2 Weeks Later

            Aurora had traveled through the East Coast, looking for relatives that would take her in.  She had finally found an aunt, her mother's younger sister, who was willing to give her a home.

            In Susanne Starling, Aurora had found hope for acceptance, as well as the mother she barely remembered.  Aurora had arrived during the summer, giving Susanne a few weeks to enroll her in the school systems and outfit a small room for her.

              Susanne had accepted the fact that her niece was a mutant, but she hadn't seen Aurora's secret.  She hadn't pried, hadn't poked, hadn't bothered Aurora about it.  She had helped Aurora to get settled in this new city.  To Aurora, Susanne was something of a dream, where she was loved despite her differences.

            But then the school year started.  Susanne had walked with Aurora to her new school, Bayville High, but nothing could really prepare her for her first day.  She still wore a long jacket, but it was a new one.

            "I don't know, Auntie Suzy, I think they'll notice.  Who else wears the same jacket to school every day, all the time?" Aurora said to her aunt.

            "I've heard that there are some pretty weird people going to that school.  Weird in a fashion sense, I mean." Susanne replied, handing Aurora her backpack. "I've walked by a few times after the class lets out.  There's one kid who always wears red sunglasses.  I hear he never takes them off."

            "Maybe I will fit in." Aurora said doubtfully, trying to believe herself. 

            Her aunt gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm sure you will."

            Aurora walked to her new school and when she arrived, an instinctive shyness kicked in, and she walked hurriedly to her first class, trying to avoid eye contact with everyone.

            The first half of the day passed uneventfully.  A few people gave her strange looks, but she chalked those up to being one of the few new students.  She saw the guy her aunt had mentioned, the one who wore sunglasses all the time.  He didn't seem to be receiving strange stares from anyone, only occasional glares from a group of mismatched people.  One was a really big guy, another was a sort-of small guy with almost gray skin.  There was a white-haired guy and a surly dark-haired dude. 

            At lunch, Aurora tried to find a place where she could eat by herself, but to no avail.

            "Hey, you're new, aren't you?" a voice hailed her.  It belonged to a tall junior.  He sneered down at her, trying to look nice and failing miserably. 

            She nodded. "Yeah."

            He looked her over. "What's with the jacket?"

            A girl, his friend apparently, came over. "Yeah, and what's with that weird lump on your back?"

            Aurora shrugged. "Nothing.  I don't know, it just appeared."

            "Come on, let's see it." the guy said, an eagerness for the grotesque showing in his voice.

            "No." Aurora said sharply as the girl reached for her jacket. "Leave me alone."

            The guy pushed her to the ground and tried to rip the jacket from her shoulders.

            "Leave me alone!" Aurora shouted as his hand hit the small lump on back, sending the old pain shooting down her spine.

            Suddenly, the pressure on her back was gone.  She sat up slowly and turned to see two more people.  One was a purple-haired, violet-eyed Asian senior.  The other was a blond, blue-eyed senior.  The Asian girl had the junior's arm twisted behind his back.  The other girl had ran off, undoubtedly to hang out with some other friends.

            "Get going, David." the girl pushed the junior away from her. 

            The blond guy offered Aurora a hand. "Hi, new girl." he said.

            Aurora allowed him to help her up. "Hi. I'm Aurora Briase."

            "Warren." the guy replied.

            "Actually he's Warren Worthington the Third.  Big name, huh?" the Asian girl added with a laugh. "I'm Elisabeth Braddock.  But you can call me Betsy."

            Betsy looked at Aurora, her almond-shaped eyes flickering quickly from the girl to her jacket and then to Warren.

            "Warren…" she said, letting her voice trail off.

            He nodded. "I know."  Both Betsy and Warren had a sneaking suspicion that this girl was a mutant. 

            "You want to meet us after school somewhere?  There are some people that would like to meet you." Warren said to Aurora.

            "I don't know.  Maybe." Aurora replied.  She thought about it for a moment. "I guess.  I don't think I have to get home right away."

            "Okay.  We'll find you." Betsy smiled.

Author's Note: For future chapters, I'm not very good with accents, so Rouge and whoever else has an accent might not have one.  Just pretend they do.