A U T H O R' S N O T E

Many people may ask 'why Jamie?' With which I'll merely reply "Why not?" I love Jamie. He's the cutest! squee

Jamie Madrox always thought up interesting ways to entertain himself. He had to. Life at the institute…heck, even life before the institute was kind of lonely. He'd thought it very ironic that his mutant ability helped him with that…inadvertently.

Being twelve stinks, he decided. No one included him, no one let him watch the cool movies with the older students, no one went to his school, and he didn't have adequate control of his powers. He was slowly getting the hang of it though.

Math came very easily to him, as a result of his mutation, and most times he embraced his power as a gift, because there were very good bonuses that came with having numerous clones of yourself. Studying for anything was a breeze. He just had to replicate himself and make all his clones study at once, and upon re-absorption, the original Jamie retained all the knowledge. Pretty handy.

He was never without someone to talk to, even if it was himself. If he needed to look for someone, he could find them in no time at all. He was naturally pretty good with computers, though he didn't see how that linked to his mutation. All in all, he loved being a mutant most of the time, and he loved being among people who had powers too, but being twelve in a mansion full of older teenagers who could all practically drive was irritating. They all thought he was too young to hang out with them, and he thought this was immensely unfair.

Sure, it was a bonus the time Bobby took the X Jet for a joyride, and Jamie ended up not getting in trouble, and the older kids did. Sure Ms. Munroe thought he was cute and let him get away with practically anything. And, okay, it was cool when Rahne wanted to play with someone, she naturally came to him as Wolfsbane because he was the one the wolf had decided she needed to protect the most out of her pack.

But Rahne wasn't in the mood to be Wolfsbane right now because she was really stressed out, and didn't want her wolf side to take her anger out on anyone. Ms. Munroe was away in her little sanctuary having "alone time" with her garden, and Jamie would sooner eat his left hand than ask Mr. Logan if he wanted to do something with him.

Resultantly, he'd ended up trying to tag after Ray, Sam, and Jubilation when they announced that they were going to go to town and grab a pizza, and been cussed out because he was "such a pest." Just as Jamie began wheedling Jubilation out of her stalwart "No," he tripped over himself and multiplied. Five Jamies started pleading with her to reconsider, but as usual, his klutziness had sealed his fate.

Jamie tried going in to hang out with some of the other older students, but apparently anyone who cared about grades at the High School were all studying. That explains Rahne…Jamie thought. The only ones not studying were Kitty, who was talking on the phone, and Rogue, who glared at him before he could get any words out, and any desire he had to try hanging out in that room withered and died on the spot.

I wonder what the Professor is doing, Jamie found himself wondering. But Professor Xavier was locked away in the room they kept his mega-brain thing in. That's one book in this house I haven't read, Jamie realized gloomily. The one about brain functions and stuff. Maybe it would help me understand the hemisphere of the brain that blocks any and all teenagers from wanting to hang out with me.

Dejectedly, Jamie wandered toward the library, thinking he'd make a day out of trying to read all the books at once. He'd always wanted to read the classics. Moby Dick, Treasure Island, Gulliver's Travels: His English class in school took care of the works of Shel Silverstien, as well as little flimsy paperbacks like Deathwatch and Tom's Cabin.

Needing to talk to someone about his troubles, Jamie made a solitary duplicate of himself, talking to…well, himself.

"You know, we're a lot smarter than they give us credit for."

"Yeah! I mean, just because we're twelve doesn't mean we're stupid!"

"We've read more novels than most kids our age."

"That's just because no one wants to hang out with us."

"What's their problem, anyway?"

"I don't know. I mean, we're obviously cool."

"Yeah. And we have awesome powers!"

"But no one likes us."

Both boys sighed, and one Jamie opened the door, holding it for himself.

"What should we read first?"

"We should read the tenth grade books today. Scarlet Letter, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Of Mice and Men, and The Great Gatsby. Just for fun."

"We won't know what all the words in Scarlet Letter mean."

"Well, we'll look them up in the dictionary too."

"How many of us do we need?"

"Just five books, plus any other ones we want to read."

"Didn't we want to read Gulliver's Travels today?"

"Won't that just make us depressed?"

"You have a point."

"Jamie? Is that you? Who's with you?"

Both boys looked around, surprised. "Who's there?" they called in unison.

Out of the bookshelves came none other than Jean Grey. Jamie was surprised. He'd thought she'd be studying like everyone else.

"What are you doing here?" he blurted, forgetting that he still had a double whose mind was independent from his.

"Yeah! Why aren't you studying with the others?"

Jamie turned to himself. "I'm handling it!"

The two Jamies became one person once more, and Jean was looking somewhat amused.

"I'm actually pretty fast at studying. I can just skim the chapter once and it's engraved in my memory," she smiled. "Comes in handy to be a telepath, not just a telekine."

"Couldn't you help the others study if you wanted to?" Jamie suggested.

"It wouldn't be ethical. I'd consider it cheating. Planting information in someone else's brain to avoid them learning it for themselves?"

"Technically, that's what I do," Jamie pointed out.

"But no matter how many replicas you make, they are all your brain. So you see?"

"I guess so. I read all of Dr. McCoy's books on the parts of the body, and the cells and stuff like that, but I haven't read the Brain yet."

Jean looked surprised. "Aren't those books a little advanced for you?"

"I get allot of the stuff, actually. I relate it in mathematical terms. I'm really good at math."

