Why Me? (X-Men fan fiction)

Chapter 1 "Others"

     "This is best for everyone Marida. There's no need to be worried." That was my mom speaking; she's worried about me starting a new school. I wasn't really anxious about the classes I would take; I was more worried about the other half of my stressful life.
      Now you might think, "You're too young to say you have a 'stressful life,'"but trust me, when you find out what my life's been like, you'll agree with me.
     A woman, who looked to young to be a secretary, greeted us at the door, she looked nice enough with her kind smile and white hair that had obviously come too early, but there was also a sort of energy in her eyes that unnerved me. Now this school that I mentioned is a boarding school for "special people." When I say special people, I mean disturbed kids. 
     Anyway, the woman ushered us in. We walked into an office and sat down on a couch. All the while, Mrs. Storm (I got the feeling that wasn't her parent-given name) was telling us what classes I would be taking this coming year and the rules at Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.
      Eventually, the white haired lady left, telling us before leaving, "Professor Xavier will be in shortly; until then make yourselves at home." Once she left I stood and walked over to the window looking into the garden. I vaguely heard my father explaining that I would go live with my brother in Australia if I didn't follow the rules or if I did poorly in my studies, but I tuned out and focused on controlling the headache that had started midway through Miss. Storm's informational lecture.
     After about half an hour I tuned back in and saw that my parents, Mrs. Storm, and two men one of which was in a wheelchair and looked in his twenties and the other who was about the age of Mrs. Storm, were all staring at me as if waiting for something.
       The younger man asked me a question, which I only realized later was the second time him asking me, "What do you like to do? For fun that is." I glanced at the man in the wheelchair; there was something about him that felt strange.
       Pushing that feeling down, I answered, "Music. I like music."
        "Interesting, do you play the piano?" asked the man in the wheelchair. I looked at him again and realized this man must be Professor Xavier.
        I smiled at him slightly and said, "Yes, but not very well."
       "She's just being modest. She's amazing," My mom said with pride in her tone and on her face. I blushed and glared at my mom, but I could feel the professor smiling at me. He wheeled himself over to the piano in the corner and ushered me over. Walking over hesitantly, I went to him and sat down on the stool. The professor started playing an old Irish waltz that I knew, so I played the harmony.
      Once the song was over the professor turned to me and 'said,' "You play beautifully." Now when I say "He said," I mean his voice was in my head. At first I thought I was just imagining it, but then I realized I couldn't be imagining it. Stupidly, I stared at the professor; time seemed to slow and it was like only me and him were in the room.
       Smiling at me, he said, "You're not the only one with gifts."
       After my parents had left, the woman that had greeted us showed me to my room. I was sharing a room with two other girls; Rebecca and Emma (but Emma likes to be called Emit.) They seemed nice; but at the time, I wasn't in the mood for chatting or really anything besides sitting in the corner; so that's what I did (at least until dinner.) We ate dinner in the cafeteria. I can't remember what we had, but it was all right. Midway through dinner the professor came over to me.
       After a few minutes I asked him, "Why could I hear you in my head earlier?"
        For a second he just looked at me, then he said, "Because I'm telepathic." He said this as if it was obvious and no big deal. I couldn't take it all in. And then all of a sudden I realized the people around me. One girl was disappearing and reappearing. A boy was turning his glass of orange juice into an orange popsicle. I couldn't process that there were others with weird... abilities.
     The professor saw and I guess "sensed" that I was uneasy, so he decided to change the subject.
      "Do you play any other instrument besides piano?"
       He was obviously trying to make small talk, but I answered, "If you're really telepathic, you already know the answer to that question."
       He smiled at me and said, "You play the violin, guitar, and mandolin. You prefer the violin to any of the others."
       "Yes. Do you play any other instruments?" What he did shouldn't have but did surprise me.
        He reached across the table and said, "You tell me." I was scared; I had never told anyone about my "talents" and this guy knowing that and practically everything else about me, terrified me. After a moment I stood abruptly and quickly left the cafeteria. Weak, I know, but I wasn't ready for someone to know everything about me. Call me a scaredy-cat, whatever, but you would feel the same way if you were in my shoes.
     So after running out of the cafeteria like a scared puppy, I went to the gardens and walked around until people started to come out. Then I went to my room. Emit and Rebecca were both gone (thank goodness), so I decided to get ready for bed. By nine I had taken a shower, brushed my teeth and hair, and gotten into bed. The girls were back by now and also in bed. For a while I couldn't fall asleep, but eventually I did.
       I couldn't remember much right after Professor Xavier woke me up, but after being taken into a private room and left alone it started to come back to me.

(Dream/flashback)

"No. Please. Stop. It hurts. I can't do this, please! Please!! Please!!!" I was in a lab strapped to a surgeon's chair. There were doctors all around me, checking my heart rate, blood pressure, everything that happened in my body. All the while, they were boosting my brain waves. The pain was horrific; I could barely stay awake. A doctor was talking now, telling the nurses what to do. "Raise the voltage to 80%. 90%. 100%."

      I was shivering in the corner when the professor came back in with the young man named Scott (or cyclops). Scott helped me to a chair, and then others came in; but I was in too much shock to be able to tell who they were.    
       After a moment the professor said, "You're safe, they won't find you here."
        I looked at him and said, "They practically let me go. It's not what they could do, it's..."
      "It's what they have done," the professor finished for me.
        Then he took my hand and said, " Show me." So I did, everything from when I had first realized my abilities to the day before coming to the school. I showed him how a year and a half before I had been kidnapped and taken to a lab and experimented on for days. They had boosted my brain waves to the point of being able to read people's thoughts if I had physical contact, while before I had only been able to sense emotion. I had been terrified  for months after I had gotten home. After I showed him all of this, the professor told Storm to take me to another room. Once we got there, I was told to sleep, but I didn't, not after the flood of memories.
      In the morning I went to the cafeteria tired from having no sleep; everyone was staring at me and once the professor entered, I couldn't handle all the eyes. I went to my locker, pulled out my first class's note books and was first to class. History was first, and Storm kept glancing at me while giving her lecture. Same thing happened in the rest of my classes. By the end of the day I was ready to go live with My brother in Australia.
     After dinner, which I decided to skip for obvious reasons, the professor summoned me to his office. I was reluctant to go, but I did.     
      Storm was the one to speak first saying, "Marida we are going to give you your own room and private classes for you to get the education and attention you need." I was surprised that after so little time, the professor would decide to single me out in this way; and I was hurt. I hadn't been there long, but I felt a connection to the school like I belonged there, but not as a lab rat. The professor was in my head.
      I could feel him reading my emotions and scoping out how I was taking the news; I wasn't taking it well. "Marida...," the professor warned, knowing what I was about to do.
      "I don't know why I expected more from this school than the others I've been to. Maybe it was because everybody here are weirdos like me, but I was obviously wrong."
       I turned to leave but then the professor said, "We want to help you."
       "Oh yeah?" I said turning back around. "You've been in my head, you know what happened last time I was kept under observation like a sick child. All I want is to be treated normally, or at least as normal as possible."
        They all looked at me with sympathy, and then the professor said, "We can't trust you until you trust us." The others in the room didn't understand what he was talking about, but I knew.