Cryokinesis

Whiplash

As soon as Gwen and Peter stopped outside of the mansion, Gwendolyn felt a rush of adrenaline flow through her body. Her white hair looked as though it had just been through a windstorm and her head felt a little light. For a moment she nearly lost her balance, but that did not stop her aqua eyes from lighting up.

"You probably feel a little weird right now," Peter said. "It's cool, it'll pass."

Gwen was silent for a moment, until a smile spread across her face and she exclaimed "That was so cool!"

Peter smiled as Gwen began babbling. "I love the feeling of adrenaline that flows through you as you're running! I love the rush of wind you feel! I even love the feeling of whiplash when you stop! We have to do that again!"

Peter chucked, running a hand through his silver hair. "Maybe not right now. You seem to be having an adrenaline rush," he said. "By the way, your hair looks like you've just been through a wind tunnel."

Gwendolyn's face turned slightly pink as she tried to tame her bangs and pigtails. "I practically was."

She noticed that Peter was gazing at the huge mansion just beyond the black gate. Inspecting the mansion from this distance made her realize that they had done a pretty good job cleaning up the place. The greenery was trimmed, the walls were clean, and the windows were no longer foggy from dust.

"So," Peter started. "This is where you go to school? It looks more like a giant house to me."

"It's sorta both," Gwen said with a half-smile. "If a student has nowhere to stay, they get a room here. It's a place for them to be taken care of."

"Do you have a room here?"

"Yep," Gwen said, peering through the bars of the gate. "This is the place I call home."

"Maybe you could show me around inside," Peter smiled as he nudged her with his elbow.

Gwen chuckled. "Are you sure? I mean, the place is pretty clean now but it's not exactly perfect."

"I live in my mom's basement; do I look like a guy who needs perfection?"

Gwen laughed, then figured it wouldn't hurt to show him around. She could give him a little tour of the mansion.

First she showed him the essentials such as the kitchen and the dining room, next were the classrooms and the giant library. Then, they went to the laboratories where Peter got to meet the Professor and Hank McCoy. They toured all three floors of the mansion. Finally, the very last stop was the dormitories.

"And this is the room I stay in," said Gwen as they walked down the hallway and approached the fourth door to the left. She opened the door to reveal her bedroom. There was a small bed pushed up against the furthest wall with the small window, and a little nightstand next to it that had an alarm clock and a small hairbrush on top of it. There were many band posters taped to the wall, and another door which Peter assumed was her closet.

"It's really bland in here. I haven't had much time to decorate," she said, then thought for a moment. "Well, I also don't own very many things to put in here."

"I like it," Peter said, looking around at all of her posters. The bands seemed to range from The Beatles, to Queen, to Pink Floyd. "You have good music taste."

"Thanks," Gwen smiled as she opened her window. She took off her seafoam green peacoat to reveal a white and gray baseball-style t-shirt. As she passed by the small mirror hanging next to her closet door, her facial expression became very shocked. "Woah! My hair still looks awful."

Peter chuckled as Gwen took the pigtails out of her snowy white hair and began to brush it. She couldn't help but notice Peter staring at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Uh, nothing," he said suddenly, as though he was caught off-guard.

"You can sit down, you know," Gwen smiled. "I know it's not much, but make yourself at home."

"Maybe it's not much," said Peter as he sat on the edge of her bed. "But it's enough."

"That's true," Gwen smiled, sitting next to him.

"Maybe you could come to my place sometime," Peter suggested. "We could hang out in my basement. Play some ping-pong."

"That sounds like fun," Gwen said happily. "I've never played ping-pong before."

"You've never played ping-pong before? Did you live under a rock before you came here?"

"Hey! Keep in mind I was very sheltered from the rest of the world. I was never allowed to go to many places."

"Why not?"

"My parents didn't exactly like the fact that I could do this," she said as the surface of her nightstand was quickly covered in ice. "Just by thinking about it."

"I guess they should've learned to appreciate a cold house," Peter teased.

"Shut up," Gwen smiled as she rolled her eyes.

"So can you melt the ice?"

"Well, that's the part that sucks. Melting the ice is way harder, and it's a much slower process."

"Well," said Peter. "Every power comes with a downside, I guess."

"Yeah right!" Gwen chuckled in disbelief. "If that's the case then what's your downside?"

"People say I'm too impatient. I also get bored really fast," said Peter. "By the way, are you hungry? I'm hungry."

"I can see what those people are talking about," Gwen mumbled to herself.

Peter stood up, stretched, then tugged lightly on a piece of her hair. "You wanna go get a burger or something?"

"Um, I don't know. Professor Xavier might want me to stay here and help clean up a little," Gwen said as she thought about all of the classrooms that needed dusting.

"Oh, come on," said Peter as he offered her his hand. "We'll be quick as a rabbit."

"Don't you mean quick as a bunny?"

"Same thing."

Gwen pondered on his offer for a few moments, then finally came to a decision. "You know what?" she grinned. "Why not?"

She took Peter's hand and as soon as the two of them stepped outside, they zoomed off towards the local burger joint.