Disclaimer: The general idea and the title I owe to InterNutter, who graciously allowed me to borrow them when I asked a million years ago if I could give my own interpretation. The characters, save for Crystal and a few lackies that no one cares about, belong to the official peoples who made them up and financed the cartoon, etc. Don't sue me; I'm a poor college student.

Honestly, people, I've had this for a long time and I'm trying to force myself to finish it. So some reviews would be appreciated. I've got about seven chapters so far and that's more than halfway through. I'm only going to put up two for now...cuz I'm lazy...but if people are interested, I'll put up more. Thanks and enjoy. :D

One of Us

"Crystal!!"

Skidding to a halt, the hurried senior gritted her teeth. She hated her name and she hated Principal Kelly and when he said her name...

"Crystal?!"

Putting on her best I'm-a-good-student-you-can-let-me-get-away-with- anything smile, Crystal spun and called out reluctantly, "Yes, Principal Kelly?" She forced herself not to cringe. He looked like shit. Eyes bloodshot, his left arm hanging rather uselessly, his mouth twisted in a constant state of shock...she almost felt sorry for him. "Almost."

"What was that?"

"Er...nothing. What can I do you for?" She cringed for real now. That hadn't quite come out like she had wanted.

"You've heard about the recent um...disturbances...regarding to mutants? Of course you have. I've received word from the Super that the state is attempting to create awareness as to the...situation...regarding mutant registration and all that. So, in the interest 'd like you to organize a student debate as to mutant rights."

Crystal felt her lips part in astonishment. "You do realize that that has the potential to turn into an anti-mutant free-for-all?"

Despite his shell-shocked demeanor, Principal Kelly actually smiled. "That is now your prob...er, responsibility." Giving her a thumbs-up, Kelly turned tail and fled, leaving one very irate senior in his wake.

"...be very happy to let everyone know just how I feel about muties. I'd like to get my hands on one right now and show him his place, preferably with a sledge hammer to his forehead and then I'll..."

"Grind his bones to make your bread?" Crystal suggested dryly, peering at Duncan Matthews from just over her clipboard.

"Yeh, I just might do that," he replied with a self-righteous sneer. She rolled her eyes and scribbled on her paper. He, of course, noticed. He wasn't that stupid. "You some kinda mutie lover?"

Or maybe he was. "Duncan, you would do well to remember that this is a civilized debate about mutant registration and rights, not the potentials of genocide. If you have something, for lack of a better term, intelligent to say, I'll add your name to the list. This is not a free-for-all. Understand?"

The jock glared at her—rather stupidly she thought—trying to win the ensuing stare fight. She stared back coldly, her brown eyes never flickering. Inevitably, he lost and consented to the terms with an unintelligible grunt. Crystal nodded and made a small mark on her paper. He would probably be the first person she would have to throw out of the room. "Next!" she yelled, slightly annoyed.

A junior walked into her "office"—staying as far from the jock as humanly possible, Crystal noted—and hovered just in front of her, looking about as nervous as Duncan Matthews was stupid. And that's saying something. She studied him for a moment, watching his hands play with something that was...what? His belt? She didn't see anything but he was definitely playing with something around his waist...ah well, "Kurt Wagner?" she asked, marking on her paper.

"Y-y-you pronounced it right." He sounded surprised and she smiled a bit, feeling better.

"Mmm, my Oma would never forgive me if I didn't. Now, I assume you've heard about the debate coming up?" He nodded and went back to playing with his belt—or whatever—looking pale. "I called you down here cuz I'd like to get a foreign point of view on the situation. Now I know that mutants are still unknown in many parts of the world, but I figured you had been here long enough to know about mutants and at least guess at what the German perspective might be. Yeah?"

"Ja," Kurt said automatically, followed by the classic could-have-kicked- himself expression.

"Good. You can choose either side you feel you could best represent. You'll get credit, of course, in English and your teacher assured me you would participate. As I've been reminding way too many people lately, this is not a debate about the merits of genocide," he paled even farther, "or about 'muties'. I'm limiting this to the topic of mutant registration and general rights and I hope to keep racism out of the picture. So feel free to choose either side."

"Jawohl," he muttered, moving gratefully towards the door.

"Oh, one other thing..." He spun with a barely audible sigh and Crystal found herself actually feeling sorry for him. "You're friends with Scott Summers, right?"

Kurt's eyes shot up to hers. "Nein! I mean, ja! I mean, yes, yes I am." Crystal scribbled on her clipboard and didn't bother to look up.

"I'd like you to give him a message. I tried talking to him about it earlier, but...anyways, in the interest of open debate; I am doing my best to stop this damn thing from turning into an anti-mutant funfest. Honestly, I don't want that and I will be throwing out people who violate my strict interpretation of the topic." Like Duncan Matthews. "Even so, this is hard to do with one side...well, let's just say many share Scott's view that this is not worth the trouble. I disagree. I think this is an opportunity to talk to the community and, if done right, they will listen. Awareness destroys ignorance and all that. But it's kinda hard with only two people currently willing to oppose mutant registration." She peered at Kurt from over her clipboard and he nodded and started for the door, only to stop halfway through.

"Scott might want to know who those two people are."

"Right," Crystal muttered, shuffling through some papers. "Erm...Nick something and...um...right, Amanda Sefton."

Thud.

Kurt had fainted in her doorway.

Crystal raised an eyebrow. "Dude...not cool."