*********************************************************************** (2) After the plane, Dixon had spent at least 24 hours on a bus to get to Bayville and was just controlling a simmering temper when she was stuck beside some whiny little kid and his mother for the whole trip. Bayville was nothing like what Dixon was expecting. A humble, little town near the beach, bathed in warm sunlight on a Saturday afternoon. Everyone was acting so cheerful.

She felt like gagging. "I've walked into an episode of 'Saved by the Bell'." she groaned.

The bus dropped her off at the middle of town, near an average, all American mall. Saturday shoppers crowed the sidewalks teens lounged around on benches. There was a slight chill to the wind, but it didn't seem to affect anyone's spirits.

Dixon dropped her bag beside her and rummaged through her jeans' pockets for the address of her uncle's house.

"Hmmmmm, well this does me a whole lot of good since I don't know my way around." She shoved the paper back in her pocket. "Guess the only thing I can do is asking someone."

She glanced around, scanning the crowd. Over by the main entrance of the mall, there sat four guys. They all looked about Dixon's age. However, they didn't really look like they fit together. One was a tall, slender teen with white hair. He wore jeans and a well-fit gray shirt. He was leaning against the wall, sneering at people going in. The guy beside him was dressed in ratty jeans, and a black t-shirt. He had shaggy brown hair and looked about the same build. Another was crouched down beside the bench. He had greasy-looking, brown hair and looked like a runt. He wore ripped jeans and a dirty-looking, green t-shirt. The last guy was built big. He had short, blonde hair. He wore a pair of overalls and a faded t-shirt. He sat stuffing his face with food. Slim chance I'll get help from them, Dixon thought, but they look like the only normal people here. So before she could change her mind, Dixon picked up her back and walked over to them.

"Pietro this is boring, yo" Todd whined from his spot beside the bench, watching Freddy stuff his face.

"Yeah Pietro, these freaks are boring." stated Lance. He was leaning against the wall beside the speedster. Pietro was more focused on the world around them, however. He was watching a girl walking toward him. She was slim, and had long, dark red hair. She was clad in baggy jeans and a black sweatshirt. He felt a weird pulling feeling in his gut when he looked at her.

"Any of you seen her before?" The speed demon nodded toward the approaching girl.

Both Lance and Todd looked over at once, glad for something new to distract them.

"Nope."

"No. "Lance continued, "But I'm gonna find out who she is."

He pushed away from the wall and had walked only a few steps when he came face to face with Dixon.

"Hey."

Dixon was taken back by how nice this guy seemed to be. "Um, hi."

"Name's Lance."

"Dixon."

"Hmm, nice name. You lost?"

Dixon had totally missed whatever Lance had just said. She was looking over his shoulder at the other three guys behind him. They were looking at her intently.

"You have a problem with staring, girlie?" Pietro sneered.

"No problem, 'cept you." Dixon glared back. "And the name's Dixon."

Huge black clouds started to roll in. Todd and Freddy looked up at the darkening sky, then back nervously at Dixon.

"That's Pietro, Todd and Freddy." Lance filled in. He seemed to be ignoring the bad weather. But he had noticed that Dixion's eyes were now a completely different. The colour in the irises had changed from her blue color to black. He turned to look at his friends then back to Dixon. "You need any help?"

"No Thanks. I think I'll be fine by myself." She hitched her bag up on her shoulder.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't want to pull you away from your friends." She glared once more at Pietro and a peal of lightning lit the sky. Then just as suddenly as it started, the storm ended. Dixon turned and started down the street.

Lance shrugged and went back to lean against the wall. "Whoa Pietro, what was that about?"

"Dunno she gave me weird vibes." He watched Dixon walk down the street, and felt a strange disappointment that she left. *********************************************************************** "God! Why does he have to live so far from town?" Dixon collapsed against the towering steel gates in front of the Xavier mansion. She looked down at the not so small town she'd just spent the day walking through. She adjusted the sweatshirt tied around her waist. She had peeled it off due to the afternoon heat. Sweat dripped down her back. From behind her, she could hear a stereo playing deafeningly loud music of Nine Inch Nails and the faint sound of people shouting. 'Geez, they seem happy, ' she thought, ' no problems for them in there. ' She still didn't understand how her uncle got the money to buy the place or how he could live with a bunch of teenagers 24/7. Now she would have to live with it too. Dixion stood up, brushing the hair out of her face. She turned and looked up the mansion that would soon be her home. She rolled her eyes sickened as 'Home Sweet Home' sang throughout her head. "Might as well let him know I'm here." she muttered. Mentally she called to her uncle. * HEY UNCLE! I'M HERE AND I'M COMIN' IN READY OR NOT! * Dixion smiled to herself as she hefted her bag over the top of the gate and easily jumped over to meet it on the other side. Her uncle would be mad at her for yelling mentally at him. "He always said I was too loud." Smiling again, she started toward the house. ************************************************************************ Kurt was making his way toward the front door. Someone stood outside, and was ringing the bell every 2 seconds. Just as he made it to the stairs, Evan and Rogue ran past him, pushing him out of the way. Teetering at the edge of the top stair, Kurt teleported to the bottom.

"Vhat the hell?"

"Daniels! Get the hell outta mah way!"

Evan and Rogue came close to colliding when she jumped over him on the stairs, barely missing his head.

"Damn it, Rogue! Can't you just say 'duck'?"

"Ya got in mah way!"

"Vhat is the fighting about?"

Rogue glared at Evan. "Daniels there tried to destroy mah CD," then she glared at the door, "and Iah'm gonna kill whoever is ringing that bell."

"Guys please, like, stop yelling." Kitty had come out of the living room and looked pleadingly at them. "I, like, can't read with all this noise."

"Shut up Kitty." Rogue sneered.

"I don't know how you can hear anything with your music on Rogue." Evan muttered, pushing past her to get the door.

Just as he opened the door, Dixion decided to commence pounding on it. Unfortunately, she hit Evan right in the face, knocking him flat on his back.

"Oh god, I'm sorry!" she squeaked, coming to Evan's side on the floor.

As the stars cleared from Evan's vision, he looked up to see what he thought was an angel. Dark crimson hair, azure-colored eyes, beautiful smile...he died and gone to heaven.

Suddenly her face disappeared and a blue fuzzy one replaced it.

"You alvight, dude?"

Evan groaned and sat up. "Yeah, sure. Who's the angel?"

Dixion started. "What? Angel? Me? I'm flattered, but I'm no angel."

Evan stood up and backed away a little. Dixion surveyed the people around her. Beside her stood a guy about her height, and wore a pair of baggy jeans and some t-shirt, but was covered in blue fur and had a pointed demon tail. 'Kurt I guess ' she thought. The guy she'd hit had bright blonde hair in some spiky fashion and wore shorts and a muscle shirt. 'Evan '. A girl stood further back in the house. She was clad in all pink. 'Eeww. That must be Kitty '. And sitting on the stairs was another girl. She had dark brown hair with a streak of white on each side of her face. Her makeup was dark and so were her clothes. 'That has got to be Rogue. Finally someone normal '. Her inspection took no more than a few seconds.

"Hi," she grinned, "I'm Dixion. Is... Ah, Professor Xavier here?" ************************************************************************ Same as before.