THREE: TEAM BUILDING.

"What do you mean Logan is staying in the same home as us..!?"

Scarlet's voice bounces off my eardrum in a piercing manner. Bree stays where she's standing, next to Beast who's setting our bags on the ground of our new home. I'm plugging my ear, to see if I can still hear or not, after Scarlet's attempt at making me deaf.

"I already told you," Bree exhales with annoyance, explaining once again, "each of the X-Men is deemed a group house on campus, in the past it's been sorted by teams, but Charles made an exception for the three of us seeing as though we're sisters. And, plus, Logan wasn't watching over any house before hand so he was free to help!"

"I wonder why," I mutter mostly to myself before Beast huffs, setting down what seems to be the last bag. "Thank you so much," I tell him as he nods to the three of us.

"It's a pleasure, as was meeting the three of you," I realize how articulate he is. "I look forward to seeing you out there." After one sharp tooth grin, he let himself out, shutting the door behind himself.

"And just where exactly is this house guardian or whatever you want to call it - at, exactly? It's getting late." Scarlet marches into the living room to pry back the lace curtains and stare into the front yard.

"We're on a school campus, you can shut of security mode, Terminator," I joke, slapping her arm.

"Plus, Logan can protect himself. The man has metal claws for crying out loud."

Scarlet hops off the couch abruptly, "I'm not worried about Logan."

"No one said you were." I tell her, pausing from taking my bag upstairs, in attempt to claim the first room. I manage to sneak off without setting off either sister alarm. I round the corner, examining the bed with the folded comforter on it, the small reading nook that is right underneath a generous size window, then the walk in closet. More like, a five foot hallway with four racks on each side. There was a mirror at the end of the closet, floor length. I'm looking at myself, a tired girl, who is starting to feel small in this, what now seems like, big world.

The three of us are simultaneously unpacking, our doors open and listening to the music that was spewing from Scarlet's bedroom door. I think she has a radio, or maybe a record player, in there. By night time, we are still in stuck our routine. Or, at least I am, starting to familiarize myself with my new room. After making the bed a few minutes ago, I take off my shoes, and began unpacking. I put my clothes in the closet, in my new dresser, and set out an outfit for tomorrow. I am prepared for any occasion with my washed out, high waisted jeans paired with my blue cropped sweater. I'm trying to decide on shoes when Bree knocks on my door.

"Pizza for tonight?"

My hands are raking through my hair, "Yeah cheese with olives, onions, jalapeños, and red hot chilly flakes on the side." It's what we get every time. Scarlet and Bree always fight over toppings, and I refuse to take any toppings off of my pizza. So, we settle with cheese and they can put their toppings on however they please.

By seven thirty, we're sitting in the kitchen, eating pizza and dancing - well, Scar is - to what song is on the radio.

"Aren't you excited for tomorrow?" Bree asks, sprinkling diabolical olives on her slice. I don't know how she can eat those.

"What's tomorrow?" I ask in between bites.

"First day of school, training to be a superhero, you know, the start of our new lives?" When I don't reflect her excitement she's quick on her toes to flip through my mind, skimming but getting the full picture. "It's okay to be nervous. No one is going to judge you for not knowing how to use your powers, Lina."  She sets a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, and if they do, we'll kick their ass," Scarlet chimes in, pausing from her groove to bite her pizza.

I roll my eyes playfully, "yeah, yeah, I know you guys have got my back and all but, I guess I'm just adjusting. I mean I've had these powers all of five minutes and I feel like I'm being thrown into the deep end."

"How else are you supposed to learn how to swim?"

"Um, I don't know, proper training, breathing exercises, maybe a life jacket?" That seems like the proper way to learn how, I wouldn't know because I wouldn't dare step foot in the water.

Scarlet snickers at some inside joke that goes over my head.

"Do you want to go home..?" Bree asks, well-knowing of my answer. She just wants to hear me say it out loud.

"No," I shake my head, "no, I love it hear, I really do, but, it's just like what I said. I'm adjusting."

"Thank God, because I cannot go back to a school full of basic, boring humans." Scarlet's got a slice of pizza on her plate and swaying her hips to the music, singing the words to the song completely wrong.

