Sorry about rushing the first chapter. First time writing a fanfic you know. I'll try not to do that again.

Chapter Two: The Dance

It was Friday morning. Todd woke up with only one thing on his mind, asking Serena to the dance. He got up and got ready for school. He went down stairs to find the Brotherhood already waiting for him.

"What took you so long?" asked Pietro.

"You guys aren't going to take this lightly are you?"

"Hell no!" They all said together.

They went to school which seemed to pass by quickly for Todd. The closer it got to lunch, the more nervous Todd was feeling. He had never asked a girl out before in his life. What if she said 'no'? Thinking this Todd wondered if asking her to the dance was a good idea. The bell rang for lunch. He was thinking of hiding in the bathroom the entire lunch hour when Pietro, Lance, Fred, and Tabitha spotted him and walked over to him.

"Well come on." Pietro said shunning Todd forward. "There's someone you need to ask to the dance."

"Guys I've been thinking..."

"You're not gonna chicken out are you?" asked Tabitha.

"It's just that..."

"Don't worry," Pietro assured him, "you'll be fine." Todd spotted Serena at her locker.

"That's her!" he whispered to them. They hid behind a corner.

"Okay," Lance said, "just go out there and ask her."

"I don't know you guys..."

Pietro shoved him into sight. "Go!"

Serena turned. "Oh, hi Todd." She said cheerfully.

"Hey Serena. Um, I was wondering..." He looked back at the Brotherhood who gave him the thumbs up.

"Yes?"

"Would you like to go to that one party tomorrow night?"

"Oh, you mean the one that one of the football players is hosting?"

"Yeah."

"Sure. I'd love to."

He looked up. "Really?"

"Mmm hmm." She nodded.

"That's cool, yo!"

She giggled a little. "Alright, I'll meet you at the dance."

"You sure you know where it is?" he asked her.

"Yeah, pretty sure."

"Well, I guess I'll see you tonight."

"I'll be looking forward to it." She smiled and walked off.

He sighed in relief. The Brotherhood jumped out of their hiding place. Pietro ran up to him.

"See? What did I tell you?"

"Way to go, Toad!"

"Go Toddles!"

"You did good." Said Fred slapping Todd on the back causing his legs to buckle.

"Thanks guys." Todd said. He was just relieved that he had finally gotten rid of his anxiety.

The rest of the day Todd spent daydreaming about Serena. He had never met anyone like her. Her long dark brown hair that flowed down her back in natural, smooth waves. Her skin was a creamy white. She had a smooth, cheerful, friendly face that if you looked at, you would think it was impossible for her to get mad. She had sort of a narrow shoulder width and slightly bony hips. She was quite skinny, almost fragile looking. She's only slightly taller than me, Todd thought. If I stood up straight we would probably match. And her different colored eyes. He sighed. He had never seen eyes that beautiful before.

The day passed extremely quickly and before he knew it, it was time to go to bed.

"Tomorrow's your big day Todd." Tabitha said.

Pietro was pretending to sniffle. "They grow up so fast."

"Oh shut up!" Todd said. He went to bed. Todd was restless. He couldn't get to sleep. He tossed and turned for what felt like hours, until his mind slowly drifted off.

He didn't know where he was. There was nobody around. He walked through what looked like some sort of forest. The trees whispered as a breeze passed through them. A chill ran down Todd's spine. Then he heard something. sniff sniff He could faintly hear someone crying. "Hello?" he called. He followed the noises pushing back branches and stepping over tree roots. The crying started to get louder. Todd could feel his heart beating. Todd wasn't sure if he was imagining the shadows of dark creatures silhouetted against the ground. "Is anybody there?" He pushed back some tree branches and in the clearing saw a figure with their face hidden, obviously crying. Todd's breath caught in his chest. He could feel his heart pounding against his rib cage. "Who are you?" Todd asked in a breathless voice. The person slowly, almost painfully, lifted their head. Todd's knees were shaking so badly, he felt like he was going to collapse. It turned its head to face Todd...

"Toad! Wake up!" Todd was woken up to the annoying sound of Lance and Pietro's voice.

"What?" Todd asked him. His heart was still running fast and beads of sweat were running down his face

"Man do you know what time it is?" Pietro asked him.

"Huh?" Todd said a little confused.

"It's 5 p.m.!" Lance said exasperated.

"What!?" Todd yelped.

"We tried to wake you but you were dead to the world!" Pietro shaking him.

"Oh, well I still got plenty of time, yo."

"Yeah I guess." Lance said. He was looking at Todd weirdly.

"What you starin at?" Todd asked.

"Hey Toad, are you alright?" Pietro asked.

"Yeah, why?"

Lance looked at him seriously. "You look a little paler than usual.

"Really?" Todd asked.

"Yeah. Is everything okay?" Lance asked.

