I probably should start this tale by telling you a little about myself.

 

My name is Elizabeth and by every accounting I am your average, above-average teenager.  Senior, good grades, probably a little small for my age (I’m barely breaking above 5 foot and a strong wind will knock me over.)  I’m guessing my brother got all the height in the family, cause he towers over us all.  Bit of a nerd I guess.  I like stupid stuff like comic books, movies, video games, fantasy books, chess...not really girl stuff I guess...maybe partly cause I don’t look real girly. Like, last year for Halloween I went as Arya Stark, and she passes as a boy!  Seriously..stick a pair of glasses on my and I’d look like a budding butch lesbo.  I’ve dated a couple of guys, but nothing serious, and not a whole lot of action...if you know what I mean. 1st base and little bit of 2nd...course there’s not a whole lot there...at least they’re pert.  Hoo-ray. .  I guess if I want to be perfectly honest here, I’m not a very sexual person.  Well I wasn’t, anyway.  Hmm,that came out wrong.  Nothing like recording your past to see how much you’ve changed.  Okay, wait up, I’m not saying I’m like this super-whore...I’ve just...ummm...open myself up a bit?  Discovered myself?    Man, hard to write about this without seeming slutty.  Whatever.  Judge for yourself.  I’ll do my best to record this as objectively I can, but I’m sure there’ll be bias creeping in.  To sum: small, plain nobody girl geek.  You wouldn’t give me a second look.

 

I’m a military brat so you’d think I’d be used to moving around every couple of years or so, but no, it sucks each time.  Actually sucks harder each time cause making friends when you’re 8 is lot easier than making friends when you’re 16.  So, yeah, I’m pretty shy.  

 

And here I am, starting at another school, about half-way into November, which really sucks.  

 

I’d just been getting used to (and really enjoying) San Diego, but now I’m up in Bumfuck, Washington near the naval base.  San Diego was nice.  Beach, warm, laid back.  I thought Washington would be kinda crunchy, but there’s still plenty of clique bullshit, I assure you.

 

MONDAY

 

So here I am, my first day of high school at yet another new school.  I’ve had 3 classes already and I haven’t gotten so much as a hello.  Easy to look me over I guess.  I get it.  I’m small.  Invisible.  Insignificant.  Of course, I wish I could have stayed invisible.

 

So, first day, haven’t really spoken to a soul.  Just slunk around school trying to find my way.  I’ll probably hit up the chess club, or the math club or something lame like that.

 

Anyway, lunch.  Brought my own in case the school food sucked.  You’d be surprised how much variance there is in school lunches...An empty table by the windows.  Perfect.  I can read and eat my lunch in peace.  It’s moody outside.  Dark clouds.  Storm brewing.  I like intense weather, something we didn’t have in SD.

 

So I’m minding my own business.  Deep into A Feast of Crows (poor Arya!) when suddenly this shrill voice cuts through the lunchroom:

 

“Who the fuck is this CUNT at my table?”

 

I’m shocked and I look around to see who is speaking, and whom she is speaking about.  Oh fuck me, it’s this ultra-preppy Heather and she’s looking right at me.  Naturally.  Fuck.  Fuck ME.

 

“I’m sorry?”  How the fuck do you answer a question like that?  And who uses the word “cunt”?

 

“Oh look,” it continued, “it’s this piece of trash.”  

 

By now her friends had gathered around to witness this lashing.  A vicious pack of Heathers.  The apparent 2nd in command picked up the beratement.

 

“Who the fuck told you, you could sit at OUR table?”

 

Again.  “I’m sorry...I didn’t know...I’ll leave.”

 

“You’re fucking right you’ll leave and if I find you sitting at our table again, I will beat the living fuck shit out of you!  Do I make myself clear?”

 

“Yes...I’m sorry.”  I was trying to gather my lunch, my books while these evil harpies glared around me.  One of them grabbed my Hostess Cup Cake.  I’d been hoarding them since I heard Hostess was going down.

 

“I’m taking this.  Table tax.  Beat it, bitch”  

 

“That’s fine...”

