The room was quite full, someones were trying to listen, others didnt care, others tried to explain some difficult concepts to a not very smart partner .the place had a constant buzz.
A group of girls listened with admiration to the cause of the murmur. a girl with big blonde curls. she talked constantly changing from one topic to another constantly. if you lost a second of conversation you ended without knowing how she had come to that. her friends just hear her with constanst giggles everytime she finished a sentence. the girl was talking about irrelevant topics. Prices of clothes, different shops, some names of mans jumped into the conversation too.
A voice tried to stand between the murmur that caused the girls. as the voice of the teacher reach a higher level the girl with curls rised her voice too. it seemed a competition, the girl seemed to be wining until the teacher almost shouting tell her name.

¨ Madison, this is not a shopping please listen to what I am saying or i would have to ... ¨

the girl quickly answered with a smile and an apology. his group of friends quickly grabbed their notebooks and drew a pair of letters as if they had been taking notes.the teacher was explaining just a very modern style of painting, it was hard to remember all the names of the styles but wasnt difficult to remember the meaning .
when the teacher started to speak again to the rest of the class, Madison began his talk with her friends again but this time in a voice much lower.
A girl looked at Madison maliciously while she taking notes of everything the professor said, and helped a boy who seemed a bit lost in that class. she was quite high for the age she seemed to had. she had a long red hair tied in a ponytail. As everyone knew, she didnt needed to take notes or carry reminders ... everything she saw and heard was recorded in his mind without any possibility of being lost. if she ever heard or saw something she could remember it. but for some strange reason the girl carefully wrote every word the teacher said.

The buzz began again but this time it was a general murmur, almost everyone was talking . surely the teacher was talking about some bored project in a passionate way, he was speaking as he did something awesome and wanted to share it with others.
This time it wasnt the teacher the one that ended it. the front door suddenly opened and all were silent, even the professor. Iron Mouth was standing above the frame of the door, agitated. The teacher was the first to dare to break the silence.

¨ Mister Martens why are you arriving my class 20 minutes late after missing the classes for almost one week? ¨

Fausto was embarrassing. he wasnt very interested in school and spent the afternoon walking or practicing with the band.

¨ sorry professor, I have no excuse this time. I came back because I need inspiration for something related to art. and what is a better inspiration to listen to a true artist. ¨

Fausto put much emphasis on the way he said ¨true artist¨ , he really wanted that to sound like a compliment. and apparently it worked because the teacher continued saying

¨ Well Fausto sit anywhere. As I said to the rest of the class I'm working on a project that mixes different styles, such as a painting that includes chunks of metal and wood to form a pounce ... ¨

It was easy to realize that what he said was true. the examples fit perfectly with the things that covered his clothing. his clothes seemed to be filled with sawdust and small pieces of a bright metal . Fausto cant avoid reminding the Japanese who made a large model of a city with just trash.

Iron Mouth seek around looking for someone ,he find the person he was looking for. she was easy to recognize among the other students. Fausto sat by his side greeting her with his right hand.

Katrina liked art class. She liked it a lot better, though, when they got to work on their own art projects than when they had to listen to a lecture on Modern Art and how it related to mutants. She didn't understand how art and being a mutant were related at all, but most of the other students didn't even seem to care about how rude they were being. Finally, something happened to break the mood.

Fausto burst through the door of the classroom. It was odd that he would even bother coming at all, since he skipped this lass so often.

>>>¨ Mister Martens why are you arriving my class 20 minutes late after missing the classes for almost one week? ¨

The tardy teen laid the compliments on the professor pretty thick, going on about him being a “true artist” and everything. Katrina was sure he wouldn't be able to get away with that, but she was surprised. The over exaggerated flattery worked, and the saw dust covered man was off on another tangent about his newest art project that somehow mixed metal, wood, and painting. Katrina rolled her eyes. It was no wonder everyone was talking under their breath. This was getting to be a waste of time.

As the lecture drifted back to art and away from Fausto's arrival, the fifteen year old slid into the seat next to Katrina with a wave of his hand.

Katrina waited until the moustached man was once again glaring at the giggling girls before whispering to her recently arrived neighbor, “Where have you been all week? You know, we have a painting due next Wednesday. You're going to have to really hurry to get it done.”

