotten better. You're on the right path, but if I were you I'd start paying attention to sentence structure and verb tenses. Miss Dundy is going to become more sensitive to those in her corrections." 

She proceeded to show her the places that needed patching up and explaining why as more students streamed into the large room and the smell of food amplified. 

Emma slumped and shoved a forkful of mashed potatoes. 

"I hate Spanish." She looked at her essay due this afternoon. 

Lauren chuckled, her vibrant jade eyes crinkling at her friend's dismay. She was a tutor volunteer in her free time and that also included helping Emma with her Spanish. 

"It's easy for you to laugh, you just absorb knowledge," the redhead teased. "With your superpowers and all."

A quizzical eyebrow rose up Lauren's forehead. The girl entertained the belief she could do anything just because of her... particular abilities. She crossed her slender arms. 

"We have to study like everyone else." 

For a response, Emma stuck out her tongue and focused on her essay. Lauren got up from her seat and marched over to an empty microwave with her lunch, setting it for one minute. In her wait, she caught sight of her brother as he made his noticeable appearance through the doors, followed by Ben and Devin. 

Kids threw envious yet reserved glances at the strikingly beautiful trio of teenagers. It was as if they were oblivious to their own popularity but it didn't stop them from keeping a disdainful distance with everybody. 

Rumors never reached them. No one knew a single detail about their lives, what their parents looked like, who they dated...

Lauren sighed. She didn't like being associated to that but had no choice. Luc was her twin and the other two, close childhood friends. No, the term wasn't accurate enough. They were straight up family. 

The siblings stared at each other across the space as Lauren walked back to her spot with the hot food, Luc's disapproval clear in his face. He hated seeing his sister with what he called that weird, redheaded gnome, especially after she'd needed to reveal herself to her.

Luc had wanted to blow a fuse. After all the reasons not to trust humans, and all the warnings he'd put off... 

It's been a year ever since, but the mutants didn't grow entirely used to Emma being in the picture. Most preferred to steer away from her. Those ones didn't dare bother her lest upsetting Lauren, but others started to view it as an inevitable change in their way of interacting with people. 

Up until Emma, there had never been a human ally, and some were partial to the idea once the shock subsided. 

Luc subtly shook his head and stalked off to his table with Ben and Devin. Lauren sat down in front of Emma and ignored it, pushing aside a tinge of frustration. Emma was no threat to them. She thought it was safe to say after one year of unbroken trust.