Lorna flopped onto her bed, burying her face in her pillow. It was nearly midnight now but she didn't feel tired. She found that odd; it had been a very long day. Everything around her had been strange. Not to mention that, for the first time in her life, she had gone into a public place without trying to hide her hair color in some way or another.
She knew it was a small thing. She had seen classmates whose mutations made them grow spikes on their arms or had given them wings. Such things couldn't be hidden as easily as her hair color had been. However many times she told herself that it was still different to go to school with her hair flowing freely about her.
When it had first turned green she was eight. It had happened overnight and she'd woken early in the morning with a tangle of green hair around her face. Immediately she had been seized by a fear that there was something wrong with her; something had gone wrong. She had taken extra cookies the night before when her mother wasn't looking. What if this was some sort of punishment?
It seemed silly, but the mind reaches its own conclusions when it panicks. She'd snuck into her mother's room and stolen some of her brown hair dye. With remarkable clarity she'd dyed her hair back to brown. Then she'd gone back to sleep, feeling confident that the nightmare was over.
All the next day she'd walked around with her newly dyed hair. Nothing had gone wrong and Lorna had forgotten about the night beffore. The next morning she'd walked downstairs for breakfast. Her mother had turned and her mouth dropped open. Lorna had blinked at her in surprise; she didn't know what was wrong.
"Your hair honey," her mother had said, her mouth still open.
Lorna had grabbed a chunk of her hair and stared. It was green again. The nightmare wasn't going away. It was just getting worse. She started to scream and cry, not noticing that all of the metal in the room was vibrating. Lorna only noticed it when the knives got loose from their case and nearly stabbed her.
Terrified Lorna had looked to her mother. Now Lorna could only wonder at how much bravery it had taken for Susanna to go and hold her daughter. She'd just seen what she could do and must have been afraid. However, she was lucky. Susanna had loved and supported her daughter which had given her a level of confidence. She couldn't say the same about the people who'd raised Rahne.
Her mother had given her gymnastics and dance as outlets on her frustration. Lorna had been the one to start wrapping up her own hair, hiding it. Her mother never said a word about it and she'd never sounded disappointed. That was why Lorna had never just cut it all off. That would have disappointed her mother for sure.
Still, no matter how hard her mother had tried, she'd never felt normal. Between her hair and the way metal bent to her will she felt like there was something wrong with her. She never expressed this to her mother, but somehow she knew. That was probably why she'd signed her up for Dr. MacTaggert's research.
Shifting to her back she stared at the ceiling. No one in the school had looked twice at her green hair. There had been stares, but only in the way of classmates checking out the new girl. It was the best possible thing that could have happened to her. A new level of confidence was growing. There was nothing to hide anymore.
At lunch she'd met up with Rahne. The girl had mixed feelings. Her former education had been poor and she was suffering in class. Tutoring was mentioned and she'd been paired up with another student who'd help her constantly. Rahne had pointed out a boy named Doug a few tables down. She'd told Lorna that he'd smelt funny. Oh, he was also a boy.
As for herself the education had been normal. There were different subjects she could take at this school, like 'Mutation Control'. She was starting to learn how to use her mutation for more than just part tricks. It was invigorating. That, combined wiht her education, made her feel like she could make a difference in the world for once. It was all she wanted to do.
The rest of the day had been normal. When they'd met up for dinner Rahne's opinion of Doug had changed. He seemed to smell fine now and, despite his crime of being a boy, was nice. Lorna was relieved that Rahne had made a friend. She hadn't made a connection herself, but she was glad that Rahne had.
Feeling restless she got up. Her eyes wandered to the pillow where her mother's journal was but she decided against it at the last moment. She wanted to save it; not just read it all at once. It was all she had left of her mother now really. Instead Lorna walked to the window and looked out.
Beneath her was the school's pool, completely abandoned for the moment. She looked at it with circumspection before she turned around. Opening her dresser she rifled around for her bathing suit. Lorna put it on and threw a bathrobe around her. A little bit of undisturbed swimming wouldn't hurt her. If anything it would be a release of tension.
She padded down the silent hallways. When she got to the pool she took off her bathrobe and put it on a chair. Climbing down the ladder she slipped into the water. It was freezing but it didn't bother her. It felt beautiful and calming against her skin. In the dark she swam to the far end of the pool and sank into the water. Everything was peaceful and silent.
Then the door opened. In the dark she didn't see who it was, but it looked like three figures. Not wanting to get into trouble she shrank back.
"This isn't fair," one said, the voice masculine.
"Totally fair," the other argued.
"You did say, and I quote, 'I'm so confident they'll win I'll jump in the pool naked if they lose'," a voice she recognized as Hank rumbled, "And they lost. You have no idea about football teams, do you Alex?"
Words that would have announced her presence died in her mouth out of pure shock. Lorna felt her face go red. Uncomfortably she sank further down in the water until it was almost touching her eyes. She sincerely hoped that whoever this was chose to keep his clothes on. They couldn't see her, and weren't anywhere near her but she didn't relish the idea of sharing the pool with a naked boy.
"Yes, but I wasn't serious! And I didn't say when!" argued Alex
"Well we're saying it," Hank said.
"You know, maybe we are being a little mean," the second voice said.
"Thank you Sean!"
"But then again we did let him keep his swim trunks on," snickered Sean.
"Oh, nearly forgot about that," said Hank.
"You two are enjoying this way too much," Alex snapped, "And those swim trunks? They have snuggly ducklings on them. They're for children!"
