Orientation - The Morning After (dah dah daaahhhh)

[Alex Carpenter]

He thought about it a minute. "A little? I kind of had a 'rude awakening' year this year... my friends were mostly hangers-on that wanted to stick around the rich kid. Once it turned out that I was a mutant, they started keeping their distance. Started getting hit with all kinds of stuff at school... evidently being a mutant disqualifies you from being in anything competitive, regardless of your power. So last year ended up being a pretty boring year. No sports, no activities, just a lot of watching, and that got old after a while."

[Brigid Plunder]

"I could see where that would be a pain. I feel like I'm trying to get a head start this weekend."

[Alex Carpenter]

"Yeah, I don't know about you but this feels like a big tease to me. 'Oh, let's all come to the school, meet people, stay the night, but gotcha! You can't stay!'"

[Brigid Plunder]

"Apparently some of the kids in worse situations are actually staying the summer. I don't know if I feel bad for them, or envy them."

[Alex Carpenter]

Alex stopped for a moment. "Okay, hearing that, now I feel like a jerk for saying that. Going home sucks... but I wouldn't want it to be because of that."

[Brigid Plunder]

"Yeah, I almost want to keep them company, you know?"

[Alex Carpenter]

"Yeah, same here. 'Course, I've got to be honest and say that it might be part because I just want to stay anyway, but... yeah."

[Brigid Plunder]

"Well you get enough people doing it and suddenly we're not the sad kids who stayed the summer, but the cool kids who all know each other."

[Alex Carpenter]

Alex sighed and nodded. "Would be nice, wouldn't it?"

[Brigid Plunder]

"No such luck though. It's a shame, a lot of the other kids are pretty nice."

[Alex Carpenter]

"Yeah," Alex admitted. "Some of them take some getting used to, but... yeah."

[Brigid Plunder]

"It's not like I know a lot of people, but I do think it's kind of easier that everyone here has something weird in their lives."