"I look ridiculous in this getup," Skylar moaned. She stood in front of a full-length mirror dressed in a shiny maroon one-piece jumpsuit that Ms. Frost had said would be her new uniform. She sucked in her stomach and arched her back, but the suit still made her look too . . . curvy, or something. "Any supervillians I run into will die laughing."

"You don't look that bad," Monet said. She sat at Skylar's desk reading, and didn't look up as Skylar turned around to look at herself in the mirror from a different angle.

Skylar glanced her way. "How would you know?" she asked. "You didn't look at me."

"I've seen you already," Monet replied. "You've been standing in front of that mirror for almost fifteen minutes. You're worse than Paige."

Sighing, Skylar asked, "Why red? I look awful in red. Why not black? Why not a dark blue?"

"Everyone wears the same color," Monet said, looking up from her book. "Even Jono wears red."

Skylar met the gaze of her reflection in the mirror. "Jono wears this color too?" she asked, and then she bent over to see how the fabric pulled against her back and legs. The jumpsuit was made of some weird fibers that seemed to flow around her body, so that no matter how she turned, it settled perfectly to her form. In the mirror she saw Monet watching her, wearing the same outfit. "Are all these things the same?"

Monet shrugged. "Most of them. All of the girls' outfits are the same, anyway."

"Great," Skylar said, standing up straight again and running her hands down her stomach. "We'll all look like Charlie's Angels."

Grinning, Monet said, "It's not that bad, Sky."

"Look at me, Monet!" Skylar cried, and this time, her roommate complied. When she had her full attention, Skylar whispered, "I look normal."

Monet laughed and shook her head. "Not with that hair, you don't."

Skylar studied herself a few minutes longer in the mirror. Maybe if this thing had a lower neckline, she thought, or shorter sleeves, or . . . "M?" she asked suddenly, and Monet looked up at her. "Can you do me a big favor, oh roomie dear?"

"Uh-oh," Monet replied, closing her book. "What now?"

Skylar turned and looked at Monet with a wide-eyed, innocent expression on her face. "Would you be so kind as to go ask Paige if I could borrow her sewing shears? For just a second?"

"Don't tell me you're going to cut your outfit," Monet said, standing up. "Ms. Frost will have a fit."

Shrugging, Skylar looked back at her reflection in the mirror. "Just a snip here and there. I'm not going to cut it, really. Just . . . customize it."

"You look fine," Monet said again, heading for the door. A knock sounded on the wood before she reached it, and when she opened the door, Angelo stood there in his Generation X uniform, an open short-sleeved shirt over a thin tank top, and a pair of shorts. As she brushed past him, she said, "Tell her not to cut too much."

"What's she going to cut?" Angelo asked, coming into the room.

"Tell her she looks beautiful," Monet said, pulling the door closed behind her.

"You look beautiful," Angelo said, looking at Skylar.

Skylar sighed. "Scissors, Monet!" she called as the door shut. Looking at Angelo, she said, "Don't start."

"You really do look good," he said, coming closer to her.

She ran a hand down the front of her outfit again, trying to smooth down the fabric, as if it needed it. "With this green hair and this red suit," she said, looking at his reflection in the mirror, "I feel like a Christmas present."

"I wouldn't mind finding you under my tree," he whispered. She looked up at him. When did he get so close? He stood just inches from her.

Backing away, she waved him off. "If you'd stop looking at my boobs you'd see this outfit isn't me," she said, opening the closet. Suddenly she was well aware of his gaze on her back.

"That's not all I'm looking at," he replied.

He came over and sat down at her desk, turning the chair around so he could watch her dig through the closet. "What're you looking for, chiquita?" he asked, leaning back in the chair.

She pulled out a tank-top and a pair of cut-off denim shorts, and ignored his question. Without thinking, she tugged at the zipper on the front of her uniform, pulling it down to her navel. She heard a hiss of breath and looked up to see Angelo staring at the creamy flesh of her stomach and the tiny white catch of her bra that showed where the fabric was unzipped. She could've smacked herself -- now he'd really think she liked him!

"I forgot you were here," she said. "Close your eyes and turn around."

