Author's Note: Okay, so no Romy this chapter, but tons next chapter. Also, Sam gets a new love interest!! I'm sorry, but the sweet Southern boy needs to get some love too. There is some filler stuff, introducing the New Recruits to Chris but it's mostly just a fun chapter. Some cute humor too. Hope ya like it.
Shout outs:
Rogue77: Aw, my ego has been boosted. Gracias. Also, I don't have any Remy POV, sorry. I try to keep to the same character POVs b/c it's easier for me.
Henrika4eva/romy4eva: More Romy on the way. Not this chappy but soon! Promise.
Yumiko: Thank you. No worries, she still has her spunk. It'll be starting up again at some point.
Ev1ta: Thanks a lot. You're too sweet. Hope you like the new installment.
Ishalfahand: You're strange but I like it. Next chappy will be ROMY but this one, not so much. (More like none…)
Making a Connection
by, Caliente
Chapter 7 – Lounging Around the Pool
Chris's POV – Around noon in Chris's room, she's just finished unpacking.
'Hmm...' Chris began to look around, 'maybe I can do something with this place after all. It might not be much to look at but –'
Chris Jean's call interrupted her thoughts. If you want something to eat I can send Kurt to show you the way to the kitchen. Also, there is a bathroom in the hall if you need it.
Chris smiled to herself, maybe a shower wouldn't be so bad. No thanks for the food Chris answered Jean politely. Dr. McCoy gave me some food before I left the med bay.
Okay, just ask anybody if you want to find anything in the house though. Everybody will be really helpful, well maybe not Bobby… Jean joked.
Thanks Jean Chris said projecting her gratitude. I think I'm gonna take a shower.
Well, you could Jean wanted to include the new girl Or you could come swimming with us. It's a nice day and a bunch of us were thinking about swimming after we eat. Well, not right after. You have a suit don't you?
Swimming sounds great responded Chris enthusiastically. Yeah, I have a suit. I'll meet you guys out there in twenty minutes.
Okay Jean answered.
'Mierda (Shit),' thought Chris to herself, 'Now I have to find my suit. Argh, I should have unpacked in a more organized way. Where the heck did I put that thing?'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chris's POV – about 20 minutes later, by the pool
"Hey Chris," yelled Scott from the pool, "Come on in, the water's fine."
Chris hesitantly walked outside barefoot. She had on a royal blue spaghetti strap tank top and a pair of light blue denim overalls. She wore her usual silver thumb ring and silver necklace with another intricately designed silver ring on it. She also wore her usual 6 earrings but she didn't have her black rubber bracelets on. Her hair was once again pulled back and twisted up with the grabby clip. Her lovely brown curls were spilling over the top once more, the light brown highlights glinting in the sun. The tank top definitely outlined her curves and slim figure nicely. Five boys and two girls that Chris didn't recognize all looked her over cautiously. 'Those must be the other mutants,' thought Chris to herself. None of them had seen her since her arrival. Each of them introduced themselves with friendly smiles, though the youngest boy looked a little nervous.
"Hey baby, I'm Iceman or Bobby Drake, the coolest member of the team, literally," stated a brown haired boy jokingly. Bobby proceeded to make a mini iceberg in the pool. He had brown eyes and looked about 14 years old. A pretty girl with dark tan skin and dark brown hair of the same age sent him dirty looks. She was very pretty but had a slightly snooty attitude that did not go unnoticed by Chris. The boy hastily continued, "And this lovely lady is Amara Aquilla or Magma, isn't she hot?" Amara flamed up a hand to show her powers.
"Hi Bobby, hello Amara," Chris responded with a friendly smile, "I'm Christina Cruz or Chris." Chris smiled. "Say, Bobby is that a faint Bawston accent I hear? Because I'm from there too." Her grin froze as he nodded with a smile. 'This is either really good or really bad,' thought Chris worriedly. 'I mean, he probably doesn't know or recognize me but what if he does? I think if he did, he would have run off immediately. Oh well. I'm sure it'll be okay, nobody suspects anything of my past because they have no reason to.' She tried to reassure herself.
"I'm Ray Crisp," said a nice looking boy who looked about Chris's age with really odd hair. His hair was shaved blonde except in the front where it was dyed orange and spiked in a fan-like shape. "My codename is Berzerker." He seemed proud and she knew he was the type that went looking for a fight or trouble. 'Curious that he ended up an X-Man,' thought Chris. 'He seems to be a hot head.' Ray sent off a little electricity to show his powers. Chris caught his electrical burst and formed it into a ball before throwing it into the air where it exploded in a little burst. All of the newbies watched in awe.
"It's really nice to meet you Ray." Chris pulled them out of their shock. "Interesting hair…" She added, smirking slightly, before approaching the nervous boy smiling brightly. "I'm Chris and you are?"
