Scott looked over the top of his book. The rest of his class had their heads bent down, absorbed in the books that they were reading. He quite liked his classes, but they made him feel nervous. Classes tended to be small since there weren't many students, but he was in one of the higher reading groups so some of the students in his class were a year or two older.
Overall he wasn't anything remarkable, and he didn't think that he belonged in a higher reading group. However, his solitary time in the orphanage had given him a love of books. He'd been desperate to get away with everything that had been happening in his life, and he'd been more than happy to take an easy way out.
He'd heard a few whispers when he'd originally started classes. He was one of the younger ones there and he knew that both his glasses and his status as Alex's brother had caused comment. A few students had tried to talk to him, but he'd instinctively shrunk away.
Alex had told him that he could make friends in his own time, but he knew that he was worrying his brother with his lack of friends. Alex had asked him if he was being bullied once or twice, and Scott had shaken his head. He just wasn't sure if he was ready to talk to other kids. He'd been there for a few months, and the place didn't quite feel like home yet.
Being with his brother was awesome though. His friends were cool. He'd finally met Hank. It wasn't as freaky as he'd thought it would be. Sure, Hank was unusual, but he reminded Scott more of a teddy bear than anything else. A teddy bear with glasses at that.
Hank had also been the one who had given him his glasses. Alex told him that he was some sort of inventor, a kind of scientist. Scott didn't really understand. The fact that he'd made his glasses made Scott like him though. He'd made something that could stop his eyes from causing damage, from making fire.
He was still scared of fire. The memory of the plane was very vivid. He'd wondered sometimes why he was afraid of fire and not of flying. He'd always thought that it might have been because his father had always taken them up in the sky on weekends. The pure, happy memories he had of flying were just enough to overcome any fears he might have associated with it otherwise. Fire was different.
Sean was also fun. He was goofy and clumsy, and that often led to funny situations. He'd thought that they were funny at least. The Professor hadn't been too happy when all those things in the library had broken. Alex told him that Sean was frequently clumsy.
He'd been told that he could fly, and he didn't need a plane. It was something about his mutation. He didn't understand how screaming like Sean did could help him fly. Hank had tried to explain it to him, but it had just left him even more confused. Alex had told him to give Scott a break, and the explanation had dropped off. So Scott still didn't know how Sean could fly.
He tried not to tag along with his brother and his friends too much. His brother might not mind, but he was worried that Sean and Hank might get annoyed with him. They went off with his brother every now and then and told Scott that he had to stay behind. They also went out past his bedtime, and Alex had said it was part of an experiment Hank was doing charting the stars. It was certainly a long experiment.
Scott had seen that his brother had a few unusual scars and bruises too. The scars were easy enough to dismiss. Alex told him that he'd been in a lot of fights when he was in his foster home. The bruises didn't make any sense though. He hoped his brother wasn't getting into any fights there, and it certainly didn't look like it. It was just an odd mystery, one that was starting to bug him.
He looked down at his book. Scott knew that he should be concentrating. He wasn't sure just how he felt about Dickens yet. Scott had a sinking feeling that the book was a little above his reading level, and that he could very well be in trouble for the next test.
"Okay," Mr. Guthrie said, "Close your books. I expect that ya'll have read the next chapter by the time I see ya'll. Got it?"
There were a few dutiful nods. The other students got up and began filing out. Mr. Guthrie looked at his watch and shook his head before leaving. Scott got to his feet and started shoving his books into his backpack. He preferred not to hurry since he didn't have any other classes.
"Scotty boy!"
Scott looked up. Alex walked into the room, leaning on the doorframe.
"Done with class?" he asked.
"We just finished up," Scott said.
"Great," Alex said, "I was just showing Ororo here around."
"Who?" Scott said.
"Me."
A girl with dark skin and white hair walked so she was standing next to Alex. She folded her arms and stared at him. She was about a year older than him, and she looked more than a little impatient. He wondered if she wanted him to speak. When he didn't she jutted her chin up.
"I'm new," she said.
"Me too, kind of," Scott said.
"Scott's our newest student," Alex said, "He's only been here a coupla months."
Ororo chewed on her lip for a moment, looking between Alex and Scott.
"You two related?" she asked.
Scott beamed with pride. She could tell.
"He's my little brother," Alex said.
Ororo nodded and looked over at Scott.
"I have a nephew," she said, "Not really the same thing. He's four years younger than me."
"That's not much," Scott said.
"My sister is super old," Ororo said.
She walked forwards and began to look at Mr. Guthrie's desk. Alex stepped a little closer into the room.
"Feel free to look around," Alex said, "Just tell me when you want to move on."