"It was nothing. It was just a dream, yo."

Pietro looked a little less concerned. "Well come on Lance."

"Are you sure you're okay Toad?" Lance asked still a little worried.

"I'm fine Lance!"

"Lance, if he says he's fine, then he's fine." Pietro said.

"Well, if you're sure." Lance said.

"I am sure." Todd hopped out of bed. "Well, I guess I better get ready."

As evening approached, Todd was preparing for his date. He decided to take a shower partly because the persistent naggings of Lance and Pietro.

"Don't forget to scrub extra hard to get rid of whatever fungus you've been growing!" Pietro called through the bathroom door.

"If I scrubbed any harder my skin would come off!" Todd yelled back.

He rinsed all the soap suds off and started washing his hair with his new apple orchard shampoo. When he rinse his hair out he saw that the foam had turned brown. He decided to wash his hair a second time just to be safe. He decided to use conditioner to take care of his split ends. He used up half the bottle before he rid of all of the tangles in his hair. Then he rinsed himself off making sure all the conditioner was out of his hair. He got out and dried himself off. When he looked back at the shower he groaned. There was green slime everywhere and dirt had clogged the drain which was surrounded by muddy green water.

"Aw man, was I that dirty?" Todd asked himself. He went upstairs to get dressed.

Lance grabbed him. "Oh no. You're not going to wear those rags you call clothes at the dance tonight." He led Todd into his room and started looking through his drawers.

"I can dress myself you know." Todd said indignantly.

"All your clothes are dirty and besides," he tossed Todd a pair of jeans, "I thought you wanted to make a good impression."

Todd caught the jeans and started to put them on. "I do but..."

"No buts!" Lance said. "Now let's see... Ah ha!" He pulled out a green T- shirt and tossed it to Todd.

Todd looked at it. "Well, at least it's my favorite color." Lance looked him up and down. The shirt and pants were a little big on Todd but other than that he looked fine.

"Hey..." Todd said turning in the mirror. "I don't look half bad yo!" Todd looked at Lance. "Thanks Lance."

"No problem. Just don't ruin those jeans."

"TOAD!"

Both Lance and Todd jumped. They went downstairs to the bathroom to see what was going on. Tabitha and Fred were standing outside the bathroom.

"What's up?" Lance asked.

Tabitha raised an eyebrow. "You really don't know? Todd left a little mess in the bathroom and Quickie is having a crisis."

"A little mess!?" Came Pietro's voice. "Spilling soda on the carpet is a little mess! Dropping potato chips on the floor is a little mess! THIS IS A DISASTER!"

"Calm down Pietro," Lance said walking into the bathroom, "I'm sure it's not-- Holy Hanna! How long has it been since you last took a shower Toad!?"

"Uh, one maybe two months."

"This is just great!" Pietro yelled. "How the heck am I supposed to take my shower when then bathroom is in the state of a toxic waist dump!?"

"Good thing I took my shower this morning." Tabitha said. "Just chill Quickie. Why don't you just run over to the school and use their showers?"

"I did not want to take my shower at school tonight!" Pietro said angrily.

"Well do whatever you want" Said Tabitha. "I'm going to go put my make-up on." She left them.

Pietro stared. "Awwwww crap!" He zipped through the bathroom collecting his stuff and zipped out of the house.

Lance looked confused. "Geez, you'd think this was the date of his life. But Todd, don't do this again."

Todd slumped his shoulders. "Sorry."

"It's okay Toad." Fred spoke up. "Nothing a bottle of bathroom detergent couldn't fix."

"Well I guess there's just one thing we need to take care of."

"What?" Todd asked.

Lance pointed at him. "Your teeth."

"Aw man!" Todd whined.

"Look, there's no way you're gonna get a good night kiss if you have swamp breath. Now go in there and brush your teeth!"

"Alright alright." Todd grumbled.

"Oh and comb your hair while your at it."

Todd glared but did so. He found a brush and combed his hair making sure it maintained it's usual shaggy appearance but also making sure it wasn't tangled. He looked at the brush after he was done. "Alright! No slime yo!" He grabbed a toothbrush and squirted some toothpaste on it. He brushed his teeth for about a minute then spat out the foam.

Lance poked his head in. "Are you almost-- GAAAH!" Lance looked at the sink. Mingled with the foam was slime and who knows what else. Lance put a hand over his mouth. "Oh my god I think I'm going to puke!" He ran out of the bathroom.

Todd was now becoming a little upset. "Well what'd you expect!" he shouted. He tried gargeling water and brushing his teeth again. There wasn't as much slime as last time but there was still slime. He brushed his teeth about five times before he finally gave up.

Lance had come back looking a little pale. "Here." He handed a bottle of mouth wash to Todd and left.

