First Day
The levels of open hostility were astonishing. Suppressing the urge to scratch vigorously, Raina hiked her bag up higher on her shoulders and stared up at the huge building marked "Bayville High School." Shuddering, she climbed the steps and pushed open the front doors.
She was a rather striking girl, quick to stand out. Her hair was cropped short at her earlobes. Today, for the moment, it was a blue so bright it seemed to glow. With her emotions, it tended to change, and she had no control over it. Her eyes were the glittering color of newly-forged steel, and they were just as hard. She wasn't tall, but she wasn't short either. More, she was willowy and looked that if you put too much pressure on her, she'd snap in half. She had a tendency to favor shorts and tight shirts that allowed for freedom of movement without being uncomfortable. She had an easy smile and a face designed to accommodate them.
Terrified though she was about starting at a public school, she still managed to smile at everyone she passed. This, however, is what earned her the first problem of the day.
"Are you smiling at me, new girl?" asked a loud voice. She spun to find a boy she'd just passed glaring down at her. People were turning to look. "You think I look funny, huh?"
"Lance, leave her alone," demanded a girl off to the side in a weary voice.
"Smiling at me like I'm some kind of joke, is that it?" he seethed. Calmly, Raina let her eyes rove down to his hands, ready to grab hold of her, and back up to his eyes.
"Well, if you keep acting like a joke, then yes," she said softly. She backed up a step so as to be able to quirk a smirk at him. He grabbed hold of her shoulders and prepared to shake her.
"Think mutants are a joke, then, is that it? I'll show you a joke!" He clenched his fists and rolled up his eyes. The floor started to shake. Alarmed, Raina reached out to place a hand on his fist, to stop him, when she was grabbed from behind. Surprised, she accidentally released the bolt of lightning into the person who'd grabbed her.
"Ow!" shouted the same voice that had rebuked the boy. She turned to find a girl maybe a year younger than herself massaging her numb hand. Raina tumbled into the girl as the floor shook more violently. "Lance, knock it off!" The shaking subsided.
"I'm gonna teach you a lesson, girlie," he said in a menacing voice, advancing towards the tumble of arms and legs that was Raina and the girl. Raina managed to gain her feet and set herself for a side kick to his ribs.
He flew across the hall to smack into the opposite wall covered by a bank of lockers. The hallway full of students was now staring open-mouthed at her. Raina lowered her leg, bent to pull her bag back over her shoulder and walked off, no longer smiling.
She made it to her first class without further incident. Most of her classmates, however, had seen the display in the hall and were now avoiding her almost to a man. One, however, came over and leaned against the desk she'd chosen. She looked up and a smile crept onto her face again.
"Something for you?" she asked. He grinned. She couldn't help but widen her own smile in response.
"I'm Scott," he said, holding out his hand. Trying in vain to see his eyes through his dark red sunglasses, she took the offered hand.
"Raina," she replied.
"I saw what happened. Nice form. Do you take lessons?" Her eyes crinkled at the edges, showing the vague hint of Asia when she smiled widely.
"I sort of picked it up here and there."
"Have you ever fought in exhibition?" Immediately he regretted the question when her smile evaporated and she looked deeply offended.
"Exhibition is for those who practice arrogance and vanity in thinking they know martial arts. Competition is...it's wrong." Her face was strangely pale while she said this and her hair was slowly darkening to its normal glossy black. Scott stared at her and she wondered idly if he could tell her hair was changing. She felt it as a prickling in her scalp, like the fizz on a soda rising to the top. Her voice cleared and her small anger vanished. "I'm sorry. My grandfather's sentiments, drummed into me since I could understand them." She offered a quick smile. "He's a bit obsessed. Still, I have to admit; the ones you usually see in exhibition or competition are more flashy than skilled. If you can't win your...disagreement quickly, efficiently, and with the littlest possible movement, then you aren't any good." He nodded his silent agreement. He opened his mouth to reply when the bell rang, harsh and loud. As everyone took their seats and the rest of the class piled into the room, he turned around in his chair one over and one up.
"Hey, why don't you join me and my friends for lunch?" Surprised, yet touched, she nodded and beamed at him. She had just made her first friend.
That particular class was supposed to be an English class, but it turned out to be more a mixture of philosophy and debate. Raina occupied herself with her new school supplies. She loved blank notebooks and started using her multicolored pen collection to fill the first page with doodles so thick that there was barely any white paper left by the end of class. After her brief introduction at the very beginning of the class, boredom set it, adding subtle blue and violet highlights to her ebony hair, hard to see unless the light hit it just right. Luckily, she wasn't called upon in class. In fact, except for the occasional sideways glance and smile from Scott, she was essentially ignored, which suited her just fine.
After nearly an hour, the bell rang and Raina gratefully stowed her notebook in her bag and left the room with the tide of students. However, the current of movement was so strong that she was soon lost and confused as to where she was supposed to be.
"You look lost," remarked a casual voice with a hint of the Deep South. Raina turned to find a friendly face in the sea of indifferent humanity. Her eyes widened in surprise: the girl had thick chestnut hair that was cut straight across just above her shoulders save for a stripe of white on either side of her face; her eyes were somewhere between violet and sapphire blue; and she was moonlight pale. She was also covered in clothing from throat to toe, including gloves.
"Yes, I am, actually. I got turned around. I need to find Barton's geometry class." The other girl smiled.
"Here, go right at the hallway there, and it's the fourth door on the left of the hall. Hey, let me see if I can point you in the right way for any of your other classes." Raina obligingly showed the girl her schedule. "Let's see... hmm, chemistry with Lallman. Well that's easy; her class is just across the hall and another two doors down from Barton's. Jackson for history... I actually don't know where that class is. Umm, well, after that is lunch, which is easy. Just follow everyone else."
"Thank you, very much. I'm Raina."
"Call me Rogue. Hey, I'll tell you what. Join me and my friends at lunch and I'll see if somebody doesn't know how to get to some of your other classes." Raina's smile faded a little.
"Oh, well, that is... I already said I'd eat lunch with someone."
