Author's notes:

A thank you to Darkstorm and TigressMoon for reviewing.

I realized as I was writing this that I have no idea when most people joined the X-Men in comparison to Kitty. So I'm just going to throw in people as I feel like it, and it probably won't actually be accurate, unfortunately.

Also, having read more comics, I'm changing Kitty's status a bit: She's now a full time student and part time X-Woman, rather than just a student. I'll change the note in the prologue when I get a chance.

This fic is going to be quite a bit shorter than I expected, unfortunately. There's still going to be several more chapters, though.

Leandra tried to punch Diane, but the latter went intan, her name for going through things. "Hey!" Leandra yelled, giving Diane a death glare. Diane returned it full-force. The two of them glowered at each other for a full minute before they both burst into giggles.

"Oh, stop it, you two," Artemis ordered as she walked past them, apparently annoyed. Diane saw a sparkle in her eye, though.

"Stop it?" Leandra mocked playfully. "Why ever would we do that?"

Artemis muttered something inaudible and continued on.

Diane sighed contentedly. She still wanted to get her memories back, but more out of curiosity than anything else now. (Besides, no one had any idea how to get them back, and pining away because she couldn't would be pointless.) She could imagine that they would tell her of any place in which she would be happier. Here she was, living with several other mutants, making friends at a rapid pace. Due to the days they had spent relying on each other, Diane felt a strong bond with the four she had come here with, but she was becoming close friends with the other girls, as well.

The school itself was quite nice. All but the bedrooms and bathrooms, including the front room, were lined with surveillance cameras for safety. But they were inconspicuous, so it still seemed like a normal house. And it really was a house, rather than a formal school, albeit modified to include an escape route and large enough for Gwen, her husband Mark, Derek, Leandra, Diane and her four friends, Kyle, Irene, and Collette. Of course, Gwen and Mark had modified all but the family room, kitchen, a classroom, and visitor room, to become bedrooms. Derek and Kyle, Artemis and Vic, Sara and Anna, Irene and Nicole, and Leandra and Diane were the rooming pairs. (Gwen and Mark also shared a room, of course.)

Leandra was quite similar to Diane in several ways. She, too, enjoyed to cook, and made dinners every third night (breakfast and lunch were free-for-alls), alternating with Gwen and Irene, a girl about Nicole's age. Diane had volunteered to help as well, but for some reason unknown to her, they had all gagged (discreetly gagged, to be sure, but they still gagged) and later refused to let her anywhere near the kitchen when dinner was being made. Diane really didn't understand why. All she had done was make tacos. The meat had been very well cooked (maybe a little too cooked, but it was barely crunchy!), the lettuce and tomatoes had been extremely crisp, and she had made her own cheese sauce. It was her new specialty, consisting of cheddar cheese, jalapeno peppers, and mustard all mixed in a blender until it was almost liquid, but still slightly chunky. She seemed to be the only one remotely interested in eating it, though. People have odd tastes.

At any rate, this last month had been absolutely wonderful. For the most part they had stayed in the house and backyard, but they had taken a field trip to a local zoo a week ago, and going to the mall wasn't uncommon. The backyard was a full acre, a combination of four city lots, and surrounded by a large and sturdy fence, double-planked several times so it didn't have any cracks. The students could only go outside when either Gwen or Mark was with them, for safety reasons, and they couldn't do or say anything…different…except if one of the adults checked plane schedules and made sure no neighbors were home. Luckily, all the neighbors worked, so they weren't extremely restricted.

It wasn't the greatest situation, but it worked. It was a little risky, as an emergency aircraft could fly overhead and see Leandra creating flame, for example, but everyone agreed that they all had to get out and just be kids every once and a while. Mark was eventually going to turn the backyard into a covered building, but with a grass floor and coverable skylights, but he didn't have the funding yet.

Now, after school on a Friday, Diane and Leandra were planning a two-person party for the upcoming night.

