Long periods of silence were becoming a lot more commonplace for the Brotherhood as they waited for Professor Xavier outside of Medical. The three of them just stared at the ground until the door opened and Xavier wheeled out. He crossed his hands in front of his chin as he examined each of their troubled faces.

He sighed before saying, "I am truly sorry and I know you all are quite aware of the complexity of your situation, but I'm afraid there's another problem. I don't know if any of you have watched the news lately?"

The three of them shook their heads.

"Hmm, well, fires tend to make the news and since quite a few people were aware that your home was a mutant residence and there was a death…well, let's just say there hasn't been much talk of anything else lately. There has been much speculation to the cause of the fire, some say it was anti-mutant groups trying to get their point across, others think it was just an accident, but your friend Todd just admitted to starting the fire that caused Mr. Dukes death. To some people, Mr. Tolensky would be considered…a murderer," Xavier paused for a moment to let all of this sink in. Pietro couldn't believe it; Todd, a murderer. This must have been why Toad had been acting so strange lately. Whichever way you looked at it, he was ultimately the reason Fred had died.

Xavier continued, "I'm not sure what to do about this at the moment, but Todd has gladly volunteered to turn himself in. I don't know if the any of you agree with that or if it's in his best interests right now, so he'll be in recovery for at least a week to think it over. Also, he requested that some sort of memorial to be held in honor of Mr. Dukes. I would be happy to arrange this for him if the three of you don't mind."

They shook their heads no again.

"Good, I'll get started on that. If I'm not mistaken it's just about lunchtime, so if you would like to join the others students in the kitchen, it would make Ms. Munroe very happy. She's been meaning to apologize for her behavior the other day, and don't worry, she's an excellent cook. I think she's making grilled cheese sandwiches and soup," Xavier said as he turned to go find Beast to discuss Todd.

"Well, are we going?" Lance asked as soon as Xavier was gone. Pietro nodded as he started to make his way to the kitchen. Of course they were going. Pietro loved grilled cheese sandwiches.

Upon entering the kitchen, Pietro could feel himself cringe a little. It was bustling with most of the student population, all of whom turned and stared when the Brotherhood walked in. Pietro decided it was time to start making some more 'friends' so he smoothed back his hair and pasted a friendly grin on his face. He walked over and sat down in an empty seat next to a grumpy looking new recruit with dark curly hair.

"Hey, how's it going?" Pietro asked him politely, "I'm Pietro what's your name?"

Lance, Wanda, and the new recruit stared at Pietro like he was insane. The new recruit looked like he was deciding on whether this should be making him mad or if he should answer this crazy looking teen with silver hair and wide blue eyes.

"Never mind," Pietro said before the kid could make up his mind, "Lance I think you should sit here. You two would probably get along." Pietro jumped out of his seat and started scanning the table for another empty seat. Pietro knew that if looks could kill he would be dead right now, from the glare Lance was shooting straight at him. He hated being put on the spot like that, but he kept his mouth shut and took the seat, knowing that Kitty was watching his every move from her seat halfway down the table. Pietro found a seat next to another new recruit who had blonde hair with a few long orange spikes sticking out over his forehead. Pietro looked around and saw that Kitty had moved down a seat so that Wanda could sit next to Rogue.

'Good,' he thought to himself. Things were going ok, and it wasn't completely awkward.

"Hey, I'm Ray," the new recruit said to Pietro with a grin. His voice was raspy and friendly at the same time, and he held out his hand to shake Pietro's.

"Hi, Pietro," Pietro answered shaking his hand. Ray only looked about a year younger than Pietro; he must be one of the older new recruits. Conversations started up again all over the table, and Pietro began to feel slightly more comfortable until a familiar blonde took the empty seat next to him.

"No way! This is too funny!" Tabitha said with a laugh.

"Hi, Tabitha," Pietro said with a sigh. He had been afraid that Tabitha still lived here, but he hadn't been sure until now.

"Whatsa matter Speedy? Aren't you happy to see me?" she asked in that annoyingly playful tone that Pietro had grown to hate over months of living in the same house as her. No in fact, he was not happy to see her. Pietro couldn't have been happier than he was the day she left. At first he found her loud, abrasive behavior cute, just like most every guy did, but Tabitha was not an easy person to live with. Sure he had a lot of fun with her, when she first moved in, but her routine got old pretty quick.

"Tabby, you know him?" Ray asked her, when Pietro didn't answer. This question made Pietro wonder if they were a couple or not. Not that he really cared or anything.

"Of course I know him, I used to live with him, remember?"

"Oh yeah…" Ray said thoughtfully. Pietro looked across the table at Lance who was looking at Tabitha.

'Oh no,' Pietro thought. Lance had always had kind of a crush on Tabitha and it looked like he was starting to rekindle these feelings.

"Speedy talk to me, I mean, how long has it been since we saw each other?" Tabitha asked.

"Not long enough," Pietro muttered under his breath.

"What?" she asked.

"I said I don't know," Pietro said, he noticed that this whole conversation was making Ray uncomfortable. Pietro decided that he had to be her boyfriend at the moment, and it made Pietro feel sorry for him; Ray seemed like a nice guy. Before Tabitha could say anything else, Storm walked into the room with a tray of grilled cheese sandwiches, and she was followed by Evan who was pushing a cart stacked with bowls of soup. Pietro sighed thankfully. His conversation with Tabitha would have to wait until he was finished eating.