I get up from the table to grab a water bottle, "Scar, you're singing the words wrong."

"No I'm not," she tried to convince the two of us. I pause from opening the refrigerator doors to send a look to Bree, before either of us can say anything, Scar huffs, "okay, I am, but who cares?"

There is a pack of beers in the refrigerator, on the top shelf. We still haven't gone grocery shopping, when we first got here all that was left was a pack of unopened water bottles. Who in their right mind has time to buy alcohol before proper groceries like milk, eggs, and bread? I shut the refrigerator and glare at the culprit. "Scar, really?"

She keeps dancing, staring at me with humor and confusion. "Oh God, what do you think I did this time?"

"How did you even buy this alcohol? Mom took your fake I.D, and I know you didn't get a new one."

Now she stops dancing. "What are you talking about?"

"The beer, in the fridge."

"I seriously have no idea what you're talking about."

"Well, I didn't buy it - and I know for a fact Bree didn't buy it, right Bree?"

"Right," she nods, then raises a small finger, as if to inform me on something, but I cut her off before she has a chance to speak.

"So if the three of us are the only ones who have been in the house all day, and I didn't buy the beer and Bree definitely didn't buy the beer, that leaves..?"

"Me."

Logan's unexpected voice causes me to jump, spin around and freeze him. I yell, along with my sisters who jump in their places. I stare at his slow movements, I have to squint and focus to see that he is still moving, because by the looks of it, he looks like he's frozen.

"Nice to know you've got a handle on your powers sis," Scarlet taps my shoulders, "oh, and by the way, I told you so."

Right on cue, Logan unfreezes again, but doesn't move at first. He looks between the three of us, skeptically, before reaching in front of me and opening the refrigerator. "Let's get a few things clear. Some rules, for this house. One: No boys allowed in the rooms."

I can see Bree's witty grin from beside me, and try to hold back the smile that's itching to form on my mouth.

"What about girls?" Scarlet raises an eyebrow as she turns the radio down before gesturing to our younger sister. "Bree goes both ways."

Bree whips around, then groans, "Scar..!"

"Hey, if we can't hook up with anyone," she gestures to me then herself, "neither can you."

Logan sets down the beer he slyly took from the refrigerator only moments ago, and sighs, with his eyes close. It looks like some breathing exercise, one I don't question. "Okay, no boys, or girls, or thems or theys. No people in the bed rooms, got it?" He waits for a grumble of a response from Scarlet, a nod from me, and a "yes" from Bree. "Two, curfew is at eleven. Not eleven-oh-one, not eleven-oh-five. Eleven p.m. sharp. Every night, no exceptions."

"And if we don't make it back at eleven p.m. sharp, what are you gonna do?"

I never understand how Scarlet is so immune to intimidating personalities. It's like she has no filter for intimidation. From the corner of my eye I can see Bree praying Logan doesn't do something, or maybe she's praying Scarlet doesn't burn the house down. I'm wishing for both.

Logan simply glares, then opens the drawer underneath the microwave, revealing a bottle opener. He doesn't even flinch when he flips the bottle cap off, "depends on what mood I'm in."

"That doesn't seem very fair"-

"Scar, do you want him to kill you?"

Logan chuckles at Bree's question, "you're funny, Red."

"My name is Bree..," she points to herself.

He gives her an unconvinced look before tipping back his beer and shuffled around the island. "Last and most important rule. Always lock the front door."

"Why?" My curiosity gets the best of me.

"Because I said so," he says it like I should automatically know, then snags a slice of pizza from the box. "And no more ordering pizza without letting me know, I like to eat, too, you know."

And with that, he leaves, and I can breath again. My shoulders lower and I turn back to sit back in my seat.

"Is it just me, or is that guy crazy!?" I hiss at the two of my sisters.

"You know he can hear you, right?" Bree asks, popping an olive into her mouth, "all his sense are heightened, plus, he's right outside the kitchen right now."

I set my hand on my head, feeling sick.

"Oh, I forgot to give you these," Logan reappears from around the corner he just disappeared from a moment ago. He hands each of us a blue sheet of paper.

