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BACK TO SCHOOL

CHAPTER 6: THE FIRST DAY

Warren was just taking an early morning flight he liked to do that since living here, it was just nice to fly out in the skies. It was just like the song said, he felt free as a bird in the sky. He didn't have to worry about things like his family problems, the family business or anything else. Even though he had been working here with the others and had been training with the X-Men he felt like he wasn't pulling his weight around here at times.

Okay he did help pay with the new construction but so far in the few fights he had been in he hadn't done as much as he would have liked. Maybe it was just him brooding over the fact that he hadn't talk to his parents in over a month or the fact that he found himself in a bit of trouble trying to relate to the others. Only the thing was ever since his wings grew in he had always been a bit withdrawn and it was hard for him to open up to others. Especially since none of them came from the same background as himself, a lot were either orphaned, came from broken homes, and only a few had decent family lives or even normal ones.

He sighed to himself feeling the wing in his wings and hair as he stopped in the air and just looked down at the new mansion below him. He did admit that if he was to feel like he was doing something worthwhile this might be the place to do it. But at the moment he had other concerns, like college. He of course took a business major since he had hoped that one day he would take over his family's company although at the moment that seemed a bit of a long shot. But he might as well learn something and business was something he did know.

He flew back down to the mansion, usually he could catch a few of the other fliers out in the morning sometimes but today he had the skies all to himself. He landed in his room looking around he had done a little redecorating since his time here. Brought in a bigger bed because this room was now a single and his wings needed more room. A computer and work desk and a filing cabinet in one corner and a flat screen TV was there on the wall mainly for the news and for movies at times when he just wanted to be a bit more alone time.

He decided to get ready as he heard the chaos starting to mount up from outside with so many people running around. He shook his head wondering how this would be, for him high school had been a private boarding school and he had to wonder just how a public high school would be for them.

Everyone was hectic that day as people were running around trying to get everything they would need for the day and to find things like shoes, backpacks and try to get their breakfast. The new kitchen was nearly filled as a few of the students had taken it to the new dinner room to safe space but it was still nuts with all the students there.

Thankfully with all the new students they would either make their own breakfast and some would help the others with theirs as well. Ororo was glad for this because it helped her out as well, there were several Jamies running around making breakfast for not only him but apparently for Paige too trying to impress the young blond girl. Wanda was at one of the two fridges one of the few taking their time, she and Sarah Logan didn't need to rush and was glad she was home schooled if this was going to be a regular thing.

"Has anyone seen the orange juice?" Alex said looking around the place.

Ray held it up, "Yeah here it is man."

"Has anyone seen my shoes?"

"I think I saw them in the hall, but I lost my book bag I left it by the stairs."

"I have to move it out of the way, it's by the door now."

"Hey! Lockheed! Kitty didn't you feed him yet?"

"Oops, I knew there was like something I forgot, I'll fix you something up."

"No! I mean, uh, that's okay I can get it myself. Just make sure your dragon is fed."

Logan was thankful he was in the dinning room as it was quieter in here then what he heard in the kitchen. There were a few of the others there with him but he was just finishing up anyway and was glad for it. He saw Jean and Scott taking it a bit more easily since they had classes a bit later in the day which was good given the time to drive to their college would help in that. Although traveling and hour to New York might get tedious they wanted to still live at the mansion and help out. Jean was sitting down a bit nervous about all of this was her first day at college it was a chance for a fresh start with her and Scott that was for sure.

Plus there was also the Taryn and Paul thing that they had been working on, they were staying in the local area so they could see each other a bit more and to be honest it would help rebuilding those relationships. It would be nice to still have at least one friendship from her high school that wasn't from someone in the mansion. "So Scott is Forge riding with us or Warren?"

Since Forge's IQ was pretty much off the charts it had been easy for him to gain a GED over the summer and then allied to a college. It wasn't a surprise was going into engineering she knew Scott was thinking of taking a course that he could later use as a teacher by taking a major in electronics.

