DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.

A/N: It seems like you guys don't like this story any more - not one comment.

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CHAPTER 7

Marie was a little sore after her exercises with Victor the former night and hoped that she wouldn't have to run with the kids too much today. But before she could play with the children, Heather – a blond woman in her early thirties – introduced her to Camille, an assistant teacher about Marie's age, who looked a little misplaced in a kindergarten with her manicured pink fingernails, fake eyelashes and three inch high Prada stilettos.

The obviously fake blond shook hands with Marie, eying her from head to toe. "That's a nasty gash." Camille remarked, her gaze locked onto the two inch long scratch on Marie's back of the hand.

'Ya should see mah ass-cheeks...' The brunette smiled and shook her head. "Looks worse than it is. A cat scratched me."

"Must have been a big cat."

"Yep, the biggest I've seen so far." Marie tried her best to suppress her southern drawl.

Heather walked over to a group of children playing with building blocks and cars. "These are Jessie, Cameron, J.D. and the twins Sally and Hally." Marie couldn't suppress her grin and the older woman continued in a lower voice. "Their older brothers' names are Ken and Ben." Heather clapped her hands and got the attention of all of the children. "Hey, pumpkins, please come all here, I wanna introduce someone to you!"

The little boys and girls came all running towards them, their eyes wide. Most smiled, but a few were shy and hid behind the bolder children.

Marie crouched down to the kids with a gentle smile on her lips. "Hi, sweeties, I'm Marie." The kids all said a "Hi, Marie." in a chorus. "I hope we'll have a lot of fun together!"

"Yeah!", screamed a few and two girls immediately stepped closer to Marie, one reaching for Marie's white bangs. "You have funny hair!" "All white!"

"Like my granny!", put Cameron in and Jessie asked innocently "Are you old?"

Camille watched horrified, obviously glad that she wasn't center of those bold questions. Marie on the other hand chuckled amused. "No, honey. I'm not old. Do I look old to you?"

Little Jessie blushed and he shook his head vigorously while the other kids giggled.

"Why is your hairs white?" inquired a strawberry blond, one of her teeth missing.

Marie felt Heather's eyes on her – she was kinda testing her – and the young woman simply asked back "Why do you have blue eyes?"

The girl thought a moment and then shrugged. "Dunno."

"See, sweetie, and I don't know why I have white strains." Marie lied. "But you know what?" Her gaze traveled over all kids' expectant faces. "That's a good thing. Wouldn't it be boring if everyone would look alike?"

"Confusing like Sally and Hally!", yelled Cameron and the twins looked a little upset.

Marie inwardly smacked herself. "Umm..." She reached out for the two sisters. "Hey honeys, will you come here to me please?"

Reluctantly the two stepped forward and Marie eyed them for a long moment.

"What are you doing?" asked J.D. eventually.

Her eyes never left the two girls. "One moment please." You could see that the kids felt more awkward with every passing second and Heather was about to have a little talk with her new assistant teacher as Marie finally smiled. "You aren't completely similar." She lifted her hand and pointed at the freckles on the left cheek of each girl. "Your freckles look like a triangle, but your sister's doesn't."

"Huh?"

Suddenly almost all kids pushed forward and stared at the twins' cheeks. "She's right!" "Sally has triangle-freckles and Hally not!"

"Really?" The girls smiled at Marie.

"Yep, sweeties. See everyone is a little different and that's what makes everyone of us special."

All children smiled and the twins ran over to a mirror to see for themselves while Cameron and another boy took Marie by the hands. "Will you play with us, Marie?"

"Sure. What are you playing?", the brunette asked while she stood up and was pull away by the children.

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An hour later, Heather continued her briefing with Marie. She was impressed how the young woman had managed her talk with the children. They were standing a few feet away from the playing toddlers and she pointed at two children, one boy playing with Play Doh alone in a corner of the room and a brunette girl with pigtails playing house with the twins. "And those two need our special attention." Her gaze rested on the little girl. "Chloe won't eat properly, though her parents say that they have no problems with her at home. Otherwise she's a sweetheart."

Then Heather looked over to the dark haired boy and Marie remembered him to be the only child staying in the background during her introduction. "And this is Vincent. He's a really shy little guy. Hardly talks with anyone, only whispers. He's always playing alone in some corner and shies away as soon as other kids come his way." Vincent looked briefly up. "And he seems to dislike Camille. Every time she comes near him, he starts to cry like it's the world's end." Her features became concerned.

"And he's scared pretty fast, so don't do any weird noises around him. Last week we made strawberry sauce and he ran out into the garden and hid on the playground as soon as we switched the mixer on."

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Marie let her gaze travel over the eating children. A faint smile was on her lips as she saw Chloe chew happily on her pasta. Her eyes traveled one table further and Marie frowned as she saw Vincent sniff at his food. The brunette approached the boy and crouched down next to him observing him sniff at his glass before drinking. When he took another fork of pasta Marie had to smile as she saw his teeth. "Vincent, open up your mouth for me please." She whispered and the boy obeyed, flashing her his small canines.

Heather noticed her new assistant teacher looking into a child's mouth. She immediately walked over and Marie stroked the boy's head when she got to her feet. "What are you doing, Marie?"

The brunette walked a few feet away from the children and held her voice low. "He's manifesting."

"Manifesting?" The other woman gave her an are-you-nuts-look.

"His mutations are developing. Ah think he's a feral, that's why he behaves odd."

"A feral? Will he get fur like that ambassador?"

"You mean Henry McCoy? Nah, not necessarily."

Heather was confused and felt kinda helpless with this topic. She knew that there was the chance to have mutant students – especially with the new law – but she had always thought that only the fifth or sixth grade teachers would have to deal with a kid beginning to show their mutant trades – not her in the kindergarten class. "Okaaaay. And what influence has his mutation on his behavior?"

"The senses of ferals are very sensitive. He hears and smells much more than we do and Ah think it's overwhelming him." Marie thought about an example. "That's why he cries in Camille's presence. He's having a headache from her perfume." Marie remembered the time after she had absorbed Logan's enhanced senses and her trouble adjusting to her surroundings. "And the other kids are simply too loud for him, that's the reason why he always whispers. Everyone else around him is screaming in his opinion."

"Oh." This suddenly made sense. A lot of sense. Maybe this new assistant teacher could indeed help her with the children – other than Camille, who busied herself with pulling soil from under her nails – again. Her eyes fell upon her other problem child. "And how did you bring Chloe to eat without throwing a tantrum?"

"She doesn't like sparkling water. It's prickling too much for her liking." The other woman stared at her for a moment then her gaze switched over to the little girl, sipping from her still water. "She was thirsty and couldn't eat any more."

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A/N: Liked it? This was actually the very first chapter I wrote for this story about two or three years back (My stories all look like puzzles at first and have ideas for other stories in their files).