Scarlett and Scott went inside to check on the principle, who just stared at them. Scarlett had volunteered Logan, much to his dismay, to watch Spud. The principle wasn't happy to see them and had some tort comments. "The government didn't seem fit to address the problem," he snapped. "So it cost the school money to add the certain security measures."

"We told you, it wasn't terrorists," Scott commented.

"This being said by the so called computer analysis, who's what... fourteen, fifteen? This speaks of conspiracy. Sheesh, how do I know you didn't kill the agents who were supposed to come?" the man retorted.

"You're seriously mental!" Scarlett snapped. "I'm beginning to question your job!"

"I had good job references," the principle said, jutting out his chest and sticking his nose slightly in the air.

"It doesn't seem you have any experience with children," Scarlett stated, shaking her head and crossing her arms at him.

"What does it matter whether or not I have?" The man said, glaring at her. "I have the qualifications."

"However, do you have the skills necessary to take care of these kids?" Scarlett said, getting to her point.

"I do not get what you mean by that," the principle snapped. "It is irrelevant to everything."

"It is relevant to everything! I've seen your so called skills at work as a principle, they're horrible. So what makes you think you have the qualifications, let alone skills to judge whether of not this was a terrorist hacking your computer and not one of your students. Your majorly incompetent!"

"Says the one who've I've yet to see qualifications for... ," the principle stated. "Plus, none of my students hacked the computers. It was an outside source."

"My qualifications? If you knew, it is likely I would have to main or kill you," Scarlett grumbled. "Plus what are your stupid security measures going to do about an outside source?"

"That's the kind of government con..."

"Look, everyone knows that some people are like that in the government, where they can't tell you their information. It isn't a conspiracy,"

This caused Scott to decide to wander off, not wanting to listen anymore. A girl and a boy were talking to each other, perhaps on not so good terms. Scott quickly recognized the boy as the one who had hacked the computer. The girl was the one that had run into the school, the one Logan's group was trying to, one could possibly say, connect too.

It was then that the girl pushed the boy away from her and hurried down the hallway. The boy watched at he left, then turned towards Scott, not noticing that the other boy was there. He walked looking down at his feet but in a few seconds looked up and stopped. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," Scott said, only to have the boy glare at him.

The boy narrowed his eyes at him and suddenly spoke. "Exactly how much did you see back there?"

"Nothing..." Scott commented. "Other then the fact you were trying to talk to that girl who hurried off."

"If you think I was trying to hassle her... hit on her, I wasn't," the boy then tilted his head a little bit. "If I find out that you saw what happened before that and you go and rat her out, I will make you pay. I don't care if you rat me out, but her..."

Scott blinked a couple of times. The boy noticed that he didn't comprehend what he was saying, so shoved by him. Scott took the time to add something. "Just because you act all tough... it doesn't mean your stupid."

"Look... I don't know the hell who you are or what the hell your talking about, but buzz off! I don't need any prep school rich kid telling me off," the boy said, backing up to flick Scott's sunglasses off his head. The other boy then marched off, while Scott picked up his glasses and shook his head.

M

Kitty Pryde hurried into the locker room and quickly changed. The boy had quite upset her and she wanted nothing to do with him. Not only did he look somewhat scary, but his ability was scary too. This suddenly caused her to stop and sit down on the bench and stare at her hands.

Her own power, ghosting through walls, that was rather scary too, but not like his. His was scary because of the power behind his powers. Hers were scary because she didn't think she would ever be able to control them. She also didn't understand why this was happening to her, though perhaps that boy might actually know.

In Kitty's mind, she thought about how, if she had control of her powers, there were major options about what she could do with them. The first that flashed through her mind was that she could freak out Riley and Amy, making them think that she was dead and make them think they were being haunted. She tried to imagine the looks on their faces, but couldn't quite do it.

She then stood up to put on her gym shorts. This resulted in her falling over and crashing through one of the lockers. She wrinkled her nose, recognizing the strong smell as one of Riley's annoying perfumes. While stuck there, Kitty grabbed one of the lipsticks, for while she had the chance to get back with a major prank.

