"But WHY!" Jubilation Lee shouted for what felt like the trillionth time...and it most likely was.
"Honestly? Do you really want to know?" her foster father screamed back.
Her foster mom stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder, "Honey..."
He shrugged her off and pointed an accusing finger at Jubilee, "It's because you're a mutant and they're mutants. It's bad enough that you're one, but we don't need our reputations being worthless because they figure out that you are associated with those freaks who like to play superhero."
"The X-men are heroes. That's one definition you will never understand," she screamed as her brown eyes filled with anguished tears.
"Jubilee..." her mother said, but didn't come closer to the young girl. It wasn't a mystery as to why. They feared her.
Before they could say anything else, she took off out the front door and down the street. It was the middle of the summer in California during a heatwave. Sweat poured off of her in a salty waterfall, but she didn't care. She didn't care about anything, not her burning limbs, not her father screaming after her from the porch, nothing.
When she finally stopped, the sky was dark and the area was unfamiliar. Her furious run slowed to a wary walk. She wouldn't be afraid to admit it. She was now terrified.
The one rule of thumb in the area near where she resided was not to go out at dark alone. Ever.
As luck would have it, she saw that someone had left the door to an old Chinese restaurant nearby unlocked, though with the missing glass with was a wonder they even bothered to. She walked inside and slowly through the dining room into the kitchen.
She sat down in a little cubby nearby, knowing no one would be in this store for a while. Everything had been cleared out and clearly no one but the cockroaches had bothered to welcome themselves to its shelter.
Her cellphone in her pocket vibrated, making her flinch. She looked at the caller I.D. bar, expecting to see her father or mother's number, but instead the words 'caller unknown' were blazoned across the glowing rectangle. Curious, and wanting to stall time before going home, she answered it, "Hello?"
"Good evening. Is this Jubilation Lee?"
The voice was clearly feminine, with a sophisticated English accent, making her wonder more, "Yeah. Who is this?"
"My name is Emma Frost. I am headmistress of the Massachusetts Academy. Tell me, Jubilation, do you miss being part of a team?"
The rest of this little conversation can be up to your imaginations, but next up is going to be Rahne. Let's see how our little mutants enjoy their new team.