After his unnerving experience in the science lab, Ian made his way to the cafeteria, with a new shirt on, to distract himself with food.
" Oh, man. I must bee seein things." Ian said to himself. He was still a little freaked out about his earlier experience but chose to just chock it up to not getting much sleep last night.
Ian walked into the hall and immediately walked into the lunch line and grabbed himself three burgers. Once he was out of the line, he headed straight for the Hellions table.
" Hey, Ian, what's up man?" Santo asked as he took a large bite from his pizza.
" Hey, Santo. Not much man, just.... Trying to get my mind off science for a bit." Ian replied. He sat down next to Julian at the table and started eating his food quickly.
" Whoa! Dude, chill out. It's not going anywhere any time soon." Julian told the man.
" Sorry, just really hungry." Ian replied as he wolfed down the three burgers. " Hey, Julian... Did you happen to see me in the Science lab a few minutes ago?" Ian asked.
" No. Why?" Ian asked.
" Cuz, a beaker of boiling water levitated off the table and fell on my head." Ian told the boy.
" And you think I did it?" Julian asked in offense. " Does that sound like something I would do?"
The Hellions and Ian all just stared at Julian.
" Okay, maybe I would. But I didn't. Not this time man." Julian replied. " Maybe, a ghost did it or something."
" Come on, Julian. A ghost? Really?" Cessily asked.
" Yes, really. I mean would you really put it past this place to be haunted after everything that's happened here?" Cessily asked.
" I wouldn't. And I would know, I was here last year. A lot of freaky shit happened." Ian spoke up.
" Yeah. I'm surprised they reopened this place after magneto attacked and Mis Grey died." Cessily exclaimed.
" Me too. But I'm more surprised how Summers is taking everything. You'd think he'd take a little longer to get over the death of his wife." Ian spoke.
" I mean with a lady like Miss Frost around who wouldn't move on quicker." Santo joked.
" Santo!" Cessily exclaimed.
" What?! It's true, Miss Frost is hot as hell. And so are her daughters. The cuckoos are fine as hell. Now if only they weren't so creepy." Santo replied.
" They aren't creepy. They're.... Different." Ian told the boy. " Well, anyway if you didn't do it Julain, I wonder who did?" Ian asked.
" Don't know man. Maybe you should tell summers." Julian replied.
" Nah, I don't really like him too much. And I doubt he'd listen to me. I have a meeting with Dani soon, maybe I'll just tell her after Summers leadership class." Ian told the boy.
" Oh, yeah i forgot that's next. Damn. Guess I'll go with you then. When do you wanna leave?" Julian asked.
" We can go now; I've already finished eating." Ian replied.
"Alright, let's go get this out of the way. UGHHHH!" Julian groaned as he and Ian got up from their seats. " See ya later guys." Julian spoke.
" See ya." The other Hellions replied.
" Yeah see, ya guys." Ian spoke. " Come on, let's go suffer together." Ian told Julian
" UGHHHH!" Julian groaned once more.
Ian laughed at the boy's dismay as they both walked out of the cafeteria.
" So, what do you think about this haunted mess? Do you think Cessily's right?" Ian asked the boy.
" I don't know. I mean it wouldn't be the most absurd thing to happen at this school. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. Wanna find out?" Julian asked.
" Hell no. If I learned one thing from me mother, ya see some spooky devil shite happenin, you run the hell away." Ian replied.
" Ha, smart lady." Ian laughed.
" I know...." Ian muttered.
" Ah dude, I'm sorry." Julian spoke.
" Nah, don't be. It's ancient history. I doubt mum even remembers my name." Ian told the boy.
" Dude.... Let's not think about it. Let's get to class. And after that let's play some basketball. Maybe I can beat ya out of your smaug." Julian told the man.
" Beat me? Hah! Maybe a year ago, Julian. But now? You're on!" Ian exclaimed.
The two walked into the Scott's class and sat down in the front row.
" Welcome, class, I'm glad to see a lot of you here. Especially those who aren't squad leaders." Scott said to the class.
Later.
" Ugh! That class sucked." Julian groaned.