Obeying her, he watched her silhouette in the black computer screen as she pulled the tank-top over her head. When she slipped out of the outfit and pulled the jean shorts up, he said, "To think I just came here to talk and you gave me a little sight of heaven."

Leaning past him to pick up a hairbrush, she growled, "And if you say anything to anybody, I'll give you hell." He looked up at her as she ran the brush through her hair vigorously. "I'm not used to this life," she said. "I even left the windows open. I never had to worry about that kind of stuff before. There was no one around but us girls."

"There's a lot of things to get used to around here," Angelo admitted. He turned the chair around again and faced her. "Do you miss it?" he asked. "The street life?"

Shrugging, Skylar set the brush down and picked up her outfit. Pulling at the uniform's legs, she whispered, "I don't know." Something in her voice made Angelo pull her close, and she didn't stop him when he pulled her down onto his lap. She laid her head on his shoulder and sniffled. "I just don't know if I did the right thing."

"By coming here?" he asked, his voice soft. With one hand he stroked her hair back from her brow, and the other one rested on her thigh, holding her to him. Beneath them, the chair creaked.

Skylar laughed. "I'd hate to have to explain to Ms. Frost how this chair broke," she said.

Angelo laughed with her. "It won't break." Looking at her, he asked again, "Do you miss the old days?"

Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, Skylar said, "I miss Calliope. I can't believe I left without saying goodbye."

"She's a hard chica to like," Angelo said. "I can't believe you miss her all that much."

"She was my best friend," Skylar replied. "Whenever I felt bad, she always made me feel better. No matter what happened, she was always there for me. No matter what I did, she still liked me. That kind of friendship is hard to come by."

Shrugging, Angelo said, "Some people would be willing to be that kind of friend to you if only you'd let them get that close."

They sat there for a minute, her head on his shoulder, her body warm in his arms, while Angelo watched Skylar's face and Skylar looked at the floor. Then she looked up and smiled wanly. "I should've told her where I was going," she said.

Angelo shook his head. "She wouldn't have let you go." He looked into her eyes and leaned closer. "And I for one am glad you came." She closed her eyes as he drew her to him.

Suddenly, the door opened. "Knock, knock," Paige called out. As she came into the room, Skylar pushed away from Angelo and stood up. Paige stopped and turned away. "I'm sorry --" she began.

"It's okay," Skylar said. "Did you bring the scissors?"

Nodding, Paige faced Skylar and held out the scissors. "I didn't mean --" she began again, but Skylar took the scissors from her and shook her head.

"You're fine," she said. "I was just --"

"She's homesick," Angelo said, turning the chair around to face Paige.

Nodding again, Paige smiled. "I know how that is," she said. "I miss my family something terrible sometimes. I mean, Sam's been away from home for a while now, first with X-Force and now with the X-Men, but I'm not used to it. I miss my momma and the twins, and Josh and Joelle and --"

"How many of you are there?" Skylar asked, sitting down on her bed. She held her uniform by the knees and began to cut the bottom half of the leggings off.

Paige grinned. "There are a lot of us," she said. "But when I feel sad all I have to do is pick up the phone and call home, and it's like I never left. It's like --"

Skylar's hand trembled, and she bit her lower lip to keep back the tears. "I can't even do that," she said, her voice very small. "I wouldn't even know where to call."

"Oh." Paige stood there and watched as Skylar wiped her eyes and began to cut into the uniform again.

"Thank you for the scissors," Skylar said.

Paige smiled. "Anytime." She looked at Angelo, who nodded at the door and stood up. "I guess I'll see you guys later," Paige said, turning back to the door. "If you need anything else --"

"I'll let you know," Skylar finished, the tears in her eyes spilling down her cheeks. She wiped them away as Angelo came over to the bed. Kneeling beside her, he gathered her into his arms. She wrapped her arms around him and cried into his shoulder. Quietly, Paige shut the door behind her as she left.

"If only I could call her," Skylar said into Angelo's shoulder. "Let her know I'm all right."

