Authoress's note: YAAAAAH!! I cannot believe it. I can update!! Much sorryness for the lateness. Please don't hurt me. I'm reposting with a few more responses, since I couldn't get them into the original.

Reviewers' Response:

chelsey-pudge – hehe, you, er, we, must learn to live without our daily doses of hotness!

blueskiezrusty – O.o may I kiss you?? :::kisses; hugs::: I have never gotten so many compliments in one review. Thank you! I'm sorry you had to wait – I couldn't update... :::cries:::

Silverone3 – blah, I hate costume shopping. No, actually it's not that bad. My only problem is actually coming up with an idea for a costume... ai.

xImmortalx – don't you worry. You have my word that Logan will be present at the Halloween party. But it's gonna be a while before I can stuff it in... :'(

Pyro Lady – hmm. Interesting. Amanda's powers are similar to Jean's, but that doesn't mean I'm going to pair her with Scott. As you know, Mel guards him well. She'd fight Amanda teeth and nail to get him.

Chapter 10: Training Once More

"Morning, Professor."

"Good morning, Amanda," said Xavier. "You're certainly up early."

"I bought an alarm clock."

"I see," Xavier chuckled. "Well, are you ready for your first telepathy lesson?" He wheeled into his office.

"As ready as I'll ever be," said Amanda, seating herself in the chair she had occupied last time. She was nervous, yes, but judging from her last lesson with Xavier, he was a good teacher. But then, she'd already done some telekinesis before her lesson; telepathy was something completely new to her. "So, how do we start with this?"

"I don't know," said Xavier, spreading his arms. "What do you think telepathy is about?"

Amanda raised an eyebrow at that. So it was explain-it-to-yourself-lesson, was it? All right then. "Telepathy... mind, mostly. It's all in the head – reading others' thoughts, manipulating them, controlling minds. At least that's what I think it is."

"Anything else?"

Amanda shrugged. "You're the expert in the room. You tell me. How was my guess?"

"Quite close. Almost exact, in fact. Telepathy does indeed involve manipulating human minds. Controlling people and reading their thoughts, as well as projecting your own into others' minds, are some of the possibilities that come with telepathy. As you learn more about your own mind, you'll be able to learn more about others as well."

"Ah, I see," said Amanda, nodding. "Understand yourself, then try and figure the rest of the world out."

"Exactly. Now, I want to try something with you. I will ask you a question. I want you to answer the first thing that comes into your mind. I shall be reading your thoughts as you answer – do you understand why?"

Amanda raised her eyebrows. "So ... to see if I'm saying what I'm thinking?"

Xavier nodded. "Very good. Sometimes we say something, while in our mind we are thinking something else completely. We may think that we speak what we think, but sometimes we just don't. I want to see how well coordinated are your mind and your ..."

"Mouth?" suggested Amanda, grinning slightly.

"Yes," Xavier's eyes showed the smile he was hiding. "Let's begin. What is your name?"

"Amanda Norron."

"Amanda Vivian Norron," said Xavier, his eyes looking out of focus slightly. Amanda wrinkled her nose at the use of her middle name, and scolded her mind half-heartedly for thinking it.

"How old are you?"

"I'll be twenty-eight in a month or so."

"Twenty-seven and ten months, twelve days," said Xavier. "What is your best friend's name?"

"As of now? No-one."

"Jennifer Halos was the last name I came across," said Xavier, one eyebrow slightly raised. "When did she stop being your friend?"

"Didn't you see that too? She stole my boyfriend."

"Yes, indeed. Now then. When is your next period?"

Amanda raised an eyebrow. "This Wednesday."

"Wednesday indeed. When was the first time you kissed a boy?"

Amanda frowned this time. "Ninth grade," she answered grudgingly.

"Last day of ninth grade. When was the first time you had sexual intercourse?"

Amanda's eyes widened. "Excuse me?!" she said, franticly battling with her mind, stuffing that information into a back drawer and locking it firmly. "Oh shit. You already know anyway, don't you?"

To her surprise, Xavier smiled. "No, actually, I don't. That was the point of this exercise: I wanted to see if you could protect your mind... from other telepaths."

Amanda gave the professor a blank look, the kind of look she'd reserved for her high-school teachers when they'd ask her why she hadn't done her homework. Xavier continued.

"What I mean is this: I asked you a question you obviously though was 'none of my fucking business', as your subconscious so gently put it." Amanda grinned slightly, scolding her subconscious. "Yes; something as personal as that information truly is none of my business. Your mind thought the same, and protected the information I sought."

Amanda nodded. "Yeah... I felt it kind of... push it into a back drawer and lock it."

Xavier nodded carefully. "Perhaps the mind could be described as a chest of drawers, yes. Some drawers contain knowledge, others personal information, others thoughts, others feelings and emotions."

"Ah. I've always thought of my mind as divided into drawers, actually, yeah... I liked the idea of being able to open any dusty old drawer in a corner of my head and getting nostalgic about old crushes and embarrassing birthday-moments."

"Indeed, that could be," said Xavier. "And as you just saw, your mind locked that information in a back drawer and prevented me from seeing it; though if I concentrated, I could have breached that barrier. It was very weak, but it's a good start. It was mostly subconscious, which is why you were able to do it without actually thinking. What you need to learn to do, for now, is to conjure up a barrier like that again, a shield with which to protect your mind. Do you follow me?"