For some reason, Logan's name is typed in bold at the top of my schedule, along with Romeo. "What do the names at the top of our page mean?"

"That's your teacher and partner in crime," he explains between a lengthy swing of beer. "I guess you'll be calling me Teach, from now on."

Oh, no.

Romeo and Logan!?

The next morning, with the schedule clutched in my hand, I walk with Bree and Scarlet to the main building, where classes during the day are held and training in the late afternoon.

"Did anyone call Mom last night? I saw the house phone on the wall in the kitchen, but I'm not sure if it works," I start to bite my thumb nail, a nervous tic of mine.

"No," Scarlet mutters while Bree shakes her head.

"As long as we call her tonight, right after we're done training, we should be alright."

"Agree," Bree nods in unison with Scarlet. "Are all our classes the same?"

"Uh," I unfold my sheet of paper and look at the list of my classes, "art, geometry, history, and geology."

"Close," Bree mutters, repeating her schedule from memory, "French, geometry, history, and business. Not really looking forward to the whole business class, but we deal with the cards we're dealt with."

Scarlet flips her schedule right side up, then reads off her schedule, "physical education, geometry, history, and flight class. Oh my gosh, I'm gonna learn how to fly a plane..!"

I stop dead in my tracks, same as Bree, and give her a look, "are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That we need to find Charles immediately and tell him not to put Scarlet behind the wheel of a plane, or any other flying vehicle?" She looks to me, pausing to make sure I follow. "Yeah, we're on the same page," Bree purses her lips, nodding in agreement.

Scarlet scoffs, then throws up her hands in disbelief. While she's storming off, Bree and I snicker at her reaction, trying not to piss her off anymore.

We separate and agree to see each other in our next class. When we're inside, I head in the right direction, Bree to the left, and Scarlet goes to the elevator, her class is in the basement. My class is on the second level, in a room that opens up to one of balconies. I shrug my bag over my shoulder, trying not to bump into the ever-crowding hallway. So many kids bump past me, someone is on roller skates. I finally make it to my class, the door is open and a few kids are already sitting on stools, sketchbooks in front of each student. My eyes scan the room until I find who I assume to be the teacher, he is definitely the largest man in the room. And by the sound of his footsteps, he is heavy too. I make my way over to him, and once behind him, I tap his shoulder and he spins around.

"Hi, I'm Angelina Smith, I'm new, this is my first day."

"Why of course," his Russian accent takes me aback, I am not expecting that. "You're the girl who can travel back in time! I have heard all about you. I am Colossus. That is what everyone calls me. I am excited to see you in my class, take a seat anywhere, and yell if you need anything."

I chuckle, "okay, thank you, and I'll try not to yell unless necessary."

"Please, I insist. I have terrible hearing," the bell rings from over the speaker in the room, over the last half of his sentence, but he turns around and turns to erase the chalk board. I take this as an opportunity to locate a seat, so I turn back around. Only I don't see an empty seat, at least not at first, instead I see Romeo. He's humming some song, and digging into his backpack for something. He's not paying attention, making this the perfect opportunity to approach him so he can't drain my energy or stop me from approaching him.

"Hi." Cue Romeo's glare. "So, I think we got off on the wrong foot yesterday, and considering we'll be in the same class, and training partners, let's just start over." I grin at him and gesture to the empty seat beside him, "is that seat taken?"

"Yeah, not gonna happen, Princess," he takes a breath to continue, however I chuckle bitterly and set my hands on the table in front of him, keeping him from saying yet another sarcastic remark to me.

"My name isn't Princess. It's Angelina, or Lina"-

"I don't care what your name is." His eyes are practically shutting with anger, "I don't care that we're going to be partners and I don't care that we'll have the same classes. There's no wrong foot, there's not staring over. I don't like you, okay? I never will."

I swallow my anger, and shut my eyes, "you don't even know me," my voice is above an angry whisper. I'm using all my strength not to yell. When I open my eyes he's standing, at eye level, I can feel the anger between the two of us.

"I know enough." And with that, I huff, giving up. Can't say I didn't try. "And yes, this seat is taken," he gestures to the empty seat beside himself.