"Jamie Madrox," said a little voice. "Or Multiple." With that he looked away. 'Multiple, guess he clones himself,' Chris thought to herself. He looked younger than the rest, maybe 12 years old. He was cute with brown hair and eyes. Not wanting to push him, she smiled and turned to the other girl.
"I'm Tabitha or Tabby," the blonde haired girl who seemed the same age as Ray announced. She smiled mischievously, "But they call me Boom Boom." She threw a few cherry bombs in the water, creating mini splashes to prove her point.
"Boom Boom, huh?" Chris repeated with a slow smile. "Kinky. Guess you're a pyrokinetic." Tabby laughed before turning back to her flirtations with Ray. Chris turned her attention to the next boy.
The dark skinned boy with black hair who looked slightly younger than Chris smiled politely but remained uninterested. "I'm Roberto Da Costa or Sunspot," was all he offered. He seemed to be as hot headed as Ray. 'Bet those two have gotten in a bunch of fights,' Chris thought to herself. He proceeded to power up, "I convert solar energy into strength," he explained in a bored tone.
"You're name is Spanish sounding, where are you from?" Chris inquired curiously.
"I'm from Brazil, so I speak Portuguese not Spanish," answered Roberto defensively. She could feel his hostility and decided to show him up.
"Eu falo o português demasiado. Não importa. Você não é interessado obviamente. (I speak Portuguese too. No matter. You obviously aren't interested.)," was all Chris said before turning to the last boy. Roberto looked at her shocked but decided not to push it.
"Ah'm Sam Guthrie," the boy with blonde hair and brown eyes drawled. He looked about Chris's age and had a cute smile. "Meh codename is CannonBall. It's reallah nice ta have ya heah. 'Specially afta Jubilee an' Rahne left. Mo' pretty ladies. Oh, an' mah powa is ta propel mahself reallah fast an' Ah'm almost invulnerable. Can't reallah demonstrate without destroyin' somethang."
"Nice to meet you Sam," smiled Chris blushing ever so slightly. 'Damn, he's cute. And with a cute accent to boot. Oh well, I bet he's got a novia (girlfriend). Nobody should be allowed to be that cute.' Chris continued to blush at her own thoughts.
"So, ya comin' in the pool o' what?" asked Sam with a friendly smile.
"Well…" Chris started. She paused as if thinking for a moment, "Sure." She smiled broadly but then sat down to undress. She saw Jean and Kitty were in the pool too. There was no sign of Rogue or Kurt. She saw Ororo and Logan sitting with the Professor in the shade. The three appeared to be deep in conversation while keeping an eye on the children. Chris turned her attention back to her clothing. She slowly took off her overall straps. She dropped her pants to reveal a bikini bottom with string ties on both sides. The color was remarkable and shimmered in the sunlight, it was almost the color of sunlight itself. She folded the overalls and placed them by a chair. A small tattoo on her ankle was visible, however nobody noticed. It appeared to be a family crest of sorts with the initials TG linked inside. Then she took off the tank top to reveal a swim suit tube top that matched her bottoms and her belly button ring. She folded her tank top and placed it on top of her overalls. She smiled as she let her curly brown hair down for the first time. It was long and curly. It made it down to the middle of her back. Her light tan skin seemed to almost glow in the sunlight.
"So where are Rogue and Kurt?" asked Chris curiously as she made her way to the pool. Chris slid into the waist high water and gave a slight shiver.
"Kurt is trying to convince Rogue to come out. He keeps telling her to be more outgoing but –" Kitty started to explain but she was cut off by a sudden *BAMF* and a cry as both Kurt and Rogue fell into the pool from 3 feet above. Rogue was completely clothed while Kurt had on only swim trunks. There was a huge splash drenching Chris and everybody else in or near the pool before Rogue came sputtering to the surface.
"Y-ya … jerk!" she cried. "Whacha think ya were doin'?" Her eyes were filled with fire.
"Vell, you need to be more social meine Schwester (my sister)," responded Kurt innocently as Rogue made her way out of the pool.
"Whatevah," Rogue replied bitterly before walking to the door. She sent Kurt her Death Glare before reentering the house.
Everybody began to laugh, even Logan let out a chuckle. Chris looked around surprised but then began to laugh herself. Poor Kurt just looked so dejected.
"That was some cannonball Kurt," said Scott between laughs.
"Nah," replied Sam, "Ah'll show ya a cannonball."
"No fair," cried Kurt. "It's your name!"
Everybody let out another laugh. Just then Chris had an idea. As everybody laughed, she began to concentrate on the sun's energy. She levitated herself a good 5 feet off the ground and moved over the pool. She let her concentration go and moved into a cannonball shape. SPLASH was all that was heard as even the three professors were drenched. Chris came up smoothly to find everybody staring at her.
"What?" she asked innocently with wide eyes. That's when everybody noticed that where her eyes had once been pale grey, they were now the golden color of her swimsuit – same as the sun – and she once again had a glow about her, only this time it was the color of sunlight. "You guys didn't think Kurt was the only one that could make a decent splash did you?"