Amanda nodded. "Mm-hm. This is going to be interesting. So," she clapped her hands together and leaned forward in her chair. "How do I conjure up this barrier?"

"Think of what you did. You drew up a wall between your own thoughts and my invading ones. Imagine that you're building a wall. In fact – yes, do just that. Imagine it."

Amanda raised an eyebrow. "Imagine building a wall. Brick by brick?"

"Bricks – why not. Yes, one by one. That way, when it's done, you'll have a solid, sturdy wall all of your own making, meant for one sole purpose: to protect your mind. Built by you, this wall would be ... encoded, in a way, to your own personal mind, and will not let any outside thoughts enter it. Try it."

"All right then. Kicking into build-mode. Here we go." Amanda closed her eyes. Blackness greeted her, and she concentrated hard. She imagined up a crate of red bricks, hard and solid, taking the time to get it just right, down to the last detail. She placed them at the bottom of the blackness in her eyes, if there was such a thing. One by the other. After a while she was done. Now then. Next layer. She gently placed another red brick on the row of firsts. Then she placed another. And another. In a short time, she was up to the third layer, her eyes closed all the while. Soon enough, she felt the wall was at least as tall as her waist. She imagined herself standing up to start another row of bricks.

Unbeknownst to Amanda, Xavier was watching her intently. She had her eyes closed, her hands folded in her lap. The muscles near her eyes twitched as she strained slightly to keep them closed. He gently made his way into her mind, careful not to touch the wall he saw her building steadily. She was concentrating hard, imagining each brick down to the edges. He saw a figure of herself standing by the wall, slowly placing brick next to brick. Oddly enough, the imagined figure was wearing a bikini, getting a lovely tan as she worked. (A/N: O.o Oh my god. This chapter was written ages ago, before I even decided on Amanda's name – you have no idea how long I just spent laughing at that!) He chuckled. Carefully, delicately, he probed the wall. It wobbled slightly.

Amanda shifted in her chair in Xavier's office. Something had touched her wall. She concentrated harder, keeping it still. Whatever it was, it had been gentle, and hadn't done any damage. At least, it seemed so. Giving a mental shrug, she continued building her wall. She had only set down two more bricks when – there it was again! That small, amused probe. Amused? How can a probe be amused? Amanda thought to herself; her imagined figure, still holding a brick in one hand, shrugged to herself again. Or maybe... is the professor trying to test me? Maybe my wall's not strong enough... he's showing me that he can get past it... Okay then.

Amanda frowned slightly, and Xavier, having retreated from her mind, smiled. She had understood what was happening; he could feel her adding another row of bricks at the bottom, next to the already high wall. She was backing it up. Clever girl; she'd caught on quicker than he'd thought.

There... see you breach that, Xavier. Amanda grinned to herself and let her imagined self fade away as she slowly opened her eyes. "Try me," she mumbled to Xavier. I'd like to see you get past this.

Xavier nodded at her, relaxing his thoughts and finding the right path into her mind. Just before he came to the end of the path, he encountered a sturdy brick wall, red-brown and imposing. He pushed against it gently; but the wall held fast. He gave another small push. Nothing. He smiled to himself.

Her eyes closed once more, Amanda stood behind her wall and concentrated on keeping it there, strong. She could feel Xavier pushing from the other side, could feel his thoughts almost penetrating her barrier. So far, so good. I doubt he's using full strength, but this is my first time, after all...

"Very good."

Xavier's voice washed over her, and Amanda left the wall; opening her eyes, she grinned brightly at the professor. "How'd I do?"

"Quite well," he nodded at her approvingly. "For your first time, it was quite impressive. I want you to work on this for now: concentrate on building walls and keeping them up. You have to always be on guard; a shield like that can fall when you're least expecting it."

Amanda nodded. "Keep my wall up, keep my guard. Got it. How do I know if I'm doing it right? I mean... how will I know if I'm really blocking someone out of my mind, when I can't know if they're trying? No, what I mean is –" she put a hand to her head. "Ai, I'm confused."

Xavier chuckled. "Not surprising. Telepathy is complicated business, Amanda, and not to be taken lightly. Your question, however, is a fine one – you cannot know if you are truly blocking other telepaths from you mind unless you know they are trying and can see they are not succeeding. How about this – keep your barrier up, and I shall try and read your mind sometime in the coming days."

"Ah, trying to catch me off my guard, huh? Okay, fair enough." Amanda grinned to herself; this would be like a game.

"Call it a game now if you like, but erecting a barrier is the first thing you need to learn," said Xavier. Amanda gave him a sour look.

"I wasn't on my guard?"

"Oh, you were," Xavier assured her. "But your barrier is still quite weak, considering the force I just used." He received another blank look. "What I mean is: before, when we tried for the first time, I probed your mind gently, to see if you were ready. With time, as you learn to increase the power behind your shields, I shall test you more thoroughly, to see if they can withstand a strong telepathic attach."

"I ... see."

"How goes the party planning?"

On to a completely different subject, huh? Okay then. "Pretty well. Kitty and Mel and I picked out the decorations yesterday. The kids are hanging them up just now. Could you, ah, remind me where the gym is?"