From: "Emily Miller " Subject: Before: Normal [1/1] E.MILLER Date sent: Tue, 4 Nov 1997 19:11:04 -0600 ARCHIVE: Anywhere DISCLAIMER: Nobody belongs to me. They belong, mostly, to Chris Carter. CLASSIFICATION: S RATING: PG SUMMARY: Dana and Charles Scully are shocked by some of the people at their new school... one in particular. My New Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Rampart/8203/ Before: Normal [1/1] E.MILLER ____________________________________________________________________________ They were the only children in their family not off at college that year, and for some reason, Dana and Charles Scully stuck together. They both knew it was really strange, for them to eat lunch together and talk waiting for the bus, but neither cared anymore. It was better than being alone against SOME of the kids there. Dana would never admit it, but some of them scared her. She found herself shrinking away even from the eighth graders in the halls. And she 4 years older than most of them. Charles, on the other hand, always told her how he felt. It didn't bother him if other people laughed at him. Sometimes Dana wished SHE didn't care. She ran a hand over her hair, not liking the way it was cut. It was too short, although a couple of teachers had said something to her about it when she'd gotten to their classes the day before. As usual, the jerks that were the other students ignored her completely. "Dana, have you SEEN some of these kids?" Charles asked as he sat beside her at the small table they always used for lunch. She looked around. "Oh, wow, no! There's KIDS here?" She asked. He gave her a look that said 'very funny' and said," You know what I mean... there's a girl I keep seeing in the hall. She's about your height, maybe a little shorter, and she's only an ninth grader. But she has a MAJOR reputation. She's the weirdest person I've ever seen in my life!" "That's not unusual. This is like New York compared to SOME of the places we've lived." "You haven't seen her, Dana." "Maybe I have. Is she the one with the black hair? The little short one?" "No, that's a girl my age. I have chemistry with her. This one's got a different hair color every day of the week. I pass her in the halls when I'm going to Spanish." "I don't think I've seen her. What's her name?" "I don't know..." Charles admitted, then looked to the right suddenly. "That's her! Over there, with that black-haired girl you mentioned." "Whoa," Dana said. And she meant it. That person was EASILY the strangest of the strange. Her hair was purple, she had a nose ring (Yuck, Dana thought, then, that must have HURT to have out in!), and she was wearing the dumbest looking boots Dana had ever seen. Boots like Bill would wear when he and his friends went camping. The girl was yelling something at boy and tossing food at him. "Told you so," Charles muttered. They watched as the girl was stopped by a teacher, who pointed her to the door. The girl grabbed her backpack, stuck up her middle finger at the teacher's back, and left. "She's real mature," Dana commented sarcastically. Charles only nodded. And they sat in silence until the bell rang. ____________________________________________________________________________ It was later that day, really night. Dana was in her room, reading a book for English. "Dana?" Charles asked, knocking on her door. She jumped. "What?" She called. "I found out some more about that girl." Dana didn't REALLY care... but she really did, if she thought about it. "You can come in." He did, and sat on Missy's old bed. "When're you gonna take down her posters?" He asked before telling her anything. "Whenever I have some free time. Which I don't have very often." "What're you doing?" "Reading Billy Budd. At least some of the teachers here know good reading material." "Is it okay that I'm here." "Sure- Moby Dick's better, anyway... What did you find out about her?" "She's English, she just moved here a few years ago. She's interested in acting. She gets in trouble a lot, for talking back and stuff. She claims, according to Jess- that's the black-haired girl-, that she acts like she does because her parents 'treat her like shit.'" "Why would she say THAT?" "Well, they brought her here from England..." "She shouldn't complain about that. We've never stayed in one place for more than a couple of years in our lives." "I doubt she cares, Dana... and, just in the last couple of years, she's gotten younger siblings." "That IS horrible. You wouldn't know." "Yeah, but you're one, too." "I was talking about myself." He laughed. "That's all I could find out. I didn't think to ask her name." "Smart, Charlie." "Don't call me that." "Yeah, yeah..." "I'm going to do my homework." ____________________________________________________________________________ At about the same time the next day, they were doing homework together on the dining room table. "I found out her name," Charles said suddenly. "Whose?" Dana asked, without thinking. 'The weird girl's." "Oh, yeah... I decided last night I'm glad I'm not her, that I'm normal." "You're NOT normal." "NormalER." "Is that a word?" "Shut up, Charlie." "Don't call me that." "Okay, okay... what's her name?" "I can't tell you if I have to shut up." "Charles!" "Alright..." He paused. "Charles! Tell me her stupid name!" He shrugged. "Don't overheat, Dana, I'll tell you." He stopped again. "Charles Scully, WHAT IS HER NAME?" He crossed his arms. "What'll you give me?" "If you don't, I stop sitting with you at lunch." "And who'll you sit with?" "Other people... PLEASE, Charles!" "Okay, okay. Her name's Gillian Anderson." "GILLIAN? What kind of name is GILLIAN?" "I don't know. Maybe it's English."