After everyone was finished eating they headed off to school. The older kids rode in Scott’s car and the younger one’s were driven in the van. Since they arrived early they all hung outside, enjoying the last minutes of freedom. Numerous people walked by and most of them (especially the guys) glanced at Rogue, taking her for a new student. It was starting to annoy her to no end. Were these people so dense that they didn’t even recognize someone if they changed their makeup? The answer to that, of course.

She seriously considered going home and putting on her makeup, but before she had a chance she heard a loud sound of wheels screeching as the Brotherhood arrived in Lance’s jeep. She tried to look casual as they hopped out of the vehicle and headed towards them. She took a casual glance towards Pietro and felt her heart flutter. Damn, he was sexy. She pushed the thought aside, hoping she wasn’t blushing, now was not the time or the place.

When they saw her she waited for the comments that she knew were bound to come. To her surprise Lance just glanced at her and didn’t seem that surprised. “About time you got rid of all that shit.” He then turned his attention to Kitty.

“You look nice, yo.” Todd told her.

“Yeah,” agreed Fred. “Not as scary.”

The X-Men all held their breath at that waiting for an explosion to occur, but to their surprise she just laughed. “Thanks you guys. That’s the best compliment I’ve received in a while.”

Kitty spoke up then, managing to tear her attention away from Lance. “You never did say why the sudden change, though.”

“I made a deal with someone.” Her gaze locked with Pietro’s for a second before she glanced pointedly looked at Evan.

“With who?” Kitty asked, and the others waited expectantly to find out who could have that kind of impact on their friend.

Her eyes again locked with Pietro’s and she smiled impishly. “Oh, no one important.” She could tell he wanted to say something to that but couldn’t. His eyes promised retribution later. She hadn’t realized what fun it was baiting him before. With that she turned and grabbed a hold of Kitty’s hand and started pulling her towards the door. She couldn‘t help herself, and giggled. “Come on Kit Kat. Let’s go find our new lockers.” With that she practically bounced off dragging Kitty behind her.

She left a group of very stunned mutants behind her.

“Did she just giggle?” A shocked Scott asked.

“I think so.” Todd said, wearing the same expression.

Bobby spoke up, “I didn’t have anything to do with it, but I think Hell just froze over.”

Pietro rolled his eyes, his customary smirk back in place. He didn’t think it was all that surprising, he had seen that side of her a lot when they were alone. She was laughing at his expense, knowing that he was going to have to do something that he really, really didn’t want to do. “Daniels, can I talk to you for a second?”

The shock looked left by Rogue’s actions fled from his face and was replaced by a look of caution. “What for?”

Pietro mentally groaned; this was so not going to be easy. “I just need to talk to you for a minute.”

Evan reluctantly followed him a ways away from the others and waited, knowing that there had to be some kind of catch. This was Pietro after all. Of course what happened next shocked him enough to make the whole Rogue thing pale in comparison. It was a very dazed Evan that rejoined the other X-Men.

“So what did Speedy want?” Scott asked as soon as he saw him.

Evan, still in a stupor, replied numbly. “To apologize. Man, this is just too much shock for one day. I need to lay down.”

“To apologize for what, exactly?” Kurt asked, voicing the question they were all thinking. There was just so much that Pietro had done to Evan in the time that they had been rivals that they had trouble narrowing it down to just one incident.

The mystified Evan shrugged. “Everything. The locker incident that wound me up in jail and everything else he’s done. This is just to much.” With that he headed towards the doors, and the others followed. It was going to be one of those days.

Pietro had to smile as he remembered Evan’s reaction to his apology. If he had known that it would disturb him that much he would have done it a long time ago. It was so amusing to throw his rival for a loop. All in all it had been a relatively painless experience. But there was no way in hell he was going to admit that to Rogue. After all she owed him, and he had every intention of collecting.

Speaking of the (formerly) gothic beauty, he was supposed to catch up with her before their first class so they could ‘accidentally’ sit together. He spotted her ahead in the hall, where she seemed to be listening to something that two girls were saying. He wondered what they could have been talking about to attract her interest, and as he came up to them he could over hear some of it.

“… He doesn’t have a girlfriend.

“Remember that Sadie Hawkins dance last year when he actually showed up with four dates?” At these words he realized that the subject that Rogue was finding so interesting was none other than himself, something that he couldn‘t help but find amusement in.

“Well, are you surprised? Can you imagine a guy like Pietro settling for just one girl? It will never happen.”

