I wandered down the halls, looking for anyone I knew.
"Sam?" A voice called from behind me.
I turned to see a blue furry creature in a suit. He looked at me from behind his glasses. "Sam, is that really you?" He asked again.
"Hank!" I said, and ran over to him.
He scooped me up in a hug. "Where on Earth have you been, Sam?"
"Oh, going to school." I said nonchalantly.
Hank gaped at me. "You? Going to school? Has the world gone mad?"
I laughed. "Well, I'm back now."
"Good." Hank said, and released me from the hug. "See you around?" He asked.
"Yeah. I won't leave this time." I answered.
"Good." Hank said again, and walked away.
I suddenly realized I had forgotten to greet one of my old friends. I looked around, and began to look for Cyclops.
Douglas's POV:"No I don't!" I exclaimed immediately. "Geez, Warren! We're just friends!" Inside, though, I was grinning. If only Sam would notice, too.
"Uh huh." Warren just smiled. "You totally like her. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Although it's pretty obvious."
"Yeah?" I asked, not sure if that was a good thing.
"You were staring at her like she was made of diamonds." Warren winced. "Sorry. I didn't mean that Sam's like Frost."
"What?" I asked, wondering if I should be offended.
"Oh, you probably don't know about Emma Frost yet." Warren said. "Well, long story short, she's on Magneto's team. She's a mind-reader like Sam, but she can also turn into diamond."
"Literally?" I asked. "That's cool."
"Not for us." Warren sighed. "She's practically undefeatable. Nothing can cut diamond. And Sam and the Professor can't get into her mind when she's diamond."
"Oh. I see." I said, although I was still sort of confused. "So Magneto has a lot of mutants on his side?"
"Lots." Warren nodded. "Toad, Frost, Sabertooth, Pyro, Needle, too many to list. Then again, we have a lot of mutants on our side."
"Yeah." I was still thinking about all those names. I really didn't want to meet someone named Sabertooth.
"Not to mention the couple of mutants Frost mind-controls." Warren said. "She can get into their brains and make them do anything she wants. We lost three X-men that way, until Sam figured out what was going on. Now we all have mental barriers to stop her. You probably need one, though."
"Need one what?" A guy asked, opening the door and stepping inside. His hair was ruffled like he had stood in a hurricane, and his eyes were bluish white like the wind. "Hey, who's this?"
"I'm Douglas." I said. "Are you Spiro?"
"Yeah." Spiro said. "Is he the newbie?" He asked Warren.
"He's staying with us." Warren confirmed. "Taking John's spot."
"John?" I asked.
"Pyro." Spiro explained.
"Ah." I was getting very confused with all this codename stuff.
"It's Dinner." Spiro said. "Bobby's already there."
"There where?" I asked.
"The Dining Hall. Come on, we don't want to be late. The other kids always hog the food." Warren said, and we all hurried out the door.