It had been many years since Jayden had spent any time at all on the beach.  Years ago, in fact, not long after her step-father had come into their little family and before things had really turned bad with him.  It was one of her happiest memories and she'd wanted to go back to the beach ever since.  Between living in a town with no nearby beaches and being so poor that simply surviving the day to days of life, making a return just hadn't happened.  Life was better now with enough money to live comfortably and have a bit left over for whatever the hell she wanted.  Who cared if most of it was ill gotten?

A little research and Orchard Beach was the one she decided upon for the day as it was easy to get to and, apparently, quite popular. Smuggling a handful of beers in her backpack as well as some food and some sunscreen, she hopped on her recently acquired motorcycle and was on her way.  No, the motorcycle wasn't ill gotten although it was possible that the funds to procure it were.  Probable even.  Whatever.

The ride there was uneventful and she parked her bike nearby.  Still early in beach season, the beach itself wasn't too busy and that suited her just fine.  It was a beautiful day for it, mostly sunny and warm without being oppressively hot.  Finding an appropriate patch of sand, she spread out her beach blanket and stripped off her clothing until she was wearing nothing but a black bikini.  As always, the only visible sign of her being a mutant was her ever-present black cat claws.  Her plans for the day included music by way of a portable speaker, reading and maybe testing out her powers in water if she was feeling ambitious.  Aquatic shifts weren't something she'd had much opportunity to play with thus far.  Who said one couldn't go the the beach on their own and enjoy themselves?

Shard
The gaggle of giggling girls invaded the beach making their presence known with high pitched yelps and excited screams.

"What an awwww-some day!" one shouted as the others claimed their spaces. In an instant a large stretch of beach was occupied by four blankets, a cooler and a wagon full of beach essentials.

Allegra and her friend, Rayna, spread out on one of the towels. Some people joked that the two were almost interchangeable. Both had long blonde hair and were usually in an outward state of glee and perkiness. The two were close as sisters so they didn’t really mind the slight insult though Allegra, as always, worried about any kind of insult.

“So, you’re not going to get in trouble for ditching class?” Rayna asked her friend. It was Allegra’s third day in New York and she was thrilled that one of her BFFs had come to visit. The only downside was that Rayna had hitched a ride with Kristii and her friends. Kristii was actually a friend of Allegra’s deceased sister and Kristii had always looked down on Allegra. Actually Kristii looked down on everyone. She was a model. Having a job that entailed standing there and getting your picture taken basically made you superior to everyone else. At the very least, it made Kristii quite rich.  Allegra lived in a small mansion in Beverly Hills. Compared to Kristii's many homes, it was a doghouse.

This week Kristii had a shoot in NYC and Rayna asked if she could tag along. So she, Kristii and a few of the model’s friends hopped a private jet to New York. Allegra was thrilled her friend was here since she was so homesick. It was even worth dealing with Kristii and her snide comments.

“No, I won’t get in trouble,” Allegra answered as she slathered on the sunscreen. “My class schedule is really messed up so they’re working on getting it straight for me which means I get a day off. Thank god I won’t have to sit through Home Ec again.”

“Home Ec? Sounds like an easy A to me,” Rayna commented. Allegra just rolled her eyes.

As the two old friends got caught up, the other girls ran along the beach and set up the volleyball nets. Kristii and her friends couldn’t help but catch sight of Jayden and certainly couldn’t help but comment. Loudly.


“Oh my god. What’s that on her head? A sea urchin?”


“No, I think it’s some kind of hair..”


“The 80’s are calling and they want their hair back.”


“No they’re not. No one wants that hair.”


“No wonder she’s alone.”


“What’s with the black bikini? Come to the beach to get depressed much?”


“Oh my god! Look at her hands? What kind of sh*t is that?”


“Must be a creepy goth thing.”


“I think she’s trying to be a punk.”


“Same thing. If it walks like a freak....”


“C’mon guys. Leave her alone.”


“Rachel, would you like me to uninvite you. Then you'd have to walk back to California instead of flying in my private jet. Besides, the bitch brought all this on herself looking like that.”


“So true. Kristii! What kind of message is she sending out to the world?”


“Maybe she’s trying to say ‘I’m a mutie.’ I wouldn’t be surprised.”


"I bet she's a mutie and a serial killer."


“I just think you guys are being a little rude. Can't you just leave her alone?.”


“Not asking for your opinion, Rachel. Besides, she's ruining this perfect beach by being so hideous. And if she's ruining this perfect beach, then she's ruining my perfect day. That's uncalled for.”



The girls continued to laugh and make  insightful comments. Allegra shook her head. “I can’t take any more of this,” she said. She reached into the cooler pushing aside some ice, wine and beers and grabbed a bottle with pink liquid inside.

“What are you doing?” Rayna asked.

“I’m going to apologize,” Allegra answered and hopped off the blanket and walked over to Jayden.

