A/N Story time… eurgh, I've hit the wall again… this chapter might be crap… ha yeah I know 'might be'…

The commotion in New York was headline news across the news channels. The phrases, 'Mutant attack in New York' and 'Mutants strike another US city' were plastered across the TV screens as Mark switched through every channel. Everywhere he looked there were angry people spouting nonsense about Mutants and how they were attacking the United States, from Glen Beck to Ophra Winfrey. He guessed something big had happened and that the X-Men were no doubt involved but he didn't know what was going on. In the end he turned the TV off, noticing the absence of the usual groan or complaint from other people watching.

As soon as he switched of the TV he was confronted with the same problem he had before, he was bored. Jake was nowhere to be seen and Quinn and Caim were doing what they usually did after classes, in Caim's case hide somewhere to get some peace and in Quinn's, well detention was likely. She had a habit of swearing at teachers or other students, or being late, or generally being disruptive and difficult. If he was honest their absence wasn't that big a deal, they disappeared often, but Jake was worrying him.

Mark had noticed the stares and weird looks from the other students. He could see some of them still gossiping about him in the Longue. He could take it though, whilst Jake worried about things and could get embarrassed easily. Mark was worried something had happened and upset him, or worse.

He was about to get up and look for him when Jake bounded in, looking happy, with some blonde kid who was talking to him. A pang of something hit him, he suspected it was jealousy but that was stupid, he had nothing to be jealous at.

"Hey." Jake said smiling. "This is Will." Mark smiled as warmly as he could.

"Hello, Jake's been telling me about you." Will said before turning back to Jake. ", I should get going. I'll speak to later, kay." Jake nodded. Will smiled at Mark a last time and scurried away. Jake fell onto the Sofa next to Mark and wrapped an arm around him.

"What was that all about?" Mark asked.

"Will's someone from my Biology class. He's, err, 'like us' only he hasn't told anyone other than me, and now you know too." Jake said. "He's nice"

"Oh, cool." Mark said. "I'm glad he's nice."

"You okay, you seem a little odd?" Jake said.

"I'm fine. I've just been worried about you." Mark said. "I was afraid something upset you or something."

"I'm fine." Jake said, placing his arms around him and kissing him on his cheek. 'Jake's getting his confidence back' Mark thought. "You have nothing to worry about."

"Good." Mark said smiling. "How's your day been?"

"Kinda weird, everyone's been giving me strange looks and whispering stuff but I think it's starting to settle down. No one's been giving me trouble, a few people have even been oddly nice me." Jake said. "What about you?"

"The same, I think people are going to need time to get used to the idea of us being together." Mark said. "Hell, I'm still getting used to it." As Jake rested his head on Mark's shoulder.

"I like it, us together I mean. It's nice to have someone else." He said. "I love you."

Quinn scanned through her wardrobe, black jeans, black t-shirts, dark blue jeans that were practically, a bunch of sweaters (all black, most with slogans only she found funny) and a long, black trench coat she could cover herself in. She thought black was her colour; she suited black, from her personality to her skin colour. Yet she delved deeper into the back of her wardrobe, shoving her way past the layers of scarfs and clothes she didn't like anymore to find what she was looking for, a small, green T-shirt with an angry bunny rabbit cartoon. She hadn't worn it at all since she got it from Kitchie for her last birthday, months ago, but she wanted a change. She didn't know why but she was getting tired of the constant black.

She pulled off her neck high sweater and black vest and pulled the green Tee over her head. She looked at herself in the mirror. With her ankle device on to hide her mutant appearance she looked different, the t-shirt actually looked kind of nice on her. For a moment she thought I almost looked pretty. But that though was thrown out almost immediately.

A knock at the door brought her back to reality. "What." She said bluntly. The door opened quietly and Caim stepped in, shutting it behind him whilst clutching something. He looked at her with surprise suddenly and a faint blush lined his cheeks. She suddenly realised that the T-shirt was lower than she had expected, cutting down in a 'v' a few inches and flattered he small chest.

"I, err, thought you'd like this." He said nervously. "It's a Bach CD, you might like it."

"Thanks." She said quickly. "Sorry about being rude when you knocked, I didn't know it was you."

"It's ok." He said. "I, err, was hoping you could help me with my maths."

"Surely your better asking Kitchie, or Mark, or someone who actually listens in class." Quinn scoffed.

"I want to give Jake and Mark some space and I can't ask anyone else." Caim said.

"Fine, if you want." Quinn said "If you help me with my English."

"Okay." Caim answered. They took a seat on Quinn's bed and began reading through the questions. Algebra was Quinn's least favourite thing she had ever been taught yet she found that Caim was completely stumped by it. After a while even she was confused by it, and they both realised that they would need to ask Jake how to do it when they saw him. He was very good at maths, a genius at it even.

"How about we play that CD?" Quinn said finally. Caim nodded and got out the disk and began to play it. Her old, worn out CD player didn't do the music justice but she actually found it didn't bother her. She found it quite relaxing.

"I like it, it's nice." She said. Caim smiled, it was soft and slight, and nothing like Jake's beaming, but still held the same impact.

"Good. I like to just sit and listen to it, it's calming." He replied. She sat back and rested her head back against the wall.

"Thanks Caim."