Middle School Heroes

Chapter 2 - Breathe and Blend

The Xavier Middle School was a large old looking building with a set of concrete stairs that led up to a tall imposing door, that opened as they got close to it. At first, Skye thought that it had opened on its own, but then she saw a very tall and intimidating man holding the door for them. He had to be over six feet tall and he was wearing black cargo pants, black combat boots and a black t-shirt with an odd looking white skull on the front. His arms were easily as big as Skye's head. "Morning, Mrs. P.," he nodded, as they entered the building. "Miss."

As they walked into the building, Skye was surprised to see that the school looked perfectly normal. She wasn't sure what she was expecting. Maybe bars on the windows and surfaces covered in steel? This looked like any other school, though. A giant trophy case stood in one corner, and around it hallways and stairwells led off in various directions.

As they turned down one of the hallways, Skye and Mrs. Parker both came to an abrupt halt when they came face to face with the same man who had just held the door open for them. "Morning, Mrs. P.," he said in the same tone as before. "Miss."

Mrs. Parker eyed him suspiciously. "Mr. Castle, I believe that Mystique is playing games again."

"I'll take care of it," he grunted, and stormed off down the hall.

Mrs. Parker gave a quick explanation. "Frank Castle and Mystique are part of the school's security team. I'm afraid that Mystique's particular talents sometimes make Mr. Castle a little crazy. Here we are." She gestured to a large wooden door with a brass plaque that had the word OFFICE on it. They entered into a comfortable looking waiting area and Skye was led down a short hall to another door. This one also had a brass plaque that said, ADMINISTRATOR. Mrs. Parker knocked and they entered the office.

The woman behind the desk was looking down at her computer as they entered. She was wearing a black pants suit, and her jet black hair had long strips of fire engine red mixed in. She looked up and smiled at Mrs. Parker in greeting, while gesturing for Skye to sit down in the empty chair in front of her desk. "Thank you, Professor Parker," she said formally. "I'll take it from here."

Mrs. Parker placed her hand on Skye's shoulder, and gave her a comforting squeeze. "Remember that you and Peter are coming back to our house for dinner before we get you moved into the dorm." She smiled at Skye encouragingly. "Have a good first day!" She left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Daisy, I am Ms. Hand and I'm the administrator of this school. Welcome." The woman's tone was firm and formal. "We believe that you will find the students and faculty here to be welcoming, and that you will be settled in quickly. I have your class schedule right here, as well as your locker combination and a map to help you get around." She pushed a little pile of papers toward her, and Skye took them quickly. "Please keep in mind, Ms. Johnson, that we encourage everyone's unique talents, but safety is our number one concern here. Do you have any questions for me?"

"Skye. I prefer to go by Skye, if you don't mind." Yes, Daisy Johnson was her real name, but Skye was the name that she had given herself, and she preferred it to her real name.

"Of course," Ms. Hand replied, typing something on the laptop in front of her. She stood up and motioned for Skye to do the same.

Skye grabbed her backpack and followed her out of her office, stopping behind her when they met another woman dressed in a blue suit, with shoulder length black hair. "Dais.......errr.....Skye," Ms. Hand said, gesturing to the other woman. "This is Vice Principal Hill. Maria, this is our new student, Skye."

The woman looked her over severely, before cracking a wide grin. "Hello Skye, and welcome." She put her hand out and Skye shook it formally. "I hope not to be seeing too much of you in the future," she continued with a wink.

"Oh no, ma'am," Skye stammered. "I don't plan to get in trouble at all!"

Vice Principal Hill grinned. "Yes, well, no one really plans to get in trouble, do they? That is, until they get caught. I'd love to introduce you to Principal Fury, but he's out of the office today. Perhaps another time. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be going. Wade Wilson has managed to lock himself in the bathroom, and Mr. Castle and I are on our way to break him out." Ms. Hand and Vice Principal Hill exchanged exacerbated looks before Vice Principal Hill turned and walked through the door to the hallway.

Before the door could shut, Skye saw a girl about her height enter the room. She was wearing a pink dress with blue tights and carried an enormous backpack. She had her straight strawberry hair pulled up in a giant pink bow, and she smiled at Skye as she approached. "Sorry I'm late, Ms. Hand, but Tony was showing off a really cool little robot that he made over the weekend, and I lost track of time."

"It is okay, Ms. Potts. We were just finishing up. Skye, this is Pepper Potts, and she has been assigned as your Buddy, while you're getting settled. You'll find that your classes are similar. Have a nice day, girls." She turned to head back to her office.

Pepper turned to Skye with a confused look. "I thought your name was Daisy?"

"Oh, it is, but I prefer Skye." The sound of a bell ringing echoed through the office.

"Oh okay," she shrugged. "We better get going, we are late for Homeroom!" For the first time, Skye glanced down at the papers in her hand. "Is that your schedule? Can I see it?" Skye passed her the paper and she looked it over as they walked down the hall. "Oh neat! We really do have a lot of classes together. Homeroom, Language Arts, PE, Lunch and History. You will be in Honors Science with Jane! You are taking Geometry?" she looked at Skye impressed. "You'll have a lot of 8th graders in that class. Computer Science and Home Economics will have all three grades. So will PE, because we all have PE together. I have Business Law instead of Computer Science and German instead of Home Ec. You'll have to choose your Special Interest class, but we can worry about that later."

They walked down an empty hallway and Pepper paused in front of a door. "This is Homeroom. We start the day off here for 20 minutes to take roll and hear announcements. Professor Coulson is the most awesome teacher at the school. We have him for Language Arts first period, so we just get to stay here after Homeroom. That will be a great time for you to meet some people!"

Skye stared at the door. Here we go again, she thought to herself. Just breathe and blend. She took a sharp breath as Pepper turned the door handle. Breathe and blend, she repeated to herself as they walked through the door.