Disclaimer: X-Men is not mine, but Angel, Ian, and Kendra are.
Chapter 4 - Just Another Day at Mutant High: The next morning, Angel found herself eating breakfast with Ian and Kendra. It was quiet for a bit, and then Kendra said, "You know, we never discussed powers. What can you do, Angel?" Angel stared at her cereal. Tell the truth? she wondered.
"I'm telepathic/empathic. I can read minds and emotions." She didn't mention the lightbending. There was no reason to, really. Lightbending was a cool trick, nothing more. Kendra studied her, then said, "I do illusions, both ones you can see, like mirages, and ones that are completely inside your head." Angel glanced at Ian. "What can you do?" she asked him. He scowled. "Cytomanipulation. It means I can alter cells. I can heal, hurt, even kill, just by envisioning changes in a person's cells." Angel felt a chill run down her spine. That was a dangerous power, but so were hers and Kendra's.
Kendra shook her head, then snatched Angel's schedule. "Hmm," she said. "Ian and I have geometry with you at first period, and you and I have gym after that, but then I don't see you again till lunch at fifth and then English at seventh. You have history at fourth with Ian and... Hey! You take chemistry? That's eleventh grade science!" Angel shrugged. "I had bio last year, so chem is this year. They skipped me past physical science," she explained to the confused redhead. "Oh," Kendra said. "So you'll have a class with juniors..." She sighed dreamily after this statement, leaving Angel very puzzled until Ian remarked, "Damn, Kendra. Stop mooning over Jake. He's dating that girl Jubilee." Kendra gave her brother a dark look but said nothing.
Together, the teens headed for geometry. Ian liked this class; he was really good at it and Cyclops had always been his favorite teacher. "I don't see how you can like that guy," Angel remarked. "He's so... military and by-the-book. And he teaches math... math sucks. What's with the dumb shades he's got, anyway?" Kendra laughed, but Ian shook his head, saying, "He's just touchy... his fiancee died a few months ago; cut the guy some slack. And yeah, the glasses... I see the point, but considering that if he took 'em off, a laser blast would come out of his eyes, well, I'd rather he left them on, wouldn't you?" Angel shrugged. She still thought the guy seemed like a jerk, but that was a power that had to suck and losing a loved one was no fun either.
But by the end of the class, Angel wouldn't care what Mr. Military (as she silently dubbed Cyclops) had been through. Her reading of him had been dead-on, and, as she had expected, there was conflict in the very first lesson.
It was a stupid thing, really. The subject they were covering that day, Angel had done the previous week at Chandler High, her old school. She'd brought her old notebooks with her, so she had the notes on this skill already and simply didn't feel like copying them down again. Sure, Mr. Farr, her former teacher, had used different examples, but it meant the same thing, right? Well, according to Mr. Military, it didn't. He must have noticed she wasn't writing and came over to check it out.
"Angel, isn't it?" he wanted to know. Angel nodded. He continued, "Well, Angel, are you planning to pass this course? I notice you don't have any notes." Angel sighed and turned back the notebook pages to show him that she had it already. He glanced at it and said, "That doesn't look like what I have." Angel looked at him and wondered if she dared make a retort. Ian's remark that Cyclops was 'touchy' came to mind, and it probably wasn't good to get on the bad side of a guy who shot laser beams out of his eyes, but... Angel realized she didn't care too much. "Yeah," she said, "well, that's just the examples. It really comes to the same thing, so I didn't see the point in recopying something I have already." Cyclops scowled at her and said, "Copy my notes as well. You never know if the examples will be on a test." Angel bit her tongue, but it did no good. "Why?" she retorted. "Why bother with rewriting what I have already? Why is it such a big deal? I'm not doing it." Really, she would have added his examples at least, but he was irking her so much she refused completely. It would have been against her nature to do otherwise.
But she'd gone a bit too far. The students had been extra-careful around Cyclops lately, because they didn't want him going off on them. The unfortunate few who had ticked him off since the Alkali Lake incident had vehemently told their classmates to watch it. Normally, after a point-blank refusal to do something, Cyclops might have just told Angel to remain after class, but now he gave her a week's detention. And she wound up copying the notes after all, though in yet another gesture of defiance, she ripped out the page and tossed it in the trash. Luckily, Mr. Military didn't notice, or she would've been in more trouble.
Angel and Kendra left Ian after first and headed down to the lower levels for gym with Logan. Kendra said they called Logan by his first name and that was it, and while Angel thought this was a bit weird, she'd come to see that Xavier's really didn't follow the normal rules. Neither did gym. In this class, they used powers, and even better, they were not learning sports, which she was horrible at, but fighting techniques. Angel really didn't get into fights except verbal ones. She'd learned to use empathy to make people wary of her, so they rarely bothered her. Still, she enjoyed the lesson... though she was a more than a bit sore afterwards.
Next, she had Italian, which was a laugh. Angel already spoke Italian. Her mother had been born in Italy and had left at 14. But, it had been years since Angel had routinely spoken the language, and she had forgotten things. She took Italian now as a refresher course, while pretending she didn't know as much as she really did. Luckily, the Professor didn't seem to suspect anything. If he did, she'd probably be told to pick another language, which would not be fun.
