A/N: Hey, peepz. I've been throwing this idea around in my head all week, and I finally decided to write it down, even though I have one in-progress story already. I've just finished re-watching all the X-Men movies, so I've really been wanting to write fanfiction about it :) This is Alternate Universe, so it has nothing to do with the movie plot, but everything to do with the setting and characters ;P And also my own little creations.

Disclaimer: X-Men... I do not own it.


"Honey, you're going to be late for school!"

I ignored my mother, checking my hair one last time before breezing out of the bathroom and into my bedroom. I grabbed my jacket and skipped out into the hall and down the stairs.

"7:30!"

"I'm leaving, I'm leaving," I muttered, passing the doorway with a quick wave. Pushy, isn't she?

"Wait!"

I groaned, "What, Mom?"

"Have a nice first day of a new school, Samantha. You'll make lots of friends, I promise," she said, hugging me and kissing my forehead before ushering me out the door, "Now hurry! First impressions are everything!"

I rolled my eyes, "Bye, Mom, love you."

"Love you, too, Sweetie."

I shut the door behind me, pulling on my jacket quickly as the icy wind swept over me. My mom had been bugging me about school ever since we moved here, saying how great the high school in her hometown is, how nice the people are, yadda yadda yadda. I didn't believe her. It's high school, how nice can the people be?

Luckily, or maybe unluckily, the school was only 2 blocks away from my new home. I reached into my jacket pocket for my cell phone, and produced a granola bar instead. I rolled my eyes with a half-smile at my mom's thoughtful gesture. Pulling my cell from my other pocket, I pressed a random button for the time to come up on the screen: 7:35. I began to speed walk, gnawing on the strawberry granola bar. I really didn't need to be late on my first day.

It was approximately 10 minutes later that I found myself in the main office, waiting on the ancient secretary to find my schedule.

"What was your name again?" Apparently she has short-term memory loss.

"Samantha Reeves," I repeated, trying to keep the impatience from my voice.

"Ah, here you go, honey," she handed me a sheet of paper and a map. I thanked her and hurried out into the hall. It was already half-way though homeroom so I took my time walking around looking for the classroom, looking at my schedule as well:

Honors English - M. Johnson
Trigonometry - F. Woods
Lunch
Biology - N. Jonas
Gym - K. Duke
Honors Social Studies - S. White

Okay, but I'd rather have gym last period. I hate going to class sweaty.

At 7:55, I decided to make my way to the English classroom to avoid being late. I walked in, nervousness making my hands shake, to find all eyes on me. I tried to keep the blood from rushing to my cheeks to no avail. Stop being so stupid, I told myself, it's not like they're going to bite my head off. Hopefully not.

"Ah, Miss Reeves, I presume?" Leave it to an English teacher to have an excellent vocabulary.

I nodded, afraid my voice would crack if I spoke aloud. But, of course, I wouldn't be able to keep my mouth shut, because Mrs. Johnson thought it would be a good idea for me to stand in front of the class and introduce myself.

I shyly positioned myself near the teacher's desk, and kept my eyes on the back wall while a spoke, "I'm Samantha Reeves, and I moved here from Chicago, Illinois."

"Is that it, Miss Reeves?"

I shrugged, and continued, "This is my first day as a sophmore."

"Really? It's a month into the school year already," a student in the front said curiously.

I grimaced, "There were some complications..."

A mean looking boy in the back spoke up, "What happened? Your cat die?" Mean, indeed. A few people snickered until the teacher glared at them.

I closed my eyes for a second, "My father, actually."

Everyone fell silent. Most looked sympathetic, while some looked like they really couldn't care less. Mrs. Johnson broke the silence by thanking me for the introduction and pointing out where I'd be sitting. Thankfully no where near the mean boy.

"Hi, I'm Christina," a girl to my left whispered cheerfully as the teacher began discussing something about yesterday. She was a tall brunette with a friendly face, easily someone I could get along with. She wore a dressy shirt, but not too dressy, just right for school, stylish jeans and flip-flops. Flip-flops? In this icy weather?

"Hi," I said, glad that someone was talking to me. I really hadn't been looking forward to being lonely here. I braced myself for sympathies about my dad.

"Welcome to Larimore High," she said, holding out her hand. No sympthathies. I think I'm going to like this girl.

"Thanks," I took her hand and shook it.

"No problem. I'm not gonna say you're gonna love it here, 'cause then I'd be lying."

I chuckled, "I wouldn't have believed you anyway."

