"Julia, I would appreciate it if you actually pay attention to my lesson instead of thinking of the pie you had not twenty minutes ago." Professor Xavier's voice cut through Julia's thoughts like a knife and she could feel the blood rush to her cheeks.
"Sorry, Professor." She mumbled. Charles blinked slowly at her, before returning to his lecture. There was a collective laugh from around the room as Julia thumped her head onto her desk and listened to Xavier's English accent explain the basic principles behind mutations.
"Mutation is the key to our genetic evolution. It took us from the single celled organisms to the dominant species of reproductive life on this Earth…" The class listened placidly, as they usually did, writing down the necessary information for the fabled test that all the teachers seem to always be threatening them with.
"Charles-" The lecture stopped abruptly and Julia looked up, suddenly, looking from the professor to the door, where Hank McCoy stood. She grinned at him and he grinned back, before his gaze locked once more with Charles'. The Professor scowled, dismissing the class and gesturing for Hank to come in. Julia stuffed her notebook into her bag and lifted her headphones from around her neck, placing one over each ear and making her way into the halls. She was used to the wide berth the other students gave her, not because she was weird, it was rather that her mutation made it like that. She had a sort of bubble, circle of protection: no-one could get into it, she couldn't leave and it changed as she did. (she had injured too many students by reaching out beside them and accidentally striking them with her shield) The last person she had hugged was her mother, before she was forced off of her daughter by the shield's sudden arrival. There was a few perk, however, she was impervious to rain (and also showers, so she bathed), as well as the fact that all sharp objects melted into puddles at the edge of her shield. That isn't to say that she was impervious to everything: mental attacks were her weakness.
Julia, as if almost case and point, Professor Xavier's voice rings clear as a bell through her head, I would like to speak to you back in the classroom, please. Without hesitating, Julia turned on her heel, walking through the crowd that parted before her, to much resentment and angry grumblings, though her classmates were now quite used to it. Hank smiled slightly at her, almost apologetically and the scowl that the professor had been wearing earlier seemed somehow more intense.
"Hey, Julia." Hank greeted her. The two became good friends over their mutual dislike for their mutations. He offered her some of the drug that turns off his physical mutation but whenever he went to hand her the needle, it melted onto the ground before them.
"Hey." She smiled back at him, trying not to think about whatever Professor Xavier had asked her here for. Hopefully it wasn't anything bad.
"Unfortunately it is." Xavier answered her and Julia swallowed hard, finally turning her attention to her professor. "We have a new student coming to our school -" Julia held up her hand, frowning to herself.
"There is a multitude of students whose powers could help a new, even unruly student. I'm not a welcoming committee, I can't shake hands." She told them and Xavier's bitter smile told her she had missed the mark entirely. "Oh…"
"He's a pain in the ass." Julia blinked rapidly and Hank nudged the professor. "That being said, its very difficult to control him. Simply getting him to attend seems like a miracle, but I also believe that his sister had a hand in it. She's very nice, really, sweet girl. Back to Pietro." Xavier halted for a moment, sighing, "Yes, I have tried stopping him with my powers once, however he also gave me motion sickness. The reason I've called you here is that, if anything, he needs a physical block. Barely anything can stop him but I believe you can - oh dear God." Professor Xavier buried his head in his hands. "He's already here. Of course he is. Hank, you and Julia go greet him, take him to his room and Julia, you keep him there until I get there. I need to talk to him." Julia looked dubiously at Hank, who shrugged, nodding towards the door. The two of them exited, walking to the front of the school, Hank staying three feet from Julia, which is the closest her mutation allowed anybody.
"So, Pietro? Who is this guy?" She asked Hank, who shrugged.
"He's really not as awful as Charles makes him out to be." Hank paused as they rounded a corner, "He did break into the pentagon to help us break out Magneto… And he's a bit of a kleptomaniac." He shrugged, "But that's just abuse of his powers, he got one of the good ones." He said, almost quietly, to himself. Julia snorted and made a noise of agreement.
"Yeah, I guess I'm just lucky." There was a voice beside Hank and Julia made a startled noise. A silver-haired teen with old-fashioned flying goggles on his eyes was walking beside them, well, was. Another perk of Julia's mutation was that if she felt intense emotions, such as shock or surprise, the diameter of her shield increased by a few feet, and Hank was knocked into the boy's side. "Hey, what was that for?" The guy asked, frowning. Julia swallowed quickly, watching her feet, her only thoughts trained on how she was a barricade, not a welcoming party.
"Sorry, sometimes when Julia's shocked, she-" Hank felt himself being knocked even further to the side as Julia stuck out her hand. The party of people stopped and Hank got up, brushing himself off and rolling his eyes at Julia. Julia rolled her own brown eyes and adjusted her stride to slip behind the two boys. "Julia, this is Pietro." Hank said as they walked. Julia waved at him from where the silver-haired boy walked beside Hank. It didn't suit him, she thought, walking so slowly. He looked uneasy, like it was taking concentration to simply walk like a human.
"So, why can't I get to you?" Pietro asked, his words obviously directed at her, no matter how fast he talked. "Its making me edgy." Julia snorted, not completely ignoring his question, but not answering it, either. Hank rolled his eyes as Pietro seemed to appear behind Julia. "Come on, is it your mutation? Is that why you hit tall, dark and furry when he went to explain it?" Hank made a noise in the back of his throat and Julia laughs, nodding slightly, though it seemed to be enough for Pietro. As they rounded a final corner, they came to a stop in front of a door, one Julia knew well as it was the door opposite her own dorm room door. She cast a despairing look at Hank who pointedly looked away.
