Day Two: Revelations

[Vergere 1]

Brett just nodded and attempted a faint smile. "Yeah... same." He looked pleadingly up at Kel, who just rolled her eyes and let him leave.

Kelly watched as he all but ran away, and Kelly turned and leaned up against a locker. "Well. Yeah. I feel bad for him. He just isn't that social." She shook her head sadly. "I keep trying to get him to meet people, but just doesn't work. Only way I know him is because he lives right next door..."

[Rogue 4]

Natalie nodded her understanding as she watched Mr. Johnson pass them. He was her biology teacher, taking her back to the present. An idea clicked in her head, and she smiled. "Well, I'll see what I can do about that. I'll explain later! Gotta run!"

She took off down the hall towards her teacher. "Mr Johnson! Wait!"

The teacher halted to a stop, turning to face her in surprise. "Natalie? If this is about the project today, I already made pairs. I want people to learn to work with people they don't normally associate with."

She nodded. "I know, Professor. I was just going to say...I know Brett Radcliffe is kind of aloof, and I was thinking about it and it might be easier to do the project with someone more receptive than say Gertie. So I wanted to volunteer."

"What's the catch Ms. Brook?"

She shrugged. "None, Mr. Johnson."

He sighed, but seemed to think about it. "Alright, get to class the bell's about to ring."

[Vergere 1]

Kelly just looked bewildered as Nat took off, and just shrugged. She'd hear about it soon enough, and she was going to be late for her own class if she didn't move fast.

*****

Brett took a seat in the very back of the classroom, a part of the classroom that tends to be bright, but something about him just made it seem darker than usual, and for the most part people avoided him. He kept his eyes downcast as he doodled on a piece of paper, actually a very talented artist, but as soon as anyone would come by he'd hide what he was doing.

[Drake 53]

The halls were busy so Kurt didn't risk teleporting to his next class. Instead, he walked there quickly. It felt like he had walked a kilometre or two, going from one end of the school to the other, but finally he arrived in his biology class. There were only a few empty seats left near the front so he sat down in one and waited for the class to begin.

[Rogue 4]

Natalie took a seat in the middle of the classroom, talking with some friends until the teacher came in.

"Alright class," Mr Johnson said, standing in front of them. "Here's you're assignment. You're going to get together in groups that I assign to you to work on a special project. Each group will pick an animal. Research it, and do a poster, report, and presentation that's due on Monday."

He began to rattle off the groups. "...Amber Sarah and Jackie. And Brett , Kurt and Natalie. You can all get started now and work through the class period. You will have tommorrow to work as well, but you will have to do work at home. Now everyone get together."

As the groups began to gather, Natalie picked up her stuff and walked over to Brett's table. "Looks like it's you and me and the new kid. Mind if I sit here?"

[Vergere 1]

Brett glanced up quickly as if suprised before looking back down and shuffling his papers around. His voice soft, "No, I don't mind."

[Drake 53]

Kurt went over to his other group members and sat down with them. "Uhh, hi."

[Rogue 4]

Natalie sat down beside Brett, Kurt taking the seat across from them. She extended a hand to him. "Hey, I'm Natalie. You're that new kid from Germany, right?"

[Vergere 1]

Brett simply raised his hand in greeting, and when he introduced himself his voice stayed that same softness it had been with Natalie. "Brett Radcliffe."

[Drake 53]

Kurt glanced down at Natalie's hand. If he shook it, she would feel his furry and three-fingered hand. By fortunate chance, he sneezed, bringing up both hands to catch it. He looked up and shrugged, raising his hands to show he wasn't going to shake Nat's.

"Kurt Wagner. Nice to meet you," he said. "Ya, I'm from Germany, though I've been living in New York for the past few years."

[DeltaRanger333 0]

Scott woke up traditionally late this morning, forgetting all about their meeting with Mr. Mitchell. He looked forward to another fun and exciting day at the Institute. "Hmmm, I wonder what there is to do today." He thought looking outside seeing it was overcast. "Uggh, ugly day out. Oh man! The meeting with Mr. Whatshisname is today!" Scott ran towards the door and began to head downstairs.

Arriving downstairs he found nobody. Scott started looking around and shortly after found Jean sleeping. "Wow, you must have been tired." he whispered "Up all night studying again i'm guessing?" Jean simply rolled over, nearly swatting him with her hand. "Woah, watch it there killer!" he exclaimed.

Edited May 13, 2008 by Rogue

[Rogue 4]

Jean smiled slowly, her eyes closing. "I had a test this morning..." She muttered, waking up slowly. "What time is it?"

***

"Pretty cool." Natalie said. "I never quite made it up that north." She looked to them both, then realized, "Wow, I'm the youngest person in this group huh? And the only girl? Man I'm outnumbered."

[Vergere 1]

Brett smiled just faintly, eyes flickering up to meet their gazes every once and a while. "I don't think that should be a problem."

[Drake 53]

Kurt chuckled. "The only girl. You know what that means? You'll end up being the one to take all the notes because girls naturally have neater writing!"

[Rogue 4]

"It's a learned trait." Natalie laughed, brushing her hair behind her ears before reaching into her bag for her notebook. "Well if I'm doing all the notetaking then one of you is doing all the typing."