 

I scurried away from the table, desperately seeking someplace to hide, someplace to sit..I was aware of every eye in cafeteria staring at me, boring into me...fuck!  The room had gotten suspiciously quiet...I found an empty edge where a bunch of burn-outs gave me pitied glances before resuming their drug talk or whatever.  I tried re-assembing my lunch.  I tried to find my place in my book.  I tried holding it all together but I felt that sting of tears coming up.  Should I just run out?  Can I hold this in?  I felt myself breaking...I felt my shoulders starting to convulse and I knew tears...no sobs...were moments away.

 

And that’s when I met Emma.

 

Okay, this next part is a little confusing.  It was confusing for me at the time, and I’m still kinda of confused as I try to recall it, but here goes:  So this huge (sorry Emma) hand slides in front of my eyes whilst another arm wraps around my body and the back of my head is cradled by an enormous pair of breasts.  So, I guess I should have been freaked out, or alarmed or something, but at the same time this voice, this sweet loving voice speaks to me:

 

“Close your eyes, relax and think of a happy memory.  I have you.  You’re safe.”

 

Okay...what?  Seriously, I had no idea what to make of this.  I mean, I should be freaking out, right?  A stranger grabs me from behind, holds me and covers my eyes and starts talking to me, but for whatever reason...I did what she told me; it’s like I didn’t have a choice, my body just sort of did it’s own thing.   I was about to go from humiliation to ever-lasting humiliation, but I didn’t think about that...it was weird, I remember this moment of hesitation, but just a moment, and then my body started to do what she told me to.... I did relax...like there was no choice, no way to fight this; .I remember my body going limp into this soft cushiony body behind me that held me firm.  I did feel safe..and I did start to have a happy memory...I was thinking about my dog, Scout, when he was a puppy.  I smiled..it was so strange to go from this crushing despair to this place of joy...

 

Emma began sway.  And spoke to me softly while she held me.  She smelled like baby powder.

 

“What are you thinking about?”

 

“My dog.”

 

“Tell me about him.  Why does he make you happy?”

 

“Scout.  He’s enormous.  St. Bernard/German Sheperad/Wildebeast...a real mixed breed...but he’s so sweet...I’m thinking about this time when I was little...I would use him like a pillow...”

 

“He sounds wonderful.  Picture him in your mind and relax deeper for me.  Relax your whole body, I have you.  You’re safe with me.  I’m here for you.”

 

Okay, let me just say again, I should have been totally weirded out.  But...I wasn’t.  It was werid.  Part of me was trying to tell me that there was something wrong here, but rest of me just wanted to do what she was telling me to do.  I remember thinking that I should take her arm and move it off of my chest (and my tiny boobs!), but it didn’t want to move.  It just hung there by my side, not moving...and then I thought of Scout and I walking in the woods having adventures and I smiled again.  And Emma kept swaying me about in small little circles.  I remember the din of the cafeteria fading and Emma’s voice coming in...close to my ear and clear as a bell.

 

“You are relaxing so deeply now, and you are so happy, thinking of Scout, and listening to my voice, and feeling safe, feeling protected.  I’m going to count backwards from five to one and with each number you are going to feel more and more relaxed, your body is going to feel more and more heavy, your head feels heavy, your arms feel heavy, your eyes feel heavy, they are already so heavy now, if you tried to open them, they would not open, they will remain tightly closed, sealed shut...try to open them...”

 

I tried to open them.  She was right, I couldn’t.  I remember at this point, I had a realization of what was happening.  I was being hypnotized.  I remember feeling a pang of alert, this moment of concern, but also I remember that I just KNEW there was nothing I could do about it.  I remember thinking this very thought:  “I’m hypnotized.  And there’s nothing I can do about it.  I hope this turns out okay....”

 

And then she started the count and I reacted just as she told me too, and I knew I was beyond the point of any possible resistance.  That opportunity, if I had wanted to take it, was gone..

 

“Five....feeling more relaxed, feeling happy about being relaxed...and feeling sleepy...”

 

“Four...deeper down...imagine a thick anesthetic running through your body, making it feel heavy and leaden, and more tired...”

 

She was right.  I felt...thick...like novacaine spreading through me.  Again, I had these conflicting throughts that I should be worried, that I should be nervous, but at the same time I was feeling happy, the hell of this lunch room was fading and I was happy about that.

 

“Three...deeper....two...so tired....and....