Angelo nodded against her. "I know, chica," he said, thinking of his mother. He wished he could hear her voice once more too, but he knew it would never happen -- she thought he was dead, just like everyone else back home. But he knew how Skylar felt -- "I know," he whispered.

The students of Generation X stood gathered around Emma Frost outside of the Biosphere, the school's own "Danger Room." She stood in the doorway of a small control room, and behind her Sean Cassidy adjusted the environment inside the Biosphere. "Listen up," Emma said, referring to a clipboard she held. The students quieted. "Today's training will focus on teamwork. You will be paired into small groups and each team will have to get from one side of the Biosphere and back -- together -- as quickly as you can." She looked at the students and smiled. "Alive, of course. Unharmed, preferably. The first team will be Chamber and Ricochet. Where's Ricochet?"

A door opened further down the hall and Skylar ran in. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"What happened to your uniform?" Emma asked, one hand on her hip.

Skylar's maroon jumper had been cropped into shorts that hugged her thighs and ended just above her knees. She wore her black leather jacket but it was obvious that she had altered the collar of the jumper to form a scooped neckline, and the sleeves had been cut to very short, baby-doll sleeves. The material she had cut off was sewn into a short flouncey skirt that left much of her shorts exposed. "I'm waiting," Emma said. She didn't mind so much that the uniform had been changed -- it was very cute, and much more Skylar's style -- but the fact remained that she hadn't asked to make the changes. "You look like a Sailor Scout."

"This from someone who orders from Frederick's of Hollywood?" Skylar asked archly. Shrugging, she said, "This is more me," and she stared Emma down.

Emma wouldn't let Skylar get to her, even if she had designed the original outfits herself. "You, Jono, into the Biosphere," she said. "Now!"

*You've really pissed her off,* Jono said when the hatch to the Biosphere closed behind them.

Skylar smiled. "I try," she said. They stood side by side by the door, and the Biosphere stretched out before them, the trees dense and unnaturally quiet. Skylar leaned close to Jono and whispered, "What happens now?"

Before Jono could reply, Emma's voice erupted from loudspeakers hidden within the Biosphere. "You missed the briefing," she said from everywhere at once. "Together you have to get to the other side, pull the lever, and make it back, in as little time as possible. Since you're the first team, your time will be the one everyone else must beat. The timer starts when you take your first step."

"What if we never move?" Skylar asked.

Emma sighed in frustration. "Then you both fail. Now move."

Skylar stuck her middle finger up defiantly. Inside the control room Emma clicked off the microphone and stared at the video monitor that followed Skylar and Jono as they ventured deeper into the Biosphere. "She didn't," Emma whispered. Beside her Sean looked up. "Tell me she didn't do what I think she just did."

"Ye're too harsh on the lass," Sean said. "She's the type to buck at authority. Ye need a gentler touch with that one."

Emma reached past him and with the push of a few keys, increased the training level inside the Biosphere. "You're wrong, Sean," she replied. "She's the type you have to be tough with, else she'll walk all over you."

"This is her first time in the Biosphere!" Sean cried. "Ye should start the training slow."

Emma grinned. "She's a fast learner."

Inside the Biosphere, Skylar and Jono dashed for the far side of the room. They dodged swinging tree limbs and rolling logs. Once Skylar fell over an exposed root and skinned her knee, but when Jono stopped to help her, she waved him back. "We're almost halfway there," she said, pulling herself up. She wiped the blood from her knee with her sleeve. "Can't let a little scratch slow us down."

As they neared the far wall of the Biosphere, a small laser blasted from near the ceiling, trying to keep them from pulling the large red lever that would mark the halfway point of the exercise. Jono jumped out of the laser's path, but Skylar wasn't so lucky. The full force of the laser struck Skylar in the chest and rocked her back. *Gel!* Jono cried.

Pain erupted in her chest, spreading down her arms and balling in her palms. The energy of the blast gathered itself within the pain until she thought her hands would explode. As she raised her arms she saw the energy, golden fire running just beneath the surface of her skin. Suddenly fear gripped her -- this had never happened before.

