Living With Determination
Chapter 1. Normality
Ignorance is the root of fear
Fear is the kindling of anger
War is the bringer of shame
But never has the burden lain so heavily upon the victim
(News From The Front by Bad Religion.)
Cirque de Festival, France, Paris
Date: Unknown
From what the clouds have hinted, it would have been no more than fitting for her to be in such a place. She didn't hate it; she loved it. The actions and thoughts of humans intrigued her to no end. It was one of the only things that excited her, no matter how strange it may have seemed. For every customer she made contact with their wild emotions managed to excite her, the thought of having a considerable amount of humanity compared to them.
Once more, she swiped her slender fingers over the translucent orb, never making physical contact as her current customer stared at it, expecting something to change. The blonde woman's sharp eyes flickered from the ball to the hooded fortune-teller, growing impatient and sceptical. She had wasted her money.
"Lady, if you can't-"
"Quiet. You are joined with a man, body and soul under the eyes of your God yet he is nowhere to be seen. You yearn for his quick return but weeks turn into years, two years, three months, forty-seven days-" Her eyes flickered up to the customer. "The one you were once destined to be with finds comfort in another. In other words, Madam Boudreaux, your lover is no longer yours. He resides in America, chasing after a forbidden -"
"I've heard enough out of you… I don't need-"
"You did not need to anything from me, dearie. I am simply giving you the information you wanted."
Xavier Institute, New York, Bayville Hills
Date: September 10th
Kitty had taken a bet she knew she would win. A month into her junior year in Bayville high she had bet on her year's allowance that she would already be ankle deep in assignments and homework. The brunette, much to her dismay, knew it would happen without any special powers and she couldn't simply phase through it either. It was the least of her worries at this moment. Kitty slid out from underneath her sheets, deciding that she would make the bed later on or when she felt like it and dragged her bare feet across the carpeted floors of her room lethargically. She made her way to the nearest bathroom to her room. Last year, professor Xavier found it suitable to give the students and mentors separate bathrooms concerning their sex, and a brand new floor for new students. Yeah… If they'll, like, be any. She thought disdainfully, ever since losing Jubilation and Rahne, she feared that her own parents would come and take her away from the only place she actually felt normal.
What was normal anyway?
She had learnt so much in the institute; one of those things were that there was no such thing as 'normal'; normal was such an elusive word these days that she found herself questioning it everyday. To the point where she didn't wish for normality in her life, the people that knew of mutants would treat them one of two ways, as an abomination or a blessing. The question that lied upon all of their heads was; how would society move on.
"Ugh, what is wrong with me today? I feel so icky… gross." Kitty sighed to herself, rubbing the sleepy cheese from her eyes as she fazed through the closed bathroom door, only to hurry out once again. "Woah, I'm sorry Rogue!"
"Ah'll calm down when you finally learn ta knock!" Rogue's muffled voice and a barely audible huff came through the door only to be answered with a sloppy sorry and the sound of the jets of water hitting on the surface of the shower floor. What now? She couldn't go downstairs in her pyjamas, not looking like she just awoke from the dead. Kitty yawned and toddled off to the indoor balcony railings over-looking the large glass front doors of the boarding house. Kitty had always hated that name… The boarding house, she felt like she wasn't there to stay, this home home wasn't a her home-
Kitty shook her head and slapped the palms of her hands against her soft cheeks. "Get those thoughts out of your head, Kitty." She said to herself and sighed. What was wrong with her? She just felt this negative energy draining her own out, she was loosing the skip in her step and she would have none of that. "All I need some R and R, hot coco and some breakfast. Right after miss 'ain't no-one gettin' in without a knockout' finishes up in the-"
"Kitty!" At least she wasn't the only one waiting to use the bathroom. Amara quickened her pace as she held onto her towel, creams and a few items of clothing. "Is Jean in there?"
"Nope, Rogue decided to wake up early for once." The tanned girl hummed as she slowly nodded as if she understood.
