Chapter Fifteen: School's In Session
A/N: Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter. Not too much changed on this one, but hope you enjoy!
Tobi's feet skimmed silently down the moonlit corridor. It was already past midnight and she didn't want any of the boys to know that she was awake. Charles had been ecstatic about setting up his school, announcing that they would be joined by between fifteen and twenty mutants of their own age. Tobi pondered how Charles would handle such a large number by himself.
It was the nightmare that woke Tobi up. They still got to her during the night, despite her attempts to shut them out. She supposed Charles would have to teach her how to do that. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself as she wandered barefoot down the corridor. Ever since the sinister presence at the club two nights ago, it was as if malevolent ghosts haunted Tobi's mind.
She headed down into the kitchen, hoping to perhaps sneak a midnight snack – only someone was already there. Alex was chomping on a Crunchie and he shut the fridge door, startled, as Tobi entered the kitchen. His tense shoulders relaxed when he realized who it was.
"Why don't you ever wear a shirt to bed, hotshot?" Tobi questioned of him wearily, unwilling to admit that she'd been admiring Alex's muscular physique.
He smirked as he leaned against the fridge and finished off the Crunchie. "You seem to like me better without it, baby."
Tobi couldn't quite restrain the silly smile on her face and she rolled her eyes to indicate to Alex that he was being ridiculous. She yawned and stretched her arms over her head.
"So what are you doing up?" Alex asked of her a little suspiciously.
Tobi shrugged. "I could ask the same of you. It's nothing I can't handle."
Alex considered this quietly as he crossed over to the bin and threw the golden Crunchie wrapper in. When he turned back to face her, his blue eyes were serious and he watched her almost tentatively.
"It's the nightmares again, isn't it?"
Tobi was shocked. "How…how did you know?"
Alex shrugged a little guiltily, scratching at his blond hair and averting his eyes. "I hear you in the night sometimes, crying to yourself."
Tobi fell silent, not quite sure what to say. Her cheeks were flaming with humiliation. So Alex knew that she was weakest during the night, when her mind was open to the emotions of everyone else in the building.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of," Alex told her firmly, "You can't control it yet. If it makes it any better, you can sleep with me…"
Tobi couldn't quite restrain her surprised laugh. "Umm, Alex, somehow I don't think sex is the solution…"
"No!" Alex quickly looked down at his feet, face flushing red, "I didn't mean it like that. I meant that you could sleep in my room. Then I'd be the closest person to you and I don't normally have nightmares."
Tobi raised her eyebrows. "Liar."
Alex shrugged, looking rather dejected. "Well, okay, whatever. I only meant that if you need someone to help you…I can. You don't have to do everything by yourself anymore, Tobi."
She was reluctant to admit that Alex was right, but it seemed that at the moment, wisdom was flying from the blond boy's mouth. Sighing heavily, Tobi nodded slowly.
"What the hell. I'll sleep in your room and see if it helps, but if you try and cop a feel while I'm asleep…"
Alex chuckled. "I'm not quite that desperate."
Tobi's breathing was soft and even, so Alex was sure that she was asleep. He stiffened in surprise as she snuggled into him, pressing herself up against him so that her head rested on his chest, but he didn't try and ease her off. Alex knew that despite Tobi's fierce independence, sometimes she really did need someone to look after her.
Alex slid his arms around Tobi's waist, glad for the warmth. It wasn't as though it was a cold night, but he felt content – or was that Tobi? When she was asleep, her mind was wide open and her emotions impacted upon him. Now that she was in his arms, everything felt right.
In just over a week, Tobi would be eighteen. Alex, Hank and Sean had discussed having a surprise party for her. Alex had noticed that Raven's departure had affected Tobi deeply and he wanted to help her. When more young mutants started to turn up at the mansion, Alex was sure Tobi would make more friends.
Right now, though, this moment was perfect. Tobi's bronze hair ticked underneath his chin and a slight smile curved the corners of her lips. Alex allowed himself to revel in the feeling of just holding her, just being at peace.
Alex had lied. Tobi felt the grief in his mind first, waking up to find his strong arms wrapped protectively around her. She gently wriggled out of his grasp as he started to writhe, making quiet breathy noises as though he might be on the verge of tears.
"Alex?" she whispered tentatively, reaching out to him, "Alex, can you hear me? What's the matter?"
"Darwin," Alex choked, half-asleep and unaware of what he was saying. "I killed him. It's because of me that Darwin's dead."
