Day Two: Revelations

[Rogue 4]

He didn't hear her enter his room. The woman was stealthy, he'd give her that. Quiet as a mouse. Not so much as the creak of the door to give her away.

He had been having a lovely dream. He was in Ireland, discovering his abilities for the first time. And he was feeling more alive than ever before. So full of energy, like he'd never been before...

And then the pillow had been ripped out from beneath him, and slammed against his face and chest. He jolted, opening his eyes to meet her yellow ones. "Wh--what? Mystique?"

"I've been trying to wake you for fifteen minutes." She told him, her blue form looming over him, clearly annoyed. "I'm losing patience. Get up. Get dressed."

He groaned, sitting up and looking over at the alarm clock tiredly. "It's only 7 am! You tryin to kill me?" He let himself fall back to the bed.

She whacked him again, and he fell off the bed. "Up! You have school!"

"The hell I do!"

She handed him the paperwork. "I registered you for classes this morning. You can thank me for the forged birth certificate and social security cards later."

He took them, eyes wide then looked up to her. "There's no way I'm going to that fecking school."

Mystique only smirked in response.

An hour later he was parking his bike in front of it. "I can't believe I'm going to this fecking school."

***

Natalie parked her truck in the lot, turning the keys in the ignition to off. She sighed, pulling down the mirror. She looked past the blond hair, to her eye. Shades of green and purple were begining to shine through the makeup she'd already applied there, so she covered it up with another coat.

Finally satisfied, she grabbed her bag from the seat beside her and walked towards the school.

[Drake 53]

Marcus caught up to Natalie in the parking lot. "Hey Nat! Wait up!" He had just flown from the Brotherhood house to school so he was a little out-of-breath.

***

The big and bulky X-Van pulled up in front of Greendale High. Peter had driven the kids today, as Scott and Jean were busy preparing for the visit with Mr. Mitchell, Chase and Danny Mitchell's father.

"See you after school, Pete!" said Hailey.

"Da," he replied. "You kids stay out of trouble, okay?"

She smiled sweetly at him. "Of course we won't, silly." She laughed and ran off to catch up to the others.

Peter put the vehicle into drive and started to pull out of the drop-off and bus loading zone. It was then that he spotted the man leaving his motorcycle. "Hmmm...." He pulled over and got out of the van, walking over to the other mutant. "So the rebellious and wild Fusion is finally forced to go to school. Come to burn the place down like you did the one in St. Petersberg?"

[Rogue 4]

Preparing for the meeting with Mr. Mitchell was the last thing on Jean's mind. She had been up all night, studying for a college course that she was taking online. Bard College in New York had gladly accepted her for the classes, and had given her a full scholarship based on her grades, and due to her father working at the school. The test had been at 7 this morning, and as soon as she had submitted her essays she walked back to her room and collapsed into her bed.

***

Natalie turned to her friend, and smiled uncertainly. She really hoped that she had covered her eye up enough. "Hey Mark! A little out of breath this morning?"

***

Neil looked over at the colossal being, letting a small smirk show. The man could taunt him all he wanted, but he was a goodie goodie through and through. And afraid to show his powers publically. At least...that's what he hoped. "Now that would be a right spectacle. Hadn't thought of it, outright, but now that you mention it a little redecorating might just be in order. Probably wouldn't be as fun as the one in St Petersberg though. You should have heard the screams."

[Mara 29]

Bright and early the next morning, the man had pulled his Volvo station wagon into the parking lot at Greendale High. He was looking forward to getting back in the swing of things. Teaching was one of his passions. He slightly swung his briefcase as he whistled his way tunelessly into the building.

* * * * * * *

Joseph scanned the passing houses through the bus window, as he waited for his next stop. He needed to switch to another bus in order to make it to the high school. Glancing at his watch once, he settled in. Quite enough time. Despite his late night studying, he had woken up fresh and ready to go.

A half an hour later, he had switched buses and arrived at his last stop. He got out of his seat and slung his backpack over his shoulders to walk the last few blocks to the school's entrance.