And then the energy exploded from her hands in a long stream. The fiery energy blast destroyed the laser and tore through the roof of the Biosphere and still it seemed as if it would keep flowing from her. Burst after burst of redirected energy poured out of her hands and out of her control, out into the open sky beyond the Biosphere's cracked dome.

When the blast ended, Skylar staggered back into Jono. *You okay, luv?* he asked.

"Whoa," she said, steadying herself. She looked up at where the laser had been -- all that remained was a twisted and charred hunk of metal. Beyond that, the roof creaked where the blast had torn a ragged hole through it. "That's something new."

Inside the control room, Sean whistled low. "What the hell was that?" Emma asked, stunned.

Suddenly something landed heavily on the roof. Skylar and Jono looked up as they heard the fractured ceiling give way, and a woman fell to the ground. Her face was hidden by a fall of red curls, and she wore a battered leather aviator jacket over her green and yellow jumpsuit. Gently Jono brushed her hair back from her face, careful not to touch her skin. The hair was a burnt shade of auburn with a splash of solid white bangs framing her closed eyes. *I don't think she's --* Jono began.

Skylar rolled the woman onto her back and watched for the rise and fall of her chest, but there was no sign of life. "I didn't kill her, did I?" she asked.

On the monitor Emma got a good look at the woman as Skylar rocked back on her heels and out of Emma's line of vision. Reaching for the microphone, Emma yelled, "Don't touch her!"

Sean flipped the microphone on. "Try it again, Em."

"Skylar!" Emma cried. Her voice filled the Biosphere like the voice of God. "Don't touch that woman!"

Skylar leaned over the prone figure. "She's not breathing," she said in a small voice.

"Don't!" Emma cried, but it was too late. Skylar pinched the woman's nose with one hand and, opening the woman's mouth with the other, pressed her lips against hers and blew into the woman's lungs.

Emma threw her hands up in disgust. "Will that girl ever listen?" she asked, but Sean quieted her with a hand on her arm.

"Look," he said, pointing at the monitor.

Skylar raised her head and locked her arms above the woman's chest. She pressed down once, twice, three times, and turned back to the woman's face. "Breathe for me, sweetie," she whispered as she continued to administer CPR.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Emma began, "but isn't that Rogue?" She stared at the scene in disbelief. "Skylar shouldn't still be conscious."

Suddenly the woman coughed and Skylar backed away. Emma and Sean hurried out of the control room and rushed past the other students into the Biosphere. "She's got some explaining to do," Emma growled.

Beside her, Sean raced to keep up. "Remember what I said, Em. Be gentle with the lass."

"After what she did to the laser?" Emma asked. "And the roof? I can't wait to hear her explanation for this one."

The woman known only as the X-Man Rogue lay unconscious on the hospital bed in the school's Med-Lab. Skylar watched her through the large visitor's window that looked into her room and sighed. At least the woman's breathing was regular and even now. Skylar hugged herself to stop shivering. She was alone in a waiting room of sorts, but she felt as if she were being watched -- somewhere they could see her, Emma Frost and Sean Cassidy and Dr. McCoy, who had shown up mysteriously when their unconscious visitor was discovered to be one of the X-Men. They had looked at her with the awe and scrutiny of scientists studying something they didn't understand, but no one would tell her why her resuscitation of Rogue was so amazing, or why she was confined to this small waiting room, or even why she couldn't go into Rogue's room.

In the other room, a frown crossed Rogue's face, the first sign of conscious thought since she fell through the Biosphere's ceiling. A frown meant she had to be thinking something, Skylar thought, even if it was an unpleasant thought. She looked so lost, so pale amid the white sheets and white walls of the hospital room. She looked like she needed a friend -- someone to hold her hand.

Skylar knew the door to was locked -- she had already tried it. If only her powers stemmed from internal energy, and were not simply a reaction to external forces. Then she could blast her way through the door, like she blasted the laser and the roof and, inadvertently, Rogue as well. It was her fault the X-Man lie in the next room -- she should be able to at least visit her.

Placing a hand against the window separating their rooms, Skylar pressed on the glass, testing it. She thought it might be made of that plexiglass that wasn't supposed to break, but she had a small scar on the back of her right shoulder that proved otherwise, where she had gone through a plexiglass window very much like this one many years ago in a gang fight. She hit the glass with her fist -- it shook slightly but didn't break.

