~

"Scott, don't freak out." Alex's voice was reassuring.

"O-o-ok," Scott replied. He couldn't see anything due to the blindfold over his eyes. Well, more like bandages. My eyes...

"You going to take the bandage off, ok? Just keep your eyes closed." He nodded hesitantly. He squeezed his eyes shut even tighter as he took off the bandage. There was a small light. Scott made sure not to open. "You sure this'll work, Charles? There's kids around and all." There are other kids?

"I am sure, Alex," a British accent said. Who was that? "I need to see how powerful he is before we do anything."

"Hey Alex! You're back! Charles, Hank, hey. Who's the kid?" There was a new voice, a girl.

"Hey River! Yes, Havok's back," Alex said. Scott could tell he was smiling. "This is my brother I told you about, Scott. Sorry Scott you can't see her, but next to me is Rivera Jasmine Lee."

"Call me River. Or RJ. Pleased to meet you." He felt her shake his hand. "Uh...why do you have bandages around your eyes?" Scott felt himself flush red.

"Something's w-wrong with my e-eyes," he stammered. Well, you officially blew it with this girl, Summers.

"River, please step back," came the British person who Scott assumed was Charles. "This young man is going to show us his mut-"

"Talent," Alex cut in. He patted Scott's shoulders.

"Right," Charles said. "Alright Mr. Summers, there is a target right across the water. Try to hit it, but once I say to stop, you will close your eyes. Understand?" Scott nodded. "River, dear what did I say?"

"Sorry," she said.

"Come here," Alex said. She laughed a bit then fell silent.

"Now," signaled Charles. Scott opened his eyes. He could see a blur of green. He saw a lake. Then there was a burning sensation. He started to breathe quickly. "Look ahead Scott!" Charles said. "The target is right acros-" He was cut off by red lasers blasting from Scott's eyes. Scott yelled out as a reflex.

The red blasted blasted across the water, upending it, and then disintegrated the target. However, he couldn't close his eyes fast enough to stop, and the tree behind the target was cut completely in half. He finally found the strength to close his eyes. Panting, he wrapped the bandage around his eyes.

"Woah," River said quietly.

"Woah indeed," came a new voice. Scott tried to remember the other name River had said: Hank was it? Alex patted his back.

"Good job," he whispered. Scott didn't feel like he had done a good job.

"You know, my grandfather planted that tree when I was born," Charles commented. "I used to to swing from its branches when uh when I was a child." There was a crack, and Scott felt a crash. He imagined that the tree had been split open and fallen over. He heard River stifle a laugh. "I think that was my favorite tree." He couldn't tell if the Charles guy was smiling or frowning.

"Well..." Hank said.

"A-am I expelled?" Scott asked with a heavy heart.

"No! Of course not! On the contrary, you are enrolled," Charles said. Scott let go of a breath.

"Welcome to home," said River. He guessed she was smiling. Alex patted his brother's again.

~

"So...what do you think of the place?" Alex asked. He was helping Scott in his new room.

"Uh well I can't see anything so..." he replied. Alex laughed.

"It's not that bad. Actually really nice." Scott felt around for the bed and sat down on it. He wrung his hands a bit. Charles had told him that he would get a single room because everyone else had a roommate already.

"Could you tell me about it?" he asked. The bed creaked as Alex sat down next to his brother.

"Yeah." He paused. "This place is a mansion in Westchester, New York. It's gigantic and there's a lot of kids. There's also a pond outside and a lot of trees. Charles Xavier, that's the guy who runs this place, his parents were pretty wealthy before they uh passed. He has telepathic stuff."

"Like reading my mind?" Scott was interested but a bit afraid.

"Yep. But don't worry; he won't read your mind or control you unless he has to." Scott nodded.

"Keep going." He laid down.

"Well when he was as kid, he met Raven who's that blue girl you probably learned about in school."

"At DC. She's a shapeshifter."

"Uh huh. She was one of Charles' closest friends."

"What happened?" Alex sighed.

