ISSUE #7

It's been a few weeks since Cassandra had attempted to take over. And in that time period I started my training with, Logan. I thought this would be a great opportunity, not only to further grow with my powers, but to actually be a hero. I won't lie It wasn't that I wasn't scared when facing gladiator, it's the complete opposite. I was scared out of my mind. But it was be scared and die or be scared and fight. And if I'm going to have to get used to this kind of life, then I wanna be able to at least defend myself when trouble comes.

That was my original thought. As of right now, I regret every decision I've made.

Logan is the absolute worst! The man's idea of light training was a ten-mile hike through the woods, dodging giant saw blades that came out of the danger room walls, Fire pits, Poison arrows, and the worst of all was his hand-to-hand combat training. The man is ruthless, even when explaining how to fight. I think he just has it out for me. I mean when other people who take his self-defense class spar with him, he goes easy. With me it's just an outright beat down. I mean no mercy. He broke my nose three times in the past two weeks. Other than that, I have been working with Miss Frost and her daughters. See she came to me one day after training with Logan and offered to help me with protecting myself against telepaths. I instantly accepted; I mean why wouldn't I want to get better at that?

I should have known that she wasn't just offering me help out of the kindness of her heart. See in return for her services, I was supposed to be her daughters test dummy. She apparently didn't like how weak they were, despite the fact that the five of them together are supposedly some of the strongest telepaths alive. So, they would help by teaching me how to keep telepaths out of my mind and in return I provide them with someone who could help them become stronger telepaths. A win-win situation. The girls become stronger and so do I. But boy was it taxing as well. I mean some of those girls are gentle with their approach. Irma and Sophie especially. But the rest are just ruthless.

Oh well, no use complaining about it now. At least today, I do get a day off.

I was walking outside in the institute's rose garden, this place just seemed to help me relax. But as I walked towards the Institutes entrance, I saw a crowd gathered. I approached the crowd, curious about what they were looking at and when I got to the front I saw Quentin, one of the kids in the school I just never spoke with. He was smart but just not a social person. He easily believed he was smarter than everyone else and therefore better, and Slick, one of the most arrogant jerks in the school, arguing.

Now, I didn't particularly like or dislike either of them, so I just sat back and watched with the others.

" Slick, i have a question. In what way, exactly, does this stupid performance benefit Jumbo Carnation or help to avenge his murder?" Quentin asked.

I don't know who this Jumbo guy was. But something about Quentin just seemed off. He's irritated. I guess Jumbo was someone important.

" Do you have a point to make, Quire?" Slick asked

This was gonna be good. Slick and Quentin notoriously hate each other. I wish I had a bag of popcorn with me or something.

" I dunno. Have you any idea what happens inside when you find out you're not who you thought you were?" Quentin asked. It was a weird question; one I didn't understand. And something just told me things weren't gonna be as good as I thought. " I do. How about you, Slick?" Quentin raised his hand and Slick started to change. He went from a tall, brownskin teen with cornrows and brown eyes and changed into a small little imp like creature.

When I saw Slick, I was shocked to see that the boy, I had saw before was nothing but an Illusion. I didn't like Slick. Not one bit. But this. What Quentin did was too much. Even if it was fake, his former appearance made Slick happy.

" It's all fake and illusion. That's what cool is. That's what charisma is. That's what everything is." Quentin spoke

Tattoo, Slicks girlfriend or Ex now, was repulsed by his visage and everyone else began looking at Slick as if he was a monster. I couldn't let this slide.

" Yo, Quentin. What the hell is wrong with you man?" I asked Quentin as I shoved him out of the way.

" What all I did was pull down the curtain he used to trick everyone into thinking he was cool." Quentin replied.

" That doesn't give you the right to do that man. Even if you did hate him. What you just did was wrong man. It was pathetic and you know it." I told the boy.

" of course, you'd defend him." Quentin replied.

" What's that supposed to mean?"

" It's obvious you're cool with it. I mean you're known for hanging out with that freak, Beak. And the girl with mouths all over her neck. Of course, you'd be fine with a freak like Slick." Quentin replied

Now, he'd gone too far.

" What'd you call Irina? I wanna hear you say that again you shallow, shrimp dicked fuck nugget. You think doing this makes you cool, Quentin. All you've done is show you're even less of a man than Slick. Congratulations on your victory, loser." I went off on Quentin. I honestly

" David, Miss Frost wants to see you. She told me to come fetch you." Sophie, one of the Stepford sisters walked out of the institute and asked for me to come with her. It didn't sound that way, but she just had a commanding presence, so even her being nice sounded a little rough.

" Yeah, I'm coming Sophie. I'm done here." I replied.

