Victoria

Tori rolled over and finally turned the alarm off. By now it had probably woken the entire wing. Checking the time, she threw her myriad of pillows haphazardly back on the bed and laughed.

Hey! It only went off for twenty minutes today. That's a new record, she thought going to her closet.

Most of the kids at her school dressed like you would expect: baggy for guys, tight and skimpy for girls. Tori's closet was full of what her friends had termed "class and glam". Those who didn't know or understand her thought she was a bit of a snob for ignoring fashion and always dressing like she was at the Ritz. (At least the girls, the guys simply saw her as the newest out of their league challenge.) She didn't constantly wear dresses, though those showed up often as well, but one piece pant suits or skirts and shits that fit her style and still managed to show a good amount of skin with her slightly past shoulder length hair pined up in various styles. Today it was a short black velvet skirt with a red satin long-sleeved shirt. She checked the clock and sighted. It was still only 4:30 and school didn't start until eight. She had to be there at six.

She sat at her vanity table and flipped on the lights surrounding the mirror. From under the table, she pulled a rather large box, inside were twenty smaller boxes all clearly labeled in her neat writing. They each had two or three words and a number. She chose "jewled-'ruby'-silver-250". Inside were 250 old-fashioned hairpins. Of course the jewels weren't real rubies and the metal wasn't true silver, but it would at a glance, fool anyone but her family down in New Orleans. Grabbing the first pin, she began the painstaking process of pinning up her hair. It took an hour each morning give or take, depending on how many pins she used (never less than 100). In truth, her hairstyles were the base behind her "odd" choice in clothing, but she wouldn't give them up. It was well known and for the most part accepted at school that she was part of the mutant half, but few knew the exact nature of her powers. Those who did understood the pins. Along with the looks, telepathy and slight magical talent she had inherited from her mother, Victoria got her dad's ability to bio-kinetically charge inanimate objects, empathy and (so she was told) personality. The pins were her equivalent to his cards.

When the last pin was in place, she left her room, crossed the hall, walked three doors down and stopped. She could have knocked, but since they weren't in the dorm wings, these people didn't have to get up for school. Instead, she reached out and touched the still sleeping mind.

"C'mon Xan," she said, waking her twin. (He was Alex to some Xander to others but he introduced himself as Alexander and let people choose for themselves.)

"What day is it?" he sent back groggily.

"Friday and Mister Munch will kill us if we aren't there for before school practice since we have to miss this afternoon," she told him. "Jason'll be here in thirty, so get up if you want time to eat."

It was pretty much a daily routine they were both used to by now. When she got to the kitchen only one person was present.

"Hey Auntie 'Ro," Tori said, grabbing a bowl.

"Good morning, Tori," Ororo Munroe said cheerily back over a cup of steaming tea. "Is Alex on his way down?"

Tori nodded. "If he's not here in less than five, he'll regret it."

"Remember Tori…"

"You must be home directly after school," the girl said in unison with her "aunt". "I know. Xan and I have to make up mediation, DR and magic for the last three days that practice ran late and still have time afterward for the dress rehearsal."

Storm nodded. Xander choose that moment to appear bleary eyed in the doorway. Unlike his sister, Alexander was dressed much like the others would be. Baggy black pants with a belt were the norm at school, but his muscle shirt set him apart. His copper hair was sort and spiked. Even half asleep, with his teal on black eyes half lidded (Tori had always envied the fact that her brother had gotten their dad's black eyes while hers were simply pools of moonlight), he would be enough to turn the head of any girl at school and set her heart a flutter. Tori knew and openly admitted the two best-looking guys she knew were her dad and brother.

Xander nodded to his sister and aunt and then grabbed a bowl for himself. Tori didn't say anything. She knew it was no use talking to him in the morning.

Breakfast passed, as usual, in silence. They were just rinsing their dishes when Bishop came to tell them a black pickup had just pulled into the drive.

"That'd be Jason," Tori said grabbing her bag. Xander was out the door before her. Tori paused and turned. "Auntie 'Ro… make sure Dad's up in half an hour. If he misses the guild meeting today Grandpa won't be happy. Don't let him just turn off the alarm and go back to sleep."

Storm smiled. "Of course. Now go before they leave without you."

Tori nodded and ran out the door. Xander stood impatiently holding the truck door open. Jason's small Toyota could only seat three and by unspoken agreement Tori always sat in the middle. Jason was dressed much like Xander, his best friend, only he wore sunglasses and a baseball hat.

"You two ready for the performance tonight?" he asked as Xander closed the door.

"You bet!" Tori said. Jason played Romeo and Tori was cast as Juliet, which couldn't have worked out better. After all… how many girls get cast for the roll with their boyfriend as Romeo?

Xander shrugged. "I die in, what, the second or third scene?"

Tori laughed. "Lighten up, Xan. It's supposed to fun."

"Speaking of which," Jason said, subtly looking around, "If we go conventionally, Munch will ream us for being late. Sooo…" He looked at his friends.

"Can you do it?" the twins asked in tandem. "Truck and all?"

Jason nodded. "I've been practicing."

They nodded. Tori hadn't known when they started dating that Jason was a teleporter. Unlike her Uncle Kurt, Nightcrawler, Jason couldn't teleport himself. He could only teleport others or objects and make sure he was touching them to go with. Now he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Tori reached out and gently touched his mind with her own just to make sure he wasn't going to push himself past his limit. He looked at her and smiled, catching and accepting the touch. He winked at her and then they were outside the school.

"Told you I could do it," Jason said, unbuckling and holding the door open for Tori.

"Very smooth," Alex told his friend as they closed the doors. "Now let's get in there before Munch decides we have to be here after school as well."

In truth the play could have been put on the week before and gone off without a hitch, but Munch was a perfectionist and nothing would change that. The group walked into the theatre with two minutes to spare. Rehearsal went perfectly, even Munch had to admit it, and they were released early. Jason kissed Tori good-bye and then headed off to weights with Alex.

"Bye Alex!" the girl standing next to her called. Tori shook her head as she saw her friend's face fall. Tina was a small girl with short bouncy black curls and sparkling sea-green eyes. Her skin was ivory and flawless and she held the top place in the choir. In every school poll since the seventh grade, it had been a tie between Tina and Tori for "most wanted" and "most likeable". Tori knew for a fact that Tina got asked out at least four times a day, but she only had eyes for Alexander…and he didn't look twice at anybody. Tori had once asked her brother why and his reply had given her something to think about.

"Tor…we aren't like all those kids at school, and I don't mean the mutant factor. Empaths are rare, sensitives are rarer still and we ended up both. We will never have 'crushes' or puppy love. We fall hard and we know exactly what it is when we feel it. You lucked out. Jason loves you as much as he's able. I've seen too many times what loving someone more than they love you does to people, and that's people with normal emotions. Imagine what it would do to someone like us...I won't subject myself to that. Better be alone than put yourself through that."

Victoria would never forget the words or the look on her dad's face or the sincerity in his voice when he said, "And if you honestly believe that, then you're a fool."