On Your Left

Posted on Tue Feb 4th, 2025 @ 10:42am by Drew Williams & Hayden Davis

3,017 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 5: Days of Fortune Past
Location: Athletic Track
Timeline: November 25th, 1990

Drew got up early to run on the athletic track, like he did every morning. It had been part of hims daily routine for a better part of his last few years since starting track and cross country in his Freshman year of high school. He enjoyed the solitude and running at a normal pace for leg muscle improvement. He only invoked his super speed once a week as a means to guage improvement.

Drew had discovered that the best way to improve his abilities was through normal training for muscle building and muscle memory, then increase his speed every morning over the course of a week. This morning was one of his slower days where he stayed under 150mph during his two hours training workout.

Drew was 90 minutes into his routine when a young woman came out to the track and, after a few minutes of stretching and warm up exercises, also took to the track. He was currently running at about 3 or 4 times the girls jogging speed. He pulled up along side the young woman on the outside and called out. "On your left."

After her warm-up, Hayden hit the track with a steady jog. She even kept pace when the call came from the guy already there that he was on her left. Hayden nodded briefly and continued her jog, moving to the right to let the other runner go by.

Drew wasn't even breaking a sweat as he rounded the girl at good pace already. Over the next few minutes he lapped Hayden several times. He stayed further to the outside of the track so she could run safely on the inner most ring. Each time he passed her though, he would call out on your left just to give her a heads up.

Hayden noticed that the new guy had lapped her quite a bit in the last few minutes. She gave up on clearing her mind as it was now occupied by the unusual circumstances. Hayden slowed to a brisk walk to help transition her body back to a resting state and reduce muscle soreness. When the new guy started to pass her, she called out, "Hey Speedy, where's the fire?"

Drew pulled up short as the young woman called out to him. He stopped about 50 meters passed Hayden and turned back. He looked at his watch before walking back to her. "No fire. Just my morning run." He gestured at the track as reached Hayden and fell in step for the cool down lap. "I do this every day. Helps with my muscles memory. I'm what you would call a speedster." He reached out across his chest with his right hand extended. "Drew Williams by the way. You are?"

Hayden shook his hand. "Hayden Davis. A speedster, huh." So long as they were sharing mutant powers, "I have a special connection with water. But I'm just beginning to tap my potential with it. I'd really like to schedule some extra Danger Room time for training, but I just haven't had the time yet."

Drew gestured in the direction of the mansion. "I was in the Danger Room a couple of days ago with Connor doing speed tests on a treadmill. It will be a nice place to train when winter finally gets here and the temperatures drop down into the single digits. I'm not a big fan of the cold."

"Oh it definitely will at that," she said. "I don't mind the cold or snow, though. Just put on layers and you'll be fine. And stay inside when it gets into the single digits. There's nothing like a cup of hot chocolate, a good book, and a roaring fireplace when it's eight degrees outside. So where did you live before you came here?"

Drew smiled at the mental image of Hayden sitting on a couch covered by a blanket, a book in one hand and a steaming cup of cocoa in the other with a roaring fire in one of the mansion's fireplaces. "Angela and I are from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Our dad is a scientist and research fellow at Harvard Medical working on the G-nome Mapping Project. I think that's how he must have met Doct...Professor Xavier. What about you? Where are you from and how did you come about being here at Professor Xavier's School?"

"Oh wow, that's pretty cool," she said. "For me, I'm from a suburb outside of Buffalo. I came here when my parents started looking for experts in what I was going through. A few after that, some people from the School showed up, talked to my parents and me, and invited me to come. We were all pretty happy about that. My parents have been pretty supportive through it all."

Drew nodded and gave Hayden a small smile. "You're very lucky then. My parents sent us, Angela and I, here to keep us safe. A reporter caught wind of a speedster in Cambridge after I saved her from getting hit by a car. He went up in the traffic helicopter and was able to catch me on camera running around at about a hundred miles an hour. He tracked me back to the house. Story broke that evening. We were on a bus here that night."

"Oh wow, that all happened so fast," she said. "I'm sorry. But yeah, my story seems to be the exception and not the rule. It's sad." Hayden didn't really want to dwell anymore on the sadness of it all, so she quickly changed the subject. "One hundred miles per hour! That's amazing. I bet you're going to get stuck making pizza runs into the City now," she said laughing. "Connor is going to love that."

"Actually I was on a light pace that day. Not sure how fast I can actually run. I never really tried to find out." Drew gestured to the wing of the mansion where the kitchen was located as they got to the steps. "I was going to go fuel up for the morning. Would you like to join me?" He had looked at Hayden when he asked the question, but turned to look at the mansion only a moment later.