 

<<snap>> “One.  Deep sleep.”  

 

She snapped her finger right in my ear and then things went blank.  I mean like black, suddenly there was nothing, not even her voice...until I heard...

 

“...and wide awake how are you feeling Liz?”

 

I took a moment to get oriented as I lifted my head off the table.  Emma was no longer holding me.  She was sitting next to me, with a gentle arm around my shoulders.  I finally got a look at this...this...I wasn’t sure what to think of her.  I wasn’t sure why she had done what she had done, and I wasn’t quite sure what she’d done to me.

 

So here’s Emma:  She is the big to my little. I mean this was a big girl.  Not fat, but just...big.  Like Brienne of Tarth. (Look it up, lazy.)  When she stood up, she loomed over you...Easy over 6’ and big all over.  Big hands, big breasts, thick legs, big ass...but lovely, beautiful..  Like a Nordic warrior mixed with an R. Crumb girl. . I could see her fighting side-by-side with Thor or some such.  And she had this wide, lovely face, just a welcoming face with big, soft grey eyes.  And her skin.  She was a few shades south of snow...pale, pale skin, like beached bones with just a hint of red below the surface.  She looked cold.  She looked almost ghostly.  But her touch...it was quite warm.   It didn’t help that she dressed in all white.   Tight white low-cut  jeans, with a white oxford shirt.  Atop that a white blazer.  And draped over her shoulders...a heavy white fur-lined...cape...wait...that’s not a sweater...it’s a cape!  Is this chick really wearing a cape?  

 

“‘I’m feeling...uhhh” How was I feeling?  I remember being on the verge of large sobby tears, but now...now I felt...better...happy even.

 

“I feel better actually....uhhh...thank you...that was...strange...but thank you.”

 

“You’re welcome.    I apologize for the Bitch Squad.  I’m told there’s one in every school.  I hope I didn’t take too many liberties, it just seamed like you were about to have a complete break-down, so I stepped in.”

 

“Yeah about that...what just happened?  Did you just hypnotize me?”

 

Emma smiled.

 

“Well...uh...kind....of.  Okay, yes actually.  I’ll explain.   I saw your reputation-destroying meltdown coming on, so I stepped in it’s path and filled your mind with something else.  When the mind gets confused like that, it’s easy to fill it with a suggestion, it’s something you can latch onto and  give it...structure..  Did I overstep?  I’m sorry.  That’s my nature.  I can’t help it.  I see a person in pain and I feel obliged to help.  Are you weirded out?  Please don’t be.  I honestly am only trying to help.  I’ve put a lot of people into  trance to help them...I seem to be good at it.  But I’m sorry if that was too weird as a stranger..  Wow, that was werid.  You have no idea who I am.  I’m actually a little surprised that worked.  Wow, I really overstepped.  Let’s back up.  Let’s try to meet each other like normals.  I’m Emma.”

 

She held out her hand.  It was strange.  We’d shared such an intimate moment and suddenly we were strangers again, meeting for the first time.  In the back of my mind, I longed for that intimacy.  But I shook her hand anyway.

 

“I’m Liz -- wait you knew my name.”  

 

“You told me ealier...while you were under.”

 

While I was under?  Shit, how long was I out?  The cafeteria was decidedly less full.  There was a table nearby, looking at us intently.  Also: “while I was under?”  What else happened “while I was under?”

 

“I like your look. You remind me of another Emma.”  I was thinking of Emma Frost, former White Queen to the Hell Fire club, and current X-Man.  Like I said, I’m a geek..

 

“It’s not Emma Frost is it?” she asked, as if she knew exactly what I was thinking.  Shit, maybe she is a telepath.

 

Okay, now I know what you’re thinking, dear reader.  You’re thinking: “Fan Fiction!”  Okay, but this isn’t.  I mean she’s not the REAL Emma Frost.  Or is she?  No...no she’s not, but she had this weird focus on Ms. Frost...there were certainly...similarities, but then huge variances as well.  But more about that later.

 

So I said to her: “Emma Frost, as in the White Queen, Hellfire Club?”

 

“Oh you’ve heard of me?”  She smiled.

 

“Explanation?”