"Where have you been all week? You know, we have a painting due next Wednesday. You're going to have to really hurry to get it done. "

Fausto made a slightly smile while kat was scolding him . e wait her to finish it to get back to talking. he began to speak almost in a whisper to dont draw the attention of the teacher but he still kept the smile in his face.

¨ Kat you look like my mother ... Let me answer that question with another question. what are you doing in a class when outside the sun shines bright ? isnt better to go outside and enjoy the beautiful day? if you dont want me to stay delayed while all the class finish the painting you have to help me ... but I didnt came here to ask you about my delayed homework . ¨

Fausto hear pieces of chat that come from what the teacher was explaining, the rest of the class does not pay much more attention than the one they were giving to him.
anything would be more interesting that the teacher^s project . it could be interesting if you dont have any other more important thing to do .
the band is obviously much more important than what the teacher was saying. The young singer wanted to tell everything to Kat but he didnt know where to start, what should be the first thing ? there were so many things to say and could not talk much in class. in some ways the teacher remind Fuasto of himself, always talking about his projects wanting to be the center of attraction . therefore he didnt want to make him mad.

¨Kat I'm thinking of a change of image. what do you think? ¨

Fausto negated with his head almost instantly after finishing the sentence.
he really wanted to ask her about a song in which he was working but he had to explain many things. it difficult to tell Kat about the band, maybe she would like the idea but she wouldnt think this a good idea to skip classes to attend meetings for the band.
the child seemed nervous when he speak again . perhaps he was too worried but he didnt wanted to make Kat angry with him.

¨Kat that wasnt what i really wanted to tell you. I'm in a rock band, really we are beginning it . I only have a few ideas for a song but we dont have enough for the first show. I would like you to help me with the songs, what do you you think? ¨

>>>¨Kat you look like my mother ...”

Katrina just pouted in return. She hadn't meant to sound like a nagging mother.

>>>”Let me answer that question with another question. what are you doing in a class when outside the sun shines bright ? isnt better to go outside and enjoy the beautiful day?

Katrina hadn't realized it was nice outside. It was still winter in her mind, so she had been avoiding the outdoors. Winter was cold and she didn't like cold very much. She didn't respond to his question other than a shrug. She was still sort of trying to pay attention to the professor, or at least look like she was trying. It was rather hard to hear over all the babble.

>>>“if you dont want me to stay delayed while all the class finish the painting you have to help me ... but I didnt came here to ask you about my delayed homework.”

Oh, then what had he come to class for? Katrina raised an eyebrow questioningly in Fausto's direction.

>>>¨Kat I'm thinking of a change of image. what do you think?¨
He asked, but then immediately shook his head, as if that wasn't really what he had wanted to say. Katrina waited, and when Fausto spoke again his voice sounded a little nervous, but it was hard to tell when he was speaking so quietly to avoid the teacher's attention.

>>>¨Kat that wasnt what i really wanted to tell you. I'm in a rock band, really we are beginning it . I only have a few ideas for a song but we dont have enough for the first show. I would like you to help me with the songs, what do you you think?¨

Was that what he meant by a new image, too? Maybe he was going to dye his hair or dress in some really strange clothes or something. Was that why he had been missing so much class?

Now it was Katrina's turn to whisper under her breath, trying to talk without moving her lips. “I can help, I suppose. What do you need me to do?”

¨I can do it alone... but I would like to do uit with you this time. you always helped me when i was in trouble. it seems that i only used you to solve my problems in a easy way and isnt like that , you are my friend . I would like at least once to do something fun with you , like try to make a song or go to a hairdresser to change our looks. i dont want to have friends only to take them to funerals ¨

Fausto winked an eye, obviously he was talking about the time that Kat had helped him to sneak into the funeral. That had not been a day in a funny park but it was much easier to did because kat was there with him . the child felt in debt with her but he didnt know what to do to be reward her , in his opinion Katrina was too worried about the school and sometimes she forget that they still were children and they should have fun. at the other side Fausto usually forget that school was necessary. he often wasted his time walking through Central Park with no direction ,only with his thoughts.
Fausto had fallen to a feeling of rejection to the school . before he liked to go, he could learn and chat with many peopl ... but when his partners began to discover that he was a mutant all finished ... the school no longer seemed a nice place for him.
The mansion was a completely different place, full of mutants. classes were more funnier and mutations gave another perspective to school but he still retained a small rejection to school. schedules and some boring classes also contributed to enlarge this small rejection.

the child thought the teacher was looking at they but every time he turn back to check ,the teacher's eyes were already in another group.
Hopefully the teacher couldnt hear they , Kat spoke very quietly and barely off their lips. to realize what she said was quite complicated, Fausto had to keep all his attention on her to dont miss what she said.

