Storm sighed as her ears picked up the sound of voices coming from the other side of her classroom's door. It was only her third class of the day but it felt more like six. A part of her considered calling in sick but with a telepath for a boss the lie would have been short lived. "You can do this" she whispered to herself. Forcing on a smile she made her way inside the room. "Good Morning class". "I assume you all had a nice evening and began work on your paper which I remind you are due tomorrow". In unison the class groaned as she began writing down the days assignment on the board.
"Awe come on Storm" Paul a young shape shifter pleaded. "Cant you give us one more day". Strom turned to the student raising an eyebrow. "That's Ms. Monroe to you and I'll take that comment as a no to my previous question"? Setting the chalk down she took a moment to survey her large class. In the beginning of that year there had only been about twelve students but as Xavier's mutant searches became more and more frequent the class had nearly doubled. At this rate she would be lucky if her class managed to keep under fifty before the end of the semester.
"I want you all to get into groups of four and work on page eight of your grammar book problems 31 through 36". Again the class groaned. "And" she added raising a finger. "Whoever finishes the work first will be excused from the rest of class today". At this the students jumped from their seats grabbing a hold of whatever intelligent student they could find while the rest were left arguing amongst each other over who would do which work. Falling back into her desk chair Storm closed her eyes for a moment taking in the few precious moments of peace she had.
Ororo didn't realized she had fallen asleep untill after she felt the gentle shakes of a small hand on her shoulder. "Ms. Monroe"? A small green student stared at Storm through wide yellow eyes. "Are you ok"? She was the youngest of the schools attendees. Just a few weeks shy of her thirteenth birthday but due to her mutation looked to be no older than nine. Her birth name was Brenda but over the past year she had taken on the nickname fuzz which the rest of the class had affectionately called her based on the tuff of unruly green hair that stood out from every direction of her head. "Are you ok" she asked again. Storm blinked then turned away slightly embarrassed by her body's betrayal. "I'm fine Brenda do you need some help on the work"? The girl smiled shaking her head. "I'm done".
Nodding to Fuzz's group the five quickly left the room all except Fuzz who stayed behind to talk. The young girl had grown attached to Storm over the two years she had been at the institute and Storm although careful not to say it in so many words had developed similar feelings. At times she imagined that if she had children or were to ever have children her relationship with them would be similar to the one she shared with Fuzz. "Can we read Huck Finn tonight"? Storm nodded as the girl handed her a worn copy of the book mentioned. Since Fuzz was the only student whose bedtime fell before nine pm Storm had taken it upon herself to ease the "Burden of her youth" by reading her stories. The book in her hand had been read to Fuzz or rather Fuzz had read them to her several times over the past two years leaving the pages aged and yellow. "We will have to get another copy" Storm smiled.
As the bell rang Storm watched with some relief as her students collected their belongings and made their way towards the door. Some of them would take the bus to the nearby schools for classes on certain subjects the institute did not teach while others would go to training practice with wolverine and Cyclops. Following their lead Storm too began to collect her belonging only to be stopped by the feeling of a familiar presence. "Shouldn't you be getting on the bus" she asked turning towards the open door. Storm smiled as she saw a small tuff of green hair peek out from behind the door. "I don't feel like it" the hair answered. "Can I stay here with you"? Storm raised a brow. "We will have to see what Xavier would think of that" she said. The girl was silent for a moment before speaking again. "….ok I'll go".
Had Storm not been so exhausted she would have questioned the tinge of fear in the girl's voice but attributed it to Fuzz's fear of the students at school. High school was difficult time for any teen especially if that teen was a mutant with an IQ of over 130 but, luckily Xavier's specialized watch would give her the appearance of a "normal girl" as long as no one got too close. The girl had never liked wearing it but for the sake of her safety and education had agreed to put it on. "You'll be here when I come back wont you" the girl asked. "Yes Brenda" Storm replied. "I will be here when you come back"