Here I am again. ;) Hope you enjoy! I want to get this out quickly, and you all deserve another chapter. Let me know what you think!

And just a warning to y'all: This is a very RAW, unbeta'ed, version of the chapter. It will very likely go through some revision. Forgive me if there are any mistakes and don't be afraid to point them OUT. Those sucka's need to be taken care of. Trust me. I'm usually not this lax, but I'm in a hurry. And I was in a writing mood to-day!

Thank you to ALL who read my stories! I'd sure love to hear from you! You know you want to review and get in your 2 cence. :)

~ Merlin

Chapter 12: First Time For Everything

The next day dawned bright and clear, an anomaly in the darkness of winter. For a few weeks, the weather remained the same. Brisk winds rose through the trees in noisy choreography, whisking coat collars and frisking with stray papers, driving some students into retrieving games of "Who can catch the homework?" Kim gained a new routine, completely unattached from her mentors and thrown into the sea of students . In the dark moments before dawn touched the earth, she was in the shower vigorously scrubbing herself with the new Honey-Melon Dew body wash Jean had slipped into her room. To her astonishment, their acquaintance was quickly evolving into a friendship. Kim never dreamed she'd be a friend to one the more popular girls in any society. This backfired, however, and made her betrayal to her later best friend that much worse. The only remedy was to completely dismiss Bri from her mind. She was never made aware of the precarious situation in regards to Brianna. To Logan's annoyance, they refrained from telling her, preferring to keep a close eye on the investigation before leaping into action.

After her shower she'd slip into running clothes and with Logan's permission, fly around the grounds at a devilish pace. One thing was certain. Kim refused to let up from her cross country training back home in her stay at Charles Xavier's School. Regardless of how clumsy her stationary arm made her feel, she fell into a rhythm and it slowly grew easier to keep up a good pace. Passing the tall Evergreen trees, treading on the crunchy gravel path, and breathing in the cool, moist air helped Kim to ease away any tension gathered from the previous night. In the years to follow, she'd come to realize just how anxious and wary she'd felt her first six months at the mansion. How running had become her drug to release everything that wove her into a tight band of darkness. Standing out of breath at the entrance stairs, hands commandingly on her hips, and stretching out her taught calves brought things into perspective. It was good.

After her run, she'd usually return to a house full of grumpy, groggy students and impassive teachers. The halls were crowded and sometimes a miserable shout could be heard across the long walkways as someone cheated in the restroom line to get into the showers first. Thank god the Professor let her share one bathroom with Kitty and Rogue. Both of them never woke up before dawn, giving her the use of the powder room all to herself. After her run, Kim obviously was pretty sweaty, but she didn't mind. The Danger Room wasn't a place for perfumed aristocrats.

Kim had to report to the hospital wards to get a newfangled cast. It protected her mauled wrist from the severe beating that accompanied the heavy training in the Danger Room. As she soon discovered, training in the Danger Room wasn't far from intense. Every inch of her capabilities were tested and she reiterated to herself constantly the purpose of her living here. A very large bubble of confidence had been expanding inside her fragile ego the night before her first morning session. Her experience of Judo was essential and could possibly give her an advantage over her peers. To her, some of them seemed a bit excitable and a tad naive. But who was she to form that opinion? They could very well surprise her. Nonetheless, she felt eager to take on this new challenge. To show them what she was really made of. So sure did she feel, that she could only picture Storm's appreciative face, Logan's grin, and the Professor's approving nod.

Kim just didn't take into account the extraordinary diversity of gifts here.

Easily, her first session could be described as… an epic fail.

The first part was easy. A huge confidence booster.

For the first hour a large quantity of cardio and strength training was performed. Endurance and strength exercises were implemented to an exact number of repetitions. She could tell a lot of students lost count after 25, but she beat her push up/ pull up record of 50 at some point. Muscles trembling, legs quaking, feeling like she couldn't lift another dumbbell, their instructor guided them over to the other side of the room where yoga mats lined up like beach towels on the wood paneled floor. Another hour was devoted to rehydrating, detoxifying, and stretching. It felt extraordinary to relax and breathe after the extreme workout. Kim almost regretted running earlier that morning, but she quickly pushed the remorse away. Judo had taught her how to refocus her energy, to balance it and guide it to best serve her. She felt very grounded when their instructor allowed them to finally break for a snack.

That's when phase two hit like a sledge hammer.

Beforehand, every student was prohibited from calling upon one iota of their powers. Now, everything was game. A large group of students especially vented their frustrations. They were the ones who were made to suffer an extra hour of training sessions, long before everybody was sane enough to be alive and awake. Logan looked tired, but he remained firm and calculating in his instruction. He didn't leave their ambitious parries and blows unchecked, but he sometimes didn't restrain them, either. Amara happened to be one of them.

Ever since her first morning in the D.R., Kim knew immediately that Amara would never look at her in the eye. The girl avoided Kim like the plague and if they happened to bump into each other, she spun around and accosted someone else rather than laying a finger on Kim's anatomy. It was silly. It was stupid. It was above all, infuriating. But what was the girl to do? From long observations of her, Kim had the strongest feeling that Amara and she would have been great friends. But she may have severed the chance before it even had an opportunity to blossom.

Tabitha was also never seen, anymore. The girl had been banned from the mansion for a month. At least, that's what juicy gossip said. Charles never volunteered the specifics. Kim never asked.

Kim was thrown, punched, kicked, tossed, tumbled, tripped, flipped, and collided into, in every possible mutant way imaginable. She just wasn't ready. In that entire session, she called upon her powers once. Only once. To her chagrin, it was only to toss one guy in the air on the back of a wave and send him crashing into the opposite wall. Her attention was entirely fixed on him as she orchestrated the wave with her one good hand. It felt amazing. It felt powerful. She shook with astonishment when she made the water disappear. She did it. She actually did it constructively! Her happiness was not long, however. The mischievous youth bounced pack with an evil grin and she found herself fixed stubbornly to the other wall, wooden spikes pinching her clothes tightly. Minutes later she was pelted with snowballs that managed to snap almost all of the wooden traps in half. She fell heavily to the floor and wanted to curl up into a ball. But a large crater of fire rocketed in her direction. She was forced to summersault out of the way only to come face to face with Scott Summers. Out of breath, she dove under his legs to escape his deadly lasers. She was about to conjure up a rope of water, wildly imagining that she could tie him up and take off his sunglasses, when a shrill alarm blared into the room. Everyone covered their ears and immediately ceased to attack each other. Storm's voice floated over them from the observatory.

"Alright! That's enough everyone. Great effort out there! I see a lot of improvement. Now you all need to back down and relax. It's time to get some breakfast and go back to your rooms and ready yourselves for school. Hussle, hussle!"

Kim felt too exhausted to even blush in mortification. That was it? That had been her first session? Why hadn't she executed herself better? Where was that extinct? Where was that drive? She stepped wearily out with the others, hearing the rumble of empty stomachs that echoed the emptiness of her own. Breakfast. She needed breakfast. She wanted desperately to eat. To forget.

Suddenly, Jean's hand reached out and lay gently on her arm.

"You aren't going to school today. C'mon. The Professor wants me to check out that arm of yours."

:) You're welcome. I'm happy to do it!

~ Merlin