This is an idea I've had for a while now, to get a look at the Xavier Institute from the perspective of an outsider. XME showed a lot of people freaking out over the 'mutant threat', and a lot of speculation about the danger they could present, but not a whole lot actually going to the mutants and asking their opinions. Verity Sheridan, my OC, is changing that. The name Verity means 'truth', and Sheridan comes from the Irish given name 'Sirideán', meaning 'searcher', so her full name actually means 'truth-searcher'.

This takes place after Season 4, and before my fic 'Seether', so it does fit within my 'Transient' universe, but doesn't have to be read to understand the rest of the stories in the series.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own XME or any of its characters, just Verity.

WORD COUNT: 1513

COOKIES, BETS, AND BASEBALL: A DAY IN THE LIFE AT A MUTANT SCHOOL

Verity Sheridan

Arguments over the last chocolate-chip cookie, a backyard baseball game, and dealing with bullies. These are common staples of living in a three-storey boarding school on the outskirts of a small city in New York State. The students attend regular classes at the local high school, but take reside and additional classes in the large mansion on an expansive, sprawling gated property. Their places of origin range from New Jersey and Virginia to Germany and Brazil. They range in age from twelve to eighteen, and behave as if they'd grown up together for years in spite of having only known each other for up to two years. What they do have in common is one striking fact: they are mutants.

After so many months of controversy and discussion over the revelation of their existence, this journalist decided to get the perspective of the mutants themselves. It took a few weeks, but I convinced Professor Charles Xavier, leader of the now-famed X-Men and founder of Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters, into allowing me to tour his school for the day and interview some of his staff and students.

*For the sake of their privacy, the underage students' names have been changed.

My visit took place on a Saturday afternoon, so all the kids were in residence. I was greeted by Prof. Xavier himself, along with former students and current teachers Ororo Munro and Jean Grey. Our initial discussion was delayed as we passed the kitchen, where two students, *Billy and *Reid, were fighting over the last of Munro's homemade chocolate-chip cookies. It had somehow degenerated from haggling to fist-fighting to Billy freezing Reid's hands to the counter just as we came in. I can't quite blame them, however, as I was given the prized cookie, and upon tasting it, I was instantly transported back to the days when I would wrestle my siblings and cousins for my grandmother's homemade brownies.

We settled in Prof. Xavier's office to have our introductory discussion on the history of the institution. Xavier founded this school a mere five years ago, but he is a telepath who has been teaching other mutants to control their powers for many decades, including Ms. Munro. Miss Grey was one of the first students at the Institute, and recently graduated from Bayville High last June. The number of students has risen in the past year and a half from two to fifteen, and promises to continue climbing.

"It was just me and Scott [Summers] for several months," Grey said, "then Kurt, *Kristy, *Rachel, and *Ed joined up. After a few months, Billy, *Rhona, *Stan, *Ricardo, *Jerry, Reid, *Trinity, *Alexandra, and *Joy joined us one after the other. Rhona and Joy were pulled out when mutants were outed, but they've recently returned."

After our talk, I got to sit in on some of the students' outdoor training. Those with long-range abilities were lined up to shoot at small, moving targets, under the supervision of an instructor named Logan. "It's not just about learning how to fight," said former student and current instructor Scott Summers. "It's about learning control. If you can accurately hit a small target going at high speed, that takes a certain amount of control, and that level of control means that you're less likely to have an accident in an everyday situation. Every one of us here has a different ability. The Institute allows us to learn how to use our special skills to their fullest potential, and also to keep them from ruling us."

The practice exercise quickly became a competition amongst the students as to who could hit the most targets in the shortest amount of time. Bets were placed among those not competing, with both the winner of the contest and the pool being promised a week free of chores. Apparently, this happens routinely, as even one of the newer instructors, Remy LeBeau of New Orleans, placed a bet of his own. In the end, it was new student *Andy who got the best score, and Remy and another newcomer, *Lyssa, won the betting pool (although, as an instructor and not a student, LeBeau's only prize was bragging rights).