“Well, I for one wouldn’t mind being one of four if it meant that I could go to the Back To School dance with him. I can share…” Her conversation faded off as she realized the object of their discussion had come up beside them. With that she turned her attention to him and smiled flirtatiously. Though there was a time before when he would have shamelessly flirted with the girl, he had a girlfriend now (albeit a secret one) and he didn’t think she would look too kindly to that kind of behavior.

He had a feeling that Rogue would be a pretty possessive girlfriend, which to his own surprise he didn’t mind at all. In fact, possessiveness was a feeling that he was rapidly growing accustomed to when he saw some of the looks the other guys were giving to his girlfriend. The fact that they weren’t aware that it was his girlfriend didn’t help the situation any.

He glanced up and caught her eyes and an unspoken message passed between them, that if you were one of the privileged two that heard it would have sounded something like, ‘Show’s how little they know‘. So with just a nod in the direction of the girl, Pietro continued on down the hallway with Rogue not far behind. The brief glance he had of his secret girlfriends face revealed a satisfied smile which produced a similar expression on his own. .

They entered their first hour class, English Composition, and were grateful to see that the few seats remaining were by each other. They took seats in the back and waited for the teacher to come in. As they were waiting, talk once again turned to the Back to School dance.

Rogue leaned over to Pietro and spoke quietly, “I can’t believe that all these people are so fixated with that stupid dance. It’s not even until next Saturday, and it‘s only Monday. Why are they so obsessed with it?”

He grinned at her and whispered in a low voice so as not to be over heard, “Well, Roguey, if I could go to the dance with you I would be obsessed with it too. Getting to hold you in my arms, move to the music, and show the whole school that the most beautiful girl in the whole school is completely devoted to me, and I to her.”

His words had a hypnotic effect and she lost herself in them, marveling in his sincerity and felt an intense longing to experience what it was he was talking about. Unconsciously she felt herself lean toward him, and had to pull herself back at the last second. She hated the fact that she had to deny her relationship with Pietro, the person she loved most in the world even if it had been her own choice. And that thought is what finally convinced her. “I’m going to tell them.”

Her words stunned the other teenager, who just blinked rapidly at her for a second. “You are?” He tried to hide the hopefulness from his voice, not wanting to pressure her.

“By next week.” She vowed, and then continued with a smile. “So, will you be my date to the Back to School dance?”

“Rogue,” He mocked, batting his eyelashes at her, “are you asking me out?”

“You know Quicky, you really are a dork sometime.”

“I am not!” he said, affront clearly on his face.

“You are too!”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“Not!”

“Too!”

Before their debate could further escalate the teacher walked in bringing the room to silence. As she began to talk about what to expect this year in her class, Rogue pulled out a piece of paper and wrote something on it then folded it. When she was sure no one was looking she passed the note over to Pietro.

He opened it and read what it said: Is that a yes or a no, Silver? He took out a pen and added his own message to the note and handed it back to her. She opened it. I don’t know, you did call me a dork. So, I might be busy that night… Washing my hair… In Canada. As she read that she hid a smile, he really was a bit of a dork. She added another message, I’m sorry I called you a dork. Pretty please, Quicky? Be my love slave? He read it and deliberated for a second. The last bit swayed him a bit, but there was still the matter of his pride here. He wrote something and sent it back to her. No!

So he wanted to play righteous indignation, did he? Well, there was one way to get through that and she knew his biggest weakness. With a smile that could only be described as evil, she reached into her bag and pulled out something and sat it on her desk.

Pietro casually looked over at her and his jaw dropped at what she had laid out. She had decided to pull out the big guns. “Thatissonotfair.” he hissed at her. She just smiled at him, “Yes or no?”

He sighed in defeat, “Ok. But I‘m not a dork.” With a smile she handed him the package that was on her desk. Within a matter of seconds he had ripped open the bag and popped one of the round objects in his mouth. With a blissful expression on his face he turned his attention back to the girl beside him. “Roguey, you play dirty. You know I can’t say no to M&M’s.”

The class turned around in surprise to stare at Rogue, as the normally reserved girl burst into laughter.

“I noticed.” Evan said. “She’s been smiling a lot more lately. The other day I swear I actually heard her singing. It’s disturbing.”

“Maybe she’s just finally adjusting to being one of us.” Jean said practically.

“I don’t think so.” Kitty said enthusiastically. “You want to know what I think it is?” No one said anything, but she just continued on. “I think our Rogue is in love.”