"Sure. I could go for some toast and raspberry jam," said Hayden. "Bet you burn a lot of carbs and calories running that fast. How many times a day do you need to eat just to keep from passing out?"

Drew thought of the book he had read last year in Literature class. The Fellowship of the Ring stated that Hobbits generally ate multiple meals every day: breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and supper. "Put it this way. I have a shirt printed with the words 'Never Not Hungry' on it. I pretty much eat whenever I get a chance."

Hayden laughed as they walked up the steps and into the mansion's foyer. "Never Not Hungry...that's pretty good. Sounds good to be able to eat what you want when your want it and not put on a pound." She paused a second. "Kitchen's that way, c'mon.

Drew returned Hayden's laugh with one of his own. "I know, I scouted out the kitchen my first night here." He fell into step beside Hayden after entering the mansion. "So...what do the students do for fun around here? I'm guessing it's a bit different than than your typical boarding school and probably a lot different than public school."

Hayden shrugged as she made her way down the hall and towards the kitchen. "There's a basketball court that some people like to use. I've never been there, though. Basketball was never really something that piqued my interest. There's always the lake for swimming, which is my favorite. And I think sometimes they go into Salem Center and grab some pizza or ice cream or watch a movie or go shopping. Lots of stuff, now that I think about it."

Drew nodded as they walked into the kitchen. He looked into pantries, drawers and refrigerators and decided to fix his own breakfast. He put bread in the toaster and then there was a blur of motion as he gathered ingredients, utensils and cookware for his own breakfast. He was just turning the stove burners on when the toast popped out. A second later there was a plate with toast and a jar of raspberry jelly with a butter knife on the lid set before Hayden. "Bon appetit."

Hayden's hair blew in several different directions and then suddenly the toast and jam was sitting in front of her. "Well, how about that. Definitely going to be on the pizza runs." She spread the jam on two pieces of toast and let it set for a few seconds to melt with the warmth. "Thanks," she said. "That has to be the fastest breakfast I've ever seen made."

Drew smiled. "Yours was easy." He moved back to the stove where he had several pans going to make his breakfast. "Meat, eggs and potatoes still take time to cook." He looked over his shoulder at Hayden sitting at the prep island. "One thing I learned was being able to multitask while cooking. Especially with my appetite sometimes."

She nodded as she listened and took a bite of her toast and jam. "That they do," she said after swallowing her bite of food. "Too bad there's no mutant chef here that can cook things speedily and have them come out all proper and done."

Drew shrugged. He had not been at the school very long. He was in the process of cooking up his own breakfast. "I wouldn't mind cooking for the faculty and students sometimes. Just not sure I would want to do it on the regular."

"Oh, I didn't necessarily mean you," she said. "I meant someone with the mutant power to cook food fast. You know, speed up the cooking process itself. Somebody like that could have their own cooking show."

Drew chuckled as he started cooking his breakfast. He moved quickly back and forth as he cooked his breakfast. He glanced at Hayden. "Anything else that I can make you?"

"No, thank you," said Hayden. "I'm good with this. I've never been a fan of big breakfasts." She finished her first piece of toast and took a drink of water from the bottle she'd had with her on the track.

Drew noticed that the coffee pot was on and half full. He stepped over to the cabinet and pulled out a mug. He glanced at Hayden. "Coffee?"

"Oh, I'm more hot tea than coffee," she answered. "I'm honestly not sure if there's even any around here."

Drew checked the pantry and found a box of Earl Gray. He grabbed a tea bag from the box and set a kettle of water on the stove to boil. He checked his own food. "Would you like another slice or two of toast?"

She hadn't noticed what kind of tea he'd seemed to have found. "No thanks, this is enough." She was about halfway through her second piece when the kettle started whistling.

Drew's food finished cooking just as the kettle started to whistle. He turned off the burners and poured hot water into a tea cup on saucer and brought it over to where Hayden sat. He grinned as he remembered a recurring line from a television show he liked to watch. "Tea, Earl Grey, hot." He placed the cup and saucer before Hayden. He then plated his own food and joined her at the counter. "So what classes do you take here at the school? Just wondering if we will share any."

Hayden looked at Drew, quirky expression draped across her face. "Ohh," she said as she smelled the aroma wafting up from the cup. "Earl Grey...gotcha. Smells good. Though English Breakfast tea is better." She took a sip and thought about the question. "I attend a weekly lecture; the Professor gives some real good ones. Other than that, the book reports, research projects, you know, the normal stuff for here."