¨ As i was saying ... I have some ideas for a song.i wrote a few lines but it doesnt convince me at all, it's as if i am missing something. I would like you to help me, not to take advantage of your creativity, but for have fun together ¨

>>>¨I can do it alone... but I would like to do uit with you this time. you always helped me when i was in trouble. it seems that i only used you to solve my problems in a easy way and isnt like that , you are my friend . I would like at least once to do something fun with you , like try to make a song or go to a hairdresser to change our looks. i dont want to have friends only to take them to funerals¨

Katrina remembered the funeral well, it was the funeral of the man who had killed Fausto's parents. The funeral of the man Fausto had killed for revenge. Katrina hadn't asked for the details of his death. She had gone with to the funeral to support her friend, not because she believed that what he had done was right, but because it seemed right to take Fausto there, to see what had become of the people who had lost their husband, father, brother, and son.

It was vary strange to be friends with a murderer. She still thought killing was wrong, but she knew that Fausto was a good person. She didn't usually think about it, but when she did, it was hard to wrap her mind around a murderer being a good person. Murder was evil, but her friend Fausto was not evil. So, what was evil, then? Was there such a thing as pure evil, or were some mixture of good and evil present in each person? Did that mean Katrina had some evil in her as well? She didn't think so, but she supposed it was possible.

But he had asked her about doing something fun, and she was brooding about good and evil.

“A new look would be fun. I've been thinking it might be fun to dye my hair or something.”

The teacher had either finished or given up on his lecture and was passing out art materials so the students could sketch for the last fifteen minutes of class. Amidst the chaos of handing things out, it was now safe to talk in a normal voice.

“Maybe some colored streaks or something. I haven't asked my mother yet though. I don't know if she would approve. I could also cut my hair short. It's been long forever. Maybe short and spiky would be cool for a change. How about you? What would you do differently?”

>>>¨As i was saying ... I have some ideas for a song.i wrote a few lines but it doesnt convince me at all, it's as if i am missing something. I would like you to help me, not to take advantage of your creativity, but for have fun together.¨

She hadn't written lyrics before, but she was willing to try it.

“Sure, I'd be glad to help. It sounds like fun!”

He looked at her amazed . luckily he was able to contain a laugh. ¨ I don't know if she would approve ¨ the words sounded again in the child's head. he also had to ask for permission almost for everything, his mother was very worried for him. arrive a few minutes later than usual was reason enough to start a questionnaire worthy of a CIA agent ..sometimes Fausto though if she wouldnt have been a secret agent. whenever he asked Jane, his father, about that subject he replied with a big smile saying ¨no¨ . obviously the idea seemed absurd and very funny at the same time nearly impossible. Jane imagined her in one of those films with spies, like she was investigating an attempt of assasination , the theft of plans for a super weapon or saving the world from the third world war.
Fausto had forgotten the restrictions her mother impose on him , but she just was worried about him . the same as Kat's mother.

¨ are you serious about it ? do you want to dye and cut your hair? If you are interested in my opinion you look really pretty , I like your natural color but thinking a little ... I like to eat blonde girls, so I suggest you to dye your hair ¨

the child winked an eye, he waited a few seconds before continue again . Them he looked again at Kat with his face as red as Rudolph's nose.and added almost in a whisper.

¨ I like girls with long hair, you should keep it like that ... ¨

he quickly change his sight to another place and looked at the teacher for a few seconds, seconds that seemed an eternity . he saw how the teacher tried several times to look at his watch. may be he had free time before the next class, he was anxious waiting for thw moment to continue with his project.
when he decided to look at Kat again , he still keeped a bit of the red that had marked his face a few seconds before.