Jean just gaffed. “Rogue?! I don’t think so.”

“Well, I don’t know what it is, but I for one am happy that she’s not gloomy anymore.” Kurt told them.

Kitty kept silent about after that as the conversation turned to other matters, but she vowed to solve the mystery surrounding her roommate.

Meanwhile the misplaced teenager, totally unaware that her teammates were talking about her, was standing in the hall waiting for her boyfriend to show up. He had asked her to meet him by the old science lab. It was in the far side of the school, and the classroom farthest away from the main doors. Because of this (plus it being lunch) the hallway around it was empty except for the impatient Rogue.

‘Where is that Speed Demon?’ she thought to herself. She was so busy with her thought that she was totally unprepared when someone grabbed her shoulder from behind. Reflexively, she grabbed for the arm to throw the person over her shoulder. Only their quick reflexes saved them from getting tossed.

“You are so jumpy.” Pietro said chidingly. “I think you need to lay off the caffeine.”

Rogue tried to relax her adrenaline still pumping through her veins after he had startled her. “Damn it Pietro, don’t sneak up on me like that.” She glared at him, more irritated that he had managed to sneak up on her than the actual sneaking itself.

He just smiled at her annoyance. “Awww, Roguey. Have I ever mentioned how sexy you look when you’re mad?” At his words her anger faded.

“So, Speedy why did you want me to meet you here?”

“That, luscious, is a surprise.” He took a hold of her arm and led her to the door of the science lab. “Close your eyes.” She gave him a skeptical look, but did as he said. She felt him guide her into the room. “Okay, open them.” She did and gasped at what she saw.

“Oh, Pietro. It’s wonderful.” she managed to get out, taking in the site before her. He had sat up a small table with two chairs that had a black tablecloth and two settings on it. Also in the middle was a vase of red roses. “You are just too sweet sometimes.”

“I know,” he said with a grin escorting her to the table. After making sure she was seated, he uncovered the dishes to reveal a plate full of tacos.

“My favorite!” She said with a smile. They talked about various inconsequential things while they ate. When they were finished Pietro got rid of the dishes and table and chairs.

When it was gone she glanced at her watch and saw that they still had ten minutes until their next class. Both decided to just hang out in the room until it was time for class. They sat down on one of the tables (the chairs having all been either destroyed or removed). Pietro’s wrapped his arms around her and she leaned back against him.

“So, are we going to do something tonight?“ As he was asking he reached down and pulled off one of her gloves and held her hand in his, absently playing with her fingers.

“I can’t, we have a DR session at five. Then Kitty wanted me to go shopping with her.” She grimaced when she said the last part, already dreading the experience.

“How about after that?” Before she could respond their attention was caught as a voice spoke from the door.

“Oh my god. You two are totally, like, touching.” At the words they spun to face the door, and found a shocked Kitty.

“Kitty! What are you doing here?” A shocked Rogue asked her roommate.

“I was looking for you! I can’t believe this. Are you to like a couple? Oh, I can’t wait to tell the others. How long has this been going on? How can you touch him? Can you control your power?” Kitty babbled on, a delighted smile on her face. Rogue just groaned.

“Can we just kill her and spare my eardrums?” Pietro asked Rogue dryly.

“We could, but then I’d probably get stuck with Jean as a roommate and I just don’t think that I could handle it.” Rogue whispered back. “You finished?” Rogue asked her roommate, Kitty nodded. “First off, you can’t tell anyone!” Kitty looked like she was about to complain, but Rogue continued before she had a chance. “I have every intention of telling everyone by the end of the week. But right now I don’t want to deal with a flipped out Scott. As for the rest of your questions I’ll answer them later.” Thinking that had settled everything she waited for Kitty to leave, but the next thing they knew the door opened and someone else entered.

Rogue felt like pounding her head on the table in frustration as Lance entered the room, obviously following Kitty. Noticing the couple sitting on the table, he stopped dead in his tracks. “What?!” He stood there mouth agape.

“Is anyone else going to show up?!” Rogue asked in frustration.

Hearing her words, Toad, who had actually been going to spy on Lance and Kitty, stuck his head into the room. “One more, yo.” he told her sheepishly.

“UGH!” She threw her hands in the air in frustration. Pietro, who thought that this was all hilarious, started laughing so hard that he fell of the table.