I grumble, turning over my shoulder to sit at the furtherest end of the room, away from the sound of his satisfied laugh and attempts to crawl under my skin. "Okay students, let's resume what we have been working on this semester. Go ahead and use whatever supplies you will need and yell if you need help." Colossus makes his way to my table where I've isolated myself. "Lina, I won't make you talk to the other kids, but you should try to make some friends while you're here."

I exhale a laugh, "I'll keep that in mind." I push my bitter thoughts aside and focus on what really matters. "Um, what exactly are we supposed to be doing for this project-thing you mentioned? Could I get some background info?"

"What did you say?" He leans closer, his eyes squinting, trying to hear over the music. Someone has turned up the radio, and a natural, but on the verge of too loud noise has began to fill the room.

"What am I supposed to be doing?" I yell a little so he can hear, "for the project you mentioned?"

Colossus nods, now understanding, "I would like you to make a piece of art that reflects your mutation. It can be anything: a song, a poem, a painting, a dance, it does not matter, as long as you are passionate about the work of art you make." He grins down at me, a heartwarming grin that makes me smile, and feel less stressed all while feeling more at ease. The Romeo thing is a thing of the past now.

"Okay, I think I can do that," I nod in confidence as Colossus taps the table, making the feet shift due to the added weight.

"Oh, and help yourself to the sketch books and supplies in the back of room." He gestures to the back of the room with a crowding group of students.

"Thank you," I tell him before standing and making my way to the back of the room. When I get there, the group of students come to a hush whisper, I know I'm being paranoid, so I brush it off. I grab a sketch book, and a pencil, but before I make my way back to my seat I can't help myself but take a quick glance at the group of students who's voices were starting to pick up again. I catch the eye of one girl with black hair and a purple steak, and right as she looks at me the name falls from her lips:

Glass.

I'm sitting at my seat, trying to convince myself that what just happened only moments ago is a coincidence. That girl was talking about a million and one things other than my father. I mean, how many things in this world is made of glass? Windows, glasses, windshields, just to name a few. A tap on my shoulder stops me from completely writing my name on the front page of the sketch book. The girl with the black hair and purple streak is behind me, her mouth is smiling, but her eyes aren't.  "Hi. I'm Darla Ann. You're new, right?"

Wow that's a mouthful, I think to myself before grinning back at her. "Uh, hey, I'm Angelina, you can just call me Lina. And yeah, I got her yesterday with my sisters?" I pose this ask a question because I'm wondering why she wants to know.

Her eyes light up, and she's sitting in the chair by mine before I can stop her. "Do you all have the same dad?"

I squint my eyes at her, then look behind us at the group of students. When I catch them looking they all look away, trying to seem as if they weren't invested in the conversation between Darla Ann and I. "What's going on..?"

"Okay," she sighs and turns back to the little fan club, "jig is up guys, just come on over."

The students pile over. I count seven in total, not including Darla Ann. Three boys, four girls. They all look so different. One boy has scales on his arms and neck. A girl has green eyes. A boy has no shoes on, his toes have razor sharp nails. "We heard a rumor, but we just weren't sure if it were true." The boy with the scales chimes up.

"What rumor?"

"That you're the daughter of Mister Glass," a girl in the back practically yells out the confession.

Oh, great.

"Um, yeah. He's my dad."

A million questions fired at me like a gun.

"What's he like?"

"Did he teach you how to use your powers?"

"How'd he have sex with your mom?"

"Have you ever broken his bones?"

"Is it true he's a Gemini? Or- or is he a Scorpio?"

"Do you think he could sell me a comic book?"

"What's his favorite cereal?"

"How does he take a shit?"

"Students!" Colossus shouts, silencing the room, "please try to remain a little more quiet."

The eight of them snicker before getting in a comfortable position surrounding me. "Why aren't you guys, I don't know, shunning me?"

"What do you mean?" The girl with green eyes pipes up.

"I thought people hated my dad," it's what Mom always told me, that's why we - Bree, Scarlet, and I - never told people about our dad's.