Come on, girl. You’ve got to stop picking up strays,” Rayna laughed.  

Allegra didn’t listen. She also tried very hard to ignore Kristii and her friends' comments. Allegra was afraid she'd get made fun of too and maybe this wasn't the smartest thing to do. But she had already committed to this so she walked the few extra steps to Jayden's blanket.

“Hey, there. I just wanted to say I’m really sorry for how those girls are acting,” Allegra said. She wasn’t about to call them her friends. “Anyway, I brought a peace offering,”  She handed Jayden the bright pink bottle. “It’s a bottled Guava Mango Strawberry Kiwi Smoothie. It’s yum!”

The first thing to do was to apply sunscreen to herself because skin protection was important.  Sure, she could cover herself in hardy black scales of some sun-loving lizard or another, but didn't that kind of defeat the whole purpose of going to the beach?  Well, maybe not the whole purpose.  After all, plenty of lizards loved sun bathing just as much as humans, if not more.  But it did drastically reduce the chances of actually getting a tan.  Gods, what was wrong with her, actually thinking of tanning?  Her more hardcore punkier than though punk friends would be beside themselves with the indignity of it all.  Tanning was just about the opposite of punk!

It was part way through applying sunscreen that she became aware of the catty girls snickering and insulting her, bantering bank and forth with one another.  A sea urchin on her head?  Being accused of being a goth?  A freak?  A mutie serial killer?  Well, wasn't that just lovely and while she was thick skinned enough to take any insult that could be dished at her, it made her damned angry.  Who were these bleached blond bimbos anyway to be laying such judgement down upon her?  They'd probably never worked a day in their lives and didn't know the first thing about living in the real world, let alone living in the real world as a mutant!  


Maybe she could make one of them bleed?  What were the chances of being able to scratch one of their plastic little faces, get away with it and then back to her well deserved sun bathing?  Probably not good.  Still, it would be very very satisfying.  Probably worth it.  No, almost definitely worth it.

Jayden was just about to turn around and give them a very nasty verbal piece of her mind that may or may not also accompany a physical piece of her mind when one of the girls approached her and actually apologies.  Well now, wasn't that a surprise.  

"I really want to say something extremely rude and vulgar to your friends, but for the moment I'll refrain."  She smiled at the stranger.  Sure, the smile was a little strained but the other girl was making an effort so she would as well.  Today was a day of firsts, it seemed.  "Hey, I appreciate the offer.  I'll trade you a beer for one of those smoothie thingies, if you want.  Cold and everything."  Smoothies weren't exactly here thing, but it was a peace offering so the only polite thing to do was to accept and make an offer in kind.  Hopefully the friends would respect that.  If not, making them bleed still had its appeal.

"Woof! Woof!" Kristii shouted as Allegra went to apologize to Jayden. "You might want to bring a leash. And get your rabies shots."

"This should be good," another girl laughed as she pulled out her phone to film everything.

Allegra was thinking that this was a very bad idea. She didn't want to be made fun of and, honestly, Jayden was pretty freaky looking. She certainly wasn’t the kind of person Allegra would dare to be seen hanging out with. But Allegra couldn't stand people being bullied and this spiky head woman wasn't doing anything to anyone. She didn't deserve this.

"Sorry those girls are being such mutants," Allegra said. She didn't even think about the context of the word. It was an insult Allegra and her friends threw around without thinking. Allegra would never use the word 'gay' as an insult or utter the N word, but using 'mutant' as an slur was something she did without considering what she was really saying.

"Honestly, I don't really like them much," Allegra said. "Rayna's my friend and Rachel's actually pretty cool but the others are just mean. Thank you for not saying anything to them or smacking them in their plastic surgery faces. Anyway, I'm Allegra."

When Jayden offered the beer, Allegra took a seat next to her trying to ignore all the comments from Kristii and her friends. "Thanks," Allegra said. She really didn't like alcohol. Her mom was an alcoholic and that dampened any of the thrill that alcohol usually had on kids Allegra's age. Despite her dislike for alcohol, Allegra would drink whenever her friends were drinking because she did whatever her friends did.

Allegra took a tiny sip. She would be nursing the beer for as long as she could. “Yum,” Allegra said not very convincingly. “So, do you hang out here often. You don’t seem like a beach person. I mean, no offense. It just doesn’t seem like your vibe.” Allegra looked over to the motorcycle parked nearby. That was most definitely more of what she expected from someone like Jayden.

“I just moved to New York a couple days ago,” Allegra said. “I’m from California if you can believe that. I’ve visited NYC once but only the tourist spots. Statue of Liberty. Empire State Building. A couple Broadway shows. So what would you recommend for fun here? I haven’t really started exploring and I’m up for anything.”

Allegra then kind of wished she could take back those words. Allegra was afraid that her version of ‘up for anything’ was probably quite different than Jayden’s.