Rogue, not appreciating the humor of the situation, stood up and glared down at him. “This is all your fault!” That only made him laugh even harder, which caused her to stamp her foot in anger. “Pietro Maximoff, you are such an insensitive jerk!”

She started to walk away but had only managed to take a few steps before he was standing in front of her, the laughter gone from his face. He hugged her to him, completely oblivious of their audience. “I’m sorry, Roguey. Will you forgive me?” She glared at him, but seeing the pleading look in his eyes she quickly melted.

“Of course Speedy. You know I can’t stay mad at you.” She said tenderly, they both leaned towards each other head drawing closer together… when a cough interrupted them.

“Should we, like, leave?” An embarrassed Kitty asked the couple.

“YES!!!” Both yelled. Everyone started to leave when Rogue’s voice interrupted them. “And you didn’t see any of this, or the gloves come off.” Rogue threatened. They all agreed and hastily left the room. When they were gone Rogue turned her attention back to her boyfriend. “And where were we?”

“Right about here.” He answered, leaning forward until their lips joined.

As soon as they made it into their bedroom Kitty started firing questions at Rogue. “Whoa, girl. Just take a seat and I’ll tell you everything.”

They settled into comfortable positions on the couch and Rogue recounted the tale, leaving out the more intimate details. When she was done Kitty’s eyes were wide with wonder. “And you never found out how you can touch him?” Rogue shook her head in response. “That is all so totally Romeo and Juliet! It’s so romantic!”

“Romeo and Juliet die, Kitty.” Rogue told her dryly.

Her friend hardly paid any attention to the comment. “So have you guys… You know?”

Rogue glared at Kitty, secretly shocked that her innocent little roommate would even think to ask such a question. “What kind of question is that? I hardly think that’s any of your business Kitty!” Unfortunately, she was blushing when she said it, which gave it away.

“Oh my god, you have!” Kitty gasped. “You have to tell me all about it!”

“I will do no such thing!” Rogue told her, eyes wide.

“Oh, come on Rogue. You can tell me. Please?” Rogue just shook her head, face red from embarrassment. “Okay, just tell me this, was he good?” Rogue turned even redder if that was at all possible. “Just tell me one thing and I’ll stop asking!” Kitty pleaded, wanting to hear the gossip so bad she could almost taste it.

“Okay, I’ll tell you one little thing about my speed demon, and then no more questions, deal?” Rogue said realizing it was going to be the only way to get her friend to shut up.

“Deal!” Kitty agreed bouncing on the bed in her excitement. She leaned forward expectantly.

Rogue thought for a moment trying to think of something that wouldn’t reveal too much but would satisfy her roommate. “Okay, let’s put it this way, his mutation can really come in handy.”

“You mean his super speed?” Kitty asked, trying to puzzle out how that could be beneficial.

“Well, that too.” Rogue said, grinning in memory, “but I was actually referring to something that comes with the super speed. The boy has the most amazing endurance.”

Kitty’s eyes widened at the implication, and she started to ask another question. Rogue held up her hand to halt her, “I told you one thing. That’s all you’re going to get out of me.”

“Ah, come on Rogue.” When it became obvious that she wasn’t going to divulge anything else Kitty gave a huge sigh. “Fine then, but don’t ever expect me to give you any details about me and Lance.” With that parting remark she left Rogue sitting on the bed mouth ajar.

‘Well,’ Rogue thought to herself, ‘maybe Kitty isn’t quite as innocent as I thought.’

Not only did they have the extra sessions but they were both grounded to the institute except for school, resulting in her not being allowed to see Pietro alone. Farther complicating matters, was that for some reason Scott was going all protective all of the sudden, and was constantly by her side at school ruling out the possibility of sneaking off to be alone with him during school. As a result she hadn’t had the opportunity to be alone with her boyfriend all week.

Now here it was the weekend and instead of going out, she was stuck at home. But then even if she could have left at that moment the only thing she could even think about was sleep. As soon as her head touched the pillow the girl was out like a light.

Kurt looked up from the TV when he saw someone walking past the door and was surprise when he saw Rogue. He was about to call out to her when he realized that something wasn’t quite right, when he realized that the girl wasn‘t wearing any gloves, an accessory that she was never without. Silently he rose and went to the hall where he saw her slip out the door. Knowing that she was grounded, he decided to follow her to see where she was going that she would risk Logan’s wrath (and an extension of her punishment).

