"So when's the last time you were in a classroom?" Monet asked Skylar as they walked from their dorm to the building where classes were held. Like the other buildings on the school grounds, it was an imposing brick structure, too large for the few students, or so Skylar thought.

Answering Monet, Skylar said, "Well, there were a few classes the YMCA held for the street kids a while back. Sex ed, mostly, but they were held at an abandoned high school before the city tore it down."

Monet nodded. "Well, things are a little different here. We have the basics in the morning -- algebra and grammar, literature and history and physics --"

"Physics?" Skylar interrupted. "Gimme an F already."

"It's not that bad." Monet smiled. "If you ever need a study partner, I'm the best." Continuing where she left off, she added, "We take a break around noon, play a team sport or go swimming, eat lunch. Then in the afternoon we train."

"With your powers?"

Monet nodded again. "Don't worry -- you'll do fine."

Skylar grinned wryly. "You think they'll let me sit out today? I seem to have left my powers at home."

In the classroom, the first few desks were already taken. Paige sat front and center, her nose already buried in a book. On either side of her sat Jubilee and Everett. Jubilee talked around Paige, her voice already loud and annoying as she tried to distract Paige. Jono and Angelo were in the next row, an empty desk between them that Skylar avoided. She slipped into the chair directly behind it, and Monet sat in front of her, between the boys. As she passed Jono's chair, Skylar had smiled at him -- he nodded slightly and watched her pass. When she sat down, though, Angelo turned around and grinned at her. God, he had a nice smile. She couldn't stop herself from smiling back. Just as he leaned over to say something to her, however, Emma Frost and Sean Cassidy entered the room, and everyone quieted down. Skylar was relieved when Angelo faced the front without speaking to her. She was afraid of what she might have said.

Ms. Frost spoke. "Sean and I have decided it would be helpful to your education if we were to invite guest lecturers to teach certain subjects," she began. "Today Dr. Henry McCoy has been generous enough to grace us with his presence. You may recognize him as the X-Man known as Beast. Dr. McCoy?"

The man who entered the classroom was unlike any man Skylar had ever seen. For one thing, he was covered in thick blue fur. It peeked out from the sleeves of his three piece suit; it obscured his face. His feet were large and claw-like and bare, similar to his hands, and teeth that resembled fangs protruded from his lower lip. He didn't look like a doctor -- Skylar wondered if he could even speak.

But when he opened his mouth, the mutant known as Beast dispelled all illusions of ignorance. "Good morning, students," he began in a cultured voice that belayed his monstrous appearance. Emma and Sean sat down in chairs over in a corner of the room, to the side of Dr. McCoy and facing the class. "Hello, Jubilee," Dr. McCoy remarked. "How has the academic life been treating you as of late?"

"So-so," Jubilee answered. "How's Wolvie?"

Laughing affectatiously, Dr. McCoy answered, "The same old curmudgeon he has always been. There is one man who shall never change." Turning back to the class, he continued, "Today I shall introduce you to a fascinating subject, one that I find endlessly invigorating to ponder -- the biophysics and multidimensional aspects of Sh'iar technology, focusing on the long-term affects of displacement caused by the usage of such technology in this plane of existence."

Skylar groaned. She was lost already! What the hell did Sh'iar mean? She had never heard of the word before. But no one else looked confused -- they all had pens in hand to take notes. She couldn't even spell Sh'iar!

But she was not about to raise her hand to ask. She may be ignorant of this whole mutant thing but she wasn't about to let anyone else know. As McCoy's easy voice droned on into the morning, Skylar leaned over her desk, propped her head in her hands and slid down so that Ms. Frost and Mr. Cassidy couldn't see her behind Monet. She'd just sit here and wait for the lecture to be over. Monet would let her borrow her notes.

Sh'iar this, Sh'iar that. Dr. McCoy's voice lulled Skylar's eyes closed. Jumping slightly, she jerked herself awake. Looking around guiltily, she saw that everyone's attention was still focused on their guest speaker. Stifling a yawn, Skylar let her eyes slip close again. Maybe she could concentrate better on his words if she kept them closed. Not as many distractions . . .

Thinking this, she lowered her head to the desk. This is beyond me, she thought, and then she fell asleep.

