Art Class

If there's one thing I had learnt since I got here is that, IF you share the same dorm with three other girls and you want to take a shower you need to wake up early! Don't get me wrong, it's the first time I could actually say that I have friends. But, waking up to the sound of Kitty's boy band's latest hit song could drive anyone crazy! Jubilee felt the same, apparently. She had blown up the radio this morning, which resulted in an argument between them while Rogue and I took over the bathroom.

"You'll get used to it. I know I did." She assured me, noticing the worried look I had donned when I heard the first of the blasts coming from our room. She didn't look worried in the least.

Eventually, they settled down and then we all went down to find the boys for breakfast. John looked horrible and avoided us most of the time. They definitely managed to rough him up last night. Everyone was worried that last night wasn't fun for me. I couldn't say I agreed with them.

"John is such a Pratt" Jubilee spat out, tired of his annoying gaze on us when he thought we weren't looking. "He only thinks it's amusing when the joke is on others. Well, news flash, this is very rarely funny!" Everyone nodded in agreement. Unfortunately he was too far from us to hear what we were saying, he could have learnt a very valuable lesson if he had been listening in.

A few minutes later, after the morning announcements from , Peter came to the table. In his arms he held four little children that refused to both let go or let him have breakfast. It took quite some time to convince them to go play outside instead. However, unfortunately for Peter, the Professor saw and asked Peter to bring them back, for they still needed to eat breakfast, whether they wanted to or not. Peter happily obliged, catching the children up in his arms. It seemed to me that the children were having too much fun being brought back to the dinning hall hung mostly upside down by the giant Colossus to complain about being caught.

"Ok, little rascals, you had your fun, now it's time to eat. GO!" He ordered. They all laughed letting go of Peter and running off to their own table, allowing Peter to finally join us.

"I don't believe you people! Where is the food?" Peter cried incredulously, no doubt angry cause we hadn't helped him, nor saved him anything to eat. The spread for our table was practically empty, only a few slices of picked at bread and one solitary apple we had all deemed too bruised to eat. He looked at us upset, as if we had completely forgotten about him.

"Don't worry Peter." I tell him, taking the fabric off the plate I was hiding took, so no one could see "Your breakfast is served." I cried. I placed the plate on the table in front of him, winking as he smiled at me, bringing out the glass of orange juice I had managed to save him as well. He thanked me, a light blush forming on his cheeks.

"How come you never do that for me Rogue?" Bobby asked his girlfriend, and I couldn't help but blush. I didn't notice the looks Rogue and Bobby were giving us as I looked away from them, avoiding their piercing gaze. Soon, everyone was chatting again, getting ready for classes and my little gift was forgotten for the time being.

Our first period in the morning was different for everyone: Rogue and Jubilee had math, Bobby had Geography, John and Kitty were in English, and Pete and I had art class. We said our goodbyes and said that we'd meet at the end on the classes to study in the library.

"Thanks Alice"

"For what Pete? "It was just the two of us in the middle of the crowd of younger. The typical shouting and screaming reached my ears but I was used to it by now. This was just a typical school day.

"For saving breakfast for me. I thought I'd have to starve until lunch or something" He thanked. I bumped his shoulder with mine while he opened the door to the classroom for us.

"Did you really think I'd let you starve? Come on Peter, I thought you knew me better than that" I teased.

We passed several students as we walked to the back of the room, along with portraits and paints that were on the floor. The room was huge! It was even filled with a perfect mix of different shapes and sizes, all created by the students.

"Besides, most of the kids call you He-Man. What kind of person would I be if I let their superhero go hungry?" I winked as Miss Munroe entered to start our lesson. Since it was just us sitting in the back of the room, no one really paid any attention to us. I slipped a candy bar to his lap when no one was looking.

"I snatched it for you." I whispered. He looked at me an amused grin on his face. "What? It's never too early to have your desert." I teased. I gave him a small smile and a coy wink and with that we both turn to pay attention to the lesson.

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm not good at art. No wait, that's not true. I suck at art! Can I draw? Yeah, right! My drawing consists of a black line and a ball on top and four other smaller black lines. There you have a person.

But not Peter. No sir. As always, he's good at everything! The boy could draw the Sistine Chapel with his eyes closed, and I'm not over exaggerating. Why am I sitting beside him? He should be beside some great artist, not me!

"Ok, now you're just trying to make me look bad." I said pointing to his canvas was was an exact copy of the objects that were on the table could be found. As for my canvas, well, it didn't look in any way like what was supposed to be.

"That's not true Alice. Come on, you drew the building just fine." He pointed to my blue drawing.

"That's a bird." I told him dryly.

"Is it? Well, ok. So, you drew the…car alright." He tried to fix.

"That's the marble table Peter." I snarled.

"Really? Then, you really do suck at art." He sighed. I pretended to be offended, hitting his shoulder playfully, but when Miss Munroe glared at us, we went back to our assignments.

I swear I was trying to focus, but that just wasn't working! I couldn't concentrate beside him. With a defeated sigh and a frown I put my brush aside. Suddenly Peter started to draw in my canvas.