"How do you find the time?"

"Are you kidding?"

Jamie obligingly made a team of ten.

"We have nothing but time."

"Yeah."

"And no one wants to hang out with us."

"We're too young."

"So you come to the library and read," Jean concluded, connecting the dots. "How advanced are you? You could try and test out of Secondary school for next year."

"We were going to read the tenth grade level books today."

"And we wanted to read the classics. You know. Moby Dick, and Treasure Island."

Jamie recalled his team, looking curiously at Jean. "Why are you in here?"

Jean looked embarrassed. "Actually, I was studying in here because of the psi shielding. Everyone's too loud out there."

Jamie looked thoughtful. "They're…thinking too loudly?"

"Yeah. You really should read that book on the brain, you know. If you're really interested. It would increase your knowledge so much."

Jamie grinned. "Okay. I'll get it right now."

Jamie split himself, and a clone ran dutifully from the room, in search of the book on brains.

"What are you studying?" Jamie continued the conversation.

Jean grinned. "Actually, math. It's the one subject my photographic memory doesn't help me with. Even learning the exact definition of the function I'm doing doesn't help me with calculus. The book isn't very good at giving examples, so it's the old fashioned way for me."

Jamie grinned. "So you're saying you need me?"

"I don't know, Multiple," Jean teased, as one Jamie after another popped into existence. "Can you handle calculus?"

"Can we?" One Jamie exclaimed happily.

"We love calculus!" another cheered.

Jean found herself being ushered to the table by one Jamie, as the others scrambled around the library, finding books.

"Are you sure you're not annoyed by us?"

Jean looked at Jamie, smiling. "Jamie, you're my hero right now. All of you," she added to the rest of the Jamies, who were lounging about the library.

One Jamie's eyes widened. "But aren't our thoughts too loud?"

Jean grinned. "I wasn't worried about that at all. You've always had excellent mental shields, and I've never heard any of your thoughts projected into my brain, unless there were more than 20 of you."

"We have good mental shields?"

"Hey, you guys! Jean just said we had good mental shields!"

"Wow! No girl has ever said that to us before!"

"What are mental shields?"

Jean just laughed. "You'll understand once you finish that book."

"Tell us now! We won't get the information until he's done reading it!"

"Well, I think it has to do with the fact that all of you are clones, yet you can think for yourselves, say your own phrases, and that sort of thing. That requires immense mental strain."

"It's not that hard," one Jamie said modestly, looking at his feet.

"Well, you've developed that part of your brain…er…brains…that requires you to still be able to control all the clones. You can recall them by will, right?"

"Yup!"

"Well, as a result, you have very strong mental shields. I can't hear your projected thoughts unless you want me to."

"Sweet!"

"Hey! I thought his name was Ahab! It's Ishmael!"

"Just keep reading, dummy! It'll make sense!"

"I'm not a dummy! You are!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Guys, clam it! We're trying to let Jean concentrate!"

"Sorry."

"Sorry."

Several hours went by, and as the various Jamies finished their books, they disappeared, re-absorbing into each other.

Jean was amused by the process. She finally grasped the concept of the equations, (it didn't take long) and she started working problems under the cheers of two or three Jamies.

Finally, all of the Jamies had reabsorbed into one. He stumbled a bit, holding his head.

"Are you okay, Jamie?" Jean asked concernedly.

"This happens a lot. When I learn so much, it's always overwhelming when I'm one brain again. It'll go away in a minute. Hey! I get what you were talking about before!"

Jean laughed. "Jamie, I don't know why the others think you're annoying. You're my savior. And you're the quietest mind I've been around at this house besides Professor Xavier."

"Even Mr. Logan or Bobby?"

"Especially Bobby. Trust me. He can't keep his thoughts to himself sometimes."

"Cool! I'm better than Iceman at something!"

"You're probably better than a lot of people at a lot of things. I haven't even read Gulliver's Travels. Too long for my tastes."

"Well, if you want to skip around a bit, I suggest you start at his arrival, and stop before he is punished for putting out the fire. It's boring between there and the end."

"I'll keep that in mind. You retain all of the knowledge of your clones, right?"

"Yup."

"So can you keep the information from yourself if you divided again?"

Jamie looked thoughtful. "I think that would be really advanced for me. I think with the right concentration, each clone could be a different aspect of my personality, but usually it's a matter of complete replication. Not specific division into different people. I expect I'd develop a personality complex if that happened."

"Wow. You really do retain knowledge. Even your vocabulary is improved!"

"People think I'm dumb or something. I'm really not, they just shoo me away because I make "too much of a crowd."

"No, you control yourself better than when you first got here. I think it's all those books you're reading."

"Thanks, Jean." Jamie beamed.

"I'll see you at dinner then?"

"Yeah! I'll meet you there!"

"Bye, Jamie."

Jamie, after making sure he was alone, couldn't resist splitting himself in two and congratulating…himself…on his suaveness.

"We were awesome!"

"Yes we were! Was there any doubt we would be?"

"No! Because we are Multiple, the friend of Jean!"

"She totally digs us!"

"Did you see how impressed she was when we told her about our powers?"

"Yes! And when we'd read a book that she hadn't!"

"I know!"

Both boys couldn't hold their excitement in any longer.

"Being twelve rocks!" they both said in unison, slapping a high five. With that exclamation, they walked, arm-in-arm towards their room.