" Then why'd you take the class?" Ian asked.
" My punishment for trying to break you out." Julian replied.
" Ah, that sucks. I got it because, I figured it'd be useful to have some more skills as a leader." Ian told the boy.
" Dude, you're not even in a squad anymore. What do you need leadership skills for?" Julian asked.
" Because I might just be leading you one day, Julian." Ian replied.
" Hey, you will never be in charge of this." Julian exclaimed. He flexed his muscles and kissed them.
" Mine are better." Ian replied. He flexed his much bigger muscles and Julian rolled his eyes.
" Hey, good luck in your meeting man, I'll see ya later." Julian spoke.
" Yeah, man. See ya!" Ian shouted. He sighed and began walking straight to Dani's office in the schoolteacher's wing. Ian walked up to her door and knocked on it.
" Come in." Dani shouted.
Ian opened the door and stepped inside.
Dani turned from her computer and looked at the door and smiled.
" Ian, is it time already?" Dani asked. Her enthusiasm wasn't shared, but she still smiled, nonetheless.
" Yeah, it is." Ian replied.
" So, how is everything going? Are you having a good day back?" Dani asked.
" Yeah, I got to spend time with Megan today, which is new because we usually only speak for a few minutes and then say goodbye, so that was fun. Class wasn't too bad, I can read faster and retaining the knowledge is easier. I met David's sister Kim, which was really nice. She's a sweet young lady." Ian told the woman.
" I see that's great to hear. And yeah, she is. She's a real nice young lady, I'm glad you were nice to her." Dani replied.
" Of course. I have nothing against Kim. She's a sweet young lady and I think it's nice to have her around, she's a real change for what I'm used to seeing from regular people. I think the world would be so much better if more people like her existed." Ian told the woman. He was genuinely happy to see a young girl untainted by the negative thoughts of mutants.
" Yes, it would be nice. But that's why we practice what we do, so we can help people understand us better. To see that we aren't all out to harm them. Coexistence is what we've always practiced here, which is why I was hoping you would be a part of our danger room session this afternoon. Kim asked to see if she could come and watch, and I feel like having all of my students there would paint a better picture. I know we aren't exactly your favorite people anymore, but we still care about you, Ian and we still want you to be one of us." Dani told the boy.
" Dani..." Ian hesitated. He didn't exactly hate the New Mutants, but he wasn't in a hurry to hang out with them." Look, I did say I was going to watch the Paragons during their training session today, I'll give it some thought until then. But I'm not making you a promise that I will." Ian told the woman.
" That's all I can ask. I want you to know, that I am happy to have you back and I'm glad you didn't switch advisors." Dani spoke.
" I only didn't because Logan wouldn't accept it. And I don't trust frost as much as I don't trust you. Like I told the others, you need to earn my trust back, just like they do. You're still my teacher and I will respect you, but I ask you to do the same. I'm fine with these meetings because everyone has them, but if I don't want to talk to you about something, I ask you don't pry." Ian asked the woman.
" Of course." Dani replied.
" Is there anything else we need to go over?" Ian asked.
" Why don't you tell me about your day? I mean other than your classes." Dani asked.
" Well, I don't know how much of a merit this has, but while Megan and I were in one of the science labs, a beaker floated into the air and there was a message written in red on the board. It said, " Leave Now!" And we looked around, no one else was in the room with us. I don't know if it was a ghost, but I figured I'd bring it up, just in case." Ian told the woman
" A ghost.... I really can't say if you're right or wrong. But I'm glad you brought this to my attention. If anything, else happens let me know. Did anything else happen?" Dani asked.
" No, that's it. Other than that, it was a totally normal day. Nothing else of value has happened." Ian told the woman.
" Well, okay then. Ian you're free to go. But just so you know, I won't force you to speak to me about anything, but I do want you to know that my door is always open, and you can always speak to me about anything, no matter how small it might seem. I am here for you. And I always will be." Dani told the man.
" Yeah, Dani. Yeah, I hear ya." Ian replied. He got up from his seat and walked out of the office, without saying another word.