"Do you think the Professor will be successful?" I ask the redhead standing beside me.
"I... think so. Professor Xavier just wants to help their daughter. Surely they would understand that," Jean says after thinking it through.
"I think the Professor wouldn't even be allowed inside," I say with an amused smile.
"How is that possible?" Jean asks, her gaze skeptical as she examines me. "And honestly, it's a bit strange looking at your face," she adds, scrunching her nose. "It resembles yours, but at the same time, it feels distinctly different."
"I can't help it. This is the safest way for me to walk uninterrupted in public places," I was of course talking about the Anti-cognitive Mask that I was wearing so people don't recognise me.
"But getting back to our previous topic, do you wanna bet?" I ask, looking at her.
"Sure. If I win, then you will have to join the X-Men. It's fine even if you can't stay with us, but you would be part of the school!" Jean says with a smug smile.
"And if I win, you will have to go out on a date with me," I say with a smirk.
"A-alright," Jean agrees, looking away from my gaze.
My gaze then shifts forward towards a house in Deerfield, Illinois, where the potential mutant resides. The Professor and Ororo were approaching it to meet with the mutant's parents.
---
"What are you talking about? How do you know about our daughter?" A woman stands outside on the house's porch and asks the Professor and Ororo with suspicion.
"Please, may we come in for a moment? We will answer all your questions and anything else you need of us to verify our identity," Ororo tries to calm down the agitated parents.
"Excuse me, Miss. You can talk to us out here," the man standing beside the woman says, looking at the two people critically.
Professor Charles sighs and speaks up, "Very well. I think you know that your daughter is going through a very unique transition. We simply want to help her through it. Has there been some signs of something... extraordinary happening around your daughter?" the Professor asks cryptically.
Both parents look at each other in shock. The woman tries to speak, but the man holds her arm and stops her from speaking.
"It's none of your business. Please, just leave us alone!" the man says before quickly closing the door behind him and his wife, shutting the two visitors outside.
---
At the same time, in a nearby school:
Bam Bam Bam
"Hey! Let me out, you jerks! Ugh! Open the door! Somebody open this door!" A girl is locked inside a locker and is banging desperately against it.
"Why is my luck like getting so bad! First last night with the nightmare and now getting stuck inside a locker! I am like so going to kill Amy and Riley for this! Is someone there?!" the girl keeps yelling and banging against the locker door.
Psssss
Suddenly, she hears an odd sound getting near.
"Hey! Who's out there? Can you hear me? Let me out!" The girl desperately pushes against the door, and suddenly she is out of the door and almost knocks into a guy holding a spray paint bottle in his hand.
The girl looks back at her locker door, and it is still locked!
"Hey, did you see what you just did?" The guy, who is quite taller than her, says, looking at her in surprise.
"What? I... uh... I like just fell out," the girl says nervously, trying to walk away from there.
"Yeah man, right through the door. That is so cool!" the guy says in amazement, standing in front of her.
"You're crazy," the girl panics and tries to pass by him, but he grabs her arm and stops her.
"No, no. Wait a minute. I'm the one guy around here who gets the beauty of it. 'Cause you're just like me. Really. All right then, check this," the guy leaves her arm and backs away.
He closes his eyes and keeps his arms forward, "Ughh," he visibly strains himself, and suddenly the whole corridor starts shaking.
The girl looks around in panic as even the locker doors open by themselves due to all this shaking.
"Gettin' the picture?" The guy lowers his arms and asks, opening his eyes.
"No, you're just some freak! Leave me alone!" The girl says in panic as she tries to run off again, but he easily holds her arm and stops her dead in her tracks.
"Trust me, I can help you control your powers," the guy says with a smirk. The girl stops struggling, wanting to hear what he was going to say.
---
"Looks like I won the bet," I say with a smirk as we see both the Professor and Ororo returning back without even being able to enter the house.
"They really were denied entry," Jean speaks in disbelief.
"You owe me a date now, red," I say with a smirk, inwardly glad that the Professor didn't use his powers, or else this might have been my loss.
Before Jean could reply, the Professor and Ororo reach us. "Her parents are too scared and they don't seem to be ready to listen to any reason right now," Professor Xavier says with a wry smile. "Looks like you will have to contact her directly at her school, Jean," he says, looking at Jean.
"Before that, would you mind if I try to have a talk with them?" I ask, tapping on my neck and deactivating the Anti-cognitive Mask.