An hour into Beast's lecture, the students all looked at him with glazed expressions, bored of the subject and tired of hearing the word Sh'iar. Only Paige continued to scribble down notes, Emma Frost noted. Monet sat behind her with an aloof expression on her face -- though Emma hated to admit it, Monet was probably the only one who understood what Beast was saying. Emma herself had tuned him out fifteen minutes ago.

Suddenly, Emma noticed something odd. Turning to Sean, sitting beside her with his head propped up on the desk, she whispered, "Where's the new girl?"

"Skylar?" Sean asked, surveying the room. "She was sitting right behind M --" Leaning to one side, he looked at the back of the room. "She's still there. Just sleeping, is all."

"Sleeping?" Emma asked. If she had to listen to Dr. McCoy's tirade, then the students were going to listen to it as well. "I'll just see about that."

Concentrating, Emma focused her psionic powers into a tunnel of thought-controlled energy that raced towards Skylar. Although she couldn't detect the girl's mind for some reason, she directed the energy behind Monet, a small psionic zap to wake the girl up.

Nothing happened. Emma felt a small twitch of energy briefly envelope her own mind, and then it was gone.

Once more, Emma sent a psionic wake-up call out to Skylar. She thought she heard a slight groan from behind Monet, but that was it. What should have sent her sitting straight up in her chair did nothing to Skylar. Again Emma felt a backlash of energy sweep over her, and she wondered if Skylar's powers were psionic in nature -- if perhaps she was blocking the White Queen's attempts deliberately.

That would not do. Using the full extent of her psionic powers, Emma sent a wave of thought spiraling across the room at Skylar. Monet and Jono both felt the psionic energy race past them -- they looked at Emma and then turned around towards Skylar. Suddenly Monet gasped. "Skylar!" she cried, interrupting Dr. McCoy's lecture as she jumped out of her seat and raced around to her friend.

Groggily Skylar sat up. Blood freely flowed from her nose, and Monet quickly tilted her head back and pinched her nostrils. "Wha' happened?" Skylar asked, reaching for her nose. Monet shooed her hands away.

"Ye fell asleep in class," Sean said, rising from his seat. "Ms. Frost thought it would be cute to wake you psionically. Ye could've been more subtle, Emma -- ye dinnae have to blow the poor lass's nose apart in the process."

When Emma didn't answer, Sean turned around. The energy she had used to rouse Skylar had backlashed with twice the force she had used to send it, and Emma was unprepared for the psionic attack. She lay crumpled across her desk. Tilting her head back, Sean saw her eyes roll back into her skull, felt her go limp in his arms. "Emma? Emma!"

Skylar sat in a small office inside the building Dr. McCoy had referred to as the Med-Lab. She rocked back in the large leather chair in which she sat, listening to the creak of the springs. There was no other sound in the whole world -- all she heard was the cree cree cree of the chair.

Beside her was a large oaken desk that took up most of the room. A computer stared blankly at her from its spot on the desktop, and medical journals and papers cluttered the rest of the desk. There was a phone that she had looked at, wondering if she should call anyone -- who would she call? -- but there were no buttons or dials anywhere on the thing and the last thing she wanted to do was pick up a hotline to some head honcho somewhere. She was already in enough trouble as it was -- pushing Jubilee was one thing. Killing a teacher was quite another.

She wondered if Ms. Frost was dead. She didn't remember much -- after waking up, everything sort of jumbled together. There was the headache, a blinding pain that had eased away slowly, and there was the blood, all over her hands and desk. She remembered Monet, holding her head back to stop the bleeding, and she remembered Angelo helping Monet guide her to the bathroom to clean up. When she had returned to the classroom, everyone was gone except for Dr. McCoy, who led her to this office and then left.

Something cold trickled down her arm. It was from the icepack she held to her nose, the ice starting to melt. Clearing a spot on the desk, she set the icepack and the towel wrapped around it down, and sighed. She was scared.

Behind her, the door opened. Skylar turned and saw Dr. McCoy enter. A white physician's robe covered his suit, and he held a clipboard in one hand. "Hello, Skylar," he said. His voice was soft and calming.

Skylar relaxed slightly. "Hello."

He sat down on the edge of the desk and looked at her for a long moment. When she could no longer stand the silence, Skylar asked, "Is she dead?"

"Who -- Emma?" Dr. McCoy chuckled. "Oh no, not at all. She is still very much alive." Skylar sighed in relief. Dr. McCoy continued. "She was merely rendered unconscious. It appears that in trying to contact you psionically, she managed to knock herself out."