Tobi sighed heavily as pity weighed like a heavy brick in the pit of her stomach. She placed a hand on Alex's head and rhythmically stroked back his blond hair as he sobbed into his pillow.
"We've been through this," Tobi replied wearily, "Alex, we both know it wasn't your fault."
"It was my power," Alex retaliated, perhaps more awake than Tobi had first thought, "Why wasn't it me? Why did he use it against Darwin?"
Tobi didn't know what to say to console Alex. She felt incredibly lost, until she mentally slapped herself. She reached out emotionally, using all the peace inside her to comfort her. It might only be temporary, only to get him back to sleep, but it was worth it.
"Don't cry," Tobi whispered, feeling the impact of Alex's vulnerability as if it was her own, "Sleep. You have to sleep."
The last thing Alex said before he slipped under was: "Please don't tell anyone."
When Alex and Tobi walked into the kitchen, someone was already there – another girl. She was around the same age as Tobi, a pretty dark-haired Native American girl who glanced across at them with surprise as she sipped at a hot mug of coffee. In fact, she wasn't alone – Charles turned to face Alex and Tobi as they entered, a weary smile on his face.
"Good morning, both of you. I want the two of you to meet Danielle Moonstar. She's come to join the Academy."
It was still difficult getting used to the fact that Charles ran a school. There had been classes, but they had only consisted of four pupils – and not very diligent ones, judging by the way Sean had been reprimanded several times for whizzing paper airplanes at Alex's head.
"Danielle – or do you prefer Danni? – this is Alex Summers and Tobi Sutherland. You'll meet the other two later, I suppose, when they manage to get themselves out of bed."
"It's just Danni," the girl replied in a somewhat musical voice. She immediately climbed to her feet and crossed the room, offering her hand to the other two mutants. "Hey. Nice to meet you."
Alex shook her hand first, before Danni clasped Tobi's hand. Tobi had immediately got a good first impression of this girl. Judging by her sweet demeanour, she didn't doubt they would be friends. Upon having Danni's emotions flood into her, Tobi realized that the girl was nervous and excited to be at the Academy.
"I'm sorry." Tobi quickly withdrew her hand from Danni's. "I think it's only fair to tell you that one of my powers is empathy. I can read the emotions of other people, especially upon contact with their skin."
"Oh." Danni nodded, undeterred. "Right. Well in that case, I think it's only fair that I tell you my power. I can create illusions of people's wildest dreams and their most horrific nightmares."
Upon hearing this, Alex's demeanour grew tense. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants and licked his lips nervously, switching his weight from one foot to another, his mouth set in a firm line and his eyes hard.
"What about you?" Danni asked of Alex, who was frowning across at her with a suspicious expression. She attempted a smile, trying to break the ice. "What's your power?"
Alex just glared. "Is it any of your business?"
Tobi planted her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at Alex, who deliberately avoided her glance. She sighed and offered a rather startled Danni a sympathetic smile.
"Don't worry about Alex here. I think it's probably just PMS. He's a dickhead to pretty much everyone, so don't take it personally."
"Who's a dickhead?"
Sean had stumbled into the kitchen, yawning hugely and rumpling his red hair. Upon seeing Danni leaning against the table, a wide grin crossed his freckled face and he nudged his way past Alex.
"Hey there. I'm Sean Cassidy. I hope you know CPR, because you take my breath away."
Alex actually slapped a hand to his forehead at how badly Sean was embarrassing himself using cheesy pick-up lines on the new girl. If she had been anything like Tobi, Danni would probably have threatened Sean with extreme violence. Instead, she just smiled tolerantly.
"What's your power, then?"
Tobi marvelled at Danni's ability to not be frustrated by Sean's flirtation. Seemingly encouraged, Sean grinned and raked a hand through his hair.
"Oh, you know. Making girls fall in love with me. I can't help it."
Danni actually laughed, raising her eyebrows. "Uh huh. How's that going for you?"
Sean waggled his eyebrows meaningfully. "Why don't you tell me?"
Tobi didn't know how much more of Sean sleazing onto Danni she could stand before she was sick. Clearing her throat, she marched across and grabbed Sean by the arm, tugging him away from Danni.
"Can you stop hitting on the new girl for one second, Sean?"
Charles watched all of this with a rather amused smile about his face. As Hank entered the kitchen and Danni eyed him rather curiously, he clapped his hands rather like any other school teacher.
"Alright, you lot. We're going to start lessons today, so I want you all in the study by nine-thirty."