"At least you won't be waiting for too long then." That was true. Jean had fortunately been the kind of girl to get up earlier than anyone else; the time she takes to get ready was a totally different story. Rogue said something about doubting that Jean would ever get in trouble, 'she's everyone's favourite'.
"Oh oh! Did you hear?" Amara took a few small steps closer to Kitty, even though the corridors were barren, she still felt the need to whisper whatever she had to gossip about; a known habit throughout the mansion about Amara. "There's a new student."
Kitty didn't have the energy to even feign a shocked expression, she was still drained from last night and throwing clues and hints around wasn't going to make the wheels in her head turn any faster. When Amara didn't get the response she was waiting for, she continued. "Remember Scott's brother? A… Aaron… Andrew"
"Alex."
"That's it, Alex! He's coming to stay with us for a couple of weeks! Scott said that it wasn't permanent, he's only here to stay with his brother for a bit and none of us want a repeat of what happened in Mexico or Hawaii, right?"
At least they would get some time to socialise with someone different; it seemed silly to be excited for a new student or even a visitor that had nothing to do with them but Kitty understood Amara's excitement. It was hard to find someone to talk to about anything, from problems to ambitions and school. Let alone someone with powers. Finding 'humans' to talk to wasn't all too hard these days, more and more people were accepting them for who they were, even if it was a minority. Above all, Kitty understood one thing about this situation.
"So you do like him."
"What? No, no, no-he's cute, yeah but-"
"And you pretended not to know his name! So sly!"
Amara's complaints about Kitty's strange accusation drowned into noise. Kitty could hear her heartbeat in her ears as her attention was caught by something else. The screams of a child grew loud enough to snap Amara out of her dramatic declaration of not love and follow the sound all the way to the stairway. The scene was laid out before them, a woman looked as if she were going to start a war, the screams weren't coming from her, and it was coming her child. The child she was dragging by the wrist to professor Xavier's office.
Please return to your earlier activities, girls. I will handle the rest.
Bayville Hills High school, New York, Bayville Hills
Date: September 10th
"Well, it's nice to see some things haven't changed." There was a large gap between the students; it was obvious what it meant. The mutants were banished to sit on one side. Kurt was already sitting at the back, glancing through faces of the large crowd. Amanda slid through the crowd and jogged up to his side. Kitty took Amara's arm forcefully and dragged her to their friends. The number of mutants in this school was so puny that it was silly how they feared them. It wasn't a large school anyway but the fact that principal Kelly had done nothing to stop this segregation made Kitty's stomach turn in disgust. Slowly, their small group began to fill out with the very few mutants that attended the school along with a few of their human 'supporters' and friends.
Of course, the misfits known as The Brotherhood were nowhere to be seen. All members of that gang of thugs didn't attended school assemblies, with the exception of Wanda. Strangely enough, she came with no real reason and usually sat at the front of 'the mutant section', so it wasn't too difficult to pick her out. Tabitha yelled at Wanda before she could take her usual seat, something about sitting with them. Kitty and Amara waved her over as well. Wanda stood her ground and sat at the front, albeit a row or two away from her usual seat.
Then it began. The doors to the hall closed and the teachers stood beside them, making sure not the let in any late students. "Now! This marks the beginning of a new school year!" Principal Edward Kelly's amplified voice rang through the room, stunning the students to silence as he stood with his head held high. "There have been many… disruptions and changes over the last year. Some more stunning and distracting than others." His hardened gaze fell upon the small group of mutants but he didn't stop talking. "But just know that this year will be better! This year will be fair on those of you incapable of excelling through unnatural causes. "Through the summer break, I had a long think of how we can make this community one that shines through its stigma. The stigma that kept the mutants and the humans almost fighting for dominance and I have finally come up with a solution. The mutants in this school will continue to attend like all other students; it is only fair they do. However, I have taken the measure to separate the classes by what you are capable of."