"Yeah he's going with Warren," Scott told her, "Personally I kind of asked him to, Warren's been a bit distant since he got here and I think if he opened up a bit more it couldn't help out."

"Well…he's had it rough," Jean admitted knowing how his parents had reacted badly like everyone else had.

Scott just muttered, "Yeah a lavish life style, real hard."

Although Jean did hear this, "Scott!" She said in a low but sharp tone to him.

He winced, "Look I'm sorry it's just that…He had the kind of life most people like me always dreamed off. I mean I know Vince and back me up with this being an orphan himself, but growing up people like us didn't have much. You know the kind of life I've had and I wasn't as depressed as he seems to be, he needs to get out of this mood of his."

Jean had known, they have learned a lot from each other. Besides her family and Xavier Scott was the only person she had been comfortable talking about the death of her childhood friend Annie Richardson. Scott had told her how tormented he was at the orphanage until he ran away trying to escape from that life. She guessed for Scott's point of view Warren had a nice life in comparison but it was still that wasn't a nice thing to say.

By the time most of them were ready it was now time for school but now people were arguing over who drove what. "Come on I can drive I got my learners permit," Bobby said trying to get the keys from Tabitha.

"Oh yeah after the second time," She said holding them up high as she was a bit taller then Bobby.

"Well why don't I drive?" Kitty asked and several people became nervous.

"Well someone just decide!" Paige said not wanting to be late for her first day of high school. "We're going ta be late at this point!"

By then Logan came into the room and grabbed the keys from the wall and from Boom Boom, "All right listen up cause I'm only sayin' this once. The senior members get to drive for school and no icecube that doesn't include you." He threw one set to Kurt, "Elf, take the Van, Tin man the HX," He threw the keys to Piotr.

"But I can drive that," Kitty pouted a bit so far she hadn't even drove it once since they got it. Sure it was big but she really wanted to test it out.

"Half-pint that thing is dangerous as it is on its own and I don't need you behind the wheel. Besides it's still new and I had to be the one that had to fix up the X-Van those times you drove it." Logan told her sternly not letting himself be swayed by her giving him a puppy dog look or anything else she tried. There were just certain things even she couldn't get him to do.

Kitty didn't like it at all, she had improved since she started so why did everyone just back away whenever she was driving?

Logan threw the last set to Rogue, "Okay Stripes you get the SUV. Now no back talkin' or nothin' and get your asses in gear and out the door." He ordered and no one said anything back to him as they left the mansion and headed to the larger garage on the right. The smaller one on the left was where Scott's, Warren's, Ororo's cars were as well as the limo and Logan's bike. On the way there Clarice was nervously looking at her watch, she really hadn't worn it on for a full day and was afraid it might glitch up or something. Dani noticed this and was a bit concerned for the girl, although while wearing the hologram she looked like a Caucasian girl with just long brown hair and eyes instead of her true form.

"Hey you okay?"

Blink was brought out of her thoughts by Danielle, "Oh right sorry I'm just really nervous about all of this. I mean what if my watch stops working?" She nervously bit her lower lip trying to think of her in class as it stopped and then all the kids freaking out at her looks.

"It will be okay, I'm sure it will be fine besides just teleport out to the mansion if things get nasty," Dani gently said to her. She knew that Blink was still learning to accept her new looks and even though she was more comfortable Dani had to wonder just what it was like as her. "But anyways it's been a long time for me. I haven't done anything in those two years underground."

She still had nightmares of being trapped back in there but thankfully after all the training she didn't project those nightmares to the others sometimes. She hated not having full control over this power since there were still a few accidents. But the others have been great to her especially her roommate Kitty.

"What was it like? You know in there?" Blink had never asked that of her before because she just couldn't imagine the horror herself.

"Well…it was like being trapped in a nightmare I had only brief moments of clarity…" Dani trailed off as she remember how cold she had been all the time, the darkness, the loneliness of it all, "Even though my powers somehow kept me alive it was still horrible. Even though like Forge I didn't age…I had two years taken from me. I should be eighteen now and in my senior year instead of still sixteen."