Kurt watched her quickly walk across the yard and effortlessly scale the wall. For the life of him he couldn’t figure out how she managed to climb over since she didn’t seem to even use her hands. He teleported outside the wall and appeared in front of her. She didn‘t seem to notice him, she just continued walking down street. “Rogue!” he called softly, not wanting to risk being discovered. She acted like she didn’t hear him and started down the street. “Where are you going?” He asked her, louder this time.

“He needs me,” she said softly, unfocused eyes staring straight ahead.

“What?! Who?!” There was no response. Wanting a definite answer he grabbed onto her arm and spun her around to face him. “Rogue, tell me what is going on!”

At his words she turned her attention to him, blinking rapidly as if she was coming out of a daze. “Kurt? What… Where are we?” She asked noticing for the first time that she was outside.

He stared at her in confusion, a worried expression on his face. “I was following you. You snuck out.”

“The last thing I remember is falling asleep after a DR session with Logan.”

“Well, you said something like, ‘He needs me’.” At his words she seemed to pale.

“Kurt, can you teleport us to the Brotherhood house?” She asked a panicked look in her eyes.

“Why?” He asked her, obviously mystified as to why she would want to go there.

“Please! He needs me!” Her voice was desperate and against his better judgment he grabbed a hold of her arm and teleported them to the Brotherhood house. In a cloud of smoke they appeared on the rickety porch. Kurt reached up to knock but Rogue just threw open the door and rushed in. She sprinted towards the steps taking them two at a time. Kurt followed her at a slower pace and watched her throw open a door and rush into a dark room that was probably a bedroom.

Kurt stood by the door watching as the girl rushed to the side of a figure that was thrashing around on the bed. Rogue gently shook the boy, “Pietro, wake up sugar. It’s all right baby.” Kurt watched in shock as she reached out and caressed the other boy’s cheek to wake him up.

Pietro awoke with a gasp with tears streaming down his face. Rogue felt her own tears moistening her face as she pressed against him, and he wrapped her in a hug. She pressed kisses against his face and whispered soothingly as he calmed down. Kurt felt like he was intruding and left the room and to go downstairs to wait and think about what had just happened.

He turned to leave and saw the other brotherhood members gathered in the hall, trying to figure out what had just happened. They looked at Kurt expecting some sort of explanation from him, but he just shrugged, clueless as well. He headed downstairs, and the others reluctantly followed. He sat on the couch in the living room and sat in silence. The BoM members all took seats as well and glared at him suspiciously.

After about 20 minutes Pietro and Rogue came down the stairs holding hands. Both looked a lot less distressed than before though not really what you would call happy. “Are you alright?” Kurt asked Rogue, once again noticing the lack of glove on the hand that was clasped with Pietro’s.

“Yeah, we should probably go. Bye guys.” She waved to the other members of the Brotherhood, before heading to the door. Kurt went ahead of her and stood back so that she could say good-bye to Pietro.

Pietro pulled Rogue close to him and hugged her. “Are you going to be okay?” She asked him softly.

“Yeah. I may be beautiful but I’m resilient.” He told her jokingly with a soft smile.

“Well, beautiful at least.” She responded back with a smile that didn’t quite make it to her eyes.

“Roguey, I’ll be okay.” He tried to reassure her, seeing her doubt. “It was just a nightmare. Nothing to worry about.”

Though she knew there was more to it than that, she decided to drop it for now.

Smiling at him softly, Rogue kissed him lightly. “We should get back before Logan notices I escaped and I’m grounded until I’m 30.”

“Yeah. What are you doing tomorrow?”

“I have to go to school and finish my art project. Beyond that I’m confined to the house.” She said with a grimace.

“How much longer?”

“Until the end of the weekend… Unless he realizes I left and then, who knows?” She shrugged casually, not to worried about it. Logan liked to act tough but he was really just a softie (though he would gut anyone who had the nerve to say that in front of him).

“So we’re still on for the dance next weekend?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for anything. I better go. I love you, Speedy.”

“I love you too.”

Rogue walked over to Kurt and they disappeared with a bamf, only to reappear outside the institute wall. “You know, this would probably be a lot easier if you just ported us into the mansion.” She told him dryly.

“We need to talk first.” Kurt told her, his usually laughing face completely serious for once.

She sighed already knowing what he was going to say. “Go ahead.”

“Would you mind telling me what that was all about?”

“Pietro needed me, so I went.”

“That really tells me a lot.” He told her dryly. “How did you know that he needed you? What was wrong? How long have you been a couple? And how can you touch him?” He shot the questions out as fast as he could.

