Disclaimer: I own jack squat.

Chapter Four --

"Who's that blue guy?" Brianna hissed into Kitty's ear as they approached Bayville High School.

"Who – Kurt?" Kitty hadn't bothered to keep her voice down, like Brianna did her's. "Yeah… he's kind of freaky at first, but, like, give the guy a chance. He's, like, a total sweetheart, and it's not his fault he's like that, you know."

Brianna crinkled her nose. Maybe it wasn't his fault that he looked that way, but she still couldn't help but have chills running down her spine whenever he transported into the room – she wasn't used to blue people yet.

"Is there anyone else like that?" Brianna asked. "You know, not normal looking?" She hadn't had the chance to really become acquainted with everyone, because she only stepped foot outside of her room a couple of times.

After thinking on it for a second, Kitty replied, "Yep, Beast. He's blue and furry, too, but he's totally cool. He used to work here, you know… but that was before he transformed. I haven't seen, like, much of him lately, though… probably locked up in his room reciting Shakespeare or something like that."

"Hm." Brianna appeared to be uninterested, looking off somewhere else. Kitty followed her gaze, only to find that she had just got her first look at the Brotherhood.

"This school is packed with mutants, isn't it?" boomed Brianna's voice as Toad caught a fly with his enormous, green tongue.

"Not really. It's just them, and us as far as I know, anyways. But, like, they hate the X-Men, so don't pay them any mind."

So, Brianna had been expecting the worst as two members of the Brotherhood made their way over to them – one with long, brown hair and one that appeared to be moving at a ridiculously fast pace. It only took him a millisecond to travel the distance in between them.

"Hey, Kitty-Cat, who's your friend?" This guy talked just like he moved – fast, and he didn't even pause in between words.

Before Kitty had the chance to answer Pietro Maximoff's question, the guy with the long hair placed his gloved hand on Kitty's small shoulder, making her wince.

"Like, Lance, get off of me!" she demanded.

He did no such thing, forcing Kitty to phase through him.

"Listen, Kitty, I'm really sorry about the whole parking lot thing. I didn't mean for you to get involved –"

"It's, like, totally not about that, Lance, and you know it!"

"Kitty!" Lance snarled. "You're the one who started it by saying those things to me."

"Whatever!" Kitty snapped, taking Brianna's wrist and dragging her off in the opposite direction.

"But my locker's that way!" Brianna protested, trying to jerk free of Kitty's grip.

Kitty released Brianna's wrist, and said, "They'll, like, go easy on you if you're late, since you're new and all. Sorry, I just can't stand those guys." She sighed, deeply.

"Well, who are they, anyways? You never really told me…" Brianna's eyebrows rose, because it didn't look like Kitty hated Lance – they actually seemed like they were together. Was it possible for a goodie-goodie like that to have a little something going on with an enemy of the X-Men?

"That one I was fighting with is Lance Alvers. We, like, used to have this thing for each other, but that's totally over now!"

"Go on," Brianna prodded, wanting to hear about their recent break-up. Nosy? Yes, but Brianna had the feeling that Kitty wanted to tell her, anyways.

Shadowcat told her new friend the story of calling him a hood, and then him saying he'd never be good enough for her… and then how sad Kitty had been, and how she called Lance and told him that they were through.

"Interesting," Brianna managed to squeeze in, not letting Kitty complete her reenactment of her phone conversation with Lance.

"You, like, wanted to know!" Kitty's eyes narrowed in anger at Brianna's sarcasm.

That was true, Brianna thought, but she hadn't asked for a five minute tirade that included more 'likes' then she wanted to hear her entire life.

"It's only that you didn't tell me about the other one, and the bell's about to ring." She glanced down at her tan Chanel watch. Brianna looked back up at Kitty, attempting an apologetic smile. It killed her doing so – why did she have to act sorry for something stupid like that? But, she didn't want to lose her only friend she had gained so far in New York, so she just dealt with it.

"Oh, Pietro." Kitty's words were spoken in a way that gave Brianna the impression that she wasn't a big fan of his. "I don't really know a lot about him, except he has super speed and is totally cocky."

That's when the bell rang, ordering the kids to file into the building and to head off to their first hour. The sound made Brianna's heart sink, but she remembered to keep her head held high, and to carry herself with confidence, even after Kitty dashed off to her class.

And, of course, Brianna was late. She had a horrible sense of direction, and although someone had pretty much walked her straight to her class, she still managed to arrive about thirty seconds after the five minute passing period was over.

When she creaked open the door to her new English class, all heads simultaneously shifted to her, to see who had come to class late.

Brianna grinned weakly, knowing there had to be at least twenty pairs of eyes on her. "I'm, uh, new here."

"I can see that just fine," the fat woman at the front of the room said. "Take a seat. Are you," she took a look at a piece of paper in her hand. "Brianna Contreras?"

She nodded, mentally stabbing her teacher for talking to her like that – 'I can see that just fine.' Ugh! How dare that ugly, old bat?

Brianna scanned the room for an empty seat, and found only one. It happened to be right next to that guy Pietro, and behind him sat an oblivious Blob, who was eyeing the cupcake on the teacher's desk.

She walked on over to her new seat and sat down. She had been doing a pretty good job at ignoring the pleased look on the white-haired teenager's face, until he quietly leaned in towards her and said, "Well, aren't I the lucky one?"

"Listen – I'm just not into guys with white hair, all right?" With that, she placed her focus back onto Ms. Wilson.

"Oh, you'll come around."

Brianna barely had time to roll her eyes and start her witty comeback before the teacher, voice harsh with rage, roared, "Mr. Maximoff, you are pushing your luck!"

"Yes, ma'am," Pietro said, as if he was ashamed of himself.

She just shook her head, and muttered something about not believing those boys were allowed back into the school after being expelled.

The only thing that flew from her mouth that was completely audible was, "--what made Edward change his mind, anyway?"

"Oh," Pietro spoke up. "You can find my father to be a very persuasive man, and if you keep it up, he'll persuade his way into leaving you jobless."

Of course, Mystique, posing as Magneto, had only threatened the principal of Bayville High into letting the Brotherhood return to his school because she knew that they wouldn't get out of her hair if she didn't do so. Their reason for wanting to come back? Their life was better when they had numerous chances to harass the X-Men.

So, there was no chance of Mystique posing as Pietro and Wanda's father again, this time insisting that Principal Kelly fire Ms. Wilson, but Pietro liked acting like there was.

By the time her first day had come to a close, Brianna talked to a few popular kids, and they even invited her to sit at their table during lunch. Seeing as Kitty didn't have her lunch or anything, Brianna saw nothing wrong with it.

However, Kitty and Scott – another person at the Mansion Brianna could stand – saw differently.

"Listen, Brianna, those girls probably don't even like you," Scott told her on the ride home. "I've seen it a million times. I know, because I've dated one of them before. They just hang out with whoever has the best stuff, and whenever you're not there, they talk crap about you." He frowned.

"Yes, Daddy," Brianna said, referring to how fatherly Scott was acting towards her.