"EWWW!" The now-familiar voice of the aptly-named Jubilation Lee awoke me at -- I checked my watch -- promptly 9:42 AM. Thankfully, it was Saturday, and I didn't have to worry about any classes my first full day here, and I could spend the time continuing my acquaintance with the students. "GROSS!!" came the excited -- albeit slightly annoyed -- reprise. I turned over in bed, throwing the covers over my head in hopes of drowning out the noise. It didn't work. She continued shouting at the top of her lungs as she was wont to do about some disgusting mess left in the bathroom that she didn't want to clean up.

Unfortunately, the sunlight streaming in my window combined with the fact that I was already up, to force me completely awake. I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. Happily, the shrieking had stopped, but I wanted to see for myself what she'd been so up-in-arms about. It couldn't be that bad; after all, she was prone to exaggeration.

Wasn't she?

I crawled down the hallway after putting on my glasses. The sunlight was so bright it hurt my eyebrows. Jubilee stood outside a door with a disgusted expression on her face. I assumed that was the bathroom. I started to push open the door, but she was ready to interrupt me. "You don't want to go in there," she informed me.

I continued in. In the middle of the tiled floor was a pile of ... well, to tell the truth, I wasn't sure what it was. But it certainly was gross. "Yuck," I commented, "what is that?"

"It's Paige's," Jubilee answered. "And she's gonna hafta clean it up!"

"But what is it?"

She didn't answer, vowing to kill someone after she'd eaten breakfast, which, I assumed, was where she was going at that point.

"It's her skin," interrupted Monet, who simply appeared out of nowhere. She had a knack for that, I'd noticed.

I vaguely remembered, though, now that Monet had mentioned it, that Paige was what was called a "perpetual metamorph", which involved ripping off her skin and other such things ... so it would stand to reason that she'd create such interesting messes for those around her to deal with. I decided I wasn't going in there until it was cleaned up or until it was absolutely necessary. Whichever came first.

" ... and I am the epitome of perfection."

I raised a questioning eyebrow. I hadn't heard all of Monet's little speech, effectively tuning most of it out, but the snatch I'd heard had been enough to make me wary of her credibility. I knew she thought she was superior in every way, but I didn't think she'd actually tell us that.

I glanced at the pile of skin in the bathroom again, and shook my head. Ignoring Monet's continued testimonies of perfection (I'm sure she loved that), I went back into my room to get dressed.

After changing, I went downstairs to where I was pretty sure the kitchen was located. Fortunately, my guess was right. Jubilee kneeled on a chair at the table, a stainless steel mixing bowl before her. A perfectly normal-sized spoon had stopped on its journey to her mouth, carrying its cargo of chocolate frosted cereal bits. "There ya are!" she greeted. "Thought ya'd never show up!"

"Hi," I said unenthusiastically. "Where is everyone?" I asked, searching the fridge for something to eat.

Jubilee shrugged. "How'm I supposed t' know?" she asked innocently between mouthfuls of soggy cereal.

"Mm, good point," I muttered, pulling a bag of bagels from the freezer. "Where's the toaster?"

"Got me," she answered.

Great ... I settled for defrosting my bagel in the microwave oven and then put the bag back. Just as I closed the door, I noticed a document on official-looking paper -- its header was a school logo accompanied by Frost's name. I scanned the crisply handwritten note affixed to the fridge. It read,

I explained its contents to Jubilee. She droprowned in the chocolate frosted milk) and ran off to tell her classmates.

The microwave had finished thawing my bagel ages ago, so I grabbed it and went off in search of a computer. It had been a long while since I'd checked my e-mail; the Purple Tower was probably getting worried about me. There was, however, no computer to be found. But that didn't mean it wasn't there. I made a mental note to ask someone later. And to find out about a piano.

Instead, I trudged up the stairs back to my room. After all, there was always snail mail. I wrote a letter to Alison which I had absolutely no intention of mailing, and another to Patty in the Purple Tower which I probably would eventually e-mail once I'd found that computer as I had forgotten her snail mail address. It explained my absence but I doubted it would be believed. I was, after all, now living in a comic book. Perhaps I was in the latest issue? Doubtful ... with my luck I'd be one of those cheesy fanfic characters from one of those awful "new student comes to Gen-X" stories that were so prevalent. Maybe if I was good, and not quite so cheesy, I'd wind up on the archive I'd heard so much about. If I ever got back home I promised myself I'd visit it.

I crumbled up my letter to Patty and tossed it into a nearby garbage can. So much for that bright idea. Alison would probably believe me, though. She'd already seen the letter that initially brought me here, and she knew I was gone, so she had proof. So I kept the letter to her and went back out to look for an envelope when I was distracted by voices coming from just beyond an open doorway.

"I hardly think that is a wise course of action, Jubilation."

"But --!"

"And you don't know when --" another voice was chipping in, but I had already been spotted, as conversation stopped dead and three heads turned to look at me.

"Um," I said, my mouth full of one last bite of bagel.

"Jen! You've got to help me!" Jubilee petitioned.

"Um," I repeated. I walked to the doorway and peered in. The girls were apparently holding some sort of conference over something or another. Monet had seated herself regally in one corner, head held high; Paige reclined on the bed, smiling a greeting at me; and Jubilee was on the floor, cross-legged, a giant bag of Skittles in her lap. Why hadn't I been invited? Maybe they were talking about me. Though, given Jubilee's earlier enthusiasm concerning Emma's note, it was probably over that. Unless the topic of conversation had switched to me.... Surreptitiously Jubilee sneaked one brilliant green candy between her lips and pretended she hadn't just done so.

"Skittles!" I exclaimed in disgust. "What wonderful eating habits. And so soon after breakfast, too."

Monet stared at me, first in slight shock but her features softening into an expression of approval and an unspoken thanks. Paige laughed.

"Skittles?" Jubilee asked innocently. "What Skittles?"