She thought of throwing something at it, but looking around the room, the only things she saw that would be able to break the glass were the large oaken chairs that were too heavy for her to lift. Maybe -- she strained to lift one, but couldn't. What good is it to be a mutant if your powers suck? she thought, flopping down into the chair.

A spark of energy buzzed through her and was gone -- the energy with which she had thrown herself into the chair. Suddenly she knew how to get out of this room.

In another room in the Med-Lab, the two headmasters of the school talked with Dr. Henry McCoy, the mutant known as Beast. Two large video screens covered one wall -- on one screen they had an angled view into the waiting room where Skylar sat and stared through a window at Rogue; on the other screen the footage filmed earlier in the Biosphere replayed, and Skylar ricocheted the laser blast past the camera's angle. "Fascinating," Beast said. "Xavier thought she might have the potential to redirect any form of energy. It appears as if she does indeed possess that ability."

"I wonder if she can learn to control that power?" Emma asked. Suddenly Beast's gaze turned from one screen to another, and she turned to follow it.

"Fascinating," he whispered. In the waiting room, where Skylar had been sitting still just a moment ago, she now flung herself against the large window separating her from Rogue. The glass trembled but didn't break.

"What's she doing?" Sean asked. "She'll kill herself for sure." He started towards the door, but Beast stopped him.

"Let's see what happens," he said.

Emma growled, "If she breaks that glass, you're paying for it."

On the video screen, Skylar threw herself against the glass again and again. Every time she hit the glass, it shuddered, and it was obvious that each time she hit it with more and more force.

Skylar could feel the energy from her contact with the glass -- every time she hit it, the energy spiraled from her shoulder throughout her body to gather in her hands, and she held her hands tightly closed, trying to keep it within her body. Finally she couldn't hold it any longer, and with doubled force, she hit the glass one final time. As it shattered around her, she covered her face with her arms and dove into the next room.

"Looks like she's learning to control her powers without our help," Sean said.

Emma turned to Beast. "Looks like you owe us a new window," she said.

"Well, sugah, that was quite an entrance." Skylar rolled on the floor, glass crunching beneath her, and stood to find Rogue awake and sitting up in bed, looking at her. When she spoke, it was with a soft Southern accent. "What's wrong with using the door?"

Skylar brushed glass out of her hair. "Door was locked. The window was my only way out." She came beside the bed and looked at Rogue closely. "How're you feeling?"

Running a hand through her hair, Rogue took a shaky breath. "Ah feel like ah've been run over by a semi. Did ya'll get the license plate numbah of that rig?"

Skylar ducked her head. "It was me," she said sheepishly.

"Ya shore can pack a whollop." Rogue grinned and shook her head slightly.

Skylar sat down in the chair by the bed. "I'm really sorry," she said. "I didn't know I had it in me. When you fell down from the sky, I didn't know what to do. You weren't breathing and all I could think was I had killed you."

A frown crossed Rogue's face. "Ya didn't . . . ya didn't touch me, did ya?" The way Skylar looked at her answered her question. Rogue closed her eyes and sighed. "That's why they had ya in that room, isn't it?" When Skylar nodded, Rogue asked, "How long were ya out, sugah?"

"Out?" Skylar asked, bewildered. "You mean in the room?"

"Ah mean knocked out. How much of your life did saving mine cost ya?"

Skylar frowned. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said truthfully. "When you started breathing again, Ms. Frost knocked me away from you and all but dragged me here. No one's telling me anything -- what was so bad about saving you?"

Now it was Rogue's turn to be confused. "Ya mean t' tell me . . . mah powers didn't . . ." She thought for a minute, and then said, "Ah don't feel your thoughts or powers in me. Ya say you're fine?"

Nodding, Skylar asked, "Shouldn't I be?"

Rogue grinned slightly, almost as if she were dazed. "The last person who touched me was still in a coma when ah left the X-Men. Ah wonder if anything happened to mah powers since then?"

