Chapter 4: The big picture

There I was sitting on the staircase trying to recover from my massive energy output… and of course the slight first degree burn that I on my right hand, courtesy of Flame boy.

Unlike most weirdoes, my powers are some what inconsistent. To be honest they are highly inconsistent! With me sometimes finding myself having the strength to uproot trees or lift buildings and swirl them around me, other times I'd have the inability to even lift a feather. That bad, a typical wuss! It doesn't get more complicated than that! Slamming flame boy to the wall…however great it felt…had made me extremely weak. My head was pounding and I had too many thoughts running through my mind. Like for instance, seeing what I believed was Jean Grey's fiancé kissing another woman with incredible white hair. Maybe there are two Scott's here, I shrugged to myself, I mean Scott is after all a very common name.

The pressure on my head was decreasing and I could feel myself getting better. Whatever it was fiancé and white mane were up to, I had made up my mind not to say a single word to anyone. ANYONE…and besides I had a new enemy to deal with- Flame boy! He would most definitely not get away with what he had done to me, even though I wasn't in critical condition, I could feel the war that was to come between us in both our minds.

"Are you ok?"

The voice came from behind me, I turned to look. White mane! I opened my mouth but no words escaped from it. So I nodded my head slowly.

"Are you sure? You don't look it." her tone was doubtful. She was looking at me, rubbing my hand. "What happened?" she asked, looking instantly concerned.

I immediately stopped what I was doing, stood up to face her and made sure my hand was out of her sight. Honestly speaking, even if it was, she wouldn't have noticed that there was something wrong with it in the first place.

"Oh, nothing. I was just looking for the dinning hall. All I see are empty rooms." I smiled sheepishly.

She looked really elegant even though she was dressed in a white tank top and jeans. It occurred to me that those weren't the clothes she had on earlier when she and Scott were all over each other. Oh God remove that thought from your head right now! I commanded myself.

"There is no dinning hall," she laughed at my shocked expression. "We just have whatever is available in the kitchen and we just eat either there or in the living room. Or we order out. You have met Jean, right? She normally orders out."

I nodded my head. It was strange, but words completely failed me in this woman's presence. Something about her made me sort of…I didn't know exactly what, but she made me feel strange and I didn't like that feeling. The silence between us was odd. She was starring at me and I was starring at the carpeted floor.

Finally, she broke the ice. "I am Ororo Munroe and I am pleased to meet you." she extended her hand and I shook it.

"Where are you from?" I asked cautiously.

"Well originally from Kenya." she looked at her watch.

"I like your accent." Way to go Kiki, so cliché of you! I wanted to disappear the instant those words came out of my mouth.

She thanked herself gracefully for the comment. The truth of the matter was that she really didn't have an accent. Well, it was just slightly noticeable. What the hell am I saying?

She suggested going over to the kitchen, "Let's see what we can munch on."

I asked her to lead the way. Not a word was said. So much for classic boarding school living, I thought. Charles sure knew how to make things sound a lot more sophisticated than they really are. Dinner is at 6 he says and I was expecting the whole Brady Bunch! What a joker. This school is awesome.

In the kitchen, there were four boxes of large pizza placed on the table. Two of them were already empty, one was well on it's way and the last box was untouched. A man with strange horn-like hair was standing in front of the fridge downing a bottle of what seemed to be Budweiser. Brilliant! Alcohol! I'm loving this place again, I smiled.

"Logan! You do realize we have a No alcohol policy here?" Ororo looked at hair-for- horns sternly. She walked towards him, grabbed the drink from him and poured the remaining in the sink.

Party-pooper, I thought almost instantly, this lady needs to ease up. Totally uncool.

"Whose the newbie?" Logan asked, seemingly unaffected by white mane's actions. In fact to prove that he didn't give a damn he went ahead and opened another bottle of beer with his teeth!

Ororo sighed, "She just joined today. Logan…" she was pouting and looking at him hopelessly as he finished his bottle.

Once empty, he slammed the bottle on the kitchen counter and wiped the remaining residue off his mouth.

"Where have you been?" he demanded from her, completely ignoring my presence. But his tone did not fail my notice, it was deep and rough. I liked it, what I didn't like however was him growling.

"I was in my room." she said quietly.

"It was locked. You never leave it locked when you are in there." he looked at her suspiciously, closing in on her, they were practically face to face. I wasn't quite sure, but it felt as if he was smelling her. This I felt put me in an awkward position, starring at the two like that, so I decided to help myself with two slices of pepperoni pizza. At least keep myself busy while watching the little drama unfold.

"I was in the shower." she brushed him off, "What do you care?" she challenged.

This was getting interesting, I thought to myself.

"Jean and I got the kids pizza. Have you seen one eye? He seems to be scarce these days…" he said quickly changing the topic, which did not escape my notice, then Logan turned to me, "What's your name?"

"PhiPhi" I replied my mouth still stuffed with pizza. I was, after all, extremely hungry.

"Fifi…see you in self defence class…Ro, I'm off." he turned and walked out the kitchen door.

