Turn Smile Shift Repeat

A/N: I really should be working on my Valentine's Day fic. But I am a bum, and a sad one at that, so I am doing the wonderful art of PROCRASTINATION! Weeeee! Title is derived from the Phantom Planet song, just in case there are bored lawyers out there looking to sue innocent little people…ho hum.

Disclaimers: If I were in charge of Marvel, I would have Pietro running around in pink spandex with a walkman singing along to the soundtrack to Mariah Carey's 'Glitter'. Alas, woe is me, for that will never happen. DAMN!

"What's up with Rico Suave? Didn't he notice that someone was talking to him?"

– a jealous Ray Crisp

This is the danger zone
This is where I came in
They know not what they do
Forgive them of their sins
They know they cannot take away
What you have given me

Ohh, ohh, ohh
This is just where I came in

- The Bee Gees

Chapter 1: This Is Where I Came In

"No."

"Aww, come on, why not?"

"No."

"But -"

"No."

"But -"

"No."

Logan grit his teeth. "Will you two shut up?"

The low, feral growl did just what was asked and silence spread over the van. Logan sighed in relief, and chanced a glance at the mirror to the back seats. What he saw satisfied him – the Brazillian boy, who hadn't even said his name when they met him at the plane, was sitting in his seat all stiff and squat, his dark eyes cast to the ground with a deep-set frown etched on his face. Next to him, on the window seat, was the New York-bred kid. His head was lolled back onto the seat, so his eyes were glued at the ceiling of the X-van, but sure enough, the glint of his earring was caught in the mirror's light. Logan narrowed his eyes – he had a feeling he wouldn't like that one, just from that. Call it instinct. On the other side of the Brazillian boy was the tall one, with Rogue's accent and Lance's hair. He looked a bit squashed, with his long arms awkwardly in front of him. Also, it had to be accounted that Rob, or Bob, or whatever from Boston had finally tired out from babbling like a mad chatterbox early in the trip and had fallen asleep on the Southern kid's shoulder, with a teensy bit of drool slipping out of the corner of his mouth. Logan skillfully covered his snicker and moved his eyes a bit to examine the youngest two in the car, the Oriental California girl and Jordan – or James – or something of the like. These were the two that had been squabbling and silenced minutes earlier by Wolverine. He wasn't sure what it had been about…something about powers, he believed. The kid had been pestering about it, or using it, and the girl had determinedly ignored him and stared out the window. What was her powers – it was something that resembled Cyclops', he recalled. Logan smiled grimly – the girl had been smart in ignoring him, because if her power was anything like Scott's, there would've been hell to pay for the van and for his anger.

That would be all of them. Logan returned his full attention to the road, until he noticed a certain someone pouting in the passenger seat next to him. Ah, her. The Novan Roma or something girl – no, princess. She had put up quite the fuss at the airport, screeching about how there was no one to carry her twenty-or-so bags. In the end, Logan had all the boys, including the youngest boy, grab as many suitcases as they could, and Logan swept up the last 5 easily, leaving the lightest suitcase for the princess to carry. Outraged, she thrust it towards the Asian girl. Obviously, she had chosen the wrong person, as the dark-haired girl merely stared at her with mild amusement and incredulity. The young royal was miffed, but tired enough to stop screeching and trudge along with a glowering expression on her painted face.

There'd certainly be a couple interesting situations at the Institute due to her, Logan could predict. Especially considering some of the backgrounds that some of the other children in the van came from, having heard from Charles.

The car halted to a stop, and many of the kids hurled the doors back and jumped out with glee. And some of them, like the punk kid with the earring, and California girl, turned around, saw the mansion, and their eyes bulged. Whereas Princess Aguilera-or-someone tutted and flipped her hair, obviously unimpressed. Logan noted this with a cynical grin – oh, yes, things would certainly get more interesting around the house now. For some odd reason, he was happy about this thought.

The first thing that the New Recruits noticed was a reddish brown furred dog leaping out from the doors of the Institute, yipping gleefully. Jamie Madrox laughed and pointed at the sight.

"We have a dog? My parents never let me have a pet at home!" Jamie said happily, to no one in particular. As it happened however, Jubilation Lee was the closest one standing near him, and could hear this the loudest. She shut her eyes in a painful grimace.

Sam Guthrie smiled and looked around sheepishly. "Er, ah, ah'm kinda…" he stuttered, and Logan eyed him impatiently. "What? Get it out." Logan barked.