The hall broke out into an uproar of chatter between students, which was quickly hushed by Kelly. "You may wonder what this means, I will tell you! I am not separating the classes by gender or by grades! No, it will be separated by year and natural and unnatural abilities! Humans will be in their usual classes. Mutants, depending on what subjects they have chosen will take separate classes, let's call them Class-B of… Seniors. Let's say the Seniors Class A-1 has English Literature at… 9am to 10am, Class-B Seniors will have English Literature from 10am until 11am, so on, so forth. This does not mean Class-B's day will be longer! You will all finish and start at the exact same time, unless your assigned teacher says otherwise. If you misbehave, your teacher has the right to keep you behind, Class A-1 and Class-B." He wasn't finished. Kelly proceeded to flip through the small pages of his notes and adjusted his glasses. No mutant outbreaks, no protests yet either. All was calm.
"I will be introducing another new system to the school, student tutor and tutor teachers. I am very aware of the likelihood of one of the classes failing or struggling with their education. Every morning at 8:45 and every afternoon at 4:00, you will all be expected to attend what we call 'tuition time'. You will have a certain class grouping, as mentioned before and you will be assigned with one member of staff. The majority of the class will depend on which subject your teacher will major in. As for the student tutors… In other countries, I suppose they call it 'peer assessment', they will be the leading students from each and every year. Occasionally we will have some college students to come in as well but only when the exams are near-by. We have already contacted the students that will be taking part and they have happily agreed with doing so, the student tutor program will begin next month."
The sound of rustling papers sounded through the halls; amplified by the microphone in front of him as a large projector slowly slid down from the ceiling behind him. It stopped and once the students had gotten a clear look at it from afar, they could tell that there were names. The slides of the presentation changed as he cleared his throat and began speaking once more. "Finally, I will list the teachers assigned with these students and classes. Please take note of what class and room you will be in as they are in bold at the top of the list!" Once again, Kelly adjusted his glasses as he read. "Mr. George Schyman for the freshmen's Class A-1, please stand and follow your teacher out. He will take the register to check if all of you are present." And as he read the names, the number of students dwindled down steadily. "Mrs. Caroline Corbel for the junior's Class A-2, please stand and follow your teacher out. She will take the register to check if all of you are present. Mr. David Kim for the junior's Class A-3, please stand and follow your teacher out. He will take the register to check if all of you are present. Miss. Emma Benette for Class-B, all mutants please stand and follow your teacher out. She will take the register to check if all of you are present."
They begrudgingly stood and lumbered over to the other end of the hall, it was ridiculous to separate them in such a way. "Did she teach any a' you guys?" Rogue made a clicking sound with her tongue as she walked down the steps. When she was met with silence, she rolled her eyes and walked faster to catch Kitty's attention. "Do you know about her?"
Kitty shook her head, her ponytail whipping from side to side in a more vibrant manner than she intended. "I've never heard of her before now." She shrugged; her mind was still on the morning's events, to top it all off a new school policy.
"They probably called in a professional to deal with us." Tabitha whispered in a none-too-secretive manner. Usually the others ignored her comments but in this case, what she said put them on edge more than the speech ever would.
"P-professional?" Bobby's voice broke slightly but before he could correct his vocal mishap, Tabitha cut him off with her own suspicions as to whom this new teacher was.
"She could be a military specialist!"
"Don't say stuff like that, Tabby. They wouldn't go that far…" Amara sighed as she tugged on Tabitha's arm to walk faster.
They assumed the woman in heels waiting beside the double doors was their new teacher and she didn't look like a military specialist. Miss Benette stood with a clipboard in her arm and a hand on her hip as she tapped her foot with great impatience. Her hair was tied into a low ponytail and her suit was clean, fitted and seemingly new. She didn't look like the kind of woman that would teach there. "Nice to meet you all, I'm your homeroom teacher."
Holy shit, I took a while to rewrite this... Thank you for reading the opening chapter to what I hope will be a long fanfiction and please look forward to the next! Things will pick up in the next chapter! So, what did you guys think about this chapter? I'm from Britain so I'm not all too well versed in American schooling.
Thanks for reading,
Cherubic Whale.