A/N Thanks SilverPedals1402 (Thanks! :D ), Carpetbakr ( Thanks a ton! ), PercyJacksonLover14 (Thanks, and haha, it went well, thank you! :) ), UltraRed55 (Aw, thank you! I'll be sure to PM you if I need help! ;) ), katie (Thanks!), Alice. Dreamer 15 (Thanks! Glad you like. :D And I will!), and Norrieo (Thanks, I'm glad you like it so far!) for reviewing on chapter one.

Phew! The first day of school and I already have homework. Evil, evil teachers. Haha, just kidding, though I already feel swamped. Plus I need a calculator for one of the honors classes that costs approximately a hundred dollars! Seriously? But all-in-all, it was pretty nice seeing everyone again after the summer. By the way, how was everyone's summer?

This chapter is just kinda demonstrating a few of the differences in NYC and all. Don't worry, it starts to speed up later on and the chapters'll get longer. Hope you enjoy!

IMAA doesn't belong to me. :(

Chapter Two

Pepper was rifling through the contents of her locker, searching for her history paper that was due later that day, when the screams caught her attention. Slamming the metal door shut, she followed the other students around the corner to see the cause of the commotion.

"No, please," Jean Grey, a girl in two of her classes that mostly kept to herself, pleaded as four men in grey suits and masks similar to gas masks pinned her to the floor, tears trickling down her cheeks as luminescent green chains were wrapped around her wrists and she was jerked to her feet, a laser gun pressed warningly against the small of her back as she was marched forward, the crowd parting to allow them to pass.

"What are you doing?" Pepper screeched in horror, her voice melting in with the monotonous screams of the students of the Academy. One of the masked men's words somehow was heard over the shouts of teenagers; mutant. At the word, the angry shouts of protest from the teenagers turned to those of disgust.

"Freak!" a boy to Pepper's left shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth to strengthen his voice to be heard above the chaos. "Weirdo! This school is for humans, not freaks of nature!" Several crumpled sheets of paper and crushed drink cans smacked against the girl's face and body, making the tears flow in rivulets down her cheeks before her lengthy auburn hair fell to conceal her face.

"Stop! Can't you see how inhumane you're being to her?" a boy in several of Pepper's classes named Rhodey shouted, shoving one of the guards backwards. With a sharp crack, the barrel of one of the men's guns connected with his jaw, and Rhodey stumbled backwards holding his hand to his chin, blood gushing between his fingers. The redhead shook her head slowly at the brutality, watching helplessly as Jean was shoved down the hall, disappearing out of sight, concealed by the whooping students.

"Are you okay?" Pepper asked as she hesitantly approached Rhodey as the crowd dispersed. He merely nodded, grimacing in pain as he cupped his jaw with his palms. "Hold on, I've got something for the blood." Digging through her purse, Pepper seized a long roll of gauze, unrolling it and moving the boy's hand away as she pressed the white material to the gash on his chin and busted lip. "I can't believe our government permits them to do that," she muttered. She could see that the actions were carried out because of fear that the mutants would rise up against the humans, but this was going too far.

"I know. And incidents like that are becoming a common occurence. Tony would flip if he'd seen that," Rhodey mumbled with a scowl. "It's sick and cruel."

"Who's Tony?" Pepper queried distractedly as she finished caring for the teen's injury. She didn't know of any boys in her grade with that name.

"I dunno," Rhodey shrugged, unconcerned, in mild confusion, "I don't know why I said that." He smiled sheepishly. "Well, thanks for patching me up. It's Pepper, right? I've sat beside you in economics all year and I hardly ever talk to you. Sorry, you just seemed a little..."

"Odd?" Pepper finished with a strained smile, unable to shake the image of Jean being dragged away from her mind. "Make no mistake, I am very odd."

"Well, I owe you one. Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked.

"Actually, I might be sorta-kinda flunking economics," Pepper said with a faint blush, "and you have the highest score in there..."

"Tomorrow at four at the restaurant down the street? My dad's on leave for a week and Mom has this big thing planned this afternoon so I'm busy today."

"Yeah, thanks," Pepper said, forcing a smile as he walked away. "Wait!" she cried, a thought suddenly striking her. "Are you sure you don't know someone named Tony?" She was shocked at the sound of urgency in her voice, unsure why it even mattered or why she was prying in someone else's business.

Rhodey paused for moment, thinking. Finally he shook his head and shrugged in apology before leaving. Pepper leaned against the lockers for a moment, closing her eyes as an image of a boy her age kneeling over a strange metal suit, his face tilted away and yet she knew it was the same boy from her dreams. Then the tardy bell rang, snapping her out of her reverie as she rocketed down the corridor.