"What are your powers?" Skylar asked. The fact that Rogue was a mutant didn't surprise her -- it seemed as if everyone who visited this school was one.

"Ah can absorb others' powers and thoughts just by touching them." Rogue held up a gloved hand in front of her face. "Ah have to be very careful not to let mahself get too close." Rogue choked back a sob, thinking of Gambit lying unconscious from their kiss.

Without a word, Skylar reached out and took Rogue's hand in her own. Before Rogue could protest, Skylar peeled the glove off her hand and pressed her own hand into Rogue's palm. Tears filled Rogue's eyes when the inevitable absorption of energy that she expected from every touch didn't come. Skylar smiled and gently shook Rogue's hand. "My name is Skylar," she said, "and apparently, my power to reflect energy nullifies your power to absorb it." She giggled. "No wonder that freaked Ms. Frost out. It's pretty cool, huh?"

Rogue looked at the teenager sitting beside her, looked at their hands, locked together, flesh against flesh, and she couldn't stop the tears from falling down her cheeks. "Yeah," she laughed. "It's pretty cool."

Emma Frost sat in a tall leather chair behind a spacious oaken desk, her fingers steepled in front of her, her elbows resting lightly on the arm of the chair, a slight frown etched onto the stern look on her face. She looked across the desk at Skylar, who slouched disrespectfully in a plush chair much smaller and less commanding than Emma's. Skylar glared back at the headmistress of the school. "I told you to leave her alone," Emma began.

Sighing loudly, Skylar replied, "Our powers canceled each other out. There's no danger --"

"You don't know that!" Emma hissed, rising to her feet and leaning on the desk. "Your powers are relatively untested and Rogue's are unstable. A fellow teammate of hers was in a coma for three weeks because of a careless kiss."

"I didn't kiss her," Skylar pouted. "I saved her life."

Emma pinned Skylar with an evil stare. "That's not the point."

Suddenly Skylar surged to her feet and stared Emma in the face. "Why is it that I can never do anything right around here?" she yelled. "Whatever I do only pisses you off. Why do you hate me so?"

"I don't hate you." Emma sighed, but Skylar just rolled her eyes. Before Emma could say anything else, Skylar left the room, slamming the door behind her. Sighing again, Emma turned and looked out the windows behind her chair, overlooking the campus. It was late afternoon, and the sun slanted across the school grounds with a golden hue.

Suddenly Skylar came into view as she left the building. She walked quickly, her head down and her hands in her jacket pockets. As Emma watched, Jono stepped from behind a tree and fell into step beside Skylar, who didn't even look up to acknowledge his presence. I don't hate you, Emma thought. I just don't want you to make the same mistakes I made. Skylar had a lot of potential, and Emma wasn't going to let her ruin that. Not as long as there was something the White Queen could do about it.

Outside Skylar and Jono walked side by side. *I think what you did for Rogue was very brave,* Jono said, looking at Skylar from the corners of his eyes.

"Yeah, well," she said, "You're the only one."

*I'm sure Rogue appreciated it,* he said, bringing a smile to her lips.

Skylar grinned. "I guess so."

They neared the girls' dorm, but Skylar turned from the paved path and Jono followed. In silence they walked through the sparse trees on the campus grounds, and soon they stood on the bank of a nameless river that flowed along the west border of the school. There was a small wooden pier that stretched out into the river, and on the bank sat a faded picnic table. Skylar climbed up onto the table and sat down, her feet propped on the bench. Jono sat down beside her, and together they looked out at the river, rushing by them in the late afternoon. Suddenly Jono asked, *Not having fun here, eh luv?*

Sighing, Skylar thought back over the past week. "It would be fine if they didn't expect so much from me. Back in L.A. all I had to do was make it through the day alive. No training, no studies -- if you didn't make it, you died, and everyone does that eventually anyway so there was nothing much to lose. But here --" She thought of Angelo's smile when she had unzipped her uniform while he was in her room. She thought of his kiss that night they came back from Boston. "Here the stakes are much higher."

