Howdy-ho! I know I've been out for awhile, but...well, I'm not going to tell you what the problem was. It's too...personal. Just kidding! Three words: too much homework. Ah, I love school, don't you? That is, if you attend school. Which you might not. Anyway...
Um, I just have a little note before I go on. InterNutter: this story's set between the first season and the second season (my motto is: Who needs the newbies? Hee-hee!). Now, to get on with it.
As I have said before, this story has been lacking something: plot. Well, it had a plot, but it was moving very slowly. So in the interest of developing a plot, and re-introducing the *normal* characters into the story, I have made this lovely chapter which you see before you. :o)
Oh, I have to explain Greta's powers. Greta can manipulate air pressure with her hands and fingers. She can do this funky stuff to push things away from herself. Soon, she'll be able to (I know I shouldn't be revealing this, but I can't contain it any longer) 'throw' her powers, in a sense. She'll be able to squeeze air into a tight ball from across a room, then release it very quickly, thus releasing a sort of bomb, propelling everything around the ball outward. Plus, she'll be able to squeeze air around objects very tightly, things like that. Oh! And, like I said in a previous chapter, she's very *sensitive* to pressure. She can feel it in her hands and in her temples, and can relate back the exact pressure. This'll be useful for detecting if a new person's entered a room if Logan's not around. :)
Once again, I'll repeat, this is most definitely *not* a self-insertion fic. I just get really excited 'cause I'm so proud of my character and all. :D
'Kay, I'll shut up now.

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Chapter Nine: Party time!

***

One month later (Note: a month after the events - if you could call them events - of the last chapter)...

***

It was not often, in the X Mansion, that you would hear any sound beyond quiet snoring and the rustling of bedclothes after One A.M. But under the circumstances, you could hardly blame the teenagers for being up. And all of them were up... that is, all except one.
"Ouch! You stepped on my tail, man!"
"Well, it's not *my* fault you put it underneath my foot! It's not like I can *see* in the dark! Besides, what happened to your famous 'night-vision,' anyway?"
"It doesn't work when I'm half-asleep!"
There was a shushing noise from behind them. "Guys, quit making such a racket! You might wake Greta up!"
"Or worse: the adults."
A door opened down the hall. The four figures blinked at the light, and strained to see the figure in the doorway. "Are you yahoos comin' in, or what? I mean, now that you've woken up *everybody* in the mansion."
"Yeah, guys. Like, are you coming? We have to, like, finish this already!"
"I *would* come, if I thought it were safe for me *and* my tail to come through."
"I *told* you, I can't *see*!"
"You could at *least* try-"
"*Shut up*, guys! Geez, am I the *only* one here who wants to get back to bed?"
"No way."
"No."
"Like, no."
"Nuh-uh."
A little panicked. "Don't you guys care if we *finish* it or not?!"
A muttered round of 'yes's.
"Guys, are you *coming*?!" She stomped her foot for emphasis.
There was a general cry of "Yes!"
"Shhhhhh!!!"
Finally, they managed to get everyone in the room. It took another few minutes for everyone to get comfortable. The positions were these: Rogue was half-sitting, half-reclined on her own bed, Scott was sitting next to her as if afraid the bedclothes would jump up and eat him, Jean was sitting primly on Kitty's bed, next to Kitty, of course, Evan was on the floor between the beds, against the wall (he was trying to look cool, but was failing miserably at it), and Kurt was draped over the back of a chair. Once everyone had settled into their positions, Kitty reached beneath her bed, dug around for a few seconds, then pulled out a large book. On the cover was calligraphed (Note: I just love that word, don't you?) 'The X-Manual' in gold ink. After setting the book on the bed beside her, Kitty drew out a huge pink bag filled with gel-pens. This she opened and set out on the floor in the middle of the circle.
"Well," she said, opening the book. "What do you guys, like, want to put in this?" Everyone began to speak at once, then stopped abruptly and let out a nervous laugh. Kitty, realizing she had to do something, pointed to Kurt. "Kurt, like, what do you want to put in here?" She picked up a green gel pen and opened it, poised to write.
"Ja, uh...I wanted to say that there is no sneaking out of your room in the middle of the night." He grinned, showing his fangs, and waggled his eyebrows at the group. Everyone groaned at the terrible joke, but laughed in spite of themselves.
"Okay..." She bit her tongue as she finished writing it down. Looking up, her eyes traveled to the left of the fuzzball who was now in an utterly *ridiculous* position on the chair. "Scott?"
"Me? Uh, how about...um...you should always be respectful of your team members?" This warranted another groan from the assembly. "What?! It should be included!"
"Like, moving on," Kitty said, jotting this down. She turned to her roomate. "Rogue?"
"'Don't pry into other people's business'?"
"Rogue!" Jean said. "That's a little harsh."
"Sorry, I just said the first thing that came to mind." She smiled. "How about, 'no tap-dancing on the tables'?"
Smiling, Kitty ducked back into the book. "I'll put that in the 'silly' section." She finished with a flourish and looked to Evan. "Evan? Like, got anything?" Blush, shrug. "Okay, we'll, like, come back to you. Um, I'll write something."
Looking over Kitty's shoulder, Jean burst out laughing. "What's it say, what's it say?!" cried the rest of the group.
Jean caught her breath for a moment and managed to get out: "'No kidnapping Logan and giving him a makeover'!" Trying to keep their laughter down, everyone in the room collapsed into helpless giggles. It took them quite awhile to catch their breath again, but then they continued.
Jean bit her lip. "Er, how about 'no powers at the high school'?"
They went around the circle countless times, giggling all the way (beginning with the lovely laugh-fest that followed Kurt's "No shedding fur in the swimming pool"), until finally, at Three A.M., they ran out of space.
"Like, there!" Kitty tossed the seventh empty gel-pen into the trash can, closing the book with her other hand. "Now everyone has to, like, sign the cover." The book went around the (now infamous) circle. To finish the job that they had spent what seemed like all night on, Kitty pulled out a voluminous bow and plopped it on the front of The X-Manual. All those present looked around at each other smugly. There was a moment of silence until Scott spoke.
"Uh, don't you think we should be getting to bed?"
"Heh, ja, it *is* kind of late." Everyone except for Rogue and Kitty stood up and headed for the door.
"Hey, guys, do you think she'll, like, like it?" They all looked back, but Rogue was the one who responded.
"She had better, after all the work that that took!" There was laughter, but it was obvious that they were all winding down for the night. It was almost quiet as they headed back to to their rooms, although, unfortunately, Scott stepped on Kurt's tail again. There was a general sigh of relief as everyone climbed back into bed and prepared to sleep late into the next day.

