Chapter 12

First Day of School

At the Institute

Logan was taking his usual route to make sure everyone was up and about.

As Logan walked up to Dean's room he noticed the closed door and assumed he was still sleeping.

Logan opened the door expecting to find a sleeping teenager but found something he definitely didn't expect.

He found Dean doing one handed one finger push-ups at a high pace.

Dean stopped for a second, "Hey Logan" and then continued his workout.

"Never mind" Logan closed the door behind him.

A little later everyone had gathered in the dining room to have breakfast. It was about 7:00 which means they had an hour to spare until they had to be at school.

"Hey so like has anyone seen Dean this morning?" Kitty asked since she hasn't seen him since last night.

"I went to go tell him that breakfast was ready but I think he was in the shower" Kurt said.

"Wow, he gets up later than me" Evan said, he was a bit of a late sleeper.

"Actually no" They heard from the open door.

Dean walked in and sat down in the empty seat next to Rogue, "I got up before all of you but I had things to do" he vaguely said.

"I doubt anyone gets up before the boy scout" Evan joked referring to Scott.

Scott glared at Evan.

"What kinda things?" Rogue asked wondering what he could be doing that early.

Dean flexed his bicep, "Like taking care of these" he said with a grin.

Rogue rolled her eyes, he was so cocky.

Dean didn't have to open up to these people but he could at least act like himself. Unlike the previous group he was with at Hydra.

"Yes, Logan told me about this morning. Exactly how much do you exercise?" Charles asked.

"Well it doesn't matter anyways, not a lot of things tire me out like they used to" Dean said sounding disappointed.

"Well then tough guy, we'll just have to see how good you are" Logan said eyeing him carefully.

"Logan is right. We will test you to see the extent of your abilities later, for now just focus on getting to school on time" Charles said.

"Sure thing" Dean said.

Bayville High

The students were hanging out outside because they had some time till class started.

The X-men usually go straight in but they wanted to make sure Dean got here, he was taking his sweet time.

Scott looked at his watch, "Where is he? Class starts in 10 minutes"

"He'll be here" Jean said having faith in him.

"I don't know, he don't look like the type that goes to class. Matter of fact he don't look like the type to go to school at all" Rogue said expressing her opinion. He did have a troublemaker vibe, which she actually liked but would never say it.

"Funny, I would say the same thing about you" Kitty said.

"We can't all be bookworms" Rogue mumbled.

"You sure have a strong opinion of him already" Evan noticed.

"I call em how I see em" Rogue crossed her arms.

"Rogue might be right, I'm gonna go find him" Scott said.

Right as he said that Dean showed up on his chopper. He parked it, swung his book bag over his shoulder, and walked towards the entrance.

Dean heard whispering among the students, they were probably wondering who he was since they've never seen him before.

Dean stopped in front of the X-men, "You guys coming?" he said nonchalantly and continued towards the entrance.

'Where did Logan find this guy?' Scott thought as he went inside.

The X-men made their way towards class.

"10 bucks says Duncan tries to mess with him" Evan told Kurt.

'Who would be stupid enough to bother Dean? He's huge' Kurt thought, "You're on"

"C'mon guys, Duncan isn't like that. I don't know why you keep saying that kind of stuff" Jean said defending her boyfriend.

Kurt and Evan shook their heads and proceeded towards class.

The school bell rang signaling that class would start in 5 minutes, everyone started walking in. Not a single person bumped into him, oh he was a long way from home. The people in his previous school were so rude.

"So what do you think?" Jean asked him.

"It's nice" Dean said plainly, "Where do I get my schedule?"

"Oh over here in the main office" Jean showed him.

They picked up his school schedule and she pointed him in the right direction to his class.

"Alright, I think I'll manage on my own for now" Dean said with a smile.

"I'm glad to hear that, I—"

"Hey Jean!" Someone called her name.

Dean looked to see who it was.

It was a guy, he stood to Dean's eye level, blonde hair, bigger than the average person, and he wore a football jacket.

'A jockey' Dean thought.

"I've been looking all over for you" he said putting his arm around her.

"Hey Duncan" Jean said with a smile.

Duncan looked at Dean weirdly, "Who's this?"

"Oh this is Dean, he just moved in with us at the Institute, I was helping him find his way around" Jean said.

Duncan sized up Dean, "Hey I'm Duncan Mathews"

"Dean Nobili" he shook his hand.

"Listen you're pretty built why don't you try out for the football team, we could use a guy like you" Duncan said seizing opportunity.