"Remember when you were a way little kid and I was your age and-"

"You got in jail, yeah."

"They found me, Charles and the other guy. Erik."

"Lensherr. The guy with magnet stuff. Isn't he bad?"

"He wasn't always. Stop interrupting." He mock punched his brother. Scott laughed.

"Sorry."

"So they found me and them plus Raven plus a bunch of us mutants made a group called the X-Men to fight for the US Government against some other bad guys. Well, after our first mission and some other mishaps, uh..." He paused. "Sorry. It was a sad time. Anyways, after defeating the bad guy, Sebastian Shaw, Erik made his own group to fight against humanity. Raven went with him, leaving Charles and Hank and the rest of us. Then Charles started this school for gifted young people, like you, with us, and we thankfully didn't had any enemies since DC. Seven years ago. Well, I wasn't in that whole ordeal because of the war, but thanks to Raven, I'm still alive. So then after DC, Charles reopened the school because of River." Scott thought about it all.

"So...is she cool?"

"River? Yeah. She's the only student who's been here since the reopening of the school. A lot of the original students died. Or left. Because of the war."

"Oh."

"Uh...but yeah. She's your age, and we've been friends since she came to this school and I came back after the war. So since she was hmm let's see...six or seven."

"What's your power?" Alex paused.

"Nickname's Havok around here. Maybe you can guess."

"Oh yeah, you called yourself that earlier. It's pretty accurate."

"Hey!"

"What's your power? C'mon tell me!" Scott laughed.

"Sorta like yours except it comes from my torso and in rings of fire energy. Like yours. That's...why I uh stayed away from home."

"Huh."

"Ok, storytime over." Alex got up, but Scott stayed lying down. He couldn't see anything anyways. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"See you." He heard Alex close the door. Scott sighed. What a day. At least he wouldn't have to deal with those bullies anymore. Suckers.

He fell asleep thinking about his brother saving the world.

Scott woke up in the middle of the night, a couple hours later, to the house shaking. An earthquake? He couldn't see anything, so he just sat with his back against the wall and his knees close to his chest. He heard yells outside, and it eventually got quiet. The earthquake stopped. What the heck was that? Scott laid down, and it took awhile to fall asleep again.

~

The next morning, Alex took Scott down to meet Hank. Apparently he wanted to meet Scott for something. Alex said he had to go find Charles for something and left.

Scott and Hank walked around the area for a little bit, Hank helping Scott and telling him about the school. He stopped him after a few minutes.

"So the reason I wanted to meet up with you is because I have to give something to you. I had some ruby quartz lying around and made these," he said and handed him an object. Scott felt it. Glasses? "The quartz will reflect your beams back and basically shield everything and everyone else and um yeah! Try them on." Scott nodded.

He took off his blindfold and put the glasses on. They fit perfectly and felt comfortable.

"Can I open now?"

"Uh..." Hank turned him around.
"Now." Scott opened his eyes.

"Woah..." There were trees and bushes, a lake, kids walking around everywhere, and a beautiful stone building. Everything was washed in red, but it was still better than being blind. "Thank you so much, professor!" He turned to see him. Hank had blonde hair, blue eyes, glasses, and was wearing a casual outfit. He looked very intelligent and maybe a bit nerdy. Hank laughed and pushed up his glasses.

"Oh, I'm not a professor. Just a teacher. And a scientist. But you're very welcome." Scott looked around some more. His gaze fell upon a girl kneeling by the lake. He watched as she raised her hands and surprisingly, the water moved with it. He watched her make the water dance around her fingers and skip around. Woah.

"Who's that?" he asked. Hank smiled.
"That is Rivera, or River, Lee. You guys met when yesterday," he said.

"That's her?"

"Yep. You can go over and talk to her. Trust me, she won't bite," Hank said with a chuckle.

"Ok," Scott said and then started to walk over. He had a sudden boost of courage, perhaps from his new glasses. Don't say anything stupid don't say anything stupid; be cool, Scott, be cool. "Hey," he said. Wow, lame. She looked up, and the water dropped.