¨ I want to dye my hair. I am tired of this eternal black hair, dark and boring. I want a more lively color, one that says ¨ Caution, Iron Mouth is here ! ¨ .i thought to dye it in my favorite color, blue, but red seems a better choice. red and orange as the brilliant sun. I want to be the brightest stars , so red seem to be a good choice ¨

Katrina accepted the compliment as a compliment with a quiet, “thank you,” but when Fausto wouldn't meet her eyes and started turning red she realized he meant it as perhaps more than a compliment. Her eyes widened and a faint tinge of pink crept into her cheeks as well. Boys had never blushed when they gave her compliments before. Was she supposed to do something different when they did that?

“Oh, umm. Thanks. Maybe I will just streak it with something that will wash out eventually and skip the hair cut. It takes kind of a long time to grow out.” Didn't he know that blushing was contagious? She was red faced by now.

It was an awkward eternity before Fausto spoke again, and in the interim, Katrina anxiously stared at the blank paper in front of her. They were supposed to be drawing something, but she'd missed the direction about what it was supposed to be. She twirled the pencil, stole a glance at Fausto, who still was looking away, then she put the graphite to the paper and drew a line. Pretty soon the line became a pointed shape, and she added a long face below it. A mane followed, then a tail until she had the barest outline of a unicorn. She doodled almost on autopilot, really just trying to fill the silence with something, but it failed to really distract her. She was about ready to resort back to mentioning the weather, when Fausto spoke again, probably just a few seconds after he had first looked away, no matter how long that pause had seemed.

“I think bright red or orange would draw the most attention, but it might be kind of hard to dye, since your hair is so dark. It would look good, though. Not that it doesn't already look good.” Now it was Katrina's turn to blush again. She didn't leave any awkward silences after her compliment, she just kept drawing her unicorn and quickly switched to another subject as if her face weren't crimson by this point.

“So tell me about the band you are in.” Surely that would give him something to talk about, and give her time to recover her pale faced composure.

She was completely unskilled at talking to boys when they started out conversations by blushing. She could talk about world politics or ethical dilemmas, but give her a compliment and she was completely at a loss for how to respond. She had seen one of the Abyss clones flirt with one of the resistance girls at a meeting, had even taken mental notes, but even that didn't help her now. Apparently there was more to it than just saying the right things, because she couldn't think of the right things to say!

If the professor didn't notice that two of his students were as red faced as stop lights, matching beacons that screamed for unwanted attention, he must have have been very distracted indeed.

Fausto cursed a thousand times in his mind, he cursed that stupid shyness that slowly takes hold of him in similar situations. to get to his defenses and break them for a few seconds and he ended showing feelings that perhaps he shouldnt have to say . he always thought that Kat was a very pretty girl, sweet and funny. funny when she could just put aside the heavy backpack full of schoolbooks. But that does not mean that he fallen in love , right? maybe he was just so friendly and he was confused. he should ask Sam later and maybe ask for some advice.

Fausto heard what Kat said, but vaguely listened. he yet attempted to analyze the compliment. He seemed to dont understand why she asked about a band. on his lips that word was formed ¨band ¨ while his face was a big question mark.
What band? he was almost to ask ...
his thoughts were around what Kat said earlier , the compliment. Fausto felt some uncontrollable desire to jump on the teacher's desk and begin to dance, he could almost imagine himself there jumping and moving his arms madly.
he wanted to ask Kat so many things about him but he would look very selfish but he really wanted to know if she had just returned the compliment, or if she really thought his hair looked good, because is his hair then Fausto looks good. . Now she had nailed him a doubt, he should try to dye his hair or she would like it more like this ? he just swallowed saliva with the hope of those questions also get swallowed and his saliva would melt them.
he answered trying to appear unconcerned even though they had taken a couple of seconds to realize that she spoke about his band . his face still retained a pink hue over the normal but the change of subject would help.
the teacher looked at them several times but he seemed to had realized what was happening between them because he didnt comment anything , he neither stopped the two that were whispering making the general buzz to increase. perhaps he was resigned that his class was over even though the clock said other thing.