Her eyes twinkled, "Can I see your schedule?"

I noticed I still had it clutched in my hand, and I passed it to her. She scanned it over before handing it back smiling.

"Four classes together, not including lunch."

I grinned, happy knowing that I'd have at least one friend in almost every period. During the rest of the class, we tuned out Mrs. Johnson, and Christina filled me in on the latest gossip, who's cool and who isn't, who I should stay away from... Things like that. It was refreshing, talking to someone my own age, after spending a month only speaking to my 40-year-old mother, and 19-year-old brother.

After English, Trigonometry flew by. The teacher (thankfully) didn't make me introduce my self. I don't think I could've done that again. Christina guided me to my locker (the number of which was at the top of my schedule) and I put the two textbooks I had gotten in it and followed my new friend to the cafeteria. As we walked, I could feel people's eyes on me. I felt like saying, 'What, never seen a new kid before?'. I voiced this to Christina and she chuckled.

"We really don't get new people often."

"Oh, yeah," I realized, "small town."

She nodded, grinning, "They'll stop paying attention to you so much after a week or so."

A week of this? That doesn't sound fun. Christina must've read my mind.

"Don't worry about it, it's easy to ignore. C'mon," she dragged me through the lunch line and to a table on the left side of the huge room. Four people already occupied it, three girls and a guy.

"Hey, guys," Christina chirped. They all greeted her, eyes appraising me.

"This is Samantha, she's new."

"Hey Samantha, I'm Cassie," a small girl with straight blond hair said cheerfully. I smiled at her and said hi.

A dark skinned, brown-haired girl introduced herself exuberently, "Hello! I'm Jessica!"

"Elizabeth," a girl when raven locks introduced, smiling.

The guy smiled at me warmly, "I'm Chris." I had to admit, he was quite good-looking with his curly brown hair and dimples.

"Nice to meet you guys," I replied, setting my tray down next to Christina and across from Jessica.

"So, where'd you move from?" Jessica asked me, taking a fry from Christina ("Hey! You've got your own fries!") and throwing it in her mouth.

I chuckled and replied, "Chicago."

"Why'd you move from there to a boring place like this town?" Cassie inquired.

I shrugged, "Different reasons."

Jessica opened her mouth to ask why, but Christina threw a fry at her, "Don't be nosy!"

"It's fine." I told her, and turned to Jessica, "It's just... my dad died."

Jessica fell silent, and everyone else looked away awkwardly. No one really usually knew what to say after information like that, so I was used to it.

"So, is there anything fun to do in this town?"


After lunch I headed to the only class I didn't have with Christina, Biology. I sat in the back, so I wouldn't get the feeling of people's eyes in my back the whole period. Apparently in small town North Dakota, people have no manners, because even though I sat behind everyone, they turned around to stare at me anyway. Yeah, real easy to ignore.

While the teacher droned on about cells, I tried not to look at the people who kept glancing at me. I felt a gaze burn into the side of my head, and I turned, exasperated, to see who was looking at me. Everyone in that direction, though, was either paying attention to Mr. Jonas, asleep, or doodling absently. Still feeling the intense stare, my eyes flickered to the window. Nothing. I could've sworn I had seen something blue and a puff of smoke out of the corner of my eye, though.

Shrugging it off, I put as much focus as I could into Mr. Jonas's speech.

Gym was incredibly boring. Since I didn't have a gym uniform yet, I couldn't dress out and participate in the activities. It didn't bother me much, but I think I would've rather played volleyball than sit against the wall watching. I spotted Chris, Jessica, and Elizabeth in my class, too. I was thankful for that, Gym without friends would be completely dull.

Jessica, Christina, Cassie, and Chris were in my last period class. We sat in a small cluster of desks in a corner, talking for most of the class, since Mrs. White had put a movie about some war on. I wasn't paying enough attention to know which war. When the final bell rang, I followed my newly acquired friends out into the flood of students, and out of the school altogether.

"So, how was your first day of school here?" Chris asked, coming to walk beside me.

"It sucked," I informed him, a smile tugging at my lips, "I made friends, got a good class schedule, and people were nice to me."

"Brutal," he shook his head, trying to keep a straight face.

I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing, and he joined soon after. For once in my life, I couldn't wait till school the next day. Maybe life here wouldn't be so bad after all.

On my way home, I couldn't get the image of blue and smoke out of my head. What was that? That midnight blue followed quickly by a puff of dark smoke? Probably just figment of my imagination.


Reviews are greatly appreciated :D I hope you like it so far!