"Oh. Well, tomorrow, then." Rogue smiled again and walked down the hall away from the direction she'd instructed Raina to take. Raina watched her go, then smiled to herself and followed Rogue's directions. Again, it was a class she could have slept through with ease and still aced all the tests. Chemistry was the one she was looking forward to. She practically flew from the math room when class was over and she was the third to arrive in the chemistry class. With a silent groan, she noted that her two classmates were the boy she'd kicked and the girl who'd grabbed her.
"You!" the boy exclaimed. The girl put a hand on his arm and looked at Raina with sparkling gray eyes.
"Hi. I'm Kitty. This is Lance. Don't mind him. He's not used to being beat by a girl." Lance growled at her, but the teacher walked in then so he couldn't do much more. Dr. Lallman, it seemed, was a different woman than many of her colleagues. She took a great interest in whether or not her students understood the material. She was also very interested in Raina and spent nearly five minutes before class asking her questions to gauge her experience.
"Well...Raina, is it? Well, Raina, your education is superb. The material we are currently covering is very basic. Your experience with chemistry has covered subject matter that we won't be covering for months. You say you were home schooled?"
"All my life. My family used to move a lot, so my grandmother decided that me and my brothers should be home-schooled. She used to be a teacher in Surrey, in England, before she married my grandfather. He was the martial arts teacher for the prime minister of Japan for nearly fifty years. They both taught me as much as they knew."
"That is interesting. What about your parents? What did they do? Were the reason that you traveled so much?" Raina swallowed hard and shook her head.
"My parents... were killed in India, when I was six." Dr. Lallman brought one hand to her mouth in shock.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean..."
"It's all right. I... barely remember them." The bell ringing forestalled any further conversation.
"All right, people! Settle down! I'd like you all to meet our newest member of the class. Raina Wells." She turned to Raina again. "You said your grandfather was Japanese?"
"Uhm-hmm. My true name is Daichino Tokui. It translates directly to Pride of the Earth. However, my mother named me Raina, after her own grandmother." Dr. Lallman nodded to indicate that that was what she had wanted.
"Well, you can have your choice of any number of seats. You'll need a lab partner, though. There, sit back by Evan Daniels." A black boy near the windows waved obligingly. Raina took her bag back to the indicated seat and was greeted by three friendly smiles, through Evan and the pale boy sitting across from him were slightly wary. "Now, we finished our periodic tests last time, so let's see if they're ready for testing." Evan got up and went to a cabinet, coming back with a tray of wells filled with mixed chemicals. He handed Raina a pair of protective goggles and put one on himself. The lights were turned off and matches were passed out to the tables.
"I'm Kurt," said the pale boy across the table as the four of them leaned over the tray. "This is Max, my lab partner." Raina tilted her head to the side in acknowledgement, and then looked a little more sharply at Kurt.
"What part of Germany are you from?" she asked. He seemed a little taken aback by her question.
"How did you know?"
"We lived in Germany, Munich and on the coast."
"I was from a little town about sixty kilometers south of the coast." She nodded and turned her attention back to the tray, which Evan was carefully prodding with an unlit match.
"It won't react," she said softly. "Sulfur doesn't react to itself, unless you burn it." They all stared at her.
"How did you know this one was sulfur?"
"Smell, color. The next one will probably react. I can't identify the rest, but sulfur always reacts to water." She was uncomfortable under their stares and shifted in her seat. They seemed to get the message and turned back to the tray.
The rest of the class passed rather slowly, but it took the whole time to test the chemical trays with first an unburnt match, then a used one, and finally a burning one. The sulfur in their tray exploded when Evan prodded it with the match, spraying the table with a small sing of sulfuric ash and powder. But when the bell rang, Raina hung back a little.
"Dr. Lallman? Could you tell me how to get to Jackson's history class?"
"Of course. Go up the stairs at the end of the hall and turn right the first chance you get. The second room on the right."
"Thank you."
History was her least favorite subject and also the one she studied the most for, in hopes that she would do so well she wouldn't have to take it in college. However, as with her other classes, she had already passed the point in the lessons that the class was working on. She spent another class and the back side of the first paper doodling. When the bell rang, she was ready to go. As the rest of the class filed out, Jackson beckoned to her. "Raina, I noticed you weren't paying much attention during my lecture. You weren't taking any notes, either. That is unacceptable in my class."
"Mr. Jackson, I learned all this two years ago. I didn't mean any disrespect, but I know this material." He studied her with one eyebrow raised and finally smiled.
"All right. Just be sure to keep up with the homework, even if you do know it." She nodded and left. Just as Rogue had instructed her, she followed the crowds to the massive cafeteria. She stood in the doors, staring around. For some reason, her eyes wandered past the tables to the glass doors leading outside. She spotted an area near some trees where two tables had been pushed farther into shade. At one of them sat an assortment of boys and girls, all talking animatedly. The other held their books and bags and the overflow from the first table. She saw Scott talking to a pretty redhead at the first table and smiled wistfully.
"You know, it'd probably be more fun if you actually went over there instead of staying her." Raina jumped and smiled at Rogue. The other girl squinted at the table and its occupants. "And, as usual, Kitty forgot to save me a seat. Come on." Rogue led her through the caf, twining between tables with the ease of long practice. To Raina's immense surprise, malevolent glares and muttered curses were directed at Rogue, even outside. She distinctly caught the words "mutie," "freak," and "don't belong here." Rogue seemed peacefully oblivious and continued to smile in an amused sort of way. When they reached the table, several people looked up at the same time. Scott smiled.
"You made it! Good. Here, let me introduce you to everybody. This is Jean," – the redhead- "and I see you've met Rogue. So, this is Evan, Kurt, Kitty, Bobby," – a tousle-headed boy with blue eyes- "Ray," – a boy with blond and red hair- "Sam," –a blond boy with an easy smile- "Roberto," – an obviously Spanish boy with a flirtatious smile- "Amara," – a pretty girl with coffee skin and dark brown hair- "Rahne," – a small redhead with short hair- "and Jubilee," – a girl of obvious Asian descent. "Everybody, this is Raina." Smiles, nods, and waves were sent her way. Rogue put her tray down on the overflow table and cleared a space for Raina, who sat down without comment. There was a moment of awkward silence before the conversations started up again. Raina felt as if she was standing in the middle of a sports arena with all the different chatter that reached her ears.