M

Scarlett and scot them went back to Scarlett's convertible when they heard a thumping noise coming from the trunk. The Logan guy was leaning against the can, a smirk on her face. Scarlett could only slap her forehead, realizing what had happened. "Good grief... please tell me you didn't put the dog into my trunk."

"So what if I did?" Logon smirked, shrugging his shoulders as he did so.

"You're way to much like the Joes. Wait! I nearly forgot, you were asked to join us and refused!" Scarlett commented.

"Fine... but how's Snake Eyes and the others?"

"Logan! Don't purposely change the subject!"

"Fine, about the dog..." Logan started, only to be interrupted by Scarlett.

"No! Since we're one the subject, we'll talk about Snake Eyes, Snake Eyes and the time you got a whole bunch of the guys drunk along with yourself and Snake Eyes. As I recall, his behavior freaked out some of them, not because they hadn't seen him drunk before, but because somebody took the time to translate his sing language, which... whenever he is drunk is extremely morbid!"

Scott bit back his laughter as Logan retorted back. "Yeah... at least I was there when he got drunk and was able to handle him,"

"Logan! Snake Eyes doesn't have to relive those ghosts of his past!" Scarlett snapped.

"How do you know he doesn't relive them without alcohol Scar?" Logan said, shaking his head.

"That wasn't my point and you know it," Scarlett snapped again.

"Scar... seriously, even Snake Eyes needs some time to unwind,"

"He has a point... though couldn't it be some other way?" Scott commented.

Logan firmly grabbed his shoulders and turned him. "Watch the field kid. This is an adult conversation."

"Fine... I guess you also want me to forget all I might hear. Hey... isn't that the girl that you guys are trying to recruit?"

"Sure is. Looks like she messed up on the long jump and..." suddenly they felt the earth move a little where they were and a girl who seemed quite prissy fall to the ground. Logan shook his head, and as he spoke up a rented car drove up behind them, "That little punk!"

"Calm down Logan," said a voice unfamiliar to Scott and Scarlett. Both turned and saw a car being driven by a red head and in the passenger seat was a bald guy.

"Hello Charles," Logan said, moving to the back and getting a wheelchair out and opening the passenger side. The man moved so that he could get into the chair. "The little Pixie's now running off I see."

"That doesn't mean she doesn't like what he did," the red head commented, then glanced at the strangers. "Though I wouldn't know what he did was, but I'll go and see if I can't have a chat with her about girl stuff."

Scott frowned as the girl hurried off, only to have Xavier nod his head at her. "Don't mind Jean... she prefers to be secretive of what we are. I can safely assume, without reading your mind that you are the one who will be joining our institute who isn't one of us?"

"Yes sir," Scott said, reaching forward and shaking the man's hand.

"It's very good to meet you two," the man commented. Another earthquake came and startled them. The cars and motorcycle were jarred just right so that their tires popped. The sidewalk also buckled and broke, while a fire-hydrant launched itself skyward, showering them with water.

"Wonderful," Logan commented. "The kid has anger issues." While the man said this, Scarlett glanced up at where she figured the boy would be... a place that had an advantage point of both the field and the front. She could have sworn that the boy had glared straight at her before he turned to leave.

M

When Riley felt the ground shake beneath her feet and felt herself falling, she hadn't had a clue what was going on at first. Then she looked up and saw Kitty's look of shock that quickly changed to horror. She figured then that Kitty might have had an idea of what had happened to her and Riley might possibly be able to bully her into telling her.

It was then that Riley looked in the direction that Kitty had been looking in, causing the bully to become quite riled. Kitty had taken notice of her boyfriend, though Riley wouldn't admit that she was really a long way from being even an acquaintance of the boy. "How dare she!"

"How dare she what?" Amy said, hurrying over to help her up, concern in her voice.

"How dare does that pitiful pipsqueak dare even look at my boyfriend!"

"Kitty looked at Lance?" Amy asked.

This caused Riley to glare at her best friend. "What do you mean... Lance?"