"I'll think about it" Dean said just to be nice. He wasn't going to. He never had any interest in sports.

"Well it was nice meeting you, see ya" Duncan hurried along with Jean.

"I'll see you later Dean!" Jean called out to him.

Dean sighed, 'Well that's too bad' he thought.

Later

Bayville High had been nice for Dean so far. A lot of people greeted him, both male and female surprisingly. Everyone seemed really nice, the complete opposite of what he was used to.

Jean being taken did suck but he didn't care, he wouldn't let a girl get him upset. There were other pretty girls in the school that could have his attention.

Dean was now by his locker putting his stuff away before lunch when all of a sudden he heard, "Hi there"

He turned to look at a dark haired attractive Asian girl leaning on the next locker smiling at him.

Dean closed his locker, "Hey" he said plainly.

The girl noticed he wasn't very inclined to talk, "You're new here right?"

"Yeah, it's my first day" Dean said.

"I thought so. So where are you from?" she asked.

"Born and raised in Manhattan" Dean said.

"Oh, Manhattan huh, what brings you to Bayville?" she asked.

Since being a mutant wouldn't be a good excuse Dean had thought of a good excuse in his spare time, "I was accepted into the Xavier Institute for my athletic skills"

"Oh so you live with Jean right?" she asked

"You know Jean?" Dean asked.

"Yeah we're best friends. I'm Taryn by the way"

"I'm Dean" Right as he said that Jean showed up.

"Hey Taryn! You ready to go to lunch?" Jean asked. She then noticed Dean, "Oh I see you've met the new guy"

"Yeah, why didn't you tell me that you knew him?" Taryn asked.

"I uh" Jean looked awkward, "Didn't know you were interested" she said sheepishly, "Anyways it doesn't matter, c'mon Duncan's waiting" she grabbed her best friend by the hand.

"I'll see you later!" Taryn said while being dragged by Jean.

Dean sighed, the biggest problem with trying to avoid being betrayed by a girl again is that you can't trust them. But if you don't trust them how do you get close enough to tell? It's a vicious circle.

'I can't go around thinking every girl I meet is like Andrea, I don't wanna live through paranoia. If I do what if I meet the right girl and stay too distant? I just need to take my time, I won't rush anything' Dean thought.

Kitty walked up to Dean, "Hey Dean"

"Hey Kitty" Dean said as he collected his thoughts.

"Oh I like just wanted to ask you to have lunch with us from the institute" Kitty asked.

"Sure, I'll have lunch with you guys" Dean figured that would be the nice thing to do.

"Ok then" Kitty said.

But before they could go they heard "Hey there little Kitty"

Dean turned to see who said that.

A group of 4 people approached them.

He saw a gigantic fat boy with a Mohawk, a slim boy with bright white hair, a scruffy looking kid that smelled like hot garbage and a guy with dark hair in the front who called Kitty out.

"Ugh, go away Lance nobody wants you here" Kitty said with disgust.

Lance smiled at her remark. He then took a good look at Dean, "Who's this loser?"

Dean raised an eyebrow to that.

"He's the new guy at the institute" Kitty said implying that he's a mutant too.

"Oh another X-geek to add to the collection huh?" Toad asked. There was a fly buzzing around him. He followed it carefully and then his tongue shot out like a frog and he ate it.

"You guys bring in just about anyone these days" Pietro said as he sped over to Dean sizing him up.

That kid was really fast, too fast for Dean to keep up with.

"I don't see what's so special about you punk" Pietro said as he poked him repeatedly trying to annoy him.

Dean grabbed Pietro with surprising swiftness by the shirt, "You better watch it" he threatened.

"Hey let go of him" Fred said stepping forward and staring him down.

Fred stood a foot taller than Dean. That usually intimidated the people Fred came into contact with. Fortunately Dean was used to dealing with larger opponents from a young age.

Dean let go of Pietro, "Or you'll do what fatso? Sit on me?" he laughed.

Fred's face flushed red with anger. He went to hit Dean but Lance stopped him.

"Cool it Fred, we'll get him another time. I don't wanna miss lunch" Lance said walking away.

"You're right" Fred agreed with him, "You're lucky I'm hungry or I'd squash you" he followed Lance.

"Smell ya later yo" Toad said being the last to follow.

"Like wow, you stood up to them all by yourself" Kitty amazed.

"I hate bullies" Dean said with a hint of anger.