"We got 'em in mens. Or would you prefer to go commando?" asked Hank, "The water can get really cold this time of the year."
"Let's not be hasty," Alex said, "But I'm diving from the deep end. I don't want to catch hypothermia and break my legs."
Panic flooded her mind; she was in the deep end. There was no reason for her to feel so uncomfortable she was sure. If there was a rule against using the pool so late at night then they were breaking it too and were unlikely to report her. However, she'd been hiding for too long to reveal that she was there and have things not to be awkward. And how does one announce themselves to people like that?
Either way she had to move. The unlucky boy was heading towards where she was. Silently she started to paddle away.
"I'll get the lights," said Hank, "Don't want you to hurt yourself."
"Oh hardy har har," snorted Alex.
Not the lights. Lorna saw Hank reach for them and she ducked under water. If she didn't want anyone to see her then it was her only choice. Even then it might not work. There were muffled noises around her and she tilted her head up. Suddenly there was a loud splash and the water began churning around her. The lights turned on and she found herself looking at a pair of blue eyes.
"Geronimo!"
Alex plunged into the water. The cold air stung and he cursed the day that he had met Hank and Sean. Bets with embarrassing outcomes were all very good when he wasn't the one who lost them. He had his eyes closed at first, but opened them to orient himself. As soon as he opened his eyes he had only one thought;
Mermaid.
The girl at the bottom of the pool had a halo of green hair floating around her, spread out by the bubbles from his dive. Her lips were parted slightly in surprise and her eyes had widened. They were the same color as her hair, framed by thick dark eyelashes. With the pool lights shining behind her she looked ethereal, like something out of a fairytale.
His next thought, which came immediately after the first one was;
Idiot, she's not a mermaid. Water-based mutant, obviously.
This was followed by his rather urgent need for air. His lungs were burning, as were his eyes from the chlorine. With some difficulty pushed himself up to the surface. Alex gasped when he reached the surface. A splash from further down made him turn. He was just in time to see a girl with hip-length green hair start climbing up the pool ladder.
It was only then that it occurred to him that he'd managed to act like a complete idiot when there was a rather pretty girl in the vicinity. Not only that but he'd managed to stare at her while they were under chlorine. While such situations didn't bother him with most girls, said girls didn't generally try to flee the area afterwards.
Also, there was one more thing that he knew to be concerned about. Knowing the rumor mill that the school generally operated, everyone would be under the impression by that time tomorrow that he owned a pair of snuggly duckling bathing trunks. It was the grand high poobah of all embarrassing image shatterers.
She had to be stopped.
"Hey!" he called, splashing over to the ladder.
The mermaid girl didn't stop, just grabbed a nearby bathrobe and pulled it around her shoulders. She did all of this while practically running towards the entrance to the school. Alex got out of the pool and hurried after her. Whoever the girl was she was fast. He was having difficulty catching up to her, not to mention Hank and Sean were staring at both of them with extreme confusion.
Alex finally caught up with her in the hallway. He managed to get a step in front of her. She stepped back so she wouldn't run into his bare chest. It was only then that he noticed two things. One, her face was furiously red and her hands were covering her face. Second; he was shirtless and dripping. Not the best first impression.
"Um, sorry about that if I startled you or something…"
Her eyebrows shot up.
"It was part of a bet-"
"I heard," she said, "At least your friends let you wear something."
Her tone was slightly derisive. Alex winced.
"Yeah, about that," he said, "Um…"
A rather uncomfortable and tight smile crossed his face. Suddenly, for the first time in a long time, he had no idea what to say to a girl. God, he was turning into Sean.
"Do you know the etiquette for apologizing after nearly jumping on a girl in a pool, because I'm improvising right now," he said.
"I can tell," she said, lowering her hands, "But, in your defense, you didn't exactly know I was there, so…no harm done."
She smiled and, even though her hair was no longer billowing around her and there were no lights, there was still something ethereal about her.
"I'm Alex Summers," he said, holding out a hand.
The smile widened and she took his hand.
"Lorna Dane," she said.
So now he had a name to go with the face. He gave her another smile as Hank and Sean walked in. They took in the scene with some confusion.
"Hi Hank," Lorna said.
"You know her?" asked Alex.
The subtext was 'And you didn't introduce me?'. Hank picked up on it and rolled his eyes.
"She got in day before yesterday. Remember when the housekeeper went out?"
"Oh," he said, "Well, in that case, welcome to Xavier's school for Gifted Youngsters."
"I didn't know the welcoming committee appeared in duckling bathing suits," Lorna said.
"Yeah, well, we made an exception for you," Alex replied.
"I'm flattered, I think," said Lorna.
Alex winked at her. There was something delightful about the way her eyebrows shot up.
"Time out," said Sean, "We should get out of the halls. I don't want to get caught. I've got plans for tomorrow."
He opened his mouth to tell Sean to stuff it when a voice said;
"Too late."
There was a collective groan. Alex turned around to see Charles pushing his wheelchair down the hall, his eyes narrowed.
"When I get up to put David back to sleep I don't like taking detours downstairs to put delinquents back to bed. I hope you didn't have any plans for tomorrow afternoon," he said.
"Hey, you're supposed to be nice," frowned Sean.
"Not at this hour," he said dryly, "Anyway, Ms. Dane, I'll make an exception for you since this is your first day. The rest of you have detention tomorrow with Mrs. Jackson. Now all of you back to bed."
There was another groan. They turned around and started heading for the staircase.
"And Alex?" called Charles.
"Yeah?" he said.
He made a face.
"Those swim trunks look ridiculous."