Glance. Glance. Ignore the Skittles. I understood and said nothing more on the Skittles. "So," I continued instead, "what's this meeting you're all having without me?"

Jubilee sneaked another Skittle.

"Nothing, really," Paige answered. The palest of yellow lights that surrounded her was dimmer now than when I'd noticed it the first time when we'd met before. I didn't know exactly what that meant, but it was different, and it wasn't a good kind of different, either. I studied her glimmer as though it might give me a better understanding. Apparently my study creeped her out. "What?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"That's ... that's what I wanted to ask you," I responded almost enigmatically.

"Uh, nothin' ... nothing. Just ... " The words were very nearly out but she covered them with the oh-so-general, "I'll tell you later, okay?"

I nodded, only half understanding, but soon feeling eyes hot on my back. I turned. "Sorry," I apologized softly.

"Hey, no problem," Jubilee answered, quite obviously chewing a particularly sticky clump of what could be no less than eleven Skittles at one time. "So whaddarwe gonna do with Frosty gone?" she inquired, a decidedly impish gleam in her eyes.

"We are to behave," Monet explained, "just as we always do." Silence filled the room as the four of us just sat there.

"Behaving is boring," Jubilee commented, shattering the silence. "And so are you." She grabbed her one-pound bag of Skittles and left the room.

"Um," I said. Paige turned over in the bed, stretching lethargically, to face the wall. I tried my hardest to will Monet out of the room -- I knew very well I wasn't Emma, and I was glad for that fact, but there was something up with Paige -- something wrong and it seemed she needed help. If it truly was nothing, the others could certainly come back. If it wasn't ... well, I'd think about that, then.

"I suppose I've earned the job of trying to talk some sense into Jubilation," Monet commented and rose to the task. Wow. It worked. Cool.

As soon as she was out of sight, I turned to Paige, who was still sprawled out on the bed but was staring at the ceiling now.

I felt a concerned smile creep across my face. "Hey," I said gently, "you wanna talk about it?" She said nothing for a long time as I only looked curiously at her, awaiting an answer -- any answer, anything. Waiting. And waiting. The silence was finally, eventually broken as she let out a long breath I hadn't realized she'd been holding. Her pale, ashen yellow aura wavered around her as she was caught in indecision. She didn't know me all that well -- why should she tell me her fears? I knew that if I were in her place, I wouldn't just open up like that. But I didn't know her place.... "Look, if you don't wanna talk about it, that's okay, too."

"Okay," she answered dejectedly and simply moped there staring at the ceiling.

I sighed inwardly. This wasn't what I wanted. But if she didn't want to talk about it ... I hoped later she wouldn't be so ... moody . "C'mon," I urged, "let's go see what everyone else is up to."

Another curious look from behind a blonde curtain. "Alright," she acquiesced and stood again, now trudging despondently behind me. I was simply going to let her uncharacteristically gloomy demeanor go, but she heaved a disconsolate sigh shortly after she exited the room.

"That's it," I snapped -- only half-angry -- and whirled around to speak to her face. Her head hung, staring at her feet. "What's wrong?"

She sighed again, raising her eyes. "I am not feeling well," she informed me defiantly. "Do you expect me to act like Lee or something?"

"Well," I offered hopefully, "no. But there's no need to act like -- like Jono, either."

Visibly, Paige tensed, locking her eyes on me as her aura flared a bright yellow identical in shade to Jubilee's trademark jacket. "Ah'm sick!" she insisted. "Can't Ah be sick without anyone blamin' it on mah -- on that -- ooh!" She stormed off, into a different room, and slammed the door behind her.

I hoped she was okay -- or eventually would be, since she quite obviously wasn't at that point. And it didn't seem like she wanted to talk to me, either. I'd wait, I decided, until she cooled off. Maybe she would have cheered up by then. I briefly considered undertaking my original mission: prevent the death of either M or Jubes by the other, but decided against it -- they'd been at each others' throats before, I was sure, so instead I went looking for that computer again. By the time I'd come across the regular PC (as opposed to the huge computers that graced the Academy), I spent a few good hours checking up on my e-mail, newsgroups, and other various things.

Lunch was on one's own.

I avoided almost everyone all day long, not wanting any sort of conflict with Paige and positively terrified of what might happen to my nervous system if Jono so much as showed up.

Such was my first full day at the Massachusetts Academy.

The second term of classes began that Monday, after I'd had only two days to get acclimated. As a mid-year transferee, there was quite a bit that still needed to be explained me. Apparently I'd learned history and physics all wrong. I used what fraction I knew from Alison's comics and the only slightly erratic animated series to just barely convince them that I wasn't crazy. I knew I was crazy, I had to have been, but I guess in the long run it didn't matter because we all were.

I spent my first week there alone. Not moping, just alone. I didn't really click with anyone, well, not the way that I might've expected to. Paige hated me for reasons I couldn't fathom. Monet was her arrogant self with an ego even worse than David Duchovny's. Jubilee was quite exuberant, as usual, but tried almost too hard to be my friend. I appreciated her efforts, though. Jono managed to frighten me, but not because he was missing half his face ... in fact, quite the contrary. I couldn't speak to him only because he was ... well, on my mind a lot. I tried not to think about him, but he just kept popping up inexplicably in my head. Speaking of entering one's head, thankfully that awful Emma woman was away on some business (as aforementioned) and I didn't have to deal with her one bit. I dreaded her return, but knew it would eventually come. The other guys, Angelo and Everett, I didn't know too well -- somehow they'd kept pretty much out of my sight. I wondered what I was doing to scare them off, but didn't really care.

"OK, listen up!"

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. It was Thursday morning, nearing the end of my first full week here, and "class" had started: a strategy lesson in the Danger Grotto. Mr. Cassidy paced before us, delivering a speech that could have been borrowed from TC McQueen.