Todd tried the mouth wash and after gargeling three times he had gotten rid of most of the slime. He wiped his mouth and walked out of the bathroom. Lance was standing in the hall.

"You okay?" Todd asked.

"Yeah." He shrugged. "Now let me check your breathe." Todd breathed in Lance's face. Lance wrinkled his nose. "It still kind of smells."

Todd looked angrily at him. "Well it's probably because I haven't brushed my teeth in a while."

"Well at least you don't smell as bad as you usually do."

Pietro appeared out of nowhere. He glared at Todd. "Next time you take a shower don't leave slime everywhere."

Tabitha came downstairs. "Okay guys, I'm ready!" All of the guys were wearing their usual wardrobe since this was just a casual dress dance. Tabitha however wore a tight black spaghetti strap with capri's.

"Everybody ready?" Pietro asked.

"Yeah!" They said together.

"Alright, let's go!"

(At the X mansion...)

Scott, Jean, Kurt, Kitty, and Rogue were leaving.

"See ya' later Professor, we're going to the party!" Scott called out.

"Just a minute Scott." Xavier stopped them. "I need to talk to you."

"Would you like us to leave?" Kurt asked.

"No, you four can stay." He put his fingers together. "Last week Cerebro got a reading of active mutant powers."

"Really?" Scott said surprised. "Who?"

"That is just the problem. The mutant powers being detected became dormant before Cerebro could trace the source."

"Do you think it will happen again Professor?" Jean asked.

"It is possible." He replied. "The new found mutant powers can become active at any given moment." He looked at them. "That is why I want you to be ready when I need you."

"Like, no problem." Kitty said clearly unphased.

"No big deal." Rogue said.

"We'll be ready!" Kurt said giving the thumbs up.

"I think we'll be able to handle it Professor." Scott said confidentally.

"We'll be waiting for your call!" Jean said.

The five left. Xavier closed his eyes and sighed. "Let us hope you are.

(On the road)

It was nighttime. A sea of stars covered the velvet blue sky. A cool breeze was in the air and it blew in Todd's face making him feel alive. Todd was anxious and excited at the same time.

"Man this gonna be cool, yo!"

"That is If she doesn't get scared of you and run away." Lance remarked. They all laughed except for Todd.

"You're asking for a nice black eye, yo." He growled.

"Don't mind him Todd." Tabitha said. She turned to Fred. "So who's your date Freddy?"

"I'm just going for the food." He told her.

"Figures." Pietro said rolling his eyes.

"Well gang, this is it." Lance said as they pulled up to a big house. A ton of cars were already parked out front.

"Yo! This is what he calls a cabin?" Todd said surprised. "I didn't imagine it would be this big!"

"What did you expect?"

"Alright! Time to paaaar-tay!!" Tabitha yelled. They went inside. There was loud music playing and lights flashing. Lots of people were talking, dancing, or just having fun.

"Oh there's Richard!" Tabitha pointed out a tall blonde boy. "See you guys later!" She said, and walked off. Todd looked around but didn't spot Serena in the crowd.

"Well I guess we just have to wait for our dates to arrive." Pietro said leaning against the wall. Todd started to wonder if he really wanted to go through with this. He was about to decide on giving up and leave while he still can, when he heard someone call out his name. He looked behind him and his jaw dropped. Then Lance and Pietro turned.

"Whoa." Both of them said at once. It was Serena. She looked very pretty wearing a pink tye-dye tang-top with dark blue jeans. Her hair was in a half-up half-down style and she wore flashy earrings and bracelets.

"Hey Todd." She said smiling. "Sorry I'm late. I had a little trouble getting my brother to drive me here." A good looking guy with brown hair, mustache, and goatee appeared next to her. He looked as if he was in his early twenties. He wasn't a hulk like Duncan but he still had some good sized muscles.

Todd looked at him, a little nervous. "Um, that's okay."

"Oh I'm sorry! I haven't introduced you. Gordon this is Todd and Todd," she said happily, "this is my brother Gordon."

"Uh, h-hi." Todd said trying to smile.

"Hey." Gordon replied.

They looked at each other for what felt like years to Todd before Serena finally said, "Okay. Well thanks again for the ride big bro!"

"Anytime sis." He leaned in towards Todd, "Take good care of my little sister or I'll knock your teeth out."

Todd shrank back. "N-no problem." Serena's brother turned and walked out. Serena looked at Todd who was a little whiter than usual.

"Are you alright Todd?" she asked.

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine."

She smiled. "Don't mind him. He gets really over protective of me sometimes when it comes to boys."

"Really? I didn't notice."

She turned to see Pietro and Lance still looking at her. "What? What are you staring at?" she asked them.

Pietro shook his head. "Nothing."

"Hey um, Serena?" he gestured to the to boys. "This is Lance and this is Pietro." "Guys, this is Serena."