"This is your new home, Pietro." Hank said, gesturing him in. Pietro zipped in, eyes wide. Hank followed him in and Julia stood in the doorway, slouching against the frame.
"Cool! So I can do basically anything in here?" Pietro asked, looking through the windows to the grounds for a moment. It looked as though he wanted to go down and explore the grounds himself but he found himself stopped short by Julia's shield. "Oh." He muttered, reaching out as far as he could, but came up against what seemed like a tangible wall. Pietro's eyes lit up as he moved his hands across the surface of the shield, trying to see if there was a chink in her armour as it was. "That's why you're here. I thought it was weird a student who can't shake hands would a be a welcoming party.
"No, I'm just a barricade." Julia's eyes were trained on the ground, her voice bitter as she missed Hank's sympathetic look, as well as Pietro's amused look as the shield expanded beneath his hands, pushing him back.
"Julia, you're much more than that." Professor Xavier's voice was clear as he spoke and Julia spun around, hearing Pietro's yelp of surprise as the shield snapped back to its original size. Xavier smiled pleasantly. "I can hold him for a minute or so without being sick, please move out of the way and then reclaim your position." He told her. Julia nodded solemnly, stepping out of his way. No-one raced past her and Xavier wheeled himself into the room. She saw Xavier's falter and stepped in behind him, forcing him completely into the room and keeping Pietro in there also, as he tried to escape. "I may have misspoke." Xavier laughed softly and he mentally asked Julia if she could corner Pietro so Hank could get him a glass of water. Julia nodded, her temper flaring within herself to give her a few extra feet. Pietro stood like a sullen child in the corner as Hank exited.
"Not fair, baric-ugh!" Julia narrowed her eyes, her shield now pressing against him. He backed up against the wall, his hands on Julia's shield to keep a track of its size. "So, do you like being used like this, Princes-" Julia's shield pressed him close to the wall, his feet an inch or so off the ground as he tried to move his face into a more comfortable position.
"Pietro, I wouldn't." Charles' voice held a warning and Pietro's mischievous (yet slightly squished) smile had Julia narrowing her eyes. The shield retracted slightly and he thumped to the ground, bracing himself on the shield as Julia's interest was piqued. 'Julia." Charles sighed at her childlike curiosity. "Curiosity killed the cat." He told her, seriously.
"But satisfaction brought it back." She told her professor calmly. Pietro looked up, smirking.
"Satisfaction, eh?" He said, eyebrows wiggling. It took him less than a millisecond to see Julia's eyes open in fury and then for him to be crashed into the wall so hard and fast that he left a dent. With her left hand outstretched, she morphed the shield to have a section match her hand's movements, pressing into his neck.
"I am not your barricade. I am not your princess. I am your babysitter for the next hour and then I hope to never see you again." She growled, not daring to edge closer, wary that she may accidentally crush him. He may annoy her, but she didn't wish any harm on the guy.
"Its that sort of thinking that leads me to say that you have to see him often after this." Xavier told her, smiling and thanking Hank as he entered with a glass of water. No-one offered an explanations as to why Pietro was pressed to the wall, his head tilted up at an odd angle. "Julia, release him and stand back by the door, please." Julia did as she was asked, still slightly in shock. "There is any number of students I could have picked to contain Pietro, Lucas is twelve and already can freeze people with a single touch, Nicola, a year younger than you, breathes out knockout gas.
Thank you for reminding me just how inferior I am, Julia though, bitterly.
"That was not my intention. There is a specific reason I chose you to meet him, why you sleep across from him and why I didn't stop you just now." Charles told her. There was a pause and Julia watched her feet, moving her hands away from Pietro's throat, her shield snapping back into place, Pietro falling to his knees and gasping for breath. "I wanted someone with a strong moral compass, able to stop him in his tracks and, of course, anyone who annoys him is a bonus."
Julia snorted, "I don't annoy him, haven't you noticed? He annoys me." Charles blinked slowly at her and Julia looked at the ground, fiddling with her hands.
"I can't get close to you and I can't look through your stuff, which I normally would. I'm not used to walking into walls." She could hear the eye roll in Pietro's voice and she looked at him, blankly. He shrugged, "I'm being honest."
Xavier shrugged. "I needed someone that would test the both of out, keep you on your toes. Two birds, one stone… etc." He told them. There was a pause, "Muttering 'two birds, one giant, bloody boulder' in your mind does not make it any less true." Julia nodded sheepishly at this and sat by the door. "I want you two to try and become friends. Unless one of you is dead, try not to come to me for help. You're almost adults now and staying here is to hone your abilities and increase your independence. Ok?" Charles looked at the two of them and Julia refrained from saying anything, her jaw tightly shut, her eyes downcast.
"Yeah, sure. Sounds great." Pietro answered.
"Fine." Julia mumbled. Charles smiled, pleased with himself.
"Good. All I really wanted to talk to you about was the fact that if you break my school, I will make you pay for it." He told Pietro cheerfully. Julia stepped out, telling Xavier she was taking the rest of the day off, and quickly shut herself in her room. It was less than a minute later that she saw Pietro sprawled out on the grass of the lawn, headphones over his ears, hands behind his head. Julia felt something constrict in her chest, she knew Xavier was trying to make her have friends, but people stayed away from her - physical contact seemed the norm for friends and everyone thought she was weird. She wasn't very talkative and had a short temper, accidentally shoving people from their chairs if her temper flared in the middle of class. Her closest friends were Alex and Hank, teachers, another things that made her an oddity to the others, and Charles, a closet recluse/reluctant teacher.
This was not a good idea, she could tell. Someone would end up hurt.