Welcome to Mutant High

Jean had taken me down to the kitchen for a bite to eat. To my surprise, and putting me more at ease, there were only a few other students in the room. A few were much younger as well; which also eased me in my thought, would I be the youngest one here at a tender age of fourteen? Barely fourteen, at that.

Even though Scott had said the youngest was like six years old--he could have always been lying. Although that was rude of me to assume; I'm sure he wasn't a chronic liar like some of the fourteen year old boys I knew back home. After all, Scott was older.

"New kid?" One of the kids in the kitchen asked Jean and she gave a soft nod, "this is Winter." She replied and I felt my cheeks start to tint red. The boy who had asked about me and the other male sitting next to him walked over towards me...I hoped they weren't going to start trouble.

Like Jean said, they were intimidated of her.. I hoped that remained true. "They call me Pyro," he said and extended his hand to me.. I lightly shook it with a smile, laughing softly.

"I take it your power is fire then, huh?" I asked and he gave a slight shrug with a smirk upon his lips. Apparently he was quite confident. Very proud in fact of his powers.

"I can control it once it's formed but I cannot conjure it." He explained and I nodded a bit, turning my attention to his friend and shakily, though not too shakily, extended my hand for him to shake as well. I noticed a stark contrast...Pyro's hand had been so warm.. but this ones' was cool. Cold in fact.

"Your power has something to do with ice, doesn't it?" I asked and his eyes widened somewhat, I looked over to Jean and even she seemed surprised I'd guessed correctly.

"They refer to me as Iceman sometimes.. I can conjure and control it. I prefer to go by Bobby, though." He admitted and I gave him a smile.

"Bobby it is then." I replied and Jean looked over, as if questioning how I knew what his powers were. "Simple. Pyro's hand was so warm... when I touched Bobby's, I got a cold chill. I knew his power had to do with either ice or water in general."

"I think you're brighter than even the Professor has given you credit for, so far." Jean complimented me and I couldn't help but feel my cheeks burn again. "Alright, so food." Her track of mind had returned as soon as she had heard my stomach growl, again. I watched Jean walk over to the refrigerator and pull some things out.

I ran my eyes over them and smiled a bit, someone liked pasta. "I'll take some of that," I pointed to the container and she nodded, throwing it into a microwave safe dish and heating it up in the microwave.

"Aw c'mon Ms. Grey, you know I could have heated that up for her," Pyro said with a chuckle and she narrowed her eyes at him, "just like you did for Kitty a few months ago, huh? You know it still smells like burnt chicken in here..."

Jean teased Pyro and he rolled his eyes somewhat. Something told me that he got on a lot of peoples nerves here. "How long have you been here?" I asked him inquisitively.

"Around six months. Not too much longer than Bobby here." Pyro replied and Bobby agreed, "I've only been here around four," he reminded his buddy as well as informing me. It reminded me of what they had said to me earlier...that there was a boy here who could manipulate ice...and a girl who could walk through walls.

"There's so many of you I must meet," I said honestly and sat down at the bar in the kitchen on a stool, Jean placing the warm bowl of pasta in front of my face. Considering she'd also been reading my mind, she placed a can of coca cola in front of me as well. I went to pick it up but it was room temperature, I pouted somewhat.

Then I looked over at Bobby with a bit of a grin, "do you mind?" I asked and he chuckled, placing his finger for only half a second on the can before pulling away.. I went to pick it up again and it was perfectly chilled.. like it had been in the icebox over night.

"I think both of you have powers that'll come in handy," I complimented Bobby and Pyro both. "You know though," Pyro pointed out, "we don't know what your power is. With the name Winter, you'd think you're the Ice Princess," he teased Bobby somewhat.

I chewed on my bottom lip, not really wanting them to know what my power was right now... I didn't truly know the extent of my powers...so why should I brag about them? "I can freeze time," I said quietly and took a bite of the warm pasta, feeling it slide down my throat after chewing a few times.

I saw the look of pure amazement on both Bobby and Pyro's face. I felt my cheeks heat up again and looked around for Jean but she had disappeared. I bet she did this on purpose, for me to learn to get on with others by myself. Maybe it wasn't a bad thing though.

"You know, they keep telling me this is a school but..." I started and Bobby laughed,

"and trust me, it is. But it's not like any school you've ever been to, believe me. Welcome to Mutant High, Winter." He said with a soft chuckle and I found myself blushing a pink color once more, continuing eating.

"What all do they teach here?" I asked and Bobby answered me once more,

"All sorts of things. The Professor loves to teach Physics and on good days Philosophy. Storm teaches science, how fitting, right? Jean is a Doctor... she teaches a medical class and a self defense class with Mr. Scott. Once you've been here a while... you'll graduate to better classes than just schooling, math and whatnot. You'll graduate to training classes, mutant training... and one day,"

but Bobby got cut short. Pyro rolled his eyes and snorted, "Bobby here thinks one day he's going to get to be an X-Man. I hate to break it to you, Ice-boy but... they don't want you on the team. If anyone gets on, it'll be me."

"Don't speak so highly of yourself, hot head." Scott said rather firmly from the kitchen door, "Bobby has just as high of a chance as you do," Storm followed him up with as they walked in.

"You're back," I pointed out and they gave a bit of a nod, "we came to see how you were adjusting," Storm said and I shrugged a little, pointing between Pyro and Bobby while I swallowed my food.

"They've been good company," I said after the food was out of my mouth and heading towards my stomach. I had finished the entire bowl now and walked over, placing it in the sink and running warm water in it. "So where did Jean disappear to?" I asked them as my attention went back upon their figures standing by the fridge.

"The Professor sent us to pick up a newly activated mutant and an old friend of his who had run into one another. One of them needed medical attention. So Jean's down in the medical lab, tending to him." Storm explained and I nodded a little, walking over towards them.

"I hope they're alright. I knew it must have been something important for Jean to leave without a word," I said in a soft voice, then decided to change the subject. I was curious about when my schooling would begin.

"So when does my schooling start?" I asked inquisitively and the two elder X-Men chuckled, "as soon as tomorrow, if you feel you're up to it," Scott replied and I played with my bottom lip somewhat with my teeth. It was an interesting concept..to go ahead and be shoved in with other people as soon as tomorrow. I don't know if I could do it, though. I was shy, even if I had been getting along just fine with Pyro and Bobby without Jean being there the entire time.

But my personality was still far from outgoing and the Professor, well, he'd made it rather clear that powers are sometimes activated by a mutant becoming scared or afraid they're going to be harmed. So perhaps, it wouldn't be such a wise idea to shove myself into school work as early as tomorrow...

"You'll do just fine," I heard the Professor's voice within my mind. "While you are here, I can help you control your powers. You won't be freezing time accidentally while I'm here. In fact, tomorrow, you and I should go ahead and get a jump start on learning how to control it."

I couldn't help but grin rather widely, "what are you grinning at?" Pyro asked and I licked over my lips, feeling a little confident.

"My training starts tomorrow. How long did you say you'd been here again?" I teased and pushed my long blonde hair back over my shoulder and started walking out of the kitchen.. I hope I hadn't hurt Bobby's feelings but, I felt like taking Pyro's ego down a notch.

"Well done, Winter, now that deserves a cookie," I heard the Professor say within my mind and before I knew it, I was laughing all the way up to my room.