Kitty caught that aggression but decided not to ask, "Anyways let's go get lunch" the two of them walked together.

'That fight will be interesting' Dean thought about those guys. He should get some Intel on them first though.

Three girls walked towards the lunch line.

They all had blond hair and all wore designer clothing with expensive shoes and fancy looking makeup. The popular girls.

The one who was in front, accidentally bumped into Kitty as she went on the food line.

"Hey watch it Pryde, you'd think with that big head of yours you'd be able to see" The girl laughed and her companions laughed with her.

"Yeah, like do you catch cable with that" the second girl said.

Kitty was fuming, she hated these girls.

The one in front paused as she finally laid eyes on Dean, "I've never seen you before"

"Makes sense, I am new here" Dean said. They seemed full of themselves, completely stuck up.

"No wonder, you had no idea this little freshman is a loser" The third girl said.

"Rgh!" Kitty went to hit her but Dean put himself between them.

"Why don't you go on without me Kitty I'll catch up" Dean said trying to defuse the situation.

"Yeah Kitty cat why don't you go scratch some drapes?" the second girl said.

"Ok" Kitty said to Dean. She glared at the three girls as she grabbed a tray.

Dean looked at the three beautiful blondes, "You don't have to be so mean"

The three blondes laughed in sync.

"Whatever weirdo" the leader walked by him and the other two blondes followed.

'I guess there was bound to be some repulsive people here' Dean thought.

After filling up his tray Dean looked around to see where he would sit. He spotted his fellow X-men sitting down together except Jean wasn't with them.

Jean was sitting with Taryn, Duncan, and his football buddies at a different table.

Dean sat down with his teammates, "Wassup guys" he started to eat his food.

"Kitty told us you had a little encounter with Lance, you ok?" Scott asked.

"Yeah I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" Dean asked back.

"Because they're also a group of mutants. They call themselves the Brotherhood" Scott added.

"Yeah I figured they were when that white haired guy moved really fast" Dean noticed.

"You might like want to watch yourself, those guys want a piece of you" Kitty said.

"Say what?" Scott asked.

"They don't like me, so they wanna fight. That's fine by me" Dean said calmly.

"We can't fight the Brotherhood out in the open it's too dangerous" Scott said sounding irritated. His first day and he's already stirring up trouble.

Dean stopped eating, "Whoa, what's this we stuff? I already told you it's just going to be me"

"You think you can take them? Are you out of your mind?" Scott asked dumbfounded.

"I don't know, maybe" Dean said to purposely annoy him.

"Listen man, if you're going up against those goons you can count me in. I'll take a shot at Pietro any chance I get" Evan said.

"Same goes for me, we won't let you fight alone" Kurt reassured him.

Scott rose from his chair, "Listen if you want to risk getting killed that's fine but I'm not going to let you drag anyone else into this" he glared at Dean.

Dean stood up and returned with his own glare, "I didn't ask for help four eyes" he corrected him.

The others could practically feel the tension between those two.

"How bout ya'll take a breather?" Rogue suggested finally opening her mouth.

They took her advice and sat down.

"Douche" Dean mumbled.

Scott clearly heard that, but chose not to do anything.

"Hey Kitty who're those three blondes that were bothering you?" Dean asked.

"Missy, Sissy, and Chrissy. They're the sort of It girls of Bayville High" Kitty said with a little hate in her voice.

"They don't seem very friendly" Dean said.

"They're stuck up bitches" Rogue said with a little hate in her own voice.

"Strong words, did they do something to you?" Dean asked.

Rogue went back to eating, "No" she didn't seem inclined to share.

Dean finished his food and got up to leave.

Someone shouted, "Hey Dean!"

Hey looked and saw Duncan waving him over, Jean sitting right next to him.

'What does he want now?' Dean thought as he walked over.

"Why don't you sit with us today, I'll introduce you to some of the guys" Duncan said.

Dean looked at Jean who gave him an awkward smile.

"Sure" Dean said feeling suspicious, 'Maybe it's time to find out what Duncan is really about'

"Take a seat big guy" Duncan said pulling up a chair next to him.

Dean went to sit down and Duncan pulled the chair back trying to make him fall.

Dean grabbed the chair and smirked, "Really? C'mon man what're you 10?"

Duncan laughed, "That's funny, you're not as dumb as you look"

Dean carefully chose his words, "You should never judge a book by its cover, Duncan" he said secretly implying something.

"Yeah whatever rich boy" Duncan said with a grin.

That caught Dean's attention, "How do you know I'm rich?"