"Sure," Ororo said.
She walked to the other side of the classroom and looked outside the window. Scott took in the look of her simple dress, the calm assurance with which she looked out the window. He could tell that a lot of it was affected. It was what a lot of the kids at the orphanage did when they were frightened.
He wondered what it was that had scared her.
"So, how are your classes going?" Alex asked.
"Fine," Scott said, "Not too interesting."
Alex nodded. He paused for a minute and cleared his throat.
"Hey, I was wondering about something," he said.
"What?" Scott asked.
Alex tapped his fingers on the desk in front of him.
"Scott, you like it here, right?" he asked.
"Yeah," Scott said.
He was surprised that it was even a question.
"If I were to work here when I got older, what would you think?" Alex said.
"As what?" Scott asked.
Alex chuckled, but the sound didn't have a lot of humor in it.
"A teacher," he said, "I probably wouldn't teach anything big, but we need more teachers here. The Professor wants to start taking in more kids. You and Ororo came in pretty fast."
His brother lowered his voice.
"Still, if what the Professor said about Ororo is true, then she really needed to come here."
"Why?" Scott said, lowering his voice as well.
It wasn't as though Ororo didn't have any family. She'd plainly told Scott that she'd had a sister who was much older than her a few minutes ago. She could have taken care of her if something had happened to her parents.
Alex made a face. It wasn't one of disgust, more one of confusion.
"I didn't really understand everything that the Professor was saying," he said, "Something about some shadow guy. Weird stuff. Her parents died and her sister didn't know about it for months. She's technically her legal guardian, but the Professor managed to get Ororo down here."
Alex shrugged again.
"Either way, the Professor wants to take in more students," he said, "He wants to have tons. Probably wants to renovate. He's gonna have to if he wants to have more than a hundred students here."
He shook his head.
"And he needs more teachers, so I'd be kind of filling in that gap."
"Do you wanna be a teacher?" Scott said.
His brother frowned and folded his arms. He looked a little distant. His eyes flickered from Ororo to Scott.
"I think I'm suited for it," he said, "A teacher and a sort of counselor. I used to think because I'd been a criminal, because I'd been in the foster system, that I wouldn't be able to help kids very much."
Scott hated it when his brother used the word criminal. He was sure that he'd done some things, Alex had told him, but he was sure that his brother wasn't a criminal. Alex wasn't that sort of person, and he'd punch anyone who said differently.
"But then you came back, and it made me really think that there were kids out there who'd been in the same position that I had, that you had," Alex said, "And then there's Ororo."
"What about Ororo?" Scott asked.
Alex was about to answer, but then he saw his brother's eyes narrow.
"Put it back Ororo," he said.
She looked up, her eyes wide and innocent.
"What?" she asked.
"I said put it back," Alex said, his voice stern, "The Professor offered you a chance at a new life, and part of that agreement meant that you were going to leave the old one behind."
Ororo bit her lip. She took out a paperweight from her pocket. Scott recognized it from Mr. Guthrie's desk.
"Ororo," his brother said, his voice softer, "I know you probably did it without thinking. I did a lot of stuff without thinking even after I got out of that place. But you have to try, okay? No one is going to tolerate thievery here, and you don't need to do it to survive anymore. You're just doing it to do it."
Ororo looked thoughtfully at the paperweight. She put it back and turned towards Alex with worried eyes.
"You're not going to tell the Professor, are you?" she asked.
"You're not going to do it again, are you?" Alex asked.
She shook her head.
"Then no," Alex said, "Not unless you do it again. And this isn't one of, those things that only happens if I catch you, because I will catch you. I've been where you've been."
He smiled.
"So I know you can get over it," he said.
Ororo nodded. Alex grinned at her, and Scott suddenly realized exactly what had happened. He might hate to think of his brother as a criminal, but that was what he'd been. He'd done some bad things, things he regretted.
Scott watched as Alex walked over and put his hand on Ororo's shoulder escorting her to the front of the room. Although Alex obviously regretted what he'd done, he was using that now. He told Ororo that he understood her, and he did. He knew things that Scott would never know, understood people in a way that Scott couldn't. The years apart had given them both a different view on life, experiences had hardened his brother and made Scott frightened.
His brother looked up at him and gave a hollow grin. He didn't look proud that he understood Ororo.
"Wanna help me show Ororo the grounds?" Alex asked.
"Sure," Scott said.
They fell into line with each other. Scott pulled on his brother's arm.
"Yeah?" Alex asked.
"You're gonna be a good teacher," Scott said.
His brother's grin became sincere.
"Thanks Scotty boy."
