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“Lily, no, we’ll get in trouble,” Tal pleaded with her friend. “We shouldn’t do this.”
“Who cares if we get in trouble?” Lily patted her friend on the back. “What are they going to do to us?
Kick us out? This is an institute to keep mutants like us out of trouble. They wouldn’t just toss us out for playing
pranks on others.” Lily concentrated her energy and threw tiny flame balls at people. They were so small, all they did
was sting people and poof, they were gone. No one knew what was going on.
Next was Jen’s turn. As people were walking down the hallway, she would freeze the floor and they would go sliding
smack into the wall. She motioned to Sakura. Sakura moved up. She watched as people walked by, waiting for the right moment.
When she thought it was time, little lights would flash everywhere. Blinded, everyone would start screaming, and running into
one another, unable to see where they were going.
When everyone took their turns, they tried to get Tal to join in using her powers for playful activities like this. Tal refused
to do so, for the fact that their powers were simply not there for their amusement. They shouldn’t be using them in
such a way. Everyone groaned and rolled their eyes at her.
“Okay Voice,” they all say, but what they really meant was, “Whatever Voice.” Tal knew this. They
were her friends after all. She should understand them better than anyone else.
Lily patted her friend on the back. “Don’t worry Tal. You don’t have to join in on the fun.” Sakura
laughed. “Just don’t think that you can escape us.” Tal groaned. She knew this already. But then if she
weren’t around to try and convince them of trying not to pull pranks on others, then who would?
~ * ~
Jen was walking through the hall trying to get to her next class. She sighed, not really sure if she wanted to go. She shook
her head and decided to skip. Making a turn, she headed for the yard. She sat down on a bench and started reading a book.
“Is it good?”
“Usually is.” Jen closed her book and looked up at Bobby, who took a seat next to her. “So how are you
and Rogue doing? Sometimes she’s so unsure of your relationship, but you seem to handle it so well.”
“I’m not so sure.” Bobby leaned back and stared up at the sky. “We were distant before, but now it
seems to be getting worse.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Jen set her hand on her friend’s shoulder, drawing his attention to her. “You’ll
be fine. Even if it doesn’t work out with Rogue, I’m sure you’ll find someone.”
“Thanks Jen.”
Jen nodded and got up. “I skipped last period, we should really go to our next class.” Bobby nodded and stood
as well. Just as the two started on their way to class, a blue creature had appeared in front of them. Jen jumped back and
Bobby just stood there blinking.
“Hey Kurt.”
“Bobby, where were you? We were supposed to finish our lab today, but you weren’t in class.”
“Oh, was that today?” Bobby started cursing.
“Care to introduce us?” Jen asked, stepping up next to her friend.
“Oh yeah. Jen this is Kurt. Kurt this is Jen.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Jen put her hand out, taking Kurt’s. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat,
but that’s the warning bell for the next class so we better go.”
“Oh yeah!” The two boys rushed off and Jen just laughed, watching as they disappeared around a corner.
~ * ~
Kat set her books down on her desk. She grabbed Lily’s pencil and started filling in her homework answers. Lily just
shook her head. Of course Kat didn’t do it the night before. She had probably wandered off to her secret spot again.
Kat distanced herself so much from others, but Lily gave up trying to get her to join everyone. It was pointless really.
“Kat, did you study for today’s test?”
“Didn’t need to,” Kat responded in a monotone voice. “I’ll pass. Don’t worry.”
Kat passed back Lily’s pencil and laid her head on her desk, falling right to sleep.
“Class, we have a new student today.” Lily looked up front to see who the student was. The new girl had bright
pink and green hair in thick curls that fell just past her knees. Her eyes were covered with glasses.
“Mara says hi. You can call Mara Monkey if you please. Mara is very happy to be here.” Mara took a seat in front
of Lily. Lily smiled. So far Mara was already an interesting person.
~ * ~
“You wanted to speak with me Professor?” Lily took a seat in Xavier’s office. She accepted a pack of paper
that Xavier handed to her. Lily flipped through it, skimming through the info. “What’s all this?”
“There’s a new mutant school that just opened. It’s corrupting innocent mutants. They’re terrorizing
humans and causing destruction. You’re very skilled. I want you to pick a team and investigate this school. You and
your team will pretend to be new students at this school, and you will block their minds, make sure that none of you are caught.