 

“Fair enough.  What can I say, I read a lot of X-men when I was little.  My dad had this huge collection of comics and I just read them over and over...so I get to the Hellfire club stuff and I see this woman...and she looks just like me, and she’s got my name....except she’s an evil bitch.”

 

“Yeah, but to be fair she has come over to the other side...”

 

“I know, but this was before that...so I’m reading about this evil telepath, and I just started mulling in my head...what if I was a telepath?  What if I could read and control minds?  Is that what made her evil?  Give a person power if you really want to see who they are, right?  So I started thinking this way...okay, she’s Emma Frost of the Marvel Universe...I’m gonna be Emma Frost of THIS universe.  And that’s when I started wearing white and capes and stuff.  I learned how to sew started making costumes and stuff.  I made this myself..  I mean I’ve been doing this since I was seven.   And I haven’t quite outgrown it.”

 

She raised her cape.  “Obviously.”

 

I drank this in.  It was a real wondrous mix of super-geek and super-cool, cause, here was a girl, who just decided to become a superhero.  And she didn’t mind being strange, or out of place.  Really cool.  This is someone I must get to know.

 

“And the hypnosis thing?  Is that your super-powerl?”

 

She smiled wryly. 

 

“I suppose so.  It was the closest thing I could find to a real mutant ability.  I always saw those mind controllers like the Ringmaster, or the Mad Hatter or the Purple Man abusing their power, so again, I thought, let’s use this power for good.  Like what I did for you.  That’s me saving you.  Shit, now I’m really embarrassed.  I sound like an idiot.”

 

She turned away from me.  Now I could help her.  I put my hand on her arm.

 

“No, you’re not an idiot.  You did save me...seriously...that was really fucking brave to try and help a complete stranger damn the consequences.  That’s what heroes do.  They save strangers.  That took real guts and I’m really grateful you did...I was seriously about to lose my shit and you saved me....it’s cool Emma.  Seriously.  Thank you.  You were a hero.  I hope I can return the gesture someday”

 

She turned back and lit up.  She gave me a crushing hug.  Once again, buried in those breasts.  Like I said, not a lez, but damn girl!

 

“Thanks Liz.   Sometimes I...I overstep my bounds...I know...I’m just trying to do the right thing...hey, I should introduce you around?  That’s a more normal first day of school thing.”

 

“Sure.”

 

She took my hand and led me to the nearby table that had been watching us.  An assortment of 6 students, 4 girls, 2 boys.  Not an easily defined clique for sure.

 

“Make room.”

 

A small hole opened on the bench and she sat me down.  All eyes on me.  Warm smiles abound.  Knowing smiles.  They’d seen everything.

 

“Everyone, this is Liz...Liz this is everyone.”

 

“Don’t let those cunts get you down, Liz.” said a dark haired goth next to me.

 

“Man,” I said. “Everyone’s real comfortable with that word.  Where I came from it was like, the nuclear option of vulgarity.”

 

Before I had more opputunity to meet Emma’s friends, the bell sounded.  Everyone got up to head to class.  I got brief introductions and promptly forgot them.  I was still kinda loopy.

 

Emma turned to me before she left.

 

“Hey, what are you doing tonight?”

 

“Nothing, why?”

 

“Wanna come over and read comics or something?”

 

“Yeah...I’d like that...it’s really gonna cure this shitty day.”

 

“Okay.  I’ll call you.  I’ve got your number.  Later Liz.”

 

How did she get my number?  Oh yeah.  “While I was under.”  A chill ran up my spine recalling that this girl had non-consensually hypnotized me, and I was trying to decide whether I was cool with that or not.  To be perfectly honest, I actually thought it was kinda hot.  That disturbed me a little and I made a mental note to mull on this later.  I remember standing there watching her leave.  Her thick wintery cape flowing behind her.  I remember thinking to myself, “That is one strange chick.”  But I also remember thinking how incredibly cool she was.  How much she clearly didn’t give a fuck what other people thought about her.  And I remember thinking whether or not I wanted to get mixed up with someone like her.  And then I remember thinking, fuck it, why not?   So she’s weird.  I’m weird but without that confidence.  Fuck it, I’ve made a friend, maybe even a kindred spirit.  Let’s do this, I thought.  What’s the worst that could happen?  Well, I would soon find out, and with that, I began to embark on the strangest year of my life.