"Maybe humans, but not us," Darla Ann chuckles, along with the gaggle of students, "we take a class about Modern day mutants and talk about the famous, or world renown mutants. You know like Beyoncé, Michael Jackson, Prince, Gandhi, JFK. And a few weeks ago we talked about your dad. He's a genius! I didn't know he had kids."

"Kid," I correct her, "just me."

"How'd your parents have sex?" The boy with scales asks, again.

"Gill!" She slaps his arm, then winces after instantly pulling away from his scales.

"Sorry, but it's the only thing I can think about." He admits.

"Uh, ever heard of in vitro fertilization?"

They look at me with a blank stare. I sigh. "It's when they take the sperm from the dad, and inject the sperm into the mother's uterus. That way you can have a baby"-

"Without breaking your dad's dick?" Gill finishes my thought, erupting laughs from all the listeners.

I roll my eyes, "yeah, basically."

The rest of the class rolls by smoothly, when I get to geometry, I confirm with both Bree and Scarlet. The cat is out of the bag. It seems everyone around the school knows about our dads. Scarlet doesn't care, Bree is loving it, and I'm just trying to get through the rest of my classes without punching Romeo in the mouth. It turns out that we have the exact same schedule. As does Bree with Jay, who is her partner, and Scarlet with Carrie, the girl who she will be partnering with in training.

"Regina?" Our teacher, who's name I did not catch, continues to take roll over our hush whispers.

I wait for the girl named Regina to confirm she's head before leaning in and whispering to Bree and Scarlet, "How was your first class?"

"Asmusement," Bree chimes then informs me quickly after, "that means fun in French."

"I had physical education," Scarlet grimaces before rolling her eyes, "I just know from now on I'll sleep in because that class is an utter waste of time."

"Oliver K.?" The teacher pipes up once again, followed by silence, "seriously, absent again? That's the fifth one.."

"Speaking of ditching..," I mutter before shooting a pointed look at Scarlet sarcastically.

By lunch, after our classes, I'm sitting outside on the grass with Bree and Scarlet. There's a litter of students either playing basketball, racing to climb to the top of a tree, or a few who just lay in the grass, soaking in the Autumn sun.

"It turns out my flight class is how to fly, not a plane," she pauses for dramatic effect, "but with my powers!"

Bree nearly spits out her apple juice on of the students from her "fan club" gave to her at the top of lunch. She coughs out her words, "you can fly?!"

"Not yet. But I will," Scarlet wiggles her eyebrows in an optimistic manner.

Bree grits her teeth, "I wish I could fly."

I chuckle, scratching my hair, then look around at the surrounding students. "Where is everyone getting this food from? I didn't see a cafeteria or anything," I scan the different assortments of salads and French fries.

"If you're hungry ask literally anyone who knows about Mr. Glass," Scarlet informs before laying on her stomach then closing her eyes, almost as if she's focusing. "Seriously, it's like we're famous here."

"I think they're making a fan club for Dad," Bree mutters before reaching for her bag and digging through it, "yep, they meet Tuesdays during lunch and want me to make an appearance."

I laugh at Bree before taking the flyer, "listen to yourself, 'they want me to make an appearance'," I mimic her before handing the flyer back to her, chuckling lightly. "This is all going to your head."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Scarlet mutters, her face in the grass.

"Scar, what're you doing?" I poke her side, in hopes of her pulling her face out of the grass.

"Mr. Worthington said that if I want to fly I have to focus my energy on the earth's heat, specially to the core of the Earth, that way I can fly - something about generating energy blah blah blah I stopped listening after that," she mutters her hands pressing into the ground.

Bree purses her lips, "uh, that sounds pretty important."

"And a little dangerous," I add.

"Hey guys..!" Jay's voice booms from across the yard. He's standing in the doorway of the manor, flagging us down and motioning is for us to come to him.

"Enough with trying to tap into the Earth's core," I push Scarlet onto her side and help her up. Bree dusts off her legs and walks with us to Jay who has his hands on his hips.

"Uh, you guys know X-Men eat together in the basement, right? And Charles scheduled this little bonding exercise for us today, sort of like an ice breaker."