* * * * * * *

August sat alone in her kitchen, nibbling on a bagel, perched on a stool by the island. Taking another bite, she looked over at the digital clock on the microwave. She blinked. She looked again and jumped off her stool, with the bagel in her mouth.

She quickly scrambled for her book bag and purse, running out the door. Her mother had kept her up with party planning, ideas that August had barely paid attention to. Angry for being so late, wanting to get to school early as usual, she slammed on the gas and pealed out of her driveway, heading for the high school.

Moments later, she turned into the entrance and slowed down to find a space to park.

[Drake 53]

This morning was a little overcast so most of the students had gone directly inside the school. That meant there were very few people around. Peter grabbed Neil by the collar and dragged him a short distance around the corner of the school. He grabbed the other mutant by the collar and held him up against the wall.

"What might you be doing here in California?" Peter asked. "Let me guess...the Brotherhood has come to recruit, no?"

***

"Yeah, a bit," said Marcus, his breathing calming down now. "I had to fly here to make it on time, if you know what I mean."

He looked over at her face. "Something looks different about you. It's not the hair...hmm. Trying a different look with the makeup?" He laughed. "Which boy are you trying to impress?"

[Mara 29]

August got out of her car and hurried inside the school, not paying attention to anyone who might still be outside. She paused at her locker to switch out some books in her bag. Hoping to avoid her friends, she walked directly to her first class.

* * * * * * *

Making it to the school, Joseph jogged up the front steps. He wasn't afraid of a few sprinkles, but the sky was definitely looking like it was ready to storm and downpour any minute, and he didn't want to be caught in that.

Since he already had his physics book with him, he went directly to the classroom and slid into his seat, just minutes before the bell.

[Rogue 4]

Natalie blushed, deciding to run with that. "Hey, that's between me and my crush." She looked up at the sky for a moment before grabbing him by the arm. "Come on, let's get inside before it rains."

***

Neil placed his hands on top of Piotr's, letting energy flow to that specific part of his body in the form of heat, which would burn the other Mutant's hands. "What makes you think I give a feck about Mystique's Brotherhood? I work straight for Magneto---just like you did in your prime, Russian."

[Vergere 1]

Kelly got a ride to school that morning - even though it looked like it was going to be nasty weather, Lance took her on his motorcycle so that they could just be together that much longer in the morning. She kissed his cheek as he stopped in front of the school, and placed her helmet under her arm as she waved with her free hand, headed on into the school as Lance put his helmet back on, zooming out of the parking lot. He made a lot more noise than anything.

****

Brett ran up behind Kelly, having gotten there just a moment after her. He just gave her a small smile, both of them good enough friends they didn't have to say anything, and headed into class together.

****

Catalina ran into the school right after the bell rang, and winced as she heard it. After cursing softly in Spanish, she trudged down the hall to her locker, knowing she was going to be in trouble no matter how late it was that she came in.

[Drake 53]

Peter closed a large hand around Neil's neck and started to squeeze. "Then you know that I am accustomed to pain," he said, grimly. "I could render you unconsious right now with little more effort." Instead, he dropped Neil suddenly, letting him fall the metre and a bit to the ground below. "But I am only going to give you a warning." He started walking away and echoed his earlier comment to Hailey. "Stay out of trouble."

***

Marcus was curious with Natalie's comment. He was just joking about impressing a guy but he wasn't sure if she was too.

They got inside the school and made their way to their lockers to prepare for first period.

[Andy 60]

Danny and Chase arrived at school, with Chase hoping that their father would remember about the meeting at Xavier's school. Danny, however had been insisting all morning that he'd already found somewhere else to live, and it was really starting to irritate Chase. They got out of the car and went their separate ways; Danny headed to the toilets.

Once inside he splashed his face with cold water and looked in the mirror, "Get a grip Danny," he told himself. He wasn't sure why he and Chase were infuriating each other so much these days. In the past they'd been pretty close, but now at this new school it seemed they had found their own sets of friends and couldn't agree on anything.

The door opened behind him and a familiar voice spoke up, "well well, if it isn't London boy."

Danny turned round, "Nice to see you too, Trent."

"I suppose you thought you'd got away with that stunt you pulled the other day?"