"Ye'll be, as ye know, in the biosphere--this time as a team, not against one another." There was a modest hope in his emotions as he described what we were to do: discuss among ourselves how to successfully overcome the electronic "enemy" which had been planted among the foliage, then carry out the plan. And to leave no one out.

I almost longed for the rigors of Honors Geometry -- anything would be better than this freakish form of PE. But this, at least, had some point, even if a hidden one. Still, I'd been in PE for 11 years now -- I'd never participated in anything like this. And I never thought I would.

Mr. Cassidy was in the middle of his speech when the doorbell rang. He took a deep breath, trying not to get angry, counted to five, then returned his attention to the less-than-attentive students. "I'll be returning shortly," he promised. "Don't any of ye go killin' one another," he added with a sharp glance at Jubilee.

I sensed the arrivals at the door even before the group collectively decided to ignore Mr. Cassidy's request to stay put and went to see who it was. "Guys," I ventured, "shouldn't, um, shouldn't we stay here? I mean, Cassidy said --"

"He said not to kill each other," Jubilee pointed out. "He didn't say anything about staying here."

It was a valid point, I had to admit. I followed the others out.

I was bored. Incredibly, extremely, horribly, frighteningly, and I hoped to God not irrevocably, bored. B-O-R-E-D bored. Jennifer was gone, off in Massachusetts having fun with Generation X - which I would much rather be doing, might I add - while I was stuck at home, doing stupid AP US History terms for the stupid AP test that I was going to fail and get a -1 on anyway. Boring!!

I was on term 65 out of 80 when the doorbell rang. Thank God - I was the only one home, but decided to answer the door in the hopes that the person there would kidnap me and take me away from these stupid terms and maybe then I would get to do something interesting. What I got wasn't so far from that wish. No, not far at all. For I opened the door to see ... Emma Frost?! On my doorstep?!! Wearing that?!!!

"Oh ... uh, hi!" I said, finally grasping the implications of this rather interesting and unexpected turn of events. "Can I help you?" The White Queen seemed unfazed; she merely opened the screen door and walked in as I got out of the way to avoid being trampled like so much dirt.

"Good afternoon," she said coolly, eyeing the insides of my foyer and living room. The greeting was also said with an air of superiority that only she could effectively exert, she being Emma Frost and all. "Please get your things. You are to come with me. Your parents have already been notified. And please -- don't take forever." Oh my God -the White Queen was here and... was I going to get to go to Massachusetts?! Without finishing my History terms?!!

"Um ... just give me a few minutes. Have a seat or something...." I motioned to a nearby chair, which she sat in as elegantly as I think I'd ever seen anyone sit in a chair in my life. I raced up the stairs as fast as I could, running into my room and shoving stuff into any bags I could find. I grabbed anything and everything I thought I could possibly need, and then some. All this with the White Queen sitting in my living room! Wow!

After about 10 minutes of this frantic packing, I had just about everything in the room that I could fit into any bag I had. I ran back downstairs with all my stuff to find Emma in the exact same position, albeit looking just a bit bored and possibly a touch exasperated.

"Okay ... lemme get my jacket and I'll be good to go." I ran back into the utility room to grab the jacket, glancing around to make sure I had everything. "Sorry to keep you waiting so long." I apologized, coming back through the foyer once more.

"Are you ready now?" she asked.

"Yep!" I nodded, smiling.

"Then come along, child. Bring your things." I followed her out the door, feeling like one of those overloaded bellhops in Looney Tunes cartoons. I loaded all my bags into the immaculately spotless white sports car and, after some pushing, shoving, pulling, and even a bit of pleading, we were ready to go. And so the loooong trip to the Massachusetts Academy began.

Things were odd here. That much didn't need to be said. It was already quite obvious. The truly odd thing, though, is that I was all too familiar with the recruit Emma had brought back.

"Alison?" I exclaimed upon encountering her, Emma, and Mr. Cassidy in the foyer with the others after we'd all gone to see who was at the door. Mr. Cassidy turned around briefly, unaware that we'd followed him out, but not surprised that we had. He probably would have called us out anyway.

"Jen?" Alison asked, in slight disbelief even though I knew she knew I was here.

I couldn't respond. This was weirder than weird. This was beyond weird. This was plain out bizarre.

"You know each other," Emma stated. "Good. You can introduce each other." She left to discuss something or another with Mr. Cassidy, dragging him down a hallway I suspected led to her office.

"I just spent two days in a car with Emma!" we were informed.

Jubilee gasped.

I nodded. "Good for you."

"No," she reiterated. "You don't understand. It's EMMA!"

"Pobrecita," Angelo commented sarcastically.

"Um, this thing itches," I announced, referring to the "standard issue" red thing the Gen-X'ers wore for training sessions.

"Nobody understands me!" Alison wailed plaintively, dropping her bag on the floor. She went to go sit on the couch, burying her face in her hands and letting her thick curly hair spill all over the place.

"Now you sound like me," I said.

"I'm hungry," Jubilee announced.

"I find that unlikely, Jubilation, since you've just eaten breakfast."

"I'm still hungry."

"Um, everyone," I tried, "this is Alison...."

"How could you still be hungry, J?"

"Simple, Ev, I just am!"

"Alison, you know everyone already.... " At least, I assumed she did.

"I just spent TWO DAYS IN A CAR WITH EMMA!!"

"There's no need to complain about your impending starvation," Monet observed. "It is much simpler to refrain from --"

PFK! PFK! A rather nice fireworks display sparkled around Monet's head. She rolled her eyes.

*Children, please!* Emma's telepathic voice cut through the air like a knife as she emerged from the hallway, Mr. Cassidy not far behind. I still didn't like the feeling of her inside my head and I wanted very much to kick her out .

Jubilee froze, one hand about to grab Monet's collar, the other raised above her head, the air around it smoking. She gave a sheepish grin and put both hands quickly behind her back as though it might erase what we'd all just seen. Monet looked downright smug. This was all soon canceled by a telepathic command from Emma.