Did he just call me Fifi? I tried to correct him but he didn't hear me. He had left me and her in the kitchen. I turned to look at White mane. Her confident posture seemed broken. Logan had really hit a soft spot.

"What's his story?" I asked, trying to keep her away from whatever had suddenly triggered her awkwardness.

"He…huh…he possesses animal like keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, retracting adamantium claws and a healing factor that allows him to heal from virtually any wound." She said this as if rehearsed. I offered her a slice of pizza which she gladly accepted.

"Ada what?" I didn't have the slightest clue what she meant by retracting whatever she had just mentioned.

"Adamantium, it's a powerful alloy metal. Wolverine…I mean Logan's skeleton is made out of this metal." she smiled to herself.

"So…meaning…he can't die?"

"Meaning…" she grinned, "Meaning, however much I want to kill him…I have to live with the fact that he is pretty hard to kill."

We both smiled.

"Difficult person…he practically ignored me." I said thoughtfully.

"You shouldn't care…he lacks courtesy, good manners and charm. Why, a monkey has more charm than he'll ever have….Fifi." We both giggled, so she had noticed, too.

"He has strange hair…they look like horns!" I blurted out. And believe me when I say, from that moment on Ororo laughed so hard she practically was in tears. My guess was as good as everyone's. Ms. Munroe hadn't laughed this much in quite a while.

"Who is one eye?" I proceeded to ask.

She wiped the tears off her eyes, "Ah he is…"

"Guuuuuyyyyys!!" we were interrupted by none other than Red head. Her voice was not hard to miss. Only this time she was not alone. Dragging a young tall handsome man with red shades with her. A man I had seen before. In fact the same man who was kissing Ororo a few hours back.

"Hope we still have some slices left. I am starved!" he walked straight past me and served himself a slice, "You want some, babes?" He asked looking straight at Jean who shook her head smiling.

"Ororo, I didn't see you all day! How are you?" Jean hugged her and smiled at me, "Scott, meet Kiki. She is our new student."

Scott! The Scott! Act cool Kiki. You don't know anything, you didn't see anything. I forced a smile and a quick "Hi". He nodded towards my direction, "Welcome, you will like it here. Have you met the other students?"

I shook my head, "No, not yet…" I lied, I was secretly hoping Flame boy was the janitor. But chances were that I was completely wrong on this.

"Most definitely you will get to meet all of them tomorrow. Hardly anyone is home on a Friday night. Except Ororo." Jean walked to Scott and kissed him passionately on the lips.

Ororo, I thought. White mane, hadn't said a word. She had just smiled at Jean. It was as if nothing was wrong. Scott's focus was on Jean. Ororo's focus was on whoever was talking which was mostly Jean and I was as uncomfortable as hell.

The couple were smooching each other non stop. Jean smiled and looked at me

"He's the one, I have been talking about." she quickly glanced at Scott, "Oh baby, ask Kiki, I wouldn't stop talking about you."

He smiled at me, revealing a set of perfectly white teeth. Why wouldn't he take those annoying red shades off? Oh yeah, Red head told me everything about him. He couldn't take them off. His eyes are his special abilities and keeping them behind specially made glasses was a must. The consequences, according to red head, could wipe out a generation.

"Hope she said only good stuff about me?" he squeezed his fiancée by the cheeks and kissed her hard.

Oh! Wait till I tell her that she lied to me, she said you could be trusted. But, oh, look at you…cheating on her with her, what seems to me, best friend! But of course those words were best kept to myself. If she could only break this useless code of honour and read the minds of all three of us….all hell would break loose. And honestly, I would have felt much better.

"Only great stuff…" I grinned at him and he nodded with approval.

The couple said their good nights. Leaving me once again with White mane, who by now, was a completely different person. I had previously believed that hair-for-horns had ruined her mood, boy was I wrong. The scene with the couple killed her! Although she managed to appear strong and seemingly careless. Any other person would have believed the little play that took place. How Jean and Scott are totally smitten by each other. Ororo as the friend, Scott the attentive handsome and loving Fiancé who's love for Jean is unending and forever faithful and Jean, the happy love struck woman who's heart goes out to both best friend and fiancé. Yes all these were visible but I saw something different. Call it a gift or a keen sense. I don't know, but sometimes I find it easy to see the big picture. A person like Ororo, I could read. Her sadness did not show in composure. Her sadness was not visible in the eyes. No, Ororo Munroe had an aura of sadness and confusion. The whole room was filled with this vibe. The silent tension between all three. Jean's instincts, Scott's confusion and Ororo's feelings. All jumbled up in this empty space.

There was a long and heavy silence between us.

"Scott." She blurted out slowly.

"Huh?"

She looked at me sheepishly, "Wolverine calls Scott, one eye."

I nodded in acknowledgement she was answering the question I had asked her before we were interrupted.

Silence.

"What are your abilities?" I asked her, trying to divert her attention away from whatever she was currently thinking.

The stillness was killing me. It was taking her forever to reply as if she really did not want me to know her powers.

"I…control…the weather!" she finally said, her voice low and almost inaudible.

In the back ground we both hear the loud rolling sound of thunder.