"Well, I had thought about that possibility, yeah," Danny said nonchalantly.

"Your friends aren't here now. How's about we settle this one on one?"

"Wow," Danny mocked, "you sure you could handle those odds?"

"Let's see how smart you think you are when I'm done with you!"

Trent rushed at Danny and tackled him to the ground. Danny responded by kicking Trent off of him just enough so he could get to his feet, Trent was quite fast too, Danny guessed that's partly why he was the school's football team captain. Danny blocked a blow from Trent's fist, and hit back with his own which landed right on Trent's left cheek. Trent looked surprised, but not as surprised as he was when Danny kicked his legs out from under him then sent him flying into the stalls; destroying the wooden cubicals.

"Give up yet?" Danny asked before he turned to leave without waiting for a reply.

[Rogue 4]

Neil coughed for breath as his rear end hit the ground. He glared at the Russian as he left, anger growing inside of him.

He didn't like being bullied.

Especially by Piotr Rasputin..

"Tell your sister I say hello!" He yelled down the street after him.

***

Natalie grabbed her books. She and Marcus had the same first period class, Art. They walked, making it just in time.

[Mara 29]

Later, he ended up in one of the art classrooms. He knew the art introduction and appreciation class had a good share of freshmen in it, and he could find them easily. They were generally the ones looking scared and wide-eyed. He nodded to a couple latecomers before starting up the class.

He smiled and spoke up. "Hello. You may be wondering where Mrs. Jones is, but after some excitement earlier in the week, I am told that she went into early labor. But, both mother and baby are doing fine.

So I will be taking over for her classes for the next couple months until she returns.

I am Mr Reynolds. And you may call me Mr Reynolds. Or Mr R. Either are fine."

He turned to grab a piece of chalk to write his name on the board-- "Mr Reynolds."

"Dude, the guy's deaf..." a boy whispered from the back to his friend, pointing to the dark spots in the teacher's ears.

"Not quite so deaf, young man." Mr Reynolds turned around and smiled kindly. He cleared his throat. "Now, perhaps we can get started with... roll call? All right." He picked up a clipboard from the desk. "Ashley Adams..."

* * * * * * * * *

Joseph furiously took down notes as Mr Ralston lectured. He quickly copied down the diagram from the board.

* * * * * * * * *

August smiled to herself, happy that she had missed her friends, but trying to come up with something to tell them at lunch. Perhaps just the truth would work. She had been late to school.

She doodled in her notebook, trying to pay attention to Miss Wertz. Literature was so boring.

Edited May 13, 2008 by Mara

[Drake 53]

Hailey was bored out of her mind in Literature. She looked around at the people next to her. The boy on her right was playing his Nintendo DS under his desk. The girl on her left looked equally as bored as she was.

"August, right?" Hailey whispered. "I don't know about you but if I read any more Shakespeare, I'm going to go insane."

***

Marcus sat next to Natalie in Art class. They waved and said 'here' when the substitute teacher called their names.

Once the lesson started, Marcus took out his sketch book and started doodling various animals while listening. One was of a woman riding atop a horse. He nudged Natalie to show her and winked with a big smile.

[Rogue 4]

Neil walked into Art class a full five minutes late, walking straight past the teacher without so much as a number two pencil and taking the last seat in the class. That damn Piotr just had to confront him outside.

***

Natalie let out a small groan out at the picture and rolled her eyes. Then she saw Neil and sent a look to Marcus. She didn't know his friend went to the school.

[Mara 29]

August glanced over. "Uhh.. yeah." She normally didn't like to disrupt class, but since they were sitting in the back, she let herself answer the girl before turning her head back to her notebook. And her doodles.

* * * * * * *

Mr Reynolds glanced up from the chalkboard where he was speaking about the color wheel, hearing the door open. He turned around and smiled. "Thank you for joining us." He picked up his clipboard where he had checked the roll. "And you are.... Trevor or Neil?"

The principal had given him warning that he would be receiving a new student and knew exactly who he was and what to expect, but his face gave nothing away, waiting for the young man to answer.