"So Scott was telling us that you're a martial artist...?" The invitation to speak was obvious, but Raina only nodded. Roberto looked so disappointed that she smiled and proceeded to tell him all she'd learned. His eyes got wide. "Your grandfather was the prime minister's teacher?" he asked, incredulous. Most of the table's conversations had stopped by then, and all were listening avidly to her. During one of her short pauses to eat something, the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. Several people groaned and collected their things.
Raina stood and balled up her lunch bag. She tossed it into the nearest garbage can and turned back to pick up her bag. Roberto handed it to her. She smiled at him and he beamed in response. "Could you tell me how to get to the dance room?"
"You're in social dance?" he asked, sounding both surprised and pleased. "That's what I have next."
"Really? That's great. I don't so much know how to dance as I know how not to break the feet of the person I'm dancing with. My brother's a great dancer. I'm just a martial artist." They were walking back into the coolness of the building.
"I'm better at acrobatics and gymnastics than dancing," he said. She smiled sideways at him.
"Really? You're so tall for it, though. I thought gymnasts were supposed to be short." Her tone had become teasing.
"And I thought all high school girls were shallow and superficial," he shot back. "Not to mention... kind of same looking. I suppose stereotypes are wrong. I'm a tall gymnast and you're a pretty, smart, and dedicated high school girl." Embarrassment mixed with pleasure at the compliment colored her cheeks and painted red streaks in her hair that stood out sharply against the black. He stared. "Does your hair always do that?" She nodded.
"It changes to reflect my emotions and I can't control it very well. I hate it this short too, but the lightning kept making it stand on end, and with longer hair, that looked really odd."
"Lightning?"
"Yeah. Lightning. I always used to love storms when I was little. When I hit puberty, I sort of became one."
He stared. "You're a mutant?"
She frowned slightly. "Yes, I guess so." She sighed inwardly. This was how she'd managed to drive off boys and friends for the past few years. None of them wanted anything to do with a mutant. But something was different this time. Roberto was smiling.
"Wow! So what's your code name?"
"My what?"
"Your code name. The name you use when you're practicing."
"Raina..." she said slowly, utterly confused.
"Mine's Sunspot. I can gather solar energy and use it to run super fast or have super strength." Raina's eyes widened and it was her turn to stare at him. The bell rang again just then, causing them both to start. "Come on, we're going to be late."
The rest of the school day passed quickly, and most of it was a blur for Raina after the lunchtime revelation: Roberto was a mutant too! She had discovered that at least one of her new friends was in every one of her classes. She began to wonder. If they didn't have a problem with her or Roberto being mutants... were the rest of them mutants too? She had already surmised that Lance was a mutant with a very powerful gift.
She emerged from her last class (she shared this one with both Jean and Scott) with a growing sense of apprehension. She didn't want to go home- she never wanted to go home. She was dragging her feet as she walked down the hallway when Scott asked her something.
"Why so down? School's over for the day; it's time to go home!"
"I'd rather stay here all night than go home," she replied. "At least here, my brothers couldn't find me." Jean and Scott traded looks.
"Well...do you want to come over and hang out for a while then?" The change in Raina's countenance was astonishing. She stopped dead and her hair abruptly blinked from black and dull orange to a shimmering turquoise.
"Are you serious?" she asked softly, as if afraid to believe what she'd heard. Scott nodded, smiling. "I'd love to!"
"Great, it's settled then. Come on, Scott, the others are probably waiting for us." Jean led them out towards the parking lot where, indeed, all the others were clustered around two vehicles: a red sports car that looked like it would seat five or six, and a silver SUV that would hold a lot more. Everyone greeted Raina enthusiastically and started climbing into the cars. Raina was still outside with Roberto, Ray, and Jubilee when it happened.
The green convertible pulled up alongside the SUV. Three boys who looked like they were in college were seated in the front and back seats. The one in the back pulled himself onto the shelf at the back. All three were of a size to be intimidating, with muscles that looked to get a lot of regular workout.
"Where you think you're going, Raina?" asked the one on the back of the car.
All eyes were on a red-faced Raina, whose eyes were glittering angrily. Her hair had gone from the shimmering turquoise of happiness to dead white that represented anger.
"I'm going out with friends, James," she said calmly; only a slight tremor in her voice showed how angry she was.
"You got prior plans, girl. Get in," one of them demanded.
"No, you have prior plans. I have no part in them tonight." The three boys stared at her, and then they got out of the car and came around. They eyed the others menacingly.
"These your friends?"
"Talk like a human being and not like an ape, moron," she murmured. Only Roberto heard her. "Yes, these are my friends." Glaring, James reached for her arm.
"I'm sure they'll excuse you. Let's go." Raina took a step back, her anger cooling.
"Let's not and say we did. I'll be home eventually. You can wait."
"Come on, Rae," wheedled another of her brothers. "You've got a job to do." That gave Raina pause. Then she shook her head.
"It's my first day here. Do it yourself, or don't do it at all. I would recommend not at all. Now, if you'll excuse me?" Raina climbed into the SUV with the others and closed the door. As they drove away, her hair darkened to black again and she sighed. Looking at Jean, she shrugged. "Now you know why I'd rather live at school. My brothers. Charming, aren't they? I'm a convenient tool for them."
"How so?" Jean asked.
"They like to use my powers to make life easier for themselves." Jean abruptly slammed on the brakes and everyone was thrown forward against their seatbelts.
"Powers?" Jubilee asked carefully as Jean started driving again.
Raina nodded. "I'm much like a human thunderstorm."
"You can't stand up to them? Use your powers against them instead?"
"I swore to my grandmother before she died that I would use my powers to help my brothers. I take promises very seriously. But I've had enough. We moved here because we have enough money. But they still want more. And I've decided that it has to stop. They don't want the little things anymore. No longer can I use my powers for honest money. They want a new place where they can use me to rob others of their own rights." She sat, shame-faced, in the back, staring at her lap. "I can't do that. I won't do that."
