Aravis lay on cold exam table as Dr. Jean Grey propped a pillow under her swollen ankle and placed an ice pack on top.
"You'll be fine," she said kindly to the girl. "nothing's broken, its just a bad sprain. Of course walking six blocks on it didn't help any." she continued, glaring at Logan. He held up his hands defensively, a look of exasperation on his face.
"I tried to tell her!" He scowled slightly at Aravis, who smirked up at him from the table. "I'll get Professor." he sighed before turning towards the elevator. When the doors had closed and Logan was out of sight, Jean pulled up a chair close to the table and took a seat.
"He'll be back soon, and I'm sure the Professor will want to talk to you." the red-headed woman said, smiling. Aravis shifted her weight and propped herself up on her elbows, careful not to move her injured ankle.
"Thats what I still don't get, why is this Professor guy so interested in me? How did he even know about me?"
"Didn't Logan explain it to you?" Jean responded, adjusting the ice pack once more.
"Well he mentioned something about the Professor being telepathic and having a machine called cerebral..."
"Cerebro." Jean corrected, laughing. "He's connected to every living mutant through Cerebro, and through it he can sense their thoughts and feelings."
"But what's so special about me? If he can sense what every mutant is feeling, why did he single me out? He could have sent Logan for anyone, why me?"
"Whatever you were feeling yesterday must have been pretty strong, because the Professor felt deeply connected to you; he knew you needed help."
"But I didn't!"
"Didn't you?" the woman asked, staring intently at Aravis. The girl squirmed uncomfortably; the way Jean was looking at her made her feel eerie, as if the woman could see straight through her and know everything about her in that single moment. Just then, the elevator doors opened with a whirring sound, revealing Logan and a bald man in an electric wheelchair. Although Aravis was wary of most people, she immediately liked this man. His eyes were kind, and she felt instinctively that she could trust him. He wheeled himself over to the table at which she lay and reached out to shake her hand.
"Hello, I'm Charles Xavier. Welcome to my school for gifted youngsters."
"I'm Aravis." she responded, in a small voice.
"I know." he chuckled, staring intently at her as Jean had moments before. Unwilling to meet his gaze, Aravis absentmindedly tucked a strand of silver hair behind her ear. "I realize that you have reservations about this place, and rightly so. However, I feel that if you give us a chance, we will be able to assist you greatly, in more ways than one."
Aravis gave him a skeptical look. "Such as...?"
"Along with continuing your education, you will be taught to control and use your powers effectively. Not to mention having a roof over your head and food on the table." he said, a twinkle in his eye.
Aravis didn't laugh. "I was doing okay. I didn't need to be rescued." at this she glanced at Logan, who smirked.
"Yeah you were doing great hobbling around alleyways and climbing out of bathroom windows." he sneered.
"Only because you were chasing me through the whole damn city!" she shot back, angrily. The professor held his hand up to silence them, and then continued.
"Aravis, I know that your freedom is something that you depend on, but why not give us the benefit of the doubt? Try our school out, and if you do not wish to stay, no one will stop you from leaving." She eyed him for a moment, unsure of what to do. "What have you got to lose?" he asked kindly. She sighed, gazing absentmindedly at her ankle. Finally, after several moments, she spoke.
"I'll stay...for the meantime."
"Wonderful!" the Professor responded, although Aravis got the feeling he had known her answer before she even spoke. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some things to attend to in my office. I'll let Jean and Logan show you to your room." She smiled at him as he entered the elevator, hoping against all else that she had made the right decision.
"Alright," said Jean, inspecting her ankle. "the swelling has gone down a little, but I want you to keep the ice on it until you go to bed. It needs to stay elevated, so absolutely no walking. I'll take a look at it again in the morning and see how its doing." Aravis nodded mutely, tiredness finally overtaking her. Noticing this, Jean removed her lab coat. "You're tired. Logan and I will show you to your room so you can get some sleep."
Much to her fury, Logan carried Aravis to the elevator and, once they were on the correct floor, down the hall to her room. Jean padded down the hall behind them, ice pack in hand.
"Here we are," she said, pushing the door open slowly. She paused and turned to Aravis. "How old are you?"
"Seventeen." she responded, surprised at the question.
"Oh good, you're about the same age then!" Jean exclaimed, opening the door all of the way.
"The same age as wh-" Aravis was interrupted in mid-sentence by a loud squeal from the interior of the room. A girl with long, dark hair and big brown eyes bounded across the room and stopped short in front of Logan, her face falling at the sight of Aravis in his arms.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" she asked, concernedly.
"Oh- no I'm fine, just a sprain." Aravis answered, taken aback by the outspoken girl. The girl brightened up considerably, and held out her hand.
"I'm Kitty! Kitty Pryde! I'm your new roommate!" Before Aravis could respond, Kitty continued excitedly. "I've cleared out half the closet for you, and the dresser under the window is yours, and I've been sleeping in this bed," she continued, motioning to the bed near the door, "but we can trade if you want!"
"Oh n-no thats fine." Aravis was dumbstruck at her new roommate. Kitty smiled broadly.
"Now we can unpack all of your clothes and things and-" she stopped short, looking curiously around Logan and Jean. "Where are your things?" Aravis' pale cheeks turned a deep crimson. Not wanted to embarrass the girl any further, Jean spoke quickly.
"We'll go shopping tomorrow and get you some more clothes and necessary things," Aravis smiled at her gratefully. "and until then-" Once again, Kitty interrupted.