"How?" Maybe she wasn't in trouble after all.

But Dr. McCoy frowned, and lines creased his forehead. "That is the question, really. I've isolated the signature of the psionic blast and can only conclude that the charge that disabled her belongs to none other than Emma Frost herself. It appears as though the psionic energy she directed at you was reflected back to her. As if it ricocheted off you and hit her with twice the amount of force." He looked at her closely. "Why don't you tell me what happened?"

Shrugging, Skylar cried, "I don't know what happened. One minute I'm asleep and the next I'm awake with a splitting headache and a bloody nose!" Pouting, she said, "You seem to know more about the whole thing than I do. You tell me what happened."

Instead, he studied the sheets of paper on the clipboard in his hand. Skylar bit the inside of her cheek to keep from saying anything else and waited. Just when she thought he wouldn't say another word, he said, "You don't have to be afraid, Skylar. You haven't done anything wrong."

"Yeah, well, tell that to Ms. Frost," she said. "She's gonna hate me when she wakes up."

Dr. McCoy chuckled again. "She should not have used her psionic powers on you when the extent of your own powers are still unknown."

"What powers?" Skylar whispered. "I'm not a --"

"Mutant?" Dr. McCoy looked at her over the top of his thin, wire-framed glasses. "But my dear, yes you are."

"Professor Xavier first isolated your power signature in 1977 -- when you were ten years old." Dr. McCoy leaned over her chair and typed on the keyboard on the desk. In front of them, the computer came to life, its screen showing images of different kids all her age. Behind the images was a large map of the world, and information scrolled endlessly at the bottom of the screen. Typing in a few coordinates, Dr. McCoy centered onto one image, one Sklyar recognized immediately. It was herself -- she had been ten at the time, and the photo was the one the school had taken for its yearbook. God, her hair looked awful that day. "You went to the doctor because you were having headaches -- migraines that would come and go suddenly. Do you remember what the doctor told you?"

Skylar laughed. "He said they were tension headaches. Yeah, right."

"Did he tell you anything else?"

Thinking back, Skylar shook her head. "No, but he did talk to my mom privately. Later I asked her what was said and she told me nothing -- her exact words were, My baby's not going to some hyped up philanthropist in New York." Looking at Dr. McCoy, Skylar asked, "Did she mean Professor X? When the doctor called the house once, I answered, and he said that I should talk with Professor X, but my mom slammed the phone down and told me not to listen to him."

Dr. McCoy nodded. "She probably didn't want to think about what they told her -- that the headaches were the first signs of a mutant gene."

Skylar frowned. "So I guess I do belong here, eh? I guess I am a mutant."

Dr. McCoy ruffled her hair with one large hand. "You are a very powerful mutant, Skylar. You have a lot of potential within you. Xavier sensed as much when he invited you here to learn to control your powers."

"How can I control something I don't even know I have?" She looked up at him.

Turning from the computer, Dr. McCoy studied the clipboard once again. "You can hear Jono speak, can you not?"

Skylar smiled as she thought of Jono. She wondered where he was now. "It's like he talks directly into my mind," she said, a bit wistfully.

Dr. McCoy nodded. "And he speaks psionically. If you can hear him, you must be about to control your powers to some extent. Yet Monet said a mindscan she tried on you didn't work, and we all know what happened when Emma tried to use her powers. I wonder if your power is confined to psionic reflection?"

Skylar bit her lip. She wondered if he knew about the incident with Jubilee. But he didn't ask and she didn't volunteer the information. As he scribbled down a few notes on his clipboard, he said, "What I'd like to do is run a computed axial topography scan of your frontal lobe and see --"

"Do what?" Skylar asked. "Can you say that again, only in English this time?"

"A CAT scan," he said, once more looking over his glasses at her. "A simple procedure, really, to see --"

Pushing herself out of the chair, she shook her head. "No."

"It's nothing, really."

"No," she said again. She had an aversion to doctors and hospitals -- if she had never gone to the doctor when she was ten years old, she wouldn't be in this mess now. She'd have a home and a family, and if she was a mutant then she wouldn't know it. "I'm not going to be probed and prodded like some guinea pig."

Dr. McCoy sighed. "Skylar --" he began, but she interrupted him.

"I said no."

Taking off his glasses, he looked at her with compassion. "What are you afraid of?" he asked gently.