"I was going to tell you before Kitty showed up, that I had done some digging for you. Now that you have something to your advantage... well, think of it this way. There is no way that Kitty would know the name of the boy, she is so pitiful. And she doesn't stand a chance of getting together with him, I mean he's a bad goy, she's a goodie two shoes."

"Possibly on the first, definite on the second. She's too pitiful for him to ever take any interest in," Riley said, a smile on her face. Suddenly, she and Amy were screaming with other girls on the field as a fire-hydrant launched into the air. They saw majorly damaged sidewalk.

"Girls... please go inside and change. I have to talk to the principle about closing school early. Apparently, we're having earthquakes... in a place that isn't supposed to have any headaches... I mean... earthquakes."

"Yes!" Riley commented. "I bet that Kitty will get lost in the building and it will collapse on her!"

"Grrr... that would be awesome. Oh, and check it! I found out where his foster parents live," Amy commented, following Riley into the locker room, not thinking about the building falling upon them. They had their minds focused on boys.

"It get's better and... what the!" Riley said as she opened her locker. On Riley's mirror was a very weird cat face scribbled on the glass with Riley's lipstick... though Riley thought it was the devil. She saw Kitty hurry into the locker room. "Did you do this?"

"Huh... that looks like something someone would do to me," Kitty said as she quickly hurried to change her clothes. An announcement was being made that school would be closed for the rest of the day. "And no, it isn't something one would expect from me, is it?"

"How am I to be sure?" Riley snapped.

"Where would I have gotten the paint stick from?" Kitty asked, pretending to not know that it had been done in lipstick. She then hurried off before Riley could continue.

M

Jean was mad at the earthquake boy. Somehow, he was connecting more with Kitty then she was. And the thing was, she and Kitty were both girls and came from good families, so she should have been able to connect with her better. But both Kitty and that boy seemed to have something that Jean couldn't relate to and she couldn't put her finger on it.

There was also something about the boy, the way he had responded to her. It seemed that as soon as he had seen her, before he knew if she was a mutant or not, he had formed an opinion of her. There was a great deal of disgust in his voice and some sort of bitter resentment, making Jean want to break her moral code of not reading minds, in order to figure out what his problem with her was.

When she arrived at the car, she found the boy and woman still standing there, which confused her. The boy turned to her, asking ",So... did you take to that girl about her problem?"

"I don't know why it's any concern of yours, but yes... I did. She thought I was some preppy high schooler."

"No offence... but you looklike a preppy high schooler who happens to be big on the in crowd," the boy commented, making Jean want to flick his sunglasses off his forehead.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Jean asked.

"Look..." the read head started. "You're very pretty, you have charisma, you carry yourself well, you're the kind of girl who would fit in anywhere... well, any where that doesn't deal with drugs and stuff."

"What about you," Jean commented, comparing herself to the woman.

"Me?" the red head startled. 'I don't understand why you'd ask that. Back in high school, none of the girls would hang out with me and the guys wanted to stay twenty feet away... until I wore that dress to prom... then for some reason the guys had a different opinion and wouldn't leave me alone and the girls wanted to pick a fight."

"Ha ha! Scarlett wore a prom dress," Logan suddenly laughed, only to be punched in the shoulder. "Just, I wouldn't have thought it, what with your family consisting of four older brothers and one younger one who help your father run a dojo."

"You know them Logan?" Jean asked, her confusion growing.

"This is the boy whose father is a friend of Logan's," Xavier stated.

"The non-mutant who will get to live with us," Jean commented. "What's his name?"

"It can wait," Logan stated, smirking. "Look at this mess..."

"One of the kids at school can control earth movement," Scott imputed.

"Yes..." Jean muttered. "I kind of figured that out. I had a run in with him where he basically told me I had no clue about what Kitty was going through and to back off. He had a major issue with me."

"I think he has a problem with redheads," Scarlett commented. "I am not sure, but when this earthquake here happened, he was looking straight at me, but I could be wrong."

"Seriously... that kid has a major attitude problem... would fit right in with the Joes," Wolverine laughed as the students came streaming out of the school. "What the hell is going on?"