Jono nodded. *There's much more to lose when you're a part of a team.*

"Don't get me wrong," she said. "I had friends back in the streets. We looked out for each other -- that's what kept us alive. But we weren't trying to save the world." Just ourselves, she thought. "It's confusing enough to be growing up mutant in a human world, but to have the pressure of being superheroes added onto that? God, I don't know how you guys make it."

Looking at her, Jono replied, *You have to find something outside of it all that makes it worthwhile.*

Turning towards him, she looked at his stormy eyes, the way the wind blew his bangs back from his face fitfully, the way he looked back at her. Without thinking, she leaned towards him slightly, and was surprised when he didn't pull away. When their faces were inches apart, she reached out and brushed his hair from his eyes, holding it against the back of his head. His hair was slightly coarse from the wind blowing through it, and beneath her palm his scalp was warm. She pulled his face closer to hers, and his eyes slipped closed.

"Hey, sugah," someone called out, and as Rogue landed in front of them, Skylar let go of Jono and pulled away. "Ah'm sorry," Rogue added quickly, but Jono just shook his head and left without a word. Skylar watched him walk back through the trees. "Ah didn't mean --"

Sighing, Skylar waved away her words. Rubbing her temples, she said, "You might have stopped what could have been a very bad mistake."

Rogue jumped up beside her on the picnic table, taking Jono's seat. "A kiss is nevah a mistake," she said wistfully. "No mattah who it hurts." Looking at Skylar, she asked, "Ya like him?"

Skylar shrugged. "I don't know. He's really cute."

"He is," Rogue agreed.

"And nice, and he was the first person I met here, and we get along great."

"But?" Rogue prompted.

Skylar sighed. "But then there's Angelo."

Rogue cocked an eyebrow. "Uh-oh."

Nodding, Skylar said, "Yeah. I knew him back in California and we fooled around once or twice, nothing serious. But then he died, or I thought he died, and you know how it is -- suddenly he meant a lot more to me than I thought he did. When I get here, there he is, and he's cute too."

"Aren't they always?" Rogue smiled.

"And nice, and sexy, and he likes me a lot --"

"That's a turn on right there for any gal," Rogue said.

Skylar nodded. "So I don't know what to do. And I find out I'm a mutant -- I mean, I knew I had powers but I never thought . . . no one ever does . . . and now I'm supposed to control those powers when I can't even control my feelings?"

Rogue sighed. "It's hard, ah agree. Ah used to be on the X-Men and ah thought ah knew what ah was doing until Remy came along."

"He's the one you kissed, right?" Skylar asked shyly. When Rogue looked at her sharply, she added, "Ms. Frost told me."

Rogue nodded. "We thought it would be the end, and in a way, it was. With mah powers now ah have all of Remy's thoughts in me, and he wasn't the best of people at times." A vague smile played across her face. "Though now ah know how he really feels about me. At least ah've got that much. That's why ah had to leave. Ah couldn't stand the sight o' him lying there because o' me when he loved me so. Ah had to leave."

Skylar nodded. "I understand. Sometimes it's just easier to run away."

Smiling, Rogue said, "Ya make it sound okay." They sat silently and watched the river as minutes slipped by.

"So I guess you've come to say goodbye," Skylar said suddenly. Rogue nodded. "I'm glad I didn't kill you."

"Me too," Rogue said, and laughed. "Ah'm glad we met, Skylar. We've got a lot in common."

"If you mean boy problems," Skylar joked, "I'd wish we didn't. Do you have to go?"

Rogue nodded. "Ah've got to keep running until there's no place left to run to. Maybe then ah'll be able to get all of Remy's sordid past out of mah mind."

"When that happens, promise me you'll visit?"

"Ah promise." Rogue hugged Skylar close. "Promise me ya won't let another kiss pass ya by? Ya don't want to live your life in regret."

Thinking of Jono, Skylar smiled. "Ah promise," she said, mimicking Rogue's accent. Rogue laughed and flew away. But as Skylar watched Rogue disappear into the clear sky, she wondered if it was really Jono she had wanted to kiss. She wondered if maybe, somewhere in the back of her mind, if maybe she hadn't thought of Angelo when she pulled Jono close.