[Drake 53]

"I guess I can do that," said Kurt. "So what animal are we going to do?"

[Ayingel 24]

Lila and the rest of the programming class sat in one of the study hall rooms. Not everyone had laptops, so that gave her the excuse to sit in back by the wall. I still don't think I caused that fire... Lila raised her hand. "Can I go to the bathroom?" The teacher nodded his head and she slipped out of the room. Approaching the lab, she eased up to the door. Peering inside, she didn't see anyone, so she opened the door and went in. The room looked much the same as it had the day after the fire when she looked through the window in the door. She looked over at the wall where the fire had started. This looks nothing like the electrical fires I've seen before... She was going to examine it a little further when she heard the door handle click. Lila ducked as Mr. Warren entered the room.

Edited May 13, 2008 by Ayingel

[Rogue 4]

Mr Warren sat down at the teacher's console, typing in her password before taking the computer and going remotely. All that paperwork she had made for Neil that morning, she had to file it into the correct systems. She scanned the birthcertificate, filing it in the system of a hospital in New York.

She would have to go to the Social Security office to take care of his social security card. That she wouldn't be able to do from here, not without them tracking her activity to this school.

Deleting the records of what she had done, Mr Warren stood up, taking the certificate from the scanner and leaving the room.

***

Neil was stuck in Literature class, which for someone like him wasn't a good prospect. He sat in his chair, scanning through the pages, looking at the odd pictures on some of the stories. Beyond that he couldn't make heads or tails of it.

He wasn't late for this one, not wanting to make a scene that would cause him to get called on.

[Vergere 1]

Brett just kept quiet, the corner he was in seeming to become ever darker and he almost seemed to blend into the surroundings, hoping not to be noticed.

*****

Catalina ran into class, books tumbling out of her arms right at Mr. Schaffer's feet. She already was beet red with embarassment for coming in late, and even redder for yet another mishap. "?Estoy tan apesadumbrado, Senor Schaffer! ?Alguien me empuj? traga afuera, y ca? mis libros, y soy atrasado ahora, y ahora he hecho esto, yo estoy tan apesadumbrado!" She caught her breath, and glanced up at him only to see him trying so hard to keep from laughing.

Catalina was thankful he was one of the cooler teachers. Regaining her senses, she tried again. "I'm very sorry, Mr. Schaffer. I-"

He cut her off. "It's alright, Catalina. Go take your seat."

She nodded quickly and tried to balance all her books again - a feat all in its own - and headed back to the empty seat in the class, next to Neil. She looked suprised to see him there, not realizing she didn't know everyone in this class, and gave him a faint, apologetic smile as she sat down, still so red.

[in translation: I am so sorry! Someone pushed me down outside, and I dropped my books, and now I am late, and now I have done this, I am so sorry!]

Edited May 13, 2008 by Tyche

[Rogue 4]

Neil gave her a sympathetic smile in return. He was way out of his comfort zone here, and he knew who he had to thank about that.

He wondered when Mystique had found out about the car.

***

"I don't know." Natalie shrugged, before looking over towards Brett. "What animal would you like to do?"

[Vergere 1]

Brett shrugged uncomfortably. "What about dolphins?"

****

Catalina took another deep breath as she tried to regain her composure, and got out her notebook to take notes.

[Mara 29]

He had really considered calling out the boy and sending him out to the principal's office or to see Mrs Lake the guidance counselor, but thought against it. Hopefully just ignoring him would settle him down, like it did for most bullies and misbehaving students.

Mr Reynolds continued on, reminding his students to make some sketches practicing various ways to shade and add dimension to items they'd drawn. Shuffling some papers, he prepared for his second period class, a mimic of the previous. He smiled, welcoming the students in.

* * * * * * * * * *

Joseph headed out of physics and made his way down the hall for his civics class. Despite his primary interests in all the sciences, civics and the workings of the U.S. government intrigued him. He was sure he would have a different perspective than many of the students in his class.

* * * * * * * * * *

Miss Wertz ended the class with, "And make sure you arrive on time to class tomorrow. In order to further apply to our reading of "The Epic of Gilgamesh," I want to show a few clips from the movie Star Wars. Hopefully seeing another version of the hero saga and journey, you'll better understand Gilgamesh. That's all." She smiled as the students packed up and filed out.

August groaned. If we're going to watch a movie, why can't it be good? She shoved her notebook in her bag and headed upstairs towards her next class -- trig with Mrs Doran. She groaned again.

[Rogue 4]

"Dolphins sounds right up my alley." Natalie smiled at Brett. "Somehow I didn't expect you to to come out with that animal though."

***

Unlike Catalina, Neil wasn't taking notes. He just sat there, surprisingly and uncharacteristically nervous.

[Vergere 1]

He shrugged, glancing between the two, shy and nervous. "Well... we watch them out back sometimes. Kelly and Lance drag me out of the house to watch them. They're pretty interesting..." Then he added hurriedly, "I mean if you'd rather do something else..."

***

Catalina glanced over at Neil. When the teacher wasn't looking, she reached a hand over to him, "Catalina Santiago. You new here?"

[Rogue 4]

"No no," Natalie shook her head. "I'd love to do dolphins. I think they're beautiful creatures."

***

"Yes I am." Neil looked over to her, taking her hand. "I'm Neil Travis."