They rode in silence for a few minutes more. Raina grew more and more on edge. The passed through a pair of gates and a huge mansion came into view. Raina gasped.
"You live here!?" she asked, stunned. Well, no wonder the police had laughed at her when she had said that someone was going to rob the Xavier Institute. No police help needed, her brothers would be way outmatched, even if she was going to help them. Ray laughed at her open-mouthed surprise.
"Yeah, it's a school for the gifted- mutants, like us."
"My brothers are so dead," she muttered with a small smirk. Roberto glanced at her.
"What was that?"
"This is the house my brothers decided they wanted to rob. I told the police, but they laughed at me. Now I understand why." They piled out of the SUV and went into the huge mansion. In the entrance room, they were met by a man in a wheelchair.
"Good afternoon, Raina," he said. She smiled and nodded her head at him.
"Good afternoon, sir."
"I'm Charles Xavier. I run this school." There was a long pause. "You are welcome to stay here if you like." Raina shook her head.
"No, thank you. I... I have other obligations."
"Ah yes. Your brothers. You do realize that if your brothers choose to continue with their plans to rob this estate, that I will have no choice but to have them arrested."
"Yes, well. If they choose to rob this house, they will deserve to be arrested. I've warned them already." Raina was struck by the oddness of the situation. She was speaking to this man as though she'd known him for years. She was also showing that she had already done all she could for her brothers, thereby fulfilling her promise, while still feeling uneasy that she hadn't done enough to dissuade them.
"Promises like that are difficult to break, Raina."
She decided she'd had enough of this topic. "If this is a school, what do you teach?" The answer came not from Xavier, but from his students.
"Control." –Jean
"Teamwork." –Scott
"Independence." –Roberto
"Tolerance." –Kitty
"Responsibility." –Kurt
"Family values." –Evan
"Friendship." –Rogue
Raina was quite impressed. They were all obviously very happy with who they were. She smiled wistfully again. "It sounds too good to be true. Family values... for my brothers it's to get every ounce of money they can through me. I don't remember the last time I went over to a friend's house." She paused self-consciously, and then continued. "I don't remember the last time I had a friend," she added softly.
Scott slung an arm over her shoulders. "Well now you've got more than you'll ever know what to do with."
"We'd really like for you to come and stay with us," added Jean. Rogue just looked hopeful.
Raina looked around at all the honest faces and smiled. "I really would like to, but..."
She was interrupted by an alarm. While all the others dashed off, Xavier wheeled over to Raina, still smiling.
"I don't think your brothers heeded your advice to them," he commented.
"My brothers are the cause of those alarms?" she asked. "Wow."
"Don't worry. My students won't hurt them. They may be out cold for a few hours, but no lasting damage will be done."
"Please, sir, I... I am a person of my word, but... if they won't take my help, then does that mean I've fulfilled my end of the promise?" Xavier looked at her- through her- for a minute before answering.
"You are indeed an honorable young woman. Your brothers, on the other hand, stopped wanting your 'help' long ago and instead only wanted your powers. The moment they stopped treating you as their sister and started treating you as their tool, they were beyond help. I believe you have done all you could and that your grandmother would agree."
Raina watched him with something akin to relief on her face. "Can you read all my thoughts, or can I keep some from you?"
"Keeping secrets from a telepath is not easy, but it can be done, especially if you keep those secrets from yourself. Why do you ask?"
"No reason, I was just wondering." She turned towards the door. "Would it be all right if I took care of this? I... it's something I need to do. For... personal reasons." Xavier only nodded. Raina left the house and proceeded to walk down the long driveway. She entered the 'woods' part of the grounds, calling for her brothers. "James! Mike! Ethan! Come on, I know you guys are out here somewhere!"
Someone grabbed her from behind, slapping a heavy hand over her mouth. "Shut up, idiot! You want to get us caught?" She was released. "I knew you'd come to your senses. The old bat was right to make you swear to help us. I never thought she'd do it." Just then, something clicked in her brain.
"I never told you what I had promised Grams," she said, her voice growing cold. "In fact, I never told you that I had promised her anything." She raised her eyebrows. "You made her make me promise, didn't you?" Her hair was slowly turning white again, and her silver eyes were turning hard. Deliberately, she called lightning to her hand, covering it like a glove. The sky above darkened. "You have used me for the last time. From now on, I'm an only child." And she tossed the lightning glove at them. It hit Mike square in the chest and he fainted. Next, she turned to James, who was waiting for her to throw another ball. She curled her hand into a fist and rose up onto her toes. Lashing out with her fist, she connected solidly with his own raised fist. However, so intent was he on her hands that he missed the foot she used to hook his ankle and trip him flat on his back. She planted her splayed fingers on his chest and shot him full of enough lightning to knock him out. Ethan had turned tail and ran while she was occupied with James. In the near distance, she heard a scream of fear. She trotted off, unhurried, to find the source.
Ethan was flat on the ground, pinned there by long, bony spikes. His eyes were wide and terrified. Raina placed her hand palm-down on his chest and shocked him unconscious. The others watched her warily, but she stood up and dusted off her hands.
"The other two are back there, in the trees," she said softly, almost regretfully. Jean, Scott, Rahne, and Sam went off to get them.
Xavier had wheeled himself out and was watching her. "Would you like to stay here?" he asked. After a moment's thought, Raina nodded.
"I always wanted friends," she said. "Friends to help me like you just did. I would love to stay here."
Sam came hurtling back to them. "There's no one in those trees," he said. "We've checked several parts of it, but there's no one there, and footprints leading towards the wall. "The car isn't there, either."
Raina's answer was instantaneous and violent. She began to spark. "Michael." She turned to Xavier. "I think," she said in a voice that all of them heard. "I think that we may need to help each other. Michael is dangerous."
"How so?" Roberto asked.
"He doesn't give up, and he has superhuman strength."
"Well, we've got a team. And as long as we have that, we'll be ready," Rogue said softly.
Looking straight at her, Raina said, "And I've always wanted friends.