"Now," she continued, eyeing Alison and me all the while, "as you all have noticed, we have another new student with us. Please make an effort to get along -- not only with them, but with each other." Knowing glances were given to Monet and Jubilee, as well as Jono and Paige, who had effectively separated themselves to either side of the room. A quiet anger radiated just beneath Paige's surface -- was that why she was "sick"? I guessed such a situation -- if she was having a problem with him somehow -- would warrant her supposed "illness".

"We will be going shopping in a half an hour to pick up extra things for Alison and Jennifer," Emma continued. "Please be prepared to go, and leave your grudges elsewhere."

Since I didn't have an official "uniform" yet -- nor did I actually know what my power was, even -- Emma led me off to the girls' dorm to pick a room. She led me down the long, straight hall, passing up the occupied rooms at the beginning to show me the ones that were vacant yet. Although there were quite a few empty bedrooms lining the walls after the rooms in current use, I decided that I liked the one on the very end the best - the farthest from the stairs and on the right, separated from everyone else's rooms by at least three empty rooms on each side. Emma eyed me in a way that made me quite uncomfortable, like she didn't exactly approve of my choice, but said nothing. I then took several trips out to the car and back to tote my bags into my new abode -- there was no one else there to help, and Emma certainly wasn't going to start carrying bags - but I finally made it after four trips. The first thing I did was take out my CD player and, with the Foo Fighters blasting, I began the long task of unpacking that was certainly going to take much longer than half an hour.

I had only gotten three shirts unpacked when there was a soft knock at the door.

"Come on in!" I shouted, going over to turn the music down a notch. It was Paige, looking somewhat pained yet cheery at the same time.

"Hi. I'm Paige Guthrie -- I'm sorry we weren't formally introduced before," she gushed, coming in. Wow! The younger sister of ... Sam!!

"Hey. Alison."

She looked around, taking in the still bare room as though I had already made it my own. Well, I had, in a way. Just not a very observable one ... yet.

"Are you ... sure you want to be all the way down the hall? You're so isolated back here." she asked, a hint of something in her voice that I couldn't quite name. I suddenly wondered if she was thinking of Jono, in his isolated basement cavern. I smiled.

"Well, yeah. It's for a couple of reasons, really. I like being alone sometimes, and I also like loud music. And I also tend to hit the snooze button about twenty times a morning. I kind of like it back here, you know?"

She merely nodded, obviously not satisfied with my explanation. "Well, I just wanted to come and introduce myself," she said. "We're leaving in about ten minutes. I'll see you then." And then she left, closing the door behind her. I resumed unpacking, considering Paige as I stuffed clothes in drawers. (I never bother to fold them -- they just get unfolded anyway!) She seemed nice enough, although something seemed to be bothering her. I wasn't quite sure what it was, although my first instinct was that perhaps she and Jono weren't getting along so well these days. I didn't have much more time to consider it, though, because a loud knock interrupted my thoughts.

"Come on in!"

Jubilee waltzed into the room, followed by Jen.

"Hi! I'm Jubilee!" Jubes announced cheerily. Jennifer smiled wanly and waved a bit, sitting down on the still-made bed. It wouldn't stay that way much after today, and she knew it.

"Alison," I introduced myself. Jubilee nodded, plopping herself down on the bed as well. Jennifer and Jubilee? Now that was an interesting combination.

"We wanted to come get you," Jennifer said. "We're leaving in a couple of minutes."

"Oh, okay," I said, turning off the CD player and grabbing my sunglasses. Of course, it was raining outside, but you could always do with a cool pair of sunglasses.

"Hey! Those look just like Cyclops' sunglasses!" Jubilee suddenly squealed, pointing to the red lenses in my glasses. Well, of course they did - that was why I'd bought them in the first place! I shrugged as she launched into one of her "When I was with the X-Men --" before Jen cut her off with a look. I just smiled; this was all just way too cool.

I only had a couple of bucks, but I shoved what I had into my jeans pocket and grabbed my jacket. Jen and Jubes were off the bed by this point, standing by the door ready to go. I followed them out, noting how I would have to fix the bareness of that door when I got back.

After a couple of minutes of last-minute planning and making sure everyone had everything they needed, we all crammed into one of the school's Jeeps. How it was possible to fit this many people -- teenagers, nonetheless -- into one Jeep was beyond me, but somehow we managed. Jennifer was uncomfortably wedged in between Paige and Jono (I really felt for her, especially if they were having problems as I suspected) while I was sitting in the back "trunk space" with Angelo, probably illegally so. It was nice though, because we had a considerable amount of room, despite Angelo's extra feet of skin. On the way there, I got to know him a bit better, as well as was introduced to the remaining students, whom I already knew from my avid comic book reading. But I just pretended I didn't know them, and all was well. I didn't know if Emma knew I was pretending, but if she did she didn't appear to let on that she did. I just hoped she hadn't been poking around in my head -- it was my mind, and I decided that I would therefore retain supreme rule and dictation over who would enter it, thankyouverymuch. And that was that. No matter what Emma thought.

Alison went upstairs to unpack her bags as I wondered what I could possibly get at the mall when I didn't have any money. The problem was soon solved when a platinum card bearing the name "Emma Frost" fell into my lucky hands. I would have to be careful, though, to only buy what I needed. An angry Emma was not a happy prospect.

We were all somehow packed into a cramped Jeep. I was wedged uncomfortably between Paige and Jono, who apparently still weren't speaking to one another. I'm still not sure how ten people managed to fit into one Jeep, but we did, though not without discomfort.

The second most annoying thing about the ride was the mixed colors that danced above everyone's head, mixing and mingling but generally staying put around one person. They were distracting, especially the rainbow of hues that surrounded Everett. Apparently this dizzying spectrum of fluctuating colors became visible to everyone when he engaged his synching power, but to me it never faded. It gave me a headache.

