Chapter 15-
Amanda stepped out of the dressing room wearing a lime-green jumper and a cream-colored long-sleeved shirt. Her mother and Raven stood up from their chairs and looked approvingly at the clothes. "You look beautiful. This was a good choice, Raven," Moira said, kissing her daughter's forehead, lovingly.
"Yes, this color green is a good color on her," Raven said.
"Do you think Dad will like it, Mama, Aunt Raven?" Amanda asked, looking at her reflection in the mirror.
"Your father will love it, but it is more what you think. Do you like it, baby?" Moira asked.
"Yeah. I've never had a dress this color before. I have been to a zillion thrift shops and never found one like this," Amanda said.
"Thrift shops?" Raven asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Uh, yeah. Abba was on a budget, so I bought all my clothes at the thrift store. Second-hand is really not that bad, Aunt Raven," Amanda said, rolling her eyes.
"Well, we don't have to pick second-hand for awhile. We're going to buy you a complete wardrobe," Moira said, kissing her daughter's cheek gently.
"Okay, Mama, it's yours and Dad's money," Amanda said as she went into the dressing room to change into something else.
Charles looked up from where he was talking to a new student, when Moira, Amanda, and Raven came in, all of them with shopping bags in their hands. Hank took the new student to his room and Charles rolled his chair to his wife, daughter, and sister. "Did you three ladies leave anything at the mall?" Charles asked, an amused glint in his eyes.
"A few things, dear. We had to work completely from scratch," Moira said after giving him a quick kiss.
"Hmmm. Do you like the clothes, Sweets?" Charles asked his daughter.
"They are nice. I have never had such nice clothes and Mama and Aunt Raven bought me a tape player, CD"s, and some books," Amanda said.
"Well, I hope you enjoy them, love, but before you read those, you do need to read the one I gave you for my class," Charles said.
"Okay, but it won't take me that long to catch up. Reading is not an issue with me. I spent ten days last summer reading a book about the six wives of King Henry VIII as British history is kind of fun along with Russian history, French history, and the Holocaust," Amanda said with that self-contained smile that only a teenaged girl could give.
Charles smiled back. "Well, out of any hobby you can have, those are safe ones and ones I can live with. At least it isn't something like smoking and drinking," Charles said.
"Please. I hate the smell of smoke and due to my mutations, I can never get drunk. My body just heals too fast for that to ever happen," Amanda said as she walked to her room.
"Charles, she told us that she wears thrift-shop clothes," Raven said as soon as Amanda was out of earshot.
"I thought as much. The clothes look faded and worn," Charles said.
"Charles, I am happy to have her back, but she seems so distant. There's a wall there that wasn't there when she was three," Moira said.
"My love, she'll be fine. She has still some traces of the drugs in her system, but she is going against her memories. She is Amanda, but she also has the memories of when she was Sarah," Charles said.
"Charles, you are aware that you can't be a hard on her as you are David?" Moira asked.
"Moira, what are you saying?" Charles asked, evading the question.
"That you are harder on our son than you are anyone else in the school. David loves you and he's always terrified that if he makes a mistake, how you'll react. He's even afraid of what will happen now that Amanda's back. That we'll push him to the side because she was born first," Moira said.
"I guess I had better talk to my boy," Charles said as he turned his chair to the library where David was working on an essay for his history class.
"That would be a good idea and talk to him like his father, not his teacher," Raven suggested.
Charles rolled his chair into the library and went to his son, who was sitting at a desk. "David, can you come with me please?" Charles asked, touching his son's hand gently. David looked up.
"Uh, Dad, I kinda have a paper due in history," David said.
"I know, son, but it is really important," Charles said. David stood up and followed his father outside, neither of them speaking until they reached the pond that Charles often used when he wanted new students to show him their powers.
"Son, are you afraid of me?" Charles asked, deciding to come out and ask.
"Huh?" David asked, turning to look at his father, a look of confusion on his face.
"Your mother and Aunt Raven have just told me that I scare you and I am harder on you than anyone else at the school," Charles said.
"Well, it really can't be helped. You run this place and I'm still a student, Dad," David said. Charles pulled his boy down onto his lap and hugged him tightly, running his fingers through his shaggy auburn hair.
"I never said you had to prove yourself to me. You don't have to be a perfect student to make me love you more or less. You are my boy; David Xavier," Charles said, kissing David's forehead.
"What about Amanda, Dad?" David asked, resting his forehead against his father's shoulder.
"What about Amanda, son?" Charles asked.
"You and Mom love her more than me," David said in a splintered voice.
"David Xavier, that is ridiculous. I love all my children the same. Amanda was born first. That is all and she has been hurt. She needs our help. She needs your help too," Charles said.
"I don't know how to help her, Dad," David said.
"None of us do, but Amanda just needs us to be there and show her that we love her as she works through everything she's been through," Charles said.
"Okay, Dad," David said.
"I love you, son," Charles whispered in David's ear.
"I love you too, Dad," David said, wrapping his arms around Charles's neck and burying his face in Charles's shoulder.