Drew gave Hayden a nod and thumbs up in regards to her preference in tea. "English Breakfast, gotcha." He switched tracks back to school. "I am not used to this form of education. It's a bit different, well quite a bit different than what I am used to."

"Yeah, it definitely takes some getting used to," she said. "But it's not bad. We spend so much time away from the mansion though, that it works really well. The Professor's had lots of time to perfect it " She took a couple more sips of her tea.

Drew wondered what Hayden meant when said the students spent a lot of time away. "What? Like field trips or something?"

Hayden paused mid-sip and then set the teacup down on the saucer. She looked at Drew dumbfounded, "You do know where you're at, don't you? Professor X's...the X-Men? Your dad the geneticist explained all that, right? I mean, sure, the younger mutants hang around the Mansion, but those of us who are X-Men go out when and where the Professor sends us."

Drew considered Hayden's words. He had been tested by Connor in the Danger Room, but not necessarily attributed it to the X-Men. "This facility is home to the X-Men?" He gave a thoughtful nod. "That...does explain a lot."

Hayden laughed a little as the thought was just hitting Drew. "Yup, it sure is. It makes everything else make sense now, huh?" She took that sip of her tea that she was planning on just a moment ago.

Drew had not really considered himself a superhero type, despite his extraordinary speed abilities. He, in fact, had done his best to keep them secret the last few years. Truth be told, he had thought his abilities were a way of earning scholarships for college. It was only recently, since using them to save his sister from being run down by a pickup truck, that he'd contemplated using his powers to help others. He glanced at Hayden. "Do you think the Professor will ask me to join the team?"

Hayden shrugged. "Who knows. I guess part of it depends on how you do with Connor in the Danger Room since he's the Team Leader. I'm sure there's other criteria that goes into it as well. Who knows the mind of the Professor." She took a drink of her tea this time rather than a sip as it was cooling off. "It can get pretty rough out there, though."

"How so?" Drew was a bit curious. If he was going to do this, he figured he should get an idea of what was likely to happen. It wasn't that he didn't want to help people, but he never really considered himself particularly brave either. He couldn't even bring himself to talk to girls that he liked.

"Well, we've fought Sentinels, Prime Sentinels, and Omega Sentinel," she began, "we were attacked by armored Hellfire Knights at the Club, gone up against the Inner Circle, and then nearly brought down their whole building. Or so it seemed. So, yeah, rough. But you never really know exactly how rough it's going to be. Best to be ready for anything. Is that a challenge you feel up to?"

Drew couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive from what Hayden told him. He finally nodded. "I will do what I have to in order to help the team. I just hope it’ll be enough." He sat and ate his food in silence for a few minutes, finishing up as Hayden took the last sip of her now cold tea. He glanced at her with a smile. "Want to see something neat?"

Hayden set her empty cup on the saucer and nodded. "Sure, why not."

Drew became a blur of movement the instance Hayden set her tea cup on the saucer. Less than two seconds later all the plates, cups, silverware and cookware were in the dishwasher and he was slowing down to normal speed to wipe down the counter top of the island where they had eaten breakfast. He looked at Hayden with a grin. "You think the Professor will put me on kitchen clean up from now on?"

"Whoa, that's cool," said Hayden. "I mean, if you volunteer this information, it's possible. But I can't think of anyone who wants to clean a kitchen on a regular basis."

Drew remembered reading in the orientation materials that all students had to put their names on a weekly maintenance checklist for upkeep in and around the Mansion. It's purpose, to teach the students about being responsible. "I am not saying it's something I would always want to do. But I don't mind doing my part around here."

Hayden nodded, "Yeah, I get it now. It's a good thing wanting to do your part and help out around here. I have a feeling that when spring and summer get here I'll be helping to keep the grounds watered. Sure there are sprinklers everywhere, but since I've figured out how to make water from the molecules in the air...the portable sprinkler system gets more responsibility." She laughed at that last bit.

Drew gave a chuckle as he took the hand towel and draped it over the towel bar mounted above the sink. He turned to Hayden and gave her a friendly smile. "Well, been a pleasure but I need to hit the shower and get dressed. Gotta catch the bus into town, hit the ATM and get to the Episcopal church near the town square by eleven. You have a good morning Hayden."

That was an interesting set of plans for the morning. But Hayden just brushed it off; there was always something interesting going on around the mansion. Hayden returned the friendly smile and added a wave. "Have fun and thanks for the toast and tea."

Drew gave Hayden a thumbs up as he headed out the door to get ready for church. "Anytime, food is one of my favorite things."

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