The most annoying thing, though, was the discomfort. Not only was I squished, but I was squished next to Jono, so close I could smell the leather of his trademark black jacket, and ... something else. I wasn't sure what, but it certainly smelled good. I wondered if psionic energy had its own scent.

Eek -- was I thinking about what I thought I was just thinking about? Not a good thing to think about when I knew full well he could read my mind if he wanted to. But he didn't want to -- I wasn't sure how I felt about that. At least he had ethics, unlike -- well, you know. He seemed perfectly content to stare at the rain falling on the streets outside the window. I wondered what was going through his head. What did he think about all the time?

I tried my hardest to think about something else -- anything else. But when someone tells you not to think about the grey elephant in the living room, it's all you can think about -- and Jono certainly was my grey elephant!

I was finding it hard to breathe, the air thick and soupy, which was most likely due to cramped quarters. Sure, I reasoned, and I could keep on lying to myself like that. Fortunately, we arrived at the mall, and were all allowed to collectively fall out of the packed Jeep. I viewed this with mixed feelings: I was certainly more comfortable, but ... well.

As we pulled up to this huge mega-mall, Emma began explaining -- rather loudly, as if to a group of kindergartners -- the rules for this outing, such as the time of return, which was, according to her, "non-negotiable." Yeah, right.

We pretty much tumbled out of the Jeep, and I noticed that Jennifer instantly looked a whole lot more comfortable. Well, who wouldn't be? Since it was raining, the students of the Massachusetts Academy soon turned into a raging stampede for the mall entrance, with Emma merely looking on in disgrace. As we entered, however, I walked warily in, aware of the turbo-shopper I knew Jubilee -- and even Monet or Paige -- could instantly transform into. I briefly wondered if Jennifer would be turned by their frightening ways as well.

"Hey!! Sale at the shoe store!!" Jubilee screamed, and my worst fears were realized as she, Paige, and Monet all broke for the store at what could only be second to a dead run. Jubilee stopped, however, as she noticed that only Jennifer had begun to follow, and that I hadn't joined in the mad dash for footwear. Shoes were not exactly what I wanted to look at, despite my chromosomal arrangement.

"Hey -- aren'tcha comin'?" she asked, obviously confused at my lack of enthusiasm over saving a couple of bucks on a pair of shoes.

"Well, not really," I admitted. "To be honest, shoe sales don't exactly enthrall me." I heard murmuring among the boys as I explained this to her. "Is there a bookstore anywhere? Or a music store?"

"Yeah -- quite a few. They've got really kewl stores here," came the official report from the world's leading mallrat. I noticed that her eyes kept sneaking back to the shoe store, though, and she was beginning to inch slowly towards the brightly colored banner announcing the "Big Savings" that awaited within.

"Well ... we're going that way," Everett piped up.

"Yeah, the chica can hang with us," Angelo added. Jubilee glanced at the shoe store, then back at me and the guys.

"You wanna go with them, then?" she asked.

"Are you sure you don't mind? I don't want to impose or anything?" I turned, asking the three boys. I felt out of place - I mean, I had just gotten here, and here were the guys offering to take me through the mall.

*The gel's welcome to join us.* Wow - even Jono was okay with that. Wow.

"Yeah - I'll go with them," I decided. "You go get some shoes."

"Kewl!" With that, she raced off so fast that I expected to see a trail of dust form behind her, like in the cartoons. Paige and Monet had disappeared within the store long ago, and Jennifer only hesitated a moment before finally being drawn into the shoe nexus as well, casting me a slightly ... accusing? look.

"Oh-kay," I said, turning back to the guys, who were once again murmuring amongst themselves. "Well, thanks for saving me from the shoe demons," I said gratefully.

"Sure," Angelo said. "They're completely loca whenever they see a sale involving any type of clothing. It's really frightening."

"Tell me about it." I glanced back at the shoe store. "Well, where to first?"

*The CD place is this way.* Jono pointed off to the right.

"Okay, let's go!" I started off, walking ahead while the guys hung back and continued conferring. What the heck was so interesting back there? It wasn't like I had cooties or anything... but then again, they were guys. I just continued walking on ahead, still grateful that they had offered to take me with them instead of leaving me to the sharks. I wondered if this was being too "tomboyish" -- Jennifer often accused me of being something like that, since I preferred "boyfic" to the normal "chick" things girls were supposed to like. Like romance movies and novels, and soap operas, and makeup, and shoes....

We finally arrived at the CD store, and I headed off towards the soundtrack section. I noticed Jono heading predictably towards the Pearl Jam display while Ange and Ev wandered around, looking at various CDs. I happily found Lost in Space and Deep Impact and, my soundtrack requirements met for the time being, headed for the "New Artist" rack hoping to find either Semisonic or Fuel. I found both at rather good prices, and since I had Emma's credit card (or at least, one of her many), I decided that just this once it'd be okay. Sure, Emma wouldn't mind....

I headed for the counter with my prizes just as Jono did the same, carrying the newest Pearl Jam CD. What a surprise. I was about to say something when I remembered that I wasn't exactly supposed to know about his fondness for the band. He eyed my selections as I paid for them, ever-so-chivalrously letting me go first.

*Interesting variety,* he noted. I shrugged and smiled.

"Yeah, well, I guess I just like a little of everything. Except rap. I hate rap." He nodded and then paid for his CDs; I followed him out of the store feeling like a really big dork. How could I have acted so ... stupid?! I was being so dumb.... I didn't know why, but something about him and the way he responded to me just made me feel like the idiot I often feel I act like. It just made me ... uncomfortable.

Maybe it wasn't even so much his attitude -- although that certainly was a big part of it -- as it was his presence: not only was it dark and brooding, but he was so much taller than I was! Not that that's an accomplishment -- I'm only 4'11" (tall enough to be an astronaut, though, so that's all that matters!) -- but being around really tall people, such as Jono, and even Ev and Ange, always makes me feel incredibly small and stupid. Like a 1st grader intimidated by the much older, much bigger, much smarter and obviously superior 6th graders. And since I was new here, that only augmented the feelings of inferiority growing within me until they threatened to overtake me and make me want to just sit down in a small corner and hide from the world.