"I'm…I'm sorry I shouldn't have brought it up."

Dani just shook her head with a small smile, "No don't be I need to talk about this from time to time."

By now the mutants were all piling into the vehicles as Kurt was in the Van with Amanda next to him, Piotr was in the seat of the HX with a few of the others as Rogue took the dark green SUV. She looked around it, 'Well at least it ain't a mini-van.' She thought to herself plus she did like the color of it. Of course when they all pulled up they got mixed reactions from the students. Some where new here so they might still be neutral, the older ones from last year were gone too but there were still a few that reminded that would still harbour a few hard feelings for them.

"Oh great they are here," Roberto groaned as a limo pulled up and the Hellions got out, "As if high school wasn't hard enough with guys like them here."

"No kidding," Bobby agreed seeing them, "You get the feeling there here to just mess with us? I mean they got enough money for the best private teachers and stuff and I seriously doubt they would want to be here."

"Oh yeah…Still…those two Tarot and Roulette are hot," Roberto stated looking at the brunette and blond teen."

"Dude I thought you were seeing that M babe?" Bobby commented and then was glad Jubilee was with the other girls and out of ear shot. The last time he had said another woman was a babe she got a bit jealous and pissed at him.

Roberto just shrugged his shoulder, "Hey she was hot and all but damn that girl was too high maintenance for me. We always had to go to the most expensive places I wouldn't mind if she had chipped in a few times at least, plus all she did was talk about herself. Talk about ego."

"Well isn't that the pot calling the kettle black," Ray quietly snickered to Kai who had to nod. He had admitted that Roberto seemed a bit too sure of himself.

"What was that?" Sunspot asked hearing something from Ray.

He just looked him right in the face, "I said I hope we can pay them back, you know for all that they and that woman Selene did so far." Roberto looked at him a moment and shrugged it off. The students all gathered up in the gym for a speech from the new principle Daniel Campbell. Mostly it was the same type of things that you'd mostly expect as the class schedule was handed out as well as locker locations and combinations with a small booklet with a map of the school on the back and important things to know. For Rogue she had found her locker and looked at her schedule and sighed, it wasn't too bad but a few of the teachers on there were kind of boring. "Well if it isn't the Goth Queen herself," Came a peppy voice that was like fingernails on chalk board to her.

'Oh god of all the people I had to meet it's the damn cloners,' She thought and turned to face three girls that were the self proclaimed queens of Bayville. Vicky, Tracy and Stacy three blond girls that delighted in being popular and making others feeling worse. For Rogue these girls were just fashion sheep and followed the latest trends and were pretty much annoying.

She also guessed that they singled her out because she was one of the few Goths in Bayville, "What do y'all want this time?" She growled out at them.

"Oh we just were just walking by, I can't believe they allowed you people back in here," Stacy the so called 'leader' of the group said looking down on Rogue. Rogue was very tempted to just test her new found strength on her and the others since those three had gone out of their way to make all the mutants at Bayville lives miserable. "I also see you decided to show off more flesh now, what happened? Decided to try and entice any females this time around?"

Rogue gritted her teeth she wasn't sure but she had a guess they had started the rumour that she was gay. She didn't have anything against it, but most boys that had tried to ask her out in her first year she all turned down because of her powers. So then it was started that she was only interested in girls. Sure the guys stopped asking but then people looked at her strangely.

"Hey girls check out the new meat," Vicky said pointing and all saw a tall boy with short dark hair and a nice build in a dark grey shirt. "Oh looks like fresh student too."

"I think I'll handle this one girls," Tracy smiled and walked over. Rogue only grinned at this since it was Vincent they were looking at. A plan started to form in her mind that would stop those rumours and maybe show up those three clones as well. They watched the obvious one sided flirting with Vincent looking like he was trying to gently turn her down, she kept trying though. But soon she just stormed off and went to the two others.

"He's gay," Tracy said crossing her arms causing Rogue to laugh, "What? He is, who wouldn't want a girl like me."