"Word travels quick around this school. And word is that the Nobili's are loaded" Duncan said.

Dean looked at Jean, "Did you?"

Jean looked guilty, "It sort of slipped"

Dean sighed, great. He already has a reputation.

"It's fine Jean, I just didn't expect everyone to know about me from day one" Dean said.

"Anyhow, we got football practice tomorrow. Come by and try out" Duncan said trying to be friendly.

"I'll come by and see if your team is worthy of my skills" Dean said with a grin.

Duncan smirked, "I like this guy, he's got spunk" he said to Jean.

"Hello!" Missy said standing in front of their table with her two companions.

"Missy" Duncan said with a devious smirk.

"Duncan" Missy replied in a similar manor.

Dean caught on to those silent messages, there was something going on between those two.

Jean on the other hand took no notice, "Hey Missy!" she said in a friendly tone.

"Jean! Have you done something to your hair? It looks fabulous" Missy complimented her.

"Thank you, I've switched to organic shampoo. It does wonders" Jean said.

"Ok enough with the chick talk, is there something you need Missy?" Duncan asked not wanting to hear their babbling.

"Nothing from you Mathews" Missy looked at Dean, "I'm interested in the new guy" she said staring at him.

Duncan didn't seem pleased with that answer.

Just a minute ago she could barely notice him and now she was suddenly interested? 'Gold-digger' Dean thought, "And why is that?"

"You have certain" Missy stared at his rear, "Assets" she said with a smile.

"I don't know, you seem to be pretty mean to some people" Dean said.

"I'm not mean, just a little misunderstood" Missy said trying to look cute.

"Maybe, we'll see" Dean said. He knew better than to believe her lies, he had his own scheme planned.

Missy smiled, her bleach white teeth shined beautifully, "Anyways. We're part of the Bayville High cheerleading squad. We have practice after school today, we—I'd like it if you came and…observed" she said perhaps hinting towards something.

"I'll think about it" Dean said not intending to go.

Dean and the X-men walked out of school together.

Watching them in her office is the Principal of Bayville High, Mystique.

She has no clue what the boy can do but she'll find out soon enough.

All the metal objects in the room started to move and vibrate.

"Xavier's troops are growing. We don't want to fall behind" A dark voice spoke.

"No we wouldn't want that" Mystique said.

"Try to sway the boy to falter, I will find others to join our cause" The voice said from the shadows before fading away.

Later at the Institute

The X-men were in the middle of training. Logan was a master hand to hand combat fighter and Charles had put him in charge of teaching the teenagers how to defend themselves without their powers.

Dean being new was observing.

They were all dressed in white Gi's and black belts, even though they probably weren't actual black belts.

Logan stood in front of the group performing various punches and kicks that the others mimicked.

'They look so stupid, that's not what real fights are like' Dean thought.

Logan glanced at Dean who looked unamused.

"What's the matter kid? Not entertaining enough for ya?" Logan asked.

"No, I'm not impressed. I believe in hands on practice" Dean said.

Logan had an idea, "Everyone stop" he ordered.

They all stood still.

"I'm going to pair you up to see who's the best out of all of you" Logan said not having done this in a while. A little friendly competition always made things interesting.

Dean seemed to like that idea.

He watched as the others went through their battles one at a time until Rogue and Scott were the last two.

"Let's see who's the best, begin" Logan said signaling the start of the fight.

Rogue sent a high kick aimed for Scott's head.

Scott blocked and countered with a fist to the gut.

Rogue took the hit but then grabbed his hand and flipped him over her.

Rogue went to deliver the finishing blow but Scott kicked her in the chest knocking her back.

"They're both pretty good" Kitty said.

"Yeah it's a close fight" Evan said.

"Are you kidding me? This is a joke" Dean said feeling underwhelmed.

Logan listened to Dean's conversation.

"What are you talking about?" Jean asked not understanding.

"You think that's a fight? That's not even a spar by my standards" Dean said. His battles were far more brutal and painful.

"What are you trying to say Mein Freund?" Kurt asked.

"I could literally run circles around those two" Dean boasted.

Scott knocked Rogue on her back and was prepared to strike.

"That's enough" Logan stopped the fight.

Scott gave Rogue a helping hand, "Good match"

Rogue got up on her own, ignoring him.

'So much for being nice' Scott thought.

The current order from worst to best was Kitty, Evan, Jean, Kurt, Rogue, Scott.