This is your first mission Lily. I’m trusting you to get this done right. No mistakes or it could mean the destruction
of your entire team.”
Lily nodded. “Thank you Professor. I’ll do my best.”
~ * ~
Lily couldn’t believe it. The Professor had chosen her to do a mission. She had hardly been at this school. She was
sure there were other people more suited for this, yet he had still chosen her. Shaking her head she searched through the
school file on potential teammates. She was actually going on a mission, not only that, she was in charge of this mission.
Thinking it over, she couldn’t help but smile. After searching the school data base, she picked her team.
~ * ~
“You could have chosen anyone, why us?” Kitty asked. She sat down next to Jen, who was sitting across from Bobby.
“Because I trust all of you with my life, just as I hope you all trust me with yours. Other than that, Kitty, I’m
going to require you to do most of the spying, being as you can phase through solid objects, that being walls. Jen, I’m
going to need you to hack into the school’s database. You’re much better at that than I will ever be. Bobby, well,
I just decided I needed another teammate.” Lily threw down the pack of paper on the table in the middle of everyone.
“All the information you need of this school is right there. If we need anymore, we’ll have to gather it ourselves.”
Lily’s attention turned towards the door. “Nice of you to join us, Tal. I was starting to wonder if you were part
of our team or not.”
Tal nodded shyly and took the seat next to Bobby. “I’m sorry.”
“So this is where the meeting is taking place.” Morion walked into the room. He picked up the pack of paper on
the table and started flipping through it. “So what do we gotta do?”
“What are you doing here?” Lily asked, in a not so nice voice.
“My, aren’t we a little rude today. I decided to help you all out. Besides, it’s a chance to leave this
stupid school. Who wouldn’t want that?”
“This isn’t a game,” Lily practically shouted. “We don’t need you on our team. Leave at once.”
“Well, I was talking to the Professor, and he said if I wanted to go I could. So guess what, I’m coming. Too
bad for you and your little crew, huh?”
Lily muttered something under her breath but no one quite got what it was that she said. She fell back into her chair and
took a deep breath. She missed life on Mars. It was so much simpler than life here.
~ * ~
“Wait. Mara can’t catch up.” Lily turned and stopped, allowing Mara to catch up to her and take a quick
breather. “Mara hears that you are leaving tomorrow morning.” Lily had gone to the mall to relax herself for the
mission. She had told the rest of her teammates to do the same thing, so they were around here somewhere. Mara must have come
to the mall on her own and saw Lily walking around.
“Oh, yeah. We have a mission to take care of. You know... mutant stuff.” Mara laughed. “So Mara, where
do you come from anyway?” Lily bit into a granola bar she had grabbed for a quick snack. In a rush to just escape the
institute, Lily had forgotten her purse back in her dorm room, so this was all she could afford for the moment.
“Jupiter!”
Lily chocked on her granola bar. It took her a minute to regain herself. “Say what?”
“Jupiter!”
“You’re lying.”
“Am not.”
“Then why have I never met you before now?”
“You were never meant to meet Mara until now.” Mara stole Lily’s granola bar and ate the rest of it.
“Hey! That was my lunch.”
“You’ll live.” Mara danced around Lily. “Mara will buy you lunch. Come, let us talk.” Lily
sighed and followed Mara to the food court. They both ordered burgers and took a seat at a table. “Mara heard that the
royal children had left their planet homes. Everyone suspects that you’re all here. Mara wanted to see what Earth was
like so she followed. Are you mad at Mara?”
Lily laughed. “What reason would I have to be mad at you? You only did what the rest of us did. And only some of the
royal children left. When I spoke to Angy, she wouldn’t hear of it, and refused to allow Kali to leave as well.”
“But that’s it. All the other’s left. Well, except Kat’s siblings. Mara just wanted to see what was
so exciting to draw royalty here.”
“It’s not that it’s exciting exactly. It’s just, we were never allowed on Earth, so many of us got
together and decided to one day leave and explore it for ourselves. We were always good at not listening to our parents. I
think the only none royalty here is Talya, but she was my best friend and daughter of my father’s general, Moon.”
Lily thought back to the times when she was on Mars.
“Do you miss it?” Mara asked her.
“Yes, but I’m glad I came to Earth. I have no regrets.”
~ * ~
“Okay, today marks the first day of our mission. I hope everyone took the time to relax themselves yesterday. Let’s
try not to screw this one up. We’re going into enemy territory, and one mistake could mark the end of our lives.”