¨ ahh the band, well we are three ... Cielle, Takumi and me. Obviously we are all mutants. ¨ he made a rare grin when he said the last word. a face like the one of someone biting a lemon. "Is a band made by Homo superior for Homo superiors ¨ this time he didnt use the much hated word, instead he used the scientific term, he was so filled with pride, you could see in his face that he was proud to be part of that race. after all they were better or not?
¨I have not much to talk about, we are deciding the name and we recently started to make some songs ... what we did until now was trained me to sing. is much more complicated than it seems you have to learn a lot of things like breathing properly ... ¨

He made a slight pause in his speech. it was his imagination or Kat stared at him in a different way ? Fausto was nervous maybe he shouldnt have said that but he couldnt avoid it , he spoke without thinking in the consequences.
Surely that wasnt anything, he was suggested just because she returned the compliment. or was that he really cared about what she thought? well he cared cuz Kat was his friend ...
he placed his right hand in front of him so Kat could see it too, he counted with his fingers without saying a word.he count to three and closed his hand again. Almost instantly he opened it again but this time one.by one each finger represent a member of the band.

¨ Cielle, Takumi and me ... Cielle is the drummer, is not exceptional but as a drummer is quite good at it. i only know a few things about her, she dislikes to talk about his family and every time her named them she makes a mocking tone. but i know that she had a couple of problems with her father and ended running away of the house. I do not understand very well their relationship or why her father paid the hotel where she is living and also pay nearly all her whims. .
If you like my hair you would love Cielles^s hair . she has the hair and eyes as black as mine. we looks like siblings ... ¨ Fausto grabbed a tuft of his hair and then looked to confirm what he just said and finished saying with a smile. ¨ Yes, as black as mine. ¨
he counted again but this time until two , the second member.

¨Takumi ... well actually i dont know much about him ,i only know that he is Japanese. he came here with his family but things did not go well either. it is as if we are linked by the same thing , the three of us are orphans. not in the same way or in a literal sense but none of the three has his family ... well as i was saying ... he is a very quiet guy and very lazy, if he is not sleeping , he is resting on the couch. he seems a little bit shy and he dont like much the USA. is a very good guitarist, it's fantastic. he makes the guitar do sparks , literally. ¨
he moved the last finger get to three, the third was him ,. with a smile he looked at Kat , the cheeks of the child were being colored as if it were anticipating what the child was about to say.
¨ I am the third, the singer ... but I dont think you want to talk about me ...¨

>>>“Band”? ... ¨Ahh the band, well we are three ... Cielle, Takumi and me.”

Fausto made a face when he said the word mutant. It was interesting how people reacted to the different names for what super powered individuals were called. Katrina, for example, made faces when people called them “homo superiors”. She didn't really think that they were any better than normal humans, just different. “Homo superior” also implied that they were completely different species, which didn't seem right, since humans and mutants could still have children together. Katrina was proof of that. Even two humans could have a mutant child, so they had to be more closely related than that.

Fausto, however, seemed more comfortable with the latin version. At least he didn't call himself a freak. He seemed pretty proud of the band even if he wasn't proud of being called a mutant. He was practically beaming as he described learning to sing and all about breathing. Katrina knew all about breath support from playing oboe, she could definitely relate.

He proceeded to describe the other two band members, one finger at a time. Cielle the drummer was first. With black hair and black eyes, she could be Fausto's sister.

>>>¨Yes, as black as mine.¨

He did have very black eyes, like bottomless wells that stretched on into infinity when you looked in them. You could get trapped by those eyes and end up staring, falling into them forever. Katrina blushed just a little at the reminder of her compliment. It sounded like Fausto admired this Cielle person.

Second finger, Takumi the guitarist. Katrina tried to commit the names to memory.

>>>“It is as if we are linked by the same thing , the three of us are orphans. not in the same way or in a literal sense but none of the three has his family”

It was that way with a lot of mutants, it seemed. Katrina once again felt lucky that she still had her mother living with her. Though all the mutants at the mansion were kind of like her family, it was nice to have part of her real family with her still. Kat couldn't tell if he admired Takumi as well, or if perhaps he was a little jealous of him. It was hard to tell just from the description without seeing how they acted together.

There was only one finger left for Fausto.

>>>¨I am the third, the singer ... but I dont think you want to talk about me ...¨

Katrina held up her own hand with her first finger pointed upwards, “Fausto, the singer. His parents were murdered, and he got revenge, but he's still a kid and still a good person. He wants to take over the world so he can make it a better place to live for everyone, and he starts by joining a rock band instead of going to class. And he likes to throw eggs at people while they are baking cakes.”