“We’ve been a couple for about three months now and I don’t know how I can touch him. And I don’t know how I knew I just did.” She shrugged to emphasize her statement. “As for what was wrong, that’s really not my place to tell.”

Kurt frowned processing her answers. “He seemed really upset, are you sure he’s going to be okay? I’ve never seen Pietro so upset. I thought nothing bothered him.”

Rogue frowned at that, taking it as an insult to her boyfriend. “Of course stuff bothers him, Kurt. He’s been through a lot. And can you blame him for not showing his emotions? After all, we both do the same thing.”

He raised his hands in a submissive gesture, silently letting her know that he hadn’t meant any offense. “Just be careful. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I know Kurt. But I also know that he would never hurt me.” She said it with such conviction that he was reassured.

He gave her a smile; “Come on I’ll port you to your room.”

She returned his smile and took a hold of his arm and he teleported them into her bedroom, which was thankfully, empty. He made to leave when Rogue’s voice brought him up short. “Kurt?” He turned around to look at her. “Can we keep this between us?” He looked like he was about to decline but the pleading look on her face stopped him.

“Of course.” He left the room-leaving Rogue alone in her room. She thought about returning to sleep but wasn’t that tired anymore. With a sigh she grabbed up her gloves from the stand and pulled them off as she left the room.

Rogue wasn’t paying much attention to where she was going as she walked into the common room. As a result she didn’t see the person racing out of the room until after they had barreled into her sending her sprawling on the floor. “Whoa Jamie, sugar, what’s the rush?” She asked picking herself off the ground and then offering a hand to the boy and another to one of the four multiples. When all of them were off the floor they remerged with the original and he finally answered her question.

“I was trying to get away from them!” He pointed over his shoulder to where Ray and Roberto were standing silently, guilty expressions on their faces.

“What exactly happened?” She asked Jamie, holding up a hand when Roberto started to protest.

“I was watching TV and they came in and put in a movie!” He said with a glare at the two.

“And what did you do that caused them to chase you?” She asked, not believing for a second that that was the whole story.

He looked kind of sheepish at the question, “I took their tape.” She gave him a look and he quickly pulled it out and handed it to the boys. “Sorry.” he mumbled to them before turning his attention back to Rogue, a dejected look on his face. She felt herself melt at that look, the poor kid was stuck here with all these older kids that were to busy for him. As a result he never had anyone to play with.

She reached out and rubbed his head gently, and he smiled a half-hearted smile at her. Seeing this Rogue grinned at him then turned her attention to the boys who were smiling triumphantly thinking that they had got their way with the return of the tape. The looks quickly vanished as the girl glared at them. They gulped nervously and stepped back as she began to advance threateningly at them. “You two ought a be ashamed of yourself, picking on little Jamie like that. Well you got your tape back… To bad your not going to get to watch it, cause me and Jamie are taking control of the TV.” They looked like they were about to protest, “You got a problem with that?” She demanded.

Shaking their heads vigorously, both quickly left the room, thankful to still be in one piece. When they were gone Rogue held out her hand and Jamie slapped it grinning widely. “That was just too easy. Now Let’s see what‘s on.”

And it had worked out rather well, Rogue thought with a proud smile, looking over her painting. It had turned out stunning which wasn’t surprising considering that the subject was Pietro. In the large painting the silver-haired boy was casually leaning against a row of lockers with his arms crossed. Somehow despite the fact that he was standing still she managed to capture a feeling of barely controlled energy that seemed to radiate from the boy, which combined with the mischievous expression he wore hinted at trouble.

It was without a doubt her best work, but would unfortunately raise a lot of questions if one of her housemates saw it before she had confessed all. But that wasn’t going to be a problem because she was going to tell them… As soon as she figured out how she wanted to go about it. With a small sigh at the thought she put the painting in the supply closet where it was unlikely to be disturbed and left the classroom careful to lock the door.

She dropped the key off at the office and left the school, and was a little surprised to notice that it was starting to get dark. She thought about calling Scott for a ride but really didn’t want to mess with him right now, instead deciding to walk.

Halfway to the institute she realized that she was being followed. She wasn’t sure how she knew, she could just sense it. She stopped listening but could hear nothing. Thinking that she might just be imagining things she started walking again. This time she heard footsteps behind her validating her belief. She glanced behind her shoulder and what she saw caused her to break into a run. It was the same mutant from her dream. She didn’t get far before darkness swept over her.