"Congrats shades, you won" Logan congratulated him with barely any enthusiasm, "Now it's come to my attention that Dean was not impressed" he walked up to him and stared him down, "Is that true?"

Dean's gaze never left his, "Real fights are never that clean"

Logan grinned, "Alright, Scott, are you interested in showing the new guy what a real fight is like?" he asked, he wouldn't make him do a thing like that.

"Sure" Scott said stepping forward, someone needs to bring him down a keg or two.

Logan knew he'd do it, call it an educated guess.

Dean took off his jacket and shoes, "This'll be quick" he stood across from Scott.

"Alright now I want a clean fight. The fight is over when the other person is rendered unconscious, gives up, or I say so. Start" Logan said.

Both of them entered their stances.

'Let's see what he's got first' Dean thought.

Scott started by throwing a few punches to test his opponent.

Dean dodged each of them gracefully.

Scott then aimed a kick for Dean's midsection.

Dean sidestepped avoiding the kick.

Scott pressed his attack further mixing in some karate chops and elbow strikes.

'He's nothing special' he thought. Dean hit Scott in the face with a lightning fast punch knocking him back a couple of steps.

Scott felt something run down his nose. He wiped his nose with his hand, blood. He doubled his efforts moving as fast as his body allowed him.

Dean still couldn't be touched. He punched Scott in the gut.

Scott doubled over in pain, it was nearly unbearable.

Dean then hit Scott with an uppercut to the jaw knocking him on his back dazed. He went to press his advantage.

"Stop" Logan said.

Dean froze and glanced at him.

"You win" Logan said reluctantly.

Dean backed away from Scott, not saying a word.

The other X-men stood there in awkward silence. They were expecting the fight to be a little more….well more of a fight and not a slaughter.

Evan leaned over to Rogue, "He just mopped the floor with him" he whispered trying not to make a scene.

"I know" Rogue whispered back.

"You can go wait in the infirmary hot shot" Logan ordered Dean without even making eye contact. He walked over to Scott and helped him up.

Dean grabbed his stuff and left quietly feeling good about himself.

"Uh" Scott groaned, "Anyone catch the number of that train" he said rubbing his jaw.

"Yeah I believe it was the wrecked train" Evan said sarcastically.

"The way I see it you probably wouldn't have lasted halve as long as Scott, porcupine" Logan said checking his tone.

Evan shut his mouth.

Kurt snickered at Evan.

Evan punched his arm, "Shut up" he whispered.

Dean came to the infirmary and waited patiently.

At the moment Charles and Logan were with him.

Charles was doing some medical examinations like he did with all the X-men when they first arrived.

Logan was just watching for now, his part was to oversee the more physical parts of Dean's tests.

"Your x-rays seem fine but I'll need a blood sample to know any more about you" Charles said grabbing a needle.

Dean looked at Logan, "Remind me again what you can do"

Snikt!

"Well I got these. Adamantium claws" Logan said.

"What's adamantium?" Dean asked.

"It's one of the strongest metals, extremely rare" Logan said.

"Hmmmm, you also heal really fast" Dean made an observation. He noticed as Logan's claws retracted the openings in his knuckles healed.

"Yes Logan can heal from almost anything. When he extends his claws his body instantly heals the blood vessels opened preventing him bleeding to death. It also can purge his body of virtually any known toxin, drug or disease" Charles said.

"That must give you incredible stamina" Dean assumed from his basic knowledge of the human body, 'Imagine how much punishment he can take in a fight' he pondered on that thought.

After he finished Charles put away the needle and noticed something on Dean's right shoulder. It was three scribbly lines that intertwined and formed a capital "A", "What's this?"

Dean looked at his right shoulder, "Oh that's a birthmark"

Logan looked at it. The lines were much darker than an average birthmark, "That doesn't look like a birthmark, more like a tattoo"

"I know, I tried to get it removed but nothing ever worked" Dean admitted.

"Strange" Charles said eyeing the mark, "Are you sure your parents didn't brand you as a baby?" he joked.

"I've been assured that that wasn't the case, but let me tell you my mom enjoyed having her first name initial on me" Dean said.

"Momma's boy" Logan said with a smirk.

"You know what? I'm completely ok with that" Dean said with a smile.

Logan nodded, he'll figure out a nickname for him eventually.

Author's note: I've decided to start updating more often because the beginning of the story is kind of slow, and at this rate it'll take over a year before Part 1 is done. So another filler chapter over with. Next time we get to see how Dean handles himself in the danger room!