Rogue picked her books and closed her locked with a smirk on her face, "You just got ta know how to talk to a guy." They watched as she walked over to them and saw them talking about something.

"Yeah right like she will have a chance," Tracy snorted.

After a bit thought they could see Rogue getting nice and close and he didn't seem to mind. By the looks on it she was actually doing well, much better in fact and all three of there could just stare wondering when they had entered the Twilight Zone when all of a sudden the boy placed an arm around her waist and pulled her into a very long kiss with passion in it. There were a few whistles and cat calls but the three blondes could only just stand there in horror at what had just happened.

"That didn't just happen, tell me that didn't just happen," Stacy pleaded with the other two, "How the hell did she just do that? Who would want her?" The other two were just silent trying to process what had just happened.

Vince and Rogue were walking off together when he turned to her, "So…what was that all about?"

She just smirked to herself, "Ah'll tell ya later."

Meanwhile Clarice was walking the halls and was trying to find her first class. She was looking at the map or for one of her friends but she got separated from them while looking for her locker. The place was full of people and it was the also the most people she had been around since she got here. The mall hadn't been so bad but the halls were jammed with students and she was very careful to make sure nothing hit her watch and accidentally turned off her hologram. She was walking down the halls her arm with the watch to her chest holding her books as she was looking down on the map on the back of her book when she suddenly slammed her head into something and landed on her butt. "Ow!"

"Oh man I'm sorry are you okay?" A voice said to her as she looked to see a few of her things had fallen on the ground around her.

"Yeah I think so," She said picking up her stuff and noticed the person was helping her then she looked up and saw this very cute boy about her own age with green eyes and short spiked light brown hair. He wore a sports jacket and from the looks of it had to be on one of the school teams, "Uh…"

"Hey I'm really sorry I wasn't watching where I was going," he told her helping her up and she noticed he was a few inches taller then her.

"Uh…yeah…" She mentally smacked herself, this always happened someone nice looking comes up to her and her brain shuts down.

"So…You new here? I don't remember seeing you around," The boy asked her.

Blink tried to fight away the nervous sensation in the pit of her stomach, "Uh…Yeah I just moved this summer…"

He smiled at her and she felt her knees get a bit weak, "Well I'm Ryan, and you are?"

"I'm, uh…C-Clarice." She said shyly tucking some of her long hair behind one of her ears.

"So you lost or something? I was on my first day here a few years back," Ryan told her and she nodded she looked at her sheet and asked him where room E-3 was. He just smiled at her, "Hey I got the same class why don't I walk you there?"

If it wasn't for the image inducer she would have been blushing madly but thankfully it didn't pick up on that, "Yeah, that would be greant…Thanks."

"Anytime," He smiled at her as he led the way to their first class and it was then that Blink thought that maybe high school here wouldn't be so bad for her after all.

Amara found her first class easy enough but as soon as she saw someone she froze. There was that Spanish boy with brown hair named Empath. She felt her skin crawl with that boy and still remembered how he had used his powers on her making her want to kiss him and like it. She had felt dirty after that battle and took a nice long shower. So of course the gods seemed to be tormenting her with placing him in one of her classes.

If she figured out which names of her gods to curse or call upon to smite him she would have. He looked at her with this smug smile at her and winked at her. She felt her blood boil a bit at him. She chose to sit as far away from him as possible but she still felt his eyes on her.

'Gods this will be a long day. Why on Earth wouldn't I get the other Hellions? Why this one?' She thought to herself. She was hoping that she would have a glass or two with Kai but he was the last person she would want. She sighed and tried to ignore him as best she could.

Empath grinned at seeing his own personal prey here, she was a very lovely and exotic girl. The fact that she was royal blue blood even from a place that was no better then a third world nation, still put her above the others. She was too good for Xavier and he vowed that one day he would try and make her his. But he wanted to savour this little game and would work on her slowly, after all it would make it all worth while later on.

NEXT UP CHAPTER 7: ONE LONG DAY