"Ah'm allergic ta dogs." Sam sounded embarrassed. To Sam's surprise, Logan started laughing, and the jet lagged children stared at him curiously.

"That's no dog, bub." Logan said, and to Sam's transfixed utter shock, the 'dog' quickly morphed into a 14-year old grinning redhead, with two high pigtails fixed in her short hair.

"Name's Rahne, boy-o. Nice t'meet ye." She said brightly, with a thick Scottish accent. Too stunned to speak, Sam gave a shaky nod.

"Her power's to transform into a wolf, Haystack." Logan said gruffly, and Sam flushed at the light-heartedly formed nickname. "Not a dog. You might've offended her a bit with that comment."

But the girl named Rahne waved Logan's words off. "Nay, 'tis fine, boy. Or what was it? Haystack, Mister Logan called him? Why would tha' be, that, eh?" She squinted her eyes curiously. "Can ye…turn into hay?"

Sam burst into laughter. "No, no, 'course not." He said. "Ah can…well, ah basically fly into things and crash."

"Too true." Logan commented from the van's trunk, where he was unceremoniously throwing out the suitcases and bags one by one. One of them, a frilly pink one that had to be Amara Aquilla's because it had a fancy AA in calligraphy on the handle, landed with a thud, and Amara turned red-faced with fury at how it was handled, but kept her mouth clamped.

"What is too true? Please tell me nothing went wrong during the trip, Logan." Professor Xavier wheeled into the front of his Institute, doing his little steeple hand thing and surveying each of the kids with genuine interest. Logan replied with a vague "Eh.", and yet another suitcase flew out to land on the growing pile on the ground. The professor arched an eyebrow, and Ray coughed, stepping forward a bit.

"Um…it was me." He said, a bit embarrassedly. "I thought it'd be funny if I stuck my foot out and tripped Sam, until I found out what his power was… and, well, he basically crashed into one of the planes and made a dent shaped like a Sam Guthrie."

Rahne and the Professor began laughing, and the others looked at each other, surprised at their reactions. Ray awkwardly stood in front of them all, and the Professor smiled warmly. "It's quite alright, Mr. Crisp. You took care of it of course, Logan?" He said seriously to the man, his head disappeared inside the van. "Yeah, yeah." Replied Logan, and a rusty brown backpack soared out. Ray scrambled to catch it, and nearly had to dive for it when it landed in his hands near the grass.

"I must say, I expected something of the sort to happen. In fact, an incidence like this did happen before, not too long ago." The professor said. Logan nodded. "The Tolensky kid."

Once again, the new recruits exchanged curious glances, and Logan shook his head. "You'll hear more about the likes of him and others later. Right now, get your stuff. Ororo should be coming to tell you where you're rooming."

As if on cue, Ororo walked outdoors in her graceful, long strides. She wore a colorful array of skirts coupled with a plain white shirt, and tropical shades of make up that should never be matched together on the same palette. Yet, somehow, on Ororo's dark, wise face… it worked.

There was something about Ororo Munroe that made you relax into a calm. Maybe it took a little more, and you needed to hear her soothing voice to wash you over into relaxation, but that was just the kind of person she was – you could even call her the motherly type, though was she was still young as a woman, in her late twenties, early thirties…somehow, the students had never gotten the courage to ask, though they constantly pestered Logan for his age, which drove the man insane.

"Hello, students," She smiled at them. "I am Ororo Munroe."

There was a dramatic silence, and Ororo laughed lightly. "You needn't be so solemn about it. I'm not like Logan over there. I'm the instructor that everyone here likes." As a reply, a yellow duffel bag flew out twice as far from the X-Van and with twice the amount of force.

"Nice distance." Bobby whispered. Jubilee caught it with impressive ease, showing off athletic skill for such a short, scrawny girl. "Good catch, gal!" chirped Rahne, and Jubilee flushed and grinned with pride.

"I'd like for you to just ask them to drop off their luggage, and then gather in the living room. We've never had such a large group all at once, and there's much to be done today." The Professor told Ororo, who nodded. "Follow me, please." Ororo said in a serene voice. She turned around to walk up the steps, and everybody grabbed their bags to follow her, until an infuriatingly dominant sounding 'ahem' reached the African goddess' ears. She coolly turned around to see Amara tap her shoes impatiently.

"Yes, dear?" Ororo asked demurely.

"My bags?" Amara motioned to the 23 bags in the pile Logan was making, and counting. Now 24.