" Sophie? Wait, Sophie." Quentin tried desperately to call out to the girl.

" Eugh! Why are you speaking with that loser?" Sophie asked.

" I don't know. I guess i just thought he was better than he really is." I told the girl as we walked back into the institute.

I'm not concerned about Quentin. The professor will deal with him, later. But I do feel bad for slick. He just had his whole social life ruined forever, by that little jerk. Even as mean as he could be, he never went too far.

" Ugh!" I sighed. " What's up, Sophie? How are you doing today?" I asked the girl. I wanted to try and get my mind off, Slick and Quentin.

" We're all doing good today. Just a little tired from all training Miss Frost makes us do." Sophie replied.

" Ah she just wants you girls to be the best you can be."

" We already are. We're the five in one. No telepath on the planet can beat us when we're together."

" That's a bold claim, Sophie. Don't let miss Frost or Miss Grey hear you. They might take you girls up on that challenge." I told the girl

Sophie smirked and just held her head up high.

" So, what was that about?" She asked.

" Oh, Quentin used his power to humiliate Slick. I knew, Quentin was an egotist. But I didn't think he'd do something so evil." I replied.

" Welcome to our world. You should see what that boy thinks about us. All those perverted, heinous thoughts. It makes us shiver." Sophie stated. " And he thinks I'll date him when all he can think about is what underwear I'm wearing today."

" I don't blame the guy really. I mean all of you girls are beautiful. But thinking like that is no way to treat a lady."

Thinking about a woman like that isn't gonna get the guy a date anytime soon. I mean it's not exactly wrong to be attracted to a woman's body, but at least have the respect not to think about it around them. Or try so hard. But hey, who am I to give advice, I'm still single too.

" No, you got most of it right. But I thought you and Choir were dating?" Sophie spoke.

" Who, Irina? Nah. I mean. It's complicated, I do like Irina, but I don't think she looks at me that way, and I like things the way they are now. We get along fine; I can talk to her about anything. She comes to me for help, and I go to her. I don't want to mess that up. And besides, I'm not even sure I like her that way myself." I explained. I knew it was pointless to try and hide details from a telepath, so I just told her the truth.

" I see."

" Why?" I asked the girl.

" No reason. Just curious. Now come on. Miss Frost is still waiting." Sophie replied.

" Oh yeah. You never told me what she wanted." I spoke as I walked beside the girl towards Emma's office.

Behind me gritting his teeth in anger, was Quentin. I didn't know it at the time, but by getting close to the Stepford sisters and by proxy Sophie, Quentin's crush, I had drawn his anger my way. Stepping up to him and defending Slick didn't do much but add fuel to the fire.

XxX

Stepping out of Emma's office, I stretched my arms as the woman had gone on a long tangent about her plans for the school, things she had planned to bring up with the other teachers and wanted to get my opinion on. I guess being so openly honest with her all the time, made a good impression.

She had some good ideas. One in particular I wanted to see her work on, is the idea of having student squads for training. Apparently, she had come up with this idea with Mr. Summers, but the two scrapped it before the whole mess with Cassandra started up.

But other than that, she wanted to see how I was coming along with my training. You wouldn't think it from the woman's cold and harsh exterior, but she can be a real nice lady once you talk with her. Or at the very least she isn't a mean hearted witch all the time.

" Mr. Lance."

I turned my head and saw Professor Xavier walking towards me.

" Oh, hey professor. What can I do for you?" I asked.

" I just wanted to see how you were coming along in your training. I know, Logan can be a bit... Aggressive." Xavier spoke.

I chuckled a little as aggressive was a massive understatement.

" Sorry, professor. but you're underselling the man. He's a downright demon. I've never had so many broken bones in my life. And having three broken noses in a week is insane. I had to have Mr. McCoy snap my nose back into place three different times and each time it was a different part of my nose.

" My apologies. But those are the sacrifices one must make to do what he does." Charles replies.

" Yeah, I understand that. Can't act like I'm not gonna get hurt."

" That is a good attitude to have. Just make sure you don't let it consume your life. You're still a young man and with the semester coming to an end relatively soon, I want you to remember that there are other things in life other than fighting and school. Why don't you go out into the city? have some fun, like others your age." Charles spoke.

" It doesn't sound like a bad idea. Maybe next weekend. For now, I think I'm gonna just relax and laze around today. I've had a long week and I'd prefer to unwind before classes start again Monday. But thanks for the advice professor. I'll catch ya later." I walked away from the professor and returned to my room, to rest for the rest of the day. Thankfully I did as the coming days weren't going to be so peaceful.

Thanks a lot universe.