Katrina paused a moment and tilted her head, “Hey, could I come and watch you practice some time? I'd like to hear your band play and meet the other band members before you get all rich and famous and don't have time for little kids from school, like me.”

She wondered what kind of band it would be. What kind of songs did they write if they were a mutant band playing for mutant audiences?

¨of course! ¨ the child replied with a smile, he still remembered the eggs war . it had been fantastic. This was one of the times that Kat had left behind his backpack of books, and had been a lot of fun. for a moment she had forgotten about the school and played like a normal girl. in the good sense of the word because they were all the normal they could be with their mutantions. if people could understand that their lives are not so different from that of mutants ...
he smiled and then added with an inquisitive look.
"tell me , what makes you think I'm gonna leave my friends behind? thinking about that , what makes you think we are going to be riches? I even suspect that we wouldnt achieve release a single. The common people will not accept our ideals pro mutants, and therefore they will not like our songs. obviously not all songs will be loaded with resentment and protest against human ... perhaps we may be famous but i dont think ¨rich¨...
I only wish that all the mutants in NY come out of their hideout. I dont want to know about any mutant hiding his powers for fear . we are not averroes of nature, we are not distortions, we are not mutants as they call us. I believe in the superiority of our genes but not in the superiority of our minds and hearts, because we also make mistakes and we made wrong things too . ¨

Fausto stopped talking for a moment, and continuous talking in a volume much lower that they were using.
¨ sorry Kat, i talked too much ...but you know that I like to discuss and give my opinions ... well to make it easier I just want the mutants to stop being afraid . the fear control us. I want to make them understand that we can burn them, freeze them, get into their minds, devour them ... and what can they do? ¨
he let the silence take control again , a silence that only the two of them shared cuz the rest of the classroom spoke loud as if the class had already finished.
he look down to the floor , he had realized that what he was saying didnt lead to a successful conclusion. he continued in a tone almost sad.
¨ a lot, they can do a lot. they can remove our powers and put ours in a concentration camp, deprived of all our constitutional rights. perhaps the band is not a good idea ... ¨

The bell that indicated the end of the class sing over the rest of the strident voices, and the students began to gather his things quickly if they had not did it before as some of them that were running to the door.
¨hey Kat, do you got time before your next class? I mean our next class ... ¨
It was obvious that the child wouldnt go to the next class, after all he had never liked math.
when he was more young people always told him that the numbers didnt bite . Now he would like to see them trying to bite him ..
¨ If you have time i can show you something of a song I'm working on ... if you like it , i can dedicate it to you ¨

>>>"tell me , what makes you think I'm gonna leave my friends behind? thinking about that , what makes you think we are going to be riches?”

Katrina shrugged. She wasn't sure where she got the idea from. It just seemed like that was what stars did when they became famous. Fausto continued about how his group wouldn't be popular, because they were going to be a pro-mutant band.

“That sounds more like infamous. I'll bet a lot of mutant kids will listen, though. Even mutant adults might like the songs. I'll bet there are a lot more mutants out there that we don't even know about.” Fausto continued.

Distortions was a good word, even if Fausto thought they weren't distortions, it was interesting to think that they could be. Distortion. It was fun to say, too. Katrina nodded. It was true that humans and mutants seemed to think alike. They didn't always agree, but they lived, laughed, loved, fought ,and thought in similar ways to each other. Maybe if both sides didn't share similar fear and distrust for those different from themselves, they wouldn't have so much conflict. Maybe then, mutants could live without hiding, as Fausto was wishing they could.

Was he also wishing that mutant would turn the tables and make the humans live in fear? It certainly sounded that way.

>>>“I just want the mutants to stop being afraid . the fear control us. I want to make them understand that we can burn them, freeze them, get into their minds, devour them ... and what can they do? ”

Katrina used the pause to consider his question. There was a lot they could do. Humans did run things, after all. They had superior numbers and were in charge of making laws and enforcing them, too. Laws like the Registration Act, which Fausto was clearly also remembering.

As the bell rang, Katrina stood automatically and started making her way toward the door.