"Hi," she smiled. She had smooth black hair that reached below her shoulders and had deep brown eyes. She wore a purple short sleeve with some ripped jeans, black-and-white high top Converse, and a silver necklace hung from her neck with a key. She was kinda cute- wait what?! Scott cleared his throat and waved a bit before sticking his hands in his jacket pockets. "You can see now. Hank make those?" She pointed to his eyes.

"Yeah." He nodded. "I'm Scott by the way." She already knows that, stupid!

"Alex's brother," she said with a smile. "I'm River." She stuck out her hand, and he shook it. She stood up and brushed off her jeans. "Alex's a close friend. So..." She looked around with a smile. "Welcome to the school!"

"Thanks." He smiled back. "Uh...what are you doing?" he asked. She looked at the water. There was a ripple in the pond even though no one had thrown anything in it. Did she make that?

"Oh this. It's my mutation: water." She smiled again but a bit less energetic. She said "mutation" with a bit of regret or something along those lines. Uh oh, I'm losing the conversation...

"C-could you show me?" Her face brightened.

"Sure. What do you want to see?" He shrugged.

"Anything." River thought.

"Ok, I've been training on this trick with Charles, so if I fail, don't laugh." She took a deep breath, stepped toward the water, and was about to step onto the liquid.

"Wait Riv-" She put her hand up to quiet him. "But you're-"

"About to walk on water, yes." She looked back and grinned. She tentatively took a step forward onto the lake. He held out his hands just in case. She didn't fall. "Woo!" she said. Scott smiled. Wow.

River continued to walk on the water carefully without being sucked in. She even tried to dance a little and make some water move with her but almost fell, making Scott laugh.

"I gotta tell Charles," she said as she walked back.

"So...water huh?" She nodded, walked back, and accidently fell into his arms. "Are you ok?!"

"Oh sorry oops..." River picked herself up and blushed a bit. He felt himself get a little hot too. "Sorry liquid to solid ground is kinda a weird transition. But um...yeah! That's my thing." She grinned.

A group of students walked past and looked at the pair. River waved and some returned the gesture, but some shied away or rolled their eyes. He also heard some mutters.

"I guess they still don't like me..." Scott said with a sigh. Just like his past high school. Great. "Hey, I have special glasses now!" he waved at them. River stifled a laugh and reached over to put his hands down.

"No no, you're fine. Some students 'round here don't like me." He raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"She's a complete teacher's pet," came another voice. A red-headed girl with a satchel walked out of the trees. She smiled at River, and River rolled her eyes.

"Scott, this is my friend Jean Grey. Jean, Scott Summers. Scott, Jean, and blah blah blah," introduced River. They shook hands.

"Another Summers boy, River?" Jean winked. River blushed but tried to conceal it.

"N-no. Shut up. Anyways," she cleared her throat. "Jean is my second," she shot a glance at her as she emphasized the word, "best friend."

"And your first is your own cousin so..." River slapped her arm. "Ow!"

"Ok..." Scott shrugged. Girls.

"Well anyways, River, Jubilee's waiting in your room," said Jean. "Nice to meet you, Scott." She walked off towards the mansion. He waved.

"Sorry about her...she's...yeah. Jubi and I are her only friends, so you'll see her kinda being a loner, but it's ok. She's pretty cool and probably the most powerful mutant here other than Charles. But uh yeah..." River trailed off awkwardly.

"Do you have to go?" he asked.

"Yeah. My cousin's waiting, Jubilee. I'll introduce you guys later. See you around?" He nodded.

"Well, I live here now, so yep."

"Ok see you! Say hi to Alex for me!" She ran off. Scott smiled. He couldn't tell why. She was something.

~

Yay first chapter down! What do you guys think??

I again want to say the disclaimer that some of story plot/timeline does not match up with the movie, and this was done on purpose.

Thank you!!
Don't forget to vote and comment!