"You know, with that big mouth of yours I'm surprised you forgot to mention that," Scarlet deadpans, brushing pass him and bumping his shoulder a little harshly.

"Um, ow," Jay rolls his shoulder back then looks at Bree and I for answers. "What is she talking about?"

"Just about the fact that the entire school knows about who our dads are." I inform him as the four of us make our way to the elevator to take us to the basement.

Jay scoffs, stepping inside, "I didn't tell everyone about that. I swear. The only person I told was"-

He stops talking, his mouth gaping like a fish before realization strikes and he seals his mouth shut.

"What?" I ask, once the doors shut. Scarlet jabs the bright X button at the bottom of all the numbers, awaiting Jay's answer.

Bree beats him to the punch, "he didn't tell the whole school, he just told Romeo."

My blood starts to boil. "Oh that is so strike three."

"He probably didn't mean to," Jay begins to explain, offering a few excuses for that annoying pest. "You know how Rome gets, he starts talking about one thing and then he just can't stop"-

"No. He did this to spite me!" I hiss once the elevator door pings and slides open, revealing the slick metallic hallway of the basement. "He is such an asshole..!"

"Woah, okay, Lina," Bree chuckles, wrapping her arm around my shoulder, "look, a few people found out, but I mean what's the worst that could happen? This entire thing was bound to happen eventually, we just didn't expect it to happen so soon."

"Bree is right," Scarlet exhales, "as much as you hate Romeo, maybe try to see the bigger picture."

"Bigger picture?" I raise an eyebrow and place the back of my palm to Scarlet's head, "are you feeling alright?"

She smacks my hand away, "quit it. You know what I mean."

I exhale, rolling my eyes as we round the corner and Jay pushes the door open to a small kitchen. There's food on the counters, a tray of fruit, a build your own sandwich station, I go straight to the mini salad bar. Carrie is in the corner, eating pale chips and hummus. She doesn't acknowledge us, her dark eyes remain on the plate in front of her. "Hey, Scarlet?" I whisper as I load my plate with greens.

Scarlet's eyes are glued to the assortment of foods. "What?"

"Have you talked to your partner? The Carrie girl?" My eyes linger on her presence before shifting back to organizing my plate.

Scarlet hums a low response, chewing on a carrot, "uh, I mean we have all our classes together. So, a little."

"Her power, dark force," I recall and pause from setting yet another cucumber on top of my leafy greens, "what can she do?"

Scarlet shrugs then finally looks at me, "beats me, she's not much of a talker, but she can fly pretty well."

After our plates are loaded we're escorted to the room over, a small dining room. There's a few cafeteria tables. The door next to us, that is open, leads to the training room. We shuffle in together. On a table near the wall are Jean, Scott, Ororo, and Logan. Logan's back is to us, his arms crossed, Ororo is next to him, her hands hanging in a loose fold, and Jean is sitting on the table, legs crossed, hand placed on Scott's shoulder. When we walk in, we head straight to the nearest table, where Jay's plate of greens is laying. He sighs when he takes a seat.

I sit next to him, Scarlet across from me, Bree across from Jay. We're eating, focusing on the intake of food, due to us not having enough time for more than a bowl of cereal this morning.

"Hey, I forgot to tell you, that girl in history was checking you out," Scarlet mutters to Bree, with all the food in her mouth. She swallows, then continues, "you know, the one with the icy eyes. Purplish hair."

"Yeah, that's Heather." Bree grins, "we have French together."

Scarlet purses her lips and leans in close, obnoxiously close to Bree's face before mustering up a French accent, "ooh la la, do they teach you how to do the French kiss in French class?" She starts kissing the air.

Jay clears his throat and leans in, "I'm sorry about Rome. He's usually not this much of a dick"-

"Apparently just to me," I scoff, cutting my eyes around the room, only to realize he wasn't here. Thank the Gods.

"I'll talk to him, tell him lay off," he offers, and I finally see how hurt he is about the whole ordeal. "Its not right for him to be treating you this way, you know? You just got here, and this is supposed to be your home"-

"Okay, Ghandi, that's enough, I think we get the just of it," Scarlet causes Jay to stop talking, sending Bree and I in a fit of giggles.