“I think that it isn't good for mutants to live in fear, or that they have to live in fear. I don't think that it should be turned around the other way either. Humans shouldn't have to fear mutants. It's probably because they already fear us that they are so harsh on us. Then, that just adds to the fear. Everyone is trying to prove how tough they are even though they are scared deep down inside because they don't understand the differences.”

“I think if humans and mutants could get to know about each other, they could realize that we aren't so very different from each other.”

Katrina looked at him, puzzled, when he asked if she had time before her next class. He must have been out of touch with school for awhile. There were no classes after art. Except on Wednesdays, when there was a late afternoon math class to make up for the extra morning physical education and training room class that bumped social studies up to the first hour of the day. On second though, it wasn't Wednesday was it? The schedule could get a little confusing around here. Certainly it wasn't Wednesday. They had just had a Wednesday a few days ago. Katrina could still feel the soreness in her muscles from trying to climb the rope without using mutations. Not that her mutation would have helped her climb the rope. Or fool the teacher into thinking she had climbed it. That was cheating.

“I do have time. I'm done for the day, so I'd love to see your song.” the blonde teen answered, shifting her heavy backpack. She was heading up to her room to put it away and wishing that she had super speed to leave all her books up in her room and could just race up there to get them instead of carrying them around all the time. “Isn't it a bit early to be dedicating them though,” she added, with only a small blush that was hidden by her huffing and puffing beneath the weight of her textbook laden backpack.

¨ Kat is missing a class for me... No this cant be happening .they surely cancelled the class and I wasnt warned anything ... or perhaps she wants to spend more time with me and she will miss the class. this is very strange, surely there must be a far more logical explanation

it was funny to see her carrying such a huge and ridiculous number of books, Fausto liked reading books but just below the trees in summer or near a fireplace in winter. he didnt like school books.
he prefers ten thousand times more the books about epic stories and endless searches for magicals devices .he liked books but only with one book at the same time , resting in the shadow of a tree , not to carried a heavy backpack full of them. he ever liked to discover things in a practical way, he didnt like to read endless pages about a historic battle where a teacher with a bit of dedication could explained it much better than the black ink printed on such thick textbooks. not to speak about entires books filled with math .
Fausto answered to her while they were leaving the classroom..

¨ yeah , you are right . imagine a mutant with healing abilities working in a public hospital? how many lives could be saved? or a mutant with the ability to fly or pass through walls, they could be members of any rescue team and save many lives. Now it is simply impossible, if they offer you a job or you find one, you have to hide that you are a mutant, or the owner might think you are going to be a threat to the business and customers despite the fact that your mutations can be that you only have blue or green skin ... prejudice and fear were always well rooted in our societies, whether human or mutant. ¨

suddenly she reminded him of his father , she did not have his mustache or anything but the fact that she was carrying many books made him remember . his father loved the books a lot .

¨my dad liked books a lot, if he could see you carrying all those books he certainly would feel very happy. he alkways complained that young people do not read enough.
dad always liked the movies and books with pirates. at home he had a lot of books about the subject. although 1/4 of them were novels or stories, the rest were a collection of historical biographies and legends about pirates or pieces of these stories .
when he had free time he liked to read me some history or if he had read all of them he tried to invent one, he was good creating stories about ghost ships and hidden treasures but he never wrote anything. Always pirates, they were his favorites. ¨

the child looked at Kat and smiled at her but his eyes seemed a little sad, the loss of his parents had caused a huge pain in him and in contrast to his thought the revenge wasnt placated these feelings . Now his home was the mansion . kat had helped him a lot and it made him feel as if was at home.

¨ give me the backpack , it seems quite heavy for you . let me carry it .i can seem to be skinny but as the future conqueror of the world i cant let you carry everything on you own. ¨

Fausto changed his sight from Kat to the floor and keeped his sight in the carpet, still without directly see her he added
¨at this speed we will not reach your room until tomorrow ¨
with that last line he tried to give less importance to what he had said but on her face but his face betrayed him again , he was blushed giving her more clues on what he was feeling or not , neither himself know it for sure.
He would never learn to be a good pirate without being able to tell a lie to the girls...

“And we could have weather manipulators telling us the weather reports, and psychics doing the news! We could have super strength construction workers and speedy mail carriers! It would be so cool! And saving people is good too. We should have mutant police officers and stuff.”

