Miranda was placed in Rogue's room, and she awkwardly explained that she'd changed her mind and decided to attend the school. The professor had her meet with the teachers to see where she stood in schooling. They decided she was a little behind the other students, having dropped out of school for a little over a month, but could catch up quickly with some help. So she was now in a room with Kitty and Peter who were supposed to help her with the work she'd been given to catch her up.
Kitty helped her improve her English and grammar and showed her the major things she'd missed in history. Peter was supposed to help her with math and science, but she was having a difficult time with him. She insisted on sitting across the table from him, next to Kitty. She was quick to give him her opinion, but refused to ask questions, which caused their time to go even longer because he had to explain things more than once. Finally they decided to quit for the day and start again tomorrow.
"Why don't you like Pete?" Kitty asked after the young man had left.
"Because he's a guy." Before either girl could say more, Jean and Storm appeared.
The professor had asked them to take Miranda shopping for clothes and other necessities. Kitty offered to go with, jumping at the chance to get out of the mansion for a little while, so Jean let her take her place and remained at the mansion to spend time with Scott. Kitty helped Miranda find several outfits that looked good, but Miranda still purchased a majority of jeans and tank tops. They spent a few hours shopping, so when they returned to the mansion it was time for dinner.
That night, Miranda fell asleep instantly, tired from all the events of the day and comfortable in her new bed. She woke up early the next morning, but stayed in bed for a few hours, just enjoying the feel of sleeping in a proper bed again. When Rogue got up, she had no choice but to do likewise. Rogue said little, and Miranda wondered if the girl might be upset with her for some reason. Wanting this school situation to work, she decided to suck up her pride long enough to try and smooth things over.
"Hey, Rogue, is something wrong?" she asked hesitantly when the other girl was brushing her hair. Rogue continued brushing while she answered.
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." Fed up, she gave up being polite.
"Look, if there's something about me that's bothering you, just tell me so we can get past it."
"I just don't appreciate the way you treated Bobby yesterday, or any of us for that matter." Rogue set down the brushed and turned around to face Miranda.
"It's nothing personal." She held up her hands in what she hoped to be an apologetic gesture.
Rogue nodded but said no more, so Miranda left in search of breakfast. Upon reaching the kitchen, she found John sitting with a bowl of cereal in front of him. He glanced up at her when she entered, but then let his gaze fall back to his meal. She ignored him and made herself some toast. She also poured herself a glass of orange juice before sitting down at the table, at the other end from John.
"What, don't want to sit by me?" he asked her. She ignored him and continued eating. "And you don't want to talk to me either. I heard you're getting help with some catch up work 'cause you're behind us all in school. Did you get kicked out of your last school because you're a mutant or were you just too stupid so you dropped out on your own?"
"What is your problem?" she yelled at him across the table.
"You. You come in here and act like you don't need any of this, but then here you are, the Professor's new charity case, coming to the freak school like all the rest of us."
"I'm not a freak!"
"News flash: according to the world, we're all freaks; you, me, everyone in this school."
"If you hate it so much, why are you here?"
"I don't have anywhere else to go," he told her. "But that's my own choice. They didn't find me living in a car, starving."
"You don't know anything about me, so just shut up!"
Miranda was now standing up, her hands gripping the table. Water from John's glass flew to her, and she pulled it into a ball in her hand. She watched as he stood, a smirk appearing on his face. He pulled a lighter from his pocket and used it to create a ball of fire in his own hand. They stood like that, staring at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Miranda couldn't wait any longer, wanting to wipe that smirk off his face, so she extended her water towards him like a whip. He ducked and threw a fire ball at her, which she dodged by jumping to the side.
"John, Miranda, stop it!" They turned and saw Scott standing in the doorway. Miranda imagined he would be glaring at them if she could see his eyes. "John, you know better than to fight with your powers in the house. Save it for the Danger Room. Miranda, we don't allow sparing in the house, to try and avoid damage," he told her, sounding like he was talking to a child.
She hated being told what to do, but didn't want to get kicked out of the school. She quickly returned the water to John's glass, put her dishes in the dishwasher, and then left the room. She headed back up to her room to shower and cool off. Once she was dressed, she went outside. A long walk would allow her to clear her head.
She thought about her argument with John. How had he known about her living in a car? Obviously someone had said something about it. There were only four people who knew, assuming the Professor would tell Jean about her circumstances. She knew it couldn't have been the professor, and nor did the women seem likely to spill her personal information, which left Scott. She hadn't liked the man since her first meeting with him. He seemed the type to want to appear smarter than others, like he wanted to be the professor's right hand man, the second in command. Perhaps he had been the one to tell Jean, and had been within hearing distance of students. That was possible. She wasn't aware of how long she'd been out walking until Pete came up beside her, startling her.
"Hey, are you still going to work with Kitty and me today?" he asked her.
"Yeah, sorry," she said stiffly. She walked inside with him, aware of the awkward silence, but refusing to do anything to make him more comfortable.
Kitty had little left to help her with, only a few more historical events and their details. She then left to go play a card game with Rogue and Bobby. Pete was left to help Miranda catch up in science. They'd managed to finish up with math the previous day, though Miranda wasn't sure how much she remembered. She could tell Pete was getting frustrated with her, and part of her felt bad, but another part of her enjoyed frustrating him.