It took everything in her not to just go off on the catty little b*tches sending insults her way.  Oh, how satisfying would it be to scar their pretty, little, perfect faces.  She'd probably even see tears mingling with blood if she played her cards right.  If not for the one who had come to play peacemaker she would have and was actually quite impressed with her self control.  Self congratulation was definitely a thing.

Such mutants?  She raised an eyebrow and gave an inquiring look to the girl.  "You know I'm a mutant, right?"  It was, after all, kind of hard to miss.

"Well I think they could do with someone teaching them some manners.  They're going to get themselves hurt if they're not careful."  That someone wouldn't be her.  Unfortunately.  At least for the moment.  "I'm Jayden."

She recognized  the other girl's lack of enthusiasm at the offered beer that matched her own at the offered smoothie and couldn't help but laugh.  "I tell you what, how about we trade back and I won't take offense if you don't."  She offered a smile as well as the offending smoothie.  It was the gesture that counted anyway, right?

"The beach isn't my usual hangout," she agreed.  "My friends back home would all probably make fun of me for being here.  Its all bleached blondes and bimbos, you know?"  A pause to reconsider her words.  "Um, no offense.  Stereotypes, they kind of such, right?  Anyway, I have good memories from childhood going to the beach so I thought it'd be a good place to come and relax."

Something told her that her own idea of 'fun' might not match Allegra's idea.  "I've only been here a couple months myself.  As for fun, you don't seem the type to frequent punk shows and dive bars, which is pretty much my scent.  But there are lots of high end clubs and museums and stuff."  None of which she knew much of anything about aside from the fact that they existed and sometimes drunken club patrons made easy targets to rob.  No point in mentioning that, probably.

"You know I'm a mutant, right?"

"Oh," Allegra said. She hadn't even realized she used that phrase. It was so common and it rolled off her tongue so easily without even thinking about what it meant. She stared at Jayden's black cat claws. "I just thought that was a punk thing. Like body mutilation. That's a punk thing, right?"

Allegra then leaned over to Jayden and whispered in her ear. "I'm a mutant too. I'm here because I'm going to Xavier's. It's a mutant school."

Allegra looked back at the girls running along the beach. She hoped they didn't hear. "Just, please don't let any of them know, okay?" Allegra whispered to Jayden. "I don't want them to think I'm a freak."

Allegra was relieved when Jayden offered to trade back drinks. "I'm not a big drinker," Allegra said. "Mom's an alcoholic, so not that interested." She chugged the bottled smoothie. It tasted so good on a warm day like this one.

"My friends back home would all probably make fun of me for being here. Its all bleached blondes and bimbos, you know?"

Allegra frowned. She had been called a blonde bimbo more times than she could count and it hurt even if Jayden wasn't calling her that directly. "Yeah, stereotypes," Allegra muttered. "Your friends should really come out here instead of making fun of you for it. There's so many people who are just so into their image and they won't try anything they automatically consider beneath them. It's sad because they could really be missing out on a good time."

"No, I've never been to a punk show," Allegra admitted. "That's just like heavy metal but with spiky painted hair instead of long hair, right? I'm not much for museums but tonight we are going to a high end club. It's one of those invite only places. It's going to be so much fun. I could ask Kristii and maybe we could get you in too. But, um, that's not your thing, huh?"

The rest of the conversation was interrupted by Kristii's high pitched shrieky whine. "Okay. Enough is enough!" she screamed. "I go to the beach for beautiful scenery and this....girl.... I think it's a girl. She/it is ruining it with her ugliness. Rayna, be a dear and tell your friend to tell her ugly friend to get off my beach."

"Um....Allegra," Rayna said. "Please just have her leave, okay?"

Allegra wasn't surprised at this. It was typical Kristii. The girl went out of her way to be mean to people. Allegra just looked at Jayden with pleading eyes hoping she would just get up and not cause any trouble.

But why should Jayden have to? She was being nice and Kristii had always been one of the most awful people she knew. Allegra stood up and looked Kristii in the eyes. "It's not your beach and you can't treat people like that. I t-t-think y-y-you s-should....." Allegra struggled to get her words out. She couldn't believe she was standing up to Kristii like that. She was a model and uber popular. This was social suicide but Allegra felt she had to stand up to her no matter how scary it was.

"W-w-w-what?" Kristii said mocking Allegra's frightened tone. "You are so uninvited, bitch. Girls, pack up. We're going someplace a little less ghetto. And, Allegra, dear. I'll be sure to text you pictures of all the awesome things you'll be missing while you stay here talking to whatever the hell that thing is. Bye Bye!"

Allegra glanced over at Rayna who was doing her best not to make eye contact with her friend. Instead she just followed Kristii and others away from the beach.

Allegra flopped down back on the towel next to Jayden. "That's probably my whole social life down the drain," she said. "Hey, you don't think I could have one of those beers, do you? I think I need one right now."