Couldn't mutants already get jobs like that? Probably not without hiding their identity, Katrina reasoned. What about mutants who couldn't hide, though? What were they supposed to be when they grew up? Katrina wasn't sure what she wanted to be, but she suddenly felt lucky that she could hide that she was a mutant if she wanted to. Then, she felt guilty for feeling that way. What about her friends, like Abyss and Kaz, who couldn't hide their mutations? What did they do for a living anyway?

Fausto had started talking about his dad and books while she was daydreaming about jobs. Apparently he had been a fan of pirates. Her own father was more a fan of politics, but really, pirates and politicians amounted to about the same thing; thieves and bandits.

“I mostly like fantasy novels, and history books, and astronomy, and mythology. Actually, I guess there's a lot I like. I don't get much of a chance to read for fun though, during the school year. They give too much homework this year. I think it is to make up for so many kids not having school last year because of Registration. They're trying to cram two years into one, it seems like.”

Katrina blinked when Fausto offered to carry her backpack for her. That was mighty chivalrous, as well as unexpected. She had no option but to let him. Walking down the hall was much easier, and her back was much straighter once she didn't have the heavy books weighing her down. Fausto seemed to be struggling, though. He was looking at the floor as if it was really difficult to carry them. Katrina frowned, at least she was used to the weight by now.

“Are you sure you want to carry that? I could at least take a few things out of it for you.”

Although, they were almost back to her room now. Then, it would be afternoon, sweet freedom! As long as it wasn't Wednesday. She really didn't think it was, so she wasn't going to worry about it.

“So, what did you want to do now that you've attended your half a class for the day? Did you have anything in mind?”

he had chosen to walk looking at the floor not because the burden was heavy, but because he did not want to show to Kat that he was nervous and blushed. she always had been good with him but he never felt so pressed. he did not want to commit or missing a step and tripped. he was afraid of making fools of himself in front of her.
he had come to the room of Kat, but he had never entered the room where .he remembered that corridor and the door. he recalled having beaten it several times and waited a long time too. how long he has waited until she went out to accompany him to the funeral? 5, 10 or 20 minutes?but there really was worth it. she had given him the courage he needed to face that punishment. she was lovely and always willing to help, the world would be better if everyone thought like her and find a non-violent solutions to problems. his vision of a truly perfect world was truly admirable: world peace. but the sad reality is that it would never be achieved, the fighting spirit of the man always generate wars lfor anything, land, fuel and would also be a future war for water.

¨ well I have trouble deciding which part should I use for a song, the song consists of three parts. i decided the first and last part but the medium is a bit confusing. I have two options but i dont know what part i should choose ... if we have enought time we can go to visit Cielle and Takumi. if you want to meet with they . Cielle will become very happy to meet you. ¨

And surely she would, because Fausto had spoken with Cielle a lot of times about her. after all Kat was one of his best friends. Fausto had few friends but the few he had were wonderful. He was not sure how Takumi would react ,he found difficult to talk with girls and seemed to have a special weakness for blondes girls like Kat. Takumi will surely be completely petrified.

¨ I have a great trick to get rid of the homework faster and have more time to read books I like. I do not do my homework or i ask a friend smarter and more responsible than me. that is not your style. I really lost interest in school, I liked it before but now ... I think is a waste of time. what would happen if we get into the Camps again? you dont regret the time lost doing homework? of course after that there is another question to ask, what if nothing catastrophic happens? what would happen to your life in the future? the truth is that I do not like to think far into the future ... the future is uncertain, the past no longer exists. The only thing we have left is to live in an eternal present. nice phrase, right? I do not remember who said it but it was someone famous ...

Both were standing in front of the door of Kat^s room , Fausto let the backpack on the floor .the training with Sam had helped a lot, he was skinny as ever but his body was more toned, I felt more strength in his arms.
he tried to imagine how Kat^s room would look like , it would be much more tidy than his room . his room was a real mess, the books were thrown on the floor but in that mess totally illogical he could have found anything in less than 1 minute. things were in a disordered order.

¨well, we are here .. do you want me to stay here while you let your stuff? dont take a long time please , you know that I dont like to wait ¨

Fausto mades a bright smile with the intent that she really understand that he hated to wait, he had to to do it anyway but if she did it quickly he wouldnt have to wait a lot .