Lily smiled to her teammates, her friends.
The group walked up to the school where Emma Frost, the headmistress here, stood waiting. “Welcome. You must be the
new students. Come this way. I shall show you your rooms.” The group looked around at each other and followed Emma in.
“Here you will learn to control your powers. So you’re all against humans as well?” She smiled with satisfaction.
“I’m glad. Here we teach humans to be afraid of us. We want to show them who’s in charge. Humans are such
fragile creatures. They’re terrified of us, and that’s how it should be.”
“Yeah… right.” Lily said to only herself. Lily really didn’t want to be here. If it had been just
her, sure, she wouldn’t have cared, but others were involved. If anyone got hurt, or worse, died, because of her, she
would never forgive herself. Bobby caught what she said and took her hand in his, giving her a small squeeze so she knew they’d
be alright. Morion caught this action and just glared. He wasn’t sure why he was so upset, but he was. Then again, he
never did like Bobby before, so why should he start liking him now?
“Okay, the boys, Delotha and Ice Man can take this room.” Emma opened a door for them. “Right next door
will be Voice, Fire Soul, Shadowcat and Freeze.” Before they had arrived here, the group had decided that they would
use their mutant names instead of their real ones. There was no point in anyone actually knowing what their real names were.
Emma led the girls into their room. Everyone threw their bags down onto whatever bed they had claimed. After Emma left, Lily
went to check on the boys. Bobby was at the door waiting for her.
“Hey Fire Storm. Got yourselves a good room?” The two went walking down the hall, both planning on exploring
the new school.
“Ice Man, are you going to be okay sharing a room with Delotha?” Lily looked up at Bobby, concern written all
over her face.
“Don’t worry. I won’t kill him.”
“Oh great.” Lily rolled her eyes. “Now all I have to worry about is him killing you.” She sighed.
“Why am I here?”
Bobby took Lily’s arm, causing her to stop walking. He forced her to look up at him. He looked around to make sure
that no one was watching, then leaned down and started whispering to her, “Lily, you know why. The Professor trusts
you, as we all trust you, so have some faith in yourself.” Lily smiled and hugged him.
“Thank you Ice Man.”
Tal came running down the hall and Lily blinked. “Fire Storm!” Tal stopped running and took deep breaths. “Remember
when we went to the club and I met that uber cute guy? What was his name? Remy?”
“Yeah, I remember.” Lily encouraged her to keep talking.
“Well, he goes to this school. I was just exploring, and I went to look out a window because it’s so beautiful
outside, and I saw him, talking to Emma.”
“Interesting.” Lily grinned. “I didn’t know you like them bad,” she teased her friend.
“Li-” But Tal caught herself. “Fire Storm just you wait. You’ll get what’s coming to you.”
With that she huffed and walked away. Lily couldn’t help but laugh.
“That’s so like her. Taking it so personally.” Lily looked up at Bobby who just smiled down at her. Lily
liked being with Bobby. He was fun and easy to talk to. She felt so comfortable with him.
“Don’t you have a girlfriend?” Lily jumped and turned to Morion, holding her hand over her chest. “Sorry,
didn’t mean to scare you Fire Storm, though I didn’t know you were one for stealing your friend’s boyfriends.
I mean, Rogue is your friend, right?”
“Shut up Delotha. It’s not like that.”
“Maybe not to you.” Morion looked to Bobby. “But to him, I think it is, right Ice Man?”
Bobby just glared at him. “Shut up Delotha. You don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s none of
your business anyway.”
“I heard that yours and Rogue’s relationship is a little rocky lately. Could it be because you’re falling
in love with someone else?”
That was it. Lily couldn’t take it anymore. “Will you stop it? What is your problem with everyone else anyway?
You don’t like Ice Man, I get that, but you don’t have to act like such a jerk. Grow up will you?”
“Who’s the one who needs to grow up? What’s it to you anyway? Why? You falling for him?”
Without thinking Lily had raised her hand and before she knew it, it had connected with Morion’s face. A stinging sensation
traveled up her arm. “I’m sorry.” She turned and ran to her room. Morion just stood their holding his cheek.
“If you like her so much, you should learn not to hurt her feelings,” Bobby warned.
“Yeah right. Why would anyone like her? She’s not even attractive.” Morion took one last challenging look
at Bobby and then walked off.
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