But there was Ev, and Ange, and Jono was already walking towards them and running away now would just be ... stupid. Embarrassing. It just wasn't an option, so I tried as best I could to shove my fears and self-consciousness into the back of my brain -- it didn't work -- and walked over to join them as they milled about just outside the store.

"Where to now?" Ev asked.

"The bookstore?" I suggested.

"Sure. This-a-way." Angelo pointed in a direction, and we headed off once more. This time, however, Angelo walked up next to me while Everett and Jono hung back a bit. I wondered if he had been exiled, or merely charged with interrogating or observing me.

"What's so interesting back there?" I indicated Jono and Ev, wondering if Angelo would actually tell me. Probably not -- I had a gut feeling that it was me they were talking about for some reason, but it was worth a shot.

"Huh? Oh, it's nada," he assured me. "Nothing."

I shrugged, sure that he was lying. If it was enough to get boys to talk, it must be something.

Angelo was even taller than Jono was, and walking next to him was like walking next to someone on stilts. I'm sure it wasn't really that bad, but it sure seemed like it to me. We walked on in silence until we finally reached the store, and I immediately headed in for the comics section. Of course, I knew there were certain comics I wasn't going to find, but there was always DC....

I soon found the latest issues of Superman and Batman, as well as Robin (I already had the Flash and Impulse due to my subscriptions), and decided to head on over to look at books. Not that the comics weren't books, in a sense, but more at the ... novels. I found the sci-fi section with little trouble, and began searching for a copy of Starship Troopers, which I had been meaning to pick up. Ev glanced over and caught the title; he flashed me a thumbs-up, which made me smile and -- was I blushing?!! Nah, couldn't be. That'd be so not like me.

I picked up a few other things: The Island of Dr. Moreau and the Han Solo Trilogy, getting amused looks from Angelo the whole time, who seemed to be hanging around me while trying not to make it seem like he was doing so. I paid for the books and exited the store to find Jono sitting on a nearby bench, leafing through what appeared to be a guitar magazine. Ev and Ange followed me out of the store after a moment, and as they approached my stomach growled embarrassingly loudly. I could just die -- especially with Jono right there! But he was used to not eating, right? I still felt bad, though, and was annoyed at my stomach for reminding him of the painfully obvious fact that he had neither a stomach to growl nor the ability with which to appease the missing organ.

"Sounds like you're hungry," Angelo observed.

"I'm hungry too," Ev mentioned; apparently they weren't quite as conscientious about Jono as I somehow felt I should be. At that moment, Ev spotted Jen headed our way, and Jono got up as I turned to meet up with her, hoping that she might join us for the food break we were obviously going to take.

I decided to join the girls at the shoe store. I wasn't particularly interested in footwear, but Emma had insisted I only buy the necessities. Clothing was among that, right? Besides, I'd get yelled at if I blew her money on CDs ... and who knew what would happen if I went with the guys? Strange things were bound to happen in the presence of ... psionic elephants. I coughed. Quite honestly, I was tired. And bored. As aforementioned, I didn't really care about shoes. I wanted to buy other stuff. I flopped down in a chair, kicked off my sneakers, and waited, bored.

With a heavy sigh, Paige seemingly fell into the chair beside mine, a pair of brown leather sandals in hand. While she displayed a certain exuberance towards the sale, her heart just wasn't in it as she methodically untied first one shoe, then the other. I wanted to help -- she was much more sad than angry and being in such close proximity to her made her emotions rub off on me. Probably, I noted, a side effect of empathy.

I watched, concerned, as she tried on the sandals she'd brought with her and then a similar pair. "Were you going to get anything?" she asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

I shrugged. "I dunno." The truth was, I had seen some boots which could be considered cool, but I didn't have anything that went with them. And besides that, my sneakers were quite comfortable.... I stood up, though, and pretended to look for a pair of shoes, if only to be away from her lingering mood. Jubilee was already at the register, a stack of shoeboxes piled atop the counter, a crazy -- almost maniacal -- grin plastered across her face. Monet sat in a chair in her socks, staring off into space.

A flare of bright yellow, seen from the corner of my eye, grabbed my attention. I snatched the nearest pair of shoes off the display and returned to my seat beside Paige. As I had suspected, it had been that funny color she seemed to emit, and it was growing in intensity, shading to orange, actually, with every second.

"What?" I asked innocently -- instinctively.

She threw one glance at the pair of shoes I'd carried back -- which I now realized were actually black army-style boots. I'd grabbed them out of haste -- how dumb and unfortunate!

"Um," I said. "We should probably go," I suggested.

"I'm staying here," she informed me. "You can go on if you like."

There was no need for that, I decided, bright as the prospect seemed. Again I was caught in the middle, stuck somewhere between the three of them and completely on my own. Weren't they all supposed to get along? This was comic books -- people were supposed to get along, join together to fight a common evil. Right?

Right?

Jubilee paid for her shoes with Monet's borrowed credit card. The latter didn't notice as she was still zoning out. What, I wondered, was up with that? The glow I'd become used to seeing around people consisted of two separate colors: a velvety purple shade and a deep forest green. How, I wondered, could anyone possess two distinct auras? That wasn't possible. The zoning bothered me, too -- she wasn't just spacing out, she was ... completely oblivious to everything going on around her. Somehow, she was eventually brought out of this, ah, zone, to join us as we made our way out of the shoe store and into the crowds of the mall.

