A/N: Sorry it took so long! Note at the bottom. Also just a warning in this chapter and the next there will be mentions of/actual underage drinking. If you're not down for that for whatever reason I'm sorry! I don't endorse it! Don't do drugs dont drink kids stay in school.
Peter stopped in front of the mansion and Carolyn nearly fell forward, but was able to balance herself with her arms. She took a moment to breathe before turning to Peter.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to that." She said in between breaths.
"You will eventually. Pretty soon you'll be begging me to take you places." Peter said with a self assured grin.
"I'm sure." she said as she shook her head and made her way up the driveway.
"Alright well...I'm headin' to the store. See you at dinner." He shot her a grin then vanished.
Carolyn stared at the spot where he had been standing before shaking her head again and continuing up the steps. When she made it inside she was promptly greeted by the professor
"I see you've been getting on with Peter." He said.
Carolyn closed the door behind her. "I suppose."
"Have you eaten lunch yet?" He asked.
"No not yet." It was then she realized she hadn't eaten all day save for coffee and a popsicle. She was starving.
"You haven't eaten all day have you? Come now I won't have you dying on me...let's get to the kitchen." He turned to head towards the kitchen and waved his hand for her to follow.
Carolyn stared at him for a moment before moving. She was going to have to get used to this whole 'telepath' thing.
When they arrived, he immediately headed towards the large industrial sized fridge and began to pull things out. "You just missed lunch but we always have food around here. That reminds me, don't feel obligated to follow the same schedule as everyone else," he pulled out the ingredients for a sandwich, "It's only there to keep the younger students organized. But this is more like a home than a school. Everyone is allowed to come in and take what they need."
"Gotcha." She said as she sat down on one of the stools next to the counter. "I just forget to eat sometimes. Especially with all of-" she waved her hands around her hair, indicating the white streaks, "-whatever this is."
"Speaking of, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to get some blood samples from you after this. I forgot to get them last night."
"Sure." Carolyn was a bit wary of needles but she trusted the professor just enough to allow it.
"Good. I've been thinking, and it just strikes me as…odd that you would display new skills this late in age. Not that it's not possible...but it usually doesn't occur unless one tries to make it occur." He said as he pulled two plates from a cupboard near him.
Carolyn began to worry. "What...What does that mean?"
"I couldn't tell you. It's what we're trying to figure out. But really there's no need to worry." He placed a hand on her shoulder, "For all we know, you could be carrying a certain gene that suppressed these abilities. One we've never seen before. Once I take a look at your DNA I may be able to find out. Now, on to more important matters" he said as he motioned towards the counter, "What kind of sandwich do you want?"
"When you froze Harvard, what were your thoughts?" The professor said. He sat in his wheelchair across from Carolyn who sat comfortably in the grass. The field around them was quiet and peaceful, and the blue sky was beginning to transition to a deep orange color.
Carolyn thought back to that day. "I was stressed."
"About what?" He said as he wrote into a notebook.
She sighed. "School. My finals. Failing. Disappointing my parents…"
"Are you often stressed? Was this a normal occurrence?"
"Actually….yes. But I mean...it was finals week...so that added a little more stress than usual." She said as she crossed her legs and leaned on her elbow.
"Of course. Back in my college days, I stayed up for five days straight trying to perfect my dissertation." he laughed. "School had always come easy to me but college never comes easy for anyone."
"Yea...that's another thing. I hadn't been sleeping. Not only that week...but for a couple months at the time. I still experience it sometimes, but not as often. I'm not sure what caused it." she scrunched her eyebrows together in thought, "I kept having these weird recurring dreams. They kept me up at night. I didn't want to go to sleep. They weren't that terrifying, but they were so realistic...it just freaked me out."
"What happened in these dreams?" He said, looking up from his notes.
"I was in a room. A man in a suit would come in, say something, and look at some sort of blinking box. I can't really give you all the details because during the dream it was as if I had blurry vision and earplugs in. It was like I was underwater. It was the same every time."
"Do you mind if I take a look?" He said inquisitively.
"I guess." She still didn't know how she felt about people rooting around in her mind, but she didn't really have anything major to hide.
Charles sat in concentration for a moment before his features began to scrunch up. He seemed to be struggling with whatever memory he was trying to obtain. His jaw tightened and his breathing became labored.
"Professor?" she said with concern. He didn't respond. "Professor are you okay?" She stood up immediately and reached for his shoulder before he finally came out of whatever trance he was in. She pulled her hand back and stared at him as he gathered himself. "What happened?"
He was quiet for a moment as he tried to figure out what he had found. "I'm not quite sure. Carolyn...I'm not quite sure how to explain it."
"Well you can at least try. I'm kind of freaked out right now if I'm being honest." She said, trying to contain the shrillness to her voice.
Charles nodded. "Alright. Well, I traced the pathways that were connected to that dream. But...they were all….cut off. They were gone."
"Well…maybe I just...forgot something...and it's not in my brain anymore." She said as anxiety began to tug at her stomach.
"Not quite. It doesn't work like that. Now, there's no need to worry just yet. We still don't know what this means."
