Jubilee was showing Terri a line in her magazine.
"I told you they were dating!" She bragged. Terri held her hands up in defeat.
"All right, fine, but don't expect it to last." She turned back to her own magazine.
A whoosh fluttered the pages. Terri looked up to see Peter holding Jubilee's reading material.
"There's no way they will stay together." He muttered, handing it back. "I have an important question to ask." He continued.
The two girls blinked at him. "What?" they asked, Jubilee flatly, Terri interested.
"Who is faster? Me or Kurt?"
"Kurt or I." Jean corrected from behind him. She walked through the doorway. "And I thought that was a banished topic."
"It depends on how far you are going." Terri muttered tiredly, turning back to her 'zine. She had heard this argument way too many times in the less than a week she had been at Xavier's.
Kurt appeared at the door as well. "Peter," he complained.
"I got here before him." Peter pointed out to Terri, before turning dramatically and smiling widely. "Kurt! We were just talking about y-"
"Scott said you were talking about our comparative speed." The German informed him, rolling his eyes.
"How did laser-brain know?" Peter asked, stunned, before shooting a suspicious look at Jean.
The red head raised her hand. She didn't look very sorry. "Whoops. Anyway, Scott says that you-"she pointed accusingly at Peter- "were supposed to help him with his car today!"
"What that today?" The speedster checked her wrist. "Let's go, come on, Kurt!"
"Wha-" in a blur, the boys where gone.
"Anyway." Jean said, settling on the couch next to Terri. "are you excited about meeting your new roommate?"
Oh yes, Angelica was supposed to arrive today.
"Sure." Terri shrugged. "How old is she again?"
"Um, she's two years younger than you, I think, so fifteen?"
"Cool. Do either of you know her?"
'Sorta." Jubilee said, looking up from the magazine, "She's pretty cool, though she has a bit of an obsession about Disco- epically Dazzler."
Terri wasn't a music snob, so that wouldn't really bug her. Probably.
"Any plans for tonight?" She asked Jean, meaning 'Do you and Scott have a not-date'?
"Maybe. Scott might want to go for a drive, if he doesn't break the car, but with what's going on with Essex, we probably won't be out very long."
Jubilee smiled, and mouthed 'I'm sure.' to Terri. The brunet giggled, and Jean elbowed her.
"Nothing like that." She scowled. "And for your informa-" she cut off, her eyes loosing focus. Terri turned to the more experienced girl for an explanation.
"She's probably talking to the professor." Jubilee whispered. Terri had expected as much, and nodded.
Suddenly, Jean grabbed Terri. "Come with me. Jubilee, get Peter. Meet us in the Prof's office."
Terri let Jean drag her down the stairs, very worried. What was the matter? Had something happened to her family?
The Professor was on the phone, and waved for the girls to be silent. Mystique was beside him, frowning.
"I see. May I ask why Ms. Jones won't be returning this year for the summer session?" The professor handed the phone to mystique, then thought to the girls.
'Jean, I need to you search for the minds of Angelica Jones, or her parents. They live in south New York. Mystique is on the phone with them now.'
To Terri's amazement, Mystique answered something on the phone with the professor's voice.
"Yes, yes of course, I meant no intrusion. I was just wondering. Now, about the deposit…"
The real professor continued- non-verbally. 'Her parents called suddenly and said she wouldn't be joining us today. It's very suspicious. I want to make sure there's no foul play involved… ahah! Good job Jean!'
Terri sat still, trying to figure out what was going on. Jean had found something? A hand on her shoulder made her jump. Peter had arrived. He looked around, and Terri held a finger to her lips.
He nodded, frowning.
"I'll see if I can get you a refund then, let's see, what is your address again?" Mystique said, opening a file.
Peter raised an eyebrow. So it was not normal for mystique to pretend to be The Prof and take his calls then. Terri shrugged.
Then the Prof opened the telepathic communication back up. 'Peter, go to the address Raven found, The Jones are being held at gunpoint. Angelica should be stuck in a car somewhere near there. Take the Jones to SP 3, we'll have Kurt pick them up.'
The speedster looked at Mystique's file, then vanished.
'Terri, sound the blue alarm then get to the basement. The school is on lock down.'
Nodding, Terri ran out the door Peter had left open. The blue alarm was just under the red one in the foyer. A few students looked up in confusion.
"Get to the basement, make sure to fill the elevators completely." Teri shouted as she pulled the lever. "Now!"
The Blue Alarm apparently set off a series of shrill beeps, then a recording of the Professor played. 'The school is on lock down. This is not a drill. Please get to the basement. Please completely Fill the elevators.' Before a brief pause. Then it repeated.
Terri led the four others in the foyer to the elevator. She waved them in, but kept her foot in the door. A small group of young children from the nursery where led in by Ororo and two others.
Ororo made sure the children go into the elevator. Then she grabbed Terri's arm and pulled her in, pressing the button.
"Listen." She told Terri. "The Safe room in strait down the hall, past the danger room. It has a silver X on the door. Make sure they stay there."
The door opened and she ran out to a room near the elevator, on the right. Terri wondered if she was grabbing weapons. From what she knew of the girl and her power, she didn't think she needed them.
One of the other teens that had brought in the nursery kids pushed Terri. He had bright red hair. "Don't go into shock." He said, tense smile on his lips. "Let's go." Terri followed him into the Safe Room.
It was a large room, with emergency lights along the ceiling. Rows of bags hung on hooks by the wall. Half of the floor was matted.
"Have you been here for a drill?" The red-head asked her.
"Nope." Terri said.
"Alright. Well, each bag had food for two people for three days, and a tarp for cover. The door-"he pointed to a barely visible section of wall on the opposite side of the room- "leads out into the woods. We only go through if the lights flash red."
Terri just nodded, then sat on the floor with some other kids. She recognized a few of them. No one said anything.
A knock on the door. The ginger looked out the window, then opened it. Jubilee tumbled in, with several other students.
Jubilee sat next to Terri. "Whats going on?" she asked.
"Um…" Terri looked around, wondering if she should say. The other student now watched her. A blond girl nodded. "Well, a student who was supposed to arrive today is… being held hostage. We're here just in case." Yeah, that sounded right. Don't panic them, but tell the truth.
"Who?" asked a girl with spikes for hair.
Terri shrugged. "I don't know who it is." Not true, thought she had never technically met Angelica, so she didn't know her…
The next half hour or so was a cycle of bursts of people entering the room, asking questions, yelling over each other to explain, and then falling into nervous silence.
The lights along the wall flashed green. A sigh of relief. Then, people started standing and moving toward the door.
"Let the littlies out first!" The ginger yelled, trying to organize the crowd.
"So we are all clear?" Terri asked Jubilee.
"Yep!" she grinned. Hold on, let's find Emma, EMMA! Over here!" she waved at her roommate.
"Now, Terri, who was the hostage student."
"Huh? I said I didn't know-"
"Yeah but you looked totally guilty."
"Fine. Angelica Jones." Terri muttered, trying not ot be overheard.
"That's weird." Jubilee frowned.
"What's weird?" Emma asked, having made her way over to them.
"Oh, just this whole thing. I hope whoever it was is safe."
Emma nodded, then asked Jubilee what her plans where for next week.
"I was thinking about going swimming." Jubilee agreed that it sounded nice. Terri wondered if she could get her mom to send her swimsuit. The Mansion had a nice pool, and it seemed a tragedy to waste it. But at the back of her mind, she was very worried.