Fourth period came history, and she sat with Ian. Storm didn't care where they sat as long as they didn't disrupt class. The class was at the French Revolution, and Angel was engrossed in the lesson. She'd always enjoyed history. It seemed less like fact sometimes and more like a really long story.
At lunch, Kendra complained about the large amount of homework she and Ian had received in biology, which they had at third period. Ian told Angel that it was really not that bad, that Kendra loved drama, and Angel grinned. Ian smiled back and Kendra shut up, her eyes narrowing as she looked between her brother and her friend. There was something in Ian's smile...
Angel walked into chemistry after lunch, and realized she didn't know anyone. The other students were heading for tables, laughing and joking. Angel stood there, feeling like an idiot, when a girl with brown hair and two white streaks in front came over to her. "Hi," she said. "I'm Rogue. Wanna sit with my group?" Angel shrugged. "Sure," she replied, secretly relieved.
As they sat down, Rogue said, "This is Bobby, Jubilee, and Jake." She pointed to each one as she spoke. "What's your name?" Jubilee asked Angel. Angel introduced herself. She glanced at Jake. He was cute, with blond hair and hazel eyes, but she wasn't really interested in him, except to note that this was the boy Kendra had a crush on.
English was just like at Chandler. William Shakespeare and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, British lit 101. Not that Angel minded. She liked English class, always had, and the Professor's reading voice - they were working on an excerpt from Hamlet - was the type to make you listen.
Ian met Kendra and Angel outside of English, and they walked together to their three specials. Ian took computer (Mr. Military taught that too; Angel was grateful she hadn't picked it) and Kendra took music, which was taught by a Ms. Richards, who Angel hadn't met. This was apparently due to the fact that Ms. Richards had just come back from Boston the night before, where she was visiting a sick relative.
Ian left the group first, waving goodbye as he entered the computer lab. Angel and Kendra kept going, until they reached a crossing where Kendra turned left and Angel right. Kendra called, "Have fun!" Angel shook her head and walked down the hall to art.
The art room was a large, well-lit room with skylights and large windows. A small handful of students were scattered about, some sitting in groups around circular tables, others sitting alone at desks. Angel picked a desk right near a window and waited for Storm.
The white-haired woman entered the room and smiled at her students. "I see we've lost a few," she said lightly. A boy with bright blue hair called out, "Yeah, they copped out to take music instead. Music's too easy." Storm shook her head, but Angel sensed the teacher's amusement.
Storm continued, "Today's assignment is really simple. Create something inspired by nature. You can do anything, as long as it fits that. Use any materials you want." Angel watched the other students run to the supply table. She waited until the crowd had dissipated, and then went over herself. She grabbed a piece of paper and some charcoals. She preferred working with charcoal over any other tool. The blacks, whites, and grays suited her perfectly. Angel returned to her desk and sat down, wondering what to do. And then she saw it. Smiling, she got to work.
5 minutes before the period's end, Storm walked around, looking at the kids' work. She saw paintings of sunsets, carvings of trees and even a half-finished wax wolf. She came around to Angel last and glanced down at the girl's paper.
Angel had drawn a cliff over the ocean. It was night, made obvious by the moon in the sky that was reflected in the water below. The water's surface was not smooth; rather, it was rough, with tall waves. A tree on the cliff showed that the wind was blowing strongly, and there was an empty boat being tossed about on the waves. Storm was impressed; the sketch was really quite good.
"Excellent, Angel." Angel was surprised to hear it. She hated doing things off the top of her head and thought this sucked. She liked her art when it captured something she'd seen with her own eyes, not envisioned in her imagination. She thanked Storm quietly.
After class, Angel was walking out, lagging behind the other kids, when Storm called her over. Angel went, wondering if something was wrong.
Storm just wanted to check up on her, as it turned out. "How's it going so far?" she asked. Angel shrugged and replied, "This place is different, to say the least. I never knew... I mean, most mutants hide what they are, try to blend in, but here..." Storm nodded, saying, "We show who we are and don't act ashamed. I know. I was surprised when I first came too. You'd better go. I'm sure your new friends Kendra and Ian are looking for you."
Angel met Kendra and Ian upstairs, and they started their homework in the rec room. At dinner, Kendra said, "So, Angel, you like your first day at Mutant High?" Angel studied the redhead with thoughtful green eyes and then shrugged, noting the girl who flung potatoes at a boy telekinetically and a large boy changing his skin to metal and back again. She nodded slowly, remarking, "It's certainly interesting, but hectic. It's not always this nuts, right?"
Kendra snickered slightly before answering. When she did reply, she said, "Hectic? You ain't seen nothing yet, my friend. This was normal. Just another day at Mutant High."
A/N: Yes, this was dull, but she lives in a school, and I figured I'd better give you an idea of her classes. Also, for you purists out there, sorry, but I'm not doing any accents like Rogue's. I can never get them right, and I figure it's better not to have them rather than force you guys to read my mutilated versions.