* * * * * * *

Joseph had paired up with one of his few friends also interested in the higher sciences for a brief demonstration experiment during class. That was one thing he liked about Mr Ralston; he tried to apply most everything as interesting as possible. Instead of droning on like most teachers.

[Rogue 4]

"Whichever gets your attention off of me long enough for me to ignore your pre-school lesson on colors." Neil replied smartly.

[Drake 53]

Marcus looked back at Natalie and shrugged. He mouthed the words I don't know and glanced back at Neil.

He knew that Neil was older than him but he wasn't sure by how much. He seemed too old to be going to high school, though. Either Neil was exceptionally bored or he was forced to come against his will.

Mystique, thought Marcus. She probably made Neil come. But why? Probably to get him out of the house during the day.

***

Hailey rolled her eyes and turned back to stare blankly at her notebook. "Okaaay..." she muttered to herself. "Nice talkin' to ya."

[Mara 29]

He narrowed his eyes but kept smiling at the boy. "If you would like something more advanced, you can stop by fourth period. I'm sure we can fit you in."

Mr Reynolds turned back to the rest of the class, keeping one eye on Neil. "I must apologize if the first couple days may seem unimportant and easy, but these are the fundamentals we must all learn in order to understand and critique art completely. I hope you all understand that?"

He picked up his pointer and turned again to the color wheel.

* * * * * * * * *

August hadn't heard; listening to Miss Wertz with half of her brain and focusing on her drawing with the other half. She was sketching out a head and a body on the side of her notebook.

[Rogue 4]

"Whatever you say Subbie."Ne il put his arms behind his head, and kicked the seat of the kid in front of him to push them forward and give him more space to lounge out while he plotted vengence on Mystique.

***

Natalie sighed and passed a note to Marcus:

Why do I get the feeling this class isn't going to be fun anymore?

[Drake 53]

Marcus smirked and wrote back:

It'll be fun in a different way. Like...we can guess how long Neil makes it before getting suspended. Or spend our time filling a notebook full of his different nicknames for people.

The rest of the class went by fairly quickly and soon the bell rang. When they were back out in the hall, Marcus asked, "So how was your night, last night?"

[Rogue 4]

"Fine." Natalie hesistated on her response. "I just decided to stay in and watch some movies. Do some homework, you know the drill..."

[Vergere 1]

Brett accidentally bumped into Marcus and Natalie as he got pushed aside by a group of kids passing by. He immediately looked down and backed away some, murmuring a soft, "I'm sorry" before trying to get out of their way.

Kelly, however, saw both Brett and Natalie and headed over, books in hand. "Brett! Natalie!" She grinned as she walked up to them, and wrapped an arm around Brett's shoulders as she stood there. "So. You both have biology next, don't you? I just got out of there - the teacher's being a pain and having group projects going on. He also said we weren't special, he's doing projects for all his classes. Just as a heads up. I don't think he wants to teach yet." She winked. "Unfortunately, you don't get to choose your partners. He said it was something about getting to know our classmates."

She grinned at Marcus. "Heya."

[Drake 53]

"Hey," Marcus said back. He was hoping to have gotten the chance to finish his conversation with Natalie but it looked like it would have to wait now that her other friends were here. "Hey Nat, I'll catch you after second period."

He wandered back to his locker to get his books for World Geography.

[Vergere 1]

Kelly called out, "Hey, Marcus! You don't have to leave, mate..." She sighed and looked apologetically at Natalie. "I didn't mean to run him off...."

As Brett just kept his eyes downcast and tried to leave, Kelly's grip around his shoulders tightened so he couldn't. "And Natalie, I'm not sure you've ever met Brett here. Brett, Natalie. Natalie, Brett. You're both in biology together."

Brett looked up just enough to meet Nat's eyes for a moment, and raised his hand before looking elsewhere again. He whispered, "Kel, I need to go...."

"Brett, you need to meet people. Natalie's nice. Just pleeeease try to be more social. I beg you."

[Rogue 4]

Natalie smiled warmly at him. "It's okay. I promise I won't bite." Her eyes danced like a California wave. "At least as long as I'm not provoked. It's a pleasure to meet you Brett."