She glared at him but remained quiet. Minutes passed slowly between them until finally Dr. McCoy sighed and said, "Promise me you will consider the tests. If you're going to be a part of Generation X, your teammates deserve to know the limits of your powers. You deserve to know your own strengths and weaknesses. Promise me you'll consider learning more about your mutant powers."

When Skylar didn't reply, Dr. McCoy said, "You can be stubborn, can't you?"

"I try," she said, cocky. "Can I go now?"

She didn't even wait for an answer before slamming the door behind her as she left.

Skylar sat on the ground with her back against the warm brick of the boys' dorm, fighting the urge to cry. God, I should just go back to L.A., she thought, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Leave this superhero kick to those who want it.

Suddenly she heard someone coming towards her. Footsteps rustled through the lush grass, and Skylar looked up to see Angelo smiling down at her. "Hola, chica," he said, sitting beside her.

"Hey." They sat quietly for a moment, and then Skylar said, "I thought everyone was playing basketball."

"They are," he answered. He picked at the grass in front of him.

Sniffling, Skylar asked, "Then how'd you find me?"

Angelo smiled. "This is the farthest spot from the ball courts," he said. "Where else would you be?"

Looking into his smiling eyes, she found herself smiling back. "Angelo," she began, but he quieted her by covering her hand with his. She looked at him, expectant.

"Shh," he said. He squeezed her hand gently. "Let's forget about L.A. and the gangs and everything. I just don't want to lose the chance to get to know you again."

Tears glistened in her eyes. "Angelo, I didn't mean to be so evil to you yesterday. It's just that you startled me. I thought you were dead."

He laughed, an infectious sound that brought a smile to her lips. "That seems to be the general theory back home." She laughed, and he smiled. "How is everyone back in the nabe?"

She sighed. "Same old, same old. Calliope's still trying to get Tores to join up with her, and Tores is still not quite sure she wants to diss her family for us." Catching herself, she corrected, "I mean, for Calliope."

"Calliope can be very persuasive," Angelo said.

"Tell me about it," Skylar remarked.

Leaning back against the wall, Angelo's shoulder rested against hers, and she thought briefly about pulling away. Instead she settled back and pretended she didn't feel the soft pressure of his touch. Around them the campus was quiet -- the only sounds were the birds in the trees and the far off shouts of the others. Skylar wondered if Jono was out there shooting hoops -- he didn't strike her as the type to participate in group activities. Suddenly Angelo asked, "How'd you get away?"

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged, the movement sending chills down her spine. "Calliope's not the type to just let you go without a fight. What'd she say when you told her you were coming here?"

Skylar looked at the ground. "I didn't tell her," she whispered. "Goner took me to the airport and said she'd handle Calliope. She's always looked out for me. I half expect a phone call any minute, Calliope calling long distance, telling me to come back."

"Would you?"

She pulled her knees up to her chin. "A few minutes before you showed up, I wanted to -- leave this place behind and never look back. But I've been doing that my whole life -- running away. Maybe it's time I stopped running and started fighting back."

Angelo picked a piece of grass off of the hem of her skirt, and she watched him smooth the torn fabric down against her thigh. Changing the subject, he asked, "Wanna go for a ride?"

"You got a car?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I got a license," he replied.

She laughed. "That'll get us far."

"The school has cars -- I know where they keep the keys."

She looked at him, and he raised his gaze from the hem of her skirt to meet hers. "Where would we go?" she asked. There was nothing out this way but back roads and trees.

He shrugged. "Boston's not that far -- an hour at the most."

"We're there, dude," she replied, smiling. Just what she needed -- to get away, especially after a day like today. Standing up, she offered him her hand and pulled him up off the ground. "Where's the car?"

The campus was dark when they returned. Angelo drove the car into the garage with the headlights off, and Skylar had to suppress a giggle when he tiptoed inside the main building to return the keys. Together they walked across campus, avoiding the lit paths, and Skylar didn't object when he shyly took her hand in his. They walked hand in hand to the girls' dorm.

Outside the dorm, Skylar stopped. Facing Angelo, she was suddenly at a loss for words. The afternoon had passed quickly -- they ate dinner at an outside café, walked through the historic section of Boston, had ice cream cones from a small shoppe called the French Betsy, watched the ships roll in and out with the tide at the Harbor. All too quickly the day was spent, and by the time they returned to the school, night had fallen. But suddenly she didn't want the day to end. For the first time in quite a long while, she had had fun. "Thank you," she said simply.