"Sure, they would definitely listen to the famous Lucas Watson," Professor Xavier says with a pleased smile.
I feel like I was called here knowing that I might be able to help smoothen the conversation, but I don't mind helping the professor out.
I reach the house with the Professor, Ororo, and Jean trailing some steps behind me.
I then knock on the door.
"Sorry, my husband is not interested in whatever you want to say about my daughter, so please le-" The woman who opened the door gets stunned looking at my face.
"You must be Theresa. Hello, I am Lucas Watson, and I am here to talk about your daughter's future," I say with a charming smile.
"H-hello!" The woman speaks out, her face flushed.
"Would you mind if I come inside?" I ask as I walk towards her. She automatically makes way as I easily enter the house.
I look back and give Jean a wink, who is watching all of this in amazement.
---
"So you are saying that this Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters is a prestigious boarding school that is funded by the Watson Group, and my daughter can get a scholarship there, and her future will be basically secured?" The man sitting opposite us all says with folded hands.
"It is more of a collaboration, but yes, her future will definitely be secured," Professor Xavier says smoothly.
"And what about this unique 'gift' of hers that you were talking about?" The woman says, looking straight at me.
"Theresa, you don't have to worry about anything. I will personally look after your daughter. I wouldn't want to make a pretty mother like you worry anymore," I reassure her with a charming smile, while the word 'Milf' keeps popping in my head.
Theresa tries to hide away her blushing face with a giggle while her husband is too engrossed in figuring out the finer details with Professor Xavier to notice this exchange going on.
"We would still need to ask her opinion about this," Theresa says, looking at me apologetically.
"Of course, she must be the willing party here," I say, agreeing with her.
"Let me call her. She must be upstairs," her husband says, getting up.
"No, she is not upstairs. She wanted to go to school, so I let her," Theresa says, looking at her husband with an awkward smile.
"But don't you know about her condition? What if someone else finds out?" Her husband exclaims in worry.
"Do not worry, leave her to us. We will make sure that no one in the school makes any fuss even if her 'gift' gets found out," Professor Xavier says with a reassuring smile.
The parents felt something weird about the smiling old man, but looking at the other boys charming, handsome face, they choose to let it be and nod in agreement.
---
"Listen to me, you have a wonderful gift," the guy says, trying to convince the girl as he leads her to the administrative section of the school.
"I don't have any gifts, just a curse," the girl responds, her face clouded with sadness.
"The way I see it, fate dealt us winning cards, if we just play 'em right. And I can show you how." The guy smirks, keeping a firm hold on the girl's arm, preventing her from escaping.
"Look, I don't want any of this. It's like hard enough being normal, you know?" The girl expresses her frustration.
"You want it to go away, don't you? But it won't. You're afraid of what might happen. Your parents are clueless, probably ashamed." The guy stops walking and faces her. "But I want you to accept that there is something different about us. Hey, don't fret it, just embrace it." He smirks again.
"Oh, nothing's making any sense," the girl says, feeling confused as the creepy guy's words are starting to sound reasonable.
"That's why I'm here, to light your path." The guy clasps her shoulders from behind. "And the first step leads us right into that office." He points to an office door.
"But this is the principal's office," the girl says, looking at the door.
"I want you to go through that door and unlock it for me from the inside," the guy says with a smile.
"But like why do you want to go inside?" She asks, looking at the guy weirdly as she tries to pull away.
"The midterms start tomorrow, and the answers gonna fetch a prime price today," he tells her honestly. "We can do a 50-50 split. Trust me, this is the easiest money you'll ever earn," He says with a smirk feeling happy about his luck in finding her, as he was having trouble with the alarm systems.
"You want to use me to like steal the answer papers? Was it about cheating all along?" She looks at him in shock.
"Hey, this crummy school uses these tests to keep us down. If you're not interested in just money, I can even adjust your grades," the guy offers another trade.
"No!" She shakes her head, trying to get away.
"Look, there's no victim here. We're just evening the score," he says, grabbing her hand, stopping her once again.
"This doesn't feel right. I wanna to go. Let go of me!" The girl struggles to free her scrawny hand from his grip.
"Come on, we don't have much time. We need to be fast before anyone sees us. Just do as I say!" The guy yanks her arm forcefully.
"Ouch!" The girl winces in pain.
"Hey, why don't you leave that girl alone? She looks like she's in pain," a voice says loudly as a hand grabs the guy's shoulder.