The levels of open hostility were astonishing. Suppressing the urge to scratch vigorously, Raina hiked her bag up higher on her shoulders and stared up at the huge building marked "Bayville High School." Shuddering, she climbed the steps and pushed open the front doors.
She was a rather striking girl, quick to stand out. Her hair was cropped short at her earlobes. Today, for the moment, it was a blue so bright it seemed to glow. With her emotions, it tended to change, and she had no control over it. Her eyes were the glittering color of newly-forged steel, and they were just as hard. She wasn't tall, but she wasn't short either. More, she was willowy and looked that if you put too much pressure on her, she'd snap in half. She had a tendency to favor shorts and tight shirts that allowed for freedom of movement without being uncomfortable. She had an easy smile and a face designed to accommodate them.
Terrified though she was about starting at a public school, she still managed to smile at everyone she passed. This, however, is what earned her the first problem of the day.
"Are you smiling at me, new girl?" asked a loud voice. She spun to find a boy she'd just passed glaring down at her. People were turning to look. "You think I look funny, huh?"
"Lance, leave her alone," demanded a girl off to the side in a weary voice.
"Smiling at me like I'm some kind of joke, is that it?" he seethed. Calmly, Raina let her eyes rove down to his hands, ready to grab hold of her, and back up to his eyes.
"Well, if you keep acting like a joke, then yes," she said softly. She backed up a step so as to be able to quirk a smirk at him. He grabbed hold of her shoulders and prepared to shake her.
"Think mutants are a joke, then, is that it? I'll show you a joke!" He clenched his fists and rolled up his eyes. The floor started to shake. Alarmed, Raina reached out to place a hand on his fist, to stop him, when she was grabbed from behind. Surprised, she accidentally released the bolt of lightning into the person who'd grabbed her.
"Ow!" shouted the same voice that had rebuked the boy. She turned to find a girl maybe a year younger than herself massaging her numb hand. Raina tumbled into the girl as the floor shook more violently. "Lance, knock it off!" The shaking subsided.
"I'm gonna teach you a lesson, girlie," he said in a menacing voice, advancing towards the tumble of arms and legs that was Raina and the girl. Raina managed to gain her feet and set herself for a side kick to his ribs.
He flew across the hall to smack into the opposite wall covered by a bank of lockers. The hallway full of students was now staring open-mouthed at her. Raina lowered her leg, bent to pull her bag back over her shoulder and walked off, no longer smiling.
She made it to her first class without further incident. Most of her classmates, however, had seen the display in the hall and were now avoiding her almost to a man. One, however, came over and leaned against the desk she'd chosen. She looked up and a smile crept onto her face again.
"Something for you?" she asked. He grinned. She couldn't help but widen her own smile in response.
"I'm Scott," he said, holding out his hand. Trying in vain to see his eyes through his dark red sunglasses, she took the offered hand.
"Raina," she replied.
"I saw what happened. Nice form. Do you take lessons?" Her eyes crinkled at the edges, showing the vague hint of Asia when she smiled widely.
"I sort of picked it up here and there."
"Have you ever fought in exhibition?" Immediately he regretted the question when her smile evaporated and she looked deeply offended.
"Exhibition is for those who practice arrogance and vanity in thinking they know martial arts. Competition is...it's wrong." Her face was strangely pale while she said this and her hair was slowly darkening to its normal glossy black. Scott stared at her and she wondered idly if he could tell her hair was changing. She felt it as a prickling in her scalp, like the fizz on a soda rising to the top. Her voice cleared and her small anger vanished. "I'm sorry. My grandfather's sentiments, drummed into me since I could understand them." She offered a quick smile. "He's a bit obsessed. Still, I have to admit; the ones you usually see in exhibition or competition are more flashy than skilled. If you can't win your...disagreement quickly, efficiently, and with the littlest possible movement, then you aren't any good." He nodded his silent agreement. He opened his mouth to reply when the bell rang, harsh and loud. As everyone took their seats and the rest of the class piled into the room, he turned around in his chair one over and one up.
"Hey, why don't you join me and my friends for lunch?" Surprised, yet touched, she nodded and beamed at him. She had just made her first friend.
That particular class was supposed to be an English class, but it turned out to be more a mixture of philosophy and debate. Raina occupied herself with her new school supplies. She loved blank notebooks and started using her multicolored pen collection to fill the first page with doodles so thick that there was barely any white paper left by the end of class. After her brief introduction at the very beginning of the class, boredom set it, adding subtle blue and violet highlights to her ebony hair, hard to see unless the light hit it just right. Luckily, she wasn't called upon in class. In fact, except for the occasional sideways glance and smile from Scott, she was essentially ignored, which suited her just fine.
After nearly an hour, the bell rang and Raina gratefully stowed her notebook in her bag and left the room with the tide of students. However, the current of movement was so strong that she was soon lost and confused as to where she was supposed to be.
"You look lost," remarked a casual voice with a hint of the Deep South. Raina turned to find a friendly face in the sea of indifferent humanity. Her eyes widened in surprise: the girl had thick chestnut hair that was cut straight across just above her shoulders save for a stripe of white on either side of her face; her eyes were somewhere between violet and sapphire blue; and she was moonlight pale. She was also covered in clothing from throat to toe, including gloves.
"Yes, I am, actually. I got turned around. I need to find Barton's geometry class." The other girl smiled.
"Here, go right at the hallway there, and it's the fourth door on the left of the hall. Hey, let me see if I can point you in the right way for any of your other classes." Raina obligingly showed the girl her schedule. "Let's see... hmm, chemistry with Lallman. Well that's easy; her class is just across the hall and another two doors down from Barton's. Jackson for history... I actually don't know where that class is. Umm, well, after that is lunch, which is easy. Just follow everyone else."
"Thank you, very much. I'm Raina."
"Call me Rogue. Hey, I'll tell you what. Join me and my friends at lunch and I'll see if somebody doesn't know how to get to some of your other classes." Raina's smile faded a little.
"Oh, well, that is... I already said I'd eat lunch with someone."
