Only a few of these characters belong to me. The rest belong to Marvel and such. Duh.

September 20th:

Well, here I am.

Aden stared at the blinking cursor. Tara told him to write an email as soon as he got there, but so much had happened over the past few days that he didn't know where or even how to begin. He looked around at his new home. His bedroom was dark, the curtains drawn against the setting sun. The balcony outside offered a spectacular view of the Mansions swimming pool. Two beds lay on opposite sides of the room, one messy and not made, and the other one occupied by Aden. His roommate, Leander was hanging out in the rec room with other students. Aden sighed. I need to move. He stood up and stretched. He sighed again. Maybe I should go out and meet people. I mean, I'm starting classes tomorrow. It wouldn't hurt to know someone before then. Leander had offered to introduce Aden to his friends, but Aden declined, making up some excuse that he had to phone his family. He had phoned them an hour before.

Aden made his way to the balcony and saw a group of students splashing in the water. Making sure none of them were aware of his presence, he activated his power and raised a small orb of water two inches above the surface. Double-checking that no one was looking, he 'threw' it at one cute guy who was levitating several feet over the heads of three identical blonde girls. As one, all three girls turned and looked at Aden, while the cute guy fell in the water in surprise. Oh shit. The girls laughed, and turned toward each other, obviously conversing telepathically. I need to remember that some of the kids here can read my mind. The cute guy resurfaced and started doing flips in the air in an attempt to impress the girls. Aden laughed, surprising himself. Maybe I should go down there. Those girls seem nice. His stomach growled, disagreeing. Aden shrugged, slipped into his flip-flops, and exited the room, locking the door behind him.

"Hey there!" Aden jumped, and turned. "Hi." He replied, checking out the Asian girl who stood before him. She was of average height, for an Asian girl, she wore strange gloves on her hands and wrists, though Aden couldn't help staring at her short chopped blue hair. "You like?" she said, noticing the direction of his eyes. "I dyed it last week. Oh, I'm Nori. You new?"

"Uh, yeah. I am. I'm Aden, by the way."

"Cool, you're rooming with Leander? Ooh, I feel bad for you. That guy has definitely got a hygiene disorder. So have you been assigned to a squad yet?"

"A squad?" asked Aden, hesitantly.

"Yeah, a squad. We have ten squads here, and each one is mentored by one of our teachers. I'm in the New Mutants, and our tutor is Miss Moonstar. Don't worry about it," she said after seeing the look of doubt on Aden's face. "I didn't get assigned to a squad officially for a week, but we kind of already knew what squad I was going to be put into, so it didn't matter." She saw that Aden still had a doubtful look on his face. "Oops, guess I didn't help much. I wouldn't worry about it too much." She smiled. "So what are you up to now?"

"I was just gonna get something to eat. My stomachs complaining." Aden said. Nori laughed, "Me too!" Nori led him down hallway to the big corridor, which connected all of the other hallways and students rooms. The corridor also led to the stairs, and down the stairs was the entrance hall. From there they made their way to the kitchen. Along the way they chatted, Nori mostly talking a lot about the school, and her squad. Aden learned that Nori absorbed electricity all the time. She wore the gauntlets so she could regulate it. When she absorbed enough electricity, she could release it in lightning, or use it for bursts of super speed.

"The reason that I'm talking so fast right now," she said quickly, "is that I absorbed too much energy earlier today. Dr. McCoy had to make some adjustments, so I didn't have anything to r-regulate it with." She laughed. "What about you?"

"Well, I can control water." That sounds lame.

"That's cool," said Nori. "Hey, we could team up! Water and lightning? Huh?" Aden laughed as they entered the kitchen.

Inside, Nori quickly made her way to the refrigerator and grabbed two sodas out of it. She tossed one to Aden, turned toward the pantry and yelped. Aden squinted at the pantry door. He could barely make out a shape, a human shape that was the same color of the door. He gasped as the shape changed color, and became a green, cute guy, with a few strange spikes on his head. He looks like an iguana. He's kind of hot. Aden was surprised at that. He never hated reptiles, but snakes and lizards always gave him the creeps. "Victor!" shouted Nori. "You know people always get scared when you do that!" She turned to Aden and said, "Victor can camouflage himself, you know, like lizards?" Aden nodded. That seems right. "He likes to do it and scare people." Nori added, sneering at Victor. Victor walked up to the pair and stuck out his hand to Aden.

"Hi, as Nori already told you, I'm Victor. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too. Oh, I'm Aden."

"Cool, " said Victor. He flashed a smile. His white teeth really stand out against his green skin. "Maybe I'll see you around?"

"Oh yeah, sure." Aden's eyes followed Victor out of the room, which Nori thankfully did not notice, as her eyes were plastered all over Victors ass. She sighed, then turned to Aden.

"He's so hot. And he's pretty nice too, except for when he's scaring everyone. Victor is the leader for the Alpha Squadron too." Nori sighed again. "Too bad he's gay."