She took a deep breath to calm herself but it didn't help. "I...I think I want to go back now. Can we just...save this for tomorrow?"
The professor nodded. "Yes. I think we can stop for now. After all, you've only been here for two days. Why don't you head back and get some rest. Go to dinner. We'll figure it out tomorrow. Good?"
Carolyn nodded and the professor began to head towards the mansion.
"As if I needed more to worry about." She thought to herself.
Carolyn had been laying in bed for at least three hours. Jubilee was nowhere to be found so she had the room to herself. The radio played in the background as she flipped through one of Jubilee's magazines. Her thick reading glasses sat on the bridge of her nose.
She had decided earlier, when she got back to the mansion, that she wasn't going to worry about anything until the next day. It was hard, but not entirely impossible. When she got to her room she put on the comfiest clothes she had, popped a benadryl she found in her bag's side pocket, and helped herself to Jubilee's magazine stash figuring she probably wouldn't mind. She was missing dinner, but didn't really feel like leaving her room.
She was midway through an article about lipstick shades and 'what they say about a woman's personality' when the door opened. Jubilee marched in, kicked her shoes off, and fell onto her bed face first.
"Man am I tired." She said, her voice muffled by the floral bed sheets. She adjusted her head so that she could face Carolyn, "Oooo! I love that magazine. Are you reading the lipstick article?"
Carolyn nodded. "Yeah. It's actually pretty interesting."
"Oh my god okay. So, flip to page twenty-five." Jubilee said as she sat up. Carolyn bookmarked the page she was on with her finger and did as Jubilee instructed. She scanned through the magazine until she finally found the page in question.
Jubilee got up from her bed and sat next to Carolyn and pointed a manicured finger at the page, "Look. You know her?" She tapped the image a few times.
Carolyn looked at the image set in the middle of the page, "Yeah. Dazzler? Everyone knows her." The singer was on stage with a mic in her hand, a magnificent light show behind her.
"Guess what? She's a mutant!" Jubilee said excitedly.
Carolyn's eyes went wide. "What? Really? Like are you sure?"
"So sure. The professor told me a while back. Apparently, she's the one who makes all of those lights." Carolyn had never heard of a celebrity mutant. Sure, some mutants were well known, but for other reasons. They never made it into businesses like singing and Hollywood, at least, not that anyone knew of. People just didn't want to see them on screen or on stage.
"Are there any others like her? That you know of?" Carolyn asked, reading through the article.
"A couple. I know the professors sister did high fashion modeling for a while but...nobody knew it was her. She actually posed as three different models. She fooled everyone. But she got bored of it after a while and they all tragically 'disappeared' and no one heard from them ever again. Oh and there's a stage actor who can manipulate people's emotions. You can probably guess why everyone thinks he's good." Jubilee moved back onto her bed and fell back, "Are you going to dinner?"
"I don't know...probably. Who's the professor's sister?" Carolyn asked, setting the magazine aside, page down, so she didn't lose her place.
"Oh you've heard of her. Mystique. We mostly call her Raven here though." She said as she picked up a nail file from the side table.
"The shapeshifter? From the incident in the seventies?" Carolyn was shocked, just how many mutant icons were connected to this place?
"Yeah. She's gone right now recruiting people. But she'll be back soon." Jubilee continued to file her nails. "Should we head to dinner?"
"Yeah, let me change real quick," She shook her head in astonishment, "I can't believe I'm going to meet Mystique! She was my idol when I was a kid!"
Jubilee set the file down, "She was everyone's idol. But yeah...she's cool. I think she's coming back next week."
Though Carolyn was still stressed over what had occurred earlier, it was quickly being replaced by excitement. Mystique was a mutant icon and she was going to meet her! As a child, Carolyn's parents constantly told her to hide her mutation, to never tell anyone. They supported her, and they never scolded her for being a mutant, but they feared for her safety. There were people in the world that hated mutants, and her family was all too familiar with such people. Carolyn had an older sister once, once, but because of mutant prejudice, she never got to get to know her. Her parents never really gave her any details as to what happened specifically. All she knew was that her sister died because of her mutation. She was three when they had to move out of state because of what happened.
After that, her parents feared for their youngest daughter, hoping that she would not become a mutant like her sister. Before her powers manifested, her parents were protective, but not obsessively so. Once they did however, things became serious. The most important rule in the Curtis house was that Carolyn never revealed her mutation, and she hated it. They almost didn't let her go to college, but it was her mother who finally decided that Carolyn was an adult and could make her own decisions.
Her only comfort as a kid was dreaming that one day she would be able to live like Mystique, the whole world knowing who she was and what she did. She wanted nothing more than to live that life. But with the Harvard incident, and her continued loss of control since then, it was seeming to look more and more impossible. If anyone normal had found out what she did, she'd be arrested. Remembering all of this, her new found excitement was beginning to melt away, and stress began to nip at her brain once more.
"Hey I forgot to tell you earlier but your hair looks really cool like that!" Jubilee said, pulling Carolyn from her thoughts, "It makes you stand out. And you're really pretty so you can pull it off."