***

Greta could hear the floorboards creaking, and she watched the feet go by through the crack under the bottom of her door. _Well, at least they're going to sleep, finally._ She had been awake since an hour before, and she had been listening to them laughing. Laughing at her. _Stop that. They weren't laughing at you. Not that they didn't have good reason to._ She turned over to the face the wall opposite the door. _A *party*. What were you thinking, agreeing to a party? They don't even *like* you. They're probably just going to be polite._ That was funny. A month ago, Greta hadn't known anything about manners. She probably would've thought they were going to a *party* for her because they were being paid. _Maybe they *are* being paid. Ever think of that?_ Greta cursed herself, and turned over again.
It was going to be a long night...

***

Eight hours later...

***

"For she's a jolly good fellow, for she's a jolly good fellow, for she's a jolly good fe-eh-llow! Which nobody can deny! Which nobody can deny, which nobody can-"
"Okay, you've humiliated her enough now, you can quiet down," Ororo shushed them. Kurt had just *had* to insist on some kind of song. She turned to look at Greta, who looked like she was about to explode, judging by the color of her face. _Just when she's started coming out of her shell,_ Ororo thought regretfully. _Well, there's hope yet. She agreed to *come* to this party._ It was true, Greta had made astonishing progress over the past month, although she had seemed to focus mainly on the intellectual studies rather than the study of her powers. _At least she's managed to get up to high school level. Hmm, for all *we* know, she could continue to excel in her studies,_ Ororo thought with quiet amusement. _This girl could go on to do great things if she put her mind to it._
None of the teenagers around Greta seemed to notice the shade of red on her cheeks as they brought out the cake. Kitty had insisted that she be allowed to bake it, and she was, but only under constant supervision (everyone still remembered the last time that Kitty had cooked *dinner*). It was a little sloppy around the edges, but it looked edible. Across the top, in purple icing, was scrawled: 'Happy First Day of High School, Greta!' Jean cut into the cake, and served everyone a slice. For Kitty's sake, no one made a face as they took the first bite. However, everyone managed to dispose of their cake quickly, claiming that they didn't have appetites. Logan was the only one who actually finished his piece.
With a *BAMF* Kurt reappeared holding Greta's present from the teens. He stepped forward and puffed out his chest, presenting it to her proudly. There was a smug grin on each of their faces as she removed the bow from its cover gingerly and carefully read each of the messages surrounding the title. Slowly but surely, an enormous grin spread over her face. Ororo just smiled from the corner as she watched Greta jump up and hug each of her teammates. She received a surprised grin from most of them, and a shy one (with a blush) from Evan, in return. She stepped a bit closer to the group in the center of the room when she heard her nephew attempt to start up the conversation again.
"Gee, uh, it's too bad you only get to go to school for a month until summer starts." The blush spread further across his face.
"Yeah, I wanted to spend sum-more time with you guys in an actual school. I mean, I can just imagine what-cher like around large groups-a people."
Ororo heard the Professor come up behind her. "She really has improved. It seems like just a few hours ago that she was speaking so softly you had to strain to hear her."
She smiled. "Yes, I know what you mean. She really has improved enormously, hasn't she? And I'm glad, since she is such a good influence on Evan."
"Oh?"
"Haven't you noticed the way he goes quiet whenever he's around her?" There was a rather satisfied-looking grin on her face. "Makes it a great deal easier to speak to him."
A very tiny smile appeared on the Professor's face. "Quite."

***

Yee-hoo! Wowie, is this thingie long! Hoo-barry! Lol, pardon my weird slang, I'm just really excited, is all. Gosh, I'm proud of myself (*swells with pride 'till she explodes*). Oh, and pardon my terrible approximation of Greta's speech. I'm so bad!!! Y'arghhh! Well, I don't really mean that. Hee-hee! Okay, I'm just blathering now, I'll shut up. Tell me whatcha think, if you want to. Your choice.
:O)