Rogue surprised everybody by waking up later that day a bit groggy, but otherwise fine. She was also surprisingly accepting about the return of her powers.
"I never felt like they had truly gone away," she said, "I was always worried they would emerge again."
She was a little apprehensive about Bobby and what his reaction to it might be, but after he showered her with attention all afternoon, constantly going on about his relief that she was ok, she stopped worrying about it. He was clearly here to stay, powers or not.
With classes starting up again the next day, Rogue and the other girls were keen to get Jack up to speed on everything, from classmates to teachers.
"I'm Kitty, Shadowcat is my X-name, I can walk through walls," Kitty introduced herself to Jack, "Nice to meet you."
"And you," Jack said.
"The boys over there are Bobby, who you know already, and Peter," Kitty said, going clockwise round the room introducing everyone, "That little kid reading in the corner is Jimmy, he's pretty new too. Um, that's Jubilee and that's…"
Jack quickly got overwhelmed by all the names, but Kitty and Rogue promised that she'd soon catch up.
"You're in our class, so we'll show you round, make sure you get to the right rooms and everything," Rogue said.
"We have a good day tomorrow – first lesson off because they don't have a math teacher anymore," Kitty said, "Then we have biology with Dr. McCoy, but he won't be here because he has to do something with the government…"
"So we thought we'd take you shopping, get you some stuff," Rogue said, "We haven't asked Storm for permission yet, but she should be ok with it."
"I don't have any money to buy anything," Jack said.
"That's alright," Kitty said with a smile, "Each new student here who comes as a runaway gets a small grant to buy clothes and things with. It's only a bit, but it will be enough to get you a wardrobe sorted out."
"And each student who doesn't keep in touch with their parents gets an allowance, but you want to be careful spending that, it has to last you all term," Rogue said.
"You don't really spend much though, given that we get free food and board here," Kitty said.
"So what other lessons do we have tomorrow?" Jack asked, turning the conversation away from shopping.
"Double History with Storm, then English Lit with Professor Worthington," Rogue said.
"Why do you call her Storm, not Professor Munroe?" Jack asked.
"We should call her Professor really," Kitty said, "Storm is her X-name."
"And what's an X-name?"
"It's like a code name, from when people were really against mutants and we didn't want anyone to know who we were," Rogue said, "Storm's relates to her power – she can control the weather."
"That explains Pyro and Magneto…" Jack said, "So what are you studying in History and English at the moment?"
"We're about to start something new in English, so that was good timing," Kitty said, "and in History we are doing the American West. It's really boring, I hate history. She just stands at the front and talks our ears off about pioneers and Mormons."
"She likes English Lit though, that's her favourite lesson…" Rogue said teasingly.
"Shut up, Rogue!" Kitty said, blushing.
"Kitty likes Professor Worthington," Rogue mock whispered to Jack, not making any effort to make sure Kitty couldn't hear.
"No I don't! Ok, yes I do, but that's not the reason I like English Lit," Kitty said.
"It so is," Rogue taunted, a wide grin on her face, "Well," she said a little more seriously, "I can't really blame you – he is good looking."
"He's gorgeous!" Kitty said as Rogue laughed out loud.
"I told you," Rogue said to Jack.
"Don't you think he's gorgeous, Jack?" Kitty asked, her eyes pleading for help.
"I never really noticed," Jack said.
Storm was happy to give the girls permission to go shopping the next morning. It did them good to get out of the mansion occasionally, and Jack did need some new clothes. They caught the bus into the city and headed straight for Kitty and Rogue's favourite shopping centre. Jack followed them around all day, letting them practically buy her wardrobe for her.
At about ten they stopped for a break in a coffee shop, admiring each other's purchases while having a refreshing drink.
"So, what do you think of Xavier's so far?" Kitty asked Jack.
"I like it, nice people, nice place," she said.
"And nice teachers," Rogue said, nudging Kitty.
"Can we stop bringing that up already?" Kitty said, trying to hide her blushing face with her hand.
Jack grinned and Rogue burst out laughing.
"I'm not going to be able to concentrate in English now," Kitty moaned, "You'll keep making me laugh."
Did you ever pay much attention in the first place?" Rogue asked.
"Yes!" Kitty said indignantly.
"What to, though?" Jack asked, making Rogue burst into fresh fits of hysterics.
"Oh, leave me alone!" Kitty said, but she was grinning from ear to ear.
"You wanted to speak to me Henry?" the President said as he left the conference room after another boring and unsuccessful meeting.
"Yes, in private, if you can spare a moment," Hank said.
"I can always spare a moment for you," the President said, walking into a small office room and shutting the door behind him, "So, what is this about?"
"It's about the proposed World Summit at the end of the month," Hank said.
"Isn't everything at the moment…" the President said with a degree of impatience Henry knew wasn't aimed at him.
"I understand you are to discuss the issues of safety against criminal mutants."
"It was one of the items on the agenda, yes," the President said.
"Then you should know that the 'cure', is not as permanent as Mr. Worthington Sr. liked to believe."
"What are you saying, Henry?"
"I'm saying that all those Mutants that were put behind bars after the Alcatraz incident will slowly be getting back their power. Magneto has already made a full recovery."
"And does he intend to continue his life where he left it off?" the President looked fearful.
"I'm afraid he probably does," Hank said, "Six months spent as a human has not warmed him to them any. He has already made an attempt to attack the school. Fortunately he was stopped before any damage could be done."
"And the cure doesn't work?"
"Well, it does, for six months or so, which strengthens the case to use it as a weapon, if that is the route you desire to take with security. I, for one, would certainly not mind losing my gifts for a six month period, having been caught in the crossfire, if that sacrifice meant that a dangerous mutant was put behind bars."
"I will have to think about it," the President looked weary as he furrowed his brow, trying to think everything through, "I will certainly speak to Mr. Worthington to see what his views on the matter are. In the mean time, Henry, I have a favour to ask of you."
By the time the girls were on the bus home, they had spent all of Jack's grant money, and a fair bit of their allowances. It hadn't been easy for them though – Rogue and Kitty liked figure hugging, girly clothes, Jack liked baggy, boyish clothes, preferably plain. They spent most of the time telling each other that they 'couldn't possibly buy that'.
Never the less, they got there in the end, and even managed to be back on time to get to lessons, just.
"Thank you for joining us," Storm said with a smile as Kitty and Rogue crashed into their chair, with Jack following a little more reservedly behind them, "We were just about to start without you! Jack, take the spare seat next to Bobby, I've already put out a text book and exercise book for you."
Jack sat down, smiling briefly at Bobby, before opening her textbook and flicking through it. Storm smiled at her enthusiasm, then began the lesson.
Two hours later and Bobby had made three whole pages of notes on the history of the Indians, the battles they had fought and how they had eventually been rounded up and forced to live like the settlers. Jack hadn't written a word, she just listened intently the entire time.
When Storm dismissed them, she kept Jack back after everyone else had gone.
"Didn't you want to make any notes?" she asked.
"I don't need to," Jack said.
"Are you sure? That was a lot to take in… Or have you studied this topic before?"
"No, I'll just remember," Jack said.
"Ok…" Storm wasn't convinced that anyone could remember everything they had talked about without some kind of prompt.
"It was a very interesting lesson," Jack said.
"Thank you," Storm said, "Most of the kids think History is boring."
"I know, Kitty doesn't like it much, says there is too much talking, but I like listening."
Jack picked up her textbook and tucked it into a bag she bought that morning, and headed out after the rest of the class to get lunch. Storm watched her go. She was a nice girl, but odd, very odd.
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