Angelo smiled that infuriating grin of his. "Anytime, señorita. Mi casa es su casa."

She giggled. Through the doors of the dorm she could see the lighted hall, the stairs leading up to her room, but out here the light didn't reach them. She leaned back against the wall. "Well," she said, her voice suddenly husky, "I guess this is goodnight."

"No," Angelo said, bending close to her. She reached out and grabbed the front of his open flannel shirt with both hands, and his body pressed against hers. "This is." He lowered his lips to hers, and kissed her tenderly.

She tightened her grip on his shirt and pulled him a little closer. Her eyes slipped closed and her lips parted, but he pulled back slowly. She opened her eyes -- his face was still inches from hers. He studied her face in the scant light and she gently tugged at his shirt. Smiling, he leaned closer to kiss her again.

Suddenly the door opened beside them. Skylar turned and saw Paige standing there, her eyes wide behind her glasses. "I'm sorry," she stammered.

Angelo pulled away from Skylar, and she released her hold on his shirt. Running a hand through his hair, he said gruffly, "'Night, Sky."

Absently, she replied, "'Night, Angelo." She watched him walk away and disappear into the darkness of the night. Her lips ached to kiss him again, but beside her Paige cleared her throat. With difficulty, Skylar turned her attention back to the girl who had spoiled the ending to a perfect evening. "What do you want?" she asked.

Nervously, Paige toyed with a notebook she held. "I thought you'd like to borrow my notes from this morning," she said. "Since you missed most of the lecture, I thought --"

"What?" Skylar asked, incredulous.

"I just thought --" Paige stuttered and swallowed hard. She looked at Skylar with a pleading expression in her eyes.

Exasperated, Skylar cried, "You came outside to ask me that?" She brushed past Paige into the dorm and hurried up the stairs before Paige could think to follow her. The nerve!, Skylar thought. I bet she's never even been kissed and here she is ruining my goodnight kiss.

That brought her up short. Why had she let Angelo kiss her? Hadn't she vowed to put the past behind her? But they had such a great time alone in Boston, and he was a good kisser. She did so love a good kiss. Besides, she thought, pushing open the door to her room, Jono can't kiss me. Quickly she erased that thought from her mind and entered her room.

Monet lay on her bed reading. She didn't look up when Skylar came in. "Jono was looking for you," she said.

Skylar sat on her own bed and looked across the room at Monet. "He was?" she asked, her heart skipping. "What did he want?"

"I didn't ask him."

"Was he mad?" Skylar asked. She wondered if he knew she was with Angelo.

Monet shrugged. "I don't know," she said. Looking up from her book, she met Skylar's gaze. "Should he have been?"

Groaning, Skylar flopped back on her bed. "Oh, Monet," she moaned. "What the hell have I gotten myself into?"

"Don't curse," Monet admonished, closing her book. "It shows poor upbringing."

Skylar sighed. "You said I wasn't ga-ga over guys and here I am worrying about what Jono thinks of me running around with Angelo when nothing happened between us." She wasn't going to tell Monet about one little kiss, and if Paige told anyone, she'd break her neck. "And I'm not even worried about what I should be worried about -- school or class or the fact that my teacher lies unconscious tonight thanks to me."

"Ms. Frost is fine," Monet said. "A little peeved that you were off the school grounds without permission, but other than that --"

Skylar rolled onto her side and looked at Monet. "She's better?" she asked.

Monet nodded as she crawled under her covers. She closed her eyes and Skylar watched her for a long moment before asking, "She's really pissed at me, huh?"

Opening one eye, Monet looked at her. "You don't know the half of it," she said.

Suddenly Skylar started to laugh. She couldn't help it -- something within her broke, and the tension building inside of her all day was released. She could handle an angry teacher -- just as long as she wasn't dead. What Dr. McCoy must think of her -- falling asleep in his lecture, refusing to take his tests! And then all the old feelings resurfacing when Angelo kissed her -- Skylar couldn't help but laugh. It made her feel a little more in control.

In bed, Monet laughed with her. Skylar turned out the light and crawled under her own covers. Still giggling, Monet said, "Goodnight, Skylar."

"Goodnight." But when she stopped laughing, Skylar laid awake for a long time. She still felt Angelo's kiss on her lips, and the musky scent of his cologne clung to her hair.