We're still laughing with one another and eating the last bites of our food, everyone but me, I'm a slow eater, when Logan approaches our table. "Jay. Where's Romeo?"

Jay wipes his mouth with a napkin before looking around the room, "not sure. He's usually here. Probably the roof."

The roof?

"Go find him," Logan orders, "we're about to start."

"Start? Start what?" I pipe up, looking across the room to see our teachers file into the training room.

"Training," Bree answers, finishing her apple juice. "Part one, team building."

Logan glares at her, "stay out of my head, Kid."

Bree tries to hide her smile, "sorry, Logan."

"But we're not gonna die.. right?"

Scarlet later asks for clarification once Charles finishes explaining the first exercise in our team bonding session. He calls it Minefield. I was worried the minute the words left his mouth, seeing as though it would seem I would have to go into a minefield with Romeo. And Logan.

Charles chuckles at Scarlet's question. "No, my dear. The 'mine' in 'Minefield' is purely metaphorical."

Scarlet and I exhale, thankfully.

"The object of the game is to get your partner across the minefield. They will be blindfolded, and it is the other partner's job to make sure they don't fall or run into any objects. If you run into any objects, you start over. First set of partners to have cross the minefield wins."

"So we both have to get across the mine field..?" Jay questions for clarification.

Charles nods his head to him, "that is correct. Once the first partner has made it across, swap blindfolds and move onto the next field. We'll begin at three." My eyes cut to the clock on the wall above the door. We had ten minutes.

I turn to look at Romeo, he keeps his arms in a tight fold across his chest. He looks as if he would rather be doing anything than be here. I tell myself that we can do this, we can work together and win.

"First thing you should know," I hear Bree not too far away tell Jay. "I'm extremely competitive."

I hear Jay's chuckle before turning to Romeo who is now looking in the opposite direction, somehow looking more annoyed now than only a few moments ago. "So, I think we should talk strategy"-

"Logan," Romeo doesn't even look at me, while he cuts off my sentence, "is there anyway I could work with Jay, or anyone else?"

Logan hasn't said much, he is sitting backwards in one of the wooden chairs that are stacked in the corner of the room. He cracks his knuckles and sighs, "I don't know what lover's quarrel the two of you have, but I already told Miss Glass over here it's not gonna happen."

Anger and embarrassment glare in my chest before radiating throughout my toes. "I have a name! Both of you!" I look between Logan and Romeo, "it's Angelina! Or, Lina. It's not Princess and it's not Miss Glass, okay?" I raise an eyebrow at Logan before turning to look at Romeo. "And look, Romeo, whatever vendetta you have with me, we can either hash it out or drop it. I vote we just drop it"-

"Hash it out..?" He perks up at that option, raising his head and finally acknowledging my presence for once, "yeah, let's hash it out."

I raise an eyebrow, "really?"

"Yeah," he nods, facing me, before unbuttoning his jacket.

"Okay, so let's start with why you don't..," I trail off when he drops his jacket and rolls his sleeves up to his forearms, "uh, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" He spits out before raising his arms. "Let's go."

"Go?" I repeat, assessing his fighting stance, before feeling realization wash over me. I laugh, shaking my head, "oh no. No, I'm not fighting you."

"Why? You just said we could either fight or drop it," he explains, not dropping from his fighting position. "I say we fight. I win, you drop out of the X-men program."

I shake my head, knowing I didn't hear him right. "Are you crazy?!"

He doesn't answer my question, instead he lunges toward me, and before I can freeze him, Logan finally interjects, and yanks Romeo back by the collar of his shirt. "Okay, enough."

"Come on Logan, we were just messing around," Romeo snickers. "Anyways, I knew she couldn't beat me."

I swallow, clenching my teeth together and crossing my arms. I could so beat him.

Logan drops Romeo and drags a long hand down his face, "I don't know how I got stuck with the two of you idiots. But look, everyone else seems to be talking strategy, so maybe the two of you should stop trying to fight one another and figure out exactly how you plan on winning."

Romeo straightens his shirt out before huffing, "let's just get this over with."