"Oh, hi!" she said and smiled.

"Hey." They both said together.

"Lance!" It was Kitty. She came up to him.

"Oh, hey Kitty!"

"Like, what were you staring at a few minutes ago?"

"Oh uh," Lance looked a little embarrassed. "It was nothing." He grabbed her hand. "Come on, let's dance." They both left.

"Well that just leaves--"

"PIETRO!" A blonde girl stormed up to Pietro looking a little angry. "Where the heck have you been!? I've been looking all over for you!"

"Sorry Tracey, I couldn't find you!"

"Humph!" she said turning her back to him.

"Tell you what," Pietro said putting his hands on her shoulders, "I'll make up for it."

"How?"

"Don't worry I'll think of something." He leaned in, "I always do."

Her frown broke into a smile. "Alright, I'll hold you to that. Now come on." She dragged him off into the crowd and they both disappeared.

Todd and Serena looked at each other. "You never told me you had a brother." Todd said.

"I didn't want to get into that after you told me about you having no family. I thought it would, you know, hurt you."

"Wait a minute, yo. I said I had no parents. I never said I had no family."

She looked confused. He smiled. They started walking around as they talked.

"Me and the guys, we're family. They're like brothers to me. Sure we may get on each other's nerves every once in a while. But like family, we help each other out."

"It must be great to have friends that close."

"Yeah it is, because whenever I'm in a mess, my buddies are there to help."

"Hey, do you think maybe-- oof!" She had ran into somebody. "Sorry, I--" she looked at who she had ran into. It was Kurt. "Oh hi Kurt! I didn't expect to run in to you here."

"Neither did I." Kurt said.

"Hey blue boy!" Todd walked up to him. "Don't talk to her!"

"I can talk to her if I want to Toad!" Serena looked from one to the other.

"Oh, you two already know each other?"

"Oh, yes we know one another quite well." Kurt glared.

"Yeah, but not in a good way, yo."

Serena got in between the two boys. "Stop it! We're all here to have fun!" She took Todd's arm. "Come on Todd." Todd left with her still glaring at Kurt.

Kurt looked after them angrily and sighed. "If only she knew what she was getting herself into."

"What was that all about?" Serena asked him.

"Me and that guy don't get along so good."

"How come?"

"We just don't, okay?"

"Oh, okay. I understand."

"So how did you two meet?" He asked.

"We ran into each other in the halls."

"Uh huh." He said a little dismissively. There was silence between them for a few seconds.

A song started playing. Serena's eyes suddenly lit up. "Oooooh I love this song!" She grabbed Todd. "Come on! Let's dance!"

Next thing Todd knew he was out onto the dance floor. Serena was dancing like crazy, her hair flying everywhere. She had some pretty good moves. Todd decided it was time to show her his. Forgetting his nervousness he grabbed her and started jumping all over the place. Pietro, Lance, and Fred were all secretly watching the pair dance together. Todd flipped and whirled her around. When he stopped she nearly passed out in his arms.

"Oh wow! I didn't know you could dance like that!" She was still a little dizzy. Then somebody knock Serena over spilling juice all over her.

"Oh sorry." The guy said and walked off.

Todd looked at Serena. She was starting to turn pink. He held out his hand, "Are you alright?"

She reached up to grab his hand, "Yes, I--" she gasped.

When he grabbed her hand, his hand went through it. It felt like brushing his hand through water. He was even more surprised when he saw her hand, no her arm was shimmering. He stared at her in surprise. She looked back at him, frightened. She tore her eyes away from him and then pushed herself up and ran out.

"Serena wait!" Todd yelled after her. He followed her outside and saw her run into the forest. "Serena!" He looked back for a moment, then ran into the forest after her.

Pietro, Lance, and Fred had seen the whole thing. They stood at the doorway. All of them were in some sort of a mute shock.

"Did she just..." Fred began.

"Oh yeah." Pietro finished.

Lance snapped out of his shock. "Well come on!"

Pietro grabbed him. "Wait! We have to go about this the right way." He looked at Lance hard. "They'll be finding out about this any minute now."

(Back at the Mansion)

Cerebro was beeping loudly. Xavier wheeled up to the machine and put his helmet on. He concentrated hard.

(Back at the Party)

Scott and Jean were dancing around. Suddenly Scott hears the Professor's voice in his head.

"Scott!" Scott stops dancing.

"What is it Professor?"

"I am picking up readings of mutant powers at your coordinates."

"Really?" Scott said shocked.

"The source is coming from a young girl in the woods. Find her quickly!"

"We're on it Professor!"

"What's wrong Scott?"

"The Professor has a tracking! We need to find the others!"

"Right!" she said determined.

Back at the mansion there is a picture on Cerebro's screen. It showed Serena, running through the forest, crying.