She woke up in the county hospital, attached to various tubes, with the smell of sterile instruments in her nose Hello, all you lovely people out there who are reading this! It's me again! Ah! Anyway, thanks to ~*Chaya*~ who reviewed. (Trust me, it gets better) Anyway, I know these chapters are short, but bear with me. They just cut into chapters that way.

She woke up in the county hospital, attached to various tubes, with the smell of sterile instruments in her nose. She lay there for several long moments, trying to tell herself that there was not a tube in her arm. Then she opened her eyes slowly.

The place looked just like it smelled. White. And sterile. B-O-R-I-N-G. She sighed. She's been in a hospital before, but was never the person on the white bed with the tubes in her arm.

There was a table beside her bed, and there was a card on it. She lifted an arm that felt way too heavy. From her parents.

~ We came to see you, but you were still asleep. We've gone to a school to discuss Xavier's proposition. Be back soon.

Love, Mom+Dad ~

She wrinkled her nose, trying to clear her fuzzy head. They must have put her on some kind of drug, because she didn't feel totally focused, and she couldn't summon any feelings to describe what had happened to her.

Just then, a nurse in a starched white uniform came in.

"Ms. Bellmont? You have a couple of visitors." She smiled and stepped out of the doorway. A tall bald man (Or he would have been tall, if he'd been standing up) came in a wheelchair, followed by a woman with long red hair. Katherine furrowed her brow, confused.

"Who are you?" She asked. Her voice sounded slightly slurred. She licked her lips, swallowed, tried again. "Do I know you?" Better.

The bald man smiled. "My name is professor Xavier, and this is my assistant, Jean Grey." Nodded at the woman with red hair.

Katherine tried to think. Xavier…She glanced at the note she still had clutched in her hand. Her parents must have spoken to him.

"We have a few questions for you, if I may?" The professor continued. Katherine was still a little befuddled, so she nodded, without knowing exactly what she was getting herself into. The professor wheeled closer to her bed after making a discreet motion at the nurse for her to leave. She went quietly, shutting the door after her.

"Katherine, I am led to believe that you have joined the number of evolved human beings, of mutants, who have unusual, literally superhuman powers." He paused for a moment, as though thinking, thus giving her time to absorb this new bit of information. Then he continued once more. "Dr. Grey and I are among this number." The doctor picked up from there.

"Professor Xavier runs a school for mutant teens, so that they can be among their own kind as they learn. We've discussed the matter with your parents-"

Katherine nodded, her head still feeling thick with the effects of the drug, but comprehending this to align with the note she'd been left by her parents. Jean looked to the professor for support before continuing.

"They have agreed that, if you want to," She stressed this, "You can join this school."

Professor Xavier spoke again. "You don't have to decide now. We will give you as much time as you need. Right now, I would like you to help us a bit." He wheeled around the side of her bed so that she could see him better. "My mutant ability, my gift, is to read minds. Dr. Jean Grey has similar powers, to a lesser extent." This was not an insult, just a fact. Dr. Grey seemed to realize this. "I would like to read your thoughts of your experience, and so help you to further examine your gift." He waited for her reply.

Through the entire speech, Katherine had felt sort of glazed, not quite able to fully comprehend everything the pair had said. She had gotten the part about reading her mind to find out about her "gift" (She still wasn't quite clear on that point), and since it seemed the sensible thing to do, she nodded and said, "All right." She shifted slightly, trying to banish the sleepy feeling the drug had put on her.

Professor Xavier wheeled up to the head of her bed and stretched a hand over her head.

"I'm going to ask you to relax, Katherine." That was another thing-how did he know her name? But it didn't worry her overmuch, so she did has he asked, and unfocused her mind.

Professor Xavier closed his eyes, and sat perfectly still for about twenty seconds. Then he opened his eyes and took his hand from over her head. He smiled.

"I believe that I know what your gift is, Katherine. Whenever your emotions run high, evolved chemical process in you body makes your skin glow with heat energy as well as light energy. These same processes allow you to directly interact with any object-or person-that uses these types of energy, for example, the telephone, which uses electricity…" He looked at her intently, waiting for a reaction. "When your radio began playing-" She remembered it only as he said it. "-it was you fixed it-with your power. Of the boy…I found earlier that an electrical pulse had shocked him through the telephone. He nearly died." There was no need to say what she already knew-that she had caused this. The drugs were beginning to wear off, to the point where Katherine could begin to feel ashamed of what she had done, however unwittingly. "So this power you have been given may have either positive or negative effects, depending on what you want at the moment. You blacked out because your body was unused to all the power running through your body. This also may be the reason you fainted in the play.

She blushed, not even bothering to ask how he'd known about the play.

"But you're fine now." He said kindly, as though trying to cushion her from a blow.

"So, you're saying I'm like Electric Girl, or something?"

"Something like that, yes." He said with a light chuckle. "At our school, every student has a strange power like no-one else's, and they are all trying to learn how to use it. We can help you," He said, leaning forward slightly. Katherine tried to clear her still sluggish thoughts.

She was a mutant. No. That was impossible. She had heard of the strange phenomenon, but it could never happen to her. No one she knew was a mutant.

"Actually," the professor broke in on her thoughts. "Your friend, Ceanna, is a mutant as well. We have discussed her situation with her parents, and she prefers to stay at your school. Her gift is to change the colors of things, but it isn't very powerful, and therefore not very relevant to her everyday life. We are watching her development, so that we may be aware if her powers grow further."

Katherine was flabbergasted. Cean was her best friend, and she had never mentioned, never hinted that she was in any way different or special.

"It's not the sort of thing you blurt out at lunch." Professor Xavier reproved her gently.

Slightly embarrassed, Katherine hid it in her normal way – Anger. She shut her eyes as if to shut out the professor, and said angrily,

"Would you get out of my head please, I'm trying to think. ALONE." Trusting the professor to his unspoken word, she took a deep breath, and tried once again to organize her mixed feelings. She was a mutant. She could accept that, for now. If she went to this school, she would be surrounded by kids her age who could totally relate to her situation. If she stayed at her old school, she would be among the kids and teachers that she knew. But the little voice of reason in her head told her that there was always the chance that she might hurt someone.

Like you hurt Derek. At this other place, you can learn to control it, so that will never happen again. Different. She thought bitterly. A girl with a rare disease.

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