"and I know without asking"

October 20, 1964

Dear Alex,

I've started noticing you around the house more. Your laugh especially. It makes me smile, even though now that I write that down, that statement sounds kind of weird.

Charles said that I can start working with the team in the Danger Room soon because I'm the same age, and I'm the only other person who lives here. You know, for a girl, it's a bit strange to have four guy roommates. And the house is actually a mansion. But it won't be like this for very long. Charles said he wants to turn the mansion into a school of some sorts. For mutants. We'd be teachers.

Alex Summers, the teacher. What a funny idea. But I'd be the same as you. I'm not good with kids.

I don't know what I'd do in the Danger Room, though. I don't exactly have a "battle" mutation. Maybe I can be a sharpshooter or a tech gal or something. I mean, I already know how to defend myself. It happens when you're a minority.

This whole thing with America is stupid. Martin Luther King Jr. just won a Nobel Peace Prize, and people are still stuck up on segregation. To be segregated away from the minorities and the mutants. Of which I am both. You're a mutant; you understand what I'm saying. We are just tiny people swimming in an ocean of privilege.

I feel like these letters will just be me rambling sometimes. Sorry. Not that you'll ever read them. I mean, I hope not.

You've started to hang out with me a lot. It's been almost a month since we met. And then, today, you invited me to sit with the X-Men. I shied away, and you noticed so you stopped asking. I hesitantly nodded. But it was only because you looked sad.

The X-Men are actually not as bad as I thought. Actually pretty nice. Sean is funny. Charles seemed happy that I was finally sitting with you all. Hank and I had talked a little before. He's sweet. And there was you. You looked at me slightly and had a big grin on your face, as if you had a triumphant victory. In a way, it was a sort of victory. For you at least.

Are you happy to hear that?

Well, of course you are. I don't even have to ask that question. You're Alex Summers. You're always happy.

Well, 90% of the time.

But that's understandable.

From, Neveah Liu