"What are you doing?" I asked. But he just pretends he couldn't hear me or like he was doing nothing and continued to scribble.

"I don't have anymore room in my canvas to draw, so I'll just use yours." Peter replied after a while. Ok, Now he was just being cocky, or so I thought until I saw the playfully grin on his face. I got my brush and began to pain over his work.

"Oh, you didn't." He cried, sounding outraged. It was lucky we were hiding behind my massive easel so no one could see the mess we were doing.

"Oh, I so did Peter." I shot back. So, our picture wasn't what the assignment dictated it should be. So what? For me, it was the best class I had been in so far and I had Peter to thank for that.

"And what did you two have done here?" Miss Munroe appeared as if out of nowhere, she silently assessed our look. She looked confused for a second, but then she quickly composed herself.

"That's very…modern Alice. Good job." She smiled and then leaves. For a while I was speechless and Peter gave me the thumbs up.

"Don't you dare say a thing." I snarled to him. There was paint on his arms and my hands, but Miss Munroe was kind enough not to say anything.

"Alright class, I'm very impressed with all your works today." She congratulated. I snorted, low enough so only Peter could hear me. She was so not talking about me. He nudged my shoulder encouragingly, but it didn't make me feel better. Ok, that's a lie, it did a little.

"Art nerd." I snarled teasingly. I stuck my tongue out at him and he started to laugh.

"Your next assignment is very special. Now, thanks to Billy here." She introduced, pointing to a skinny boy with blue spike hair and an AC/DC t-shirt. "He helped me with this idea. I want you to break off into pairs and reproduce a character from the Greek mythology." She explained. Most of us growled, yeah thanks Billy, except for Peter, who was grinning like a kid on Christmas. "And I'll be very select when I judge them, because that'll be your last exam."

WHAT? So, not only was I going fail in art, but now I was going to have to fail in Greek art too? That's just great!

"I knew it was too good to be true! I knew it, I knew it!" Usually, it's Peter who walked slight ahead, parting the sea of students for me, but I was so mad after class that I marched straight ahead and no one got in my.

"What are you talking about Alice?" He asked. I looked at Peter. He was beside me now, walking calmly, eating the candy bar I had given him, with out a care in the world.

"I'll fail Pete!" I exclaim. Wasn't it obvious? "I mean, you saw how good I can draw, I CAN'T DRAW GOOD AT ALL!" I threw my hands in the air and I noticed some of the kids were watching me as I threw my fit. Whatever, they didn't know what I was going through.

"You won't fail Alice" He assured me. He tossed the rest of the candy in the trash and took my shoulders, leading me outside. This of course didn't calm me, I was still freaking out.

"Oh ,yeah? You saw what I drew today, remember? And that was one of my best works! I'm not lying!" And it was true, I was that bad. When we got outside the mansion, he sat me behind a window and then sat in front of me. He crossed his arms, and I have to say, he looked menacing, all strong like that.

"In case you've forgotten, your partner just happens to be the top student of this class." He reminds me. Oh yeah Humble now are we? But at least he was being honest. I gave him a funny look "My point is that we get to work in pairs. You know with two people? You and me Alice. Or did you think I'd fail because of you?" He tried to look serious, but failed miserably.

"You're right Pete. Thanks, you're the best. But you might fail because of me." I filed him in. I opened my bag and took out another candy bar. I tossed it to him "You need to keep your He-Man energy up, eat up." When I was going to ask about our project, somebody inside the living room, turn up the volume of the TV and we could hear loud and clear the news that was on.

"These freaks think they can be considered as humans. And our human rights should help them.Blasphemy! Do they think they can take our jobs and our children schools? And what about our sons and daughters? They need to be protected against these mutants! I ask you fellow friends, how we can know whether we are safe or not without the mutant registration law?"

"That was the interview from Senator George…"

"HEY!" Peter suddenly bellowed. Even I was scared by Peter's booming voice, and so were the other's inside "You know what Dr. Grey said about this! What if one of the younger kids had come in and heard that?" He questioned. I've never see his so angry or domineering before. Not that I could blame him. The boys changed the channel and tried to pretend that nothing was wrong.

"Sorry about that." he apologized, though he still glowering at the boys inside; while the kids watched some old cartoon "I just…hate when they talk about us like that" He wasn't looking at me. Actions speak better than words, something I had learnt a long time ago, so I let my actions speak for me.

I felt the, now normal, tingling pulsing through my veins once again, until it reached my hands. There a white lily came out and I placed the newly formed flower in his hand, though he didn't seem to notice it being too lost in his thoughts.

"We are not the enemy Peter." I tried to reassure him. He finally noticed the white lily as I rested my hand on his shoulder. "And, one day, they'll realize that"

He nodded, pulling me to a tight hug. Ever since I came to the Institute, I had forgotten about the discrimination that was lurking just outside these gates. But this interview reminded me of the intolerance and ignorance that people have toward anything that's different. I could only wish that someday it would all stop.

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