Dear Paige,
Hey, it's me. You probably guessed that already from the envelope, but I was just double checking, is all. I haven't been having a good time as of late. I bet you saw the stuff on the news. I wasn't out in the action, but everyone knows pretty much what happened now. The newer kids were all in the mansion, and it almost exploded on us –
Dear Paige,
I'm writing this letter in the room I'm still sharing with Ray. We had to start sharing again because of the renovation. The Professor is adding a little more room to the house, is all. I thought he just wanted another sublevel for the basement, but it turns out I was wrong.
Scott, that's our leader, he says that he can't wait until the rooms are ready, but I think he's just anxious to get out of sharing a room with Kurt. He came in to session the other day pulling fur out of his hair. They haven't been talking either. I guess you don't know someone until you've shared a room with them. I thought I knew Ray, but that boy can really teach you new words. Don't tell mama.
Dear Melody,
How are you guys doing? I hope you're not giving everyone a hard time. You guys have to be nice to each other while I'm here in school, else Mama'll put you in a stew.
Dear Jay,
I haven't heard a lot about what's been going on with you. Paige says you have a new girlfriend, but won't let anyone meet her. Is she too old for you? A mutant? Cause it's okay, you know, if she is. I am.
Dear Paige,
I'm not sure how to write a letter to you. I can't seem to write a letter to any of the others though. I tried writing to Jay, but I didn't get far.
Dear Paige,
The Professor asked us a while ago to just go to our rooms and do something that relaxed us, and I ended up writing this letter to you. Trouble is I don't know what to say. Ray saw how many attempts I'd been making and told me I'd better just write a letter, whether I'd end up sending it or not, because our free hour is almost up.
The way I figure, I just need to say something in words, else I'll explode, so I'm going to continue as if I weren't going to actually send this to you. You can tell mama as you see fit, but if I try to censor anything else I'll just confuse myself.
I bet it's weird to see everything spelled right and all nice. Considering I had the worst grammar out of all of us at home. But being here I'm learning a lot. Don't tell anyone, but the only reason I can spell so good is because of Jamie. He's a kid at Xavier's too, a mutant, but he's only twelve. He reads a lot, though, so he knows how to spell and stuff. He came over to my room and helped me out once, and he didn't tell anyone neither. It would be kind of embarrassing to admit to everyone you get spelling and grammar lessons from a 7th grader.
I thought I'd get teased when Jean walked in on our lesson, but she just smiled. She's a mind-reader you know. She just said something about Jamie helping everyone. I think Jamie's helped her with some stuff before too. I don't know though. Jean's real pretty. Not like you, Paige. You're the prettiest sister a guy could ask for. (Don't tell the others.) Jean has red hair, and she's real tall. Not as tall as me, but she's up there, for a girl.
I just can't believe that the Professor could just take all these people from all these different backgrounds and bring them together. I thought I'd be the hick of the bunch, and I'd get made fun of, but it's just not true. The fact that we're all mutants helps out a bunch. Jean's real popular, and Scott is kinda a loner at school, but him and Jean are kind of going out.
Jubilee is from California. You think that's out of the way to recruit students for a school in New York? Nope. Jean told me Scott was from Alaska, and Kurt is from Germany. Rahne came from Scotland, and Roberto came from Brazil. But we all get along. I get along real well with Jubilee and Rahne. Rahne doesn't talk very much, but you always said I could talk enough for two, right Paige?
But now Rahne and Jubilee are gone. Their parents pulled them out of school when the mutants were exposed. And it's lonely. A guy can only spend so much time with Bobby Drake before you want to throttle him. The Professor said he hoped they'd be able to come back, but he wasn't sure, and it was up to their parents.
I have a lot of free time now. I might write more of these letters that I might not send to you. It feels less lonely. I wish I could make a double of myself, like Jamie can, so I'd have someone to talk to. Rahne would always talk to me.
Sorry to burden you with my troubles, Paige, but like I said, it's easier for me to write if I tell myself I don't have to send it to you. And I don't think I will. Yet.
All my love,
Sam
Dear Paige,
Sorry I didn't send your last letter. I didn't forget to write, I just wrote a bunch of sad stuff that I didn't think you should worry about.
Dear Paige,
How are you? Is mama all right? Is Jay still quiet as the dead? Is he happy? I'm not too happy these days.
Dear Paige,
I hope this letter finds you well. I hope I'll get a nice long reply, not like last time. I wish I could talk to you in person. You always know how to make me feel better.
Dear Sam,
How are you? Mama sends her love, and of course, everyone else. Melody says she hopes you drop dead, Jay wasn't available to say anything, Lizzie was trying to find him, and Jeb asks after you. There's a lot of work to do, as usual, and I've taken it upon myself to fill your spot, but Jeb has to help me with the heavy things. I haven't heard from you in a while, though, so I thought I'd write. I wish Mama would just get a phone. It would be so much better than letters and word of mouth. It's really ridiculous sometimes. What if there were an emergency?