I still felt like I didn't belong. And I didn't -- I was new and different, still strange -- though now despite my abilities rather than because of them, as had been the case at school back home. Now it was who I was rather than what I was. I wasn't sure which hurt more. That was funny, I thought. "Back home" -- yes, I'd been feeling strange in my days before coming here, but was that as a result of, um, activation of certain latent powers? Or was that simply me thinking I was feeling strange? And if I did go back home, would I still be an empath? Would I still be seeing these bizarre colors, people glowing? I didn't know.

My sense of smell was soon assaulted as we passed a Bath & Body Works. My olfactory nerves were further deadened upon entering the store. A particularly chipper sales clerk in a red and white checkered apron asked us to hold out our hands, and before I knew what hit me, there arrived in my palm a generous dollop of some new product they were trying to market. It was a pale purple shaded sort of thick lotion that smelled strongly of something that tried desperately to be floral. As I rubbed the goop between my palms, I felt tiny grains rolling about in the stuff.

"Um," I said, confused. Lotion wasn't supposed to be so coarse ... was it?

"That's our new exfoliating lotion," the clerk explained.

Exfoliating?

"Pardon?" Monet queried.

At this point Jubilee was sniffing her hands. "Lilac!" she exclaimed.

"In our classic freesia scent," the clerk continued. "May I help you find anything else?"

"No thanks," Paige said rather tersely. "We're fine."

Well, fine, then, she could be that way. She might not be in a good mood but there was no need to bother other people about it. Even if those people were in need of some sort of mood adjustment.

The clerk left to share her magical exfoliating lotion with the new customers.

"But I needed --" Jubilee began protesting. Whining, actually, but was silenced with a Look from Monet.

"I've got a minor problem," Paige said.

I felt my eyebrows instinctively knit together, confused as well as concerned. Then it dawned on me: exfoliating... which removed the outer layer of dead skin cells. It was all I could do to keep from laughing -- there was no reason for me to find it so humorous, but I did and I bit my lip.

After first looking to see if anyone else was watching, she slowly brought her hands out from behind her back. The skin on her palms was ripped open, not appearing to really hurt, but still worrying her. And it was disgusting.

"Um," I said. "We should go ... ah ... " I couldn't think. My head hurt. I tried not to laugh. I tried not to be too grossed out. And could exfoliating lotion really do such a thing? I thought she'd had more control than that. Oh, well ... I guess not. Maybe it caught her off guard.

"To the ladies' room," Paige finished.

Monet nodded and turned towards Jubilee, but the effervescent firecracker wasn't there. A flash of bright yellow jacket accompanied by a magenta aura indicated her presence in the back of the store; she was "testing" various types of lotions and refresher sprays and practically everything else one could imagine. "You go," Monet insisted.

Curious -- she was actually offering to stay with Jubilee? And her aura glimmered with green, which had overtaken the purple that had fought with it earlier.

Anyhow, I was virtually dragged from the store as I followed Paige to the ladies' room. "Are you okay?" I asked gently as we stood on the escalator.

She blinked. "I'm alright, I guess ... I didn't think anything of it ... "

Of the lotion, I knew she meant. Didn't she? I nodded, though her hands weren't what I was referring to. We got off the escalator and pushed through the crowd, on our way to the restrooms. Surprisingly, there was no line, and the restroom itself was relatively empty.

I turned on a faucet (Paige's hands were still dripping lotion) and she thrust her hands under the running water, giving me a very small, yet somehow thankful smile. Under the water she peeled the remainder from her fingertips and let the pieces of skin wash down the drain.

"Are you okay?" I asked again, this time meaning nothing even close to the little incident that had just occurred.

Startled, she blinked at me again, searching for words and finding none. "I'm going to ... I'll only be a moment," she said before disappearing into a stall.

That wasn't what I'd meant.

"I mean," I told the closed door, "I know you don't know me all that well, and if I -- I mean, I just want to help is all."

"You're a telepath, figure it out," came the response.

Where had she gotten that impression? This wasn't turning out good at all. "No," I reminded, "empath. It works different."

"The end result is the same, though, right?"

"Not really, no."

She didn't answer; the sound of something ripping could be heard. Almost like paper, actually, or -- no, not paper, more ... flexible. Sort of like the glue thing that was all the rage when I was in elementary school, when I'd spread a layer of Elmer's over my palm and then slowly peel it off. The imprint of one's hand could be seen in the dried glue and it looked rather like ... well, shed skin.

"It -- " I continued, trying to define exactly what it was I did. "I -- I pick up on emotions and stuff, people glow ... I don't really know how it works but I do know I'm no telepath. And even if I were," I added, "I'd much rather ask outright than go poking around in your head without permission ... and, I don't know ... I just want to help."

A long silence followed. Almost too long.

"Paige?" I called. "You in there? You okay?"

"Ah -- I'll be right out." She was worried, more so than she'd like to have me believe. I didn't let on that I knew. I wondered if that was just as bad as an unwilling telepathic invasion of privacy.

"You sure?" I asked cautiously, fearing I might step on something that would set her off again. The girl was like a minefield....

"Yeah -- you go on ahead," she suggested. "I'll be right behind you."

"If you say so.... " It had gotten to the point where perhaps I shouldn't butt in. After all, her personal life wasn't my business. But it still didn't prevent me from worrying about her. I went on headed back out into the mall, into the sea of people and their dimly glowing auras. Thankfully, only Zeeps glowed so brightly -- I could easily find Alison and the guys just outside a CD store, bags in hand. Taking a deep breath, I walked over. It wouldn't be so bad, not with Alison there. She understood me ... most of the time. She knew where I was coming from and if I went psycho here it wouldn't matter, it wouldn't matter, she would think nothing different of me because she was used to me, but, well, I didn't know about ... about other people.

"Jen!" Alison called, spotting me. "Hey!"

"Hi," I answered softly. Jono was right there oh my gosh he was standing right there what was I supposed to do/say/think/feel? Oh my gosh and I could feel my blood pressure steadily increasing and I thought I might die --

"We were just gonna get some lunch," Everett explained.

