Chapter Three:

Marie walked along the hallways of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters with a slight spring in her step. Her chat with Storm earlier that day had really helped her confidence and she was ready to face her fellow students. She was slightly late for her English class but she didn't think this mattered too much.

When she entered the class (which was being covered by Storm) all the students turned to look at her. The confidence drained straight out of her as she heard whispers of 'what's she doing here?' And 'I thought she'd gone'. Storm apparently had not heard any of these mutterings as she simply smiled and said "Welcome back Rogue."

Marie took her seat (which was two down from Bobby) but she tried her utmost not to look at him. She had noticed he and Kitty were on opposite sides of the room and she assumed this was some sort of gesture towards her. She noticed some students were still looking at her out of the corner of their eyes and whispering.

They could be a little more discreet Marie thought savagely. I got the cure. So fucking what!

She tried to carry on the lesson as best she could by keeping her eyes on the front of the room and trying to concentrate on what Storm was saying. This proved to be difficult when a piece of paper flew onto her desk with the words 'watch your back, traitor' written on it. She looked around for the source of this threat, but everyone was now looking at the front of the room and it was impossible to tell who had sent the note.

Marie was relieved when the lesson was finally over and she could dump her bag in her room and go down to dinner. It wasn't like she didn't have friends in this place.

Except Jubilee's away, Bobby and Kitty are cheaters and Logan isn't exactly available at the moment. She tried to push these thoughts out of her head, I know more people than that, surely? But the knot in her stomach didn't ease any.

After a while of worrying Marie decided that she may as well just go down to dinner. What's the worse that could happen? She knew a few people wouldn't like that she had got cured, but its not like they would actually do anything about it.

Right?

When she walked into the dinner hall she got the same response as she had when she walked into her English class earlier that day. Except now the whole school turned to face her and the whispers were much, much more obvious

'Traitor' and 'get out of our school' were the most common remarks she heard as she tried to find a table to sit at. Eventually she settled for a table in the corner which had people from her math class on it. Jane, Stacy, Richard, Tom and Claire had always been very pleasant to her.

"Hey" she said clearly as she sat in the spare seat on their table. They just continued their conversation as if they hadn't heard her. This struck Marie as a little odd, but she figured they must have genuinely not heard her, so she tried again, "how was math today?" Again, they continued their conversation as if she didn't exist. Were they really ignoring her?

Marie couldn't believe it. Maybe these people weren't as close to her as Jubilee was but she still considered them friends, and now what? Just because she could touch people now she was an outcast, an outcast who deserved the silent treatment?

Not knowing how to handle this Marie did all she could think to do, ignoring the glares and whispers as she past she walked briskly out the hall, tears prickling her eyes. She really didn't have a home here after all. She was the outcast, if she wasn't so hurt she might have found it amusing how practically everyone in this school wanted to be accepted by humans, but as soon as someone actually was normal they would shove you out of their little clique. It didn't matter that you were friends only a few days ago.

Marie didn't know where else to go, so she headed back to her room. About halfway there however she ran into someone she didn't really want to see in this state

"Hey Logan" she said, faking a smile even though her eyes were slightly red from her tears,

"Hey Kid" he said gruffly, chewing on his cigar. His use of her nickname cheered her up and a genuine smile played across her face, "how've ya been?"

"Oh.. Ok" She lied, "How..How are you?" She regretted asking as soon as she did. Of course he's not ok. The woman he loved is dead.

"You know me Kid" He told her. As if that was a proper answer, "I get by" she nodded, "I hear you got cured"

"Who told you?"

"Storm"

"Oh. Well, yeah. I did"

"I'm happy for ya Kid" she smiled a half-hearted smile, he caught this. God I can't hide anything from him. Must be his creepy smell thing. "You are happy, right?"

"I sure am" she smiled the most 'I'm happy' smile she could muster. She didn't want to talk about how she was an outcast and how her boyfriend had cheated on her. Not now anyway, "I should probably go" she said quickly, walking past him before he could ask her anymore questions

"Kid" he called after her, she stopped and faced him, "you know where I am" he stated. She nodded and continued to her room.

Yeah. Like I'm gonna bother him with my problems now.

Marie spent that night how she had spent the previous nights. Cooped up in her room on her own, feeling nothing but loneliness and emptiness at the thought that no one here really wanted her anymore.

Maybe it would be best if I just left.

I'd just like to thank all my wonderful, lovely reviewers! You guys inspire me to keep going and I really appreciate the support I have had so far with this story!