Well, I'm sorry to cut this short, but I haven't been feeling well as of late; I get blisters on my hands, and I need to keep them bandaged up to keep the skin from just peeling off. Write me back, or else I'll make Lizzie write next time, and you know I will, mister.
Love always,
Paige
Dear Paige,
I got your letter, and I'm sorry for not writing. I just don't know how to say it. The Professor asked about you the other day, and I'm supposed to ask you to try peeling off the skin from your blisters, and it might help. New skin or something. Jamie thinks you're kind of cute, Paige, but be warned, he's only twelve.
Don't work yourself too hard, Paige, you need to be able to live until I come to visit. Then I can lift the heavy things for you. You try too hard, Paige, and you're not as strong as you think you are. Easy!
Give mama my love, and I hope to hear from you soon.
Ever fearful of Elizabeth Guthrie,
Sam
Dear Sam,
I think something's wrong with me. I don't know if I'll send you this letter. I'm scared, Sam. I pulled the skin off the blisters, and the skin came off up to my elbow. I'm all right, but I don't know who I should tell. Am I a mutant? A bug mutant who can shed skin, or a invulnerable mutant who can't feel pain?
I remember when you first realized you were a mutant. You were scared too, weren't you Sam? You jumped from the roof of the barn to the house, landed short, but busted a hole in the wall. You and Jay had to hammer boards in, and you didn't have an allowance for a month.
Will I have to leave home like you did, Sam? Am I going to have to share a room with you like when we were little? I don't like feeling this way, Sam. Help me feel better.
Dear Paige,
Roberto saw your picture and wolf whistled at it. I punched him in the nose. I'm sitting in my room now, while the professor talks to Roberto, and he's gonna call me in after him. I didn't mean to punch him. I really didn't. Don't tell mama.
Dear Sam,
Mama says that I have to write you a real letter, so I've enclosed my previous attempt, as well as this letter, and I hope that you can talk your professor into flying me there with you. Jay said that his shoulders have been hurting, and if that means he's a mutant, he wants a room with a view, and he wants to bring his mysterious girlfriend with him. Mama was scandalized.
I have been wearing gloves, to keep myself from peeling the skin, but I went to itch my eye and some more skin came off my face, So mama is lathering some chamomile on me, to keep me from doing harm to myself.
Sam, if I really am a mutant, I'm glad that you were a mutant first, to light the path for me, just like you always have. If at all possible, could I room with the girl from Mississippi? Rogue? She sounds really interesting, and I'd like to get to know her.
All my love,
Paige
Dear Paige,
I'm not going to send you this letter. I'm going to give it to you in person. I've uncrinkled all the other letters that I was writing earlier this week, and attached them too. It's only fair, since you gave me yours. Just as your letter got to me, the Professor finally pinpointed you. I don't quite know why his computer wasn't picking you up before, but it sure is now.
Rogue said that as long as you don't talk in your sleep, she's fine with you rooming with her, she said she'd been lonely since Kitty wasn't her roommate anymore. Amara was getting lonesome too, since Tabby went to the brotherhood, but I think it'll be all right. Tabby's nice.
Roberto and I have made up, and even when the professor told everyone you were coming to the mansion, he didn't say anything. He told me he didn't mean to be offensive to me, or you, and that he just opened his mouth without thinking. Jamie said he'd help you work on mental shields, since it's something he's good at, and Kitty offered you a really ugly blue sweater that she made. It has a crooked strip where she tried to change the color yarn she was knitting, and I think it has an extra arm, but it's real warm though, so if you wanna hang on to it till winter you'll be set.
The Professor said he didn't know why he hadn't looked into it before, but with all of us kids, there was bound to be more than one of us with the mutant gene. He says he really will look into our family from time to time; make sure Mama's doing all right, and make sure Jay's shoulders aren't some kind of deadly spore or something.
I'm real glad you're coming to see me; real glad you're gonna stay here. If Mama gets worried, tell her I'll be looking out for you. I just got a letter from Rahne. She said she'll be coming back as soon as she can convince Professor MacTaggert that she'll be safe. And knowing Jubilation, she won't let her foster parents keep her down. She's planning on coming to Scott and Jean's graduation in a few months, with or without their permission anyhow. 'Till then, Roberto said he'd officially "fill the empty space inside of me."
I'll be talking to you on the phone soon, arranging the stuff for the airplane ride, and I'm planning on pestering Logan until he lets me go with him to pick you up. I hope to see you soon. I plan on it.
Lots of love,
Sam