"Oh. Well, tomorrow, then." Rogue smiled again and walked down the hall away from the direction she'd instructed Raina to take. Raina watched her go, then smiled to herself and followed Rogue's directions. Again, it was a class she could have slept through with ease and still aced all the tests. Chemistry was the one she was looking forward to. She practically flew from the math room when class was over and she was the third to arrive in the chemistry class. With a silent groan, she noted that her two classmates were the boy she'd kicked and the girl who'd grabbed her.
"You!" the boy exclaimed. The girl put a hand on his arm and looked at Raina with sparkling gray eyes.
"Hi. I'm Kitty. This is Lance. Don't mind him. He's not used to being beat by a girl." Lance growled at her, but the teacher walked in then so he couldn't do much more. Dr. Lallman, it seemed, was a different woman than many of her colleagues. She took a great interest in whether or not her students understood the material. She was also very interested in Raina and spent nearly five minutes before class asking her questions to gauge her experience.
"Well...Raina, is it? Well, Raina, your education is superb. The material we are currently covering is very basic. Your experience with chemistry has covered subject matter that we won't be covering for months. You say you were home schooled?"
"All my life. My family used to move a lot, so my grandmother decided that me and my brothers should be home-schooled. She used to be a teacher in Surrey, in England, before she married my grandfather. He was the martial arts teacher for the prime minister of Japan for nearly fifty years. They both taught me as much as they knew."
"That is interesting. What about your parents? What did they do? Were the reason that you traveled so much?" Raina swallowed hard and shook her head.
"My parents... were killed in India, when I was six." Dr. Lallman brought one hand to her mouth in shock.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean..."
"It's all right. I... barely remember them." The bell ringing forestalled any further conversation.
"All right, people! Settle down! I'd like you all to meet our newest member of the class. Raina Wells." She turned to Raina again. "You said your grandfather was Japanese?"
"Uhm-hmm. My true name is Daichino Tokui. It translates directly to Pride of the Earth. However, my mother named me Raina, after her own grandmother." Dr. Lallman nodded to indicate that that was what she had wanted.
"Well, you can have your choice of any number of seats. You'll need a lab partner, though. There, sit back by Evan Daniels." A black boy near the windows waved obligingly. Raina took her bag back to the indicated seat and was greeted by three friendly smiles, through Evan and the pale boy sitting across from him were slightly wary. "Now, we finished our periodic tests last time, so let's see if they're ready for testing." Evan got up and went to a cabinet, coming back with a tray of wells filled with mixed chemicals. He handed Raina a pair of protective goggles and put one on himself. The lights were turned off and matches were passed out to the tables.
"I'm Kurt," said the pale boy across the table as the four of them leaned over the tray. "This is Max, my lab partner." Raina tilted her head to the side in acknowledgement, and then looked a little more sharply at Kurt.
"What part of Germany are you from?" she asked. He seemed a little taken aback by her question.
"How did you know?"
"We lived in Germany, Munich and on the coast."
"I was from a little town about sixty kilometers south of the coast." She nodded and turned her attention back to the tray, which Evan was carefully prodding with an unlit match.
"It won't react," she said softly. "Sulfur doesn't react to itself, unless you burn it." They all stared at her.
"How did you know this one was sulfur?"
"Smell, color. The next one will probably react. I can't identify the rest, but sulfur always reacts to water." She was uncomfortable under their stares and shifted in her seat. They seemed to get the message and turned back to the tray.
The rest of the class passed rather slowly, but it took the whole time to test the chemical trays with first an unburnt match, then a used one, and finally a burning one. The sulfur in their tray exploded when Evan prodded it with the match, spraying the table with a small sing of sulfuric ash and powder. But when the bell rang, Raina hung back a little.
"Dr. Lallman? Could you tell me how to get to Jackson's history class?"
"Of course. Go up the stairs at the end of the hall and turn right the first chance you get. The second room on the right."
"Thank you."
History was her least favorite subject and also the one she studied the most for, in hopes that she would do so well she wouldn't have to take it in college. However, as with her other classes, she had already passed the point in the lessons that the class was working on. She spent another class and the back side of the first paper doodling. When the bell rang, she was ready to go. As the rest of the class filed out, Jackson beckoned to her. "Raina, I noticed you weren't paying much attention during my lecture. You weren't taking any notes, either. That is unacceptable in my class."
"Mr. Jackson, I learned all this two years ago. I didn't mean any disrespect, but I know this material." He studied her with one eyebrow raised and finally smiled.
"All right. Just be sure to keep up with the homework, even if you do know it." She nodded and left. Just as Rogue had instructed her, she followed the crowds to the massive cafeteria. She stood in the doors, staring around. For some reason, her eyes wandered past the tables to the glass doors leading outside. She spotted an area near some trees where two tables had been pushed farther into shade. At one of them sat an assortment of boys and girls, all talking animatedly. The other held their books and bags and the overflow from the first table. She saw Scott talking to a pretty redhead at the first table and smiled wistfully.
"You know, it'd probably be more fun if you actually went over there instead of staying her." Raina jumped and smiled at Rogue. The other girl squinted at the table and its occupants. "And, as usual, Kitty forgot to save me a seat. Come on." Rogue led her through the caf, twining between tables with the ease of long practice. To Raina's immense surprise, malevolent glares and muttered curses were directed at Rogue, even outside. She distinctly caught the words "mutie," "freak," and "don't belong here." Rogue seemed peacefully oblivious and continued to smile in an amused sort of way. When they reached the table, several people looked up at the same time. Scott smiled.
"You made it! Good. Here, let me introduce you to everybody. This is Jean," – the redhead- "and I see you've met Rogue. So, this is Evan, Kurt, Kitty, Bobby," – a tousle-headed boy with blue eyes- "Ray," – a boy with blond and red hair- "Sam," –a blond boy with an easy smile- "Roberto," – an obviously Spanish boy with a flirtatious smile- "Amara," – a pretty girl with coffee skin and dark brown hair- "Rahne," – a small redhead with short hair- "and Jubilee," – a girl of obvious Asian descent. "Everybody, this is Raina." Smiles, nods, and waves were sent her way. Rogue put her tray down on the overflow table and cleared a space for Raina, who sat down without comment. There was a moment of awkward silence before the conversations started up again. Raina felt as if she was standing in the middle of a sports arena with all the different chatter that reached her ears.