Aden stepped back. Gay? Really? Wow. He rubbed his stomach and looked around. His eyes lingered on the refrigerator, and Nori was waist deep inside, digging around. She pulled out an old pizza box, and tossed it on the table. "Hope you like cold pizza, because that's all we've got that's eatable. One of the teachers usually send us out when they don't have breakfast. It didn't use to be like that when-." She caught herself. "Nevermind. Let's just eat up."

Nori and Aden chatted late into the evening, finishing the half box of cold cheese pizza. Nori mostly chatted about her squad, her powers, and herself. Aden did what he did best, and listened. They headed to bed around 11 o'clock, both acknowledging that they needed to wake up early. As they came to their separate doors, Nori turned to Aden.

"I've got a danger room session in the morning, but you didn't tell me what you're doing tomorrow. What is it?"

Aden glanced toward a window, and then back to Nori. "It's nothing, really. I just like to swim in the mornings."

Nori looked horrified. "You'd wake up that early just to swim? You're crazy." She laughed, and then sighed contently. "I really had fun tonight. Thanks." She smiled.

"No problem. It's strange, but I feel like I've known you forever." Aden said, returning the smile. Nori nodded. "Me too." They exchanged goodnights, and entered their rooms.

Leander wasn't back yet. His bed still remained messy, and empty. Aden stood out on the balcony once more, enjoying the cool night wind, and the sound of the pool. After a few minutes, he went inside. Smiling stupidly, he undressed and laid down in his bed. I'll leave the windows open tonight. The sound of water lapping and owls hooting were the last sounds he heard before he drifted off to sleep. I found a friend.

September 21:

Ahh.

Aden turned on the shower and winced at the cold water. He directed the water away from him and into the drain until it warmed up considerably. Even though he had just spent a half an hour in the pool, he hated smelling of chlorine, especially on his first day of school. Shoot. School. He was scheduled to meet with Ms. Manh, the teacher of the younger kids, and also the tutor of one of the squads. She was going to examine his abilities and assign him a squad. I'm nervous. He was more then nervous. He was nauseous. I should eat something solid, like toast. Toast sounds good. He had 30 minutes until he had to meet Ms. Manh in her office, so he headed down to the kitchen, which was one of the few places he could get to. Aden had a very bad sense of direction, but after a few wrong turns he caught the scent of bacon and followed it, eventually finding his way.

The kitchen was a mess. Dr. McCoy, a big blue furry teacher, was minding his own business frying bacon at the oven. However, behind the doctor sat mess of dishes, napkins, silverware, and unfinished food stacked high. Finished with his bacon, Dr. McCoy merrily placed the strips onto a plate with toast, jam, and two eggs sunny-side up. He turned and noticed Aden.

"Oh, hello Aden. Would you like to join me for breakfast?" He motioned toward a less messy part of the table. Aden sat down, picking his way through the debris. "Toast?" offered the doctor, and Aden gratefully accepted it. He spread some butter on it, and munched down happily. Dr. McCoy watched his first bite, then settled in to eat his own food. Aden was a little uncomfortable in the silence, but got the idea that the doctor liked to eat in silence. Dr. McCoy was one of the first teachers that Aden had met. Ms. Manh had picked up Aden from the airport the day before, and introduced him to a few teachers.

Finished with his toast, Aden stood and cleared his plate. He checked the clock on the wall. I've got 15 minutes. I better go now, just in case I get lost. He was about to say goodbye to Dr. McCoy, when several students ran in and quickly put together small and unhealthy breakfasts. Dr. McCoy laughed, and began clearing the table. Aden made a move to help him, but Dr. McCoy ushered him away. "Go on, I'll do it. You have a first nice day Aden. Don't you have somewhere to be?" Aden nodded and waved goodbye. He edged around a student haphazardly slapping butter on toast, and left the kitchen.

Thankfully, Ms. Manh's office was in the library, and that was an easy room to get to. Aden just followed the stairs up to the second floor, and went straight down the hallway, where a pair of doors led into the library. As he opened a door, a voice called from above. "Up here, Aden!" He looked up, and on the second story landing stood Ms. Manh, wearing khaki slacks, a white shirt, and a tweed vest. Aden located a turning stair case and climbed up. Ms. Manh was sitting at a desk behind a computer typing intently. She looked up as soon as Aden stepped forward tentatively.

"Aden. It's nice to see you in one piece after your first day." She smiled. Her face was angular, yet pretty, and her short black hair framed it poorly. "I'm going to test your abilities today, and find out if you're ready to be assigned to a squad. Don't worry, not everyone is ready for a squad." She looked over her notes, and the air was thick with expectation.

"Um, what would happen," asked Aden, "if I wasn't assigned to a squad?" I'll be ridiculed throughout the school as the 17 year old not in a squad.

"Well, you'll be put in mostly Lower School classes, and in six months we'd test you again." Ms. Manh said, not noticing Aden's fear.

That's about as far as I've gotten. I only put this up now because of my good friends urging. Please leave feedback and such. Thanks!