Dr. Alphenzyhmuh Dthmilly'yi was a complicated man to say the least. There was little time when he wasn't teaching the Mutant Sciences or mumbling about the poor hand life had dealt him, but I loved him anyway, as much as a student could love a teacher. He was smart and witty enough- far smarter than I- and could always whip me back into my place. I wish I could pronounce his name; Dr. Dilly suited him just fine.
Dr. Dilly shuffled the deck of cards and set it on the table. "Pick which deck you want to play with. I designed these ones to play easy."
"Are you sure about that?" I grabbed the left deck. "That's what you said last time and I still lost."
"But you forget that the last time you came to my office for a game, you were fuming over Miss Grey-"
"It really was her fault! But no- I'm the bad guy! She started that whole mess but because she comes from that family-"
"Calm down, Miss Creed. Draw five cards."
"Okay. Fine. Now what?"
"Do you have a location card?"
"Yeah. The original school."
"Put it into play and give me a minute to find the ability packet."
I set the card on top of the game mat as Dr. Dilly flipped through his card box; it was huge and should have been alphabetized, but it wasn't; he played with them too much.
The location card read: Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters/ "Mutatis Mutandis." I hated it.
Dr. Dilly placed a small, face down deck next to it. "There. So based off of this, you got my 'good guys' build."
"Yeah." It was nice to be considered good for once in my life; I looked down at my cards. One Rogue, two safe houses, a Beast, and the Wolverine's dog tags. "Hey, I thought you said this deck was good."
"It is good." The Dr. discarded a card and looked over his. "You just got a bad hand."
"You made it that way-"
"I didn't do any such thing." He hovered his fingers over his hand and grabbed a card. "I put Magneto into play."
He set the car on the mat in front of him, a smile on his face. I looked at my cards again. "I'll play the safehouse."
"Good choice, Miss Creed. Please draw from the location deck." Dilly Motioned to the smaller deck; I drew. Tripped Security/ Look through your deck until you find (2) character cards. Put them into immediate play and shuffle your deck. A smile crept on my lips. What a good draw. I began to flip through my deck.
"I assume you didn't just come here to play cards or did you, Miss Creed?"
I continued to look through the cards. "Yeah, actually. Well, I mean, you're my counselor so I guess I just assumed you could help me."
"Yes and no. And you know what that makes out of you when you assume."
"Yeah, yeah. I know- but I could say the same about you."
"Touché. Now, what is your concern?"
"I want to be re-evaluated."
"What?" He set his hand down. I pulled a Pre-Phoenix Jean Grey from the deck. Great. Just my luck. I stopped looking.
"I want to be re-evaluated."
"Oh no, I know that, but why? You make a perfect member for the school's Brotherhood Branch. Why would you want to change?"
"Because." I scratched my nose and set my hand down. "I want to be an X-Man."
Dr. Dilly furrowed his brow and leaned back in his chair; he crossed his arms and put his hand under his chin. "I would never have guessed."
"And why is that?"
"You just live up so well to the family tradition. I mean, despite murder and um… other things, you're practically a perfect Creed model.
"Don't talk about me like I'm some science experiment or one of the character evolution cards in your deck. You know very well that I want nothing to do with this awful stereotype. I don't want to be like-" I bit my lip and looked down.
"You don't want to be anything like your father."
"Exactly."
Dr. Dilly sighed. "Well, I'll see what I can do." He shuffled his hand back into his deck. "We will have to try this game some other time."
"Of course. And hey, Dilly?"
"Yes?"
"Don't tell the others. They'll feel like I'm betraying them."
He smiled. "Of course, Miss Kyrany. Your secret is safe with me. Now hurry before you're late to class."
He waved me goodbye from his office door. I sighed and walked down the hall. Even though it was still really early, the rest of the student body had begun to trickle into the grounds of the nation's most prized academy: Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. I don't know why they still let the name carry on. He's been dead for almost five centuries. But that's not how the world works and I didn't have much time to think about it that early in the morning. I had History to get to.
"The original members of the X-Men had then became much like America's Founding Fathers to our great nation nearly five centuries ago." Ms. Claywater stood in front of the classroom and was pulling old newspaper clips and photographs out of the history database and displayed them proudly on the screen. She was an older woman and time was not good to her, so she settled for teaching the past. She was built on a svelte frame, yet so angry and desperately bitter. I did not know how she was able to contain it all. "Does anyone know why? What about you, Miss Creed? Miss Creed. Kyrany!"
I looked up from the worksheet document she had shared to the classroom tablets to see her beady eyes staring at me. "Why does it matter if I know what those dead, idiotic losers did for Mutant kind? It's not like they helped much in the building of Utopia considering it was left to ruin after the whole Asteroid M business crashed and dictatorship didn't work."
She bawled her fists up in anger. "We have been through this! Utopia is the capital of the world and thanks to the hard work of our ancestors, who, might I remind you, pioneered our path to freedom and equality, we now live without being afraid of persecution for who we are."
I set my pen down. "You mean you."
"Excuse me?"
"You are free to live without being afraid that people will hate you for who you are. Not everyone is that fortunate-"
Jennifer Grey-Summers slammed her hand on her desk and turned around to face me. "Kyrany, why do you always have to cause trouble?!"
"Shut it, ammonia!"
"What did you just call me?!"
"Ammonia, sweetheart. You reek of it. Everyone already knows you dye your hair so why keep trying-?"
Jennifer lunged at me only to be apprehended by another student. "My hair is naturally red you brotherhood freak!"
"Ladies, enough!" Ms. Claywater screamed at the top of her lungs. I felt my body rise slightly off the ground and the other student let go of Jennifer. She floated too. "Creed, I want you out of this classroom. Now!"
"She started it!" I clenched my jaw and glared at Jennifer. If only looks could kill.
"Out. Now!"
She released us and the door of the classroom flung open. I gathered my things in my bag and walked down the aisle to the door.
My peers watched me. A few kids gave me thumbs up and smiled. They were just like me: misfits in the modern banded brotherhood of 'evil' mutants.
Before I say anymore, let me explain. Utopia is a modern city where anyone can be anything they so desire, but the most coveted position of them all is the title of X-Man. It was seen as an honor to be in their ranks and as long as you had the right blood for it, it was easy. Like Jennifer, for instance. She's something along the lines of the original Jean Grey and Scott Summers' granddaughter if you plugged a million greats before it. She wore a good name and likewise, was rewarded for it.
And there are, of course, some who are not so lucky. Those like me who have bad blood and bad names attached to them. No one wants to associate with a Creed. Why would they? My father was a psycho murder like his father, who was like his father, who was like his father, who was the original Mutant Nazi, Graydon Creed. I would give anything to be associated with my great-great-great-great grandmother, Raven Darkholme, the Mystique. But no, I'm stuck with good old Grandpa Victor and a torrent of endless pie jokes. Nothing says living the great mutant dream like prejudiced hierarchies and classism.