Everybody just stared for a moment at her eyes. Chris suddenly became slightly self-conscience. She decided to explain. "See when I concentrate the energy flowing in me, my eyes take on that color and I sort of glow for a few moments." As she was talking, her eyes began to change back to their pale grey color and her glow was fading.
"Guess that's what you meant by using the suns energy to fly," commented Jean with a smile.
"That was SO cool!" yelled Kurt enthusiastically. Everybody broke down in laugher again.
Slowly people began to swim around and have private conversations again. Chris smiled to herself and began to swim laps. She loved to swim; in fact her mom had told her she must have been a fish in a past life. Suddenly, Chris felt like there were eyes on her. She stopped her laps and stood up. Jean and Scott moved out of the pool to talk quietly together. Amara and Bobby were laughing as they froze and melted stuff together. Ray, Tabitha, Roberto, Kurt, Jamie, and even Kitty were playing Marco Polo. Then her eyes met Sam's. She felt a small blush creep into her cheeks and had to force it away. She smiled at him and hoisted herself onto the side of the pool next to him. 'He's SO cute,' thought Chris, 'I wonder if he'll be in any of my classes.'
After a moment of silence Sam took the initiative and said, "So, tell meh about yoself."
'Ohmigod, I could listen to that Southern drawl for hours!' Chris thought. Instead she said, "Well, I grew up in Bawston, Massachusetts. I have a slight accent, nothing like yours though. I'm bilingual in Español (Spanish) and I speak some Portuguese and French too. Mi familia is big on languages. My two hermanas, oh, that's sisters, and I all speak numerous languages. We've lived with our tíos, I mean my aunt and uncle, for a few years because mis padres couldn't take care of us anymore. I'm really good at logic, like math and stuff, but I stink at public speaking. I am a good student but I don't really like school. I love sports but I don't play on school teams, except for volleyball. I also dance, like jazz and ballet and that sorta stuff. I love the movements, it's so natural. I'm not the most popular girl but I don't have trouble making amigos, er, friends. I love to read and generally tend to blabber and slip in some words in Español when I'm nerviosa, I mean nervous. Kinda like I am right now." Chris blushed slightly again and then, regaining her composure, asked, "So what about you?"
"Well, meh sister and Ah are mutants. We grew up in Kentucky with our 'rents, hence the Southern drawl. Ah'm an okay student as well. Ah'm athletic and enjoy playin' video games. Ah think Ah'm pretty easy goin' guy who makes friends easily too. Ah tend to be shy and my accent thickens when Ah'm nervous but Ah'm tryin' to get ova that," Sam said offering a lopsided grin. 'She's so cute when she blushes,' thought Sam to himself. 'I'm glad she came to the school.'
"Now that we've got that outta the way, wanna play foosball?" asked Chris innocently with a smile. "I've been dying to play since I got here. I love foosball!"
Sure," responded Sam. He handed her a towel and grabbed one for himself. They smiled at each other. Sam threw on a t-shirt while Chris put her tank top and overalls back on. As they headed inside together Chris was grinning widely.
You and Sam, cute the red haired telepath told Chris.
Shut up! We just met Chris defended. We don't know each other.
Jean smiled as she commented, Whatever you say… but I want details! Oops, gotta go. Scott is feeling neglected.
"Jean sure is nosy," Chris commented to Sam as she suppressed a giggle at thoughts of Scott's supposed neglect.
"Ah know," he replied, "but she means well. Were ya guys "talkin'" jus' now?"
"Yeah," she said with a small smile. "She was making fun of us because we're attracted to each other." Sam looked a little taken aback by this comment. 'Mierda,' thought Chris. 'I was imagining the attraction, he doesn't feel the same way.'
"How did ya – Ah mean how could ya –" Sam tried to find his voice.
"Oh, estoy apesadumbrado (I'm sorry)," replied Chris as she looked down ashamed. "I guess I just assumed that the attraction I feel is mutual."
Sam took a good long look into those eyes. True, he had felt something for this girl. She was beautiful and friendly. He had been watching her swim and found her movements graceful. His face softened and he gave her a big smile. He grabbed her hand and continued toward the common room. When they arrived he suddenly turned around and looked strait into her eyes as if trying to read her. He smiled again and summed up all his courage. "Chris would ya like ta go out with meh Friday night?"
"Well, you know what they say, 'Ask and you shall receive.'" Chris said smiling in return. They moved towards the foosball table.
"Now that we got that outta the way, are ya ready ta be schooled in the art o' foosball?" Sam asked with a cocky grin.
"You just try and beat me," answered Chris with her eyes flashing and a big smile on her face.
Read. Review. Please. Pretty please. With sugar on top. And Remy. I'll give you Remy. But I need him back next chapter.