Matt was sitting on the top bunk of the bunk bed he shared with Kit. He had washed out all of the gel, and his hair was now looking very bedheadish. He was wearing one of his favorite muscle shirts and basketball shorts, and was just about to go to sleep, just as soon as Kit stopped gossiping with Eric.

"Man, she is a babe. I can't wait till she starts to you know, get the hang of things 'round here." Kit said, lying on his back in the middle of the floor starring at the ceiling.

"Oh shut-up. I'm trying to get to sleep!" Eric complained. He bundled himself up in his sheets and comforter, twisting himself into a cocoon. He turned over on his bed, so that his back faced Kit. It was entirely lucky that the three of them got to share the large room. When Xavier designed the building, he designed it so that the rooms on the ends of each room were significantly larger than the other dorm rooms. The larger rooms were where Scott, Jean, Ororo, and the rest of his senior officers were to sleep so that they could keep an eye on the children, but enrollment to his school had grown so large, that he expanded the basement and moved his senior officers downstairs with him. They had drawn straws to figure out who would get the larger rooms. Kit, Matt and Eric all had lucked out. The master rooms each had one bunk bed set and a twin bed, three desks, three dresser and a wardrobe, and tons of space.

"What about you?" Kit asked Matt, turning slightly to face his German born friend. "You like Katie, Katie likes you-,"

"and Rob likes Katie too." Matt interrupted. "I am not gonna make a move on your sister. Especially when Super-Creep is crushin' on her."

"Man, you could take Rob down anyday!" Kit groaned, "I would rather you with my sister than Rob. If you were Katie's boy, I would have your back, you know that."

"And what would happen when Rob and his friend Dean found out? Man it would be like Freddy and Jason versus the Rugrats."

"Man, we're better that them, they're just intimidators. With your morphing, or whatever you call it, powers, Eric's time powers, Ming, the screamsicle, Sunny's random bomb thing, Katie and me and then that new girl we could kick some serious ass, even when Dean and Rob have their back-up."

"What's that new girl's power anyway?" Eric asked joining the conversation suddenly.

"I dunno, but I suspect that the Kiss-Me Kates are gonna do something tonight,' Kit shrugged.

"Man, I can't believe we still do that!" Eric laughed, remembering the hilarious pranks the two groups had pulled on each other. Suddenly, however, he stopped, and he held out his hand to signal the other boys to stop laughing also. "Do you hear that?"

Kit rolled onto his stomach and groaned. "What? Hear what? I don't hear nothin'," Kit drawled.

"Double negative," Eric said nonchalantly almost as a reflex.

"No, no, I hear it too, at the door," Matt said, jumping down from his top bunk and crossing the room to their door. "It's like a scratching noise."

"Oooo, It's the ghost of summer's past, hunting you down," Kit laughed.

Matt shook his head with a smile then crossed to the door, and opened it, letting Eagle rush in, and jump into Eric's lap.

Eric patted the dog gently. "It's just June's dog. Must've gotten out of the girl's dorm room. I'd better return it." The dog barked in protest. "Alright then, nevermind, I won't." Eric closed his eyes for a moment.

"Eric? You okay?" Matt asked, climbing back up into his bunk and settling down.

"Yeah, um, just a headache?"

"Was that answer or a suggestion?" Kit asked.

"Answer. Can we turn the lights out now? I'm really tired, and I got this headache, I just wanna go to sleep."

"How can you be sleepy, Eric? You just had two cups of coffee downstairs like an hour ago."

"Umm, decaf?" Eric shrugged.

"Yeah right, like you would ever drink decaf."

"All the caffeine lately has been driven me crazy lately. Can't we just go to sleep?" Eric said. Matt and Kit both sensed irritation in his voice and decided not to push the envelope. Matt got under the covers, and Kit went and turned off the lights. That was at eleven-thirty.

Twelve-thirty: Silence

One o'clock: Silence

One o'three:

The rustling of sheets.

A floorboard squeaks.

Footsteps pad quietly on the ground.

The bathroom door opens, a stream of light from the bathroom falls onto the bedroom floor.

The bathroom door closes.

The medicine cabinet door sqeaks open.

A tin can is pulled from the cabinet.

One thirty:

The halls of the boy dormitories were filled with the screams of three adolesenct boys by the names of Matt, Kit, and Eric.