We flip a coin to see who wears the blindfold first. I wish I could see into the future, that way I would've chosen heads instead of tails. I yank the blindfold from Logan, but before I turn to face the hill we have to climb before going through the "minefield", I look to see who else has drawn the short stick of this challenge. To my surprise it was Bree and Scarlet tying on their blindfolds.

"Good luck guys," I tell them before tying on my own bandanna to seal visibility.

"I don't need luck," I hear Bree say as we climb the hill, "but thank you."

"You always get like this Bree," Scarlet scoffs, and I can hear her turn towards Bree to finish her thought, "it's just a game. Not the olympics."

"Sounds like you're okay with winning," Bree says in a singsong tone, while I try to focus on keeping my footing even. Before placing the blindfold over my eyes, I took a quick snapshot of the hill in my head, and if I wasn't mistaken there should be a twig on the ground right...

I set my hand down and grasp the small branch, with satisfaction. Nice.

"Watch out on your left," I hear Carrie's voice, Scarlet's partner, for the first time. "There's a rock."

What the hell was Romeo doing?! Everyone else was getting help from their parents, it was so unfair. My foot gets snagged in the grass, I'm not paying attention to the image of the hill in my head so I plummet into the ground. Ow.

"Watch your step," Romeo finally says.

"Wow. Thanks." I deadpan, raising my head and helping my self up.

This continues through the entirety of the exercise. It's not until I fall that Romeo informs me of the object on my right or left, or above me. I try not to get so angry, and decide to use this as a challenge. Whenever I trip of fall on an object I memorize the course from the beginning. It goes like this: object on my left, five steps later I duck underneath what feels like a limbo pole, after ten steps I hop over an object that sent me flying on my face, next, right after I make sure to move around whatever large object is in my path, but not too far to the left because there's what feels like a massive hole next to me. The same hole that I tripped over not too long ago, and gained the sore bump on the side of my head. After that, comes the hardest part. I can hear the water, which frightens me, I know after this obstacle is the last one because I over heard Jay walk through it with Bree. She had to climb monkey bars to get across. Scarlet had to jump. I don't know what's in front of me, what will keep me from drowning, and I freeze up, fear getting the best of me.

"Romeo, what do I have to do?" I ask, fighting the urge to rip off my bandana and become disqualified. He doesn't respond. "I know you're there," I could hear his footsteps beside me through the entire course. That and his idiotic laugh every time I fell.

"Figure it out," he deadpans, which was to be expected.

"Romeo, I don't know if you've gotten this yet, but we're a team"-

"You know, instead of trying to convince me of how much of a team we are, why don't you just finish this course how you started it? Without my help. And might I add, without your powers." I'm not sure what he meant by the last part, but he was right about what he said before. I did get through this without him, I didn't need his help and I could surely get passed a little water without him.

I took a shakey breath as I sat on the ground before stretching my foot out. Maybe there was a log of some type of rope I could climb over with. My foot lands on a slab of wood. I listen and hear a familiar groan of what's in front of me. I slap my foot on the wood in front of me, then put my hand out to feel for any other clues. I touch something. A rope! Rope and wood?

"It's a bridge," I mutter to myself gripping onto the single strand of rope on both sides. Slowly I take my first step on what sounds like a rickety bridge. I take another and I am completely on the bridge, away from solid ground. So far so good, I continue my slow steps on the bridge, and somewhere along the way I get too cocky with my stride, thinking of how I got this far without Romeo. Then my foot misses a step, and I'm falling.

No one in the family can swim. Mom tried to put us in swim lessons when we were younger but it didn't end too well. We did good with the instructors, and good with holding onto the wall, but the second it was up to ourselves to keep from drowning, we sunk. All three of us, we stayed under for too long, and after that, Mom swore she'd never take us near the water again. Rumor has it our dads are the same way. There's something about our DNA? Mom never really got into it with us.

The second I hit the water I'm screaming. I feel the water enter my lungs and my body sinking. I try to remember what you're supposed to do when you're drowning - to kick your legs? - but my fear gets the best of me and I wind up a thrashing mess. I try to grip onto anything, but my hands push against the current that I realize is moving my body. Eventually, my body slows down and I'm choking on water.