The Blue Guy
Kes made her way down to the lower levels of the Academy, the warm wooden walls giving way to cold hard steel. She wandered aimlessly through the narrow corridors until she arrived at a door labelled "Doctor Hank McKoy". Kes took a deep breath (hospitals made her nervous) and knocked on the door.
"Come in," said polite male voice.
Kes opened the door prepared to see a man with a large beard looking depressed (Jubilee had told her he was really hairy and pretty blue all the time) and was instead confronted with a guy that reminded her of the main character from the movie Monsters Inc. Kes stood stock still. Stared. Rubbed her eyes. Stared some more. Took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Let it out. Opened her eyes.
"I have a 2 o'clock appointment?" she asked calmly.
Doctor "Beast" McKoy surveyed her and her reaction from his desk.
"Very good, Miss Tresswell!" he exclaimed, "The vast majority of students new to this charming school flee from my sight at an astonishing speed when they catch their first glimpse of me. I do believe you are the first to stay. This does much for my ego."
Kes couldn't help it. She laughed. The sound of such and educated voice coming from a hairy blue dude just set her off. It was hilarious.
"Oh my stars and garters! I see what Sean meant about your smile. Enchanting, my dear, you quite dazzle me."
Kes stopped laughing. "I'm sorry, sir, I'm not sure what it is that does that."
"Not at all, not at all." He waved his hand around. "Not sit in this seat, my dear, and let us see what your capabilities are, shall we?" He gestured to a seat across from him. Kes sat, her stomach home to a clan of butterflies. She hated hospitals!
"Stars above! Beautiful eyes. Hmm, to do with your 'sight' do you think. Possibly x-ray the head and examine eye ball. Hmm and psychic shields. Created maybe? Huge potential. Right. Can you see that? Ok. What colour is this? Good good. Hmm. Well."
He sat back abruptly, leaving Kes disoriented by his inane muttering and questions buzzing round her brain.
"X-ray it is. Over her, milady. Have no fear, it won't hurt a bit." Kes sighed.
An hour and a half later, she left Dr McKoy's lab, having endured numerous x-rays and eye scans, colour tests and little round things stuck to her temples and forehead that had wires connected to a little machine thing with Dr McKoy muttering and scribbling notes the entire time. She was exhausted. She wanted to go back to her room and lie on her bed with a cup of tea, a decent book and some quiet. Alas, it was not meant to be.
"Kes!!" Jubilee squealed and pounced on her as she emerged from the elevator that connected the wood to the steel.
"You've been down there for ages!! What did you think of Big Blue? What did he say? How was- mmmphh!"
Angelo had come up behind her and put his hand over her mouth.
"Mmpphh umph mm!" she yelled in protest.
"Perhaps we should ask one question at a time, Jubicita," he said drily. Angelo was followed in by Paige and Everett, both looking at her curiously, with Jono leaning on the door frame pretending not to care. Kes's heart fluttered. It was the first time she had seen Angelo properly since their conversation the week before. She took a deep breath both to calm her nerves and reel out the following sentence...
"Dr McKoy is nutty but nice, he said my results were 'absolutely fascinating and need further analysis to draw a clear idea', I've been x-rayed a gazzilion times, I'm knackered, my feet hurt from all the bloody walking, my eyes from all the lights and colours and my head from a headache." Jubilee was impressed, that took skill. Paige, however, was not.
"How come it took so long an' he has no proper analysis? When ah went, it took 45 minutes an' he was able to tell me everything."
Kes felt uneasy for the first time. What if something was wrong with her? Paige had this way of looking at you that made you feel, I don't know, like a lesser being or something. Then she remembered her crystal walls. Deep breath. In, out, in-
"Well
that ain't surprising, Hayseed," said Jubilee sarcastically,
interrupting Kes's panic attack;
"Cos it's not like your
mutation is all that complicated. I mean, all you is shed your skin
and whoopdee woo, you have an epidermis of stone or steel. No wonder
it didn't take long." She turned to Kes with a banana sized grin
on her face. "Don't sweat it, Kes, mine took ages and they still
haven't figured me out yet."
Paige shot a glare at Jubilee that could peel paint, which Jubilee returned with an impish grin. Paige tossed her long hair, turned to Jono and said "Come on, let's go someplace else, we don't need to entertain the company of children," she said smirking at Jubilee.
That annoyed Kes. All that sunshiny yellow that radiated off Paige was more than enough for anyone to bear.
"Oh yeah, real mature, Paige," she said sarcastically, "Sink down to insults when you can't think of an intelligent response. Real witty." She immediately felt bad, and felt worse when the rest of the group stared at her in surprise. She hated losing her temper; it was a nasty habit of hers around people she saw as bullies. Jubilee, never one to be silent for long, recovered first.
"Dude!" she said with a huge grin punching Kes on the shoulder, "I thought you were, like, quiet or something! You're my new official hero! I'll have to tell Wolvie he's been replaced."
Paige was nonplussed, and having no intelligent words in which to respond, stomped out of the corridor. Jono, however, did not.
*There is more to you than meets the eye, isn't there, gel* he 'said', *What do you see of me?*
Kes smiled at him, "I'll tell you if I'm allowed to sit down."
Angelo moved to her side, took her arm and led them all out in the direction of the living room. Jubilee noticed his action with a wry smile and raised eyebrows. She rubbed her hands together in anticipation of the matchmaking she had in front of her, then followed the crowd out.
