The next morning Marie made her way downstairs to the dining room. It was just after seven, she had been awake for a while but didn't want to advertise just how weird she was by being up and about at sparrows fart in the morning, teenagers were supposed to be bed dwelling until noon after all.
As she made her way to the Saturday morning breakfast serving, she was relieved to note there were about half a dozen other teens already there, thankfully she wasn't the first to breakfast. With a shy smile at the group watching her from across the cafeteria, she went to get herself food before sitting at a quiet table in the corner, she still didn't feel like socializing yet. Idly she wondered if Logan was a morning person or not, and how she would find out, she wasn't even sure where his room was.
"Hi, this seat taken?" a mousey girl asked, as she moved to sit down.
"Um, I guess it is now," Marie replied, offering up a half-hearted smile.
"My name’s Kitty, what's yours?" the girl asked, cheerily.
Marie paused for thought, would she be able to hold off her own identification if she used a pseudonym. Shrugging it off she decided it would be better to get her own rejection over with faster, before she had a chance to form friendships with these kids, by being straight up. "I'm Marie," she replied, between mouthfuls of food.
"I saw you come in at the same time as Eric Lehnsherr, did you get to meet him? He's a super important mutant rights activist, he works with Professor Xavier to pass legislation protecting mutants, and..." Kitty began excitedly.
'Ugh, a fangirl,' was all Marie could think before she interrupted. "Yes, I've met him, lived in his house even, for years, great guy, real champion of mutant rights and freedoms," she deadpanned.
"So... you are his daughter then?" Kitty replied pointedly. Ah ha, she did know who she was talking to.
"I am she," Marie replied.
"Is it true you zapped some kid into a coma?" another boy, still sitting at the other table, whose occupants were shamelessly eavesdropping, asked loudly. Marie confirmed that was what happened. "But why?" he asked.
"That's just what my mutation does, I guess," Marie replied with a shrug. "What does yours do?"
The other kids all eagerly introduced themselves, and their mutations, some even offering demonstrations. They seemed friendly enough, a couple of the boys even tried to awkwardly flirt with her. After a while others began to filter into the room, Marie noticed Logan and his dad come in, the latter grabbing a coffee before departing again, while Logan glared at those occupying and crowding around the generally empty table he preferred, before taking his breakfast to the opposite corner of the room.
Marie wasn't the only who noticed Logan's entrance however, as soon as Victor was out of the room, and out of earshot, one of the boys - blonde haired Bobby Drake - loudly, though in a mock hushed tone commented. "Hey, I saw you yesterday hanging out with the Creed weasel, you should probably stay away from him, he's a bit of a freak, I wouldn't want you to end up tarred with his freak brush or anything, you know, you seem like a nice girl, I'd like to get to know you better, do you want to go to the movies with me today?"
"No offense, but this is a school for mutants, we're all freaks," Marie replied bluntly, "And who's going to tar me with said brush? You? If you, why would I want to go on a date with the guy who would spread rumours that I'm 'a freak' just because I happen to get along with someone he likes to denigrate?"
Several other kids sniggered discretely, as Bobby stared at her in open mouthed shock. As her words sunk in his face turned beet red, before turning purple with rage. "How dare you talk to me like that, do you know who I am!? Any of these girls would be grateful to be given the time of day by someone like me, I was trying to be nice to you and this is how you treat me!" Bobby stuttered and stammered in fury.
"Yes, Robert Drake, spoiled rotten son of Senator William Drake, I know exactly who you are, and if any of these girls would be 'grateful' to have you 'be nice to them', by trying to get into their pants, then I pity them and their small mindedness, now if you'll excuse me, I'd prefer to spend my day with someone who is actually nice to me." With her piece said, Marie collected what was left of her breakfast and moved across the room to where Logan was sitting, alone in the corner.
"You didn't have to do that," Logan said, smothering his amusement, as she sat down opposite him.
"I felt like it. I met that boy a long time ago, didn't like him then either," Marie pulled a disgusted face as she resumed her meal. Noting Logan was fully dressed, freshly showered, and fully awake, she asked curiously, "So, what have you been up to this morning?"
"Me and dad train early on Saturday mornings," Logan shrugged.
"Train for what?" Marie probed.
"Fighting, hand to hand combat, everything from various martial arts to out and out street brawling, the Professor wants me to join the X-Men someday but dad started teaching me as self-defence, it's moved on to offensive training now," Logan said, an eagerness in his countenance Marie hadn't seen before, he must really enjoy fighting.
"I thought there was a class for that sort of thing?" she asked, trying to remember what was on the schedule she had been given the day before.
"There is, sort of, the class is a lot simpler, lower level stuff than dad teaches me, plus, we're both feral and healers so we can get pretty intense when we really go at it, it's too dangerous to really fight with anyone else around," Logan replied, "'Cause I'm a dangerous freak who stabs people - even though I've never stabbed anyone but you know..."