"We need popcorn," Diane mused. "And soda, oh, and brownies! Think we can convince Gwen to take us to the store?"

"Not today, sorry, girls," Gwen announced, sweeping up from behind them. "We have a new student. Would you mind her rooming with you? We're runnin' out of places ta put all of you." She laughed.

Diane and Leandra looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure," Diane replied. "Where is she?"

"This way, in the visitor's room. Ah'll introduce y'all."

They walked into the visitor's room, Gwen in the lead and Diane last. As Diane walked through the door, she caught a quick glimpse of an Asian girl drinking from a Pepsi can before Diane was temporarily blinded with something wet and sticky sprayed over her. "What?" she sputtered, wiping off her eyes.

Leandra, laughing, could only shake her head in mirth; Gwen was speechlessly gaping. The new girl was having a coughing fit, apparently having coughed her mouthful of soda onto Diane.

"Sorry," the girl gasped, staring at Diane in complete disbelief. "I, um, choked. Are you my new roomies?"

"Yes," giggled Leandra. "Come on, I'll show you our room. I think Diane's going to go take a shower."

Diane shook her head, wiping off her face. "I'll wait until after you get settled. By the way, what's your name?"

"Oh, Ah'm sorry! Diane, Leandra, this is Joy," Gwen interrupted. At the sound of someone yelling, she grimaced and added, "Excuse me, Ah've got ta go see what's goin' on over there."

The girls walked to their room, Leandra explaining to Joy the party they were planning. Joy, however, was barely listening, trying to unobviously stare at Diane.

"Well, I'm going to get some stuff from the kitchen," Leandra declared, trying to escape the awkward silences that kept coming over the three.

"'Kay," Diane called after her, entering their room. Joy watched Leandra leave. As soon as she was gone, Joy closed the door quickly and ran over to Diane, hugging her tightly.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay? I am so thrilled to see you! We all thought you were dead! And y'know, Cerebro's still broken, so we couldn't try to find you with that, and Wolvie searched everywhere, we all did, and oh my gosh, what are you doing here? Why didn't you come back? Everyone's in mourning, Peter wasn't eating until Hank threatened to force feed him, and, oh, Kitty, I'm so glad you're okay!" This whole speech took only two seconds. Diane had stopped trying to understand Joy's chatter almost immediately, but she did grasp that Joy recognized her, at least.

"Wait," Diane stammered, "do I know you?"

Joy, who had been watching her expectantly, frowned. "What are you talking about? Of course – Oh!" She stopped suddenly, eyes wide, and mouthed the word "bugs" with a questioning look.

"What? No, the only bugs here are a couple of flies," Diane replied. "But honestly, do I know you?"

"Yes, of course. You are okay, aren't you?" Joy now looked extremely concerned.

Diane hesitated, finally blurting, "I have amnesia, okay? I can't remember anything. Joy, please, do you know me?"

"First of all, you call me Jubilee when there's no other people or bugs around. And can you phase through something to prove it's really you?"

"Phase? Oh, you mean this?" Diane passed her hand through Joy – no, Jubilee's.

"Yeah. Okay…We probably should sit down." Jubilee looked extremely uncomfortable and unsure. "Look, does the word 'X-Men' mean anything to you?" Diane shook her head. "Shadowcat? Ororo? Xavier? Peter?" Diane shook her head each time. "Well, um, Shadowcat is you, Storm and the Prof. are teachers, and Colossus is your boyfriend."

"Wait, who's Storm and the Prof.?"

Jubilee rubbed her eyes. "I told you, they're teachers. Miss Munroe teaches–"

"Who?" Diane interrupted, beginning to get frustrated.

"I – oh, I don't know!" Jubilee snapped angrily. "Is there a phone around here?"

Diane pointed at the phone next to her bed.

"Is it bugged?" Jubilee asked, picking up the handset.