"That was when Kitty's parents drove up. They both hurriedly got out off the car. He mother was the first to speak up. "Have any of you seen Kitty? They announced on the news that the school is closing."

"Has her secret been found out? Has the military been called in? Are they going to experiment on our baby?" Kitty's father suddenly spurted out.

Scarlett glared at the parent, not happy that the government was mentioned the way it was, considering what she had to deal with. "Sir... it was probably the earthquakes... that was probably the reason that they called off school early."

"What Earthquakes!" Mr. Pryde said, concern in his voice.

"The one who seems to have made Kitty think he, out of all people can understand her," Jean commented.

"Hold on..." Scott aid. "What exactly is kitty's power... Mr. Logan?"

"She's supposed to be able to ghost through... walls," Logan commented, realizing where this was going.

"Scarlett! With Kitty he can get through the walls to the school computer system," the boy said.

"Past what security system!" Mr. Pryde panicked.

"Jean, take Kitty's parents to her." Xavier commented. Jean nodded her head and Kitty's parents hurried after her anxiously. Xavier then turned to Scott. "Why exactly does that boy want to get into the schools computers?"

"Near the beginning of the school year he hacked the computer system earlier this week and sent all the teachers paychecks back to the fund that they come from," Scott said. "With their special exam that they give at the beginning and end of the school year, I think he's trying to steal the exam answers."

"He has the know how to do this?" Xavier questioned when Scott and Scarlett both nodded their heads. "I wish somebody would tell me why people neglect children like that... actually, I know why, it has never made sense to me."

"You're not the only one," Wolverine stated.

"One could say that the Joe was... no still is comprised of such people that don't quite fit in normally and that, some of them having been neglected," Scarlett commented.

"Logan... if this turns disastrous, I don't think we';; be able to win the boy over easily. She is here," Charles commented.

"Her?" Logan commented. "You want me to get rid of her? Or knock some sense into the boy?"

"No Logan... it is likely to cause a scene and actually drive the boy further away," Xavier said. "We have to hope he'll come on his own."

"Yeah right Charles," Logan said. "Not when she's got her claws in them,"

"Who?" Scott asked, only to hear the man mutter something that he couldn't hear, but that Scarlett could.

"Mystique ... kid, it's a good thing she's not with Cobra, or we might have something to contend with," came from the red head. "It also isn't good that she's running solo anymore... I hear she's under someone else."

"No... her being with Eric isn't good," Xavier commented. Suddenly a loud rumbling was heard from the section of the school building that the school offices were in.

"No! The buildings collapsing," Scarlett commented. "Is anyone still in the building!"

"Only Jean, Kitty and her parents... plus the boy. He seems to have lost his temper at the fact that Kitty wants to go with her parents on this." Xavier commented.

"Come on then," Scarlett commented. "Let's see if we can't help them." They all hurried off towards the building, just as it was collapsing down and Kitty was pulling three people out with her.

Kitty's father, when he regained his composer turned to Xavier. "I understand now why it is a good thing for her to learn to use her powers. She can go to your school."

"What... what's going to happen to that boy?" Kitty's mother asked.

"He probably died in the wreck, which would serve him right," Kitty's father commented, making his daughter turn a little pale.

"Would he have deserved it?" Xavier asked him.

"He nearly killed four other people other then himself," Mr. Pryde commented. "Even if he wasn't trying to kill, he lost control of his powers."

"Daddy... isn't that what their school is about? Learning to control your powers?" Kitty asked.

"I... you have a point sweet heart. That boy though... he seemed to be a major juvenile delinquent,"

"You would be too, very likely, if you'd ended up in some of the foster homes this kid has been in... they've mostly been the bad kind," Logan stated. "Hey bub... why don't we take your wife and daughter home, then you can take me to a place to get new tires."

"I ... uhh, yes," Mr. Pryde commented, a little bit intimidated by Logan. "Why didn't you bring him by the house? He would have been persuasive."

"Did you want us to seem like a military boot camp?" Logan asked jokingly. "If I had my..."

"You don't Logan," Xavier said with a grin upon his face.