"Stabs people!? I don't get the reference," Marie responded curiously.
"Yeah, you kind of cut Bobby off with that zinger before he could launch into his full tirade about how much of a freak I am," Logan commented, a hint of sadness in his tone.
"Don't forget, you are talking to the girl who puts people in a coma just for touching, you'd have to be pretty freaky to beat that," Marie joked. Logan shrugged with a dark chuckle and promised to 'show her later'.
"So, Uncle Charles wants you to join his X-Men huh? You don't sound like you like that idea," Marie continued.
"No offense to the Prof, or any of his superheroes, but it's not for me to be honest. Dad works with them and I understand that but... maybe it's just because I'm young and want to live a little first, dad seems to think that's it, but I'd rather just be normal you know, get a job, and a girl, maybe have a family one day, that sort of thing, literal opposite to almost everyone else here, which of course is another point against me on the freak score, I'm literally the only student that has a standing offer of a place on the X-Men," Logan explained, “And I don’t even want it.”
"I understand," Marie replied with a knowing smile, "I have the same problem with my parents, they want me to go to law school, or college and major in political science, and make a career in the mutant rights sphere but I just want to live a quiet life, I hate the politics to be honest, if I'm going to go to college I'd rather go for something useful, maybe be a teacher or something, really though, I'd just like a normal life, home, family, so, I get it."
"So, as well as being mega freaks we both have an innate desire to disappoint our parents, we've got a lot in common," Logan chuckled, drawing a laugh out of Marie as they finished their breakfast.
--
Later that afternoon found them again together, this time by accident, in the library. Logan was studying for an upcoming test when Marie wandered in looking for something to read, she didn't have homework to work on yet. The rest of the students were out and about, some at the movies, the mall, the rest outside enjoying the spring sunshine.
After a few minutes of browsing the fiction section Marie gave up, all the synopses sounded boring. Moving into the non-fiction section, she browsed through the science section, until she got to the historical literature. Pulling out a large hardcover book Marie moved to the couch and began to read. She wasn't planning on disturbing Logan but she noticed, after a few minutes, that he was watching her from where he was sitting at a table, books spread in front of him as he took notes.
"What?" Marie asked curiously, as she regarded him in turn.
"Nothing," Logan replied with a smile, as he turned back to his books, before a moment later commenting, "So, you like history?"
"Not 'like' like, more like you with politics, I like to know what's going or gone on before, the whole 'those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it' idea and all, it's interesting too," she answered.
"Cool, and, you want to be a teacher, right? ... Could you help me study?" Logan asked with a grin.
Marie laughed, before moving over to join him at the table. "What do you need help with?"
"I can't get these dates to stick in my head," Logan complained, "Honestly not sure why the specific date is so important but that's what the test is going to ask for."
They spent some time reviewing his notes before Marie quizzed him on the dates he needed, as well as throwing in more random facts and dates that she could remember.
"How come I can remember them when I hear them but not when I read them!" Logan sighed exasperatedly, as he grinned at his 'perfect' score. "Thanks, you should definitely be a teacher, you're really good at it," he added to Marie.
They chatted for a while longer, eventually moving back to the couch from the table, studying forgotten. As Marie watched the goings on outside, she spied Victor walk across the open field, and disappear into the woods.
"Hey Logan, what does your mom do? Your dad teaches here but you haven't said anything about your mom," she asked curiously, "Is she a teacher too?" Logan went quiet, drawing her attention away from the window. "Di-did I say something wrong?" she asked softly.
"No," Logan replied, with a soft, sad smile, "My mom's dead, she died when I was six, I don't remember much about what happened, something went wrong when my sister was born, and they both died."
"I'm so sorry," Marie commented, once the information had a chance to sink in. "I had no idea... your dad still wears his wedding ring..." she added, somewhat pointlessly.
Logan smiled. "Yeah, he does, he's still in love with her, he told me once he waited a hundred years for her, he wasn't ready to let her go after only eight together... It's the ten-year anniversary of their death's this week..."
"You miss her," Marie stated gently.
"I do, she was great, perfect, and Sally was so tiny, a real cutie, she would have made a great little sister... but it wasn't meant to be. Dad says everything happens for a reason but I still haven't figured the reason for that, why they had to die, when some pretty fucking horrible people are still here..." a hint of bitterness snuck into his tone before he sighed wearily.
Marie leaned over toward him and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight. "I don't have an answer for that one either, life sucks sometimes but there's always tomorrow for things to get better."
Logan didn't reply, just hugged her back, holding her close for several minutes before he released her. "Thanks," he offered with a smile, before their conversation continued on lighter topics, until their stomachs interrupted to request sustenance.
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