Pushing those thoughts aside, she tried once again to focus on what he was showing her. They were on the last chapter. Once they finished this, she'd be able to go to the classes and learn at the same level as everyone else, rather than having to have special classes or attend a lower level class. But try as they might, Miranda just didn't understand. Finally, Pete asked her to wait while he disappeared for a moment. When he came back, Storm was with him. As the school's science teacher, Storm knew all about the subject and was able to help Miranda understand the material. Miranda thanked her and headed back up to her room.
She avoided people for the rest of the day, preferring to spend time memorizing the layout of the school so she'd never get lost. The following day, she arrived just barely on time to class. Kitty had saved her a seat, which she slid into gratefully. She was prepared for all her classes except science. As she feared, she hadn't retained most of the information she'd been given over the weekend. She scribbled furiously throughout class, trying to write down as much of the lesson as she could. After class, Pete approached her.
"I saw you taking notes during class. It looked like you were having some trouble. Do you want any help?"
"No thanks." She quickened her step and rejoined Kitty in the crowd, leaving Pete behind.
She ate lunch with Kitty, sitting outside under a tree enjoying the breeze. They talked about classes and homework, but then Kitty mentioned going to a Danger Room session that night. Miranda immediately asked what that was, so Kitty explained. Neither of them knew what Miranda would do, so they sought out the professor and asked him.
"I thought you would join Kitty's group," he told them. "You already know everyone who will be there, so it might be easier than putting you by yourself or in another group. Is that okay with you?"
Miranda nodded and then she and Kitty left. She spent the afternoon worrying about the Danger Room session. Apparently the group spent a few nights every week training themselves to use their minds, bodies, and powers to defeat opponents and complete simulations. Tonight would be different since Miranda would be with them. They were going to do an easier simulation to break her in and get her used to using her powers with the others. Also, she would get to see the others use their powers. Apparently Jean would be running their session tonight.
"So you're going to join our training group?" Bobby asked when she showed up that night. Everyone else was already there.
"That's why I'm here, isn't it?" she said testily. She was nervous, and that always made her temper flare.
"Okay," Kitty said, wanting to avoid tension, "why don't we all explain our powers to Miranda since she's new, so she knows what to expect. I can walk through solid objects." To illustrate, she walked through a wall, disappeared, and then came back.
"I can create ice and freeze things, but you've already seen me do it," Bobby told her. She remembered when he'd frozen the stream of water she'd sent flying around the room when she first met all of them.
"I borrow other people's powers by touching their skin," Rogue told her. "That's why I always wear gloves." Miranda made a mental note to never let Rogue touch her. Unable to control her own powers, she didn't want to think about what would happen if Rogue borrowed them.
"I can turn my entire body into metal," Pete told her. To show her, he transformed himself in front of her.
"You already know what I can do," John told her. She nodded, remembering their fight the day before. Everyone then looked at Miranda, waiting for her to explain her power.
"Oh, I can manipulate water."
"Is everyone ready?" Jean asked as she entered the room. Everyone but Miranda nodded. "Good. I've programmed an easier simulation tonight, to ease Miranda into these training sessions. In this exercise, you will be split up into two teams of three. To make it easy, we've made the teams boys versus girls. Each of you will wear one of these targets," she held up a painted target connected to a string to hang around their neck. "The goal is to obtain all three of the other team's targets. Powers are allowed, though you're to avoid hurting anyone." Jean looked pointedly at John. "Any questions?"
No one had questions, though Miranda wasn't sure what exactly she would do. She hung her target around her neck like the others and then followed them into the Danger Room. She noticed it was a very large, round room, covered with blue-ish tiles and bathed in a soft light that also seemed almost blue. She watched as the three boys walked to the other side of the room and huddled together, obviously forming some sort of strategy. Kitty and Rogue motioned for her to join them.
"Okay, Rogue is going to borrow my power so we can phase through the guys and hopefully get their targets from behind them. Miranda, do you think you can handle keeping them busy with your power?"
Miranda nodded and gave them a confident smile, though she felt less confident than she looked. The teams faced each other, and on Jean's command, the "battle" began. Rogue had already touched Kitty to get her power, so the two immediately began running towards the boys. Bobby and John fired their elements at the pair, but they just phased through the attacks. Kitty phased through John first and tried to get his target, but he spun away from her and threw fire in her direction. Pete then came up behind her and tried to grab her target, but she phased through him. Rogue meanwhile had tried the same approach with Bobby, which ended with the same result. Unable to grab his target, she backed away. Miranda then went to work. Gathering moisture from around her into a small ball of water, she sent it flying like a whip towards John and Pete. John tried to retaliate with his fire, which ended in a deadlock. Kitty took the moment and ripped John's target from behind, then quickly ran away before she could get caught. While keeping the water shooting towards John, Miranda sent water in the shape of a boomerang towards Bobby. He was thrown off balance, but then froze her boomerang and grabbed Rogue's target while she was distracted.
Pete had run after Kitty, who was just barely staying ahead of him. Bobby noticed the pair and froze the ground in front of them. Kitty slipped and Pete grabbed her target before he lost his balance and fell to on the floor as well. John stopped throwing fire at Miranda suddenly, as she realized Pete was running towards her. He was closing in on her fast, and suddenly she wasn't looking at Pete running to steal her target, but her old partner when they fought after their last job. Repeating the same defensive action, she threw her hands out in front her and wished he'd stop coming towards her. She heard everyone gasp, so she looked to see what had happened. Pete was suspended in air, unable to move. No one moved. Then Pete transformed into his metal form, and he fell to the ground, able to move again. Miranda realized she couldn't control the water in his body anymore because he was made of metal at the moment. Frozen in shock, Pete took one step forward, reached out, and took her target, ending the session.