"So Scott was telling us that you're a martial artist...?" The invitation to speak was obvious, but Raina only nodded. Roberto looked so disappointed that she smiled and proceeded to tell him all she'd learned. His eyes got wide. "Your grandfather was the prime minister's teacher?" he asked, incredulous. Most of the table's conversations had stopped by then, and all were listening avidly to her. During one of her short pauses to eat something, the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. Several people groaned and collected their things.
Raina stood and balled up her lunch bag. She tossed it into the nearest garbage can and turned back to pick up her bag. Roberto handed it to her. She smiled at him and he beamed in response. "Could you tell me how to get to the dance room?"
"You're in social dance?" he asked, sounding both surprised and pleased. "That's what I have next."
"Really? That's great. I don't so much know how to dance as I know how not to break the feet of the person I'm dancing with. My brother's a great dancer. I'm just a martial artist." They were walking back into the coolness of the building.
"I'm better at acrobatics and gymnastics than dancing," he said. She smiled sideways at him.
"Really? You're so tall for it, though. I thought gymnasts were supposed to be short." Her tone had become teasing.
"And I thought all high school girls were shallow and superficial," he shot back. "Not to mention... kind of same looking. I suppose stereotypes are wrong. I'm a tall gymnast and you're a pretty, smart, and dedicated high school girl." Embarrassment mixed with pleasure at the compliment colored her cheeks and painted red streaks in her hair that stood out sharply against the black. He stared. "Does your hair always do that?" She nodded.
"It changes to reflect my emotions and I can't control it very well. I hate it this short too, but the lightning kept making it stand on end, and with longer hair, that looked really odd."
"Lightning?"
"Yeah. Lightning. I always used to love storms when I was little. When I hit puberty, I sort of became one."
He stared. "You're a mutant?"
She frowned slightly. "Yes, I guess so." She sighed inwardly. This was how she'd managed to drive off boys and friends for the past few years. None of them wanted anything to do with a mutant. But something was different this time. Roberto was smiling.
"Wow! So what's your code name?"
"My what?"
"Your code name. The name you use when you're practicing."
"Raina..." she said slowly, utterly confused.
"Mine's Sunspot. I can gather solar energy and use it to run super fast or have super strength." Raina's eyes widened and it was her turn to stare at him. The bell rang again just then, causing them both to start. "Come on, we're going to be late."
The rest of the school day passed quickly, and most of it was a blur for Raina after the lunchtime revelation: Roberto was a mutant too! She had discovered that at least one of her new friends was in every one of her classes. She began to wonder. If they didn't have a problem with her or Roberto being mutants... were the rest of them mutants too? She had already surmised that Lance was a mutant with a very powerful gift.
She emerged from her last class (she shared this one with both Jean and Scott) with a growing sense of apprehension. She didn't want to go home- she never wanted to go home. She was dragging her feet as she walked down the hallway when Scott asked her something.
"Why so down? School's over for the day; it's time to go home!"
"I'd rather stay here all night than go home," she replied. "At least here, my brothers couldn't find me." Jean and Scott traded looks.
"Well...do you want to come over and hang out for a while then?" The change in Raina's countenance was astonishing. She stopped dead and her hair abruptly blinked from black and dull orange to a shimmering turquoise.
"Are you serious?" she asked softly, as if afraid to believe what she'd heard. Scott nodded, smiling. "I'd love to!"
"Great, it's settled then. Come on, Scott, the others are probably waiting for us." Jean led them out towards the parking lot where, indeed, all the others were clustered around two vehicles: a red sports car that looked like it would seat five or six, and a silver SUV that would hold a lot more. Everyone greeted Raina enthusiastically and started climbing into the cars. Raina was still outside with Roberto, Ray, and Jubilee when it happened.
The green convertible pulled up alongside the SUV. Three boys who looked like they were in college were seated in the front and back seats. The one in the back pulled himself onto the shelf at the back. All three were of a size to be intimidating, with muscles that looked to get a lot of regular workout.
"Where you think you're going, Raina?" asked the one on the back of the car.
All eyes were on a red-faced Raina, whose eyes were glittering angrily. Her hair had gone from the shimmering turquoise of happiness to dead white that represented anger.
"I'm going out with friends, James," she said calmly; only a slight tremor in her voice showed how angry she was.
"You got prior plans, girl. Get in," one of them demanded.
"No, you have prior plans. I have no part in them tonight." The three boys stared at her, and then they got out of the car and came around. They eyed the others menacingly.
"These your friends?"
"Talk like a human being and not like an ape, moron," she murmured. Only Roberto heard her. "Yes, these are my friends." Glaring, James reached for her arm.
"I'm sure they'll excuse you. Let's go." Raina took a step back, her anger cooling.
"Let's not and say we did. I'll be home eventually. You can wait."
"Come on, Rae," wheedled another of her brothers. "You've got a job to do." That gave Raina pause. Then she shook her head.
"It's my first day here. Do it yourself, or don't do it at all. I would recommend not at all. Now, if you'll excuse me?" Raina climbed into the SUV with the others and closed the door. As they drove away, her hair darkened to black again and she sighed. Looking at Jean, she shrugged. "Now you know why I'd rather live at school. My brothers. Charming, aren't they? I'm a convenient tool for them."
"How so?" Jean asked.
"They like to use my powers to make life easier for themselves." Jean abruptly slammed on the brakes and everyone was thrown forward against their seatbelts.
"Powers?" Jubilee asked carefully as Jean started driving again.
Raina nodded. "I'm much like a human thunderstorm."
"You can't stand up to them? Use your powers against them instead?"
"I swore to my grandmother before she died that I would use my powers to help my brothers. I take promises very seriously. But I've had enough. We moved here because we have enough money. But they still want more. And I've decided that it has to stop. They don't want the little things anymore. No longer can I use my powers for honest money. They want a new place where they can use me to rob others of their own rights." She sat, shame-faced, in the back, staring at her lap. "I can't do that. I won't do that."