Lunch? I couldn't eat not now not here not with him and besides I'd feel so guilty eating in front of him but --

"You want to come with?" Everett continued. Come with when Jono was going to be right here no there was no way I could eat anything but oh my gosh he probably -- He probably wouldn't be coming with, I realized all of a sudden as my thoughts slowed down, and began to form coherent phrases instead of that wild chaos that was my mind at that point. Right. It all made sense: there was no way Jono would be coming to lunch, because Jono didn't eat. And that way, everything would be okay.

"Sure," I agreed, and joined them all to the food court.

Them all? He was coming with? No no no this was worse than I thought what was he doing here he didn't eat!

"So," Alison asked of me, "what do you want?" Everett and Angelo had already gone off to get in their respective lines for food.

I didn't want anything. Not now. But I scanned the food court anyway, or at least pretended to. Truth was, there was no way I could eat. "Um," I answered. I seemed to be saying that a lot lately.

"Okay," Alison said. "I'll go see if they have any of that," as she trotted off to get a veggieburger, leaving me behind with Jono, who quite obviously wouldn't be getting lunch. Some friend she was, leaving me to my own devices in a situation such as this! Such as this! She ought to have known better ... shouldn't she?

"Um," I heard myself say -- couldn't I have possibly said anything more intelligent? Trying very hard to ignore my current predicament, I plunged past Jono into the crowd to secure a table. Finding one open as well as clean -- usually a miracle -- didn't seem to be a problem. I turned a chair from the table and began people-watching, my favorite sport. Anything to get away from --

*Do I scare you that much, gel?*

I wanted to deny that beautiful British voice rolling around in my head, to deny that it even existed, because as it was, it was only fostering my insanity. I turned around very slowly, trying not to fall out of the chair as I did so because that would simply be too embarrassing. Somehow, Jono had managed to silently take the seat across from mine and was now awaiting an answer.

"Uh -- er -- no," I managed to say, feeling something jump inside me -- my heart, perhaps, threatening to leave if I didn't acknowledge it soon.

*That's surprising.* A hint of sarcasm? Was that what I sensed? No -- no, he was sincere. He truly thought I found him frightening. That wasn't it -- not quite it.

I bit my lip. "I didn't see you," I lied, the words pouring from my lips without any control on my part.

He didn't believe me, just sort of nodded, no discernible emotion in his eyes. That subdued ring of indigo blue light surrounded his dark shape as he tried to decide what to make of me. *I'm not that 'ard ter miss,* he finally pointed out.

"Well ... " I admitted, "no." If only he knew -- if only!

The subject was dismissed as Alison, Angelo, and Everett showed up with their trays of food. "You sure you don't want anything?" Alison asked before she said so much as "Hi, I'm back".

I nodded. "I'm not hungry." I was starving.

"They have Chinese," she tempted.

Mmm, orange chicken ... eggrolls ... fried rice ... Fruitopia! "No thanks, maybe later."

"If you say so," Alison said and took a large bite out of her veggieburger, chewing thoughtfully. She eyed her sandwich with a funny look, then gave me the same expression.

"What?" I asked. She was starting to bug me.

"You want this?" she offered.

"No! I'm not hungry!" I insisted. "Besides," I added calmly as the people at nearby tables were beginning to stare, "I don't care for soyburgers."

Alison grumbled and shoved her styrofoam plate towards the center of the table.

"I don't want it. You eat. Grow." I shoved the plate back towards her.

"Well, I don't want it." Shove.

"I'm not hungry!" Shove.

"Neither am I!" Shove.

Jono looked longingly at the plate. Why did everything always come back to him?

I wanted to crawl under the table. "Um," I said yet again and stood up. I said nothing as I effectively removed myself from the situation and made a beeline for the Chinese food, if only to get away from the pure oddity of it all.

When I returned, my paper plate piled high with orange chicken and fried rice, the guys had already left, leaving Alison at the table to await my return.

"What happened?" I asked, thankful that I could eat my food in peace without feeling guilty and without the threat of melting into the floor.

She shrugged. "Well, Jono just got up and left. Then Ange and Ev followed after him."

I twisted the cap off my Fruitopia bottle and took a drink, letting the sweet red liquid flow into my throat. "And you're here because ...?"

"I'm such a good friend," she finished.

I nodded and set my tray on the table and shovelled forkfuls of fried rice into my face. "So what's goin' on?" I asked between bites, trying to make some sort of makeshift conversation.

"I thought you weren't hungry," she commented.

"Are you kidding?"

"But you said ... " she was about to point out before realizing that the point was quite inarguable.

"I know," I answered anyway, "but that was, ah, the elephant." I coughed before she could get another word in to even ask what I meant by "the elephant".

We were then interrupted by a telepathic command from Emma. She was nowhere to be seen -- how had she managed to do this? Long-range ... *All students please report to the west entrance. We will be leaving in ten minutes.*

And then she was gone. She'd given us a time to meet back earlier, and now that it was nearing that time, she was issuing warnings. Lovely. "Did you hear that?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yeah -- I wish she'd just stay out of my head!"

I agreed wholeheartedly. I finished up my chicken and dumped my garbage but carried my half-filled bottle of Fruitopia with me.

"Fruitopia doesn't go with Chinese," Alison told me.

"Of course it does," I insisted. "Fruitopia always goes with Chinese!" I was ignored for the remainder of the walk to the west entrance. Fortunately the doors were labeled; since moving so far east my usually well-honed sense of direction was all messed up.

It was just another unusual thing about me, I guessed -- if one were to spin me around and ask me which direction I was facing, I could do it. I could because I homed in on east, though, like there was some magnet somewhere I could focus on. I knew it didn't have anything to do with being a mutant, and it couldn't be, because my friend Katja had the same thing, only she homed in on south. I guess we're just weird, you know? Either that or aliens ... and Mulder and Scully hadn't come for us yet. ;)