"She can borrow some of my clothes!"
"Thank you, Kitty. I think we'll leave you two together, have fun and get some sleep!" Jean turned to go, but paused as Logan walked across the room to the second bed and placed Aravis down gently. "Someone will come for you in the morning, Aravis, and bring you down so I can have a look at that ankle again. Keep icing it as long as you can, goodnight girls!" she called before tossing Aravis the ice pack and turning to leave.
"G'night, kid." Logan grunted, before shutting the door behind him.
"Goodnight..." Aravis said weakly, too overwhelmed to say anything else. Kitty eyed her questioningly.
"What did Jean say your name was?"
"Aravis...its kinda weird I know-"
"Oh no I love it! Its really unique and everything! So what about your power? I can walk through walls and other solid objects! What can you do?" Aravis blinked.
"Um...well it sounds really stupid if I try to explain it. I'd rather show you sometime."
"Show me now! I really wanna see it!"
"I really need to wait until my ankle gets better...if you don't mind?" Kitty looked slightly crestfallen for a moment, before perking up again.
"Well, thats okay! Tomorrow I can't introduce you to Rogue and Bobby and everyone else and show you around the school and, what else? OH! We're going shopping to buy you some clothes and things! Speaking of which, you need some pj's don't you!" Kitty strode quickly over to her dresser and began rummaging through her drawers for a few moments before snatching a pair of hot pink pajama pants and an oversized tee shirt. "You're thinner than me, but these will be fine for tonight!"
"Thanks!" Aravis replied, feeling slightly more at home. She slid off the bed and hopped one legged to the bathroom to change.
Aravis awoke abruptly the next morning to the sound of Kitty's alarm clock.
"Sorry Aravis," she whispered, "you can go back to sleep if you want. I gotta get ready for class."
"N-no it's alright...I should get ready to go see Jean. Speaking of which..." she pulled up the pant leg of her pajamas and inspected her ankle. She was relieved to find that the swelling was almost completely gone, leaving only ugly purple bruises. She waited for Kitty to finish in the shower before she took her turn. When she was done, she stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and realized that she had no clean clothes. As if reading her mind, Kitty spoke.
"I set out a pair of jeans and a shirt for you. They're kinda small on me so they should fit you alright, at least until we go shopping!" Aravis soon learned how difficult it is to dress oneself while balancing on one foot. She was, however, relieved to find that the clothes fit her fairly well. She noticed Kitty watching her as she towel dried her hair.
"What is it?" she asked. Kitty blushed, realizing that she had been staring.
"I'm sorry...its just...well, has anyone ever told you that you're gorgeous?" Now it was Aravis' turn to blush. She shook her head. "Well, you are! Is that your natural hair color?"
"Yeah."
"Its beautiful...i've never seen anything like it!"
"My dad used to make fun of me. He said teenagers shouldn't have gray hair." Kitty looked shocked.
"But it isn't gray! Its...well...silver! And sometimes it looks like its actually sparkling!" Aravis laughed.
"Thanks, Kitty."
Half an hour later, Kitty had left for breakfast and Aravis stood at the mirror experimenting with makeup. She soon realized that her pale skin looked best with little- if any- makeup. She applied a touch of shimmering powder to her cheekbones and mascara to her eyelashes. She hadn't blown her hair dry, and the smooth waves rested gently against her back. She jumped when she heard the knock at the door at hopped over to open it. Expecting to see Jean or Logan at the door, she was surprised to find a tall, handsome man wearing red tinted sunglasses.
"Hi Aravis! My name's Scott, but you can call me Cyclops if you want. Jean sent me to get you so she can check your ankle out." Aravis smiled at him and hopped out into the hallway, closing the door behind her. She was relieved to see that he had brought a wheelchair; she had thought for one awful moment that he was going to carry her as Logan had. "How was your first night?" he asked kindly when they had reached the elevator.
"Okay...kinda awkward." she admitted as they descended to the med lab. Scott laughed.
"Don't worry. With Kitty as your roommate, you'll feel right at home in no time." The elevator reached the correct floor and Scott wheeled Aravis into the middle of the med lab. Jean was talking quietly to a dark-skinned woman with white hair when they arrived. Their discussion immediately came to a halt as both woman approached Aravis.
"Hello Aravis, my name's Ororo Monroe, but you can call me Storm. I work here at the Professor's school." said the woman with white hair, smiling kindly and shaking Aravis' hand. Scott helped her get up from the wheelchair and move to the exam table, where she sat while Jean inspected her ankle.
"Alright, its looking much better." Jean said, smiling. "Its still not a good idea to put weight on it though, so I'm gonna give you some crutches to help you get around. Don't worry, you'll only have to use them for a week or two."
"When will I start classes?" Aravis asked, trying to fill the awkward silence that had followed Jean's last remark.
"Tomorrow, I believe. I put you down for the same class schedule as Kitty, since you're rooming with her. She can help you meet the other kids and get comfortable around the school."
"Thanks." replied Aravis, gratefully. She grimaced in pain and clutched the edge of the table as Jean strapped a brace onto her ankle.
"Keep this on during the day, and ice it every night before bed." Aravis nodded obediently. Smiling, Jean said "Well, then you're all set. The others are in class now so you can feel free to explore or rest or do whatever you want! Lunch is at 12:30. Oh- and don't forget, later after I'm finished teaching I'll come find you and we'll go get you some clothes."
"Thanks, Jean!" Aravis said, as she hobbled around trying to get the hang of her crutches.