They rode in silence for a few minutes more. Raina grew more and more on edge. The passed through a pair of gates and a huge mansion came into view. Raina gasped.
"You live here!?" she asked, stunned. Well, no wonder the police had laughed at her when she had said that someone was going to rob the Xavier Institute. No police help needed, her brothers would be way outmatched, even if she was going to help them. Ray laughed at her open-mouthed surprise.
"Yeah, it's a school for the gifted- mutants, like us."
"My brothers are so dead," she muttered with a small smirk. Roberto glanced at her.
"What was that?"
"This is the house my brothers decided they wanted to rob. I told the police, but they laughed at me. Now I understand why." They piled out of the SUV and went into the huge mansion. In the entrance room, they were met by a man in a wheelchair.
"Good afternoon, Raina," he said. She smiled and nodded her head at him.
"Good afternoon, sir."
"I'm Charles Xavier. I run this school." There was a long pause. "You are welcome to stay here if you like." Raina shook her head.
"No, thank you. I... I have other obligations."
"Ah yes. Your brothers. You do realize that if your brothers choose to continue with their plans to rob this estate, that I will have no choice but to have them arrested."
"Yes, well. If they choose to rob this house, they will deserve to be arrested. I've warned them already." Raina was struck by the oddness of the situation. She was speaking to this man as though she'd known him for years. She was also showing that she had already done all she could for her brothers, thereby fulfilling her promise, while still feeling uneasy that she hadn't done enough to dissuade them.
"Promises like that are difficult to break, Raina."
She decided she'd had enough of this topic. "If this is a school, what do you teach?" The answer came not from Xavier, but from his students.
"Control." –Jean
"Teamwork." –Scott
"Independence." –Roberto
"Tolerance." –Kitty
"Responsibility." –Kurt
"Family values." –Evan
"Friendship." –Rogue
Raina was quite impressed. They were all obviously very happy with who they were. She smiled wistfully again. "It sounds too good to be true. Family values... for my brothers it's to get every ounce of money they can through me. I don't remember the last time I went over to a friend's house." She paused self-consciously, and then continued. "I don't remember the last time I had a friend," she added softly.
Scott slung an arm over her shoulders. "Well now you've got more than you'll ever know what to do with."
"We'd really like for you to come and stay with us," added Jean. Rogue just looked hopeful.
Raina looked around at all the honest faces and smiled. "I really would like to, but..."
She was interrupted by an alarm. While all the others dashed off, Xavier wheeled over to Raina, still smiling.
"I don't think your brothers heeded your advice to them," he commented.
"My brothers are the cause of those alarms?" she asked. "Wow."
"Don't worry. My students won't hurt them. They may be out cold for a few hours, but no lasting damage will be done."
"Please, sir, I... I am a person of my word, but... if they won't take my help, then does that mean I've fulfilled my end of the promise?" Xavier looked at her- through her- for a minute before answering.
"You are indeed an honorable young woman. Your brothers, on the other hand, stopped wanting your 'help' long ago and instead only wanted your powers. The moment they stopped treating you as their sister and started treating you as their tool, they were beyond help. I believe you have done all you could and that your grandmother would agree."
Raina watched him with something akin to relief on her face. "Can you read all my thoughts, or can I keep some from you?"
"Keeping secrets from a telepath is not easy, but it can be done, especially if you keep those secrets from yourself. Why do you ask?"
"No reason, I was just wondering." She turned towards the door. "Would it be all right if I took care of this? I... it's something I need to do. For... personal reasons." Xavier only nodded. Raina left the house and proceeded to walk down the long driveway. She entered the 'woods' part of the grounds, calling for her brothers. "James! Mike! Ethan! Come on, I know you guys are out here somewhere!"
Someone grabbed her from behind, slapping a heavy hand over her mouth. "Shut up, idiot! You want to get us caught?" She was released. "I knew you'd come to your senses. The old bat was right to make you swear to help us. I never thought she'd do it." Just then, something clicked in her brain.
"I never told you what I had promised Grams," she said, her voice growing cold. "In fact, I never told you that I had promised her anything." She raised her eyebrows. "You made her make me promise, didn't you?" Her hair was slowly turning white again, and her silver eyes were turning hard. Deliberately, she called lightning to her hand, covering it like a glove. The sky above darkened. "You have used me for the last time. From now on, I'm an only child." And she tossed the lightning glove at them. It hit Mike square in the chest and he fainted. Next, she turned to James, who was waiting for her to throw another ball. She curled her hand into a fist and rose up onto her toes. Lashing out with her fist, she connected solidly with his own raised fist. However, so intent was he on her hands that he missed the foot she used to hook his ankle and trip him flat on his back. She planted her splayed fingers on his chest and shot him full of enough lightning to knock him out. Ethan had turned tail and ran while she was occupied with James. In the near distance, she heard a scream of fear. She trotted off, unhurried, to find the source.
Ethan was flat on the ground, pinned there by long, bony spikes. His eyes were wide and terrified. Raina placed her hand palm-down on his chest and shocked him unconscious. The others watched her warily, but she stood up and dusted off her hands.
"The other two are back there, in the trees," she said softly, almost regretfully. Jean, Scott, Rahne, and Sam went off to get them.
Xavier had wheeled himself out and was watching her. "Would you like to stay here?" he asked. After a moment's thought, Raina nodded.
"I always wanted friends," she said. "Friends to help me like you just did. I would love to stay here."
Sam came hurtling back to them. "There's no one in those trees," he said. "We've checked several parts of it, but there's no one there, and footprints leading towards the wall. "The car isn't there, either."
Raina's answer was instantaneous and violent. She began to spark. "Michael." She turned to Xavier. "I think," she said in a voice that all of them heard. "I think that we may need to help each other. Michael is dangerous."
"How so?" Roberto asked.
"He doesn't give up, and he has superhuman strength."
"Well, we've got a team. And as long as we have that, we'll be ready," Rogue said softly.
Looking straight at her, Raina said, "And I've always wanted friends.