Once the training was over, I got to sit down and talk to some of the older students about their lives before coming to the Institute. Kristy hails from Illinois, and was a straight-A student who admitted to having been bullied well before her powers surfaced. Kurt Wagner is a German-born mutant whose physical differences were apparent from birth; his appearance made it impossible for him to exist comfortably outside of his own home, and it wasn't until coming to the Institute that he encountered acceptance from anyone other than his parents. On the other end of the scale, Ricardo was extremely popular in school at home in Brazil, and a star member of the school's soccer team. Ed also enjoyed prominence as a basketball player. In contrast, Reid spent three years living on the streets before coming to the Institute, and Trinity was forced by her father to aid him in criminal acts when her powers emerged. Since coming here, all these teens from different cultures and backgrounds have bonded over the fact that they are different from the rest of their schoolmates, and that they can confide in each other on the difficulties of mastering their new powers in addition to homework, relationships, and the other typical trials of the teenage years.

One of the challenges that has united them even further is the animosity they have faced at school after the public learned about the existence of mutants. "I wasn't as close with the other kids at Bayville High, but I still thought I had other friends there," Kristy explained, "They haven't talked to me since we were exposed. The teachers let them get away with anything; nasty comments in the halls, pranks, vandalizing our lockers, cornering one of us if we're alone and trying to beat us up. It's been hell."

"We don't even feel safe walking down the street anymore," Reid admitted, "Nobody leaves the Institute without a buddy. It's not a written rule, it's just something we realized on our own that we had to do."

It's even harder on the youngest student, thirteen-year-old Jerry, who is the only Institute resident still attending middle school. Although I did not speak to him directly, many of the other kids demonstrated concern for him.

"He's a bit small for his age, and he's already the youngest of us," said Trinity, "As annoying as he can be sometimes, he's basically everyone's kid brother, but there's only so much we can do when he's at a different school than the rest of us."

A little-known fact is that upon the discovery of mutants, the Xavier Institute found itself under siege by the local police, pointing loaded weapons at terrified children and forcing them to flee. "They treated us like we're the monsters," Reid complained, "Just because we have the potential to cause a lot of destruction doesn't mean we're going to wake up one day and do it." Yet just months ago, when another mutant threatened to end humankind, these very children put their lives at risk to protect us, and are still treated no better than they were before.

My visit was concluded with a baseball game. Apparently also a regular feature of living at the Institute, the students and some of the staff picked teams and began what started as your typical baseball game, before one of the students gave into the temptation to use their powers to catch a pop fly. At that point, the cry of "Mutant Ball!" went up, and the umpire, instructor Hank McCoy, walked off the field as everyone started using their powers to give them an edge. They still managed to somehow stay within the major rules of the game, if only because 'No super-strength' and 'No diving through the ground to avoid being tagged' was never written down. Alexandra had to be reminded to not set her pitches on fire if a wooden bat was in play – I suppose it was costing too much to keep replacing them.

As I left at the end of the day, I couldn't help but wonder why these children are forced to live in fear of us 'normal people'. While other mutants may pose a valid threat, all I saw when I looked at them was a group of amazing young people who are being persecuted for being born with a unique ability. My hope is that one day, American society will remember that these are people, not human-shaped weapons, and that they deserve to be treated as such.

THE END

Well, I hope I've done well on this. This story takes place in January of 2002, with the battle against Apocalypse happening in the fall of 2001. In my headcanon, Kurt was born in October of 1983, so he is 18 by this time, but the other students aside from Scott and Jean are still underage, so his name was not changed.

Name changes, in case you haven't figured them all out, are as follows:
Kitty=Kristy
Rogue=Rachel
Evan=Ed
Bobby=Billy
Rahne=Rhona
Sam=Stan
Tabitha=Trinity
Roberto=Ricardo
Amara=Alexandra
Jubilee=Joy
Jamie=Jerry
Ray=Reid
Alex=Andy
Laura/X-23=Lyssa

Logan was not quoted in this article because I don't see him taking too well to a reporter.