Carolyn gave a sheepish smile, "You really think so?" Not many people had told Carolyn she was pretty.
"Yeah of course! Did you and the professor ever figure out what happened? Like why it changed colors and why you vanished? I was in a rush this morning, I was going to ask you then."
Carolyn shook her head, "We don't know why it happened...but...I kind of went to the future."
Jubilee's jaw dropped and she raised her hands, "Oh my god! That's so crazy! Are you okay? What did you see? Why did it turn your hair white? Wow!"
Carolyn took a moment to process her questions before answering. "I'm fine I guess. The professor took some of my blood this morning to test. I only saw a little bit and most of it was an older Peter. We don't know why my hair turned white yet."
"You saw Peter? Did he age bad? God I hope he aged bad so I can make fun of him. What did he look like?" She said, leaning forward with excitement in her eyes.
Carolyn laughed, "He didn't age that bad...he just looked older. Like Peter but with wrinkles and facial hair."
"Damn...I was hoping he looked ugly. Oh well. I'm sure I'll find another way to make fun of him." She got up and picked up her shoes, "Hurry up and change. Dinner starts in a few minutes."
That night, there were more options for dinner. She and Jubilee both picked chicken before going to sit down with the rest of the group. Peter looked up to Carolyn and patted the seat next to him. He clearly made sure there were no other seats save for the one next to him. She could see it in his smirk. She shook her head and sat down. The entire group looked to her.
"So we heard you went to the future." Scott said, leaning in from across the table.
Carolyn looked around the table before answering, "yeah...I did."
"Is that why your hair is like that now?" Storm asked as she took a sip of her coke.
"Yeah...I guess." She said, fiddling with one of the strands.
Peter leaned in close to her, "I see you decided to go without the hat. Nice." He was very close. She could feel the heat coming from his body. Her breath hitched and she was glad for the long sleeves on her shirt or else everyone would have seen her goosebumps.
"Mhm. I did." She said quickly before taking a sip from her soda.
Peter was about to say something but was interrupted by another boy who had appeared at the edge of the table, he leaned on it with his palms and dropped his voice to a whisper, "Hey guys. Me and Alisa were thinking about doin' a garden party tonight. You down?"
Jubilee looked towards the boy with green hair, "I don't know Freddie I'm kinda tired.."
"I'm not." Scott said, pulling his arm from around Jean and leaning towards Freddie, "Let's do it. What do you say Jean?"
"Sounds fun. Carolyn, do you want to come?" Jean asked. Carolyn never went to parties. She was invited to a couple in highschool but her parents never let her go. After that, people just stopped asking. She realized she now had the opportunity to make up for that, plus, she figured she deserved some fun given her circumstances. She hadn't had actual fun in a year. She didn't know when the next opportunity would arise.
She nodded eagerly, "Yeah. I'd love to."
Kurt raised a hand, "I too would like to party!"
"Me too." said Storm as she finished the last of her fries. "When are we going to do it?"
"In about an hour or so...after dinner obviously. Kurt...Peter...Can you sneak us all out to the garden." Freddie asked, pulling a chair from the adjacent table and sitting on it backwards.
"Duh." Peter said. "You bringin' the stuff?"
"Duh." Freddie responded. "Jean, have Kurt take you first and set up a mental block so the professor doesn't know what's goin on."
"Yep." Jean replied.
Carolyn was beginning to catch on to what everyone was discussing. This was going to be one of those parties. The ones her parents strictly forbade her from going to. She didn't know how she felt about that.
There's no backing out now.
A/N: Alright so! Sorry this one took so long. I'll be uploading the next one either today or tomorrow. I was really busy setting up my classes for college so that sucked the life and creativity out of me. I just couldn't get anything right and I was unsatisfied with how things were going...so I did a lot of editing and switching things around. You know...I don't have really anything in common with Carolyn but all her talk about college is relatable as hell. It's probably my subconscious trying to vent. But anyway that's all settled now so I shouldn't have to deal with it until late august. In the next chapter there will be underage drinking and I don't know how you guys feel about it but I've read a lot of fics that warn the readers about it...so I felt I just needed to put that out there. If you're underage don't drink dont do drugs kids stay in school respect your parents blah blah blah. But i just wanted to see the 80s teen mutants doing 80s teen mutant things. There will probably be a lot of that in this story just because I love that kind of stuff. Also, Freddie is an oc. Stay tuned for the next chapter either today or tomorrow. I have it written but...I just need to make sure it's okay. Also Dazzler is an actual established character. I just wanted to throw her in there somewhere. Now, when I do these things, I hope to god I don't upset any comic junkies out there because when I add them in...they're gonna be ooc. Sorry about that I just don't know enough about all of them to make sure theyre super in character. Also we'll explore more about what happened to carolyn's sister later its just not the right time yet.
Also! Again thank you for all your reviews. I'm new at this fic stuff so i'm not really sure if I should respond to them here or not? I don't know but i might in the next chapter in the authors note. Like obviously I wont respond to ALL of them but like...if you have any questions or stuff I will!