"Not if you enter the code," Diane grumbled, wishing someone with a few brain cells had discovered her. After a moment of hesitation she reached over and punched the numbers in.

Jubilee quickly entered her phone number. Diane heard someone pick up on the first ring.

"Hello?" a gruff voice growled. Diane could hear him clearly, as she was sitting right next to Jubilee.

"Hi, Wolvie!" Jubilee said brightly. "It's Jubes!"

"What's wrong?" the voice demanded sharply.

"Nothing, everything's fine. You won't believe this, but Kitty's here! Like, right next to me! But the thing is, she doesn't remember me. Amnesia."

"What? Are you sure it's really her?"

"Yeah, she phased through me."

"What's she doing there? Does she remember who she is?"

"Here, I'll just let you talk to her."

Jubilee shoved the phone into Diane's hand. "Hello?" she asked, hoping this person could tell her something useful.

"Kid? Do you remember anything at all?"

"No, nothing personal. Did I know you?"

There was a very long pause on the other end. "Yeah," the man finally muttered. "Look, do you know anything about the place you're in?"

Diane hesitated. "Yes, but…" She trailed off.

"Look, kid, I know it's a mutant school, okay? You don't have to worry about betraying that."

"Oh. Yeah. Well…what is it that you want to know?"

"What's your feeling on it? Is it legit?" When Diane didn't reply, he added, "I don't expect you to believe me – heck, I'd be worried if you did – but we're on your side, and the side of this school, if nothing funny is going on."

"It's as legit as a hidden school for mutants can get," Diane finally said. "Absolutely nothing is underhand, anyway."

"Are you sure, kid?" asked "Wolvie". "If you're not willing to tell me anything, just say that, don't lie. People could die if you're lying."

For a split second Diane was offended, but this man seemed to be the type that would ask just about anyone that. "I'm not lying," she stated quietly.

"Are you wanting to stay at that school?" the man asked, apparently accepting her answer.

"I – I have friends here. But can you get my memories back?"

"Probably."

Diane took a deep breath. "I want to get my memories back, but I'm almost positive I'll want to come back here afterwards."

"What about the people you used to know?"

"I don't know, okay?" she nearly yelled. "For all I know I was homeless and didn't know anyone at all! Can't we just play it by ear?"

"Okay." The man sounded completely calm and unfazed. "And so you know, you weren't homeless. I need to talk to Jubes."

Diane handed the phone to the girl sitting next to her, wondering if she'd made a mistake. Jubilee, watching Diane and not realizing the Diane was watching her, had a look of sadness on her face, as though she'd been rejected.

Jubilee hung the phone up after a second of talking, none of which Diane heard. "I guess it's sort of smart of you not to make any promises before you know what you had before. But – Gosh, do you realize how hurtful it is? We thought you were dead and I find you purely by chance, but you barely trust us, you want to stay here! I just – why – oh, never mind!" Her voice had been climbing until she was yelling.

"I didn't mean it like that!"

"I know you didn't," Jubilee snapped. "I'm not being fair, I know. I'm sorry. Just – pretend that never happened, okay?"

The door opened, and a curious Leandra walked in, closing the door behind her. "What's going on? I could hear you yelling from upstairs."

"Diane doesn't like my poster," Jubilee improvised. "Do you?"

Leandra shook her head. "I don't like that band, sorry. But why were you yelling about a poster?"

Before anyone could come up with a better reason, the door burst open, hitting Leandra on her back. She yelped, falling over.

"Oh, sorry!" Derek gasped, noticing her.

"This is a girls-only area!" Diane protested.

Derek shook his head, gasping for breath. "Attack. Everyone's evacuating, come on."

Yes, I know, it's a cliffie. That wasn't how it was going to end, honest, but then I realized I was writing this absolutely huge chapter, and I had to break it up.

Please click that little review button, even if you totally hated this or don't have any opinion at all. I'd greatly appreciate knowing that you read this. Thanks!