"I think today we'll start off with a sort of introduction to your powers," Charles announced from his wheelchair. He'd spent ages agonizing over what he was going to teach at the Academy and eventually decided that he would teach mainstream courses as well as those more suited to teaching mutants how to use their powers.
These mainstream courses consisted of Maths, English, Science and History. A little basic, but they would have more detailed sub-sections – such as Physics and Biology for Science, etc.
Sean and Alex lounged on the couches, with Hank standing against the bookshelves, and Danni and Tobi sitting on the floor. Charles was grateful for Danni, who had appeared with nothing more than a small suitcase at the front doorstep. She would be a wonderful female companion for Tobi, who clearly missed Raven.
"Alright, any volunteers? Who wants today to be their day?"
No one answered and Sean immediately stabbed an accusing finger in Tobi.
"Tobi's the youngest! I vote Tobi!"
The brunette rolled her eyes. "Okay. Whatever. I don't mind."
Charles leaned forward slightly in his wheelchair, his piercing blue eyes seeming to bore into Tobi's very soul.
"Tobi, are there any aspects of your power that you think you need to work on? I know that your powers must all be honed and polished a whole, but I know there are several aspects to yours. Is there anything that is quite flawed, that you can't quite control?"
Tobi pressed her lips together, turning a little morose.
"I…have nightmares sometimes. Usually they aren't mine. People's emotions run wild during the night and my mind's wide open. I absorb everything and some of it scares me. I want to know how I can shut it out."
Charles nodded understandingly. He knew exactly what it felt like to have others running through his mind, not knowing how to control it, feeling lost. Only he could handle his power now…and he would teach Tobi to do the same. Tobi and all of the rest.
"I want you to take a deep breath, Tobi. I want you to concentrate and close your eyes." Charles's voice was compellingly soft so that Tobi obliged. Then a tingle ran down her spine as she felt someone pushing at her mind. Her eyes snapped open and she stared accusingly at Charles, who she was forcing brutally out of her mind.
"Why are you inside my head?" she shot at him.
Charles's eyes were gentle. "That's what it's like, Tobi. It's people trying to push into your mind and what you just did, raising your barriers to keep me out, is exactly what you must do before you go to sleep every night."
Tobi wasn't so certain. She examined Charles rather critically. She knew he was only trying to help her, but what if he was wrong?
"Won't the barriers come down when I'm asleep?"
Charles shook his head slowly. "I don't think. I think if you fortify your mind strongly enough, then you should be able to keep other people's emotions out."
Tobi nodded. She hadn't thought the solution to her problem could have been so simple, but in truth her problem was a glitch of her abilities, an aspect she hadn't thought she could control. Now it seemed she could.
"Tobi."
She was just heading to her bedroom after a steaming mug of coffee in the kitchen – where she'd been chatting to Danni and simultaneously tried to stop Sean from practically salivating over the new girl – when she heard Alex's deep voice behind her.
"Do you really think you're going to be alright?"
Alex was heading towards her, arms crossed over his toned chest. Damn, he really did look like a jock. A hot jock. Her jock. It was pretty funny that she'd thought he was such a jerk when she'd first met him – well, okay, he was a jerk sometimes. But things were different now.
"I'm a big girl," Tobi smiled, tilting up her chin, "I've been looking after myself for years. Pretty sure I can handle my power."
Alex raised his eyebrows disbelievingly as he walked ever closer. There was a slightly smug expression on his face and Tobi planted her hands on her hips, prepared for a sarcastic comment.
"Can you handle me?" he asked in a low voice.
Tobi couldn't help but grin at that and she moved forward, wrapping her arms around Alex's neck so that he lowered his face, leaning down as if to kiss her. Before he did, he chuckled.
"You're not going to pull away from me this time?"
Tobi answered that by pressing her lips insistently upon his. Alex took the message and snaked his arms around Tobi's waist, pulling her tighter against him and deepening the kiss. He took a step forward so that she was pressed between him and the wall. Tobi responded with enthusiasm, wrapping her legs around Alex's waist as he hoisted her up higher, kissing and nibbling at her neck…
"Jeez, get a room, will you?"
Alex immediately released Tobi and stepped back, prompting the brunette to slam flat onto the ground. Sean, looking very amused, laughed as he passed them by with his pajamas on and a towel draped around the back of his neck.
"I'm going to have my shower. Behave yourselves, won't you, kiddies?"
Tobi scrambled to her feet as Sean disappeared into the bathroom and Alex was looking rather guilty, scratching at the back of his neck as though he'd done something wrong.
"I swear he's spying on us."