"Your bags…well, might as well get them out of the way." With a flick of her wrist, 8 or so suitcases rose from the makeshift mound of bags and floated upwards. One of them came close to Amara's head, and she shrieked, ducking down to avoid it.

Meanwhile, Bobby, Ray, Roberto, and Jamie gaped open-mouthed at her. She eyed them back with an amused look. "Is there something wrong, boys?"

"Y..you...telekinesis!" Bobby choked.

"Eu estou indo viver com uma bruxa!" Roberto muttered. [1] Ray nodded. "Yeah, what he said!" Ororo grinned. "No, I don't have the gift of telekinesis. I'm, simply put, a weather witch. I can use the wind to lift things around me."

"Are you going to use the wind to lift up my other 19 suitcases?" Amara demanded.

"No, that would clutter up the hallway. We can ask Scott or Kurt to do it later." Ororo replied mildly. Amara merely 'hmphed' and grabbed her smallest bag.

"I'll help ye!" Rahne bounced over towards her, but Amara shifted the suitcase from her. "I won't have filthy paws that's been all over the floor holding my luggage, thanks." Amara said imperiously, her nose high up in the air. Rahne raised an eyebrow, but shrugged it off. "Fine, then, lass. I'll just go to the bathroom and lap up some from the toilet – I'm a bit thirsty, now." There was some snickering at this, and Amara whirled to see exactly who was tittering, but silence fell the moment she turned.

"Let's go see what home looks like now, then." Amara gritted her teeth and stomped forward directly behind Ororo. Logan and Charles exchanged amused looks, until Jubilation looked around confusedly in her spot inbetween Jamie and Bobby. "Who's Scott and Kurt?"

One by one, the young mutants trudged up the stone steps and through the glass doors. They could see the grand staircase clearly displayed, and some of the statues and paintings on the walls. Bobby let out a low whistle, and nudged Ray behind him. "This Xavier dude must be loaded something big, huh?"

"Yeah." Ray muttered, staring down at his tattered sneakers.

"Why looking so glum, cutie?"

Ray looked up at the sound of the coy, teasing voice. And that was the first sight of the inside of the Institute that Ray received an eyeful of – a tall blonde girl, wearing very, very tight jeans, a large amount of a make-up, and revealing a fair amount of cleavage with her shirt that made Amara later declare her to be a 'brazen woman'. Unfortunately, the goddess was speaking to the – err, what was his name again? Ray perused through his memory. The Brazilian kid…Rodriguez or something like that.

Of course, Roy-or-somebody only looked up from the ground he had been so intently staring at and gazed at her with his smoldering dark eyes. The girl chewed a bit and blew a pink bubble, which popped in his face. He didn't even blink. Amara hemmed and hawed impatiently, but the blonde completely ignored her. Ororo cleared her throat. "Tabitha, you're welcome to introduced yourself to each of the new students while I take them to their rooms. But please, lets keep on moving and make progress." Tabitha merely nodded and the group began walking up the stairs, with Tabby walking closely with Roberto, who still hadn't replied to her and seemed determined to ignore her.

"Strong, silent type, eh? I like that in my men." She gave a small squeeze at his arm, and suddenly he blushed, turning his head aside, walking faster to leave her behind. Tabitha gave a loud, unrestrained laugh and weaved her way through to Jubilee. They immediately launched into some kind of girl talk that Ray couldn't be bothered to interpret, so he turned his face to Bobby, who was watching the two girls as well. "What's up with Rico Suave? Didn't he notice that someone was talking to him?"

Bobby's eyes came into focus as he blinked and realized Ray was addressing to him. "Huh? Oh, you mean Roberto. I don't think he really likes any of us, man."

"What do you mean?" Ray asked curiously, unable to help himself.

"Something about against his will. I took Spanish in school last year, and caught bits of it in his super speed. He was muttering about 'leaving in the worst time' and 'she needs me' and stuff." Bobby shrugged.

Ray sighed and looked around. The youngest kid, Jamie, was talking shyly with the ever friendly Rahne, while Roberto had shrouded himself to the side of the hall they were walking down. The princess chick, Amara, was walking next to Ororo while observing the doors they were passing with a frown. Tabitha and Jubilee were chatting away animatedly like firecrackers. With a start, Ray realized that Sam Guthrie had been walking awkwardly, but closely behind himself and Bobby (who had resumed gawking at two oblivious girls). Unlike Amara, he was looking around at his vast surroundings in awe with a mouth open, and Ray snickered, visualizing very well a piece of straw hanging at the corner of Sam's gaping mouth.

"Like, KURT!! GIVE THAT BACK!!"

Bobby jumped backwards at the sudden shriek, accidentally trampling Sam's feet. Amara looked around her with an alarmed look, and clutched her bag towards her chest closer. The weather witch only sighed, as a brunette wearing a lot of pink suddenly appeared out of nowhere – or rather, through the wall – and through the opposite wall. Distantly, they heard a voice with a thick accent and a teasing tone. "Let's see what ze love note says, ja? Oh, Lance, mein herz beats faster every time I see you and your handsome face. I know you hang out with icky zug guys as friends, but it doesn't matter to me! All I know is zat vhen you and I are together, I know zat nothing could ever break us apart! You have zese beautiful brown eyes that I could gaze into forever, and lips zat make me – GAH! Aua! Die Schmerz[2]!"

"Kurt, you are such an idiot! Now there's FUR on it!!"

Amara looked alarmed. "What does she mean? Does this Kurt have a dog? I simply can't stand animals-"

"Ye best watch your tongue and not finish that sentence, gal, or I'll get ugly on ye." Rahne warned. Amara whirled on her, eyes flashing. "Is that supposed to be some kind of threat, you – you plebeian??!" Rahne began laughing. "Plebeian? This wont be the 17th century, lass. You needn't be so prissy and boorish."

Suddenly, Amara's eyes really were ablaze, as was her hands, that radiated heat to an intensity that her hands were glowing with a dim orange tinge. Rahne jumped back, alarmed at the sudden reaction, and Jamie clutched at Ororo's skirts.

"Please calm down, Amara, Rahne. We don't have time for this." Ororo chided, and briskly walked on. Amara gave Rahne a dark look, and primly stuck her princess nose up in the air. Rahne blinked, still surprised, and gave a tiny jump when a large hand rested on her shoulder. It was Sam. He bent down to her height, which was quite short for a 14-year old, and pointed. "If ah'll be danged. Look'ee at her bag handle. It's been all melted." Sam whispered in her ear. Rahne looked, and indeed, the pink handle that Amara was tightly gripping had melted around in her hand frame.

Before Rahne could reply to the Southern boy in earnest, Ororo halted and Jamie ran into her. She opened the door, and inside was a clean, plain room, with two beds and flowers as a centerpiece on the desk. "This will be Amara and Jubilation's room." Ororo proclaimed. Some silence filled the air, and was ultimately broken when Ray doubled over laughing, and Bobby clutched his stomach in pain/laughter. Even Rahne was giggling a bit, Sam grinned, and Tabitha smirked.

"Who – on earth – would name their child -" Bobby tried to gasp, and Ray finished for him. "-Jubilation?" Ray choked. But he needn't have asked. Sparks were flying out from the one named Jubilation's hands, and her eyes, while not containing the scarily authentic flames of Amara's, were still blazing. She clenched her hands. "My mom named me that. But everybody calls me Jubilee."

Nobody was really listening, so Jubilee marched over and grabbed Ray's shirt. Everyone's breath caught, and it was really a rather funny sight, because Jubilee was about 5 feet and Ray was 5'7", but Jubilee snatched a bundle of his shirt and pulled his face down to her level anyways, so it was still intimidating, sort of. She raised her hand, which was sparking with a strange, colorful energy, and looked as if she were about to pour some of that color down Ray's shirt, but Ororo intercepted once again.

"Jubilee," Ororo said sternly. Immediately, Jubilee released her hold on Ray and turned away, embarrassed at her outburst. But even after Amara and Jubilee had moved 12 bags and one duffel bag, respectively, into the room, as Jubilee left the room she stuck her tongue out at Bobby and Ray.

tbc

A/N: I seriously had to stop there, because this file was losing space and my computer went wonky on me so I nearly lost about 10 of the last paragraphs you see above you FOREVERRR!! Rejoice that it didn't. Or curse the gods. Whatever swings for you. It's an odd place to stop, but oh well. I'll have the next chapter up and running soon!

[1] Translates from Portuguese: "I'm going to be living with a witch!" Ah, the greatness and power of all that is Babelfish. I was watching my recorded tape of 'Retreat', and noticed something. Roberto is a stud. Not that that has anything to do with this fic… oh wait, it does. 'Berto's cool, and will actually get more than 5 speaking parts, unlike the actual series.

[2] Roughly translates from German: "Ow, the pain!" For some reason, the thought of Kurt saying this makes me giggle.